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Therein lies the problem - the inept, incompetent and utterly selfish (Rob Godfrey has stated in this weeks Speedy Star that the Premiership and Championship clubs decided that the NDL had to change - quite extraordinary when you think that over half of them don't even have NDL clubs and that Mildenhall and Isle of Wight had no say at all) way this has been handled. I think it is entirely possible that the new entrants might have wanted a lower points limit but we'll simply never know. Islander says that wasn't the case, and certainly Mildenhall's Phil Kirk has said that they did not want a reduction. Its therefore equally entirely possible that had it gone to a vote 39 would have been retained (which maybe why there was no vote). What is certain is that Isle of Wight would not be attracting the support from speedway fans if this had been dealt with with any degree of intelligence and there had been a vote for 35 and they had still pulled out. I wouldn't for a second have questioned such a decision - that it is for an individual promotion and we are talking about by far and away the best in the country - but they would not have been able to point fingers at the BSPL at all.

If GM had a winnable case that they would not be sending out pointless letters or issuing unenforceable threats. Pretty pathetic.

Why would the club let Allen go,pay his flights and expenses,what he brings through the gates will far exceed the disappointment of them away meeting flogging, can see also a lot of home defeats , between witches and scorpions they could of come up with a better deal for a rider that was about to blossom in uk

Every team will end up under the points limit

The way I see it, if the league is all about development and not competition it doesn't matter if the points limit is 35 or 39. If that is the case, results don't matter - just experience and track time.

or going sledging or punching walls ?

People keep mentioning what other teams would’ve come to the tapes with a higher points limit. But it’s been documented elsewhere that Mildenhall, Kent, Belle Vue, Plymouth (if they remained) and Eastbourne were all were happy with the usual points limit. I am not aware of Armadale or Newcastle’s opinion but they were both in the division for 2020. Only Leicester and Berwick definitely wanted it lowered who are actually racing. All the other teams who wanted it peered aren’t even NL clubs!

surely this is the sort of league that people would benefit having a GTR?

Ultimately the BSPL have shafted Isle of Wight speedway for all that it is worth, in the manner in which the NDL for 2021 was constituted. I suspect they also hoped to shaft Mildenhall out of the league too, to turn the competition into a reserve team league. The BSPL need to wake up and realise that speedway in this country is on borrowed time. They can't afford to lose teams and tracks, as once gone, it is far harder to bring them back. Regardless of the current mantra of 'promoting youth,' speedway in Britain is rapidly heading towards the state it is in other European countries e.g. Norway and Finland with a handful of spectators watching largely amateur riders take part in what for most of them is an expensive hobby, unless those who claim to 'promote' the sport go out and actively promote it, rather than finding methods to shaft one another for minor gain.

Personally, even though Rob's honouring his commitments, I'd personally go for Batchelor for Allen Connor Mountain for Pijper Ryan Kinsley for Lambert but thats not gonna happen, sadly.... If the team isn't going to be competitive, I shall be going to support Sheffield in the premiership most weeks, as much as I have time and respect for rob, is it too much to ask as a loyal supporter of 15 years for a successful season

Have a look at Kents website.... Under the riders info Nicholls is already listed as a Panther for 2021

Having just had a catch up on the National league goings on and signings the teams look so unbalanced its not going to make much of a sceptical . Basically every team has 2 or some 3 number ones then the rest of the team is made up of reserve quality riders . Heats 13 and 15 look like they could be tasty most meetings . But come on nearly getting lapped by Max Clegg or Nathan Greaves isn't going to help these kids . Clearly the points limit is far too low to enable teams to swap a couple of 3 pointers with 4.5-6.5 averaged riders who can fill the void . Far too many races/heats will just be processional and very strung out . It would/will surely be hard for stand alone clubs to charge for such entertainment other than the bare minimum . This is only my opinion guys if you think i am wrong fair enough tell me why in your opinion i am . Maybe i can be convinced to change my mind . Most important thing i suppose is speedway is returning so that i suppose is all that counts .

