21st century heathen

Happy with that. Eurosport is a cracking channel, and the comment about speedway now being aligned with other motorcycle sport is bang on.

Phew! Though clearly wearing the wrong colours this season I do like Bren so I'm glad it was not as costly as it could have been.

Pah! Amateurs. http://www.abc.org.uk/Products-Services/Product-Page/?tid=20888

As I stated, I don't know what the answer is. There has been a snow ball effect whereby the world has changed and speedway has not over an extended period which serves only to exacerbate the problems. And more alarmingly, perhaps, for the most part it seems unwilling to change. Whilst I think rider/fan interaction is largely good and major plus point for the sport I do think that 1) more could be done in this area and 2) trying to catch riders between heats is going to be a little hit-and-miss and should probably be discouraged to avoid disappointment if a rider is unwilling while he's in the middle of a meeting.

I said a while ago that (with regard to the Heathens) it's the youngsters in the sport that should be out there in schools, colleges and clubs with the aid of the Promoters/Team Managers as they are able to relate to people around their own age in a way that even the younger Promoters/Team Managers can't. Particularly the like of Max Clegg, Nathan Greaves, Ashley Morris and Dan Greenwood (from our team) would be accepted into the group, so-to-speak, and would get the speedway is cool message across a lot better than Patch, CVS and Nigel. Give out vouchers with a significant discount to admission for kids and adults and you may just get some to turn up. Even at a significant discount it will be more income than if you don't bother. Do that two or three times a season and who knows how many more regulars and riders of tomorrow you may unearth!?

People that think lower cost for riders will result in lower admission costs are living in a dream world. A rider who finds a way to save £2k, for example, isn't going to sit down with a calculator and work out how much per point he can drop his demands by. Likewise, if a Promoter finds a way to save £20k he/she is going to think 'great I can cut my loses a fair bit this season'. And, to be honest I can't blame either party for trying to maximise their earnings/savings. Meanwhile the hardcore fan base continues to be squeezed and slowly dwindles. I really don't know what the solution is but it's going to take something far more drastic than riders not having to cough up for the modern silencer, rear guard etc.

Heathens use Facebook and Twitter.

Yes. He's taken his 2012 engine/s to Germany. 2013 rules and reg's were released a while ago.

It would be interesting to know who 'we' are. You won't get many 11-16 year old's there without their parent/s or a guardian. You can make it free for 11 year old's but they won't be there if their parent/s don't, or can't afford to, pay £17 (variable by club/league). Get the parent/s or guardian there first and a lot will take their kids along provided the additional cost is not disproportionately high.

He was booed as the riders were announced before the meeting even began. A minibus of girls from his fan club must have turned up late though because by the time he won it there were a mix of boos and cheers.

It was probably mooted, leaked and then ditched when people pointed out the issues, not least of all being I'm sure the riders were decidedly unhappy. ---------------------------------------------- Some changes in the NL for this year that haven't been mentioned. 17.9 A NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE Team’s initial Declaration will consist of 7 Riders whose total MA must not exceed 40.00 points (for 2012, 2013 & 2014)be It needed to be changed or adhered to. Off the top of my head only 3 teams had 'legal' initial declarations last season, but not a word about it from the SCB. I'm disappointed by this changes though. I'd like to have seen 8 riders enforced and a rule stated if one of your reserves is missing your 8th rider replaces him. If he is out too then a guest up to his average. If both reserves are out your number 8 for the lower and a guest for the higher averaging rider. That would have given a chance for a few rides to more young riders, similar to Ritchings had with the Heathens before being elevated into the main team of 7. 17.9.1 It must also not exceed 40.00 points when re-declared (permanent or temporary) except where the MA of the introduced Rider is equal to, or lower than the Rider being replaced. 17.9.2 Initial Team Declarations may include: 17.9.2.1 Riders with a PL MA of 6.00 or below if they are not declared in a PL 1–7 at the start of the season, although any such Rider who moves back into the PL will be ineligible if he has a PL MA of 5.00 or above. NB. A Rider with a PL MA of 5.00 or below joining a NL Team after losing a PL Team place may not remain in the NL Team if he subsequently gains a PL Team place, Still trying to fully digest this and ponder the potential implications. 17.9.2.2 A current PL Rider under 25 years-old with a PL MA of 4.00 or below at the start of the Season. 17.9.2.3 Only one established (ie. has achieved a League MA) Rider over 30 years old, unless that Rider continues to ride for the same team as in the previous season. 17.9.2.4 One new (no previous Team appearance) Rider over 30 years old Makes sense I s'pose. 17.9.3 All Riders must hold a UK Passport or have UK Patriality. 17.9.3.1 Riders qualifying by UK Patriality will be given an assessed MA of 5.00 17.9.4 A Rider taken out of a Team cannot be re-introduced into that Team within 14 days. 17.9.5 Where a Rider has both a previous PL & NL MA, the highest will apply. 17.9.6 Where a Rider is declared in both a PL & NL Team, the PL Team shall have priority, except that a PL Rider nominated for the NLRC must appear in the NLRC. 17.9.7 It is mandatory for Riders to appear in the NL 4TT, NL BP & NLRC; Riders will be suspended from their next 2 Home Meetings in contravention, subject to MC confirmation This should have been clarified. My understanding is that in the 4TT and BP it's only mandatory if the club have selected said rider, meaning you are not necessarily represented by your top 4 or 2 riders. In the NLRC the top riders plus the best of the rest as nominated must appear. Also it seems that PL can call on their riders if there's a clash with the 4TT and BP because although the rule on the NLRC specifically states the NL takes priority the rule on the 4TT and BP does not. Therefore the PL clubs uses the rule that PL clubs' meetings take priority. There is ambiguity that would have been easy to eradicate. 17.9.8 In the case of a dispute regarding the Line-Up the matter may be referred to the NL CoOrdinator, but will have the same validity as it were taken under SR 18.1.3

