T.N.T.

Interesting to see how certain teams will be affected by the format. Belle Vue for instance have three quality heat leaders in Zagar, Cook and Nicholls while Richie Worrall is a solid second string while MP Toft will have a few easier races but will no doubt struggle but the powerful top four looks a good balance however with the format, ANY ride riding at #5 especially could easily work his socks off all night and score just 3 paid 4 ...... even Tai !! Going on the example of Belle Vue lining up as Zagar, Toft, Cook, Worrall, Nicholls, Nielsen, Read ....... Birmingham with King, Nermark, Barker, Skornicki, Kennett, Starke, Lambert Poole with Pawlicki, Grajczonek, Janowski, Milik, Ward, Newman, Smart ............ then this is how meetings could look at Monmore Green Heat 01: 12v12 Proctor/Wells v King/Nermark v Zagar/Toft v Shamek/Josh Heat 02: 67v67 Jacobs/Morris v Starke/Lambert v Nielsen/Reade v Newman/Smart Heat 03: 35v35 Pawlicki/Tai v Barker/Kennett v Cook/Nicholls v Janowski/Ward Heat 04: 46v27 Thorsell/Morris v Nermark/Lambert v Toft/Read v Josh/Smart Heat 05: 15v34 Proctor/Tai v Barker/Skornicki v Cook/Worrall v Janowski/Milik ......... away #4 first appearance !! Heat 06: 34v15 Pawlicki/Thorssell v King/Kennett v Zagar/Nicholls v Shamek/Ward Heat 07: 27v46 Wells/Morris v Skornicki/Starke v Worrall/Nielsen v Milik/Newman Heat 08: 34v23 Pawlicki/Thorsell v Nermark/Barker v Toft/Cook v Josh/Janowski ........ home #4 third ride in 5 heats Heat 09: 67v67 Jacobs/Morris v Starke/Lambert v Nielsen/Reade v Newman/Smart Heat 10: 12v35 Proctor/Wells v Barker/Kennett v Cook/Nicholls v Janowski/Ward Heat 11: 35v14 Pawlicki/Tai v King/Skornicki v Zagar/Worrall v Shamek/Milik Heat 12: 26v27 Wells/Jacobs v Nermark/Lambert v Toft/Reade v Josh/Smart Heat 13: 15v15 Proctor/Tai v King/Kennett v Zagar/Nicholls v Shamek/Ward Heat 14: 47v46 Thorsell/Morris v Skornicki/Starke v Worrall/Nielsen v Milik/Newman Heat 15: Top Scorers v Top Scorers I have put Tai Woffinden and Edward Kennett in bold to highlight what a #5 is likley to be facing during a meetng The heat leaders are certainly going to earn their money ....... which concerns me a bit as a rider like Ty Proctor or Nick Morris are going to struggle earning just a few points each night while a reserve is picking up 10 points at £40 a time at reserve and not moving up into the team at any time

Heat 01: 1 2 v 1 2 Heat 02: 6 7 v 6 7 Heat 03: 3 5 v 3 5 Heat 04: 4 6 v 2 7 Heat 05: 1 5 v 3 4 Heat 06: 3 4 v 1 5 Heat 07: 2 7 v 4 6 Heat 08: 3 4 v 2 3 Heat 09: 6 7 v 6 7 Heat 10: 1 2 v 3 5 Heat 11: 3 5 v 1 4 Heat 12: 2 6 v 2 7 Heat 13: 1 5 v 1 5 Heat 14: 4 7 v 4 6 Heat 15: Top Scorers v Top Scorers The new format could mean a drastic changes to how a team lines up and possibly the teams top rider not at #1 The #5 rider has ALL his rides alongside another heat leader....... could this be a bit of a restraint on Ty Proctor as he would only face an opposing second string (#4) twice and all others are heat leaders. Against a well balanced team he could be the lowest averaged rider in most races. With the #3 jacket finishing his programmed rides by heat 11 at home and heat 10 way then this could be the best option for Ty but away the #3 is available for a tatical ride in three races of the six where you can make thetactical move and therefore I feel Piotr would be better here than Ty. This then means that the best place to put Ty is at #1 where he would be out in heat 1 which he has done in most meetings in both leagues anyway and would also have two rides alongside Tai which last season had a near 50% success rate in 5-1 heat wins when together. With Ty at #1, he has two rides with #2 and that is best for Ricky Wells to partner him. WOLVERHAMPTON "Parrys International Wolves" 2014 #1 - Tyron Proctor ...................... 5.78 #2 - Ricky Wells ......................... 5.35 #3 - Piotr Pawlicki ....................... 7.00 #4 - Jacob Thorssell .................... 4.61 #5 - Tai Woffinden ...................... 9.20 #6 - Joe Jacobs .......................... 3.00 #7 - Ashley Morris ....................... 3.00

