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No, wasn't in the 16 who were named either. There were a few no shows, Nick Laurence being one, as was Josh Bates and Adam Kirby if memory serves. Conor Dwyer crashed out in his first race and didn't return, hope he is ok!

We do need 2 as far as I know As for the rider's, Greenwood was the best rider on show by far, which is worrying, as he is already signed. After him, the rider's that caught my eye were Dan Greenwood, who looked a bit erratic at times, but picked himself up from a first race fall to look on the pace, Tom Woolley, who liked like he had a good style but was riding a bag of spanners, and Dan Berwick who tended to score solidly if he gated. But looking for 2? I'm not confident.

I'll be there! Will be nice to get a speedway fix, and see who has the potential to light it up for Stoke this season!

I guess we'll see. It certainly is a unique opportunity for 2 rider's to go out there and earn themselves a contract.

I have no idea. It could be that Richie isn't available for the first few meetings, and instead of messing around with R/R, we go with Adam for the first few then see where we go from there? For the record, the press release from stokepotters.co is here:

From what it reads like,squad system to cover for PL commitments,but we shall see!

Can't wait for this! What better way to start the season than with the NBT followed by a meeting celebrating one of the great entertainers! Fantastic

With the greatest of respects to those you mention, are they really "great young British riders"? Yes, they have all done a job, but I wouldn't say any of them are at the very beginning of their careers, and all have had chances to progress (I find it hard to include Luke here as he was doing well until those horrific injuries) There is only ever a finite amount of team spaces, and given that a team has been lost, that is 7 spaces gone instantly. Sometimes people just miss out!

It's possibly because there are teams unfinished, and the fixtures have only just come out? My predictions: Roynon to win the NLRC Stoke for the 4's Mildenhall for the League, beating Dudley in the play-off final. Mildenhall to win the NL Trophy

Said in the Speedway Star that we were planning on holding an amateur meeting, and whoever shone would be the rider's we picked. Apparently invited around 20 riders to be a part of it.

Problem with that is, if you get a team with a fantastic reserve and a poorer one, they are going to give the lesser reserve both reserve races and one other, and the better reserve will end up with 6 rides per meeting...

So then your number 2 loses out on a race? The only way to have an extra reserves race is to adjust the whole meeting template, you can't just change one race. One way of doing that would be the old 18 heat formula, 8 riders per team, and 2 reserves races. Also, it makes the assumption that all reserves are 3 pointers/No number 2's are 3 pointers. What happens at, for example, Stoke. If we sign a couple of good 3 pointers as 6 and 7, and they both improve to 4, along with Ben Reade, we could have our two 4 point reserves going up against two 3 pointers twice in a meeting.

Patriality allows you to get a passport, but you can't claim it until you are 16 IIRC. Just because you have patriality, doesn't mean you have to apply for a passport.

It is very odd, but someone like Cameron Heeps,for example,would have come in on a 5, but had he applied for and got a British passport,that becomes a 3.

No, but there is very little difference between the 2. It really just stops riders under 16 coming in...

Hopefully you are coming to Stoke!

I notice in the speedway star that they pushed through a rule about new riders in the league. Those with patriality only now come in on a 5, but those with a British passport come in on a 3...

Maybe he is on to replace Ben because Birmingham have realised they can't get another double-upper? (I in no way know if that is true, just playing Devil's advocate)

Stoke's and Mildenhall's websites have both got press releases with bits of info. Stoke also have one of the u21 qualifiers.

Various teams have put out info. Stuff we know: 8 teams. Separate "mini-league" trophy for stand alone teams (Not including Dudley though, so Stoke, Mildenhall, IoW and Buxton) Stoke v Scunthorpe in KoC Mildenhall v KL Mildenhall contest the NL shield with Dudley Pairs at Mildenhall 4's at Stoke

Aye, the race for second behind us will be a close one

This is true, you aren't in Staffordshire, but given that you won't be winning the cup anyway, it's not so much of an issue

Why not have an actual New Zealander? Ricky Wells is the best New Zealand rider at the moment, but alas, they decided to go for a Brit who likes riding out there. Their choice. I would laugh a lot if Bunyan managed to beat one of the established riders!

With only the 8 teams we currently have: 7 home/7 away league meetings. Any tracks wanting to can enter an NL trophy competition. Let's assume that's only the stand alone clubs, thats 5. 4 more Home and away for those teams. 2 legged final for the top 2. Qualifying round robin for the 4's. North and South(Ish) groups. Group 1: Buxton, Dudley, Scunny and Stoke. Group 2: Rye, IoW, Mildenhall and KL. 3 more home meetings each. Final to be held at any track (preferably Stoke ) KoC for all teams. A track sharing club could have as few as 9 meetings, or as many as 11. The stand alone clubs would have a minimum of 13. Potentially 16. That's without challenge meetings etc. I would also propose a staggered system to the British Championships, involving all NL riders who want to ride in it (Assume everyone. So that's 56 (7 x 8) Would need another 8 to make 4 rounds of 16. Those meetings to be held on NL only tracks. Top 8 from each round go into the next stage against the 31 British PL riders (Would need an extra rider, so either top 9th place finisher or a race off) Given virtually equal numbers, that means 8 PL and 8 NL riders in each meeting (4 meetings of 16). 11 EL Brits, so 21 needed from the 4 PL rounds. top 5 from each and best 6th place. 2 Semi's and a final. I know that seemed long winded, apologies.

Or even the start? End of the year is generally reserved for play-offs, but run this at the beginning of the year, then move into the league in around May time.