Officially confirmed the NL boys will be at practice with the EL boys on Fri. Riders expected on track just before 5pm for a couple of hours. http://www.coventrybees.co/news.php?extend.2169

I think it's great to have him back. Riding this level will give him extra meetings to blow away the cobwebs. The PL and then EL will soon come knocking and he'll move on next season I'm sure. I can't see him doing more than one season in the NL.

----------------------------- If clubs have a page on the website dedicated to sponsors I'll be happy to drop a link to that page in the first post on the thread.

Please note new thread for all SGP and SWC race cards. Thanks. http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=72860

Following a suggestion by a BSF member we have a new idea for 2013 to keep things neat and tidy where race cards are concerned. From now on we would like all links to race cards for SGP and SWC events to be posted in this thread. Please do not post new individual threads. There should be no discussion on this thread. Discussion about the events can still take place on a separate thread. Any discussion will be removed. If you would like to show your gratitude to the member posting the link please use the 'LIKE THIS' button at the bottom of their post. Anyone posting links to race cards should note that it is important to make clear which event the race card is for (include SGP/SWC, location and date of event).

Cheers bud. ------------ I've added main sponsors for Heathens and IOW. I've not done Stoke as it's not clear on the website. There's a logo but no link to a website (that I can see at a glance). Other clubs' main sponsors can be added if someone can confirm it and provide a link. There are plenty of people reading this section that are directly involved with the clubs so ideally if one of you could leave a message here or PM me I'll know it's right. Cheers.

Certainly not. I invited everyone to point out anything that needs to be amended. As you point out it is particularly important to make sure the riders' name is correct, just as common courtesy as much as any other reason. I've no idea how I managed a 'g' in Sarjeant as I generally refer to him as Sarj. For a rider who already has a CMA it's his first 3 home and 3 away (league) to get a new average, and then monthly. For an assessed rider it's the first 6 meetings (league) he competes in regardless of the split between home and away meetings, and then monthly for him too. ------------------------------------ I did not have time to go through all the links to double-check they were all accurate and 'labelled' properly because the season is closing in and I wanted to get this page up sooner than later. So, if perhaps one person from each club could check the links for his/her club and just post a thumbs up or point out any changes required I'd appreciate it. I'm off to think about the best way to put an updated page of riders' website up. p.s. Does your club have a main sponsor? For example on the Heathens race jacket (see my avatar) you can see the main team sponsor Recycled Aggregate Services. I know Buildbase sponsors the Bees but what about Storm? etc...

Oops, now that was a mistake not a typo. Apologies.

Thanks for pointing out the typos and I will admit to a couple of guess on the averages. I think the changes are done, but please point out any mistakes. A new thread will be coming for predictions when all teams are complete.

Comments or suggestions welcomed, particularly any obvious errors or omissions. Cheers.

