STEVEHOLS54

Still doesn't answer my question though. Is the rule done away with or still in effect for 2018. If its done away with then whichever way you cut it, this will in effect mean you don't really have to put any Brits in your team ??

Well on the TV deal that doesn't say if there is not a deal period or just that there isn't one yet as I would have thought BT wanted to know outcome and details of the AGM before entering into discussions with the BSPA if they are interested to continue in some format. I would expect hat to come out later or if no deal at all, then in line with anything negative on Speedway the BSPA will just stay silent. As for the sponsorship comment that surprises me as I got the impression (maybe I am wrong) that the Volvo deal may only be a fraction of what the previous multiple season deal was. Also a little confused as Matt Ford's own comments in the Echo stated and I quote: “There are some very exciting things in the pipeline, bigger and better things than have ever happened before. I didn't think he meant riders as he then went on to mention new personnel coming on board in the sentence below the above. As for the comment re my other questions that I will have to read the Speedway Star.... Is it only the Speedway Star then that is allowed access to what should be fairly standard information on the sport. If such information is known on the 2 Brit rule and riders assessed av etc then I cant see why its such a secret. Even what the guidelines are would be better than a total lack on information.

Ok its now 4.30 p.m and the reports were that both MF & NM would be at the pop up shop today for its opening. I assume therefore plenty of opportunity for all those that live locally to ask some searching questions of both assuming that Matt and Neil talk to each other. There are questions they could have been asked without giving away the full team. Questions such as: Has the 2 Brit rue been abolished for 2018?? and if so is there any rule i.e must there be 1 Brit or no need to have any Brits ?? Has Woryna who is now a Club asset (I assume) been given his 2016 GSA i.e 4.65 (Not too difficult a question to ask and doesn't actually say if he is in the team or not, Just asks for clarification of his GSA Has Matt now been given a list of the riders GSA's he may want to sign. What will young overseas riders say under 21 who have never ridden in UK be given as assessed GSA'S ?? Similar question to say riders over 21 who have never ridden in UK like KP of Leicester - Similar question for riders such as Vaculik Will riders who last rode here in 2016 still be assessed as per their 2016 GSA. Also what about riders who rode here before 2016 like both Pawlickis and numerous others one could list. If I didn't live over 3.25 to 3.75 hours from Poole and lived locally, these are the kind of questions I would have been firing at both Matt & Neil. I would not expect them of course to name riders but it would at least give some clarification of some of the info we are all a bit short on. So far I have seen nothing posted on the Poole 2018 BSF to indicate anyone has even been to the shop let alone asked any questions.

Nothing should surprise us speedway supporters after the announcements made by Leicester. Doubt virtually anyone outside of the top table at Leicester could really see either MV or KP signing for them at this early stage. I am sure that any promoter in the know about rider plans (also not knowing a lot of overseas riders GSA or assessed av for 2018) will let anything slip this early. You hear such conflicting info. Matt said in one article he wanted James back for 2018 - another one where he said cant guarantee him a place as will depend on points make up of the team - another one where he says young riders lower down the team might lose out to more experienced riders returning to these shores (was that in general or a specific mention to the Poole team ??) - The latest comment was about a radio interview he has done where he allegedly said that he has concerns Shanes may be too exposed ??. Not helped I suppose with Shanes commitments to both Grass and Longtrack which will almost certainly rule him out of the Champ this season due to clash of fixtures and he wont give either of those 2 up where he is more of a up and coming young star. I personally think he will struggle if he doesn't broaden his Speedway experience and also sort his gating out, which imo he cant just riding Prem. To be honest I don't know what to believe with all these snippets coming out which neither confirm or deny who may or may not be in the team.

Perhaps he will get found out in both SWE/POL next season & DK. Think KL def better off without the guy. After last season what Chapman does not need is posers or passengers. I for one, even not being a KL supporter really want to see them do a lot better in 2018 and have a much better team all pulling together in the right direction. Buster needs stability in 2018 after the horrors of 2017. Guys in sport sponsored Mercs doing a 4 plus point av can stay away thanks. Jeez the guy had 5 years riding for KL and as a so called exciting young Dane, if he cldnt work it out now then imo he never will. Its happened with quite a lot of these young Danes. They seem to be put on bikes as soon as they are out of diapers, meet a kind of high level very young but still in their early/mid 20's they suddenly seem to taper off and fade somewhat. You could say that's the case with Bech - Jepsen Jensen - Klindt - Porsing and no doubt others who showed such early dash and promise.

