morganbike

I somehow doubt that an Elite league club would run an under 15 championship round after there own fixture.Firstly the rounds have to be in school holidays or at weekends and secondly Belle vue would have to start earlier to accomodate the under 15's and this would be highly unlikely.They would not run the under 15's before their home elite meet as this would risk loosing first aid cover. Phil

Yes Vince you are correct.What threw me was page 23 speedway star (weymouth) as Bates and Bridger say they are riding the 2005 under 15 championship. Entertaining the public is important and because of its huge success last year promoters should not be wary of putting on a round of under 15's after a conference meet. I think the league teams havn't been picked yet because the riders will be looked over in the first couple of championship rounds so they can be graded then matched appropriateley and evenly. phil

OK HERES THE WORDS TAKEN FROM PETER OAKS'S LETTER TO MY SON. THERE WILL BE A TOTAL OF SEVEN ROUNDS 1 BUXTON SUN 2 MAY 1 2 ARMADALE SAT MAY 28 3 WEYMOUTH MON MAY 30 4 NEWPORT SUNDAY JUNE 6 5 VENUE AND DATE TBA SOMETIME IN JULY OR AUGUST 6 SHEFFIELD DATE TBA SEPTEMBER 7 MILDENHALL SUNDAY OCT 2ND BRITISH ACADAMY LEAGUE DATES TBA I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE 9 SEEDED RIDERS WHO WILL TAKE PART IN ALL ROUNDS. ALL OTHER RIDERS WILL BE INCLUDED BY ONLY ALLOWING THEM TO COMPETE IN 3 ROUNDS EACH. I have recently read that SOME riders who finished in the top 5 last year are also entered in 2005 and whilst they meet the age criteria is it fair to allow riders who have a conference league contract and 6 months conference league experience to ride in this championship ?I feel that the number of riders who want to take part has been underestimated and maybe future years may well see the addition of an under 13 championship so as to let all entrants get all 7 rounds in.Keeping the championship as it is will see some closer racing than last year and will keep the public well entertained.Josh will have to work very hard to retain his title.Good luck to all. Phil and Dan Greenwood

Under 15 champs Buxton 1st May Armadale 28 May Weymouth 30 May cant remember the rest will post soon No dates for league set yet phil

Only downside form my point of views was that Peter and Steve kept the list of riders & numbers when they were split into groups and I had to keep asking the lads which group they were in when trying to sort out the next race as well as manning the pit gate It didn't help when Peter told me the wrong numbers in Group A Totally agree Neil H. Future events could be better organised by asking for pre organised help from parents in the pit area which would be advantagious.Problems with the pits being so small at buxton were that riders crowded/blocked the gate and exiting the track was a problem.Giving each rider a number such as group A 1 to 12 and then say all odd numbers 1,3,5,7, out for heat 1 then 1,2,3,4 etc for next heat then 2,4,6,8. etc At training/practice days which we pay for, the riders know that to get out a lot they have to keep their place in the queue so tend to bunch up a lot. There will always be the few who are over eager and jump the queue!.Group talks also were hard to hear with the background noise going on.Weather held off though could have been a lot worse on the hills of Derbyshire. Phil

Well done to all who attended todays session and it was great to put faces to names we have all read about over the last few months.This venture is very exciting for all and the turnout today was good.Thanks to Peter Oakes and Steve Piper for getting the day organised and to all the staff and helpers at Buxton for their help.My son Daniel thoroughly enjoyed it and is looking forward to meeting you all again.Lets hope all riders will be accomodated and fitted in appropriately to either the championship or league.Fingers crossed ! Phil Greenwood

The Swedes etc have small training tracks inside their venues like at Swindon and do not have greyhounds to worry about.These training tracks can be used without inconveniencing proffesional racing at all.The promoters and trainers are willing to,and do run tuition on evenings and weekends for various rider abilities of all age groups and engine sizes. This country does have the venues for this to be succesfull but promoters/venue owners do not want to get involved.Also a licensed training officer would have to be available and medical services are a must so the expence increases.For example the set up at Swindon was near perfect (pre Elite) when Oakes and Togood had an hour on the training track before every meet and kids were flying round.The tracks that are open for winter training only do it for financial gain and scouting.During the race season venues that do offer so called second half rides do try,but kids sit from 6pm till 9-10pm hoping to get 4 or 8 laps at the end of the night.This inevietably is a dangerous procedure because they are bored, tired, and try hard to impress thus making accidents a common occurence.So the only way kids can get better is to spend the winter travelling the whole country paying £20 to £40 for a sundays practice session when 90% of the time they ride round on their own.The under 15s will only be succesful with the help,support and cooperation of all clubs (and not just conference).Peter Oakes is the man for making this race series happen and to make the under15s league succesful it is proposed that each team has a mixture of abilities and ages.It will not be succesful if one team has all the best under 15s because the opposing kids will back out.The race dates have to be in the school holidays or at the weekend and must not clash with important Youth Grasstrack meets both in the UK and Europe.