Workington 2025

[CTD26]

Well all you bad vibers and negative Nancy’s can get back under your rocks now. Fantastic piece for the end of season on the comets socials. Team building well under way by the sounds of it and I’m excited to see who we bring in to hopefully go a couple steps further and lift some silverware in 2025.

[Neila]

Yes looks like comets 2025 here we come,  but as said in the review the fans have to keep supporting.  Looking forward to the new season 2024 was a blast home and away in 24 here's to more of the same next year UTC.   My team so far  Tate  Antti   Batch  Cookie ?   Conner Bailey   Slater lightcap   but sll depends on what team average is agreed 

[Shaggy]

1 hour ago, Nickinho said:

That's six 

🙈

[Redtruck]

22 minutes ago, Neila said:

Yes looks like comets 2025 here we come,  but as said in the review the fans have to keep supporting.  Looking forward to the new season 2024 was a blast home and away in 24 here's to more of the same next year UTC.   My team so far  Tate  Antti   Batch  Cookie ?   Conner Bailey   Slater lightcap   but sll depends on what team average is agreed 

Connor bailey has sold his British equipment 

[Neila]

4 minutes ago, Redtruck said:

Connor bailey has sold his British equipment 

Can buy new stuff as said in the speedway star article a few weeks ago, he is young enough to have another go if he is in the right place 

[Marksman]

1 hour ago, CTD26 said:

Well all you bad vibers and negative Nancy’s can get back under your rocks now. Fantastic piece for the end of season on the comets socials. Team building well under way by the sounds of it and I’m excited to see who we bring in to hopefully go a couple steps further and lift some silverware in 2025.

Amen to that. To be fair the bloke who posted that is probably just pessimistic😂 Never want to get your hopes up too much in life.

There’s a long term project going on, it does need people to support, but in general I was impressed by some of the attendances this year.

[CTD26]

7 minutes ago, Marksman said:

Amen to that. To be fair the bloke who posted that is probably just pessimistic😂 Never want to get your hopes up too much in life.

There’s a long term project going on, it does need people to support, but in general I was impressed by some of the attendances this year.

Haha not a very good way to go through life. 
 

Exactky, the work Andrew, Steve and the volunteers have put in is fantastic and to just pull the plug would be ridiculous. Couple of bad attendances but overall I was impressed too.

[Neila]

Come on UTC  live the dream so looking forward to 2025 

[Tosh1218]

42 minutes ago, Neila said:

Come on UTC  live the dream so looking forward to 2025 

British speedway needs Workington Comets ,to much hard work has gone into the project .Good luck in 2025 from a Scunny fan

 

[Marksman]

As for 2024 rider thoughts and riders returning in 2025;

Cookie - Good season, lead from the front especially away from home, some incredible performances on the road. Unfortunate to miss a few meetings. 100% will be back from what I heard on Saturday.

Tate - Obviously already signed but looks to be making quick progress in his recovery. Can’t wait to see him ride again in 2025, a real crowd puller.

Antti - Great season overall, struggled seeing the away tracks for the first time, but is to be expected. Probably an 8 point plus rider next year. 110% would have back.

Claus - Good meetings at times away from home. But few and far between, not worth the money flying him over every week. Won’t be back

Batch - Good season, led from the front in Cookies absence more times than not. Always beats who he should beat, but struggles against the very top guys in the league. Doesn’t have their speed. I’d imagine he won’t be back next season, mainly because his points can be best used elsewhere ( Team building average is higher than Cook’s)

Sam McGurk - not a lot to say really, can’t imagine he’ll be back in this league anytime soon.

Starke - Great to have some firepower at reserve late on in the season. 10 points at Poole was a highlight. 100% would have back on his 3.40 average to start at reserve in 2025.

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Marksman

[Bomber75]

I think the core of the team for 25 will be Cookie, Tate and Antti (Andrew says that Tate and Antti are club assets). Troy  maybe if the points limit is 40 ish. Claus and Sam dont think they'll be back. Paul Starke would make 5. Which leaves 2 riders to find. Question for me is would the promotion go for a new 2 pointer and a higher average rider or 2 riders with higher averages and potential to improve. I did read somewhere that they were thinking of making a 2 pointer a must for youth development.