With the silence from all areas I don't think any rider is guaranteed to be anywhere at the moment. (other than the 2 Leicester boys and Woryna) Let's hope the BSPA/SCB really do get their finger out on these GSA's that probably all promoters are waiting on so they can move forward. Not even Swindon have announced their 2 new assets as actually team appointed for 2018 yet. But that probably more to do with if its Doyle or Morris due to the points diff.

Think you may be wishful thinking on KP at 5 but in a way hope you are right. In effect that would mean any foreign rider under say 22/23 who have never ridden UK should also be assessed at 5. Also bearing in mind KP was a World U21 runner up in last couple of seasons. Anyway we all CONTINUE to wait on the rider GSA's who rode prior to the 2016 season (we assume that is the cut off) and all these young riders around Europe who have never ridden UK, who promoters may want to take a leap of faith on. That's on top of senior riders like Vaculik who have never ridden UK but are proven GP riders.

Damn it ;-) There was me thinking that we could at least have one of the two riding alongside Woryna at Poole on hopefully a low assessed GSA in 2108 as both are under 21 and neither have ever ridden British Speedway. I would have either as both have VERY bright futures in POL but prefer to have Drabyk who for me is a future WC. But am not greedy - If you get one will gladly take the other. Unfortunately I fear we can only dream as both have signed for both POL & SWE and being young riders will probably get lots of meetings in things like World U21 indv and POL U21 team events and maybe even POL senior team comp. But that's why we have a BSF so we can speculate/dream and hope we can secure young riders of such great quality. I know we have one on hopefully that crazy low GSA in Woryna but I will always support having the Worlds best young riders learning their trade also on our smaller trickier/more technical tracks that have held riders like Magic Janowski in such good stead in the SGP. In the meantime lets continue the dream huh ?? ;-)

I read that both Matt & Middlo will be at the pop up Speedway shop in Poole on Saturday. Cant help thinking most of their day will be spent fending off questions from the eager Poole faithful as to what is going on re signings for 2018. I am not going to make a 3 plus hour drive down Poole way just for the shop opening. Any who are going may want to ask what is going on re the rider assessment & new rider GSA situation is bearing in mind that probably most interested BSF followers & Speedway would probably like to know. Cant believe nearly one week on that Promotors still don't know what the likes of the 2 new Leicester boys and any other good riders without a current (or within last 2 years) GSA will be for 2018. I am also intrigued what those young riders say under 21 with no Uk experience will be assessed at like your Drabyks - Smektala's plus the young Danes/Swedes in similar situations. Also will Woryna def be given his 4.65 GSA from 2016 bearing in mind he is on the BSPA signed list of riders for Poole in 2018.

So Hans Andersen has managed late to squeeze into a SWE side with just announcing a return to Dackarna for 2018. That's a load off from him as the journeyman now has at least 2 leagues agreed and will no doubt walk into a Danish League side to make it 3 leagues so far. I am sure he will sign for UK in 2018, but question is with who ?? Doubt he will do UK double up as most of his time will be flying around Europe in the twilight of his career earning as much money as he can. How the guy does 4 leagues amazes me, but he had done if for some years now. Add in Danish Champ - another stab maybe at SEC and other indv meeting. Guy cant know half the time if he is on his ar** or his elbow ;-) No surprise that he throws the odd few bad rides and last year in SWE it hit his av badly as he was down at 40 as an av per ride. That must be an all time low by his standards. I thought he had missed it this year in SWE but seems he has been given a get out of jail card.

