wjm

Hard to have any sympathy with him, with the fans yes, but Denhams legacy will be that of someone that has done the sport alot more damage than good, that's if he does pull out, maybe calling wolf again? cynical to think that, but if you do it often enough it then takes away the impact when it is legitimate.

I agree with this. A stronger NL will ultimately help the development of younger riders rather than hinder them. Racing against guys like Roynon and Haines will bring young riders on IMO, it gives them something to aim for, a speed to gauge themselves against, and the kind of guys that they can aim to be as good as.I know some will mock the suggestion that riders should aim to be as good as Roynon and Haines, but a few more young Brits reaching their level at least would be a start. I genuinely don’t have an issue with the NL being used as a platform for British riders to gain racing experience and track time, I thought that’s what it was for? There is a massive culture shock for some guys going from NL and winning races by the length of a straight to the PL, when you are faced with a completely differing standard of riders, racing riders of a higher standard now and then offers 1st bend experience to NL riders.

It isn’t really that naughty, it was a bit daft to mention his name in the first place, even when he was at Edinburgh his scoring was respectable for a first season PL rider. A lot of the NL Brits who bother to ride for clubs up North have been given a chance, very few of them have shown the sort of form Dyer has this season, if they had shown the same sort of progress they would be in 1-7s and the promotions would be delighted to have a progressing Young Brit in their side…

90% of promotions in the PL would snap your hand of for an NL rider that was scoring like Dyer has lately….

Toothless...stuff from the guests

Excellent choice of guest.

It isn’t completely out of the question, which is just ridiculous considering the amount of injuries and meetings ran with half a team, going to need a few favours and to score some big points away again (Redcar, Glasgow and Plymouth all possibilities) and 3 points tonight. If Berwick had raced more meetings with a 7 man team would have quite comfortably made the Play Offs.

Apparently Ricky wants to make the PLRC, given the service he has given Berwick this year guests until he is fit is worth the effort (more so if Nick Morris can be used ) ….might even play into Rickys thoughts when it comes to deciding where he wants to ride next year… Loyalty works both ways and it worked with Lee.

Berwick are getting themselves into the same sort of position Edinburgh were a few years back when they struggled before putting together a couple of decent seasons when they had a group of riders ready to improve but just couldn’t get the balance right. Berwick have about 12/14 riders that you could logically pick from, if they get the mix right they could come out of it with a very decent 1-7. The majority of the guys that have rode for Berwick this year are actually capable of being in a very good PL side.

How easy will it be for Masters to join Poole full time? Would they need to declare their team again with him on his EL average if he doesn’t have a PL place?

You say built around Complin but the original team was built around what you have said in your post to be fair, Berwick with a reserve combination of Bellego/Barnfield or Edberg over the course of a season would have been a pretty strong side IMO, admittedly it is hypothetical in relation to Barnfield, but who knows he might well have been a Campton. The side before the injury to Smith and Barnfield had a very good balance, and the idea behind the Sitera signing was the right one (I don’t think many thought he would turn out to have the season he has). The team changed, and we got a number 1, not by default, but because of injury, which has pretty much plagued Berwicks season since a wheal has turned. If you lose two riders before you start the season, the chances are it might well end up affecting the balance of the side. Not a political answer btw, just thought it was something worth pointing out…..

I would agree after the injury to Ashworth it was for the best to think about next season, assets alone aren't the heart of a good side, as Ashworth shows. Agree

There isn’t really any pressure on Barrett to perform, mainly due to the performances of David and Robin who have both been riding well above their averages as of late. Hopefully he turns out to be a Jorgensen or a Toft sort of standard.

If you are going to fish you need to make sure your bait is decent, you are half troll, half arse hole, you are, an arsetroll.

