Radical Suggestion For The Elite League 2015

[kingbee]

How radical do you want?

 

How about individual fan groups buying out current promotions or boycotting until such time as they are forced sell off their lot cheap.

CIC or community investment companies is something which is growing all the time including in sport, but it would be no good to just come in with one or two clubs because they would get shouted down by the old guard, remember the stories of ex promoter John Berry trying to get into the inner circle of speedway only to be met with brick walls and more than a bit of "who do you think you are" that still exists today.

Speedway can only be returned to what the fans want by the fans themselves, the bspa have shown themselves to be incompetent, they are stuck in the dark ages and honestly believe that only they and they alone can know what is best, does not matter how high your IQ is, does not matter how much money you have, if your not in that inner circle or related to someone who is then your not coming in and if they do happen let you in you have to sit at the back keep quiet!

 

Regardless of how many tracks would end up becoming full CIC run clubs or part CIC run clubs with a current promoter holding a majority share (because there are still a small few honest good promoters out there, but they can only do so much because of the John Berry effect, Stuart Douglas at Lakeside i firmly believe to be a guy who came into the sport with his heart in the right place and wanted to make change for the better but then along came Mr Cook with a pair of special bspa old guard handcuffs) Speedway needs new people with fresh ideas and the scope to be able to make them become a reality and above all else the sport needs a completely neutral independent body that can oversee it and manage it.

tried the independent bit in 2011 but Sandu and Frost got no support Edited September 5, 2014 by kingbee

[Tabashir]

Two things I believe would make a huge difference:

(1) loyalty average discount so for each year after the first in the same team, the rider gets a discount on his average up to a maximum so that it encourages keeping the teams together and fans affinity with the riders. I'm sure there are some edge cases that would need to be sorted, but that's the idea.

(2) at every meeting there is just too long between heats. How does 15 mins of racing + 30 mins of 2 minute warnings equate to nearly 2 hours? Do they even do the 2.5 mins for same rider in consecutive heats that they used to do years ago? I can't tell because the ref waits so long before putting the warning light on these days! Bang through the heats quick and can either get home early or more time for some youngsters racing after the main event for better value.

[stevec]

There should be more races

 

people moan about from the gate racing and I think my idea could add more to see and make ftg races less boring

 

Lets have 20 races per meeting and get on with the racing quicker. When there are unsatisfactory starts the ref should put on a 15 second warning for the riders to get back to the start, not let the riders all disappear to the pits for 5 mins.

 

So we get more starts and more races but the boring FTG races last for less time.

[screm]

Ok lets get really radical, we have a rule book, how about every team no matter what league just sticking to the rules.

[Leicester Hunter]

Ok lets get really radical, we have a rule book, how about every team no matter what league just sticking to the rules.

Good point, and in a perfect world, it should work. But then you introduce the human element. Someone could write the simplest rule on here, and I guarantee you will get gawd knows how many different interpretations of that rule.

[screm]

Good point, and in a perfect world, it should work. But then you introduce the human element. Someone could write the simplest rule on here, and I guarantee you will get gawd knows how many different interpretations of that rule.

 

Then surely an independent person, and not the BSPA, is put in place to decide on rulings the better.

[MartynSmith]

Abolish tactical rides which robbed Eastbourne of all three points last night and abolish the ability to have a result with less than a full quote of rides after the farce at Lakeside.

[HAMMER57]

Ok lets get really radical, we have a rule book, how about every team no matter what league just sticking to the rules.

Now that would be radical

[Ghostwalker]

Danish system is a joke. You guys better forget it before you even try to think that it may solve British speedway problems.

The same riders meeting each other 4-5 times, meetings last 2.5 hours minimum as top riders have 6-7 rides and it of course

means time for them between the heats.Dont think Danes like it.

 

I agree with you and there is also quite some non-satisfaction with the rider category system. Each winter the Danish team managers

have a meeting/conference to decide which riders goes into which category and obviously there disagreements about that.

[Tom Turner]

10 Radical changes to improve British Speedway

 

1) The rider who finishes a race in last place is shot with a bean bag gun by the opposing team's manager.

This will ensure riders race for every point. No more "agents" and no more poor guest appearances.

 

2) Double points to be replaced with tactical opposition.

If a team has fallen behind by at least 8pts they may nominate a rider from the opposing team to take one of their rides. See rule 1 for motivation.

 

3) Super loud exhausts.

Exhausts that produce a sound on par with a 90's Formula 1 car.

 

4) Heat 15 to be replaced with "Team Derby".

All 7 riders from each team will compete in one big race.

 

5) Fireworks after every heat.

Need's no further explanation.

 

6) Rider height limit of 4ft 10 inches.

Will add a subtle hilarity to racing. Sure to bring the punters in.

 

7) Kevlar racing suits to be replaced with medieval armour.

See last point for reasoning.

 

8) Start girls to be entirely nude.

Attendances will go through the roof.

 

9) Inconsistent track surface.

Some parts of the track will be incredibly dry, others incredibly wet. Will make for much more exciting racing.

 

10) No rain offs.

All matches to go to the bitter end. No excuses.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Charizard

[Tom Turner]

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Edited September 8, 2014 by Charizard

[marko]

tried the independent bit in 2011 but Sandu and Frost got no support

 

yes Kingbee the trouble was there was only one or two promotions involved and that was not enough to break down the walls or go it alone, a similar thing happened in the sixty's which has been well documented, could the same thing happen now? i very much doubt it but how long does one put up with the current situation?

