arnieg

Err not sure about that. He could be signed by someone, and then he could apply for one. But given his past history he isn't guaranteed to get one. Rye House signed him last year but he didn't ride in Britain despite a rostrum finish in the Queensland State Championship.

I'd put forward 1987 at Mildura: 1 Steve Regeling 14 2 Steve Baker 12 3 Glyn Taylor 10 4 Ashley Norton 10 5 Craig Hodgson 10 6 Mick Poole 9 7 Dave Jackson 9 8 Troy Butler 8 9 Tony Rose 8 10 Stephen Davies 7 11 David Cheshire 6 12 Mark Fiora 4 13 Bill Barrett 4 14 Chris Watson 4 15 Nigel Alderton 3 16 Nigel Tremelling 2 17 Paul Wheatland 0R 17 Simon Lock 0R Steve Regeling averaged less than 5 for King's Lynn in 1986,Stephen Davies was a reserve in in the same team, while Fiora and Cheshire were National League heat leaders. Poole averaged less than 5 for King's Lynn in 1987 and Steve Baker had a similar average in 1985, his last British season. Hodgson was a second-string for Peterborough in 1987. Glynn Taylor was near the end of his career, while Troy Butler had averaged 2.22 in his only British season to date (1985 at Oxford). He did go on to be a second string in the BL and somehow made it to the 1989 World Final.

Not Denmark. Rode for Outrup in 2013 and hasn't been active in Denmark since.

I think the statement: COMPILED BY ROBERT BAMFORD gives a clue as to the source!

That would exclude the next Mark Loram (he was born in Malta). And it clearly isn't the rule as Ellis Perks is Australian bred but has a place at Plymouth. But I would like to understand on basis Mitchell Davey would be eligible given that last week he was racing in the Queensland State title.

And I don't think Paul Starke would be too chuffed either.

Not really - Pinjar Park WA is just 142 metres. Gillman is 300m, Mildura 302m. Undera, Kurri Kurri & Gosford are all 320m. Among recent regular tracks only North Brisbane at 350 metres could really be described as large. The big tracks like Claremont, Sydney Showground, Rowley Park are all long gone. Rosebank is 294m by the way.

Nice to see a second string doing so well!

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 section 215. Doesn't need to be unsafe, merely be an eyesore, but that can be subjective and councils will generally only use their power in the more extreme cases where the owner has proved uncooperative.

With Auty at reserve? I think not. But unfortunately Lions will not be in the PL, so stand by for some right tonkings.

Think you've overlooked the announcement that it's rider replacement for second strings in such circumstances 2016. (Although Masters will probably be a heat leader for some of the season.)

But if Bjerre is selected to ride EVERY match that is rather academic. And Bjerre is a heat leader with a 100% appearance record in the 2015 Extraliga. Tarnow tracked exactly the same top 5 in every match last season - except for two June fixtures when Leon Madsen was out injured. So the existence of squads is academic. KB will expect to be available for Poland every Sunday when there is a fixture.

My mistake. Presumably he'll be moving up to 500cc heats in the German Team Cup in 2016.

Won't Ethan Spiller still be too young next season? In which case there is only one Spiller to draft in

Always very interested in these efforts. The big problem is that inputting all the data can be time consuming, and there are always various anomalies. Dolgin's rankings are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18wvOs1SUYAz9O50h3xcKFBNzceM7HtRnAhwaLMKHFD0/edit?hl=ru&pli=1#gid=0

Interesting article here: http://www.przegladsportowy.pl/zuzel/ekstraliga,dwa-zuzlowe-kluby-bez-milionerow,artykul,632055,1,984.html It lists 2016's top paid riders for each Extraliga club as: Unia Leszno 1.7m zl Nicki Pedersen and Emil Sayfutdinov Unia Tarnow 1.3 Janusz Kolodziej Sparta Wroclaw 1.5 Tai Woffinden, Macej Janowski KS Torun 1.4 Greg Hancock and Martin Vaculik Falubaz Zielona Góra 1.6 Jarek Hampel Stal Gorzow 1.25 Niels-Kristian Iversen? ROW Rybnik 0.95 Grigory Laguta GKM Grudziadz 0.99 Tomasz Gollob (remember just under 6zl to the pound)

I think that last year's low points limit in the NL meant a larger than usual batch of riders promoted from the MDL to the NL (some before they were ready). So it is hardly surprising that a smaller cohort of riders is ready for NL this year. Top 4 riders in 2015 MDL averages who do not have a team place or have not had substantial NL opportunities are Lee Geary, Andy Mellish, Sam Ward and Jeremy Pestell. Of those only Sam Ward is under 30 I think the slight is entirely imagined. Besides there are still a few vacancies for 3 pt riders.

So now it looks as if the question is how did Westerberg get introduced into the debate?

The Star includes a photo of the other reserve Jack Biggs, but no sign of Crutcher or Westerberg. So the big question now is what is the earliest source to mention Westerberg as reserve?

Most puzzling. All the printed sources I could find (Astorias 1958, Loaders, Dobruszek, and those already cited) show Crutcher. S Star 28 Sept 1957 actually has the following on the back page: World Final Gossip by John Hyam (!!) "Bearded Brian Crutcher, although only first reserve and not called upon to race, took a very keen interest in the racing. When Barry Briggs headed Ove Fundin in the run-off for the title, Brian was amongst the first to congratulate the New Zealander." Crutcher rode twice in the days preceding the final without suggestion of any fall or injury. Online: http://www.historyspeedway.nstrefa.pl/indms.php has Westerberg http://www.speedway.org/history/57.htm#1957 is silent but strangest of all wikipedia has Westerberg but cites Bamford and Shailes (who have Crutcher) as its source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Individual_Speedway_World_Championship In 1957 Ove Fundin (reigning champ) was seeded to the final and 5 riders qualified from each of three 'semi-finals'. Olle Nygren was absent so 6th place (in the European Final) Dan Forsberg took his place, promoting 7th place Westerberg to the reserve position. Westerberg's career highlights include twice runner-up in the Norwegian Championship, and a little bit of history, he was a participant in the first ever World Team Cup meeting (the 1960 Nordic Final at Odense) And Like Norbs I have a fully completed programme with no mention of Westerberg.

It's only a few years ago the rules were changed to allow NL teams to 'own' riders. As I recall that change was universally welcomed - I can't recall a single objection (other than those to do with the whole principle of ownership and transfers). So what has changed? What is the problem this change is seeking to rectify? What is the rationale for the suggested change? Who is behind this proposal?

I think the racing is every bit as dull as most of its critics would have you believe. Without hesitation I'd rate it 8th of the eight EL tracks for racing.

As it has been

So what happens if it rains in Poland and all the matches are rescheduled for the following Saturday when Leicester are riding? What if the pound falls against the zloty and all the Poles decide to up sticks and return home? Having any more Poles is extremely risky. But then beggars can't be choosers.

I think it is worth observing that Sweden's World Final allocation was reduced over the years as their national standing declined (by 1984 just Jan Andersson got a place). Presumably the same thing would have happened to Britain, meaning only 2 or 3 home riders at a British staged final if we were still using the same model, not 4 or 5 as suggested in the original post.