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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/09/2021 in all areas

  1. 3 points
    Why on earth would the sport seek to exclude any club that has the finances in place to compete at their chosen level for a full season of fixtures whether we start in May or not? I really don't get all the continued sniping about past BSPA decisions. The BSPL now have some of the 'younger' promoters on board so hopefully some fresh ideas and proposals for the wider good of the sport. Why won't the likes of Messrs Bates, Louis, M's Hancock etc do better than previous attempts? Promoters continue to be blamed for 'self-interest' but isn't that exactly what the missing top riders are doing? No blame directed at either group from me,
  2. 2 points
    In many ways although very sad it will be a relief for Neil, Susie and family knowing that Ken's suffering with dementia is now over. R.I.P. Legend.
  3. 2 points
    8 teams riding against each other ONCE? So 7 Home meetings , so a two month season ? financial disaster even if you throw in a challenge match or an individual meeting. Charles Wright v Danny Phillips? That will draw in a crowd!
  4. 1 point
    “ I found it really frustrating that even though covid has been an issue for 9 months the sport in the UK hasn't come up with a way to run & nothing will be known until mid January” it’s quite simple. Speedway cannot survive without a paying crowd and allowing any sort of crowd is not down to the sport , it’s out of there hands and that won’t change in mid January. Football has been warned not to expect crowds this season ( end of May ) so expect speedway in the UK to have to follow suit.
  5. 1 point
    I cought a little of the Mildura masters this morning. I'm not sure who the commutators were but one of them thought if UK speedway doesn't happen in 2021 then it would be difficult for the sport in this country to come back from 2 lost seasons. I found it really frustrating that even though covid has been an issue for 9 months the sport in the UK hasn't come up with a way to run & nothing will be known until mid January. I suppose that sums up the fragile state of UK speedway though they are in no position to work any other way.
  6. 1 point
    I think the promoters have to assume that the restrictions put in place by the Polish League and the potential travel restrictions mean that they need to plan for a season with teams containing riders who will base themselves in Britain. On that basis and assuming some Australians (Allen, Douglas, Crump etc) and Europeans (Palm Toft, Vissing, Aarnio etc) would choose a full season of Premiership and Championship (doubling up), combined with the British riders who would do likewise (i.e. not Woffinden or Lambert) you can just about conjure up 35+ riders of Championship heat leader standard riders (i.e. average c7.00+ in the Championship). That should give you a fairly decent standard and competitive top five for the seven Premiership teams. There are easily 14 'young' (maybe U-25? excluding Bewley) British riders who could complete each of the teams at reserve (i.e. from the more experienced Clegg, Nielsen & Greaves to the less experienced Kemp, Edwards & Flint). Given the scarcity of riders the points limit would probably need to be replaced by gradings to ensure even team strengths and if restrictions are relaxed during the season and more riders become available they would be given an appropriate grading. An example of the team standard being King, Lawson, Nicholls, Summers, Starke, Greaves & Kemp. Clearly nowhere near the standard of the Polish League or even the intended 2020 Premiership but I think competitive to the extent that it would fulfil the obligations of the Eurosport deal, which must be a priority. In addition I do hope that the promoters (both Premiership and Championship) look at streaming 'shared events' in 2021. With some less likely/able to travel getting those pairs, 4TT etc streamed could be a money spinner.
  7. 1 point
    IF you want a link to the digital version email ssdigital@pinegen.co.uk with your name and postcode
  8. 1 point
    No idea who the main commentator was but he was determined not to let the incidental racing get in the way of his knockabout chat and laughs with his mates Darcy Ward and Jaimon Lidsey! Half the time I had no idea who was in the race as that seemed to be a minor and irrelevant detail. And four hours to run a meeting...? On the plus side, it was free to watch!
  9. 1 point
    I watched some good to see the bikes buy had to turn the volume off after a while i thought my misses could go onn and on but those 3
  10. 1 point
    Is this meant to be the Speedway version of a Fascist or Communist take over? I take your Falcon93 to indicate some link to Exeter? Aren't we all supposed to mourn dormant Clubs and be trying to revive them, rather than do a "Beeching" and close down over 60% of the 22 Clubs we have left? Baffling and surely a wind up?
