21st century heathen

It's fair comment to say that very few have had the severe burns mentioned earlier, thankfully. But I would then turn that back around to you say equally then that moving forward there would be equally few, or less in my opinion, similar incidents in future. I think that we would agree that speedway is a fundamentally dangerous sport where injury to a greater or lesser extent is virtually guaranteed. Any attempt to improve safety is okay by me, and I'm just standing on the terrace watching on. As for rear spoilers - they seem a good idea to me and should be used. I understand there were some potential issues with using them at the front though when the dirt hits them side-on?

Well, first of all let's hope there are 10 teams and it's not a problem. But if there are only 8 teams then my preference is 2H & 2A league. I appreciate that may not be feasible for all clubs though, and this is where it gets understandably difficult. There are some very promising riders in the NL and they desperately need as much competitive action as possible. A mere handful of meetings is simply not enough for the like of Darryl Ritchings, as just one example that springs to mind. I hate the idea of some clubs racing each other twice but not all, as per the EL. It makes an even bigger farce of what is already a bad joke because the play off's have turned the league into a glorified cup competition. So if I had my way that idea wouldn't even be tabled. But then we run the risk of having some random, doesn't really mean anything, mini cup competition being dreamt up. I don't like that idea either. I think if it came to it I would prefer to see the Heathens take on some of the expected bottom PL teams. It would give the lads that are looking to make the step up PL level some idea of where they are in comparison. Okay, so we would almost certainly lose but at home and on form we have a few lads that should give some of the lower order PL teams something to think about. As an alternative to that a mini GP style competition would be good. Apart from anything else it could be run over however many rounds we need to make up a decent number of fixtures. The 7 Heathens plus 9 top NL stars invited (and 2 reserves) competing over 7 rounds (for example) would give the lads some experience of that style of individual racing alongside their team racing. This could even be extended by running a few rounds at each of the stand alone clubs if they're all looking to make up the fixtures. It would be a lot more meaningful than the Staffordshire Cup we're starting with against Stoke. We're not even in Staffordshire!

I'm not saying you'e wrong, but surely with point is that the risk of getting anything 'sucked in' has been reduced as there is far less room between the guard and the tyre? I assume that there is a gap sort of to the side of the tyre rather than dead centre, and it's if you got your fingers caught in there that they would dragged under the bottom edge of the guard? If that's right could this be solved by extending the guard sides so that its bottom edge is level with the wheel rim rather than at a higher level? Or perhaps it's needs to be a more 'chunky' design with rounded edges? I wasn't comparing them as riders. My point was that these riders have had really severe burn injuries to their arm/leg (delete as appropriate). It doesn't matter who they are or at what level they race. As I stated, I'm not suggesting it's easy. It's not, if it were we would all be doing it, but where in the 'brochure' did it say being a speedway rider is a walk in the park? If I had money to burn I would happily help out young Brits, and I suspect a great many supporters feel exactly the same. But at the end of the day the fact that we pay 'x' in travel costs, £10 to get in (NL), couple of quid for a programme (although I don't), probably at least a few quid for drinks/food, and perhaps 'x' at the track shop on DVD's, programme boards etcetera is the only reason that riders are getting anything back. I accept Dean's word that the guards still present an injury risk. Although it may not be perfect surely it's an improvement and in a fundamentally dangerous sport any baby steps towards safety has to be welcomed with open arms in my opinion. More importantly, it should be welcomed at all levels. Any suggestion that the NL should not benefit from any safety improvement is a nonsense as the safety of Ben Morley is every bit as important as that of Jason Crump et al. Perhaps I am wrong, and only time will tell. But I still think that with a smaller gap the chances of any body part, whether it be a finger or a leg, getting caught in the first place must be reduced. It's easy to say that someone could lose a finger against the new guard, but could it not be argued that you could more easily lose a finger by getting one caught in the chain or between the spokes? These are far more open, but riders aren't losing fingers all over the track. In fact before Morten Risager's injury last season how long has it been since a rider lost a finger/thumb? Perhaps because they are relatively freak accidents and they don't think it would happen again? Perhaps they just don't like them? Perhaps they have a stock of 'old' style to use rather than just bin? I have no idea. Life long fan that finally had a crack at Scunny back in Dec last year. I ride on the road so every single reflex and reaction was completely wrong. The result? I fell off five times in less than fours hours, and everything hurt for a week afterwards! I got a unique insight into Claus Vissing's life as a speedway rider. Quote trimmed due to length. Excellent post. They can't give you what they haven't got. It's swings and roundabouts. Everyone is crying out for riders to be paid more, and I wouldn't deny them a penny of it, but on the flip side there is a strict pay structure in place so even the clubs that get better crowds (thinking of the Heathens as the most obvious example) and could afford to pay riders more aren't allowed to. If the Heathens could pay riders the most it could afford I bet you fans of other clubs would be moaning that we were getting all the best riders because we can pay more, it's not fair, they're buying the league (paying more is no guarantee of success I hasten to add) etcetera. How many would be saying at least that's 7 lads getting more money which is better than none?

