T.N.T.

Jens Rassmussen riding on an ACU licence was the first to open the food gates and was soon followd by others, including Peter Schroeck. I still remain convinced that the move to help British riders should have been in the Premier League mainly and ALL foreign riders must start on an average no lower than the assessed average they first appeared on. This way ALL Premier League reserves would be British riders that are competing alongside riders on the next level. Also a considerable number of PL second strings would also be British and the only foreign riders would be those that deserve to be here and have proved it. It wouldn't be so bad if the EL had set a limit of say 36 for a six man team and each team allocated two fast track riders to share the #7 race jacket while also riding in the PL and possibly the NL too. While it looks good that these reserves will be busy riding in all three leagues, this will also mean they have more costs keeping the bikes in order and will even possibly have to buy another bike or engine before the season starts. So who are the 20 fast track riders ? Going off averages only, Lewis Kerr seems to be one of a few in a difficult position as his PL average gives him an assessed 3.65 EL average while Kyle Howarth 4.28 and Ashley Birks 3.06 have EL averages while Jason Garrity has an assessed 3.27 EL average and Kyle Newman 3.19 going off ther PL averages. That's FIVE riders with averages above 3.00. Kyle Howarth 4.28 Lewis Kerr 3.65 (8.22) Jason Garrity 3.27 Kyle Newman 3.19 Ashley Birks 3.06 As these riders are mainly going feature in races beteen themselves, teams that end up with Howarth, Kerr etc will hold an advantage ..... so should the difference be taken off the 32 limit ? ...... EXAMPLE; Swindon sign Howarth, so their top five has a limit of 30.72 instead of 32 etc ..... or should the teams that have these five riders have the last picks ? As far as riders under 3.00, these look to be the top 20+ with assessed EL averages and NL averages in brackets () Lewis Blackbird 2.96 (10.41) Charles Wright 2.58 (10.37) Adam Ellis 2.55 (8.90) Ashley Morris 2.47 (8.83) Paul Starke 2.17 (9.93) Robert Lambert (10.30) Joe Jacobs (8.71) Rob Branford (8.53) Stefan Nielsen (8.00) Ben Reade (7.70) Jake Knight (7.62) Josh Bates (7.49) Daniel Halsey (7.43) James Sarjeant (7.38) Ben Morley (7.13) Tom Young (7.04) Oliver Greenwood (6.89) Ben Hopwood (6.89) Liam Carr (6.87) Lewis Rose (6.76) Kyle Hughes (6.22) Wonder if Joe Haines is ready for a comeback no he could ride for Wolves and in the PL

With the reserves having two races between themselves and other races against second strings, should a team have two heat leaders they will more than likely have a weaker 5th rider and this rider will more than likely appear in races with the reserves so it may be better to have a more balanced top five like Coventry have built. The #5 race jacket will no longer be paired with a reserve three times, so a second heat leader may not be as important and with this in mind, I think the best options to fill the last two places are riders that can score points as a possible partnership. Scott Nicholls 7.19 and Simon Gustafsson 5.17 would be my favourite pairing. We know Scott isn't back at Coventry and know he goes well at Monmore Green and Simon has gone stale at Eastbourne and needs a change and could be a bargain. With Eagles possibly having Michelsen and Lahti, they will be after 7 point riders and may loan him out. Otherwise a good partnership could be Adam Skornicki 6.14 and Grzegorz Zengota 6.15. Adam is a solid scorer as we know and Zengota was Bees rider of the year and is a Swindon asset and is unlikely to feature in their team. This could be a solid partnership and take the pressure off Ty and Jacob having to improve. We would all love to see PK return, but after a bad injury like he has suffered, he may be a bigger gamble than Nicolai in what looks like a busy fixture list with 36 league matches compared to 28 last season. I'm sure Adam would be the perfect choice as captain.

From Zero to Hero for the Bees with so far four decent signings and 5+ for the last place. Auty ?, Robson ? Szczepaniak ? Roynon ? or are they going to pull in a new face on a 5.00 Have to admit that I would have thought the last two places would have gone to Sundstrom/Barker ... Nicholls/Kennett ...... or Schlein/Zengota in whatever combination that fits but in Andersen they have a great team man and Bomber will add at least a point to his average so the woodn spoon will be sent elsewhere in 2014.