Edited 7 hours ago by Bomber75

[Woke23]

2 hours ago, Bomber75 said:

I think the core of the team for 25 will be Cookie, Tate and Antti (Andrew says that Tate and Antti are club assets). Troy  maybe if the points limit is 40 ish. Claus and Sam dont think they'll be back. Paul Starke would make 5. Which leaves 2 riders to find. Question for me is would the promotion go for a new 2 pointer and a higher average rider or 2 riders with higher averages and potential to improve. I did read somewhere that they were thinking of making a 2 pointer a must for youth development.

The 2 pt average is the least they can do. There's many things that need changed to help british speedway survive. Making it so champ teams must have a 2 pt average is one of them. 

Other things that I'm not so keen on is the assessed averages for foreign riders. Poor celina, who was slightly better than sam this year, was let go because of her assessed average. 

They also need to sort out the NDL. That league is atrocious. Young riders are having meetings few and far between and it'll be stalling any hopes of progression. I watched a fair few NDL meetings this year and there are some good riders out there.

[Woke23]

9 hours ago, Marksman said:

As for 2024 rider thoughts and riders returning in 2025;

Cookie - Good season, lead from the front especially away from home, some incredible performances on the road. Unfortunate to miss a few meetings. 100% will be back from what I heard on Saturday.

Tate - Obviously already signed but looks to be making quick progress in his recovery. Can’t wait to see him ride again in 2025, a real crowd puller.

Antti - Great season overall, struggled seeing the away tracks for the first time, but is to be expected. Probably an 8 point plus rider next year. 110% would have back.

Claus - Good meetings at times away from home. But few and far between, not worth the money flying him over every week. Won’t be back

Batch - Good season, led from the front in Cookies absence more times than not. Always beats who he should beat, but struggles against the very top guys in the league. Doesn’t have their speed. I’d imagine he won’t be back next season, mainly because his points can be best used elsewhere ( Team building average is higher than Cook’s)

Sam McGurk - not a lot to say really, can’t imagine he’ll be back in this league anytime soon.

Starke - Great to have some firepower at reserve late on in the season. 10 points at Poole was a highlight. 100% would have back on his 3.40 average to start at reserve in 2025.

 

 

It's not often I agree with a post on this forum in its entirety. 

I'd keep cookie. Although there are better number 1s out there, his home and away performances have been solid. If he has a good off season he'll be even better next year. I liked his speech during the Poole fixture.

Tate is a no brainer. Most exciting rider I've seen around northside. When we were out there getting beat by Poole, I just kept thinking about tate and what he could've done against those big hitters.

Vuolas is also a no brainer. Yes he struggled around some away tracks, but his performances at home and more recently in the prem have been top notch. Definitely an asset as baines said and it sounds like he'll be back. 

Claus had some good results and some bad results. I feel like we were rushed into this signing due to lack of availability of other riders. Not a bad rider, likes the longer tracks, wouldn't have him back. I'm sure he'll be at Glasgow next year. Although he did love berwick too.

Batch was a pleasant surprise. Didn't expect his performances this year. Gave it a real good go and scored some much needed points. His performances at redcar were my highlight. One fan was heard stating "no one beats danny king or charles wright twice around their own track". Cheers Batch, I loved seeing his face after that performance. I can't see him back though, he might end up as a no.1 somewhere though.

Paul Starke was brilliant at reserve. He was what we needed to push onto the playoffs. Scored points that our reserves just weren't doing. Probably a wise choice to bring him back on his average. He just needs to get that machinery sorted. 

As for sam, I liked the kid. In the NDL he put some exciting performances in and I really thought he would've pushed on and made some progress. He was very competitive last year against some good riders, but this year it seemed every reserve rider was better.

Edited 4 hours ago by Woke23

[szkocjasid]

54 minutes ago, Woke23 said:

The 2 pt average is the least they can do. There's many things that need changed to help british speedway survive. Making it so champ teams must have a 2 pt average is one of them. 

Other things that I'm not so keen on is the assessed averages for foreign riders. Poor celina, who was slightly better than sam this year, was let go because of her assessed average. 

They also need to sort out the NDL. That league is atrocious. Young riders are having meetings few and far between and it'll be stalling any hopes of progression. I watched a fair few NDL meetings this year and there are some good riders out there.

Don't you contradict yourself here, saying need to include a 2.00 rider for the sake of British Speedway, but also saying foreigners not being able to drop below 4.00 is unfair?

If foreigners can drop below that, then it's the Brits who will get dropped. 

Personally I like the 4.00 minimum average for foreigners, would even support it being higher, why fly riders in for matches or possibly pay for visas etc if they're only gonna score a point more than a rider from the NDL?

