SJA

With three riders announced and by the looks of it seven signed up its already looking like a strong team again from the Cubs, and I suspect the favourite to win the league. I guess being to offer young riders almost unlimited track time (unlike many clubs) is a highly attractive proposition for riders.

I understand the SM strategy and just wish all clubs followed suit as by announcing it in one go is very last century and does not take into account how the public access information. We no longer have to wait with baited breath for the Speedway Star to be delivered to find out about other clubs signings. However, to me it feels like Poole are taking more time than normal, with larger gaps between announcements.

Do Poole have a problem in that if the Wonderkid Cairns joins mid season they are finding it hard to sign a Number 7 who is prepared to do possibly less than half a season before being axed?

And Ryan Ingram makes two.... I for one am happy that Leicester appear to be giving youth a chance again. Over the last five seasons I have been impressed with the amount of young riders they have selected and many stay for multiple seasons. LEICESTER will hand British Youth talent Ryan Ingram his first opportunity in the National Development League next season. Ingram, who will turn 15 next January to become eligible for NDL racing, becomes the second signing to be announced for the 2025 Lion Cubs team. A former mascot at Peterborough, Ingram moved up to 500cc level last year and finished fifth in the British Youth Championship. He made strong progress throughout the season and reached the Final of the meetings held at both Leicester and Birmingham, and now he’s excited at the prospect of moving into league racing for the first time. Ingram said: “It’s obviously going to be a lot harder with racing against better riders, but I’m ready for it and I can’t thank Leicester enough for giving me the opportunity. “I’ve done a couple of practices there, and hopefully in January or February sometime I’ll be able to get some more practice there so I’m ready for the start of the season. “I’m sure we’re going to have a strong team, but I feel like it’s important to not put pressure on myself, so I just want to do the best I can and hopefully score a couple of points every meeting. “There are some of the tracks that I haven’t ridden yet, but I’ll try my best to score some points for the team!” And Ingram will have a familiar face in his pit bay where fixtures allow next season, as his elder sister is the partner of former Leicester rider Dan Thompson, who has offered Ryan plenty of help and support in recent years. He said: “I’ve been talking to Dan and he’s going to try and help me out as much as possible, which I really appreciate. “I first started going to watch speedway because my uncle used to ride, and then I started riding on a little pit-bike, and I’ve just come on from there really. “I used to ride a 125cc speedway bike, but I’ve moved on to the 500 now and I’m really enjoying myself. I felt quite consistent throughout the British Youth rounds last season and I was quite happy with my performance.” With Ingram and Ben Trigger now confirmed for the Lion Cubs in 2025, more news is expected this week.

Two styles I could always spot were Bo Petersen who was all legs and also Henka Gustafsson balancing, feet up on the pegs. The latter made riding a speedway bike look so effortless.

As a fan of the NDL I am delighted to see Tom Spencer has been given a Championship opportunity. Its well deserved on what I saw of him in 2024.

I agree re Max James mixing it more than Perry. I'm less sure about Spencer who at present is a better rider than the other but gets his points based on his gating. Based on the couple of times I saw Perry last year I was not sure how fit he was as he appeared to be struggling on the bike and his style was different to how I remember it being in 2023. He looked less relaxed and more ridged on a bike.

Well lets hope that Dan likes the track and gets drawn in the SPG2 qualifier at Glasgow. That could be a very astute signing for both the club and the rider

He is at Poole

He is 30, with 14 seasons experience!. Surely he has developed as far as he is going to at this stage. I think their should be a combined age limit on the NDL or years experience in the case of some of the riders who came late to the sport through a motox background.

His Team Manager for the Cubs is David Howard

His Leicester boss is not the Berwick Manager....

If the gap in quality is reduced between a Number 1 and a Number 7 then the racing should be closer and more exciting. Therefore a better quality product. I have seen some cracking NDL meetings at Leicester in the last two years.

Surely the skill is to sign up and coming British riders as assets. That way you receive a loan payment over a number of seasons if you cannot fit them into your side. Riders like Lawson, Kerr etc where they ride Champ and Prem must be a nice income stream for some clubs.

1. Ipswich 2. Belle Vue 3. Leicester 4. Kings Lynn 5. Sheffield 6. Oxford 7. Birmingham

Why not just say Michael Jepsen Jensen?

I think that the Leicester side is shaping up to be solid but dull.

I would suspect that means he has also signed for a Premiership side so my guess would be Oxford or Birmingham.

There is lots of free random draw software available put seven home riders in one draw and all seven away riders in an another draw and let the ref do the draw for all 4 riders.

Re Becker - Managed by the same person who coaches the Owners son Will. Also Leicester have taken the hit on Becker's Wolverhampton average so may as well stick with him with the hope he will improve this season.

If my understanding is correct a riders fixed term contact expires at 23:59 on the final day in October. Therefore riders are not released. Their contract expires which is a totally different legal situation. If the asset system was challenged in court I am sure it would be found to be restraint of trade which is not allowed for a self employed contractor unless specifics are named. This is not the case with the standard contract.

One of my neighbours is in the classics market, deals with top end cars. However, speaking to him recently he has a collection of over 10 Saab 900 Turbos. He thinks this will be the next car to explode price wise. His bread and butter has always been Aston's Ferraris etc. Now he is interested in anything to do with Group B rallying.

I though Ellis was on his travels.

Nonsense, most clubs Number One in the Premiership are on a guaranteed fee per meeting.

If you are to believe what everyone is saying about Cairns joining when he is 16 then Poole may find it hard to get a reasonable Number 7 with the rider knowing he is likely to be out of a job come the Summer.