With 12.41 left for the final two once Tai Woffinden is confirmed as our #1, it would be no suprise if it was PK that was looked at as the back up to the World Champion as he is a great team man, loves the Monmore track and would be a big bonus to Jacob and possibly Pontus aswell as the two reserves. However, even though he has declared he still has a few years left in him yet, to return from such an injury especially being in his mid 40's and you have to question will he still be an 8+ rider ? ...... Chances are that he will be as he is more Bionic Man than the Milky Bar Kid and has made more comebacks with Wolves than Elvis at Vegas. Scott Nicholls has to be a tempting signing. Around Monmore he is a track specialist and anyone that thinks he won't increase his 7.19 average has obviously never seen him around the Green (although in 2013 he did have a few poor rides at WV2). The question is though can he score away from home and back up Tai and when you look at his scores it was the tail end of the season where he mainly struggled. He still managed double figure scores at Eastbourne (x2), Wolves, P'boro, Swindon, Birmingham and Belle Vue and signing Scott would also leave 5.22 for the last rider (still too much for Ricky) and with Mikkel Bech already signed at Lakeside and Mikkel Michelson now an Eagles asset, the choice of suitable riders is pretty limited ........ which is why I feel its going to be between two Swedes or two Aussies in PK or Batchelor with Aspgren or Masters to complete the team.

EX World Champion Wish Chris all the best for the 2014 season and actually think he is doing the right thing as he returns from injury No details have been released yet but I would have thought there may be a clause in place to those riders not starting the 2014 season and the averages they can return on. With a lower points limit, top riders should increase their starting average so riders like Holder or Lindgren MAY have 5% added to make them 9.69 and 9.39 respectively.

Personally I havealways been a bit of a Nicolai fan as he is a joy to watch whe he gets out in front hits the dirt and is as fast as anyone around Monmore .....BUT Sadly that is a rare treat nowadays and when he doesn't gate he switches to the inside line and goes backwards and when he goes to enter a turn on h inside of another rider he shuts off and falls even further behind. Therefore I feel Nic should look at doing a full season in the Premier League in 2014 and see if he can regain some of that potential that made him one of the sports hottest prospects just a few years ago. Pontus even on a 4.04 average could still be a bargain as he proved at Rye House that he is a much better rider now than he was when he was with us in 2012 as a rookie and finished the season in good form. As he is also based locally, he has the benefit of a known back up team and with Jonah, Sid and possibly PK in the pits, he should progress even more and double up from the PL. ....That said, I have a feeling that Sam Masters is the rider they really want HOWEVER ..... This all depends on PK being fit, but even if he isn't, then why not go with Hans Andersen (good team man) or Troy Batchelor (big friends with Tai) as one or both will be out of the Robins line up next season. As for the NL draft riders, I would be suprised if teams are prevented from using their own assets. So why not let ALL EL teams pick ONE asset (if they have one) from the NL if they should wish to. Those that do not have an asset to pick from get the first pick from the list of remaining riders. Then those that chose not to pick an asset get to pick a rider. Then to finish, starting with teams from the bottom of the 2013 table get to pick their final team member. The final four picks go in order of overall position so the last four picks go Wolves, Swindon, Birmingham and finally Poole. That should see a fair way of selecting the riders but there is one thing that could be a problem. ..... What happens for example if Swindon pick a riders that is already in talks with Ipswich which would mean they are not available for most home matches ? Personally I don't like this idea of putting NL riders in the top flight rather than the PL but it's in now and hopefully things work out and there is no loopholes that will see some take advantage later in the season.

Well there is only 4.32 left for thje final place and Nicolai fits well. Anothe option is Pontus Aspgren 4.04 or Sam Masters 3.85 but I would say Nicolai is more likely to fill the gap as Pontus wants to double up as would Sam who would be coming bck after a year out.

Hope this is only a temporary problem for Peterborough and they are soon back at the EoES in whichever league they can. On a slightly worrying thought ....... which team is KKS, Hougaard Racing, MJJ Racing etc etc going to infultrate now !!!

