TotallyHonestJohn

Well I looked at your starting list and have pulled the following off the net and I have removed the ones I know for sure who aren't riding in the UK this year and there will be a few more who wont be riding on the here that others know for sure who will not be available and maybe one or two more who will be but I think we will struggle... The pot is still half full but I think someone might have had a Pee in it when no one was looking... All were used in the last full season (2019) 1 Aaron Summers 26 Danyon Hume 51 Joe Thompson 76 Matt Marson 101 Sam Jensen 2 Adam Ellis 27 David Bellego 52 Joel Andersson 77 Matthew Wethers 102 Sam Masters 3 Alex Spooner 28 David Wallinger 53 Jordan Jenkins 78 Max Clegg 103 Scott Campos 4 Alfie Bowtell 29 Dawid Lampart 54 Jordan Palin 79 Michael Palm Toft 104 Scott Nicholls 5 Anders Rowe 30 Dimitri Berge 55 Jordan Stewart 80 Mikkel B Andersen 105 Simon Lambert 6 Ashley Morris 31 Drew Kemp 56 Josh Auty 81 Nathan Greaves 106 Stefan Nielsen 7 Ben Barker 32 Edward Kennett 57 Josh Bailey 82 Nathan Stoneman 107 Steve Worrall 8 Ben Morley 33 Ellis Perks 58 Josh Bates 83 Nick Agertoft 108 Tero Aarnio 9 Bradley Wilson-Dean 34 Erik Riss 59 Josh Grajczonek 84 Nick Morris 109 Thomas Jorgensen 10 Brady Kurtz 35 Fernando Garcia 60 Josh MacDonald 85 Nicklas Porsing 110 Tobias Thomsen 11 Broc Nicol 36 Georgie Wood 61 Josh Pickering 86 Nicolai Klindt 111 Tobiasz Musielak 12 Cameron Heeps 37 Hans Andersen 62 Justin Sedgmen 87 Niels-Kristian Iversen 112 Todd Kurtz 13 Charles Wright 38 Henry Atkins 63 Jye Etheridge 88 Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen 113 Tom Bacon 14 Chris Harris 39 Jack Holder 64 Kasper Andersen 89 Paco Castagna 114 Tom Brennan 15 Claus Vissing 40 Jack Smith 65 Kristian Pieszczek 90 Paul Starke 115 Tom Perry 16 Connor Bailey 41 Jack Thomas 66 Kye Thomson 91 Rasmus Jensen 116 Tom Woolley 17 Connor Coles 42 Jacob Bukhave 67 Kyle Bickley 92 Richard Andrew 117 Troy Batchelor 18 Connor Mountain 43 Jacob Thorssell 68 Kyle Howarth 93 Richard Lawson 118 Ty Proctor 19 Craig Cook 44 Jake Allen 69 Kyle Newman 94 Richard Lawson 119 Ulrich Ostergaard 20 Dan Bewley 45 James Sarjeant 70 Leon Flint 95 Richie Worrall 120 Valentin Grobauer 21 Dan Gilkes 46 James Shanes 71 Lewis Kerr 96 Ricky Wells 121 Victor Palovaara 22 Dan Thompson 47 James Wright 72 Luke Becker 97 Rob Ledwith 122 William Lawson 23 Daniel Gappmaier 48 Jason Edwards 73 Luke Chessell 98 Rory Schlein 123 Zach Wajtknecht 24 Danny King 49 Jed List 74 Luke Harris 99 Ryan Douglas 124 Zaine Kennedy 25 Danny Phillips 50 Joe Lawlor 75 Luke Ruddick 100 Ryan Kinsley 125 So let the scratching begin and lets see what we are left with as like I have said there will be loads of these on here who will not be back any time soon... and the bottom line is we require at least 96(ish) riders as a minimum... Regards THJ

Honestly I think there could be as many as 5 double up/down riders per team between the leagues with possibly a couple of foreigners who don't/wont (if they can be attracted at all); (or maybe one or two like Dan Bewley who may have a Polish team but will possibly still ride in the Premiership only) the only way they can differentiate between the leagues is let the 6 in the top league build their teams to 48.5 points (or more if they can find the riders) and allow the championship to build to 38.5 points as its the only way I can see to put some distance between the leagues. The National League can build to 28.5 points. With 6 top league teams and 12 teams (if Plymouth come up) in the championship leaving Mildenhall and the IOW as stand alone teams in the National League with others clubs 2nd or junior 7's it isn't boding well; as posted on another thread you need 126 riders to fill the slots in the top two leagues so that's 42 for the Premiership and 84 for the Championship and if 30 of those riding in the top league double up/down that still leaves 54 riders required for the Championship and the question is do we have that number of riders available? Its not looking good is it? Regards THJ

