SteveEvans

Prior to injuries, part of the sport, the team being tracked tomorrow was the same that drew 45-45 at Lynn on friday. Of that 7 5 are American passport holders, one is a Kiwi. Brent Werner was supposed to be #5 before work and other commitments ruled him out. Given that Manzares and Scopellite scored double figures on friday and young Sims scored 8, the team as submitted can hardly be called weak. But yes, I agree, people should go out and support this new venture, regardless of how many illegal aliens ride for the USA tomorrow!

It's quite simple - to be a TM now there is a particular FIM Course that needs to be attended. Laurence has the acceditation and was sent by Team USA to do so so bolster up our resources. Billy's appointment was only 10 days ago and there woud be major logistics for flying in for 2 meetings in 3 weeks. Remember he runs a business, races in the USA and has his academies. Given that Laurence Rogers has been TM for every Dream / Touring Team tour since 2005 and that he has a nack of motivating our young riders, he is an obvious choice for the job in Germany. Fact is his hard work and dedication deserves it. And Shooey will be there in Germany as a rider coach and will no doubt contribute greatly. Billy is the natural leader for Team USA but his interview in last weeks Star clearly states it is not a one man job and factually it needs a very deep, dedicated and commited team which between our USA, European and UK based resources we have.

Excellent news for Team USA as it rebuilds for a bright future! http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/News/13-04-05/Billy_Hamill_to_manage_U_S_Speedway_World_Cup_and_Under-21_World_Championship_teams.aspx

Riding order for Kent; 1. Gino Manzares 2. Chris Thomas 3. Scott Campos 4. Rocco Scopellite 5. Brent Werner 6. Hayden Sims 7. Jamison Dilkey Shane Hazeldon is #3 for Buxton. Werner TBC at Buxton. The Rye House meeting should be a lot of fun - Handicap Racing will see lots of action on track!

Chances are looking good for Team USA to make a welcome return to a UK tour this Spring. We are competing the UNDER 21 WORLD CUP semi in Germany on April 28th so we'll be looking to get ourselves warmed up prior. Ideally we will stage 4 matches between April 17 and 23rd before the Team goes to Germany on the 25th. Already confirmed on the squad are Gino Manzares, Austin Novratil and Rocco Scopellite. All three are lookig to move into the Premier League as soon as they can and each already has more than one club showing interest. King's Lynn's Scott Campos, with American parentage is also likely to feature in the squad. The Team is not entirely restricted to Under 21 riders though the plan is to have 4-5 on the squad. Unlike previous tours which have been private endeavors, this one is likely to be an officially sanctioned squad.

Chances are looking good for Team USA to make a welcome return to a UK tour this Spring. We are competing the UNDER 21 WORLD CUP semi in Germany on April 28th so we'll be looking to get ourselves warmed up prior. Ideally we will stage 4 matches between April 17 and 23rd before the Team goes to Germany on the 25th. Already confirmed on the squad are Gino Manzares, Austin Novratil and Rocco Scopellite. All three are lookig to move into the Premier League as soon as they can and each already has more than one club showing interest. King's Lynn's Scott Campos, with American parentage is also likely to feature in the squad. The Team is not entirely restricted to Under 21 riders though the plan is to have 4-5 on the squad. Unlike previous tours which have been private endeavors, this one is likely to be an officially sanctioned squad.

We'd win an Over 40's World Cup with ease!

I'll pass that on! The more we ask the more we can hope

Billy rode in 2012 to show (with Greg) the winning Team USA ways from days gone by to the younger rides. He will be heavily involved in 2013 but no riding plans....as yet!

We like being the spoilers and underdog

Book your travel plans now Brits! This is a great venue with a roof so no rain offs! And one week later its Anaheim Super Cross - A Cardiff sized occasion!

It had a perfect ring to it in the 80s and 90s!

13 heat format might not be so bad for NL. Run it as old skool speedway. Tac subs too. Might get some more fans by being different. Run a 2nd half with all the riders in after. 13 heats also makes double headers easier to run which may attract some EL or PL teams in with limited dates. Just my thoughts.

Great ideas and yes, would be great if the SWC landed in the USA! None of our regular tracks are FIM sized and as with a US GP, this is probably the biggest issue as things stand.