  11. 1 point
    Let’s just hope they have a better plan than yours! Those few clubs that ran amateur meetings in 2020 actually made money as they didn’t pay wages out and competitors paid to race. You want less clubs and moan there will be less riders available? Try thinking things through before typing.
  12. 1 point
    sad news for neil and his family
  13. 1 point
    Probably I didn't make it clear in my original post, but when I suggested going back to square one , I was thinking along the lines of starting a new form of Speedway, where we went back to the beginning with cheap 2 valve bikes and lower cost. I am sure there are far more riders who do not compete on the world stage, who would welcome a cheaper form of racing. There would be no problem with the major dates you mentioned because the riders who rode on our restricted machinery and rules wouldn't be interested in those meetings anyway... We could create our own entity with little or no interference from other countries. Who know, probably in a few years time some of those top riders might fancy a different experience. We need to do something quick......
  14. 1 point
    Eastbourne engaged with families when they had to drop to the National league, and are/were making great strides doing the same in the Championship. If for arguments sake we had the pleasure of seeing the likes of Tom Brennen, Drew Kemp etc for the next few seasons, developing into heat leaders but eventually becoming as good as Bewley and Lambert, if the situation is still the same with Poland, I would still applaud their ambition if leaving British speedway is the only way to go/improve, hoping eventually to see them in the GP's, same applies to Bewley and Lambert as well. There is an argument we're feeding the Polish league with our top riders, but we can't compete at the moment, and only a select few will be good enough to go to the top in Poland, so a high proportion of the young riders we develop will be racing here for years to come.
  15. 1 point
    Can we go back to the days of lower revving engines, maybe even upright engines, 2 or 4 valves I dont mind, but anything but these rocket ships which the top riders can handle but someone at the lower end cant. for sure I understand all riders probably start out wanting to be world champion one day, but very few get anywhere near world class status. So lets have entertainment relevant to where Britain is at. Maybe British speedway would eventually loose any youngster making it up the ladder toward world class ie Lambet and Bewley, but its such a few, Britain will just have to put up with it. Lower cost racing could attract more into the sport, would incur lower costs overall, leading tolower entry fees, potentially bigger crowds. Make it entertaining for families too.
  16. 1 point
    Thoughts with Neil Middleditch and all family and friends this morning after his farther Ken passed away peacefully last night.
  17. 1 point
    As much as I want the young guns to progress there is no place for them in a team that I need to win Bavarian has picked possibly our best 8 based on known records. For me the inclussion of Kemp, Brennon, Gilkes or the Thompsons is just letting the kids have a go. They have to earn their place & we need to build into them that we have to win. I'm sure some will improve & earn their turn but for now they need to continue their path by taking on open meetings in Europe & meeting better riders there.
  18. 1 point
    What ‘slot’??? ....There won’t be any ‘slot’ to take as no one else will want to run 7 loss making meetings in that company.
  19. 1 point
    Too many clubs would not agree. For example you have sent Eastbourne, one of the better and most proactive run clubs, down to a semi pro league but offered their declared 1-7 as available to the top league. Poole, Somerset, Leicester and far too many clubs would be insulted with this.
  20. 1 point
    Yes , we do have that opportunity, but I believe for it to stand an chance of succeeding we need to start from square one. The sport has moved on, becoming too expensive, not only for the riders, but also fans and promoters alike. We cannot compete with the likes of Poland and Sweden leagues so why try. Lets re-create the old days, when 2 valve bikes were much cheaper to run, and admission costs were kept to a minimum, riding on nights that appeal to the public. Once upon a time speedway always ran on Saturday nights and the place s were packed... Thus would attract more riders, and more fans. giving better atmosphere, more excitement . At least this way there is an opportunity to re-invent the sport to the modern public rather than wait until us old ones are too old to go anymore.... Either that or just pack it in now......
  21. 1 point
    Speedway riders as we all know are self employed workers, their loyalty lies with themselves and their families. I do however dissagree with the poles decision to restrict their riders earning potential. If they had their riders in X amount of days per week, training and getting ready for the next meeting included into their contracts, then that's fine, but they don't and as Riders are self employed they should be able to choose other clubs in other leagues if they wanted too. Having said that I do think we have a chance now to reset our own league/s and hopefully bring back the days of great speedway at our tracks.