Averages will only be gained by the riders listed 1-5 and the draft reserves will stay at reserve all season regardless of what they score. In theory a strong reserve like Jason Garrity could easily get two race wins each meeting and 3 paid 5 in his other two rides but despite averaging around 9 meeting he will still be a reserve. Yes the reserves are a little unbalanced with the #6 meeting the opposing #7 in all four programmed rides but the big question that team managers will have to work out is where do they put their top rider ? An injured reserve can only be replaced by the other reserve or tactical sub but in the event of heat 9 then there will be a missing rider The #5 position is gong to be tough as they only ride alongside another heat leader. Wolves have (by averages) the top #1 rider in Tai Woffinden and the weakest third heat leader in Ty Proctor. Do they put Tai at #5 to have the harder rides and hopefully more heat advantages or do they put Ty Proctor at #5 so Tai gets two rides alongside a second at #1 or #3 Personally I would line them up as 1 Piotr Pawlicki ... 2 Jacob Thorssell ... 3 Tai Woffinden ... 4 Ricky Wells ... 5 Ty Proctor ...... This means Tai is out in three heats where a tactical can be used for either side Would have liked the tactical rule changed to 10 behind on both occasions so a 4-4 heat score still allows a tactical ride in the next heat but overall its pretty much the format I posted about months ago ....... but not my preffered choice !!

No. They have never ridden for Poole Maybe the first to put his name on here ....... but certainly not the first or second to mention him without letting on !! BUBBLE BURST

It will be no suprise to anyone if the site of Brandon Stadium is redeveloped for other purposes in the future and that will be a ad day for speedway as many of us have had some great times there from British Finals, Grand Prix's, Miller Testimonial, Olse Farewell and any time Wolves went there and won !! The short term shouldn't be an issue as the current lease should still be in place but I do wonder if he sale has anything to do with Coventry City Foot ball Club as they have had financial problems and have been looking for a new home. The Ricoh Arena was too big and expensive for a league club and they needed Premiership football to stay there and that is now as likely as Trinidad and Tabago winning the Winter Olympics Downhill skiing. If they can secure the backing from sponsors, council etc then maybe a new smaller stadium (10,000 - 20,000 capacity) at Brandon would be a good option for them. If this is built on the left side of the current car park, the Speedway Stadium could stay there for the next year or so while the right side of the car park could be redeveloped for offices/factories or maybe even a retail park featuring a well known supermarket who would possibly be the actal owners of the land. (Supermarkets ar said to own over 20% of the land in Britain at present) Would the new Coventry City FC Stadium include Speedway ? ............. Doubtful but not beyond it but it would possibly mean moving corners during certain times just as Wembley did in the glory days. Maybe it has nothing to do with the football or supermarket giants but it is obvious that such a large piece of land can not be financially viable through minority sports like Greyhounds, Stock Cars and Speedway.

Tai was unbelievable on fitness duting the season and there are many more things that haven't been put in press that he did during the season. At one GP he had his bicycle with him as he trained for his Wolverampton - Cardiff ride. The day before the meeting he trained for at least three hours on his bike, two hours running and also a swimming session. As many of the riders decided to relax in the bar after the practice session, Tai had a light bite to eat before hittig his bed around 8pm. By 5am he was up and off down the pool for a few lengths before breakfast and then got on his bike to cycle the 15 miles to the track. After looking around, doing a few interviews etc he cycled back to his hotel, had a bite to eat and then a few hours kip. Then it was back on his bike to the track for the meeting and a shower before getting changed into his racing gear. Although details may be a little off the mark, this was oughly the regime he did and if memory serves me right it was either in Prague or Poland. Slightly off subject, in Poland when he was interviewed, they speak to him in broken English .......... only for him to reply in Polish

