AlexBrady Posted February 10, 2019 Report Share Posted February 10, 2019 Reading the speedway star and I hope it works out. Wonder if Eddie Kennett is still demanding £1500 appearance fee as per Rye House last year . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted February 10, 2019 Report Share Posted February 10, 2019 2 hours ago, AlexBrady said: Reading the speedway star and I hope it works out. Wonder if Eddie Kennett is still demanding £1500 appearance fee as per Rye House last year . . . Decent drills don't come cheap! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee jay Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 on eagles tv i thought jon cook was saying they weren't running second half races this year but on the developement forum it says that reading racers will be running at eastbourne again , which is correct ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor... Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 5 hours ago, gee jay said: on eagles tv i thought jon cook was saying they weren't running second half races this year but on the developement forum it says that reading racers will be running at eastbourne again , which is correct ? Both - On the Racers facebook group a few days back they announced they are still riding at Eastbourne but as second halves on the days that the track is running various amateur days.. see text below.. "The stadium will be host to several Sunday amateur meetings and "Powerslide" days - where beginners can hire a bike and be supervised in their first laps of a track - and the Racers matches will take place after these sessions, running 2 matches on each occasion" Cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee jay Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 6 hours ago, The Doctor... said: Both - On the Racers facebook group a few days back they announced they are still riding at Eastbourne but as second halves on the days that the track is running various amateur days.. see text below.. "The stadium will be host to several Sunday amateur meetings and "Powerslide" days - where beginners can hire a bike and be supervised in their first laps of a track - and the Racers matches will take place after these sessions, running 2 matches on each occasion" Cheers thank you doctor . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 5:57 AM, The Doctor... said: Both - On the Racers facebook group a few days back they announced they are still riding at Eastbourne but as second halves on the days that the track is running various amateur days.. see text below.. "The stadium will be host to several Sunday amateur meetings and "Powerslide" days - where beginners can hire a bike and be supervised in their first laps of a track - and the Racers matches will take place after these sessions, running 2 matches on each occasion" Cheers Whilst good news that they are still running i always thought the benefits of running as a 2nd half was to save on track, referee & medical costs? I know Kent had those additional costs to cover last year when running from Iwade and the result is no Kestrels team this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 Curfews will always be a problem if MDL/SDL/NDL are run after main events. I went to Eastbourne 2-3 times last season and they ran youth races before the main meeting and SDL after the main meeting (Reading SDL). It got a bit too much for me. The racing went on from about 6.30 to 10.15. I would imagine they not Reading had to pay for Medical cover and Referee so it seems to me that John Cook has decided that he wants to cut costs of Track and Paramedic cover before and after League Racing. If Reading run there on Sundays they will presumably pay for Paramedic and Referee and one big benefit is any SDL/MDL should get 2 lots of track time racing and practising before the SDL/MDL match and have no curfew issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 hours ago, HGould said: Curfews will always be a problem if MDL/SDL/NDL are run after main events. I went to Eastbourne 2-3 times last season and they ran youth races before the main meeting and SDL after the main meeting (Reading SDL). It got a bit too much for me. The racing went on from about 6.30 to 10.15. I would imagine they not Reading had to pay for Medical cover and Referee so it seems to me that John Cook has decided that he wants to cut costs of Track and Paramedic cover before and after League Racing. If Reading run there on Sundays they will presumably pay for Paramedic and Referee and one big benefit is any SDL/MDL should get 2 lots of track time racing and practising before the SDL/MDL match and have no curfew issues. The main team paying for the medical cover & referee's are precisely the reason why 2nd halves take place after a meeting even with the risk of curfew being hit. Medical cover is expensive, Referee's are expensive and only willing to officiate over another 6 heats before they classify the event as a double header and demand double the fee. However there will be no saving to the Eastbourne promotion in terms of costs. If Reading run on Sundays medical, referees and track hire costs will need to be covered with no actual income to offset those outlays. Whilst teaming up with other events is a financially sensible way of reducing the outlays Reading will still be occurring substantial costs (costs quite likely Weymouth couldn't equally afford). From the releases i have seen its basically Eastbourne joining the ranks of others who care little about the future rider development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Richard Weston said: I think your comment about Eastbourne joining the ranks of others who care little about the future of rider development is unfair and inaccurate. Jon Cook has made the point that the development of junior riders will still be very much part of the ethos of Eastbourne Speedway but it would not be in front of the public at Arlington who will be paying to see professional speedway racing. Last season, the junior races before the actual NL match could have led to the NL being cancelled had a youngster crashed and needed to go to hospital (the known problem with getting what people call 'county' ambulances to come to a track instantly. The SDL matches after the NL match were sometimes completed in a hurry with concerns about the curfew -- relating to costs. Jon Cook's point at the supporters' forum was that he wanted to send fans home excited at having seen heat 15 in which the top two from each side go into battle, and not send them home having see a processional six-heat SDL match. It was also indicated at the forum that bringing on juniors would be very much part of what the new promotion will do. Im certainly not going to argue against the pre-meeting rides as everyone knows these carry an element of risk, even if its laps completed by a sole mascot. If those are Jon Cooks views then he is fully entitled to them, however derogatory they are towards the Development league matches. I look forward to the further developments regarding exactly how Eastbourne will be bringing riders through? Maybe they will be subsidising the track rents on the training/amateur Sundays or re-building the training track? