21st century heathen

Armo has joined the Heathens as a full asset. Despite my reservations about his signing I'm happy to welcome him aboard as an asset. It's nice to know someone at his stage of career still cares enough about his racing, and was so impressed with the Heathens, that he wants to be an asset of a particular club. http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.10459

Here are the Heathens fixtures. As stated, all our home meetings this season will be staged at Monmore Green.

Mateusz - I'm quite shocked by your "We're the best and nobody else maters" attitude. :'(

I've seen new silencers again tonight and no issues to report. Woffinden was in the dirt scrapping the air fence. There are a lot of Poles I'd like to have in the EL but the rest of the world should not be held to random. If the Poles refuse to conform then ban them from the other leagues and all FIM events.

First news from Monmore tonight, where the Heathens share P&P with Wolves, is that the bar has been spruced up since last October. More to follow...

It should be up to PL6 and if a Promoter wants to sign a rider on NL12 then that's up to them. Whoever the rider is and however good he is there is no way the club can gain any advantage as his average can only go one way. Also, I've never liked the age thing. What if there's a promising rider new to speedway that happens to be a bit older when he starts? For example didn't Danny Bird start quite late having switched to speedway from Moto X(?). Personally I think more should be done to try to tempt riders over from other disciplines that they've tried but not made a break through at. There might be any number of riders that have tried Moto X (as the obvious example) through their teens but jacked it in for a desk job if it didn't work out by the time they were 21(for eg). If we find 1 out of every 10 that's able to have a decent speedway career then it can only be good for British Speedway. The restriction should be based on the number of years racing speedway professionally not based on age. Just my humble opinion.

Sorry I should have highlighted that the bit I was referring to was where it says "additionally". He's okay to ride NL only as it's not additional to PL this coming season, which confirms the post I was replying to.

Not in my opinion. I can't see enough back-up on a week-in and week-out basis. Correct. 17.4.7.2 No PL Rider with a PL CMA of 4.00 and above may ride additionally in a NL Team. Really? I think there's a good chance he could end up about 4th in the league averages (behind Kurtz, Herne and Roynon perhaps even Lambert). He's a class addition to the NL though, and I look forward to seeing him ride at this level. Great signing.

Not to mention his team mates!! Jokes aside the kid is going places with the right people around him to guide his career. So from the point of view of British Speedway best of luck to him. From the point of view of a Heathens fan - he's the pantomime villain with the way he rides so he'll probably get booed.

I like the way the team is shaping up so far.

Okay, so there are exceptions to every rule. And anyone that knows me knows I'll happily hold my hands up and admit to being wrong if he averages 9+ and becomes a number 1 this season.

No chance. He'll average an exclusion in every four rides and there's no way he'll score maximum points from the three in every four rides. Jokes aside, it would be unprecedented for a rider to go from 5-point reserve to 9+ number 1 the following season (which would put him in the Simon Lambert bracket). I just can't see that level of improvement. He has the beating of anyone in a one-off race, but you're talking about banging in big double-figure scores home and away week after week.

It's an advantage, no doubt about it. How much of an advantage will only really become clear when the fixtures are released so we can see when and where the Colts are racing, and after the first few meetings so we can see what sort of form the rest start in.

Ahhh now that puts a different perspective on it. When I scanned over the teams on the BSPA website before posting it hadn't been changed. So I was seeing two 3-pointers at reserve and Garrity starting in the top 5.

Cheers Andy. -------------------------------- I'm not quite so convinced about this line-up as some seem to be. To me it looks as though they're taking a punt in every area of the team (by which I mean heat leader, 2nd string and reserve). Yes, it could work out but it looks a bit of a risky strategy and realistically you don't go in to a season thinking all of your riders will make a big step up. You hope a couple can, you hope a couple might edge up a bit, a solid scorer somewhere that you can rely on (which they have in McKinna IMO), and you accept at least one maybe two riders could have a poor season. It's a wild generalisation of course, but it's fair assessment of how things usually pan-out in the real world. Quite rightly people will point to the potential improvement in Garrity. But I think there may be too much pressure too soon and hope that this aspect is monitored by those around him. He has very fast equipment but is extremely wild, to put it politely. He averaged 5 last season but from reserve. To expect him to become a heat leader this season may pile pressure on him and make him ride in an even more desperate manner. If has a safe and steady season and ends with a 6-point average riding in the 1-5 all season then that will be progress, and perhaps next season could be the big one. I just sense some may be expecting him to average 8 and score double-figures home and away on a regular basis. Two 3-pointers at reserve is a risk too. There could be some tough away-days. Of course I could completely change my mind when all the team are finalised.

As I said, I understand why it's done. I agree with the first part, but I disagree that this is the best way to go about it. It would be far better, in my opinion, to have riders signed and announced as soon as possible and then for the media coverage to be a rider profile, preferably one a week in the 8 weeks leading up to the start of the new season, by way of introducing the riders to the fans. I particularly disagree with the way the club have gone about it with this latest statement. If you have no intention of announcing the final two riders at this stage then why tell the fans that riders have been signed? That's just opening yourself up to this kind of criticism. We're in the middle of February not the middle of December so it's not as though announcing now would leave you with most of the winter to go with no riders to announce. The club could even just hold back on announcing the number 8 if they really want to hold something back until the last minute. At the end of the day it just a case that I would not go about it in the same way. Hey-ho... I agree with all of that. I have absolutely no worries about Adam's raw talent. Full potential is rarely realised but if he can realise even half of his this season he'll be scoring for fun in the NL. If he re-captures his pre-injury '08 form then the rest better take a long hard look in the pits because they won't see which way he went out on track!! On a serious note I most sincerely hope that come the end of the coming season I hope we're all talking about Adam being back to his best and talking about some of his performances rather than the injuries and other off-track problems. It's not on the BSPA website. Did you get that from the club website? I agree it would have been a good shout for the bottom end.