So any gnashing of teeth or chewing of nails yet... Big countdown to the Zoom BSPL AGM come this Thursday... Any predictions? Any more teams dropping out? Team Changes? Team Build Points to stay the same or be lowered? Covid vaccine roll out impacts and will it just delay the start of the season or will it mean no Speedway in 2021 either? Will averages be done away with all together in favour of something else? What will the League structure and competitions structures look like? What competitions will be run; Leagues; Cups; 4TTT; Pairs; Individuals? if any? Will we have another restricted GP with around 6 or 8 venues centred on Poland? With Swindon now not running that frees up 7 riders but will there be enough riders to go round and what restrictions will travel have on riders and team selections and not just Europe wide but travel in the UK as well with Nicola Sturgeon restricting unnecessary cross border travel between England and Scotland... Currently six teams in the top league and 12 in the championship... will anyone fancy going up for a season but if you consider that's 126 riders are required for 18 teams and if 5 per team in the top league at the minute double up/down that covers 30 of them so 66 riders are required to fill out the rest of the teams and will they allow Plymouth to come into the Championship which will mean another 7 riders required? Then the dreaded work permit situation for riders who are potentially now deemed to be foreigners... and not least Poland and what they are up to... Wow... Think I have asked this question before but who would be a promoter... Regards THJ

Part of life mate but it makes it hard to swallow when its avoidable; but I know where you are coming from... No Problems... Regards THJ

Well I never the very cheek of it... I am in Band 8 and I have just been on the https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/vaccine-queue-uk web site and based on my profile, there are between 23,170,485 and 26,283,945 people in front of me in the queue for a COVID vaccine across the UK. So you will be one of them Gaz for sure... then it states "Given a vaccination rate of 1,000,000 a week and an uptake of 70.6%, I should expect to receive my first dose of vaccine between 22/06/2021 and 14/07/2021. Then I should get my second dose by between 14/09/2021 and 06/10/2021. However if you play with the figures and up the vaccination rate to 2 million a week my dates tighten to early April as it states "Given a vaccination rate of 2,000,000 a week and an uptake of 70.6%, you should expect to receive your first dose of vaccine between 02/04/2021 and 13/04/2021. You should then get your second dose by between 25/06/2021 and 06/07/2021" So the faster they ramp this vaccination programme up I will be a happy Bunny as it gets me a jab around the Easter rather than June... Got a first time ever flu jab last month as well so I'm covered with that too... I think the Government are predicting vaccinating about 200,000 people a day to start off with and trying to build on that but when I get the call I will be there in the queue getting my shots and the sooner the better... Starting to hit close to home now and I have had a few friends go down with it and a couple of deaths which are very sad... Those Chinese have a lot to answer for in letting this loose... but never mind try the link and see when you are roughly due... Regards THJ

Would Poole fancy going back up? what about Glasgow going up to fill the Swindon void? Or both? The class gap between the leagues is closing up drastically... rather than the two leagues being a Premiership and Championship its starting to look more like Championship and Championship Lite... Depending on how successful the Vaccine works will depend on what happens with the sport; there appears to be a lot of goodwill from the promotions to try and get things up and running and May 1st 2021 would seem a good starting point if the Vaccine Roll Out gets us somewhere near herd immunity; it would allow for behind closed doors Press and Practice sessions to be done in the March and April ready for a start in May but to be fair there are still a number of Ands; Ifs and Buts to conclude before we get a definite "Go" for speedway IMHO Regards THJ

Honestly How refreshing... not just that statement but the whole post... Regards THJ Oh and happy New Year let's hope this one is better than the last one... let's face it that shouldn't be to hard should it...

Sorry TG it's just an early April 1st present... it would be great if we got Trev Bach back but that was just wishful thinking on my account... All the best and can't wait for that pint when we get back to some type of normal again... Regards THJ

You philistine have you never seen the classic movie The Shinning... Regards THJ

Well keep it under ya Elf hat an don't tell anyone... Merry Christmas. . Regards THJ

I'm not sure the promotion even know yet... ask Dandelion who she fancies that's always good for a laugh... and I'm keeping Mum as I was the Panto Villain this time last year and definitely not spilling the beans with who it could be but his name is an anagram of Ben Reach... Regards THJ...