Poole tried it, but apparently Matt Ford couldn't make it pay for itself. Coventry often have a 'proper' second half of one type or another, but then its curfew seems somewhat more flexible than others. Who, if there, could forget the 23:15 finish for the GP Challenge a few years ago?! Wolves often have a number of amateurs/kids (whoever they are) waiting for a spin after the meeting, but they do give preference to their own riders if they need to test something. That's quite right as the EL team is their business, and there are virtually no opportunities to test anything with strict regulations in place in this country. However, it does eat into the time that the others have available, especially with a strict deadline in place. As MM states, the cost is always going to be a major factor too. Paying riders at this level is probably relatively affordable compared to the medical and insurance (plus other necessary) costs. Any more detail on this? I'm over there most weeks so will have to try to convince someone to stand out in the cold a little longer with me. I don't think there's been anything on the Cov website about this, which is a shame (taken at face value - I accept there could be good reason).

Are there any other young riders based in the south-west that would consider a van share, if the logistics could be ironed out. Splitting all the running costs, and where necessary travelling together, would cut costs. The other thing that springs immediately to mind is a big one and may come across as disingenuous, but nothing could be further from the truth. Have you considered moving? Basing yourself in the Midlands would immediately slash your travel costs, and depending on the area you live now and the area you were to move to you may be able to raise money from the sale of your home. ----------------------------------------- I think there are ways in which the costs could be cut quite significantly in the NL, but many riders seem to want to emulate the EL/GP stars and have all the latest bling. Kids today are like magpies. If it's shiny they want one! One NL rider posted on FB just recently that he's had a load of parts anodised. Is there any real need for that? Perhaps he can afford it but it's just an example that springs to mind. How many NL riders have a number of painted helmets rather than a couple and helmet covers? I don't know the answer to that but I bet there are a number. Likewise I can't answer this but are the majority of NL riders cheeky enough to ask if there are any odds and sods that an EL rider is about to bin that he can either have or buy at a fraction of the cost of buying new?

While I would accept that it may not be easy for some there are a couple of things that strike me. Firstly, everyone knew about the regulation changes for the bikes ages ago. Everyone should have long-since had a plan in place (by which I mean save the extra few hundred instead of going out on the pop or buying the latest phone/trainers/jeans/sunglasses or going on a winter holiday etc. It's been about 3 years since we knew the new silencers were on the way and a year for the mudguards. We're only talking about having to save a few pounds a week. Ask the like of Pedersen, Crump and Nicholls what they think about the 'health and safety brigade'. The new style mudguard would have most likely saved all of them from severe injury. Nobody said being a professional sportsman was going to be easy! All of that said, I do think there should be more meetings where possible at NL level. An old fashioned second half with 4-man teams featuring the number 2, 6, 7 & 8 (or if you don't have a No. 8 signed use an unattached 3-pointer) is something I've suggested before and is something that would give extra rides to some of the lads that don't have the PL as well, and an extra half a dozen heats for the fans.

If/when I get a chance I am going to consolidate all of the websites that have been added in the opening post. In the meantime please feel free to add any that have not been mentioned, or add updated links where applicable.

Thoughts? *edit* Oops, disabled replies by mistake.

I'm sure you realise that my comment was very much a light-hearted one. What every team needs is strength in depth and average improvement throughout the team, or at the very least from the majority in the key positions. We have that potential and shouldn't need to place unrealistic expectations on Dan. We should only need solid contributions in the reserves' heat and the odd points against his opposite number. Anything else will be a bonus. I've got my eye on a £40m pay out tomorrow evening. I'll let you know if it comes off.

Cheers mate. So from those meetings his average was 4.20. Take out the nightmare night at BV, which looks/sounds like one of 'those' nights, and it was 5.33. If we split the difference I would be happy if he was averaging around 4.75 at the end of the season. So there you go Dan, I've set an unofficial average target for you. Will - Loving the profile picture. Two Heathens legendary Team Managers.

I spotted this news announced on the Updates FB feed alongside Dan being confirmed for us. It's disappointing in the extreme. Such a shame a sponsor couldn't have been found to cover the costs for this season.