Yep I agree. The BSPA knew about this one over 8 rule well before the AGM imo. The Tenerife meeting was probably only to confirm the already agreed draft. That being so I fully agree the powers that be should already have been well in advance on drawing up the list plus also the guidelines on what assessment would be given to overseas riders say under 21 who have never ridden in UK plus also what assessment for riders over 21 like Pieszczek who have never ridden UK. Find it a bit strange that Leicester have signed 2 riders with no assessed GSA unless they re just taking a gung ho approach with the attitude fill in lower down the team as and went we have to. Can imagine there are plenty of teams urgently awaiting what these assessed GSA's and guidelines will be for both older & younger overseas riders who may be considering UK. Also are we to assume that riders who rode here 2016 or later will be assessed as per their last GSA such as Zagar/NKI/Woryna etc. That's without considering say riders who rode here last 2015 or earlier like Pawlicki/Zmarzlik & others.What also will be the cut off year for keeping a previous GSA. Plenty of grey areas at the moment which is partly blocking promoters team building plans.

Thought I read that Doyle was only just flying back from Aussie as he was stuck at the airport in sweltering heat the other day. Made the mistake of trying to fly an engine back with him which held things up. Assuming he is just back in last few hours or so plus believe he is off to Andorra for a big Motorcycle Awards do this weekend perhaps the crunch talks will happen early next week ??

But is the tactical only once ???? I have seen nothing put out by the BSPA saying only once in a meeting. There have been forum contributors who have had their own comment on it being only once (they think) but pls let me know where it has been formalised as only once. The BSPA announcement said: TACTICAL SUBS: Black and White double points replaced with tactical substitution permitted in heats 5 to 14 (excluding heat 8) when a team is 6 points or more behind. For clarity there are NO double points. Would be good to get some formal clarification on it. Would be good if it said it can be used more than once and each rider can only have one tactical ride from the main team. Like many other things not known for sure like rider assessed GSA if they rode before 2016 or what young riders say 21 or under who have never ridden UK will be assessed at.

Exactly. Most agree that riders who rode prior to 2016 and not since should have their GSA's reassessed as many like Pawliki (2015) and Zmarzlik (2014) were very young riders who were learning their trade on the way to becoming superstars of the GP. I think most of the BV fans who seem to be incl Zagar already in their plans are excited because his last achieved GSA in 2016 was 7.48. Based on your logic then, having won 2 GP last season and been in top 8 of the SGP he should be at least 9 plus. Don't get me wrong I think both Woryna and Zagar are on great averages as per 2016 and it will be shrewd promoters who sign both riders especially with this one over the 8 rule and a 42.5 team building limit. As for Woryna - He is and was in 2016 a young rider who has proved nothing on UK tracks yet. IF he accumulates the points and masters our UK tracks then of course that will be reflected in his GSA for 2019. Let's not punish forward thinking promoters who has the insight to sign a young rider on a decent low av. There are other young Poles as well as Swedes and danes who fall into similar situations where a switched on promoter can take a leap of faith if he wants to. Same on Zagar. He stands out at that av on the form he showed in the second half of 2017 in GP/SWE/POL after he managed to get his misfiring Johns tuned engines finally resolved. He flew at many meetings and I would have him on that GSA.

Still the big question could you sign him anyway ?? I have not seen anywhere that the Poles have lifted the 3 max league rule incl your nationality league if you are riding POL EXL. Unless they announce that he can only sign for DK anyway as he wont drop POL or SWE. You can use same argument to numerous riders incl the likes of K Bjerre who although sounding peed off about the one rider only over 8 rule has not got the green light as far as I am aware he can ride UK anyway having signed like NKI for POL EXL and Sweden. he got away with it last year as his team were in POL Nice 1 so like Hans Andersen could do all 4 leagues. Not any more as Bjerre's team are now POL EXL.

Hopefully not as he did ride here in 2016. Part of the reason Matt signed him one assumes is that he would be rated at 4.65 as per 2016. If you apply that logic then you surely have to adjust multiple GP winner Zagar up from his last 2016 GSA of 7.48 to at least 9.50. Hopefully you are wrong on this one. Of course would help if they released the new GSA and guidelines for all these potential riders (and youngsters) who may want to come over.