Just an example. ....... Last season Wolves struggled to relpace Ty Proctor and eventually got Robert Misk000wiak who was quite frankly dreadful. Wolves in this case could have watched RM go out in his first ride and score nothing ......... then persuade him to be ill and his rides could have then been shared by Ricky Wells, Jacob Thorssell and Ludvig Lindgren. Although to be fair, if Wolves had used R/R they would have been much better off Yes. So the so called "protected" reserves will be put up against the top riders. I have been saying fo sometime that they should be in average order but the example you dhow would benefit those with a rider on a modest average like Mikkel Michelsen 5.00 or Vaclav Milik 4.00 and then use them as much as they want.

With R/R coming into force with a rider withdrawn from the meeting, you can see his being used a few times to gain advanage. For example only ...... Poole (don't know why I use them but ...... ) If Josh Gracjzonek is sudenly withdrawn from the meeting having ridden two pointless rides, Poole ould then use Maciej Janowski and Vaclav Milik (both scoring well) in his remaining rides !!! Can see a few strained freckles or fractured fingernails ruling out a rider strugglingon the night being rested in tight matches in order to gain an advantge. Also these riders could possiblybe used as a tactical ride so in the example, Poole are 10 points down at Eastbourne where Kim Nilsson and Lewis Blackbird are set to face Josh and Kyle Newman. Josh is ruled out with a sprained eyelash and in comes Magi as r/r and also tactical NOTE; ...... This is only an EXMPLE and names of riders and club are only that and I'm not saying this will happen when such serious injuries like those listed occur !!

If it's riding order peopl wan to know, then it's most likely that teams will line up in order of average so Kings Lynn for example will be #1 Iversen, #2 Bjerre, #3 Schlein, #4 Porsing amnd #5 Lambert. The reserves could go in either position or in ranking order but as they are in so called "protected" races it won't really affect much. My main concern is having the reserves in two protected heats against each other. Firstly it means a good reserve will be almost important as a heat leader and secondly it means the top five are squashed into the remaining heats and likely to clash more than before. However the one thing is having a second reserves race later in the meeting is risky as any injury to a reserve will make this race a two or three rider race as no replacements can come in.

In 1998 we had just a few races with a nominated rider in blue and yellow. This was done mainly to keep the top boys happy with an extra race so they had five or six races a night insted of four or five giving them an extra £500+ a night. The format I put on the previous page is only one format I have done and I did say in the post that this is NOT the format ...... but I do believe it gives managers different options, interesting races, keeps the fans entertained and matches the same standard of riders against each other more often and less likely to see riders like Woffinden and Ward going against Porsing or Ellis where the race is over by turn one. There are a number of rae formats that can be used or adapted qute easily and I must admit that if I had known in November what the teams were built like, I would have had at least three formats done within a week to be looked at. Who is doing the new format ? ..... Why is it taking so much time ? ........ Whoever or Whenever it is basically already been indicated how it will look and I'm sure it will be out soon. So until then, there is hardly any team places left to fill, the GP rders have been named and the fixtures are out ..... So it's hardly suprising the main conversation is the race format.