 

I hear people say that poor speedway is better than nothing at all but i just cannot understand that logic.

[Ben91]

The fast track draft needs to be dropped and inplemented in the Premier League for a start. The EL needs to go back to the 15 heat, 7 rider format used in the PL and NL. Squads are implemented and teams have to have 2 British reserves under say, 24. Doubling up is allowed for British riders only. EL meetings are all raced on a Monday and PL meetings are not allowed to be raced on that day, thus stopping riders not being available. Having one race night and a squad system will encourage the world's best riders back to Britain too. It's so simple.

[heathen chemistry]

having read this weeks speedway comic , im stuck for words how ridiculoiusly the article 'where to now?' is

 

its clear to see it has a hidden agenda for one particular club , guess which one

 

stupid comment number 1 , eastbourne want 8/9 home 8/9 away matches next season

stupid comment 2 . saying shared number ones would be a good idea? erm how , each number one getting 4/5 home 4/5 away at what cost do these number ones come in at?

at a guess 2 bikes, a van , flights etc initial outlay at least 10 grand , how the hell can promoter make any profit with them only riding 9 matches?

and that is of course hoping for no injuries , fixture clashes delayed flight etc etc or other excuses....

the top stars dont need riding over here , they might want to do a few matches beginning of season but when the play off kick in im sorry to say but the elite becomes the last in the line of priorities and that is what WILL cost the promoters here if they sign these top stars and they dont turn up

 

stupid comment number 3 ... its said emil , kasprazak , hampel would ride here if we had squads .... absolute tosh they would pick and choose what matches suited them if they did ride here, and if there polish club didnt want them risking injury and riding here then they simply would NOT come , which would then probably mean a guest rider needed , back to square one!

as soon as the play offs arrive or one of them is doing well in the gp's its goodnight irene.....

 

squads were seen as an answer to the number of fixtures over here compared to poland etc, yet what eastbourne want would negate the need for any squad system and surely a standard 1-7 like yesteryear is the safest cheapest option , if a rider gets injured and is out for a long time you sign a new one is that too hard?

 

The article contradicts itself , ie squads the answer for the huge amount of matches , yet 8/9 home seems to be what some teams are looking at , and this year there have been too many matches , so next year that probably will be reduced .....

 

another point if there are less matches what about the committed riders over here , they are going to lose out on income by less matches or sharing there team spot with some uncommited foreigner , how is he going to feel ?

 

the way forward is this

 

standard 1-7 as the old days

british draft riders at 6/7

maximum number of 3 foreigners in the 1-5

second half of reserve riders competing with the teams 6/7 for team spot

Edited September 13, 2014 by heathen chemistry

[The Pedaler]

 

Then surely an independent person, and not the BSPA, is put in place to decide on rulings the better.

 

Who appoints and pays for the "independent person" and what's that bit about paying pipers and calling tunes?

[dabbsjoe]

think one radical suggestion could be ensuring clubs aren't spending way above there mean like a certain club that is no longer in the league has done over the past 2 years. money going out must be less or equal to money coming out is a good place to start maybe.

 

another one is in my opinion the farce that has been riding away at Eastbourne in the elite league where 50% of the time or more the visiting team has there number 1 rider missing if they are riding in GP's.

 

a long term plan which doesn't seem to happen much in speedway would be to sort out the national league, make it a development league to produce / bring through young riders not allow older riders like Tony Atkin to continue. This would then feed into the Premier League where the FTR system would work for Premier League clubs using NL league British riders at reserve. Would also then feed into the EL at some point all being well.

 

One problem we have now is no Birmingham and apparently no Eastbourne from now on leaving us 8 teams in the Elite League. Do they stick with 8 teams (top 4 going into playoffs or top 3 going into playoffs with number 1 seeded straight to final) or do they try to convince 2 teams to step up to the EL

Edited September 14, 2014 by Joe1986

[marko]

The only excuse i hear for not running fewer meetings is that some riders would not ride as much as they would like and some stadium owners would like to see the stadium used more often.

 

Well, on the first point, there is nothing to stop a rider from earning money outside of speedway if the sport does not provide him with enough chances to ride.

Secondly if a stadium owner/owners don't like speedway being every two weeks or so maybe they would prefer it for the speedway operation to go bust then have no money coming in at all.

 

I know every track has a couple of hundred die hard fans who want speedway weekly and would turn up even if their promoter killed Bambies mother but they are a small minority.

 

No squad system needed if your only doing 8/9 home and away meetings, the top riders draw crowds, this has been proven time and time again.

what the Elite League has needed for years is quality not quantity.

[stevebrum]

Ok lets get really radical, we have a rule book, how about every team no matter what league just sticking to the rules.

 

 

That`s too radical.

We all know the same few thrive on `bending the rules`!

[john birch]

I agree that it isn't the race format that's the problem it's the crazy farce with missing doubling up riders and guests, put the EL and PL on DIFFERENT race nights.

And this is why John Cook's idea of having EL on Thurs/Fri won't work because most of the PL is in action on those days -ditto the idea of expanding fast track to include Auty/Roynon/Birks etc. Best compromise IMO is Elite League on Wed/Thurs minimum two English, any non gb double uppers to be as originally ie two riders sharing one spot. Doubling up has just about destroyed the sport in the UK certainly the national team. Interestingly Bridger who has consistently eschewed doubling up has had a better season than Cook in the top league.

[SCB]

Who appoints and pays for the "independent person" and what's that bit about paying pipers and calling tunes?

Who do you think officiates at meetings? That's right, independent referees.