  22. 1 point
    Nothing wrong with gardening if it within the 2 minutes. No worse than just sitting there waiting for the clock to count down. Why do people have such a problem with "gardening"? I don't get it.
  23. 1 point
    Last seasons end of year test against Denmark was the kind of thing team GB needs. Proper international tests both home and away where all 7 riders get rides
  24. 0 points
    With the BSPA only meeting next week and everywhere else in Europe all sorted for whatever Speedway offering they will provide in 2021, a lot of talk in the UK is that Speedway is doomed, but for me some form of Speedway in 2021 while looking to build into 2022 with a structured long term fixed plan can do wonders for the Sport in the UK - only my opinion but instead of trying to punch above our weight class, we need to understand our place in the rider market, and our plan should be to develop our next future World champions, even if that means in the future they no longer ride in the UK. For 2021 I would forget all about Premier League, Championship, National League and just get 8 clubs together who can form a "British League" Championship, purely focusing on showing some form of Speedway in 2021. For example 2021 British League Belle Vue Ipswich Kings Lynn Peterborough Sheffield Swindon Wolves Glasgow could form together to make an 8-team Championship, the other clubs etc. can get together and provide some form of speedway throughout the year with individual meetings or area championships but these would be run at a semi=pro/amateur setting. So we take our 8 teams, and we have each team running on their own chosen race night, home and away once so 14 league meetings, the team finishing top of the league are Champions, the top 4 sides go into an end of season KO Cup (two legged meetings) so a potential for 14-20 meetings of Speedway. The Top 12 average British Riders at the start of the season and the top 8 U23 averaged British Riders go into a "British Riders Championship" with one round hosted at each of the 8 venues in the league over the duration of the season so a split GP style series which will crown a "British" champion and a "British U23" champion at the same meeting so the 12 Main Championship riders would compete over 12 heats no final The 8 Under23 riders compete over 8 heats no final As the BSPA have left it so long to decide what is happening for 2021 and so much uncertainty make the league up of the following riders Adam Ellis Alex Spooner Alfie Bowtell Anders Rowe Ashley Morris Ben Barker Ben Morley Cameron Heeps Charles Wright Chris Harris Connor Bailley Connor Coles Connor Mountain Craig Cook Dan Gilkes Dan Thompson Danny King Danny Phillips Danyon Hume Drew Kemp Edward Kennett Henry Atkins Jack Thomas James Sarjeant James Shanes James Wright Jason Edwards Joe Lawlor Joe Thompson Jordan Jenkins Jordan Palin Josh Auty Josh Bates Kye Thomson Kyle Bickley Kyle Howarth Kyle Newman Leon Flint Lewis Kerr Luke Riddick Matt Marson Matthew Wethers Max Clegg Nathan Greaves Nathan Stoneman Paul Starke Richard Andrew Richard Lawson Rob Ledwith Ryan Kinsley Scott Campos Scott Nicholls Simon Lambert Stefan Nielsen Steve Worrall Tom Bacon Tom Brennan Tom Woolley William Lawson Obviously taken out a dozen or so names that may still ride in 2021 so could be a stronger field available. Then for 2022 look to keep an 8-team British League where we could welcome back riders who missed 2021 such as Tungate as one example and then create a "National League North & South" which is open to Continental riders (riders 6&7 have to be British) but opens the door up for more Aussies to come over to fill spaces and each team are allowed to track 3 non-Continental riders so you could see some old hands like Ostegaard riding or some young up coming riders from Germany etc. National League North Bradford Berwick Birmingham Edinburgh Leicester Newcastle Redcar Scunthorpe National League South Eastbourne Kent Somerset Isle of Wight Mildenhall Plymouth Poole each club ride home and away in their leagues to definite Northern & Southern Champions, both champions race off home and away for the "National Title" there can also be a regional KO Cup and an overall "National Cup" where all teams are drawn out of a crash helmet.
  25. 0 points
    Loss making meetings? Thought speedway never made money for years all clubs plead poverty unless the reality is different Restricting clubs to individual meetings vs potentially not having a 2021 season at all? This is the issue with Speedway in this country, far too many clubs to make it work Hope the BSPA have a good plan because there are going to be absolutely loads of riders unavailable to ride in 2021
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