Just being polite me old pal... I have called you worse over a pint... honestly... However to be totally honest I think both of them are good enough to put a point (and maybe a half more) on those starting averages... however being realistic it will take a great deal of effort for both of them to click over a 5 average but that's all it takes to end up with a successful team... and to be fair they are both capable of doing that... Everyone wants a rider to smash double points in every meeting/week but if the other 6 aren't doing the business it's no good... if your 7 can all put half a point on their starting average you have cracked it and you are in with a shout of making a final or two... although that can be harder than it sounds upping an average by half a point... The other thing is who we get at No5 and he will have a big impact on how Roynon and Wright do... you know someone who will look out for his Marra!!! Pity Stu Robson has retired because he would be just the guy to back up these guys... I could think of one or two others who could fit the bill but it currently looks like those guys are spoken for unless there are some changes on the starting line ups... Who knows lewy... who knows... Regards THJ

Lewy lewy lewy you miserable little twonk... you know better than most that Spedway is a confidence game more than most other sports and James "The Whippet" Wright will hit the ground running... Who knows if we start in the May or June (I think April will be to much of an ask) he could be at No5 by the time the August averages come out and the last link in the chain at present our missing new number 5 could be at reserve... just think what the new/old No 5 will be earning at reserve banging in double figure scores... Big Money... Funny old sport Speedway... lewy... in-it? Regards THJ

Just one!!!! Okay al hold ya to that... All the best Ruff... Regards THJ

Honestly Bored with Covid; Bored with Christmas and that hasn't happened yet and don't even mention Brexit and as for New Year!!! Bah Humbug... if we aren't locked down by December 31st I have a table booked for a few pints and a substantial meal on New Years Eve at a local Cumbrian hospitality venue and I have just been told its last orders at 10PM and all out by 11PM with no exceptions... well whoop-idy-doop and a Happy New Year? there's nowt happy about that but never mind; just got to plough on and make the best of it and if we are locked in for New Years Eve the local Pizza Shop better be well stocked up... So anyhow this has set me off thinking (always a bad idea I know but here goes) and with all this talk about Adam Roynon and what he will and wont do at Newcastle 2021 (and anywhere near his 2012 form would do nicely for me) but I definitely think it could be a good move for both rider and club... I remember a 2012 meeting when Royno would have went through the card if it wasn't for a slight Hiccup in his 3rd ride PL KO Cup - Semi - Finals - 1st Leg Newcastle Diamonds = 54 1. Stuart Robson - 1 , 2 , 3 , 1' = 7+1 2. Claes Nedermark - 3 , 1' , 3 , 1 = 8+1 3. Mark Lemon - 2 , 1' , 1' , 3 , 2 = 9+2 4. Christian Henry - 0 , 2 , 2 , 2' = 6+1 5. Ludvig Lindgren - 2 , 2' , 1 , 2 = 7+1 6. Paul Starke (Guest) - 2' , 3 , F/X , MPT = 5+1 7. Michael Palm Toft (Guest) - 3 , 1' , 2' , 2' , 3 , 1' = 12+4 Workington Comets = 36 1. Richard Lawson - 2 , 3 , 3 , 2' , 0 = 10+1 2. Tero Aarnio - 0 , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 0 = 6 3. R/R for Rene Bach - RL = 3 , AR = R , TA = 2 , KH = 1 = 6 4. Adam McKinna (Guest) - 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 = 2 5. Adam Roynon - 3 , 3 , R , 3 , 3 , 3 = 15 6. Ashley Morris - 1 , 0 , 0 , 0 = 1 7. Kyle Howarth - F/X , 0 , 0 , 1 , 1 = 2 Just for the record he didn't do to badly at Worky in the second leg either with Robbo the only rider to lower his colours in heat 13 PL KO Cup - Semi - Finals - 2nd Leg Workington Comets = 51 (87) 1. Richard Lawson - 3 2' 3 1' = 9+2 2. R/R for Kenny Ingalls - (AM 0) (KH 3) (TA ) (KH 1) 3. Rene Bach - 2 2 3 3 0 = 10 4. Tero Aarnio - 1' 0 1' 2 EX = 4+2 5. Adam Roynon - 3 3 3 2 3 = 14 6. Ashley Morris - 0 0 EX 0 = 0 7. Kyle Howarth - 2 2' 3 2 1 2' 2 = 14+2 Newcastle Diamonds = 39 (93) 1. Stuart Robson - 1' 3 2 3 2 =11+1 2. Claes Nedermark - 2 1 3 1' 1' = 8+2 3. Mark Lemon - 0 1' 2 1 = 4+1 4. Christian Henry - 3 2 0 1 = 6 5. Ludvig Lindgren - 1 1 1 0 = 3 6. Paul Starke (Guest) - 1 0 0 = 1 7. Michael Palm Toft (Guest) - 3 0 0 0 3 = 6 Oh and just for info this was the meeting where it was released on the Speedway Updates website by the Updater with the statement that "Just announced at track Worky to continue next year Keith Denham to retire and a new promoter taking over Laura Morgan" Who was to know where that would have ended up in 2018 with an alleged "Mickey Mouse Team" eh!!!. Anyway signing Royno could be one of the shrewdest moves ever made by Rob Grant and his team and be a tremendous success or backfire in spectacular fashion like the Andrew Tully signing when poor old Andy come a cropper in his last lap on his last practice ride on press and practice day and missed most of the 2013 season. Hopefully its the former and not the latter but there will be an awful lot of folk willing him on to do well that's for sure... Isn't Speedway great... Good luck Adam and the first pints are on you... Regards THJ

