2020 NL Season

[brianbuck]

I fully agree with those who say it is essential to keep the National League in business, but if this is to happen, then it has to be at a sustainable level for ALL of the clubs whether they be standalone or reserve teams of clubs from the Premiership or Championship. There has to be a cap on abilities at both the top and bottom end of the teams. Supporters don't like losing their star men, and I appreciate this, but allowing riders who are clearly too good for this level of racing to stay at the comfort level of the league is doing the competition no more favours than is pushing in young, inexperienced riders who are not ready. As we all know too well, continually sending out 10 point men and  2 point men against two 6 point opponents will give drawn races and usually a close scoreline - but it won't provide good racing - and the more 10 pointers allowed to stay in the National League will only push up the pay rates even further. The league is only as strong as its weakest member, so if the financially weaker clubs are left to drop out one by one, the league has no future.

[marko]

Surely someone must know what clubs have declared an intent to run? And was one of them Rye House?

[ch958]

21 hours ago, Richspeedway said:

Hope for positive news on the 16th

I see Newcastle are confirmed next season in the CL so wonder if they will still let Plymouth in or if they will stay in the NL? 

well they haven' let Plymouth in but they should now, under the circumstances - an offer which should be made to IOW and Mildy too, though i doubt they'd be able to accept

[Crabba59]

Plymouth will only be in th NDL. That's if there is one I hope deep down there is . 

[greyhoundp]

14 hours ago, brianbuck said:

I fully agree with those who say it is essential to keep the National League in business, but if this is to happen, then it has to be at a sustainable level for ALL of the clubs whether they be standalone or reserve teams of clubs from the Premiership or Championship. There has to be a cap on abilities at both the top and bottom end of the teams. Supporters don't like losing their star men, and I appreciate this, but allowing riders who are clearly too good for this level of racing to stay at the comfort level of the league is doing the competition no more favours than is pushing in young, inexperienced riders who are not ready. As we all know too well, continually sending out 10 point men and  2 point men against two 6 point opponents will give drawn races and usually a close scoreline - but it won't provide good racing - and the more 10 pointers allowed to stay in the National League will only push up the pay rates even further. The league is only as strong as its weakest member, so if the financially weaker clubs are left to drop out one by one, the league has no future.

The problem is Brian, immediately above the National League is a bottleneck, Championship Clubs on the whole prefer to have none UK riders in there Teams, so therefore the 9/10 point have nowhere to go except to drift out of the sport, as an example let me give you a couple of riders who you are familiar with, Tom Perry he is a British rider that can be exciting to watch but he is a classic example of nowhere to go, because of Championship clubs preferences for Imports, then the even younger and more recent Zak Attack, he has seen the light, he attempted the move up struggled early doors and may or may not be lost to the sport, he is a classic example of whats wrong with the Sport in the UK, but the BSPA in there wisdom do nothing to halt that drift away by young riders.

 There needs to be a clear path to encourage these young riders to stay and progress in the Sport, its not only a National League problem its a BSPa problem and by weakening the NL it is not going to solve this issue in fact it may worsen the problem by forcing a Club to close, and then that becomes an even bigger problem.. However the Chairman of the BSPA believes everything for the most part is fine, nowt wrong when people cant see whats in front of them.... except for a Blind man..  

[Sings4Speedway]

21 minutes ago, greyhoundp said:

The problem is Brian, immediately above the National League is a bottleneck, Championship Clubs on the whole prefer to have none UK riders in there Teams, so therefore the 9/10 point have nowhere to go except to drift out of the sport, as an example let me give you a couple of riders who you are familiar with, Tom Perry he is a British rider that can be exciting to watch but he is a classic example of nowhere to go, because of Championship clubs preferences for Imports, then the even younger and more recent Zak Attack, he has seen the light, he attempted the move up struggled early doors and may or may not be lost to the sport, he is a classic example of whats wrong with the Sport in the UK, but the BSPA in there wisdom do nothing to halt that drift away by young riders.

