marko

Friday's in the NL would be worse than a damp Monday with sky in town, I feel, it has to be Saturday or Sunday, maybe a Sunday afternoon? I would be quite partial potentially to the latter, night meetings can be on the cool side at Arena at the best of times. PS everyone is talking about Leigh Lanham but how would his average compare with Robert Mear because I had Rob and Ben in my mind, people have also mentioned Zach W but I think he will be racing in the PR and CH? so riding in the 3rd tier would be too much. Leigh once settled in would be a very good number one at home but away from home? I also think Robert Mear might be a better fit for helping to motivate the kids, not saying Leigh could not, that's just the impressive I have from this side of the fence.

I have to say that's an encouraging start, I think if the club is to grab the fans attention they will need to sign young riders like these two and not journey men who have been racing for years and years or riders in their 30s regardless of experience. Ps don't know how old Rob Mear is now but I would have him leading the team as he has experience of teaching through the academy and will be a good mentor and Ben Morley should be a given.

its a sport which can be entertaining, entertainment normally means the outcome is predetermined and done in such a way it adds to the drama (ie pro wrestling, movies, sitcoms, soap opera's etc), speedway CAN be boring, meetings CAN be one sided and pretty much a non contest, sure we have gimmicks to try and keep the score close but the bottom line is its a competitive sport where everyone is out to win even if that means for a large part of the viewing audience the action itself does not hold much interest.

Costs are going up all the time because promoters made the huge mistake of deciding to pay certain riders a guaranteed sum regardless of how many points they actually scored, its one of the worst things to ever happen to our sport, riders should be paid travelling expenses and for whatever points they tally on the night including double points but nothing more. If that is not enough to make ends meet then do what other riders used to do, get a part time job, when I started watching the sport in the late 80s most if not all the riders at 2nd division level and probably some in the 1st had jobs away from speedway and they didn't have big expensive sponsored vans either laid on for them either, I recall following one rider out of Arena one time, cant recall his name but he was a foreign rider, riding for Hackney and he had two bikes on an open trailer, that was his means of getting his bikes about.

I will make a prediction that Lakeside will be the most expensive club in the NL if they race in it, they were joint top of the most expensive clubs in the Elite League (shocking given the state of the stadium) and when they staged a 3rd tier challenge match a season or two ago they wanted more than the other NL teams wanted at the time for watching National League fixtures.

Ah Chalky White and Troy, a blast from the past from happier times when I would drive to Arena even if it was pouring with rain even though I knew I would not likely see much if any racing, the days before those that run the sport started to turn me against it.

I thought it was a given we are now a NL club?

I think what you will get from those 5 is commitment, they are known for being racers on the track who seldom give up, (ok maybe not so much Watty in past seasons but none of us knew what was going on behind the scenes!) I doubt there will be many meetings where Rye will need to use guests riders etc, this is a workman like team and I doubt they will get troubled at home but still offer a reasonable amount of fire power on their travels, something my team could never do.

The fact Edward Kennett has been quoted as saying he talked to Scott Nicholls about going to Rye makes me wonder if Lakeside pulling out of the top flight and Rye moving up was known well before the AGM? Funny also how Edward will not be attending the Hammers end of season diner & dance yet Swede Kim Nilsson can.

The only way i can see Hammers making a go of the NL in a viable fashion is to have a team of real prospects, not career reserves or riders who have been stuck at this level for quite a few years and in all honesty, will never likely amount to anything more than very average third tier rider. There are three on Falcon Hammers list that easily meet that criteria and Lanham is not one of them. I don't know much about Verge, Saul or Kirby so I'm guessing they are youngsters in their first season or two of racing, Zach of course would be a shoe in and Lanham would be acceptable because whilst he is on the way down, he has experience of racing at a high level both competitively and personally. There are one or two kids in the academy who will be worth looking at once they are old enough to ride at this level, Jason Edwards is definitely one.

If Davey and Rory never return to something like their old selves it won't be for a lack of trying, Batch on the other hand, different story altogether, he only tries when it suits him and that's not very often.

Wishful thinking by some hoping that prices will be slashed but it will be said by the bspa no doubt that the dropping of the FTR system counters the lower standard, in other words I doubt prices will come down even by a penny, more likely they will go up.

So if in 12 months Rye House or another team finish mid table but decide it's better for business to run at second division level they won't be allowed to drop down? How would it have affected Lakeside if it had been in operation this season? As others have said the principle is ok but there is no way this will work in reality because the sport is too unstable in terms of movement of clubs opening/closing and changing how they operate.