Thanks both. The gist of it sounds very promising indeed, but I suspect the club will have to just keep on eye open for potential gremlins unless he can secure some solid backing.

Do you have his scores by any chance?

Only one NL team has completed it's 1-7 so far, so I wouldn't say he's been overlooked just yet.

Correct. Former British U15 champ, took some time out, returned to racing last Sept and got the bug back. All the press release states regarding his time away was that he appeared lost to the sport when he quit for personal reasons in the winter of 2007/8.

Good enough for me!! I retract my previous. We're gonna win everything.

I don't use it on a daily basis so you're not alone. Personally I think clubs miss a trick by taking this seemingly annually accepted approach. If it were me I would get all the riders signed up before Christmas (where possible - odd occasions may have stumbling blocks). I would announce all 7 Christmas Eve morning. Most people are about to have time off and will see friends and family more than most of the year, so plenty of time to have a chat about what they think of the team, and more time available for those that use forums, Facebook and/or Twitter. A week later, on New Years' Eve morning, announce your pricing for the forthcoming season. Hopefully this is before everyone spends their Christmas money as the sales haven't gotten into full swing yet. At face value you could argue there is then nothing to say for 3 months before the NL season starts. Well, yes, if you don't think outside the box and take the same old tired approach. How much effort would it take for the club to collate career data and personal (to an extent) information on rider and post a rider profile on a weekly basis, which would be sent to local press in the hope that they print it too? Included in this should be some rider comments, even if it's just a few sound bites from some of the more shy and or younger riders (the club should be helping the lads with the off track stuff from a young age too anyway). Start that in the middle of January, and if you have a number 8 (which I think we, and every other club, should have) that takes you to the middle of March. Two weeks to go so pre-season thoughts from the Team Manager, followed by (or visa versa I s'pose) pre-season thoughts of the Promoter. Welcome on board to Dan. I can't really comment on whether he's a good, bad or indifferent signing. Our team is packed with potential average improvement. If that's realised we'll have had a much better overall season than 2011, but it's a little early to suggest we can go one better than 2010. There are an awful lot of blanks in the team line-ups at the moment. But of those named we look competitive. Stoke also look good to me.

More hits for the website = more page views for advertisers. Club's FB feed says 8am announcement.

No problem mate. We're all opinionated otherwise we wouldn't bother posting on here. Not at all, read on for my view. This is certainly a consideration and basically means teams will once again most likely line up with the top 3 at 1,3 and 5 rather than one of them at 4 to cover heat 14. -------------------------- I've long since said that teams should mix it up and try something a bit different to the accepted 'formula' for team line ups. I'm not sure who did it first but whoever was first to put a heat leader at 4 brought a breath of fresh air. It was something different and was a success on many an occasion. One of my ideas was to try something with the number 2 position and have said in the past a stronger number 2 than the 5th in your averages would be an interesting experiment. I expect a straightforward line up of: 1) Roynon 2) JWW 3) Bekker 4) Perry 5) Morris 6) Ritchings 7) ? But I would like to see something a bit more forward thinking. At home: 1) Roynon 2) Perry 3) JWW 4) Morris 5) Bekker 6) ? 7) Ritchings My reasoning? Roynon has to ride at 1. Perry at 2 should be a strong partner for Roynon in heat 1 and a strong rider for heat 8. Getting off to a good start at home is important so that the rest of the team aren't immediately under pressure. Perry should be looking for a big improvement this season and that should include beating some number 1's on his home circuit. JWW away from number 2 so avoiding a potentially confidence denting first ride. A relatively easier first ride should set him up for a solid night. He loses the generally accepted easier heat 8 but there's no guarantee your number 2 will win heat 8, particularly as he's 'only' (forgive the term) your 5th best rider. He can be tac sub'd from heat 12 if needs be, but hopefully that won't be an issue at home! Morris at 4 to cover heat 14 and hopefully more often than not win the heat to see us home and dry if it's been a tight(ish) meeting. Also I feel that if riding with a partner is a weakness of his then he should be trying to forge a partnership with someone more experienced than a reserve. We've had some strong 3/4 partnerships in the past and I feel Morris could fill a part of that roll in the modern era for us. He really could prove a hell of a 'weapon' in the middle order this season. Anyone remember the job Pete Nahlin did for us in the middle of the team in the 90's? Bekker at 5 because my personal preference, as I said before, is a more experienced rider to partner the reserve 3 times. It also gives us a bit more experience in heat 13 with him partnering Roynon. Hopefully we'll see some consistent sharp gating from him, especially in heat 13. ? at 6 mostly because I want Ritchings at 7. However, it's not a total sacrifice as it gives our 3-pointer the inside gate in heat 2. Ritchings at 7 because it means his 2nd ride should be a relatively strong pairing with Bekker and then his 3rd ride is heat 8, again this should prove a strong pairing with Perry. His 4th ride will be heat 12 when the reserve may be partnering a tac ride in the worst case scenario of us having a nightmare. Away from home I would change the line-up. 1) Roynon 2) JWW 3) Morris 4) Perry 5) Bekker 6) Ritchings 7) ? The differences because: Away from home you may be 'wasting' Perry at 2 when he may only score the same as JWW could but he should be stronger in the middle order than JWW would be. On balance the more traditional line-up with JWW at 2 would be the less risky option. Morris at 3 for heat 12 when it's more likely away from home that you may look to use a late tac ride. Perry at 4 is particularly as a stronger rider to cover heat 14 than JWW would be if they were the other way around, which gives us a more powerful end to the meeting. Ritchings at 6 so that he has the generally more favourable inside gate in heat 2. This is more a factor away from home where the away reserves will probably be stronger. The hope being he pops out and we at least share the heat. He would ride twice with Bekker and once with Perry which should be useful too. Also he could take the extra ride in 14 in a reserve swap if needed. On paper it makes us relatively weak in heat 8 but that's always a favoured heat for tac rides anyway. Again on paper I'm very much favouring being strong at home. This is by design as I feel gaining maximum points at home is the right platform to build your season. Consider that maximum points at home and nothing away from home on 2012 would give us more points than we managed in 2011. Also, from a business point of view it's far more important to be strong at home. Through the dodgy spell (putting it mildly!) at home last season the crowd stuck behind the lads and turned up despite grumbling as we did so. But would the crowds levels be maintained if it became a regular problem? My experience, from being a regular at Monmore and Brandon over the years, is that crowds can dip somewhat significantly when a team has a poor home season. We need to build on our first two seasons and hopefully attract even more of the old guard, not see a few start to drift away.

