British Riders

[Bigballs]

Why aren't British riders progressing like the Polish and the Australians.

Has anyone any answers.

[HenryW]

Aussies aren't doing that great, are they?

The only one that is performing consistently at World level is Doyle and he took a long time to get there.

[Bigballs]

The aussies are all doing good they ride many leagues and they beat the brits in the world games so that tells me they are doing good

[Dave the Mic]

The aussies are all doing good they ride many leagues and they beat the brits in the world games so that tells me they are doing good

Did you not watch the world cup? England pasted the Aussies without our number one. The Poles are light years ahead of everyone as they have the facilities to bring riders on & as the sport is huge over there, there is funding & lots of willing youngsters

[Bigballs]

Did you not watch the world cup? England pasted the Aussies without our number one. The Poles are light years ahead of everyone as they have the facilities to bring riders on & as the sport is huge over there, there is funding & lots of willing youngsters

Yes I did watch the World Cup home track big home crowd but no good in the final. Speedway is a sport were the more you do it the better you get. The Aussies ride here and in Europe then all go back to Australia then ride thier championships they don't let any other country get involved then they all come back and wipe our arses early season when all the big events are on and we wonder why The British rider can't compete plus there is a lot of good British riders with no ride WHY?

[mac101]

Did you not watch the world cup? England pasted the Aussies without our number one. The Poles are light years ahead of everyone as they have the facilities to bring riders on & as the sport is huge over there, there is funding & lots of willing youngsters

The poles like the swedes and Danes have proper training,coaching schools on different size of tracks to suit from a young age which gives them a great start for racing speedway the earlier the better most of the new generation riders are very young with loads of racing under the belts

[Bigballs]

The poles like the swedes and Danes have proper training,coaching schools on different size of tracks to suit from a young age which gives them a great start for racing speedway the earlier the better most of the new generation riders are very young with loads of racing under the belts[/quote

Tell us why British speedway can't do the same when I go watching live speedway there is always young riders waiting to have a ride only to be told sorry lads you can't go on we can't be bothered watching you go round trying to kill your selfs come back another day we'll see what we can do or wait for the winter championship you'll get a ride there it will only cost you £60 for 5 rides that's if your still in one piece after your first couple of rides because practice makes perfect.British speedway someone needs to get a grip or there will be no British riders

[The White Knight]

Yes I did watch the World Cup home track big home crowd but no good in the final. Speedway is a sport were the more you do it the better you get. The Aussies ride here and in Europe then all go back to Australia then ride thier championships they don't let any other country get involved then they all come back and wipe our arses early season when all the big events are on and we wonder why The British rider can't compete plus there is a lot of good British riders with no ride WHY?

Lack of Track time for a start. Money for equipment possibly.

 

As to why so many British Riders don't have a Team. Averages probably, Foreign Riders definitely.

[waiheke1]

Who are the good British riders without a team this season being referred to?

I'd say we should also note that only the pick of the aussues come over to the UK, those that are not good enough stay at home.

And not all the aussies race in their national championship - likes of holder and Doyle don't for a start.

[Bigballs]

Lack of Track time for a start. Money for equipment possibly.

 

As to why so many British Riders don't have a Team. Averages probably, Foreign Riders definitely.

What do you mean averages if your lucky enough to have a big average that must mean your doing well?

Who are the good British riders without a team this season being referred to? I'd say we should also note that only the pick of the aussues come over to the UK, those that are not good enough stay at home.And not all the aussies race in their national championship - likes of holder and Doyle don't for a start.

Holder and Doyle did do national championships because they have won them the amount of riding they are doing now means they need a rest that's why holder as got a ban he needed a rest midway through the season. The Aussies enter the world under 21s in their teens and win them can the British do that? ITS ALLABOUT BIKE TIME RACE TIME AND MONEY. There will always be British speedway but we could run out of British riders unless someone with a brain comes along as for British riders with not enough rides there is to many to mention look at how many have packed in racing

[waiheke1]

Ok so can you name one good British rider without a team place this year then?

