wjm

That Berwick has been chosen to host the Ben Fund meeting suggests that the promotion are doing something right. You stick to spraffing on about toilet roll holders though….

The “he could score 4 thing” wasn’t to be taken literally but as always someone takes things a tad too seriously…. To put it another way… You can also read and see posts where he has turned in riders at Birmingham and Newcastle against guys like Robson, Lemon and Lyons and passed Lindgren from the back at Sheffield. So he was capable of not only challenging, but pulling of the spectacular, so it suggest an inconsistency in performance. His away form wasn’t the same as his Berwick form, that’s natural, very few riders score 9.50 averages both home and away, that being said I will take a guy who can score 13 and 15 at home most weeks every time. Even with his “home/away” spilt, he still turned in paid 16 scores at places like Sheffield and Newcastle this year, 13 at Leicester last year, and 7+ around Rye Ipswich, Edinburgh and Glasgow this season, looking back further there is the 19 at Newport, and a further 15 point maximum to go with that when guesting for Berwick. That’s before you even go into his early form for Sheffield, some of his performances for Stoke etc. Its perfectly true to say Lee Complin, at one time or another has scored a barrel load of points and produced rides folks will talk about in 10 years time around most tracks in the country.

Apart from Newcastle, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stoke, Newport, Birmingham, Hull, Redcar…. He wasn’t good on away tracks. His problem on away track wasn’t that he wasn’t good, he just lacked consistency on them. Complin is made out to be a novice around some places, he wasn’t, he could score 4 in a meeting, but have been involved in every race he was in and about 10 yards away from scoring 13, he was just that kind of rider. Complin would have been a decent EL heat leader had it not been for his first retirement and away from track incidents IMO. He was the absolute dogs bollocks when he first started at Sheffield.

The Berwick promotion are more in touch with the reality of the sport than a lot of people who have been involved in it for years. Complin will be a massive miss to Berwick, and most fans around the country, one of the most entertaining riders to ride in the PL in the last 10 years, good luck to him in whatever his future holds, a definite good guy.

“tainted title”

Thread of the year?

Quite a few riders kicking around on what could be “false averages” next season, Wilkinson and Schramm are both on about 5.00 averages, gamble you take is if they are going to come back to what they were, or if that is just the level of performance you are going to get from them now. There is only so often you can sign riders like that before it all just becomes a bit too predictable to the point that they aren’t going to be much more than middle of the road second strings. At least with guys like Edberg and Albin they are young enough that they are worth the low risk/ possible high reward you might get from them. Plenty of riders that have came over for a limited time and haven’t looked overly impressive during limited second half outings yet went on to have very decent careers.

That is a pretty logical, and decent side. Its still far too early to say, but it will be interesting to see how the sides that manage to run line up next year, I would imagine you will get sides structured a lot closer to the Edinburgh, Rye and Sheffield sides of this season.

With a North/South divide before Play Offs? I know it’s an idea previously floated which a lot of people don’t always seem to enthusiastic about. But looking at the North and Berwick and Workington in particular, the possible removal of Plymouth and Leicester from the fixture list opens up two more Saturday nights which in turn helps with fixture stability, same case clubs “on tour” don’t then need to miss a race night in the summer to recover from a 3 day jaunt etc. The idea of “North v South” could also help create a culture for the Play Offs where the opposition provides genuine novelty. Say Berwick v Somerset, possibly Somersets only visit up North then attracts 20 or 30 fans from surrounding clubs to what should already be, in theory an above average attendance given it is a Play Off meeting. In turn the “meaningful” league meetings like Redcar v Newcastle when both are in the hunt come the end of “league fixtures” offer fans even more an incentive to attend than say Newcastle v Rye House with both sides needing a win to make the Play Offs. This winter could prove that the “powers that be” do have a rough idea what is going on, the “3 year plan” to bring the leagues closer together could be prove to be a worthwhile exercise this winter.

But a club that seem pretty stable and haven’t been afraid to take the tough decision to move leagues to help safeguard the long term future of the club…..there are differing ways to be “successful”.

Extension of R/R would only lead to the previous problems seen when sides like Exeter, Sheffield and a lesser extent Berwick could tell guys like Scott “Scud” Smith and Seemond Stephens not to bother turning up at Edinburgh,funny one as spectator in that you are more likely to see a more competitive meeting (R/R for Scud around Edinburgh more often than not made sides stronger), but at the same time it’s a manufactured away side. One of the few things that is right about Speedway is that in the most simplistic terms its 7v7 and no BS to a paying punter, doing all that is possible to get back to that is a start IMO, increasing the chances of sides using R/R and turning up with 4 and 5 men team isn’t going to do much for the sport IMO. It is tough.

Because only an idiot would think that? Same case what he is paid the two people who will know that are Lee and the promotion are either running around telling people how much they pay/get paid? i doubt it, so it's rumour, but rumour is what makes all the little unimportant people think they are of importance

Anyone else laugh when they read this?

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