Adam was discounted due to the high GSA under the x 1.4 rule which unfairly punished him for not having had another NL campaign or had a season in Champ where he may well have got a lower GSA. Those foreign riders you mention. You mean Kurtz and Holder Jr who were assessed on similar GSA. Think I know who I prefer to watch as potential World stars. Kyle was as a result of cruel circumstances. Yes he had a bad injury (again) which had him struggling. He had a GSA of 6.31 but was only achieving a real 3.53 and showing no signs at that stage of improving. Matt Ford had a difficult decision to make as he cld fill up to 6.31 or persevere with a rider who was putting in 3.53 and even at end of season only really achieved 4.86. So what does he do because that clown KK was hardly helping matters for those further down the team. It was a difficult biz decision for Ford to take for the betterment of the team at that time. There were circumstances out of the ordinary that affected both riders imo.

Yes with the big pay cheque on a 3 year deal from the man who purchased the club recently and paid off all the debts. On top of that because he isn't tied to POL EXL he can show off all his fancy merchandise/sponsorship till his hearts content as they pay a fair chunk of change I believe. Add the big money he was paid by the man with the deep pockets together with no restriction on how many sponsor stickers he can have on his bike/silencers/water/Monster drink bottles etc at those all important interviews. In his later years he needs his image rights money as much as the salary as can imagine its a lot of bucks as the Yanks would say.

For me the Ellis situation makes the second Brit position (if it still is) somewhat interesting. Assuming we were to sign Shanes as one of the Brits. Some have mentioned maybe Robert Lambert. I think he needs a move away from KL and also maybe if he was on Poole radar he could do worse than be given accommodation by Matt or Middlo and a workshop facility as well as maybe engineer and sponsor support. He could still get home to Norfolk some days as he will now be doing POL/SWE and UK every week. UK sometimes 2 days a week. I just feel young Rob needs a new challenge maybe also riding with other young up and coming young riders such as Woryna and any other young guys we may sign. Anyway just a thought. As for Kyle there are from me 2 things. 1) Can the guy be kept fit as he seems to have had one injury or another the last 3/4 seasons keeping him out for various periods. 2) The tasty looking 4.86 GSA looks very tempting for team building also taking Shanes low 2.95. The BIG point for me is could he be an ideal rider to slot into that reserve slot once hopefully Woryna moves out end May/early June. The answer could be yes as we all know he has scored many points from that berth both when he was one over the last 4 years or so. Also could be a good team rider to help James. I think the reserve berths at Poole could play a big role as they have done in our last few league winning seasons. I view this coming season as who will be the best rider who can slot into that reserve berth with Shanes after the first GSA's come out. Not only from the reserve allocated rides but as a possible replacement also for a rider having an off night or to replace the other reserve when required. One could argue that Newman filled that roll well when at Poole in previous years. Am sure there are plenty of ideas knocking around but of course only one man knows the answer and that's Matt Ford. He may well already have that rider signed or earmarked. We await some news ;-)

I think that is the secret in early part of the season. Believe the new GSA's only come into effect when?? End May early June ?? Meaning they could have a hidden gem for 2.5 months until he moves up to main team. For me the secret at Poole will be who is best to drop into that reserve roll after he moves out, as if Shanes does get signed (to help points further up the team) then they want a strong potential reserve and for me the likes of Holder Jr, Ellis, Gomolski (just a few to be named) would be ideal. But we shall see in the coming weeks. Shame your lot not moving up but look fwd to seeing them at my local club (Lakeside) which is only 30 mins drive away as I am in Chelmsford. Yep mate not so far from your neck of the woods ;-) Not all doom & gloom at the BSPA as this AGM gives me the choice of a 3 plus hour drive to see the Prem team I support plus a 30 min drive on non clashing nights (or Sun) to see the best of Champ and some of the future of the sport in UK such as Jack P.B - Jack Smith - Bewley and others.

I read on the main Polish Spdwy site that Josh intends taking some POL Speedway exams and expects to be spending more time there now he is signed up for 2017 to POL Nice 1 (I think). Would not surprise me that being one of those 7 plus point men who will no doubt be in demand for 2018 then he may try and sign for a team further north to his home town Sheffield I think. I reckon he will still double up as he has done for years but may try and not have that horrendous round trip for every home match. I may be wrong as he's been a great servant to Somerset in both Prem and Champ, but I would not blame him for trying to reduce commuting.