After a quick look at the averages and working out 10 teams trying to fill 320.00 points with just 50 riders but then you look would could possibly be missing out The teams listed below are only EXAMPLES and do not include the reserves, just the teams top five and it was hard to find riders to fill the 50 team places with a few riders missing from the line ups BELLE VUE; Matej Zagar 8.64, Craig Cook 7.40, Richie Worrall 5.78, Kevin Wolbert 5.04, Josh Auty 4.90. BIRMINGHAM; Martin Smolinski 7.56, Daniel King 7.46, Ben Barker 6.47, Ryan Fisher 5.71, Nicolas Covatti 4.50 COVENTRY; Linus Sundtrom 7.22, Scott Nicholls 7.19, Chris Harris 6.82, Kenneth Hansen 5.82, Aaron Summers 4.79 EASTBOURNE; Bjarne Pedersen 8.12, Jonas Kylmakorpi 7.12, Cameron Woodward 6.34, Simon Gustafsson 5.17, Mikkel Michelson 5.00. KINGS LYNN; Neils K Iversen 9.12, Mads Korneliussen 6.97, Rory Schlein 6.84, Ricky Wells 5.35, Nicolas Porsing 3.51. LAKESIDE; Troy Batchelor 8.21, Davey Watt 7.46, Lewis Bridger 6.30, Kim Nilsson 5.18, Richard Lawson 4.80. LEICESTER; Kennth Bjerre 8.45, Krzysztof Kasprzak 7.97, Patrik Hougaard 6.19, Norbert Kosuich 5.06, Lasse Bjerre 4.28. POOLE; Chris Holder 9.23, Darcy Ward 9.07, Thomas H Jonasson 5.79, Josh Grajzonek 4.48, Mickey Dyer 3.42. SWINDON; Peter Kildemand 8.23, Jason Doyle 7.30, Grzegorz Zengota 6.19, Nick Morris 5.90, Kyle Howarth 4.28. WOLVES; Tai Woffinden 9.20, Peter Karlsson 8.09, Ty Proctor 5.78, Jacob Thorssell 4.61, Nicolai Klindt 4.24 possibly missing; Hans Andersen 8.34, Krzysztof Buczkowski 7.33, Kenni Larsen 7.10, Seb Ulamek 6.60, Edward Kennett 6.39, Piotr Swiderski 6.22, Adam Skornicki 6.14, Lukas Dryml 5.70, Oliver Allen 5.19, Robert Miskowiak 5.11, Michal Szczepaniak 4.86, Timo Lahti 4.80, Stuart Robson 4.63, Kauko Nieminen 4.62, Rohan Tungate 4.59, Ales Dryml 4.51, Ludvig Lindgren 4.48, Adam Roynon 4.47, Ulrich Ostergaard 4.43, Dakota North 4.23, Kozza Smith 3.76, Ty Nelson 3.59, In my opinion this is a big mistake which was done the same in the mid 80's when they made the EL teams use just British reserves. At the time there was a number of decent riders that had come through the junior league set up a few years earlier like Sean Wilson, Carl Stonehewer, Andy Hackett, Chris Clarence and Andy Phillips. There was a host more of these riders but sadly when you look back I think only Prawn and Stoney was still riding by the age of 30 with the others having to find full time work to make ends meet or simply lacking confidence after countless nights of one or two points with massive engine bills to be paid. 32.00 for a top five is quite strong when you look at the EXAMPLES above at the line ups that are possible next season with Peterborough able to field a last minute team of Buzckowski, Ulamek, Swiderski, Skornicki and L Dryml with two NL riders at reserve .... a balanced top five like that wont drop many points to NL riders forced to compete in the top level rather than learn their trade in the PL just as Loram, Havelock, Woffinden, Louis, Wigg, Tatum etc have done in the past. In my opinion it's a massive mistake and when the details are announced, let's see if they have looked at the possible loop holes in the future months after the season has started.

8.64 Zagar 7.40 Cook 5.78 Worrall 5.04 Wolbert 4.90 Auty Would that be likely ?

WOLVERHAMPTON Parrys International Wolves 2014 ........ possibly ! 1 - Tai Woffinden 9.20 2 - Nicolai Klindt 4.24 3 - Peter Karlsson 8.09 4 - Jacob Thorssell 4.61 5 - Tyron Proctor 5.78 6 - Ashley Morris 3.00 7 - Tom Perry or Lewis Blackbird 3.00

So is Tom Perry but Ashley is a Wolves asset which may ut him front of the queue ..... if Wolves go that way as we have Nicolai Klindt, Pontus Aspgren, Ludvig Lindgren and Sam Masters all in the mix for next season all averaging around four points a match. Ludvig is a Brummies asset but doesn't like the Perry Barr track while Sam Masters has stayed in contact with Wolves all season hoping 2014 he can finally take up the place in the team.

Poole made a profit even by employing Ward and Hancock/Holder ..... Wolves made a profit with Woffinden and Lindgren. That's four of the top five riders in the 2013 season at tracks that made a profit last season. HOWEVER you then look at riders like Andersen, Batchelor, Kildemand, Doyle, Harris, King etc that were all quality heat leaders and rode for very succesful teams in 2013 but they struggled financially which became public. We can't run a league with just the three or four clubs that can afford to pay the big riders and we cannot let speedway get lke football where the same teams are always going to compete for the title while othrs just try and avoid bottom place. Speedway is one of a few sports that helps the smaller teams start the following season on a level par and that has to continue. No one is saying Matt Ford can't sign both Ward and Holder, but it will mean they will have to sign five very low averaging riders to fit under the limit. If that's they way they want to go, then fine but other teams that have struggled in recent years like Belle Vue, Coventry etc must start 2014 on a level playing field.

