STEVEHOLS54

Must say I am surprised our new young and exciting prospect Max Perry has not been signed by a NDL club for 2024. The av left at the clubs with places to fill indicate he won't have a starting slot. Can't believe its his injury/fitness issue as would think Poole wouldn't have signed him. Although chances are he was already pencilled in well before season ended and his injury. (Although he has said he would be fit for start of 24. Maybe he is party to information on all the teams not participating in racing NDL squads putting on plenty of Individual meetings or second half events to keep his calendar filled to supplement his Poole appearances. The only problem with the new NLDR series is that it is supposed to be open to the top 2 riders from each club in the NDL. (as per below statement). If he isn't signed to a team how does he get in ??. Unless as a Wild Card as 6 teams x 2 riders is only 12 so will need another 4 and that's also excluding any fixture clashes. The National League Riders’ Development Series will be a series of stand-alone Individual events open to the top two available riders from each club. Even the likes of Boughen & Killeen have 2 clubs each (Boughen in Prem & Champ). (Killeen in NDL 7 Champ). Any thoughts ?

Hi All Can someone explain this to me as a little confused. Tate as young Aussie if he had come straight from Aussie would have been a 4, but because he did 6 matches 23 rides in POL U24 in 2023 he becomes 5. Celina also an overseas rider rode in the same League also 6 matches - but 21 rides and comes in on a 4. Firstly best of luck to Celina, but can someone explain how she arrives on a 4 not a 5 ?

I see. Let's hope it's maybe more than one then, as the words imply giving more to the younger rider development. I refer to the Our specific participation's meaning Poole's. (As below) Our specific participation as to which tier we will be taking is yet to be decided but we are committed to the programme and that means there will be more youth opportunities at Poole for the 2024 season and hopefully our supporters will get behind this and enjoy the development of the sports future. Merry Christmas all.

Well of course we can't rule out Ford's plans as per his big statement of 18/11 Which quotes from his own words: Ford said "it is a big step forward with the emphasis on youth development as we all know how important this is for the sustainability of the sport. All Championship and Premiership clubs will be participating in mandatory youth development on a tiered system. Our specific participation as to which tier we will be taking is yet to be decided but we are committed to the programme and that means there will be more youth opportunities at Poole for the 2024 season and hopefully our supporters will get behind this and enjoy the development of the sports future. I await the statement on what these commitments will be for ||Poole which perhaps may explain why Max is not signed up elsewhere. Haven't heard a peep about this subject since he said it but plenty of time to maximise press coverage about plans like they normally do. I assume he wasn't referring to Hagon/Perry as reserves which I assumed is separate. (That was partly forced on teams due to lower points limit). Of course still some places left but surprising such a future talent not snapped up so far, unless one of the teams holding back news.

Thought Max Perry would be nailed on to go back to Leicester NDL this year to compliment his signing for Poole. Was surprised he was omitted and seen no signs of him signing for anyone in NDL up North or Edinb where some still have some places open. Also can't say I've seen any news on the Youth Development side from Poole where all Clubs are supposed to either lay on teams or sort out racing for these guys (pre or after meetings) on their own track if they are not tracking a team (which Poole have not declared they intend to). Anyone have any ideas on where Max may end up or if Poole are planning anything for young riders ?

Just trying to estimate what we could see as a return (points wise) from Thomsen. looking at last season results if he is at 2 his 4 rides would complete in heat 10. He would get 3 rides with Lawson (knowing him he will do his best to get behind Thomsen IF possible to keep his GSA down). Sensible thinking by Lawson as BP not in GSA calculations and important to keep a workable GSA for attraction for teams the following season. He would meet opposition 1,3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 once. The oppo 2 twice . In theory should beat most of the reserves. Should hold up well against most of the other 2's so far announced as well as some of the 4's, Achieving a 4 point av may not be so difficult but maybe Lawson himself could keep Thomsen's scores down a bit if riding off for the win or best placing. All this is theory of course. Will be interesting to see how it pans out and who knows. He could become a reserve (Wolf) in sheeps clothing if he did. Swapping with Hagon.

I'm trying to work out who Thomsen will meet as opposition in the 2 slot next season (besides obviously the opposite No 1 in the opening heat). If not a stupid question how is the number 2 rider chosen to ride with the heat leader. For example we know the 3 H/L in a team but how is the rider in the 2 slot chosen ??. Is it done automatically based on (excl the 2 reserves) on the 5th lowest average or another method.