Just slow to update. May 3rd fixture has been deleted on the Boro list... http://www.peterborough-speedway.com/fixtures21

Actually, he is there to coordinate the league, not implement change of his own accord or that of the Directors. It has, and should have been in 2021, always been a vote based system of discussion, approval and implementation of changes by vote at NL AGMs. Unless his duties and responsibilities have changed - ie fixture setting, shared event date setting and so on, he must not, certainly not in my view anyway, get involved in any way with team selections, point limits, rule changes, nothing - he just observes the rules are adhered to and coordinates fixtures.

I also agree up to a point . You certainly wouldn't use your 'come and pay £15...' as a means of promoting the meetings If the limit is 39, you don't have to build to that but instead include riders who you believe deserve a place regardless of their average (although I might suggest (ironically as it happens)that there would be a lower points limit). That means that results could be uneven (some may have a noticeable advantage in terms of team strength) and thus that the competition (ie the NDL) would not be as balanced as if all built to the same limit. If its about development, that doesn't matter. It would not, however, prevent young riders busting a gut to beat other young riders and thus they would have the on track competition that they need, there would be a sense of achievement after winning races and, hopefully, they would improve.

Chris Harris doesn't come cheap Col? I think the 'Masons' are doing a great job....we are lucky to be in existence.

I would think most riders will improve a there previous avarage, as the league is weaker.

Signing on fees in the NDL it’s meant to be an amateur League

It’s the PREMIERSHIP that is not working the way it should be. The problem starts at the top and works its way down. As it’s mostly championship riders ( on bigger wages ) it is not what it claims to be. It either should be done away with or revamped to be just that, a ‘ Premiership ‘ without championship riders and ‘ rising stars’ .

Don't see the problem, in terms of engineering isn't this what Japanese, Chinese; Koreans and others have done for decades. Take a Car / Engine / Engineering over to their people, strip it down, re-component and re-build pretty much identically. GM seems to have become complacent.

I don’t know who to suggest to sign but surely Rob can’t track that team! It’s hopeless. It’s miles below the limit and will struggle at home and get thrashed away. There’s no number 1 and barely a heat leader compared to some of the top heavy sides. The suggestion of Kennedy, McDonald etc disrupts the balance of the team too as one of the plus points was Lambert at reserve. But then he’s stuck at second string along with Pijper, who I personally think is a woeful signing anyway and will average around 4-4.5 even when he drops to number 7. Rob’s tried strength in depth before with Auty at number 1 and it just doesn’t work. The Scunny faithful respect that they have an entertaining track but they still want to see their team win and when they aren’t doing that regularly they vote with their feet.

There seem to be a lot of unanswered dealings by the BSPL, and it's hard to do anything other than agree with your statement and feelings. It was so important to keep speedway alive on the Isle of Wight, as there are very few attractions for locals or holiday makers to do of an evening. In 2019 when I visited the island and stayed in Shanklin, there was absolutely no entertainment other than to go to the local theatre in the evening, and they don't provide for the holidaymaker like they have in years gone by. Consequently, people were attempted to go along and see what this thing called speedway was all about, might just have decided to start going to their local tracks when their holidays were over, and returned to the mainland. You guys have put so much work into that place, and I feel so sorry for you.

What I can’t understand is we are told you can get red shale no more as the quarry has closed, and we have to put up with the soil now instead of shale which is not good for racing. and then magically Bradford have done some research and found the best shale for racing which is red shale and have laid it at Osdal. So it make me think the soil we have to have must be a lot cheaper than the red shale that’s why we have it. especially when the red shale is still available which produces better racing as we all know.

Has to be 2021 only. Too rider of the year. I’d forgotten about Ryan Douglas tbh. Strong showing in Aussie over the winter so could be a good outside bet

A total non-starter. What riders would have made up those ‘ ghost ‘ teams ? The same southern based riders every other week ? And just who would IOW track ? No, not a good idea.