Young Brits are thing’s looking more hopeful for the future.?

[Sidney the robin]

I have been keeping track on how the young Brits have been doing in all leagues and thing’s don’t look to bad.I wondered what other members thought generally..? The riders i have been following have all acquitted themselves well ( ie) Brennan, Flint, Palin, Hume, Bowtell, J.Thompson, D.Thompson,Bickley, Gilkes, Kemp, Rowe, Jenkins,.At the moment my top five  would be Brennan, Palin, Flint, Rowe, Hume, . GREAT that all of these young riders are holding there own in a tough Championship and six of those are also riding in the Premiership as well. Fingers crossed all of these lads can improve ( if they still have clubs to ride for?) any thought’s.?

[IainB]

They are now with the announcement of the Polish U24 league and their call out to foreign riders to go and join them. Not so great for British Speedway though sadly. Which is a shame because generally, with the exception of Drew Kemp, who I've never seen have a good meeting, every "kid" I've seen has been competitive and on the pace.

Edited August 20, 2021 by iainb

[Sidney the robin]

16 minutes ago, iainb said:

They are now with the announcement of the Polish U24 league and their call out to foreign riders to go and join them. Not so great for British Speedway though sadly. Which is a shame because generally, with the exception of Drew Kemp, who I've never seen have a good meeting, every "kid" I've seen has been competitive and on the pace.

Drew has had some decent meetings he has beat some good riders but his home form at Ipswich is pretty moderate.Away from home he has done really well he will be ok.

[IainB]

39 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Drew has had some decent meetings he has beat some good riders but his home form at Ipswich is pretty moderate.Away from home he has done really well he will be ok.

Yes, I hear good things about him... I've just never seen him do it in person. He's always been a bit anonymous to me

[Daniel Smith]

For me, it's the worst it's ever been for our youngsters. The standard of rider to race against isn't anywhere near where it needs to be. These guys currently have false hope, when it really matters on the international scene they'll be left way way behind.

Apart from Anders Rowe I really think the future looks absolutely awful 

 

[Sidney the robin]

39 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

For me, it's the worst it's ever been for our youngsters. The standard of rider to race against isn't anywhere near where it needs to be. These guys currently have false hope, when it really matters on the international scene they'll be left way way behind.

Apart from Anders Rowe I really think the future looks absolutely awful 

 

As much as i like Anders Rowe really followed him since his mini track days at Swindon a few on that list are on par and  could  be better longterm than him.For me those named are doing well to hold there own in a tough Championship league and it is tough.Not many of us believe that many will go on to race in Poland full time but the youngsters have made progress.

[Daniel Smith]

22 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

As much as i like Anders Rowe really followed him since his mini track days at Swindon a few on that list are on par and  could  be better longterm than him.For me those named are doing well to hold there own in a tough Championship league and it is tough.Not many of us believe that many will go on to race in Poland full time but the youngsters have made progress.

The question was, are thing's looking more hopeful for the future??

For me, that's asking who will make it at the highest level, and be competitive for Britain on the international stage. I'm sorry, it's none of them except possibly Rowe imo. 

We can see young Pole's, Swede's & Dane's plying their trade against the very best in the World, even in these tough times. 

Our young Brit's are racing against rider's that can't cut it abroad. 

Be honest with yourself 

[Sidney the robin]

1 minute ago, Daniel Smith said:

The question was, are thing's looking more hopeful for the future??

For me, that's asking who will make it at the highest level, and be competitive for Britain on the international stage. I'm sorry, it's none of them except possibly Rowe imo. 

We can see young Pole's, Swede's & Dane's plying their trade against the very best in the World, even in these tough times. 

Our young Brit's are racing against rider's that can't cut it abroad. 

Be honest with yourself 

Brennan, Flint and Palin i recon will be better than Rowe don’t know about the international scene that is a different ballgame. My meaning on the thread was meant to show those named have made some great  progress.Also on the other foot let us see some of those really talented foreign  lads come over here and get beat up as some surely would? .For me Daniel the question was are we bringing a few through the system Vatcher is maybe won’t be world class but will have Ok careers.

[stevehone]

with the right sort of guidance there's definitely a future, but they need to be riding on some of these continental tracks more often

[screm]

To be honest if the top young Brits really want to reach SGP etc, they need to be racing in the top two Polish leagues and Sweden racing against the top guys week in week out. Doubling up between Championship/Premiership will give them a very healthy income but on the international stage will do very little for them.

[Daniel Smith]

2 hours ago, stevehone said:

with the right sort of guidance there's definitely a future, but they need to be riding on some of these continental tracks more often

 

2 hours ago, screm said:

To be honest if the top young Brits really want to reach SGP etc, they need to be racing in the top two Polish leagues and Sweden racing against the top guys week in week out. Doubling up between Championship/Premiership will give them a very healthy income but on the international stage will do very little for them.

Exactly this. We've had so many 'talented youngsters' over recent years but none have ever cut it. Lambert has only got to where he is because of his early start in Germany. Bewley has done well, mostly because he's beside Woffy. He'd of been binned of by Wroclaw had he not borrowed some of Woffy's equipment. 

Apart from these 2, whose done any good? The last 2 Brit's of any substance on the continent has been Nicholls & Richardson. 

I'm hoping Ellis can kick on next year but really needs to drop the Championship & push for Poland & Sweden full time being 25.

We've got to be real. Our rider's have no big future as the sport in this country is on it's backside & there's no real climb for them. Doesn't matter how hard the likes of Vatcher works, our kids need to be away from uk racing to have a real career. 

[Bagpuss]

6 hours ago, iainb said:

They are now with the announcement of the Polish U24 league and their call out to foreign riders to go and join them. Not so great for British Speedway though sadly. Which is a shame because generally, with the exception of Drew Kemp, who I've never seen have a good meeting, every "kid" I've seen has been competitive and on the pace.