[Dave the Mic]

Yes I did watch the World Cup home track big home crowd but no good in the final. Speedway is a sport were the more you do it the better you get. The Aussies ride here and in Europe then all go back to Australia then ride thier championships they don't let any other country get involved then they all come back and wipe our arses early season when all the big events are on and we wonder why The British rider can't compete plus there is a lot of good British riders with no ride WHY?

And Australia did what exactly? At least England got to to the final, which is more than the Aussies did. The Aussies race KL as often as the English lads, so no home track advantage.

 

You need to understand the differences between what has happened here & abroad. In Denmark, Sweden, Poland & Australia, for example, the tracks are pretty much exclusively owned by the clubs & there aren't the do gooders there that there are here bleating about noise etc. The track problem is a historic one. Back in speedway's hey-day with massive crowds & lots of tracks, speedway promoters piggy backed tracks off greyhound, rugby & football stadia & paid rent. They creamed off huge profits & made loads of money & didn't reinvest in the infrastructure of the sport by building their own stadiums at a time when it would have been easier to do so as planning restrictions were looser. Essentially some of the problems of today, stem from greed of promoters when things were good.

 

As time has gone on with planning harder & people moaning about noise etc, it has been more difficult to have facilities for kids to train & learn, although there is some improvement in this.

 

Another issue is the demise of grass track racing. Back in the 70's, 80's & 90's there were big meetings on the grass every 5 minutes & kids learnt the art of racing etc on the grass as there were loads of opportunities. Foot & mouth, which caused loads of issues in the rural UK, planning & noise have seen numbers of meetings fall & less riders as a result.

 

The old style second halves disappearing hasn't helped either.

 

Finally, the obvious problem of money.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Dave the Mic

[Whisperer]

This has got Robert 72 written all over it but who knows !

[MattK]

I'd say lack of ambition. You only have to look at the number of Australian's in the Ekstraliga (five if you discount Schlein who's only ridden once), compared to a single Brit.

[Hacksaw Jim Duggan]

Ok so can you name one good British rider without a team place this year then?

 

No – it appears it was said as it seemed popular and the right thing to say, but it isn’t actually true - unless Joe Jacobs is the one being spoken about.

 

One of the also referenced faults in the British system seems to be a lack of track time afforded to riders - something that would only reduce further with a hard and fast rule of - riders must race for one club and one club only – thus an implementation of such a rule would only further damage the development of British talent going by the logic being applied by some?

 

For me – the current system in Britain isn’t built for progression much beyond becoming a good rider in this country – it is in part why Australian riders are starting to stagnate so much as they depend so heavily on British speedway to polish (no pun intended) the skills they had developed in Australia, and thus a weak British setup feeds into a weak Australian setup.

 

There are very low standards here now, a low water mark - a stripping back of the product was always going to intrinsically link to a stripping back of quality.

 

A rider doesn’t get the chance to line up at the tapes with the likes of Rickardson, Adams and Crump as often as they used to – they don’t get to view them, see what it takes to become the best – how a top riders acts, behaves and prepares themselves – they don’t get to leave meetings with the cold realisation of just how far from the top they are and thus an element of desire to improve has been removed

 

At a time when the “Elite League” was closer to the term “Elite” riders had to hit an incredibly high standard just to survive in the league, if riders managed to master the league in the ways the likes of Richardson, Nicholls and Harris did they had a real chance to compete on the world stage, as they were racing riders they knew how to beat – and doing that offered a higher chance of being afforded more chances on the world stage, and thus more chances to improve.

 

These days a rider the ilk of Cook only has to strive to regularly beat the likes of Palm Toft, Lawson and Kim Nilson to be a top dog in his territory, it isn’t any wonder that doesn’t correlate with consistent performance on the continent – or the chance to sign for sides on the continent as performance in this country no longer means anything on the world stage.

 

It all feeds in and is a decision many have lived with and accept to see the sport survive, yet there is a continual want from some fans to strip standards back even further.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Hacksaw Jim Duggan

[Bigballs]

And Australia did what exactly? At least England go tot to the final, which is more than the Aussies did. The Aussies race KL as often as the English lads, so no hoe track advantage.

