dave1075

Notice that Lee Complin has been brought into guest for Dan Thompson at No2. So have the rules changed as Thompson has yet to ride a race for Plymouth & would of thought that R/R was the only option. Also wasn’t guests only allowed for anyone of the top 3 riders in the team.

With the news that Jack Kingston is out for the rest of the season & Rhys Naylor not looking at being back soon, could Kent look at bringing in Kyle Bickley & a 3 point reserve. Out of interest how old is Sonny Springer & can he come in as that 3 pointer. I know that it’s quite a journey for Bickley but have bike will travel. The team could possibly look like this. 1. Kyle Bickley, 8.63 2. Tom Wooley, 6.47 3. Nathan Ablitt, 8.00 4. Connor King, 3.68 5. BenMorley, 8.32 6. Ashton Vale, 3.00 7. Sonny Springer, 3.00 TOTAL. 41.10

Unfortunately in the current financial climate, multi million pound companies like Entain & ARC ( both major betting companies) who are owned by Lord & Lady ????? or Ex Politicians who just want to make money and are not interested in running speedway in these venues & couldn’t care less what normal members of the public want. They buy these stadiums & sell them to property developers for housing, they then use this income to invest in other ventures they own with other members of the Heirarchy by making them into large sporting complexes with hotels on site. They incorporate greyhound racing as this brings in a large percentage of revenue via SIS to all betting shops for BAG’s & BEG’s meetings. I can’t see any councils having anywhere near enough excess money to buy the stadiums in question from the property developers, unless their is some sort of multi -millionaire with a interest in speedway who can persuade them to sell to him/her & hopefully stay involved & not get dragged onto the dark side by these greedy parasites who say “bugger you I’m alright Jack” I’ve got LOADSAMONEY.

I remember back in the late eighties ( 88-89 ) a young Australian called Trevor O’Brien rode for Rye House. He came over to mechanic for Glenn Baxter & came into the team as a raw novice when injuries struck the Rockets. He could hardly stay on his bike through over enthusiasm & spent more time on his arse then finishing a race but Under the mentoring of Jens Rasmussen, Martin Goodwin & Baxter himself he progressed to become not only a heat leader the following season, but the No1 for the Rockets. The promotion backed him & gave him time to improve & didn’t dump him after 5 league meetings. Trevor became a Rockets hero & was a great entertainer & loved by many supporters. Unfortunately not with us anymore Trevor was proof that a rider can come good when given time. Maybe in a year or so Jake Turner could become that rider who improves & makes it with time. Only problem is Promoters these days are narrow minded & blinkered. They want instant fixes & are not prepared to give these young lads either British or Commonwealth time to settle in & throw them in at the deep end. Not everyone can be a Tai Woffinden, Dan Bewley, or Robert Lambert.

As you say depending on what happens on Sunday v Berwick. If they look at dropping Sam Wooley they have a potential 8.13 to play with. It also means they would have Joe Alcock & Rhys Naylor as a strong pairing at 6 & 7, which would help Joe with getting more confidence back. The only setback being is there anyone available to fit in as the possible 2nd heat leader with Nathan Ablitt moving to 3rd heat leader & Tom Wooley as second string, making the royals very strong in all positions. One option could be Plymouth’s Jake Turner on a 4.00 Championship average, doubled up to 8.00 National Average. Here is the potential line up. 1. Ben Morley. 8.62 2. Connor King. 4.67 3. Nathan Ablitt. 7.20 4. Tom Wooley. 5.33 5. Jake Turner 8.00 6. Joe Alcock. 4.36 7. Rhys Naylor. 3.69 Total. 41.87

Sorry my error, Unfortunately I didn’t take into account that Hurry had only ridden 7 meetings ( 4H & 3A ) for the kings in 2021. So I stand corrected, thank you Sings4Speedway for putting me right. It’s just a shame he didn’t do one more away meeting as his new average might have been around the 2 point mark. Obviously it shows what a struggle it is to construct a team when the powers that be at the B.S.P.A keep changing the guidelines from one season to the next. Also S4S makes a good point about Jake Mulford not wanting a Sunday track, but currently his form seems to be struggling with both Belle Vue & Redcar and that a stint at NJL level would get his confidence back by winning races.

With the prospect of possible changes being made & stranger things have happened, but could there be the possibility of luring Paul Hurry out of retirement to resume his Kent connections. He is regularly seen practicing at Iwade whilst mentoring his protégé Sonny Springer. So as a matter of interest what average would he possibly come in on. ( racing in 2021 for the Kings in the Championship is average was 1.63 ) With tongue in cheek If the rule states that you double the Championship average of anyone riding in the Development League would that mean he would come in on a 3.26. Seeing that Adam Roynon came in on a 6.00 when his average at Scunthorpe was 3.00. So how about this as a possible 1-7 for the Royals Promotion to consider. 1. Ben Morley 9.29 2. Rhys Naylor. 4.52 3. Tom Wooley 6.78 4. Joe Alcock 4.36 5. Nathan Ablitt 7.20 6. Connor King 4.16 7. Paul Hurry 3.26 ??? Total. 39.57

How about this line up. 1. Ben Morley. 9.29 2. Rhys Naylor. 4.52 3. Jack Kingston. 6.45 4. Ben Trigger. 6.00 5. Nathan Ablett. 7.20 6. Joe Alcock. 4.36 7. Connor King. 4.16 TOTAL. 41.98

I’m surprised Plymouth didn’t get Adam Roynon in as one of the guests as he does ride for their NDL team,rather then allow him to ride in a challenge match at Birmingham. It’s a big ask for young Ben Trigger having his 1st meeting back since injury but at least he’s giving it a go.