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 Why should any Club in PL or CL subsidise a 3rd Party SDL side? If they were branded as Eastbourne then yes, but why should they subsidise Reading or Weymouth? Isn't it right they should pay to use the track? Eastbourne have picked an all British 1-7 and promoted 2 NL Riders to 6 + 7 and top 2 in NL Riders Championship to 4-5 berths. That's developing British talent! They have offered facilities to Reading on a Sunday when Reading and other SDL riders are likely to have far more track time as a result?; and if Martin Dugard is around some expert tuition. Track time is surely what they want at SDL level not rushing 6 heats at 10pm at night in the freezing cold. Got to think too about the track staff at all Speedway venues, most work for nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 30 minutes ago, HGould said: Why should any Club in PL or CL subsidise a 3rd Party SDL side? If they were branded as Eastbourne then yes, but why should they subsidise Reading or Weymouth? Isn't it right they should pay to use the track? Eastbourne have picked an all British 1-7 and promoted 2 NL Riders to 6 + 7 and top 2 in NL Riders Championship to 4-5 berths. That's developing British talent! They have offered facilities to Reading on a Sunday when Reading and other SDL riders are likely to have far more track time as a result?; and if Martin Dugard is around some expert tuition. Track time is surely what they want at SDL level not rushing 6 heats at 10pm at night in the freezing cold. Got to think too about the track staff at all Speedway venues, most work for nothing. The first part of your statement is why the sport has a very limited future, because everyone views it as someone else's responsibility to keep things going. Why should clubs take an interest whether named as their own junior team or not? Because there will be no riders in the future if attitudes don't change. I certainly won't argue either against the sensible choices that Eastbourne have made regarding Uk based riders and riders who have an affinity with fans (thats something the Eagles have always excelled at). Providing all the fixtures get completed on Sundays this year and Reading are able to continue into the next then there is no harm done but that still has to occur. Development league riders want track time yes, but also to be treated with a level of respect as they are putting the same levels of dedication in as the professionals are and in many cases more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 S4S very much respect your views and sentiments, I think we'll have to agree to disagree though about a Club subsidising another that is 100+ miles away. As there are Clubs much closer to Reading that seem to not wish to help. I do think BSPA have to take accountability here, happy to collect Bond money and presumably sit on it, or may be if they took Loan Fees from some of the displaced Riders they now own and invested that in Junior Development Leagues. One issue with SDL/MDL/NDL is they are more "amateur" Leagues now than Development; we certainly had a few 40+ year olds and a wonderful lady rider at Brum last season! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 18, 2019 Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 10 minutes ago, HGould said: S4S very much respect your views and sentiments, I think we'll have to agree to disagree though about a Club subsidising another that is 100+ miles away. As there are Clubs much closer to Reading that seem to not wish to help. I do think BSPA have to take accountability here, happy to collect Bond money and presumably sit on it, or may be if they took Loan Fees from some of the displaced Riders they now own and invested that in Junior Development Leagues. One issue with SDL/MDL/NDL is they are more "amateur" Leagues now than Development; we certainly had a few 40+ year olds and a wonderful lady rider at Brum last season! Now i certainly agree that the BSPA take very little responsibility in this area and in fact actively work against some of the development league setups. The slide in standard of the leagues has largely coincided with the shrinking of teams. When there was a league of double figure teams and riders actively battling to get team places the standard will obviously be up, some of those who competed last year (age irregardless) were far from the standard that should have been appearing but that is a sad reflection in the number of riders actively interested in the sport these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*JJ Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 20 hours ago, HGould said: One issue with SDL/MDL/NDL is they are more "amateur" Leagues now than Development; we certainly had a few 40+ year olds and a wonderful lady rider at Brum last season! Who were the 40+ riders? I must have missed that. And why shouldn't women ride? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 who said there was anything wrong with lady riders?, Rachel improved lots during the season, we had an older chap at a few away matches - will find out the name. Nothing wrong with that either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sings4Speedway Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 As far as i can see there were 4 over 40's in the SDL last season and possibly 1 in the MDL as i never actually know how old Craig Osborne is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 A bit off topic but I have long been a believer that a "Veterans League" attached in some way to actual matches and a Junior League - so say 2 heats of U16 and 2 heats of veterans with a bonus point - added to aggregate score of those 4 extra heats may be something worth trying in Shield or something similar. Run 1 Junior and 1 Vets Race each - between Heat 6 and 7 and Heat 12 and 13??... aggregate winner of those 4 races gets a Bonus Point in mail League Table Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 That's probably the first and only time Ledwith and Kennett have been mentioned in the same sentence; in terms of pedigree and ability anyway. Does seem a strange signing but if your old enough your good enough works both ways I guess. Would be great to see our Andy and Alan Grahame v Gordon Kennett and Martin Dugard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 Richard - I think both Grahame Brothers and Andy Smith and others of that era suffered due to outstanding quality of American and Danish Riders in that era. Alan would have been no 1 in many sides in his pomp but had Penhall; Gundersen; King; Pedersen around him, likewise Andy who would have ridden with Neilsen and others. If either Grahame brother were around now would be no 1 in most sides in PL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_art Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 For the record Andy Grahame WAS number one for Birmingham for at least one of the seasons that Hans Nielson rode for us. Something he is still proud about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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