Phew! I was starting to feel quite lonely with one or two views I have. With the ways things have shaped up I would be very happy with Johnson and Pickard as the final two. I don't have the exact final figures but based on the only figures available they should fit with 4.31 and 4.35 coming in a little under our 8.88 available to 'spend'. I would love to have seen Franklin back in but I would have concerns about going in to the new season with two 3-pointers at reserve, particularly given my reservations at the top end. Just out of interest and a bit of a swerve ball does anyone know what average Jack Hargreaves would be on?

Perry officially confirmed for the Heathens on 6.56, leaving 8.88. Apparently the final two signings have been made but will not be announced until later in the month.

Nice to have 'Fred' officially confirmed. I can see him putting a point on his average. I know why some clubs choose the 'drip-feed' approach to announcing the team but personally I find it annoying and a little pointless when it's close to the start of the season. Particularly when you tell the fans the riders are signed-up but we're not telling you who they are. Not great PR in my humble opinion, sorry.

Glad to see Darryl confirmed after he sat waiting patiently for very few chances last season. He deserves to get a go in the 1-7 this season. I'll be happy with 3.something from him at the end of the season as it will be an improvement on his start average which is what you need throughout the team to be successful. (kind of an obvious statement I know) What Rich needs more than anything is, like many a Brit before him, to improve his gating. He shows good speed, generally, and carries good speed into the corners when some at this level can hesitate a touch. If he can get his nose in front on lap one more often he'll bump his average up a fair bit. Forgive me if I'm wrong but this reads as though you haven't seen Roynon pre-injuries. He just needs to get racing under his belt and build his confidence up again. As others have said he was absolutely flying for B'ham a couple of years ago. He was pushing the track record and when following Jason Lyons on a 5-1 there were a couple of times just before breaking his leg that he was the quicker rider and was cruising behind Lyons. In those few weeks he was averaging about 8-8½ in the PL. For comparison Smarty was in the PL then averaging about 4-5. The guy has bundles of natural talent and can be very quick. All of this said I don't know how much experience he has at Monmore so might take a while to settle with set-up and the right racing lines, we'll see.

If Rich signs, which I would be happy enough with at face value, we're left with 2 x 3 pointers at reserve. Would need the official averages to be sure of where we are though. I mentioned Pickard last week. He and Bates would have been good signings. There just aint enough points to play with.

Cheers mate. Is there anywhere we can view the averages for team building?

It gets better. The 8.36 I quoted may not be right either. I have looked on the BSPA website today to see if any signings had gone though without me spotting them and to review the Newport line-up now it's complete and I notice Armstrong is on there at 8.61. NIGEL/WILL/ANYBODY - Can we have confirmation please? And is there an official or unofficial source anywhere for the fans to view relevant averages?

That's true but we would have been very strong at the top end, much stronger than last season. When it comes right down to it in heats 13 and 15 that could be vital. How many times did Hamill and Hancock do the business for us, for example? My concern is that the way the team is shaping up we will be weaker in all areas of the team. I know everyone starts equal, points limit wise, and that we've had to lose the most , as I stated earlier. It's just a personal preference as to how I would have built the team. I feel that the decision to bring Armstrong back in is one that Nigel has made through weight of opinion, which he as good as admits in his comments, rather than what was actually considered to be the best way to build the team. I would be interested to know what the other options being considered were. Cheers. But aren't those the averages on the BSPA website which Jayne says are not final averages and therefore irrelevant for team building? -------------------------------------- I can see us now ended up something like this. Armstrong - 8.36 Roynon - 7.70 Perry - circa 6½ Franklin - circa 5½ Morris - 5.25 A.N.Other - circa 3½ Ritchings - 3.00 I think we're going to need to pull a rabbit out of the hat for that last place, but of course we've not seen all the other teams yet.

I assumed that the league that is supposedly developing the British riders might afford them the same opportunities as riders in higher leagues. So Harris, Rico and Scotty (the top Brits) all get an average reduction to help them in the EL but the British lads don't get one when they're starting out in the NL. And likewise Roynon and Lambert get a reduction presumably Simmons and Brundle don't. It all seems rather strange to me. Is there a source for us to view final averages? The EL and PL sections of the BSPA website have a Greensheet tab but not the for NL, hence I assumed the only figures quoted were the right ones. Exactly. The NL lads have been competing for places against foreign riders, though not such a large pool admittedly, so why don't they get a reduction too?! It really should be the same rule across the leagues let alone in the same league, where a select few NL riders have got a reduction but the majority haven't. It was fair comment. ------------------------------------------------------ So, Armstrong - 8.36 Roynon - 7.70 Perry - ??? Morris - 5.06 Bates - ??? Pickard - ??? Ritchings - 3.00 ??? should fit as surely their final averages weren't that different to what's on the BSPA website. Perry could put another point on if his gating improves a little. Pickard should get 5.something and Bates should bang his average up to 6.something if he gets his head down and puts everything into it.