This is the most significant post on the thread but seems to have passed most people by. We have our best crop of youngsters for many a year right now and it seems like they may have a choice - stay in the UK and earn lots of money doubling up or really roll the dice in Poland and if it comes off they could be on the path to the top or at least good continental careers through being the best they can be. I know which one I hope they all choose.

[IainB]

13 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

This is the most significant post on the thread but seems to have passed most people by. We have our best crop of youngsters for many a year right now and it seems like they may have a choice - stay in the UK and earn lots of money doubling up or really roll the dice in Poland and if it comes off they could be on the path to the top or at least good continental careers through being the best they can be. I know which one I hope they all choose.

I think if you're serious about achieving anything in the sport, you move to Poland. Look at what happened to Jason Edwards earlier this year, was binned off by Eastbourne when they should have been releasing one of their high earners.

He'll probably spend the next few years going from club to club as he gets dropped by each one in turn as they make changes further up the team to try and secure a meaningless play off place. Just like many riders before him, James Sarjeant a prime example,  a real prospect when he first started... there's many others. 

The Poles have made a real challenge here to every countries youth schemes!

Edited August 20, 2021 by iainb

[topsoil]

16 hours ago, iainb said:

They are now with the announcement of the Polish U24 league and their call out to foreign riders to go and join them. Not so great for British Speedway though sadly. Which is a shame because generally, with the exception of Drew Kemp, who I've never seen have a good meeting, every "kid" I've seen has been competitive and on the pace.

It just adds to the thought I've had for a while now, that Polish speedway will wipe out speedway in other countries. What is the point of having a youth policy if any decent riders coming through will be off to ride in another country and you are left with nothing to show for it?

[IainB]

15 minutes ago, topsoil said:

It just adds to the thought I've had for a while now, that Polish speedway will wipe out speedway in other countries. What is the point of having a youth policy if any decent riders coming through will be off to ride in another country and you are left with nothing to show for it?

The only saving grace though I think, as I've only read a google translated version of the press release, is that 4 team spots seem to be reserved for Polish riders, so it won't be a complete exodus but they'll certainly take/attract the cream of the crop of riders between 15 and 24 from around the world.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

To be honest the poles are just making the most of the fact they have a product that the general public & big business alike want to be part of & they have the TV baking to make it work.

Let's be honest British had the same opportunity in the 70s & 80s & again in the early 2000s with the sky input but did absolutely nothing with those opportunities.

Don't blame the poles hats off to them for knowing how to run speedway in a professional manner

[Fromafar]

11 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

This is the most significant post on the thread but seems to have passed most people by. We have our best crop of youngsters for many a year right now and it seems like they may have a choice - stay in the UK and earn lots of money doubling up or really roll the dice in Poland and if it comes off they could be on the path to the top or at least good continental careers through being the best they can be. I know which one I hope they all choose.

Agree most with ambition will roll the dice.How many make it will be interesting,it’s very cut throat  for Team places over there and you will be binned pretty quickly if you are not producing the goods.Good riders have failed in the past.

[Daniel Smith]

1 hour ago, topsoil said:

It just adds to the thought I've had for a while now, that Polish speedway will wipe out speedway in other countries. What is the point of having a youth policy if any decent riders coming through will be off to ride in another country and you are left with nothing to show for it?

Firstly, it won't wipe out Speedway, didn’t happen when the UK was once the dominant force. It's the promoter's here that are doing their own unreversable damage. 

Our young rider's disappearing to Poland to try & make a name for themselves is exactly the point of a youth policy. We need superstars, bringing riders through to roll around in British Speedway does absolutely nothing for them. 

Saying all that, I don't think this program is aimed at young Brits. I'd imagine they'll pick out the better chances from Sweden, Denmark & Germany imo. These kids are better race ready at 15-16 than Brit's. 

[IainB]

1 hour ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

Don't blame the poles hats off to them for knowing how to run speedway in a professional manner

Absolutely no blame to the Poles at all, they're doing what's best for them, while we continue to do the worst.

23 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

it’s very cut throat  for Team places over there and you will be binned pretty quickly if you are not producing the goods.Good riders have failed in the past.

Not every rider is going to make the grade of course... but they do seem to persevere more with their youngsters, mainly because the rules dictate it

6 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Saying all that, I don't think this program is aimed at young Brits. I'd imagine they'll pick out the better chances from Sweden, Denmark & Germany imo. These kids are better race ready at 15-16 than Brit's. 

If I were a Polish promoter I would be looking at the likes of Anders Rowe, Tom Brennan, Dan Thompson, Drew Kemp, Jordan Palin, Jason Edwards etc. At their stage of their careers they are as good as anybody from Sweden, Denmark & Germany, better in most cases. Unfortunately we don't get to see them ride for their country in the UK but generally they produce the goods while riding against their peers in Europe.

[topsoil]

26 minutes ago, Daniel Smith said:

Firstly, it won't wipe out Speedway, didn’t happen when the UK was once the dominant force. It's the promoter's here that are doing their own unreversable damage. 

Our young rider's disappearing to Poland to try & make a name for themselves is exactly the point of a youth policy. We need superstars, bringing riders through to roll around in British Speedway does absolutely nothing for them. 

Saying all that, I don't think this program is aimed at young Brits. I'd imagine they'll pick out the better chances from Sweden, Denmark & Germany imo. These kids are better race ready at 15-16 than Brit's. 

Time will tell. It's certainly going to do a lot of damage to other leagues in my opinion.

I thought the point of a youth policy was to supply yourself with riders. Where's the benefit to teams if riders disappear. British clubs incur the costs, Polish clubs get the benefits. Seems fair.