There is one format that I developed when they were looking a something different for the KO Cup and with a few little changes it could work here ..... but it will NOT be the new race format. Basically there would be a reserves race in heats 1 and 8 with the other races having just one programmed rider and one nominated rider for each team. This would give team managers a job to try and get the best out of each race by nominating the right ridr at the right time. This is an example only of a match between Wolves and Kings Lynn In heats 2-7 each team selects a top 5 rider ineach of the heats and one reserve. (A rider can only be nominated once in these heats obviously.)Then in heats 9-14 this is repeated. NOTE; Before the meeting starts, each team manager hands in his nominated riders for heats 2-7. Then once heat 8 is run, they must had in their nominations for races 9-14. These are done on official sheets/cards and can NOT be seen by the opposing manager so the can't manipulate who their top rider faces. < HT01; Ashley Morris, Joe Jacobs, Lewis Kerr, Lewis Rose > HT02 ; Tai Woffinden, .............. , Kenneth Bjerre, .............. > HT03 ; Ricky Wells, .............. , Rory Schlein, .............. < HT04 ; Jacob Thorssell, .............. , Roger Lambert, .............. > HT05 ; Tyron Proctor, .............. , Nicolas Porsing, .............. < HT06 ; Joe Jacobs, .............. , Lewis Rose, .............. > HT07 ; Piotr Pawlicki, .............. , Niels K Iversen, .............. > HT08 ; Joe Jacobs, Ashley Morris, Lewis Rose, Lewis Kerr < HT09 ; Ricky Wells, .............. , Nicolas Porsing, .............. > HT10 ; Jacob Thorssell, .............. , Roger Lambert, .............. < HT11 ; Tyron Proctor, .............. , Rory Schlein, ............. < HT12 ; Piotr Pawlicki, .............. , Kenneth Bjerre, .............. > HT13 ; Ashley Morris, .............. , Lewis Kerr, .............. < HT14 ; Tai Woffinden, .............. Niels K Iversen, .............. <>HT15 ; .............. , .............. , .............. , .............. This gives the reserves two races together, but they could be out with anyone in the other two heats however it is unlikely a team will select a top rider in these races as this could mean they have two consecutive races and would want to place their top men against the opposing top men. They will face a reserve however in each race Each teams fifth rider face each other twice in programmed rides but are likely to be alongside a heat leader in their two nominated races to avoid two races in a row. Gate positions are riders in Red and White taking the inside gates. Teams can flick a coin to decide which set of gates they wish to take. The options are races marked < or > Heat 15 remains a nominated race for the top scorers / heat leaders. NOTE; This is only an example of a format I developed a few years ago This 8is how it could look after managers have nominated < HT01; Ashley Morris, Joe Jacobs, Lewis Kerr, Lewis Rose > HT02 ; Tai Woffinden, Jacob Thorssell , Kenneth Bjerre, Niels K Iversen > HT03 ; Ricky Wells, Piotr Pawlicki , Rory Schlein, Lewis Rose < HT04 ; Jacob Thorssell, Ashley Morris , Roger Lambert, Nicolas Porsing > HT05 ; Tyron Proctor, Tai Woffinden , Nicolas Porsing, Rory Schlein < HT06 ; Joe Jacobs, Ricky Wells, Lewis Rose, Kenneth Bjerre > HT07 ; Piotr Pawlicki, Tyron Proctor , Niels K Iversen, Robert Lambert > HT08 ; Joe Jacobs, Ashley Morris, Lewis Rose, Lewis Kerr < HT09 ; Ricky Wells, Piotr Pawlicki , Nicolas Porsing, Robert Lambert > HT10 ; Jacob Thorssell, Joe Jacobs , Roger Lambert, Kenneth Bjerre < HT11 ; Tyron Proctor, Tai Woffinden , Rory Schlein, Lewis Kerr < HT12 ; Piotr Pawlicki, Ricky Wells , Kenneth Bjerre, Niels K Iversen > HT13 ; Ashley Morris, Jacob Thorssell , Lewis Kerr, Nicolas Porsing < HT14 ; Tai Woffinden, Tyron Proctor Niels K Iversen, Rory Schlein <>HT15 ; .............. , .............. , .............. , ..............

