British Speedway Promoters Meeting

[Starman2006]

Without wading through umpteen pages, double uppers?

[arthur cross]

for me, IF this results in reduced admission and a genuine attempt at 'fast tracking' GB talent (and is administered fairly! ) then it may just work for the benefit of the sport...

 

many have moaned that not enough is done for GB riders, so let's not moan now when at least four riders on view each night will be from these shores...

 

keep them riding against each other and the racing 'entertainment' should be relative even if a few seconds slower...

How naive are you ? !!

 

There's been no official mention of "reduced admission" ... even you're wondering whether it'll be administered fairly ... and most importantly of all, it's hugely debatable whether "fast tracking" any rider into the Elite League will actually work.

 

Remember Tai Woffinden worked his way to the ultimate honour of World Champion by riding at least one full season in each of the Conference League (as it then was) and the Premier League before concentrating over here on the Elite League.

 

Meanwhile Lewis Bridger didn't bother with the Premier League because he jumped straight into the Elite League full-time as a 16-year-old.

 

At least Bridger had enough natural talent to get away with justifying bypassing the Premier League at that age ... now we're asking a bunch of riders with nowhere near as much natural talent to step into a regular Elite League team place when plenty of them have yet to hold a Premier League place for a full season.

 

Utterly, utterly ridiculous ... a scheme that has absolutely no hope of lasting for the whole of the 2014 Elite League.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

As a staunch Leicester supporter I think someone's taking the Fosters. There is no way on God's earth I'm going to buy a season ticket to watch national league speedway. We've joined the so called elite league to have more local teams to ride against & we've replaced one of them. The sport I love is a bloody joke.

I suppose I should be celebrating Leicester's elevation into the Elite League, but I can't. What a total shambles we are joining! Introducing NL riders into the EL, even in the half-assed way they have announced, is a terrible idea, poorly conceived and obviously not thought through properly. I cannot justify paying inflated admission and programme prices to watch what will be on offer in 2014.

Hmm, so you're saying that because they'll be two heats (only) featuring NL riders (actually the other word for this, is up and coming young British talent..!) it won't be worth going anymore, even though the Lions will now be racing in the EL..?

Have a word with yesrselves Lions' fans; I love Leicester Speedway and think today's news is great news. Surely you've heard of the concept of looking a glass half full rather than half empty. Though in this case even by your argument it's a glass one eighth empty, seven/eights full!!!

[moxey63]

Exactly and remember the likes of Carl Stonehewer, Joe Screen, Sean Wilson and others were nowhere near good enough for the British League at that time but can anyone say riding in the top league did not speed up their progress ?

 

Personally I would love to see the likes of Robert Lambert, Adam Ellis riding in every league they can, all 3 would be great if it aids their development. Instead in the past we have the likes of Lasse Bjerre, Ludvig Lindgreand and most of the Aussies riding in more than one league so let's get the young British riders riding in every league

 

No disrespect but this rule should not see the Jon Armstrong's of this world benefiting, let's hope it's the riders for the future that are the beneficiaries

 

Just one final thought. The promoters are ridiculed for their annual shuffling of the Titanic's deck chairs but give them credit where it's due. Most on here would do nothing and then moan when their club closed because of spiralling costs

 

Most of the money in the sport is being taken by overseas riders who come over, make a great living, run for the hills when meetings like the ELRC or Ben Fund comes around and then a fortune again from bloody testimonials and seemingly that is a model fans are happy with

 

Some riders have testimonials and that is the last we see if them !

 

Get behind what is for once a positive step

 

 

Joe Screen actually made his debut for Belle Vue in 1989 - scored 10 points in the match and then rode his first Junior fixture afterwards. So he was already good enough, no need for junior racing.

 

Carl Stonehewer and Sean Wilson would have come through with their talents and were producitive grasstrackers at the time. You could say Mark Loran made his name in the main team and used junior league for practice.

 

Very rarely did the junior league present the talent it was aimed at producing.

[Starman2006]

Double Uppers??

[Rebel1]

Two National League riders per Elite League club. Interesting to say the least, no-one seems to have seen that coming!

 

Now for all the bickering vis-a-vi 'you have two of the best from the NL or why have we been lumbered with him'! It will be very interesting given that they intend to have two reserve races per meeting.

 

This is where the teams win or lose many meetings, however, it does mean that the 1-5 riders cannot become reserves so will have to stand up and be counted to maintain their place, no looking for easy pickings in the basement slots.

