uk_martin

Interesting article here - http://m.sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/569778/polska-firma-z-10-letnia-umowa-na-organizacje-ligi-mistrzow-jaroslaw-hampel-amba I wonder which will be th "exciting new country"?

Is this a serious thread? Has someone been celebrating New Year slightly too much?

And if you do it twice, you learn all the quicker? Saying that is like teaching a kid to drive by putting him in the middle of Picadilly Circus and then telling him what the steering wheel does and what all the foot pedals do. Haven't we seen enough serious injuries last year? How many more are needed?

To be even more fair, remembering the parlous state of the Coventry track at the start of the season, maybe it's only fit for purpouse for 6 weeks out of any given season? Putting speedway toddlers out on that track at other times would contravene more Health & Safety, Geneva and Human Rights conventions as to make the situation totally inhumane.

Correct - the year of the two Supporters Club coach trips (remember them?) that were both aborted at the Hamilton Service Station. That said, don't put it past the BSPA to take a perfectly sensible rule and to twist it in any way that serves some other purpose.

Will they be sole tenants this year or will they be sharing with the proposed Scorpions team?

It's on one of the wire racks in W. H. Smith's. Grab a copy and don't forget to pay your 60p on the way past the till.

Maybe You the Sparrows ought to enter the Eurovision Song Contest, as you are so good at winning things. Might win that as well. You are Number 6...oops, wrong TV programme

Commitment seems to be an issue. Seems he was at Stoke a couple of years ago. Who knows what he's done or where he's beern since. So in 2 years, he's not yet at the NL reserve standard yet, and nor does the lad feel confident enough to make a go of it in regular NL racing. Looks to me that this story is all about how great Birmingham are an how much better it is to be a number 8 and not riding at Brum than being anywhere else and getting a ride. I wonder whose self-indulgance sparked this story? I wonder if Jolly Kevin will be offering up his opinion on this situation?

Well good luck to the lad on a personal basis. The last Emerson to ride for the Brummies did a respectable enough job. On a different perspective though, how much in the way of resources will be needed to get this 21 year old to be competitive? He's 6-7 years behind the development curve already. What's the long term plan? Where's he supposed to be at when he's 23? 25? 30? Danish Swedish and Polish kids his age are riding in the Elite Leagues throughout Europe and winning GP's. Shouldn't British resources be devoted to bringing on the mid-teenagers rather than riders who may just peak their careers in the PL reserve berths?

Do we know that for sure? Just because a signing hasn't been announced yet doesn't mean that the rider hasn't signed on the dotted line somewhere. I bet even Rye House have 7 signatures on 7 contracts that we don't know about yet, so I'd be careful before assuming that there are options out there that there may not be.

I don't propose getting a ruler out and getting into the nitty gritty of each track's yardage, but if he needed a bigger track, then why not the Isle of White? The odd few metres difference between Drye House and Perry Barr won't make much difference, although a track with a solid shale surface, no adverse camber around the outside, and a fair-for-all reputation may prove a bit of a novelty compared to what's to be found dahhn south.

Birmingham, a "larger track"? What's he been doing in the past? Cycle speedway? Still, if you say so it must be (alternatively) right.

I gather that Adam Ellis won't be riding in the PL at the start of 2016...interesting food for thought...

It's a reply to Jolly Kevin's random ramblings in the Super Soaraway Cambridge Chronicle, or whatever that rag is called...

You don't know how much it gladdens the hearts of Brummies fans to read that. By the way, did you read the Cambridge News article?

Ellis Perks has signed for the Off-shore Warriors, so that clears the decks for some more blue sky thinking on this subject.

So when does a speedway track become a Long Track? Or if it's that big, why isn't/wasn't it a Long Track? (Bear in mind that a year or two ago, the FIM World Long Track Championship had a round at Rzeszow speedway track in Poland)

Can't make my mind up whether to be pleased or not by your indecision ...bearing in mind the track record of your predictions ....however in this new season, the last 4 will still leave it all to play for in the play-offs as long as Eastbourne are in the bottom 8. Oh, and welcome to Tom Bacon.

As Ben91 has said, riders in their mid-20's have often been at it for 8-10 years, and if by that age and after that time they still can't get to a 5 point average in the 2nd division, then something is wrong if extra privileges are granted to them like this one. Let them get a team place on their own merits, and let the resources and privileges go to those youngsters coming through the system. Yes occasionally there's a late starter, and very very occasionally these turn out to be good, BUT on the whole, if a rider hasn't made it out of the reserves in the PL at 25 then they should be left to their own devices. I mean, to say that this rule will be of benefit to Ben Wilson (which it won't as he's too old) harbours sentiment to Ben Wilson that is not justified. He's had his innings. He's peaked and he won't peak again. Riders like him and Jon Armstrong should be coaching the next generation, not blocking their slots in the team rostas. We need to concentrate on riders with an extra 10 years in their innings, the youngsters that we need to go out in Team GB colours in the near future to compete with the likes of the Pawlicki's the Zmarzlik's, the Janowski's, the Przedpełski's of this world (not to mention young Danes, Swedes etc) some of which have won GP's at an age years before some British riders are half way ready for a step up to even the PL let alone the EL, and woe betide, donning the Union Flag. This is why the NL should be a breeding ground for talent, not a retirement home for those looking for a paying hobby in their near-retirement years.

Now I'm all for developing British talent but I hope this rule doesn't get used to clog-up the NL with riders who are approaching their mid-20's and are going nowhere with their careers at the expense of teenagers eager to get a foot on the ladder. In an international perspective we need to be nurturing the rivals to the Zmarzlik's and Pawlicki's and not keeping a 24 year old PL sub 5-pointer in a team berth who is never going to make it at a higher level. The NL is supposed to be a development league not a stagnation league.

No real surprise that Zach has signed. I expect Sam Chapman to be signed too. What's of real interest is who the remaining two riders will be. One thing to tantalise though is the #3 race jacket in the press photos. I wonder why it wasn't a #1?

There will be 11 other teams in the NL hoping you are right about that. On the other hand, Cradley didn't do so well on the best fair track in the NL (the BSPA said so, so it must be right, mustn't it? ) and have gone back to Wolverhampton. So, even if the Eastbourne 50 pence piece doesn't come into play, Fortress Monmore might.

Fair enough, I stand corrected then...I wonder then who Stal will keep as a "squad rider"? Gapinski again? Or will they go without?

That photo's a bit of a blast from the past isn't it? lol http://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/564536/oficjalnie-przemyslaw-pawlicki-w-stali-gorzow Don't be surprised if Baby PP heads over to Gorzow...nothing certain like, but PP1 & PP2 were always marketed as a package in the past, so where one goes the other may well follow. Now, PP2 + BZ wouldn't be a bad reserve pairing would they?