You could entertain kids in Prague for a couple of days. Boat/pedlo's on the river, lots of activity on the bridge (get pics drawn them etc) and around the main square with horse and carriage rides, loads of small shops selling stuff they can waste your money on, funicular railway with a decent sized tower to climb up on Petrin Hill (fantastic views - recommend to anyone), even the trams and underground rides will probably entertain them for a while (and so cheap to get a 3/5/7 day pass), food's not a problem as there are something like 4 McD's and 5 KFC's and if all else fails take them to the torture museum and scare them into silence! Prague really does have something for everyone. If the arts are your thing then hit the opera and museums. If you're an alcoholic hit the beer (even the 50p a pint stuff is better than ours ). The old Jewish cemetery is meant to be well worth a visit. The crystal is a good buy if that's your thing. Lots of good restaurants as well as the fast food giants, but as with any city be prepared to pay a premium on the tourist trail. Oh and if you've ever wanted a suit of armour but never been sure where to shop for one I have seen one for sale in Prague!

It depends what you want out of your trip. If it's just a good night out at the speedway and getting in and out of the country as fast as you can then Poland is probably your best bet for a cheap trip and a good chance of seeing some decent racing. If you want to make the speedway part of a city break then I would advise Prague without giving it a second thought. It's a cracking city to spend a few days, and nights, in. It's still relatively cheap too, though not the bargain it was 5-10 years ago.

I would be surprised if he went over 8 in '12. Established riders rarely bump their average up that much from one season to the next. A point improvement represents a more realistic target for riders trying to recover from a dodgy year or two. It's not easy to judge at the moment because no other team has named more than 5 riders, and some have not named any. But from what's been confirmed so far I don't think there's a team that should really 'scare' us. What we do have is huge potential for improvement throughout the team. Of course it needs to be realised, but there are plenty of riders on the 'right' average in our team. Cheers Neil. I thought I'd read it somewhere and hadn't just made it up myself. Some of those crashes he had would shake up all but the truly crazy, and when combined it's no surprise that there's a psychological effect as well as a physical one. All in the past now though. If I may be so bold - I think the responsibility of riding at 5 is a tough one for any rider. There's pressure to go out and win your races as your reserve partner may struggle and be at the back. The flip side is that if your reserve partner is there or thereabouts there's an expectation that as the senior rider in the partnership you help him out and defer to him even if he's on your preferred line. My personal opinion is that I would want an older and more experienced rider in the role. Just to be clear I will say that it just happens to be Ash we're talking about, my opinion would be the same of any young and relatively inexperienced rider. I don't think it's necessarily the case. What you need is riders that can improve their average significantly. We have that in other areas of the team. If the others do their job then a solid 3 pointer at the bottom that chips away and scores a few points regularly will be enough. It depends on how you've built your team. Of course a 3-pointer scoring double figures and taking 7 rides is very handy indeed, but it's not the only factor that will decide how the season pans out. This is case in point. Yes, a high scoring reserve is good but a team that improves overall will probably walk away with the silverware as there's no weak link. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mod note - Just a preemptive strike here. Keep it friendly please guys.