Had a wry smile yesterday when passing over the A12 at Bow a couple of times (I drive trains) the roads heading to and from the Blackwell Tunnel were just a giant car park as they always are on a Friday, always the same every week, never changes and I heard the M25 was even worse with queuing traffic along the whole of the Northern stretch, and you can bet the local roads would have been as equally bad, just further proves running speedway at that venue on a Friday night is akin to burning money, a later start helped initially but even that does not help now.

I would not blame Stuart Douglas for walking away, it's his toy but he never gets to play with it and through one thing or another speedway at that venue has become almost unviable on more than one level. National League or whatever they wish to call it won't likely draw enough fans in, I think the speedway track will remain but it will only be used for training etc the same sort of setup as Iwade has with two distinct tracks. So yeah I can see the Hammers winding up and the place taken over and used solely by the Hagon Shocks academy and the ride and slide people, OR it could be 1996 all over again with the current promotion walking away or moving elsewhere and a new management taking over and trying their hand at seeing if they can make NL speedway work with a view of moving into the CL in 2018.

It's not often I agree with Jon Cook but his comments Re: the traffic on a Friday night are spot on, and this is coming from a fan who lives in Essex so doesn't require the tunnel, the only night we're the M25 is not a joke is Saturdays, even Sunday evenings can be a pain in the neck, I've learnt that the hard way after visiting family in Oxfordshire at weekends. National League might be a hard sell for some fans as the Hackney Hawks experiment did not go well but PL racing would still attract crowds, a lot of fans who only started going in the last few season would have never witnessed that level but the last season I can say I really enjoyed from start to finish was 2003 when we were racing in the second tier.

So long as Lakeside continue to run, be it outside the top tier I don't see it as sad news at all, quite the opposite in fact. Running at a lower level would make far more sense in tying up the training school and progression to league speedway. I would love a return to local derbies with Rye and Ipswich, I would miss AJ but wouldn't miss some of the other "stars" who are only interesting in racing when it suits them. I watch non league football, and there is nothing wrong with the grass roots stuff, it's the same with speedway.

Sorry state of affairs when people will turn up in numbers to watch a load of crap just because it will be six months before they can watch another load of crap, BSPA loving this.

Personally I thought the actions from the Aces fans was pathetic, this is not football! The only time I have known riders be booed in the past have been when they have been involved in an altication with a rider from the opposition, not simply because they bothered to turn up to help their team try and win a match. I recall couple of seasons ago Eastbourne were at Lakeside and booed Lewis Bridger on the introductions and Jon Cook told them to stop it on the basis that Hammers fans showed respect for the Eagles riders please show the same. I was pleased for Wolves that they won because the Aces fans, a lot of them admittedly are johnny come latelys have no class, terrible losers, just because you have the best stadium and arguably the best race track does not entitle you to win.

Yes its because Sky feel guilty from creating this situation, they engineered a system to bring the outcome of the league down to a couple of meetings knowing it was going to cause a melting pot of emotions and tempers would spill over making for great telly but they don't want to align themselves with it when it goes too far which it will do because that is the nature of the sport. They create this situation then wonder why riders swear on camera and get into altercations, you cant have it both ways.

Pete Adams sums up our sport, April to September is pretty much worthless and no point bothering with. Aces fans will you be clubbing together to buy your club a shield to recognise the fact you finished top of the table? No, didn't think so.

Why do fans sit at home when it's on telly? Because unlike other sports most of the stadiums are s**t holes and so it's easier to stay at home and watch rather than have to make the effort to stand on a terrace open to the wind and cold, that and the fact the product is overpriced so why pay to leave the house knowing your attendance won't make any difference because sky are subsidising the fact many stay at home anyway, plus Sky TV always hold its meetings on a weeknight so the majority have to be up early the next day, especially those with children, also don't forget petrol costs, if you support certain clubs the only way to get to the track is by car and for a track like Arena Essex I would guess most live more than a 30 mins drive away.

Just out of interest what is the capacity of Monmore Green? As there is only that limited space on the home straight, when it's busy it looks like it would be uncomfortable viewing and with everyone thrown in one space I'm not surprised scuffles break out when things get heated. Well done to Wolves by the way, Belle Vue fans will you be the first to step up to the plate, club together and buy your team something to commemorate the fact you finished top of the league table?

He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword, congratulations Wolves

yeah buts its like the boy who cried Wolf, after the second time no one believed it was true and its the same with everything Poole, even if something is genuine most people will believe it is not because of what has gone on before, the whole sport is potentially corrupt and so open to abuse, probably why no promoters even complain is because they know its their own fault for creating a rule book with more holes in it than a sieve and they secretly all desire to exploit that fact, just that some are more clever than others, its not cheating, but it is manipulation.