It's a fair point. Plus Worky are a Saturday track. I think the 5 point GSA didn't help Poole's case. Secondly I assume he has a multi year contract with Leszno U24 Lge team after his reduced first season in Europe last Summer. That means a lot of Tuesday's are tied up. The finalists rode 18 matches (mainly Tue) plus they also do lot's of practicing in POL. That would have been a hell of a lot of flying back & forth to POL where he based last Summer when he arrived in July. Tate knows the that the future is Poland, and like riders such a Lidsey/Rew he realises that if he breaks through in the U24 in next 2 years or so he will get a chance in the main EXL side similar to Kurtz and the 2 named above. UK Champ is merely a chance to make up for lost time (like last season) after his injury. I made a lot of noise on here about Tate since seeing his brilliant efforts on You Tue and other social media in late 2022 where prior to his injury his style and speed on a bike reminded you of a young Darcy. Even Darcy who has been coaching him said he reminded his of a younger Darcy in an interview back in 2022. You joined the dots and the obvious connection was Poole (also on 4 points as at that stage had not ridden POL). Maybe will never happen with Poole but who knows ?. IF Poole survive into 25/26 (not certain) and IF they were to move up then maybe he will be attracted like Rew/Lidsey to racing top riders in the Prem. Having said that with the strong BV connection with Lemon and young Aussies maybe that could be where he ends up when he does move up to Prem. Sorry I mean IF .

Neither Nielsen and certainly not Roynon is a forward move. Adam had his chance but was starting to struggle in that last 4/6 weeks prior to injury also on poor equipment. Also why would Poole change the Dane so early before at least trying to prove he can achieve at least a 4 point av. As for the Aussie's. Most of the decent one's have already signed in POL U24 with odd exception who may not even want to do UK.

On the subject of IF Thomsen did to work out. (Obviously we hope he does). The fact is as a Dane he will keep his 4 point av, certainly up until the first GSA at least if not longer ??. So we can replace with a 4, but realistically who would be available who is going to do better. Arguably no UK rider. Not unless its another teams 4 pointer who has been dropped. The problem we would now face is that any overseas rider who has ridden (I assume) one or more meetings in DK Prem/Swed/Czech/German/POL Lge of any kind incl Exl/Lge 1 & 2 plus also the POL U24 Lge would be excluded as all would be on a 5. Any half decent young overseas riders have been signed up by POL U24 lge (many on multiple year contracts) as their scouting system seems way ahead of anyone else in the sport. Just Aussie riders as an example proves that with Zischke/West/Rew/Pearson and others means they are 5 pointers as soon as they have ridden in POL. (Unless they rode UK before and got a 4 point or lower av) Effectively means an untried Aussie mid season or another delve into Dk 2nd Div which is arguably at our NDL or just above as many riders just not good enough for their Prem Lge. The good youngsters like Bastian Pedersen/Mikkel Andersen and others in the 15/16 to 21 age are already signed by POL U24 or Dk Prem. In effect our team av alternatively would have to fall to 33 to get a 5 pointer. If that happened chances would be we would be out of the BSN & KO Cup come June and maybe some of the below Lge matches lost Sat 4th May (A) Berwick v Poole Wed 15th May (H) Poole v Workington Sat 25th May (A) Plymouth v Poole Wed 29th May (H) Poole v Berwick June Wed 5th June (H) Poole v Redcar As said hopefully NOT the case. The point being that it would not be an easy problem to rectify if he wasn't to score as we hope.

Don't think Rew wanted to do Champ. He has signed in DK Prem for 2024 where he will race against top riders plus arguably the best of the top young Danes coming through. Plus after doing some Thur Prem meetings he will be able to get back to POL (think I read his GF is Polish) for preparation and practing for the mainly Sunday POL Extr fixtures where he will do his first season the Leszno EXTR main team

Skidder - You mentioned that a couple of times now, but I can't find DK 2nd Div stats/scores from last season anywhere. Any clues where I can find them if you have ? Thanks

If his gating is consistently good it will certainly help. To quote Danny's own words in the Echo he stated: “I’ve been watching his meetings from last year as much as I can, on YouTube and stuff, and he’s certainly got the gating gloves, which I feel will help him massively He also stated that he has improved as a rider over the last few years since we last saw him in UK. Time will tell, but let's hope that's the case. The reality is that much as i would love to have seen a potential young future World/GP Star, the Champ is now a weaker Lge than it ever was with the 38 point limit and with so many young/inexperienced and also not so great riders lower down. You don't need to be a star to score decent points if you can gate consistently well. I'm slowly talking myself round to accepting him .

Just found this link for Tobias Thomsen from a meeting in Summer 23. Was round 8 of the Div 1 Championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hyLXCdCwj If you can cut though the adverts worth seeing if you speed up between racing. He appears in the first race and wins. Shame he had bike problems at the tapes just before last race and had to switch to his second (and definitely slower) second bike. Was fast out the gate in his races, which with Poole favoring gaters, could be an advantage when he is racing against some of the other lower point riders. Maybe it was this meeting that the Ford's saw what he could achieve in a weaker Champ in UK in 2024. I may have been a bit harsh earlier, but we will see.

I have only seen some You Tube videos (I had to trawl though to find some). Are his Brovst scores available anywhere as I can't find them and would love to see where the Ford's came to the conclusion he was worth a shout. To be honest I got it horribly wrong with Ben Cook when he first came over as thought he would struggle. He has been a revelation and proved me wrong big time. Also need to get my head around the fact that maybe at 29 he is a 4 pointer in our League but hope I am wrong.