Lukasz Sowka was suggested tongue in cheek and if Woves were going to use a 3.00 rider at #7 then I can't see it being anyone other than Ashley Morris who is a club asset and lives locally. Yes Sowka COULD be a better rider depending on which one turned up, but Ashley has had a great season with Dudley and would jump at the chance to ride for Wolves if required. As for Howarth, I don't know who owns him or where he is going to line up, it was merely an example.

I work in the transport sector in the hectic world of multi drop deliveries which has expanded in recent years due to online sales from companies like Amazon, Sports Direct, Boots, Next etc etc. Most vans from companies like DPD,Yodel, UK Mail etc are all sub contractors and get paid various rates, however the drivers are paid a set rate of roughly £70 with the total income being anything from £130 - £200 for the day. Now £130 will barely break even after fuel, insurance, tax and general use and really you need £150 minimum to start seeing a profit. If the total income was less than £130 then the only way a profit could be made is to pay the driver a maximum of £50. So in short, you get what you can afford to stay in business and if the driver is Adam Wells instead of Chris Ward then so be it !!

Remember we have the World Team Cup, the New Zealand GP plus a clash of race nights to contend with and that's not allowing for rain offs andthe play offs which would make it near impossible to fit them all in if you had 24 home and 24 away meetings. Plans are that if there are 11 teams they will go with 20 home and 20 away but anymore than 11 ad the season will start with two groups riding in another competition before each team rides each other just once at home and once away. ThreforeI am hoping they stick to just LEICESTER being allowed up and let others wait a year like Leicester have.

If there are three PL teams moving up then there will not be any more league meetings than last year, in fact there will be 4 less as each team will only ride once at home and once away. The start of the season would be filled however with two groups of teams riding in a new competition or the Peter Craven Shield. This would mean there are considerably more meetings overall but hopefully there is only one team moving up (Leicester) to ensure there are 20 home and 20 away meetings. Should two move up (Ipswich) then thwy could go with 22 home and 22 away ...... but will more likely opt for two groups of six (5 home, 5 away) before riding in 11 home and 11 away league matches. We all think these riders deserve the money they get for competing in such a dangerous sport and they do. However the money has to be there in the first place and speedway in Britain faces too much competition from football, rugby, horse racing etc while Poland, Sweden and Denmark are not so enthuiastic about those sports as Britain. Yes we want to see riders like Holder, Ward, Lindgren and Iversen riding in Britain on a regular basis and they do attract a certain amount of people through the turnstiles. However the sport needs to promote its self better to the non speedway crowd. We have had years of SKY filming league and GP racing and the attendances have not increased over the years. You can go into the pub, supermarket or workplace and you will hear people say they have watched it on the TV and enjoyed it but a league meeting on Sky shows 15 minutes of racing in 120 - 150 minutes of TV. However if they went to a league meeting like at Wolverhampton, they would see the first race around 7.45 and heat 15 around 9.15 with an interval inbetween which is much better when you consider there is less than 15 minutes action (14 at Monmore if the times are fast) So sorry Chris, I personaly would rather see a bigger league with 40 or 42 league matches and a more balanced set of fixtures. That would mean a reduction in the points limit by a considerabloe amount, possibly dropping to 38 or even as low as 36 when you consider there could be four riders missing next season that are all 9 point riders plus a few more 7 and 8+ riders. Personally I have no problem in saying Poole could share the #1 race jacket with Darcy and Chris and each rides 20 meetings but as long as they are 10 home and 10 away each unless prevented by injury. At Wolverhampton we are likely to have Tai Woffinden at #1 but he is going to be as busy as ever next season as he is also riding in Sweden and Poland and possibly the SEC too, so maybe Wolves could share the #1 jacket with Tai and Freddie should Tai also struggle to fit in 40+ meetings. If Poole are planning life without the Turbo Twins being in town, I'm sure Matt and Middlo will still sort out a top team even if it's a bit older with Bjarne and Zorro possibly being in the line up in a league where #1 riders will be challenged by second strings more often and more competative racing.

Looking at names linked to other teams, Wolves look to be in a pretty good position for next season with a number of riders from 3 - 6 averages to hopefully line up alongside Tai. Birmingham have already lost Harris and Doyle from their line up and it's likely King will be joined by Smolinski or Barker as the heat leaders Coventry have Harris and Hansen and will possibly be joined by Zengota or Nicholls Swindon seem to be looking at something like Doyle, Mads K, Morris, Howarth With Tai, Ty and Jacob we already have a good foundation to build on and a good few options to fill the gaps but hopefully one new face to Monmore to keep it fresh and moving forward ...... wonder if Lukasz Sowka 3.00 would be interested !!