Not with talent we have in the pipeline. Much work but a bright future is upon us!

There were 9 teams in the tourney this year with the Swedes seeded. As we outscored the Germans we are ranked 8th, they are 9th. Shame we never got to the easier Lynn round where we could have raced the Czechs and had a better measure of if we are better or how far the gap is to bridge. Certainly full respect to the Czech team who did well at Lynn.

Except for that's not the rules. Any team that finishes top of the table but loses the play offs will always make this claim. But the rules that all teams vote on in their AGM are the rules.

On one hand its great that a new place like Prague has the final. However, from the standpoint of Team USA, it makes our 2013 all the tougher. This year we tracked our best team since the first time in 2006 and ended up 8th in the World, which was our goal. We knew we were good enough to qualify and anything beyond would be a pure bonus. The next obvious goal for us would be to displace the #7 (Czech) and thus not need to qualify for 2014 It's not so much the Czechs are in the final for 2013, but now are seeded for 2014. The gap between the Czechs and the next team (Team GB) is quite something for us and even to catch the Czechs and get 7th under normal circumstances is a hard ask! Regardless we will give it our all though our real job is the rider development occuring in the USA led by Billy Hamill.

Wish Tai all the best - needs a fresh British face after Harris's sad struggles vs occasional flashes. With the system we have there can always be arguements for a riders inclusion or not. In the GP's there seem to be about 8 riders at a different level of consistency and behind that there are perhaps 20 riders in the world who are very close on ability. Being the best Brit in that pool of riders right now gets you into the series. Its a marketing decision, maybe not right, but even in F1 you have drivers not there on ability but other reasons too. The truth is the best 15 riders in the world is not a black and white thing - it change week upon week. MJJ as a GP winner can feel definately wronged by this decision but his time will come. His win was impressive but there is still consistency to achieve to be a long duration GP rider. I personally would like to see an improved qualifying system, regionalized like the old days and then in the challenge including the 7 riders who did not make the GP top 8. Have 5 of them qualify still leaving open 2 spots, but those spots should go to riders like Hampel who missed rounds through injury as a priority.

Its a fine line in fixtures I think. If you cut them it may help for those who pick and choose but on the other hand, not running every week can get fans out of the groove of going. I certainly agree with the 'enhance the quality of the whole experience' part.

You can only run with the # of teams you get. The 2012 format in my opinion was not good. If it stays at 13 I'd prefer the EL format of select B fixtures and run 18 league matches home and away and a then a 4 team play off at the end.

Don't know how the fans of the teams feel (which incidentally is the most important thing) but it seems its really difficult with the number of teams in the PL to get a good format for the league. Last year was the 'one league all season' format, whch got very confusing with the B fixtures not being decided until August. This year it went back to the pre league regionalized cup (lopsided groups do to the northern teams outnumbering the rest 8-5), League, Cup and now these round robin play offs. All these competitions to me get very confusing and if you throw in the likes of the Pairs and Fours its simply too many title's you can win. To me neither format is perfect - 13 is a bad number, possibly the worst as its only 12 actual league fixtures unless you use the 2011 format or vary it like the EL does with a limited amount of B fixtures. One thought I would have is when the league had 16-18 teams you had enough dates for most of a full season - anything like a League Cup would be just 3 matches at the start which was more of a warm up versus 1/3 of the season. The league has had teams in recent times that dropped out because it was unviable - Stoke, Mildenhall, IOW. Would it be better to lower the costs of staging PL speedway to get these clubs back and have more teams (as well as easing the financial stress on clubs right now who are not making it at this level)? As it stands right now if Leicester move up, Plymouth move down and Workington close thats just 10 teams next season. I suppose you could go twice around but thats some long drives between the north and Southern outposts.

Used to drive by this place 20 years ago and think it would be great for racing!

Bobby was awesome at Wolves as an Under 16 in 2nd halves back in 86. I think he did 1-2 years in the NL (started at Stoke) and then retired.

It would also guarentee the Czechs would be seeded into the 2014 tournament as they would not do a semi final and come 4th. Quite a good break for a team who I would rate as 7th in the World right now and thus on the bubble. That said I think the tournament going to a new place isn't all bad - maybe we'll bringn it stateside at some point