Plymouth 2025

[Diamonds85]

1 hour ago, Mr Blobby said:

Thomson riding NDL these days is a waste of time the lad got a 5.77 average in the championship what’s he gaining beating kids by a country mile. I don’t to hear the track time rubbish cause he’s been around the block enough now.

Keeping busy as he only has Plymouth in the Championship? Trying set ups for the Championship? Could be many reasons.

[szkocjasid]

Interestingly Kai Ward is the lowest averaged rider in the Middlesbrough side, but 4th highest for Plymouth.

[Sings4Speedway]

Sadly its a team that sums up my complete drop off of interest in the sport anymore. If promotions can't take anything seriously why should fans. Delighted for the few who will be completing their dreams of becoming NL riders, luckily its just a few home meetings as i can see the fixtures at Plymouth ending up a farce again this year.

[Diamonds85]

4 minutes ago, Sings4Speedway said:

Sadly its a team that sums up my complete drop off of interest in the sport anymore. If promotions can't take anything seriously why should fans. Delighted for the few who will be completing their dreams of becoming NL riders, luckily its just a few home meetings as i can see the fixtures at Plymouth ending up a farce again this year.

How dare they give some young, local lads a chance, you'd almost think that's what this league is about, terrible!!

[Sings4Speedway]

3 minutes ago, Diamonds85 said:

How dare they give some young, local lads a chance, you'd almost think that's what this league is about, terrible!!

That is what the league has become. It used to be team places for those who were good enough, now its about places for those young / local enough. I know what im expecting and do genuinely hope im proved wrong but i very much doubt it.

[HGould]

1 hour ago, Sings4Speedway said:

That is what the league has become. It used to be team places for those who were good enough, now its about places for those young / local enough. I know what im expecting and do genuinely hope im proved wrong but i very much doubt it.

I generally agree with your posts and always respect them but I do think this is a bit disingenuous.

The NDL has always provided opporunity for riders who enjoy riding, have neither the ability nor in some cases the aspiration to go higher but who are more than capable of competing at a decent level.

To think of a few recent examples, Danno Verge a loyal servant to IOW who was never going to be any more than a 5 point NDL rider. Tom Spencer, who I watched riding and struggling on lawnmowers in his early days, who has steadily developed and hit a very decent NDL avergae last season and has got a deserved bash at CL level this year.

In this Plymouth team is Kai Ward who I watched a few years ago when he could not do 4 laps without falling off. He's gone to amateur racing, learnt and steadily improved and last year proved he could be a competitive reserve in the NDL.

There will always been Brennans, Kemps, Flints etc, the likes of Cairns and Boughen and some other newer riders look well capable of aspiring to a full time careeer in the Sport.

However I do agree with your general train of thought.

As a Brummies fan I felt the NDL of 2016-2018 was excellent, when Brummies moved up to CL in 2019 and struggled unable to compete i realised that the BSPL attitude was to neuter the NDL by making the better clubs move up. The supposition that it was to support Clubs like Buxton, Stoke, IOW etc blown away by the fact that those Clubs left for varying reasons.

There are 2 ways forward really...

(1) make the NDL totally amateur and assist the amateur tracks and providers to have a more sustainable footing 

(2) to remove a lot more of the big earners - cream off possibly the top 16-18 over 30's and to make the CL the equaivalent of what the NDL was up to circa 2019-2020.

But of course we go back 20+ years to the Sky TV cash cow that was blown, spaffed up, secreted away don't we?...

The legacy that 30-40 riders have to ride PL and CL to generate the 40 + meetings to make Speedway pay and stuff the rest.

Too much water has gone beneath too many bridges I fear to rectify the issues now.

No disrespect to them but thats why i see the likes of Bomber ; Scott ; Lawson, Masters , Worrall ; and many more riding well in to their late 40's and early 50's. A few classy kids will arrive and join them, a few might by-pass them (like Brennan) to join Lambert and Bewley but the model is utterly BUST I'm sad to say.

NORA may be the way ahead for MANY of the current lower tier Championship Clubs but if they don't own their own stadiums and generate as much income from anciliaries like food and drink sales as a result, the future looks very bleak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fortythirtyeight]

12 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Interestingly Kai Ward is the lowest averaged rider in the Middlesbrough side, but 4th highest for Plymouth.