Also likely to be too strong for the possible points limit as those four total 28.42 and leave around just 7.58 - 9.58 for three riders if the limit is somewhere between 36-38. Morris and Doyle look near certain so it may be that Mads is more available than Kildemand and could be his replacement while Howarth 4.28 should be back giving Doyle, Mads, Morris and Howarth a combined 24.45 leaving 11.55 - 13.55. Birks won't be fit for March even if he carries on riding so they will be looking for a decent reserve, possibly two as Howarth may be a second string !!

Dream On Andersen unlikely to be returning if there is a pay cut as expected. Lasse Bjerre lined up at Leicester if they move up MJJ is not interested in England and if he was, P'boro is not the place he wants to be If the limit is going to be around 36 - 38 then you are more than likely looking at a team more like Buczkowski or Sundstrom, Hougaard, Fisher, North ..... thats 23.46 for four riders so just 12.54 - 13.54 left for the final three. So maybe both Buzz and Linus plus two 3.00 reserves ?

Well if he is looking to ride at a club that always pays on time then Wolves should be in the running and he goes very good around Monmore as his scores in the last three seasons show 3 2 3 2 2 = 12 3 3 1'2 0 = 9+1 2 1'3 2 0 = 8+1 3 1 2 2 3 1 = 12 3 1' 3 1 2' 3 2 = 15+2 3 0 3 1 2' 2 = 11+1 0 2 2' 3 2 = 9+1 76+6 from 35 rides = 8.69 (9.37) which isn't far off what Freddie (9.05) and Tai (9.35) averaged last season around the Green.

I'll get the violins out ! If you remember at the time CVS put out an official club statement criticising Freddie in missing a Wolves fixture which was on the official calender since March,something CVS rarely does. If Freddie had any intention of riding next year he would not have missed this meeting, any rider who doesn't put Wolves first gets the chop next season.With Freddie deciding to ride in the Swedish 2nd tier next season it was clear Freddie had no intention of riding for Wolves next season,his decision not the clubs. Don't put your comments in the quote as it looks like you havent said it.

Why wait until the new year. Talks could have started weeks ago but they havent and now we head into an AGM which should really be held in October with a number of tracks unsure on which league they want to ride in and they need to sort out contracts asap with landlords, sponsors, riders etc and that needs doing asap. In my opinion the EL should go forward by admitting Leicester and Ipswich but no more. Then with 12 teams go ahead with 22 home meetings and 22 away meetings with no KO Cup and no meaningless challenge meetings. Starting in mid to late March, there are only a few teams that will have GP riders in their line ups and fixtures can be sorted to ensure they dont have meetings around the time of the NZ GP. With a combination of a few riders not riding in 2014 and more teams, the limit should be set somewhere around 37.50 in the EL and 25.00 (37.50 using PL averages) in the PL with ALL riders having just one average with riders featuring in two leagues having their averages conmined to give one set figure. Ty Proctor for example rode in just 9 EL matches and 9 PL / PL Cup meetings. For Wolves in the EL he scored 64 points from 37 rides and for Plymouth he scored 76 from 40 rides. Going on a conversion rate of 1.5, that works out as 114.67 points from 77 rides which gives a one average of 5.96 ...... however thats not fom 28 matches. 76/40

Not at all as I would not mind one bit if he had to start on an assessed 4.00 average ...... although on current converstion rates he is 4.04 Agree that Ryan Fisher returned to the EL this season on 5.27 despite holding a 6.02 EL average from 2011 However, Ryan rode a full season in the PL where as Pontus only had 17 meetings for Rye House ....... as there is a 28 match rolling average in place, would that change anything ? Even on a 4.04 average he is still worth considering and proved at Monmore in the Joe Hughes meeting he has improved a lot since the 2012 season where he averaged 3.15 9.20 Tai Woffinden 5.78 Ty Proctor 4.61 Jacob Thorssell 4.04 Pontus Aspgren 3.85 Sam Masters 27.48 see what's left when the limit is set ...... Adam, Ricky, Ludvig, Nicolai and Ashley waiting in the wings !!

If they are they have only just started and the AGMis next week ..... unlikely to see anything before the sport has to say they are moving ahead without SKY and should they wish to stay involved it will be a bonus but without some of the bigger names that this country has somehow managed to keep in recent times.