[salty]

I'll give you your Screen, Stoney and Wilson. You can also add in Paul Fry, Ray Morton and Andy Phillips who all went on to have decent careers.

[Hackney Speedway]

Well I really can’t believe the BSPA statement. To have two NL riders in each Elite League team, surely they can’t be serious! It will knock young NL rider’s confidence, we know the Lambert feller will beat all the reserves, but well, Hackney is totally dismayed! Two tier teams again, oh dear.
In Hackney’s humble opinion, speedway is dying in the UK. Speedway in the UK needs new blood, fresh ideas, fresh promoters. It’s the old pals act, I've seen it all before and money speaks! They keep the hated tactical rule, they still call the top league Elite [that’s farcical] and if as I believe Sky gave each EL club £100,000 last year and these clubs still loose money hand over fist, then I’m afraid and it hurts me to say it, but we say bye-bye to the Grand Prix riders in the UK. You deserve much more money than you get, every rider does, but you’re strangling British speedway and that cannot be allowed to happen. Simply unless you’re a very rich promoter, clubs will cease as it looks like Peterborough have sadly done. How can the vast majority of clubs afford to pay a rider £5000 per meeting as one club its believed to have done last season!
We could have had an expanded Premier League. That would bring on young British riders. But no we just keep things plodding along. No reason why we can’t have our European friends riding in the UK, but at sensible rates.
If speedway in the UK does get a television contract, let’s see more Premier League Speedway, although probably no speedway in the UK on satellite wouldn't be such a bad thing.

[mikebv]

How naive are you ? !!

 

There's been no official mention of "reduced admission" ... even you're wondering whether it'll be administered fairly ... and most importantly of all, it's hugely debatable whether "fast tracking" any rider into the Elite League will actually work.

 

Remember Tai Woffinden worked his way to the ultimate honour of World Champion by riding at least one full season in each of the Conference League (as it then was) and the Premier League before concentrating over here on the Elite League.

 

Meanwhile Lewis Bridger didn't bother with the Premier League because he jumped straight into the Elite League full-time as a 16-year-old.

 

At least Bridger had enough natural talent to get away with justifying bypassing the Premier League at that age ... now we're asking a bunch of riders with nowhere near as much natural talent to step into a regular Elite League team place when plenty of them have yet to hold a Premier League place for a full season.

 

Utterly, utterly ridiculous ... a scheme that has absolutely no hope of lasting for the whole of the 2014 Elite League.

As I say 'IF'.....

 

one thing is for sure, doing nothing wasnt an option...

 

this may turn out to be contrived bollox, but at least its a way of reducing costs with effectively 5 man teams rather than seven, it reduces air fare/hotel costs and gives the NL riders the opportunity to rub shoulders with much better riders without having to race against them...

 

as you say it may not last, but at least it is radical (which the BSPA gets called for never being) and if SKY do come on board may get dumped, however what this does do I would suggest is give the EL breathing space in their challenge in balancing the books..

[OILYRAG]

I'll give you your Screen, Stoney and Wilson. You can also add in Paul Fry, Ray Morton and Andy Phillips who all went on to have decent careers.

So we can think of half a dozen over 20 years that its worked for then , great !

[moxey63]

I'll give you your Screen, Stoney and Wilson. You can also add in Paul Fry, Ray Morton and Andy Phillips who all went on to have decent careers.

 

 

Fry and Phillips also learned much on grasstrack... but it isn't the point. Few names can be provided for so many seasons of junior league racing. Without the junior league I suspect these riders would have still came through. Many riders became professional juniors and settled for being after-interval stars, thinking it was job done... then spending the early hours Hollywooding it in the bar.

If posts reflect on a few names that the Junior League supposedly produced over 10 or so years, how many riders did the old second-halfs bring on?

Edited November 17, 2013 by moxey63

[Glenn]

Double Uppers??

My guess is that they should be reduced as taking out 2 riders of Elite standard

Means there will be more riders available.

 

However the points limit will determine the middle order riders and I can see a few not coming into the UK

next year

[Starman2006]

Cheers mate, so not straight forward then,.

Edited November 17, 2013 by Starman2006

[Steve Shovlar]

First of all commiserations to Panthers fans. Looks like Frost was too shy to tell his fans personally. A real shame and hope someone comes forward to give their fans a team in 2014.

 

Many on here have been crowing for Brits to be in the team at reserve. The BSPA have obliged.