 There needs to be a clear path to encourage these young riders to stay and progress in the Sport, its not only a National League problem its a BSPa problem and by weakening the NL it is not going to solve this issue in fact it may worsen the problem by forcing a Club to close, and then that becomes an even bigger problem.. However the Chairman of the BSPA believes everything for the most part is fine, nowt wrong when people cant see whats in front of them.... except for a Blind man..  

Spot on, however the incentives for British riders to move up must still be for those that are a suitable calibre. The introduction of 2 pointers does promote the progression but also offers chances for clubs to use just 4 points on reserves and build a strong top 5 increasing the gulf in class. Reductions for all Brit riders or a higher minimum average for overseas riders may be a better solution?

[DC2]

6 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Spot on, however the incentives for British riders to move up must still be for those that are a suitable calibre. The introduction of 2 pointers does promote the progression but also offers chances for clubs to use just 4 points on reserves and build a strong top 5 increasing the gulf in class. Reductions for all Brit riders or a higher minimum average for overseas riders may be a better solution?

 

That’s a good point about two 2 point reserves and a gulf in class, but at least there are another ten clubs and the chance of another twenty 2 point opponents for them.

A bigger Brit reduction is a good idea.

I’d give all Brits under a 5 point average who have ridden no more than than eight seasons (in the NL or CL) a 10% reduction and make all foreigners a 5 point minimum.

Otherwise we might lose riders like Mountain, Greaves and Hume, just like Joe Jacobs, but employ four point Aussies like Kennedy and MacDonald at Sheffield.

[marko]

Its a bit of a double edged sword though, if you make signing a Brit a big advantage then some of those riders might raise their wage requirements on the basis of demand, but if your a two pointer you will naturally want to be reasonably compensated as your points potential might be limited to beating fellow reserves.

[Sings4Speedway]

1 hour ago, DC2 said:

 

That’s a good point about two 2 point reserves and a gulf in class, but at least there are another ten clubs and the chance of another twenty 2 point opponents for them.

A bigger Brit reduction is a good idea.

I’d give all Brits under a 5 point average who have ridden no more than than eight seasons (in the NL or CL) a 10% reduction and make all foreigners a 5 point minimum.

Otherwise we might lose riders like Mountain, Greaves and Hume, just like Joe Jacobs, but employ four point Aussies like Kennedy and MacDonald at Sheffield.

The problem with the program format is that a number 6 rarely races against another 2 point reserve and still its just creating 2 meetings in one. Potentially there could be 12 x championship clubs looking for 2 pointers from the NL. Based upon last years 8 teams that would be 3 heat leaders from each side however with some NL riders already having averages above 2.00 the list drops further and without bashing names is the future and progression of British speedway going to work when 5 point NL riders can get a place in the higher leagues?

Its very difficult because it is important to stop the loss of talents like Mountain, Greaves etc but at the same time the best riders make it without a safety net and the others don't thats just the way sport as a whole works. 

[GWC]

We need the Aussies as we have historically but there needs to be a plan for the NL riders promoted.  

The 2 point rule they brought in seemed to be for the benefit of CL teams not the actual riders. The current trend of having 4 strong riders means a 2 pointer becomes attractive.

[Sings4Speedway]

1 hour ago, GWC said:

We need the Aussies as we have historically but there needs to be a plan for the NL riders promoted.  

The 2 point rule they brought in seemed to be for the benefit of CL teams not the actual riders. The current trend of having 4 strong riders means a 2 pointer becomes attractive.

Always difficult, the 2 point rule promotes opportunities for riders to prove themselves at CL level which is always a plus however because it exists the majority of the top fives are a higher standard so the gap is greater than ever before. An obvious option would be to reduce the points limit for team building but that just leads to natural inflation of averages rather than improvement from improved results. Riders stepping up need to do so because they are at the required level and not just because their averages fit. 

[Bunce]

"For the record in these deepest parts of East Anglia, Mildenhall speedway more often than not is better value for money than its higher League neighbours at Ipswich and King's Lynn!"