Maybe I don't understand the POL rule correctly. I thought if you were POL EXL you could ride max 3 leagues INL POL EXL and your National League (Bjerre is a Dane yes). Same with NKI. Both may live mainly in UK but both are Danish nationals right ?? So my understanding was POL/SWE (as both have signed there) plus only DK or if they want to ride UK they would have to drop SWE which we know no chance due to money involved. Therefore if you are going to try and get around it by declaring UK residence then should they also NOT be incl in Hans Nielsen's Danish National Team as they have been declared in 2018 and should now be in UK Team. Not being cynical or sarcastic but I thought the rule was 3 leagues INCL your Nationality League not where you reside due to say relationships. Ok you could say what about the Aussies but the authorities deemed that as Aussie does not have league racing and as most Aussies reside in UK due to it being a different hemisphere they would allow Aussies to nominate Uk as a National League. Or is my understanding wrong ??

Gav Madsen has not signed for any SWE side in 2018 and he rode for the Champs Smederna in 2017 (League winners). All the top riders have already signed up in Oct/Nov and near enough all the main slots have gone with exception of maybe some SWE junior slots. The only other major non SWE signing was Vaculik not signing preferring to ride UK in 2018 for more smaller/technical track experience. Before you go writing Madsen off consider the flwg: In 2009 as a 20 year old he rode only 7 matches. In 2010 as a 21 year old he rode in 29 matches for a GSA of 6.10. In comparison a certain My Jason Doyle who is 3 years older was achieving GSA's of between 4/5.50. One thing I always thought Madsen could do was just as Jason could do was electric gating. Something that imo has held both riders in good stead as their careers have progressed. You cannot judge a rider who rode here for 1 and a bit seasons at 2o/21 compared to a rider just now turned 29 in September and who has climbed to 4th in the av of the best and hardest league in the World i.e POL EXL. Maybe at times you may well think he has as one poster put it "bottled it" (in SEC). BUT his league form has been exceptionally good in POL EXL. If you need any more evidence then he helped Smederna win the SWE league this season just gone. Feel free to view his performance in the 2nd leg of the final on youtube. Its only 25 mins long but shows what he can do incl winning the final race of the night. He is a more mature and better rider than his early days, and if Ford can get him on a sensible GSA then for sure worth considering. P.S: His gating still a big asset from what I can see and that's half the battle.

Must have high hopes or be in advanced talks to sign for a WED UK team then ?? Maybe he will be doubling up in 2018 as no SWE contract and only POL 2nd Div at present having had to drop to lowest POL League in last minute signing as seems he wasn't wanted in POL LGE 1. Hope the guy does get sorted as after his nasty injury in 2017 he deserves some better luck.

Think its def 5.51 as per his final 2015 GSA. Just saw the final GSA's. On the team one he is blanked out showing the higher av as that was the 1/4 x uplift all riders initially got for the start of 2017. BUT as we all know riders were adjusted back down to their actual GSA's around end of May when first real GSA's came out and were updated based on what they had achived so far up until end of May. Secondly Gomolski had only ridden for Leicester 5 matches for 21 rides with a GSA of 4.20 but not enough to get him that bargain looking 4.20 GSA :-( If he was given his 5.51 I would say maybe worth a gamble. Def yes if we had Santa come early and he got 4.20. You are right that the guy had a half decent year dropping to Nice POL 1 last season9th in Av only 2 behind Hans A which makes the GSA he gets look more important in considering him as is he more of a candidate based on that than say Hans at some 2.25 points higher. The thing is you know Hans will probably score more away. But the recent Polish stats don't lie on total rides in POL Nice 1 last season. Close to quality of our Prem (maybe they are a bit higher in overall quality). Hans record finishing 1st/2nd/3rd/4th was - 28/29/19/3 Gomolski record was - 29/25/20/3 Kacper will be just turned 25 when season starts in March as his birthday is 2nd March. Hans will be 37 as his Birthday was 3rd Nov.