BUXTON 'HITMEN' Homepage - http://www.buxtonhitmen.co/ Fixtures and Results - http://www.buxtonhitmen.co/fixtures13 Details - http://www.buxtonhitmen.co/clubdetails Officials - http://www.buxtonhit...o/clubofficials Contacts and Directions - http://www.buxtonhitmen.co/contactus Admission Cost - http://www.buxtonhit...co/ticketoffice THE RIDERS Charles Wright (8.53) Tony Atkin (7.75) Adam McKinna (6.74) Ryan Blacklock (3.51) Tyler Govier (3.00) Matt Williamson (3.00) Tom Woolley (3.00) = 35.53 COVENTRY 'STORM' Homepage - http://www.coventrybees.co/homepage Fixtures and Results - http://www.coventryb...lfixtures13.php Details and Officials - http://www.coventryb...o/directory.php Contacts - http://www.coventryb...o/contactus.php Directions - http://www.coventryb...howtofindus.php Admission Cost - http://www.coventryb...o/admission.php THE RIDERS Joe Jacobs (7.94) James Sarjeant (7.87) Oliver Greenwood (6.57) Brendan Johnson (5.25) Richard Franklin (4.84) Trevor Heath (4.18) Martin Knuckey (3.00) = 39.65 DUDLEY 'HEATHENS' Main Team Sponsor - http://www.recycleda...services.co.uk/ Homepage - http://www.dudleyheathens.co/homepage Fixtures and Results - http://www.dudleyhea.../fixtures13.php Details - http://www.dudleyhea...clubdetails.php Officials - http://www.dudleyhea...ubofficials.php Contacts and Directions - http://www.dudleyhea...o/contactus.php Admission Cost - http://www.dudleyhea...o/admission.php THE RIDERS Ashley Morris (8.51) Lewis Blackbird (7.01) Dan Greenwood (5.90) Paul Starke (5.70) Gareth Isherwood (4.92) Max Clegg (4.54) Nathan Greaves (3.00) = 39.58 ISLE OF WIGHT 'ISLANDERS' Main Team Sponsor - http://www.wightlink.co.uk/ Homepage - http://www.iowislanders.co/ Fixtures and Results - http://www.iowisland...sults_2013.html Details and Officials - http://www.iowisland...infomation.html Contacts and Address - http://www.iowisland...contact_us.html THE RIDERS Tom Perry (9.88) Byron Bekker (7.44) Ben Hopwood (6.16) Darryl Ritchings (5.84) Danny Stoneman (3.83) Adam Ellis (3.00) Brandon Freemantle (3.00) = 39.15 KENT 'KINGS' Main Team Sponsor - http://www.ctafire.co.uk/ Homepage - http://kentkings.co/index1.html Fixtures and Results - http://kentkings.co/2013_fixtures.html Details - http://kentkings.co/club_details.html Directions - http://kentkings.co/find_us.html Admission Cost - http://kentkings.co/admission.html THE RIDERS Steve Boxall (11.38) Ben Morley (7.82) David Mason (7.16) Connor Coles (4.30) Adam Kirby (3.00) Jack Kingston (3.00) = 30.66 (3.34 remaining) KING'S LYNN 'YOUNG STARS' Homepage - http://www.kingslynnstars.co/ Fixtures and Results - http://www.kingslynn...ixtures-results Details - http://www.kingslynn...lub-information Directions - http://www.kingslynn...index.php/venue Admission Cost - http://www.kingslynn...dmission-prices THE RIDERS Darren Mallett (7.48) Tom Young (7.04) Lewis Kerr (6.67) Jake Knight (5.93) Shane Hazelden (4.57) Shane Waldron (5.00) Lewis Rose (3.00) = 39.69 MILDENHALL 'FEN TIGERS' Homepage - http://www.mildenhallfentigers.co/ Fixtures and Results - http://www.mildenhal...p/fixture-lists Details - http://www.mildenhal...hp/club-details Contacts and Admission Cost - http://www.mildenhal....php/contact-us THE RIDERS Stefan Nielsen (8.32) Jon Armstrong (8.11) Daniel Halsey (6.57) Josh Bates (5.30) Aaron Baseby (4.88) Nathan Stoneman (3.00) Liam Rumsey (3.00) = 39.18 STOKE 'POTTERS' Homepage - http://www.stokepotters.co/ Fixtures and Results - http://www.stokepotters.co/fixtures13 Details - http://www.stokepotters.co/clubdetails Officials - http://www.stokepott...o/clubofficials Contacts - http://www.stokepotters.co/contactus Admission Cost - http://www.stokepott...co/ticketoffice THE RIDERS Lee Smart (9.58) Ben Reade (7.70) Kyle Hughes (6.12) Luke Priest (5.67) Luke Chessell (4.59) Shaun Tedham (3.00) Emerson Jones (3.00) = 39.66 *all averages subject to official confirmation

There's a more in-depth version on the Heathens website. http://www.dudleyheathens.co/news.php?extend.746 Nice to see Colin's service recognised but I'm really not quite sure what it means.

Cheers, missed that one. Lee must be on a converted PL average that I've missed somewhere.

I've just been trying to nail down all the averages as there's nothing on the BSPA website yet. re: Kyle Hughes. He's ridden both NL and PL achieving an average in both. It looks like he's signed on his PL average converted. Stoke announced him on 6.12 but I make it 6.17. But should he be on his NL average (8.96) as it is the higher? re: Lee Smart. Similarly he has an average in both leagues. He was announced on 9.58 which I thought sounded about right for his NL average. Having checked he averaged 9.50 NL. I've probably missed something somewhere. If anyone can shed any light on which average from when and where these two are on it will save me some brain-ache. Cheers.