Tom and Ash get in each other's way if they both miss it and are both trying to find a way through the traffic, though they do look quite comfortable when out front on a 5-1. As a spectator I felt there were signs of a growing understanding. Either way I'm happy to have both back. If they're not paired together I would revise my expectations slightly. Tom at 3/4 with Byron should average a little more as I feel Ash is better than him (just my opinion) so would therefore have taken more points off Tom. Ash at 5 is a tougher position so I would revise him down a bit and even a little under 8 would represent a good season for him. Royno - depends if he goes flat out up front or drops in behind his team mate so 11 with BP's is what I would expect. Basically he shouldn't drop too many points to opponents but may not have a very high average if he sits in 2nd often. JWW - I'd be happy with anything that's an improvement as I've not seen enough of him to offer any real analysis of where he should be in '12. Tom - He should have done better last year so his sub-6 start point is low in my view. He should be looking to average 7-7½ in '12 if he's going to make a real breakthrough in speedway and move up to make a career in the PL, and perhaps beyond one day. Ash - As above I think position in the team will dictate to a certain expect how much he can put on his average. He needs to be looking in the region of 8 either way. He did it in the early part of last season so the ability is there without improvement as such. He just needs to keep the bike rubber side down and put it together for the full season. I think he quite openly admits, I'm sure Neil can confirm or deny if he so chooses, that the heavy knocks affected his confidence last season. As we all know confidence is so important. Boris - I know a lot of people rate him very highly, and I certainly don't have any problem with the guy, but I just haven't seen anything that really convinces me he's going make any sort of big step up. I might be wrong, and will be happy to hold my hands up if I'm wrong, but for now I'll just say that if others improve as I hope/expect then a solid 6½ from in the middle order will suit the team just fine. We can't afford to carry him if his average drops though as I feel it would pile pressure on -----> Darryl - Fully deserved the award at the end of last season as he showed signs of good progress, battled well, lead confidently at times and was a real pain in the backside to anyone trying to hold him off. It was his first season and often the encore can be tricky, as Tom found out. So although I think that with better equipment for a full season, I believe he struggled with a few bits n bobs later in the season last year, he could make a significant step up I will keep expectations realistic. Near a point improvement to put him over 5 will be job done. Number 7 - According to the Heathens FB feed there are on-going discussions with riders so this one's open to quite some debate. Depending on who we get he could prove the difference. If we are lucky enough to get a 'wonder-kid' that can bump up his 3-point start figure significantly we're looking very very good indeed. A more 'raw' novice rider in, that's looking to just justify himself and his position in the team/league with a 3.something at the end of the year, and we may not quite have enough fire power at the bottom end. Whatever happens as long as the lads give us 100% effort and commitment they'll get the full backing of the large, relatively speaking, crowd. Give it some ommer lads. Neil - The only fixed positions are the top averaging rider at 1 and the lowest two at 6/7. We could start with Ash at number 2!

It's a big season for both of them as they look to push on in the NL and start to break into the PL properly. Assuming they're paired together again at 3/4 I would be looking for them to average at least 15.something between them, with Ash over 8 and Tom over 7. As harsh and blunt as it may sound less than that is not going to be good enough for us as a club or for them as riders looking to progress their careers. By all accounts the Aussie trip seems to have been a huge success, and for Tom in particular I think the extra speedway experience could be crucial. He's still done very little speedway, although an accomplished racer in other respects, and he did admit that not racing speedway in between the 2010 and 2011 season had an effect on the early part of his season last year. I, for one, am hopeful that the Aussie trip has got him well and truly hooked on speedway and that his full commitment in future will be to speedway. That's not to suggest that I think he should quit grasstrack.

Not necessarily. The points limit is below the average number of points scored in a meeting. The team could improve its average and still be crap. Hang on mate, they weren't written off. He said untried 3-pointers could be brilliant or hopeless. I can't see anything wrong with that, although we do have some youngsters coming through that have shown well at junior level. villiers remembers only too well some of the reserves we've had in the past. Heathens fans of old are scarred for life after watching some of them try to get around. Nathan Stoneman likes Dudley Heathens and his two favourite teams are Dudley Heathens and Eastbourne Eagles. Personally I don't think he's ready for the EL yet so...