I will list a few rders that have over the years been frustrating for various reasons. NEIL EVITTS; In what turned out to be his final year in the sport, he was signed by Wolves on a 6.58 averge to back up the heat leaders. Havng returned from injury, the former British Champion struggled to even turn the bike in the corners at times and his average dropped to under three points a meeting. Wolves kept with him as there was no replacements on such a low average but quite frankly in that season the mascot was only about a second a lap slower STEVE JOHNSTON; One minute he was in the dirt and looking good and exciting to watch as he battled for points. The next he was tailing at the back on his orange lawn mower that looked about as fast as the tractor which grades the track. Great guy but he was signed at Wolves to replace GOD which put him on a downhill course as no one could replace Sudden Sam. WOLVES PRE SAM AND RONNIE; Before Sam and Ronnie combined to make them a top team, Woles went to many meetings and failed to do anything. However in the mid 80's there was a junior meeting after and Wolves had some good riders in the team like Andy Phillips, Carl Stonehewer and the legend that was Frank Killer Killeen who destroyed more fences than any other rider. The frustrating part was sitting through a sorry league match where the home team destroyed Wolves until the junior meeting which Wolves usualy won. Often you would hear the Wolves fans singing "We only came for the juniors, came for the juniors" SAM ERMOLENKO; On his day he was unbeatable and he had many good days. Any rider that could average over 11 is a remarkable rider but Sam had one floor that was really frustrating. He could be going along looking good but in a split second BOOM !! ..... Off he went. sliding off towards the fence and out of the race. When he was trying to pass a rider you have to admire his efforts but when he did it while leading by a distance it was so frustrating.

Why woud a team that has 5.94 left for their final rider want to replace a 7.30 rider with a rider that has a 5.27 average ? There is little room for concern regarding Doyle starting at Leicester now and they are pretty confident tht the final rider will be signed once Doyle is all sorted and it's not Daniel Nermark ! It seems weird that a number of riders have signed for teams weeks before they were announced and for some reason they only want to release the new signings at a later date.

If there is any delay then it would not work as a person at the track can inform anyone at the bookies the result of the race nefore betting closes. It is also hard to bet on team racing. You can have a race with Ty Proctor and Ashley Morris at Monmore Green against Adam Ellis and Richard Lawson with Wolves having a good night so far. TyProctor would be odds on favourite while Ashley Morris would be around 5/2. Wolves gate and Proctor team rides Morris home to win. A quick call if there is a delay and a real dead cert bet is placed. If there is no delay, anyone putting money on Protor would feel cheated when he clearly wants to finish second. Sadly I can't see this working but do feel it would be great in individual meetings like the SEC or SGP but even then you can get a rider staying with a safe second to qualify for the fina rather than going for the win.

In a matter of minutes here is another version. The #5 gets a few easier rides but is much the same, the higher you get in the team, the harder the races and the #1's clash every tim they appear ..... Woffy v Ward ...... Kildemand v Iversen ...... 5 times a night !!! 6 7 6 7 1 4 1 4 2 3 2 3 5 6 5 6 4 7 4 7 1 3 1 3 2 4 2 4 5 7 5 6 1 2 1 2 3 4 3 4 6 7 6 7 1 5 1 5 2 3 2 3 5 6 5 7

This is NOT the format but just put together in under ten minutes. Reserves are given two races against each other and mostly their other races are against or with second strings. Heat leaders are matched against each other more often but the #1 gets to ride along side each of his team mates except reserves. Second strings get a few tough races but also a few that sees them as he main rider in the race and partnering a reserve. NOTE; Teams line up in order of averages SWINDON V POOLE Peter Kildemand ......... - 1 - .......... Darcy Ward Troy Batchelor ............ - 2 - ......... Shamek Pawlicki Nick Morris .................. - 3 - ......... Maciej Janowski Simon Gustafsson ...... - 4 - .......... Josh Gracjzonek Nicolai Klindt ............... - 5 - .......... Vaclav Milik Kyle Hughes ............... - 6 - ......... Steve Worrall Lee Smart .................. - 7 - .......... Darryl Ritchings 1 5 1 5 6 7 6 7 2 4 2 4 3 6 3 6 5 7 5 7 1 4 2 3 2 3 1 4 4 7 3 6 3 5 2 5 6 7 6 7 interval 1 2 1 2 5 6 4 7 1 3 1 3 2 4 4 5 N N N N This was done in 10 minutes ....... if I was being paid and wanted to take more time and detail then I could have one done by Monday but would everyone agree with it UNLIKELY

Only name I have seen mentioned bout the final place is Jonas Davidson. Any other names mentioned due to Jason Doyle being uncertain ? Norrie Allen as Team Manager ? ........ What would he bring to the team that someone like Jan Staechmann or Phil Morris wouldn't ?