 

The result? Moan, moan. bloody moan. People on here were saying no more rubbish foreign 3 and 4 point journeyman taking up places where Brits could be used. The BSPA obliged. Moan, moan, bloody moan.

 

Sure Ward V a NL rider would be a foregone but by the sound of it that isn't going to happen. IN three or four years time we might just start to see the budding flower from the seeds sewn in 2014. Teething problems? There's bound to be some but we now have an extra 20 Brits coming into the EL and gaining real experience.

 

Any team can keep their top men as well. Lets be more positive on here.

 

Be positive about this news. No foreign journeymen taking up Brits places. Brits have got these places!

[MrB]

Double Uppers??

None hopefully, 20 riders forced out of the EL do we really need double uppers, why not just put all the riders names in a hat and draw out a team for the following weeks fixtures!

[MattK]

The other thing people haven't mentioned is that there will be 20 riders in the National League riding Elite League standard machinery.

Won't this massively increase the cost of riding in the NL as all riders will need better equipment in order to stay competitive?

[RobMcCaffery]

There is a heck of a difference between the best twenty young British riders, whether under-23 or under-21 or any other arbitrary figure, and the top twenty National League riders, for what are pretty obvious reasons unless the Premier League has mysteriously ceased to exist.

 

Yes, it's great to give protected team places to young British riders but only if it is the best that are included. Using the best is a talent-developing strategy, just using 20 NL riders is suspiciously close to just employing riders on the cheap and passing it off as some grand strategy.

 

Funny how the BSPA wake up to promoting British talent once the financial drip-feed is under threat.

 

If this was a properly though-out scheme to promote young British talent I'd support it completely. I really don't think it is.

 

The comparison is made with Poland and Sweden. I would suggest that the riders involved in those countries are at a rather later stage of development than the NL.

 

The progression of course should be NL-PL-EL. The fundamental failure of this scheme is the suspicion that that vital middle step is being omitted.

 

I hope it works but really can't see how it's more than exploitation rather giving opportunities - as it has been every time I've seen it tried before. What we have here is instead of stripping cost out of the EL consistently through the riding order we're probably seeing second strings replaced by NL riders.

 

 

On a different note we are told that a new TV deal is imminent - it would be interesting to see how much money is on the table....

Edited November 17, 2013 by rmc

[BluPanther]

First of all commiserations to Panthers fans. Looks like Frost was too shy to tell his fans personally. A real shame and hope someone comes forward to give their fans a team in 2014.

 

Many on here have been crowing for Brits to be in the team at reserve. The BSPA have obliged.

 

The result? Moan, moan. bloody moan. People on here were saying no more rubbish foreign 3 and 4 point journeyman taking up places where Brits could be used. The BSPA obliged. Moan, moan, bloody moan.

 

Sure Ward V a NL rider would be a foregone but by the sound of it that isn't going to happen. IN three or four years time we might just start to see the budding flower from the seeds sewn in 2014. Teething problems? There's bound to be some but we now have an extra 20 Brits coming into the EL and gaining real experience.

 

Any team can keep their top men as well. Lets be more positive on here.

 

Be positive about this news. No foreign journeymen taking up Brits places. Brits have got these places!

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/speedway/speedway-news/financial-concerns-lead-to-the-closure-of-panthers-1-5687960

[AlanF]

The devil is definitely in the detail here. If it is two genuine NL riders then it would be a farce. If it is two Brits aged 21 or under then it could be great. Having these guys potentially ride in all 3 leagues could be great. Can't be hard to have a formula that sees them riding each other twice and taking on the second strings the other two races. A similar rule in the PL would mean these youngsters getting some great experience.

 

Could be some fallout for the NL though. A rider riding EL and PL is probably going to want a lot more than what is currently on offer to ride in the NL as well.

Edited November 17, 2013 by AlanF

[alfiemorris]

Someone has just put on Twitter, that the NL reserves will be graded A & B and those will be allocated to the teams by the Management Committee.

I've not read all the way through yet, A couple of observations 1/ which riders in the N/L would want to ride in the E/L? 24 and more WHEN the injuries occur. 2/ Surely their costs are going to increase in order to ride, even against fellow N/L riders. Most, if not all, N/L riders are employed, therefore not able to commit to E/L as well as N/L. All this and all tracks to have air fences! Ludicrous action as far as I can see. I'd love to know out of all the promoters, who was in agreement with these new rules.