Bojangles

Nicholls not racing in the Premiership should mean he can concentrate on Oxford a bit more. He seems quite passionate about the project.

This is going to sound a bit harsh, but he was probably retained as he’s the only 4.3ish rider left available. There’s not many about with that kind of average. He’ll win a few races I’m sure, but think he’ll generally struggle in the main body of the team. Then again, this is Cameron Heeps. You never quite know what you’re going to get.

Oxford clearly hoping the reserves make rapid progress. Jenkins is a shrewd signing, and should improve his average. He’s also very good around Sandy Lane. Not sure Atkins will do much, and your guess is as good as mine when it comes to Killeen. Looked out of his depth when I saw him this year, but Oxford must think he has potential. Teams are going to be weaker this year though, so there’s more scoring potential.

I think it's pretty certain Henry Atkins will be the 2.00 pointer.

And the Harris to Glasgow rumours. And the Harris to Birmingham rumours. He'll end up signing for Redcar or something.

Hoping they haven't got the space for him and Jenkins. Wishful thinking perhaps.

Masters takes up too much space for me. Would rather something like... Harris Nicholls Kerr Thomas Gilkes Edwards Atkins Comes to 39.82 if my calculations are correct.

Oxford sent out a tweet earlier referencing a guest ride Chris Harris did for the Cheetahs, but it's now been deleted. Read into that what you will...

Starke is definitely consistent. Consistently bad.

The majority of the people on this forum moaned about how the 2022 season was run, yet the same faces are moaning that the results of the AGM have been delayed. Good grief...if it takes a couple of days longer to get it right for 2023, it's worth it isn't it? I'd much rather they took their time and improved the product. Whether they actually do improve it is another thing, but give them a chance at least. Moan afterwards if necessary! And personally I'm glad they said there's been a delay, that's already an improvement on keeping everyone completely in the dark for two days.

Are Redcar going to let Jenkins go? Thought he would have been a prime asset for them in 2023.

My friends in Barbados have just booked a two-week stay in Poole next June. I've told them to go to the speedway, but they said they won't have time as there's too much else to see.

Well....if fans are paying the same next season, it's probably fair considering the extra costs involved in 2022 compared to 2021. If the points limits goes from 42 to 40 as expected, that's just a reduction of just 5%. Considering inflation alone has already risen by 2.6% since March (and likely to go higher before the season starts) and the fact energy bills are considerably higher, it's probably going to hit promoters harder than fans. But I'm playing Devil's Advocate here. It's fair for fans of Championship clubs to feel aggrieved. Just don't be surprised if ticket prices actually go up, not down.

Time will tell I guess. But as I've also said before, it's far less risky for the powers that be to reduce the points limit in the Championship than increase it in the Premiership on the off chance they will return. If they don't return, then I've explained why it won't work. And there doesn't need to be a distinction in my opinion (and I've never said there should be). However the SCB clearly want one, so I'm just explaining the reasons why the Championship will be weakened.

You’ve really missed the point here. The top level riders aren’t going to come over here. One or two at the very most. So therefore a higher limit means the rich clubs will snap up 4/5 heat leaders and reach the 50 point limit. The others simply won’t be able to go higher than 40 if they are lucky - as there won’t be any riders of that quality left. And they will get thrashed every week. Therefore the only way to have distinction between the leagues is for the Championship to lower its limit. Look, I wish it wasn’t the case as much as the next person, but it is what it is.

Of course it's punishing success. Williams, Sauber, etc. haven't got more wind tunnel time and a bigger budget, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes etc. have got less! What a crazy comment. So how would you promote parity? Actually....I don't think you would.

Bet you less than 50% of those guys come back. A 50-point limit would cripple the top league - very few of the big names will return, meaning the rich clubs sign 4/5 heat leaders and leave the remaining clubs with whatever is left. It would be a farce. Almost every sport (with the exception of football I guess) punishes success as they want to keep their sports competitive. To mention just a couple - F1 now has costs caps for this exact reason (with teams at the bottom getting more research and wind tunnel time and bigger caps) and American sports have wage caps and reward those at the bottom with first choice of draft picks. Similar situation with rugby league, rugby union and cricket - they all have wage caps. Why do some speedway fans always think it's just speedway that operates in this way? It's exactly the same argument with the playoff situation.

Isn't that what all the individual club '2023' threads are for? This is for confirmed signings. Make sense to me.

Like who? Who is going to want to come? We don't pay enough and we have too many fixtures. There might be one or two, but there won't be many. Just because Poland has relaxed their two league limit, it doesn't mean all the top stars are going to come flooding over here. History tells us that!

This has already been mentioned in this very thread, but how can the Premiership teams strengthen if the big names don't want to come? Raising the points limit to 50 is absurd, no team will be able to get close to that. They simply don't have the money or the appeal for the top stars. And even if they do, it will just be one or two teams that are able to get close 50 and they will totally dominate.

Time will tell I guess. But it's a big gamble to raise the Premiership points limit, when they can just lower the Championship's. Not saying I agree with this by the way, but trying to look at the bigger picture.

They've relaxed their rules so they can have Thursday nights as back up. They are winning with this deal, not British speedway. Very few GP or 'stronger' riders will come here as we don't pay enough, or we have too many fixtures. It's not a point limit issue in the Premiership.

Problem is the Premiership should be stronger, but Premiership clubs can't attract stronger riders. So if you want a distinction between the leagues, the only alternative is to weaken the Championship.

Massive shame if this is true. He improved throughout 2022 and only has the potential to get even better in my opinion. Would have been my first name on the teamsheet for 2023.

Amen to that!