It is not Poole’s fault on who they race against & it’s just circumstances that Plymouth find themselves in. The Gladiators options on guests are limited & other then those already selected, there are only possibly 5 other riders who could have stepped in. Those being Batchelor, Flint, Summers, Allen & Heeps. They may all have their reasons for not being available, so unless the weather intervenes it’s Que sera sera. Good luck to all the riders taking part & hope everyone of them stay safe.

A DEPLETED Oxford Chargers gave their everything at West Row yesterday afternoon (Sunday), before Mildenhall Fen Tigers pulled ahead in the closing stages to record a 55-32 victory. It was Chargers’ second defeat to Mildenhall within four days and means that Fen Tigers replace Chargers in fourth position in the National League table, as Chargers slip out of the play-off places. Chargers were hit by the blow that Jordan Jenkins was back on the sidelines with abdominal damage. He had ridden at Peterborough on Thursday and Redcar on Friday but had wanted to withdraw after two rides from the latter meeting. The Redcar promotion persuaded him to complete the meeting, but the end result is that the 21-year-old Chargers’ skipper was left in considerable pain and advised by Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck to make a hospital visit on Saturday. That visit revealed Jenkins is in no fit state to currently ride a speedway bike. Speaking post-meeting, Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “Well done to Mildenhall today, but I am proud of the way our lads battled away, despite the huge blow of going into the meeting without Jordan (Jenkins). “I spoke to Jordan yesterday (Saturday), to see how he was after riding for Redcar on Friday night. He was in a really bad way and in a lot of pain and hadn’t slept during the night. He had wanted to withdraw at Redcar after his first couple of riders up there, but Redcar are pushing for the Championship play-offs and persuaded him to complete the meeting, which he probably shouldn’t have done. “I told him to go to hospital to go and get himself checked out, because I wasn’t going to have something happen to Jordan on my watch. He went to hospital and the doctors told him he’s got severe abdominal damage. At the moment, he’s having nothing to eat, because he can’t keep his food down. The doctors advised him: ‘No racing, because you’ll just make it worse.’ Jordan was gutted not to be able to ride for us, but the decision was taken out of his hands by the health professionals who told him he must not ride. Of course, I’d love to have Jordan racing for us today, because he would have made such a difference, but I’m not going to risk a young rider’s health to try to get into the play-offs.

With Jordan Jenkins missing Sundays Oxford meeting at Mildenhall & Peterborough’s home meeting on Monday after being told by health professionals not to ride due to an abdominal strain. It will be interesting to see if the Redcar promotion will once again persuade him to ride by almost lifting him onto his machine ( the very words Jamie Swales used in his statement ) like they did when he rode on Friday versus Scunthorpe when Jordan was prepared to pull out of the meeting after his 2nd ride. I know it’s an important meeting regarding the play offs but surely the riders welfare comes first.

So OK, common sense prevails & I will apologise to the Peterborough promotion for doing the right thing, but let’s see if Redcar do likewise tomorrow seeing they have an important potential play off position to fight for. Also for Jordan he needs to consider that he has the British U21 Championship Final on Wednesday & has an excellent chance of making the rostrum.

Obviously the Peterborough & Redcar promotions clearly don’t give a damn about Jordan’s welfare as he was advised by health professionals at the hospital not to ride speedway as the result of an abdominal strain. Although he rode on Friday for Redcar carrying this injury but then missed yesterday’s meeting for Oxford at Mildenhall. He is then surprisingly declared to ride for both clubs on Monday & Tuesday this coming week.

Kye Thomson has posted that he’s looking for someone to mechanic at Plymouth tomorrow, so I assume he will be another.

Birmingham’s Averages from 01/08/22 Josh Auty. 7.20* Justin Sedgemen. 7.12 Claus Vissing. 5.92* Ash Morris. 4.81 Stefan Nielsen. 5.07 James Shanes. 4.74* James Pearson. 4.00 38.86 * So with these 3 certainly missing who would you choose. Here’s my 3. Leon Flint 6.72. Paco Castagna 4.92. Connor Mountain 4.53

It certainly seems that Garry May beat Laurence Rogers to who got first use of the rider list Filofax in choosing his replacements. Although Birmingham are restricted with who they can get, as the riders they are replacing are on quite lower averages.

Alfie’s average is 9.78, Ben’s average is 9.18 & Danno’s average is 5.56 which total’s 24.52 leaving 15.48 for the remaining 4 riders.

With minimal riders being available on a lower average, Kent may have limited options on who to bring in to complete the team. Jamie Couzins & Chris Watts have both ridden plenty of laps around Iwade, so could be the 3.00 pointers at reserve. This leaves around 9.48 for the remaining 2 riders. Maybe look at getting Rob Ledwith out of retirement on his 5.93 average which leaves 3.55 for the final piece of the jigsaw.

Ben Morley & Danno Verge have both been confirmed as Royals for 2022. Also John Sampford continues as Team Manager. That’s a good start to team building with an out & out No1 & a decent 2nd String.

I was assuming Ben Morley would come in on his NDL average from 2019, whilst with the IOW which was 9.17. But if it reverts to his CL average from 2021 of 3.91 that doubled being 7.82 he would be an absolute shoe in for any NDL team this coming season.

Great news that Kent are now confirmed for 2022 at Iwade, So with the need to start team building as soon as possible before there are no riders left with there now being 8 teams in the league, who would you like in your 1 - 7. Here is my selection within the 40 point limit. 1. Ben Morley. 9.17 2. Connor King. 4.20 3. Sam Hagon. 6.32 4. Connor Coles. 5.76 5. Alex Spooner. 6.44 6. Vinnie Foord. 3.47 7. Jacob Clouting. 3.20 TOTAL. 38.56 I feel there’s a blend of youth & experience in this team with the possibility of all riders improving their averages.

Jack Thomas or Connor Coles would of been a better option.