Its funny you should say that 25 Year Fan. I was thinking the same thing! After several trips to Kings Lynn this year, where it was "gate and go"  I got pretty bored, so had a few trips to Mildenhall instead. Living just south Norwich its around the same distance to each track for me. I must admit from an entertainment point of view, I enjoyed my visits to Mildenhall much more. Sitting on the backstraight on a sunny Sunday afternoon with some lovely chips in my hand was very enjoyable, and the racing was more unpredictable. Its a pity the track is so small, but I guess you can't have everything. I shall still visit both tracks in 2020, but Mildenhall wins on both entertainment, value for money and the best fish & chips!   

[Sings4Speedway]

37 minutes ago, Bunce said:

"For the record in these deepest parts of East Anglia, Mildenhall speedway more often than not is better value for money than its higher League neighbours at Ipswich and King's Lynn!"

Its funny you should say that 25 Year Fan. I was thinking the same thing! After several trips to Kings Lynn this year, where it was "gate and go"  I got pretty bored, so had a few trips to Mildenhall instead. Living just south Norwich its around the same distance to each track for me. I must admit from an entertainment point of view, I enjoyed my visits to Mildenhall much more. Sitting on the backstraight on a sunny Sunday afternoon with some lovely chips in my hand was very enjoyable, and the racing was more unpredictable. Its a pity the track is so small, but I guess you can't have everything. I shall still visit both tracks in 2020, but Mildenhall wins on both entertainment, value for money and the best fish & chips!   

Im guessing you weren't going regularly when Kings Lynn ran a NL side (in fairness not many people went regularly and that was the problem) however the comments from those who did attend and the visits i had was that the entertainment was far higher at NL level than the top flight gate and go. Shame it didn't prove to be sustainable in the end. 

[Islander15]

So Len Silver says the suggestion is 7 NL teams...

1. Kent

2. Isle of Wight

3. Mildenhall 

4. Plymouth 

5. Leicester 

6. Belle Vue

7. Rye House?

[Halifaxtiger]

On 11/29/2019 at 3:55 PM, Sings4Speedway said:

Im guessing you weren't going regularly when Kings Lynn ran a NL side (in fairness not many people went regularly and that was the problem) however the comments from those who did attend and the visits i had was that the entertainment was far higher at NL level than the top flight gate and go. Shame it didn't prove to be sustainable in the end. 

I'd agree. NL racing was better there.

At Belle Vue, Premiership is definitely better but the NL racing is still better than most other tracks regardless of the league they are in. 

From what I have seen, its likely that the attendances that the Colts get enable them to cover their expenses better than the Aces. 

[cityrebel]

Just an update on the Rye House situation. I attended the Dragons amateur meeting there this afternoon, and the place is looking a mess. Parts of the car park have still got the lakes and the main entrance has been fenced off. The home straight grandstand and fish bar has been partly demolished. The moto cross circuit on the centre green looks very overgrown, but the floodlights still work and were used for the last hour of todays meeting. Spectator facilities at Rye are now at the bare minimum and a lot of work will be needed to improve this, for it to be fit to stage public events again.

[HGould]

1 hour ago, cityrebel said:

Just an update on the Rye House situation. I attended the Dragons amateur meeting there this afternoon, and the place is looking a mess. Parts of the car park have still got the lakes and the main entrance has been fenced off. The home straight grandstand and fish bar has been partly demolished. The moto cross circuit on the centre green looks very overgrown, but the floodlights still work and were used for the last hour of todays meeting. Spectator facilities at Rye are now at the bare minimum and a lot of work will be needed to improve this, for it to be fit to stage public events again.

Don't think Rye House is one of those planning to run in NDL

Heard it's a northern team but don't know which one, as in north  east or Scottish

 

[waco]

What a shame about Rye ,gone right down hill since Len left?..Hopefully a decent Speedway promotion may return there.....   

[cityrebel]

Just now, waco said:

What a shame about Rye ,gone right down hill since Len left?..Hopefully a decent Speedway promotion may return there.....   

To be honest, i was shocked to see the grandstand being demolished. That was there when i first visited Rye back in 1972.

[waco]

BMR have ruined the place!,,,,,,!