Isnt that the point of this league ? rather than having J.Thompson in the side it should be for the NDL second strings, reserves and newbies.

[szkocjasid]

1 hour ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Isnt that the point of this league ? rather than having J.Thompson in the side it should be for the NDL second strings, reserves and newbies.

There's a few ways to look at it, now I'd agree Joe T should be too good for the NDT, but as he has so few Championship fixtures, can understand wanting to get extra rides.

Also Plymouth are probably keen for him to ride, they could end up losing 60-30 every home match if they replaced him with a NDL second string.

If that happens, crowds drop & they lose lots of money, they likely won't enter the competition next year, then the other 6 riders in the team won't get the same opportunities next season.

Is it such a big deal that Joe rides for Plymouth, when they are giving SIX other "genuine" NDL riders matches? Compare that to the likes of Ipswich, Berwick, Glasgow & Poole who haven't entered a development league.

I'd also disagree that the development leagues should be for "NDL second strings, reserves and newbies" the weaker you make the development leagues the harder it is for them to make the step up to the Championship.

[Fortythirtyeight]

13 minutes ago, szkocjasid said:

There's a few ways to look at it, now I'd agree Joe T should be too good for the NDT, but as he has so few Championship fixtures, can understand wanting to get extra rides.

Also Plymouth are probably keen for him to ride, they could end up losing 60-30 every home match if they replaced him with a NDL second string.

If that happens, crowds drop & they lose lots of money, they likely won't enter the competition next year, then the other 6 riders in the team won't get the same opportunities next season.

Is it such a big deal that Joe rides for Plymouth, when they are giving SIX other "genuine" NDL riders matches? Compare that to the likes of Ipswich, Berwick, Glasgow & Poole who haven't entered a development league.

I'd also disagree that the development leagues should be for "NDL second strings, reserves and newbies" the weaker you make the development leagues the harder it is for them to make the step up to the Championship.

But isn’t the idea that this NDL Trophy league is for them to get track time to develop into good standard NDL riders who THEN develop into Championship riders ?

Not be championship riders riding against novices !

[szkocjasid]

3 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

But isn’t the idea that this NDL Trophy league is for them to get track time to develop into good standard NDL riders who THEN develop into Championship riders ?

Not be championship riders riding against novices !

Blame the rule makers rather than Plymouth or Joe imo. I'm not sure why they made a "if you rode this year, you can ride next year rule"?

[arnieg]

14 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

But isn’t the idea that this NDL Trophy league is for them to get track time to develop into good standard NDL riders who THEN develop into Championship riders ?

Not be championship riders riding against novices !

If it was, the Trophy would have a lower points limit.

It doesn't.

So the answer to your question is no.

[Fortythirtyeight]

7 minutes ago, arnieg said:

If it was, the Trophy would have a lower points limit.

It doesn't.

So the answer to your question is no.

Then it’s just another speedway bodge, basically just an excuse to fill in fixture gaps that have been created by p*** poor organisation and lack of forward thinking. No wonder speedway gets no national coverage and isnt taken seriously but an absolute minority

[Sings4Speedway]

The problem i have with the Plymouth side is that the gulf from top to bottom is vast. Joe can very likely lap Morgan around Plymouth and that genuinely creates a danger on track with the disparity in levels between the two. Ive not seen Charlie ride for some time but my impression is that he would be behind Morgan in most races. Its certainly nothing personal as Morgan is a charming gent who will absolutely win hearts its purely down to ability and readiness. 

As covered above Kai ward was thrown in early and not ready, he went away improved and now fully justifies his places. Just because a 15 year old shows a little promise doesn't mean they are ready for league racing (even in the drastically reduced standard and amount of fixtures). 

There was a point in time when the best riders from the MDL/NJL along with the cream of the youth rounds were fighting for reserve berths, now its nearly all riders who compete are getting places and some in the 1-5.

There will always be surprise packages and riders who really do succeed but the approach of nurturing talent appears to be replaced with the attitude that if you throw enough mud at a wall some of it will stick.