I guess you could argue Celina staying on a 4.00 average kept her in the team for longer? There was no rush to look for a replacement as she couldn't drop her average. If she could drop to 3.00 then they may have swapped her much earlier on for another 4.00 rider.

Edited 3 hours ago by szkocjasid

[szkocjasid]

3 hours ago, Bomber75 said:

I think the core of the team for 25 will be Cookie, Tate and Antti (Andrew says that Tate and Antti are club assets). Troy  maybe if the points limit is 40 ish. Claus and Sam dont think they'll be back. Paul Starke would make 5. Which leaves 2 riders to find. Question for me is would the promotion go for a new 2 pointer and a higher average rider or 2 riders with higher averages and potential to improve. I did read somewhere that they were thinking of making a 2 pointer a must for youth development.

My biggest concern with that, is riders just above 2 missing out on team places the following season. Then the better 2.00 riders who up their averages, missing out the following season to the next batch of 2.00 riders.

Although this year there doesn't seem to be any riders between 2 & 3. But I guess the likes of Ace Pijper might find it tougher to get a team if he has the be the "senior" reserve.

[SteelShoe]

13 hours ago, Neila said:

Can buy new stuff as said in the speedway star article a few weeks ago, he is young enough to have another go if he is in the right place 

I wonder if Connor has been back on a bike since his departure, probably not if he has sold his equipment. Doesn't seem like the actions of a young man who believes he wants a future in the sport although I would like to be wrong .

[Sings4Speedway]

1 hour ago, Woke23 said:

The 2 pt average is the least they can do. There's many things that need changed to help british speedway survive. Making it so champ teams must have a 2 pt average is one of them. 

Other things that I'm not so keen on is the assessed averages for foreign riders. Poor celina, who was slightly better than sam this year, was let go because of her assessed average. 

They also need to sort out the NDL. That league is atrocious. Young riders are having meetings few and far between and it'll be stalling any hopes of progression. I watched a fair few NDL meetings this year and there are some good riders out there.

Ive always found the 2 point average questionable. Yes it offers opportunities but more so because the average is low and teams take a chance rather than because riders are of sufficient quality. 

Assessed averages for overseas riders are about spot on and any reduction would definitely not help British speedway.

Sort out the NDL? Thats been done to its massive detriment. Its hanging on by a thread and solely because there are so few clubs and a number of old hands that are willing to ride as a hobby and bulk out the numbers. The amount of pure quality in the league is few and far between and most were already a known entity before turning 15. Once the remaining 'established' riders get bored of the drawn out fixture list and sell up it will cease and probably just be replaced with a series of NDL level individual fixture sup and down the country. 

[Fromafar]

3 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Ive always found the 2 point average questionable. Yes it offers opportunities but more so because the average is low and teams take a chance rather than because riders are of sufficient quality. 

Assessed averages for overseas riders are about spot on and any reduction would definitely not help British speedway.

Sort out the NDL? Thats been done to its massive detriment. Its hanging on by a thread and solely because there are so few clubs and a number of old hands that are willing to ride as a hobby and bulk out the numbers. The amount of pure quality in the league is few and far between and most were already a known entity before turning 15. Once the remaining 'established' riders get bored of the drawn out fixture list and sell up it will cease and probably just be replaced with a series of NDL level individual fixture sup and down the country. 

Agree regarding NDL hanging by a thread.The prospects and quality riders are already in aChampionship Team.Clubs must be suffering financially to run stand alone meetings .IMO.

[scaramanga]

5 hours ago, Bomber75 said:

I think the core of the team for 25 will be Cookie, Tate and Antti (Andrew says that Tate and Antti are club assets). Troy  maybe if the points limit is 40 ish. Claus and Sam dont think they'll be back. Paul Starke would make 5. Which leaves 2 riders to find. Question for me is would the promotion go for a new 2 pointer and a higher average rider or 2 riders with higher averages and potential to improve. I did read somewhere that they were thinking of making a 2 pointer a must for youth development.

Rumours are anti might not be back in UK 

Which will be a shame 

He rode well last night ar Sheffield id expect belle Vue to want both tate and anti if they can build a team around them 

[Fromafar]

16 minutes ago, scaramanga said:

Rumours are anti might not be back in UK 

Which will be a shame 

He rode well last night ar Sheffield id expect belle Vue to want both tate and anti if they can build a team around them 

Rumour season will soon be in full swing👍