Thornaby48

Even with 6 man teams the same problems with riders missing due to injuries etc will exist , just one less rider to worry about. To my mind r/r is the best way forward and that when both teams want to use it ,it gets cancelled out and the no.8 is promoted. This used to be the system years ago and gives the no.8 valuable experience.

It is all well and good bringing in novelty speedway of 2 laps or 3 man teams etc. People want to see their 7 man team ,no guests, riding in a league or the cup. Make the racing exciting. Every race has 4 riders of varying standard, usually 2 heat leaders and 2 second string so we end up with 2 races in each heat and the first out of the gate wins ,especially on the large tracks. I feel that handicap racing is the future based on the riders average thus giving the “second string” riders a chance to be competitive for at least the first lap. This could also help to produce “team riding” (Which is a lost art) if the heat leader can protect his partner from the attacking opponents. Surely this is the excitment needed in speedway.

In 18 years of caravanning i have only once seen a coloured family doing likewise. Some things just do not appeal to them just as i am sure some of the things they enjoy dont appeal to us.

I am sure some speedway will take place this year but nothing of any significance. Why dont we take this opportunity to experiment with new (and old) ideas?Why not try handicap racing , or perhaps changing the points scored in races to 4,3,2,0 to encourage team riding just as in the pairs competition ,what about trying out the old 13 heat+ second half used in the 70s.? Perhaps teams of 6 riders each or maybe 8 riders to bring more juniors along. Teams could have mini leagues of say 3 teams racing each other twice trying out a new formula ,which if sucessful could be used next year.

I also think it's a daft idea ,when we can clearly see what is happening. Also, would we be able to hear above the noise of the bikes, plus in some parts of a stadium we cannot always hear the race result being announced. Might it also cause noise problems with the neighbours?

Am I correct in saying that the Premier League teams have only 12 home league meetings plus a British Youth Championship round ,or have I missed something ?

Speed way has never made a serious attempt at automatic promotion and relegation ,so why not try it now? It's recognised that there isn't the massive difference in standards between the Premier and Championship Leagues that there used to be . The 1st division ( Premier League) could be the existing 7 teams plus the top 3 from the Championship and the 2nd division(Championship League) could add 2 teams from the National League or elsewhere. Promotion and relegation would be the top2 teams up with the bottom 2 relegated. This is assuming that all this years teams still run. The season would open ,as suggested ,with a regionalised competition involving mixing all teams and the end of the season with a Ko cup likewise. This would mean that doubling up would have to end and if the scourge of guests persisted ,then they would come from the opposite league and not their own.

Like Tapeworm, I don't like rider control but it is a necessary evil. Speed way, unlike other major sports doesn't have strength in depth. Take football, it has hundreds of teams from pub teams to the Premier League with thousands of players, so the cream can rise to the top. Rugby likewise has thousands of players. When I played for West Hartlepool RFU we had 5 teams and I played in the 2 nd team. Cricket is another and sports like golf ,tennis and athletics have mass participants with the best rising to the top. Speed way does have a stepped structure from junior teams ,the NL, then CL and at the top PL. But with 28 teams and about 250 riders ranging from novices to world class it is not possible to have league's of teams with similar strength. Since we no longer have the traditional second halves the new riders are not coming through. In deed non of Redcars junior team have ridden in the first team. So without a points limit the rich teams would sign all the best riders and the PL would consist of maybe only 4 teams! Tapeworm idea was a bit like looking at a painting by Picasso----puzzling, but at least someone has raised the question. Like guest riders, the points limit is a necessary evil but needs some refining to stop teams abusing the system. The only thing I can think of is to raise the points limit but I would like to see teams who raise a rider from novice to heat leader having some form of exemption so that they can keep them rather than being punished.

The point I was making is that here is a sport (Formula 1) where billions of pounds is spent ,run by millionaire owners and drivers, massive sponsorship and tv coverage and attendances in the tens of thousands and yet some fans find the racing processional with little overtaking ( what do they expect when the fastest drivers start at the front of the grid ) and boring.So speedway ,with its limited budget, is not the only sport where some of its fans complain about boring,processional racing. It was just an observation.

I was just reading the letters page of the Daily Express this morning and I saw a letter about Formula One racing having similar problems to speed way. I quote "What used to be motor racing has now been reduced to a fast procession, the cars often finishing in the order they started. Super-expensive machines overloaded with electronics, some of the best drivers in the world and the result? Total boredom." He goes on " But the FP3 and F2 races are great, fast and exciting.Young drivers really going for it, overtaking close racing,what F1 used to be before the dead- hand of engineering took over. Sounds familiar? Except F1 pulls in the British GP more fans in one meeting than speed way combined attracts in one season.

It would be nice to have a constructive comment instead of all negative ones

I see from last night's results that the Scunthorpe v Sheffield and Glasgow v Newcastle that all 4 teams used r/r. What happened to the rule that when both teams use r/r and or guests they ruled each other out and promote the no8?. People say they want to see 7 riders in the team's and comment that next season there will be a shortage of riders, well the good book says (and I don't mean the BSPA rule book) "Reap what thy shalt sow" but if we don't give our no 8 a chance then the harvest of new talent will be very thin.

Unless I am mistaken all riders can have 7 rides. 4 programmed rides,1 tac.sub.,1 r/r, and1 nominated rider. I do agree that this is too many rides for anyone.

Surely the reserve berths are also there to allow the better juniors an easy way into the team rather than chucking them in at 1-5 .

The danger with 20 matches is if a team is running away with the match it becomes very boring. I am in favour of the old "40-38" formula with interval after heat 13 followed by a second half. The good thing about the old system is that it allowed the reserves extra rides including the up and coming riders who got valuable experience against established riders. At Middlesbrough several riders came through the ranks like this. At Redcar none of the current second junior's have appeared in the team despite on the odd occasion being listed at no 8.