 

You need to understand the differences between what has happened here & abroad. In Denmark, Sweden, Poland & Australia, for example, the tracks are pretty much exclusively owned by the clubs & there aren't the do gooders there that there are here bleating about noise etc. The track problem is a historic one. Back in speedway's hey-day with massive crowds & lots of tracks, speedway promoters piggy backed tracks off greyhound, rugby & football stadia & paid rent. They creamed off huge profits & made loads of money & didn't reinvest in the infrastructure of the sport by building their own stadiums at a time when it would have been easier to do so as planning restrictions were looser. Essentially some of the problems of today, stem from greed of promoters when things were good.

 

As time has gone on with planning harder & people moaning about noise etc, it has been more difficult to have facilities for kids to train & learn, although there is some improvement in this.

 

Another issue is the demise of grass track racing. Back in thee 70's, 80's & 90's there were big meetings on the grass every 5 minutes & kids learnt the art of racing etc on the grass as there were loads of opportunities. Foot & mouth, which caused loads of issues in the rural UK, planning & noise have seen numbers of meetings fall & less riders as a result.

 

The old style second halves disappearing hasn't helped either.

 

Finally, the obvious problem of money.

We do have some stadiums that could facilitate Training schools i.e. NSS in Manchester. Ipswich would be ok, Sheffield would be ideal

Why has this not been put into practice

Your right about the money side of it, but we don't feed our British Riders the money goes to better foreign riders with lower averages than the British.

Also how is it that a former GP rider KK is now riding at Reserve at Rye House, That's British Speedway rules. Even the rule master from Poole didn't spot that one coming.

[foamfence]

We do have some stadiums that could facilitate Training schools i.e. NSS in Manchester. Ipswich would be ok, Sheffield would be ideal

Why has this not been put into practice

Your right about the money side of it, but we don't feed our British Riders the money goes to better foreign riders with lower averages than the British.

Also how is it that a former GP rider KK is now riding at Reserve at Rye House, That's British Speedway rules. Even the rule master from Poole didn't spot that one coming.

Quite a few tracks hold training schools, Redcar have a few each year, Northside is solely a training track and Scunthorpe hold training schools and run amateur meetings throughout the winter.

[Dave the Mic]

As I said in my post, there is an improvement. However, most tracks are restricted in when they can run. Any track near any kind of residential area will have the NIMBY's saying that they hate the noise & it scares their chickens or something. At Somerset, one lady even said that she had the shale coming down her chimney & she was almost a mile away. Planning for a new track at Haldon Racecourse near Exeter was halted first by the firefighters recuperation home almost 2 miles away saying it would blight recovery of firefighters & then some lesser spotted reed warbler or something would have it's nest disturbed & that kicked up a fuss.

 

Sadly it isn't as straightforward as you think getting time on track - may tracks only have planning for use once a week - what help is that?

[Bigballs]

 

Ok so can you name one good British rider without a team place this year then?[/quite

Yes fence poper he blown his chances when he could not turn the bike properly. Due to lack of bike time. We nearly lost josh auty because he couldn't make ends meet only having one ride if it wasn't for the BSPA chairman and vice chairman getting together and giving josh a chance he would have finished speedway

[The Cheese]

Australians have that extra determination to succeed, your only getting the best of their talent coming here and they know they have to make the best of that chance or it could be all over.

In Britain we don't have that, it's in the mentality to take the easier route and not embrace the challenges. Kids are brought up being told at school that it's ok to finish last, it's the taking part that counts, everyone is a winner etc. It's nonsense but we get it into our heads and in the majority it stays there. You need to have that competitiveness, to be ruthless to reach the top level, it's hard to find that when you are taught that it doesn't matter. It's not just this sport, look at how few footballers take the opportunity to move abroad, and those who do generally don't last long. Easy option of staying in this country with all the home comforts, not having to bother learning a new language, possibly being away from family etc and they take it even if it means not giving yourself the best chance of improving.

 

Look at Jason Doyle now. I know he had so many injury problems but he was comfortable doubling-up and maybe he didn't quite have that determination. Because of the visa issues he was forced to give up riding for Somerset and had to concentrate on Leicester and make the most of the chances he got abroad. I guess it's hard for British riders to force themselves to drop the 2nd tier but the likes of Cook, Lambert, probably Steve Worrall need to do that now. Might be difficult at first if you don't get the opportunities in other countries straight away but you have to stick with it.