MAYBE ...... Maybe there is testing on how things will look in a few months by running ghost matches to see how it affects certain positions and how it could affect riders averages. For a sponsor they want to see their backing helping a rider progress but also get their name promoted well. If a race format comes out that could make it difficult for a certain rider to progress then they will think twice about baking them or think they have wastedtheir money. Take Ty Proctor for example only. There is not a third heat leader in the league with an average as low as his, so he is rated (by averages) as the weakest heat leader in 2014. If a format comes out that sees him racing most times against riders with higher averages with no heat 8 scenarios where he could be the strongest rider in that race, then a good night could be 4 paid 6. However if he gets one ride with a second string like Ricky Wells and two races alongside reserves, then he could be looking more at 7 paid 8 and scoring points helps keep sponsors happy and possibly get new sponsors. There no doubt will be a few loopholes and trying to accomodate two reserves is something that should mean a few riders will get some harder races especially heat leaders as the #5 was scheduled to ride with reserves three times upto now but in 2014 riders like Chris Harrsi, Davey Watt and Troy Batchelor will now be in tougher races with second strings or fellow heat leaders. Th format could suit some and not others ...... which could be a reason they cant agree on it at the moment too !!

The only way it wont make much difference is that once they get a new average they will move up to heat leader and then get harder races so their average will go down again. Richie Worrall, Ryan Fisher, Adam Skornicki. Daniel Nermark, Mikkel Michelsen, Mikkel Bech, Simon Gustafsson and Peter Ljung will all move up to a top three place in their teams during the season ......... then possibly move back down by September !!

King and Barker know the fastest way around Perry Barr The track should suit Eddie Kennett Skornicki goes well there usually ad Nermark had a couple of seasons ther Paul Starke is a good reserve and he could be dominant at home in the reserve races a the season goes on They WILL do well at home but the top three look a bit weak away

They will drop points against each other which is obvious but Tai, Darcy and Neils are miles ahead of anyone else in the league and even with harder races I think those three will be 10 point riders this season ...... if they stay upright !! It will be interesting to see which second strings move up to a heat leader role as they score and heat leaders struggle with the tougher races and likely the third heat leaders are going to be the hardest position in the team. I have a format done up, with each rider having the correct gates and if that format (or something like it) is used then you could easily see quite a few matches going into heat 15 with the top scorers being on 7 or 8 points ...... apart from Tai, Darcy and Neils

SHOCK !!! Well not really and much better than his 5.27 average suggests. Will be a strong second string and with Skornicki will add experience and stability to a well balanced team that do look strong at home but not too sure about away.

If there is one thing you can credit SKY for is keeping riders like Woffinden, Iversen, Ward etc riding here as without their backing over the last decade most of the top names would have moved out a long time ago. The next season was a make or break year as I see it. They had to cut costs incase the SKY deal never went through and if it had failed the 2015 season would face even more cuts to make it survive at any level in the future. Poland and Sweden have big sponsors and money men behind them and Britain sadly cant get that backing. Even with the Sky deal, the moves made this season are to help bring in more British riders and more affordable riders for the future years ahead.

Thats one thing that is good about thes draft riders is there will be a few local riders appearing. At Wolves, Ashley Morris could walk from his house to the track in minutes and it gives a bit of extra pride that a local lad is given the chance at a big club. So if it is Ritchings that takes the last place, fair play to him.

Much depends on the new race format and some seem to think top heavy teams like Kings Lynn and Poole may benefit more, however I think the teams that could be stronger are those that have second strings that will beat heat leaders and I can't see Porsing/Lambert beating riders like Nicholls, Harris, Batchelor etc. However teams like Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Ea.stbourne and Wolves have second strings that can beat heat leaders but at the same time they will need riders like King/Barker, Harris/Hansen, Doyle/Hougaard, Kylmakorpi/Woodward and Pawlicki/Proctor to score in tough races and these will be against heat leaders At the moment I think Poole possibly look to have the right balance with three heat leaders that can score well and two second strings that will pick up decent points. At reserve I think there are stronger pairings, but in many teams having one good reserve will see him out five times and the other reserve just three. It really looks quite open really and while I don't approve fully of the new reserve ruling, I do find myself thinking the league is wide open this season and am looking forward to who does actually lead the table.