Honestly Been there and done that... also six man teams... some promotions liked the idea and others hated it... slight majority against but those were the bigger boys who ultimately held sway... and more importantly didn't want change... I think it will be mid January before the mist clears and we see in what direction the sport goes as there are still many unknown factors at present IMHO to say for sure what will happen... If the past is anything to go by not much will change format wise and the sport will bumble along aimlessly as usual... Hope I am wrong but don't hold out much hope... Regards THJ

Honestly... The way these Brexit talks are going no one will be getting in (or out of the U.K. ) anytime soon after Jan 1... We will all be going to "Sunderland" in a handcart... a was going to say Hell but a think it will be worse than that... What will happen to Brits over in Poland when that French government bloke gets his way and any Brits who stay over 3 months will need a Visa to stay in Europe and that's before they do any work over there... flitting in and out of Europe could become very difficult .. It will be very interesting (but could get very stupid) as there could be lot of petty retaliation and reprisals from both sides on workers and visas as the divorce turns from amicable to nasty... We might be getting all these Brit riders back by default... Regards THJ

Haha agreed but that ain't gonna happen now it will stay at 41... Regards THJ

Honestly don't know if it does still exist Steve to be fair but it wouldn't be a bad idea... Regards THJ

Honestly?... Maybe they can't get anyone else and have to declare a side 3, 4 or 5 points under the build level... which has major implications for crowd retention if they struggle to be competitive... The crucial factor will be if Rob Grant can successfully get a sponsors licence for the new season and if not what the best options are for putting out a competitive team... Unless you have heard something lewy... Regards THJ

Think you will find the 16 riders RG has all have averages under 5... not much cop when you are looking for a 7 plus rider... Regards THJ

I accept some of the big hitters get a sign on fee (and could quote several) as I stated; and not wanting to mention any names but several of the British riders I have sponsored in the past have all said they didn't receive sign on fees in the top league and to be fair I have no reason not to believe them... Regards THJ

He will need a Visa as a Dane after Jan 1 regardless of what happens with Brexit... Regards THJ

Honestly I don't know why I am dignifying this with a reply but never mind here goes... Where are the other clubs going to get riders from there is a dearth of them at present and it is more than 2 or 3 teams impacted… Further more there are more than just 4 teams in the league and everyone's point should be listened to IMHO... many who post on here hate "doubling up" with a passion so to share rides out the only feasible option is to reduce the build level... We have had the argument before "what's the point of screwing over other clubs to the extent where they run weakened sides" clubs in the past have been fined for running a weakened team... I for one would just give Glasgow all the trophies now rather than run a season with them... sort it out from the start as this happens each year and its becoming a bit of a joke now... As I am typing ch958 has posted a valid response Glasgow won’t go up because of the fixed race night!!! Think you will find Glasgow will do what's best for Glasgow regardless of whenever the race night is. The last TV deal netted each premiership club 50k, championship teams got peanuts!!! So what's your point? its what this TV deal worth now you clown 8 clubs can chare 350k just as easy as 7 clubs can? if that's the number you want to work to? As for premiership teams not paying signing on fees THJ? Get real! Oh well when the "balloon" you "spanner" for makes the Premiership lets see how much he gets offered; oh hang on a minute that wont ever happen will it... all of the riders I have sponsored over the last 15 years have all told me they don't get sign on feeds in the top league!!! are you saying all of these guys are lying... and it has been expressed on here for years that this is the case for your reasonable British rider.. (Pederson Lindgren and maybe some of the top European; Australians and/or GP riders possibly/probably)… but riders doubling up between the leagues it just doesn't happen... what a numb nut... Regards THJ

So here's the next one Pick your team and bring back @Dandelion and @Terrace Grumbler as here is my next prediction Build; Build and Build and to 41 points... Oh hang on... As we already have most of the team you are looking for one rider... Suggestions below... NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS AVE -2.50% 1 Claus Vissing 8.43 8.43 2 Connor Mountain 4.73 4.61 3 Matthew Wethers 6.92 6.92 4 Max Clegg 5.05 4.93 5 AN Other 8.31 8.11 6 James Wright 4.00 4.00 7 Adam Roynon 4.00 4.00 Total: 41.44 41.00 Remaining: 0.00 You have 8.11 for a Johnny Foreigner and 8.31 for a Brit... Go on have at it; you know you want to... Oh and why 41.00? cos that's what Glasgow want and we all know what Glasgow want; Glasgow get... Don't let on that I have told you cos I might get sued... PMSL... or is it LMFAO... (probably both) Mark my words; you watch... Regards THJ