The “conveyor belt” part is the problem though. If that rule was to be enforced you would almost wipe out about 20 riders currently in the PL, a few of the riders not meeting their average like Aspegren, Mellgren and Eklof are more than welcome additions to the PL. If in turn you decided that these guys couldn’t gain a team building average and were then replaced by people like McKinna, Warwick and Cockle, this would do serious short, and long term damage to the PL (no disrespect to the guys, but the options are limited as we have no “conveyor belt”.) At a time when a lot of tracks are struggling as it is, the last thing that is needed is to water down the product, and create a “pay and demand” culture for the limited number of talented Brits that are out there. It seems pretty obvious looking at the progressing Young Brits in the PL what has to happen, we need more tracks/facilities like Scunthorpe where riders can gain the track time to be ready for PL racing (Auty, Haines, Howarth, The Worrals, Birks, Woffinden). Sad as it is, simply being British doesn’t mean you either deserve a PL place, nor will having a PL place automatically develop and enhance a riders talent ,there are numerous examples of riders over the years that almost every PL promoter had wanted to give the chances to, and have given chances to that show that. Before any rule is implemented that says “you must have a Brit” more has to be done to ensure that there is a steadier stream of Brits coming through to meet the demand, as things stand, any “must sign a Brit” rule, would render the points limit redundant as you would falsify the strength of some sides in comparison to others (yes that currently happens, but smart team building and using the wider range of options available allows teams to counter that). I wont argue for a second that we don’t need more British talent, but it needs to change at a grass roots level, CL next and then think about the PL, the transition from CL/PL/EL needs to be worked on, that doesn’t mean you need to devalue the products as it wouldn’t do the riders any good either if they reached the international stage (not every riders will). We just need to find more training track time rather than solely competitive track time, we need more faculties to allow riders to develop at a younger age, not knee jerk changes to league structure.

That would just about kill off speedway in this country, defiantly wouldn't get Brits coming through then.

I would be shocked if Silver used him as a guest again after his showing on Saturday. I would have been telling him not to even bother turning up at Newcastle, he would have been p*sh there as well, bad enough with the weight of the Armadale track on his bikes never mind Berwicks as well.

The reasons don’t rest with two individuals, both of whom have done well with their talents thus far in their career, both performed well enough at the World Cup, it isn’t Harris and Woffinden that are letting British Speedway down, they are doing more than most for it.

So, now that its all done and dusted are people maybe starting to realise that Woffinden not racing didn’t really make any difference to anything? A few on the BSF seem to have a habit of manufacturing personalities and characters for riders, none more so than Harris and Woffinden. Woffinden, the seemingly kicking on 30 year old veteran who is never going to make it, and wants to race for Australia (despite choosing Team GB) and concentrate on the sport rather than chucking money at other hobbies.

Could make Rye stronger on their tour to be fair, would assume they will get a guest for Frampton as they already have R/R for Bowen?

While Nicholls, earns it and deserves it, him being at Cardiff again is a bit tiresome.. FWIW, the only people who seem to crave attention more than Jepsen Jensen Racing are those that rise to it every time, the abusing him when he is posting got tedious a while ago, cant believe people still get mugged of by him.

Hopefully Woffinden wins (if it isn’t to be Ashworth) I would like to see Tai at Cardiff this season, could be pretty interesting. FWIW on the whole age thing, Woffinden was comparable to both Holder and Ward at the age of 17/18 all three are far and away the best riders that I have seen race at that age during the 15 odd years I have watched speedway. I would imagine Woffinden is the closest thing this generation will ever see in comparison to someone like Michael Lee in that, he was instantly superb. His show at the P.L.R.C when he won was stunning for a rider of his age. Even now, for a rider of his age Tai is an incredible talent, he isn’t the veteran that some seem to think he is.

You have taken my response out of context, I wasn’t calling any Plymouth fans “forum fannies” I have sympathy for them, I know what it is like to see my club ran by someone with a questionable plan. When I said “forum fannies” I was referring to posters like alljack, who live in a world where speedway is ran like a fantasy game where you pick riders based on who you like and not signed to suit any structure or for thought of the clubs long term future. People that run the league, possibly, but that shouldn’t take away the blame from Bowden, I appreciate the weather hasn’t been ideal this summer, it has been the same for every club in the country, however, the club isn’t the only one having to go without, riders are as well (full credit to them for making a sacrifice for the benefit of the club).

You are really going to leap to the defence of someone that has to change pay structure based on……the weather?

This to me is what would happen/happens if a club was ran by “forum fannies” chopping and changing riders every week, signing riders that a club should never be signing and just having a complete lack of reality as to where the club is.