Elite League Draft Riders

[Skidder1 7,637]

You never know, it might be more than a couple!!!!!!

[Pirate Nick 1,801]

Irrespective of who goes where, I just think it's bloody fantastic that Poole have to finally track a couple of British Riders.

Fraud and The Lapdog must be spitting feathers!

Wouldn't think they'd worry about it. I expect they'd rather spend their time assembling a league winning team and getting sponsors in.

[Pirateboy1993 0]

Only once they have fiddle the averages so we can get greg back and blatantly cheat and got the two best reserves n yawm yawn yawn at every other bit of slander towards poole

[barrow boy 119]

Irrespective of who goes where, I just think it's bloody fantastic that Poole have to finally track a couple of British Riders.

 

Fraud and The Lapdog must be spitting feathers!

Didn't Neil Middleditch say that one of his reasons for quitting Team GB was the lack of having good enough riders to compete with the likes of Poland, Australia & Denmark. Poole could have helped him out a bit with this if they had persevered with a couple of Brits instead of always stacking their teams out with the afore mentioned Poles, Aussies & Danes.

[skthecat 90]

Speedway has been guilty of over importation of non superstar foreign riders for quite a few years now.... Something must have driven the promoter's to keep doing this, season after season after season. ... Some of them were totally unheard of in the UK, and I'm talking of the mid to late 70's !!!!

So its NOT a modern issue, in fact, it should be easier now to cherry-pick the better ones from overseas now with modern social media/tv/etc..

 

The reason above is why we are in the mire regarding top quality british speedway riders being freely available..... BUT, why did this happen in the first place? What was the pivotal moment when speedway first shot itself with the flooding of UK speedway with poor quality foreign riders..??

[Alan_Jones 1,005]

What was the pivotal moment when speedway first shot itself with the flooding of UK speedway with poor quality foreign riders..??

 

1988 - Peter Schroeck -> Ronnie Russell's Rye House

[skthecat 90]

 

1988 - Peter Schroeck -> Ronnie Russell's Rye House

Ok, why did RR sign this rider, the name is familiar to me, believe it or not, it "sounds" an exciting name!!! He's got to be loads better than "John Smith" from down the Road!! Hasn't he??? And I'm sure there were more riders in them days with "EXCITING" names?? Especially the ones ending with sson, ssen, and the ones with "Z" P" "O" "K" in them..... People may think I've lost the plot, but actually, I think I am quite near the truth..... think about it, think about all these foreign "Pseudostars" over the years. .........

Lets compile a list of all the over rated, non British, riders we've paid for over the modern years of league speedway here in the UK..

[T.N.T. 355]

 

1988 - Peter Schroeck -> Ronnie Russell's Rye House

 

 

Jens Rassmussen riding on an ACU licence was the first to open the food gates and was soon followd by others, including Peter Schroeck.

 

 

I still remain convinced that the move to help British riders should have been in the Premier League mainly and ALL foreign riders must start on an average no lower than the assessed average they first appeared on. This way ALL Premier League reserves would be British riders that are competing alongside riders on the next level. Also a considerable number of PL second strings would also be British and the only foreign riders would be those that deserve to be here and have proved it.

 

 

It wouldn't be so bad if the EL had set a limit of say 36 for a six man team and each team allocated two fast track riders to share the #7 race jacket while also riding in the PL and possibly the NL too. While it looks good that these reserves will be busy riding in all three leagues, this will also mean they have more costs keeping the bikes in order and will even possibly have to buy another bike or engine before the season starts.

 

 

 

So who are the 20 fast track riders ?

 

 

Going off averages only, Lewis Kerr seems to be one of a few in a difficult position as his PL average gives him an assessed 3.65 EL average while Kyle Howarth 4.28 and Ashley Birks 3.06 have EL averages while Jason Garrity has an assessed 3.27 EL average and Kyle Newman 3.19 going off ther PL averages. That's FIVE riders with averages above 3.00.

 

Kyle Howarth 4.28

Lewis Kerr 3.65 (8.22)

Jason Garrity 3.27

Kyle Newman 3.19

Ashley Birks 3.06

 

As these riders are mainly going feature in races beteen themselves, teams that end up with Howarth, Kerr etc will hold an advantage ..... so should the difference be taken off the 32 limit ? ...... EXAMPLE; Swindon sign Howarth, so their top five has a limit of 30.72 instead of 32 etc ..... or should the teams that have these five riders have the last picks ?

 

As far as riders under 3.00, these look to be the top 20+ with assessed EL averages and NL averages in brackets ()

 

Lewis Blackbird 2.96 (10.41)

Charles Wright 2.58 (10.37)

Adam Ellis 2.55 (8.90)

Ashley Morris 2.47 (8.83)

Paul Starke 2.17 (9.93)

Robert Lambert (10.30)

Joe Jacobs (8.71)

Rob Branford (8.53)

Stefan Nielsen (8.00)

Ben Reade (7.70)

Jake Knight (7.62)

Josh Bates (7.49)

Daniel Halsey (7.43)

James Sarjeant (7.38)

Ben Morley (7.13)

Tom Young (7.04)

Oliver Greenwood (6.89)

Ben Hopwood (6.89)

Liam Carr (6.87)

Lewis Rose (6.76)

Kyle Hughes (6.22)

 

 

Wonder if Joe Haines is ready for a comeback no he could ride for Wolves and in the PL

Edited November 23, 2013 by T.N.T.

[MattK 3,447]

I can't see how riders like Birks and Howarth can qualify for the reserve spots.

[T.N.T. 355]

I can't see how riders like Birks and Howarth can qualify for the reserve spots.

 

The same could be said of Garrity, Kerr and Newman as they have assessed EL averages over 3

 

 

The difference has to be taken off the EL limit OR teams that pick these riders have last picks

 

 

 

Don't think Ashley Birks will be fit for the start of the 2014 season any way ..... if he continues riding ?

Edited November 23, 2013 by T.N.T.

[MattK 3,447]

I agree about Garrity and Newman, at least Kerr rode in the NL last season.

 

I think the criteria has to be either finished the NL last season or starting it next season.

 

I don't see why riders like Garrity, Birks (if fit), Howarth and Newman would not be picked in a teams 1-5, as it seems sensible to go with a top heavy three and two reserves, plus your NL pair.

[T.N.T. 355]

I actually think that with the reserves mainly riding against themselves, a team will be much stronger with a strong #1 ad the other four places more balanced as the #5 race jacket / 2nd heat leader will no longer be out three times with a reserve rider and next season it will be down to the second strings to partner them.

 

So a team with two 5+ riders as their fourth and fifth riders will benefit more than a top heavy team.

 

 

One thing that I am concerned about is having the two reserve races at heats 2 and 14.

 

 

Firstly the meeting / result will be reliant on the prenultamate heat and secondly what happens if a reserve is ruled out of the meeting half way through ? ..... I think it would be better to have the two reserve races at heat 1 or 2 followed by heat 7 or 8.

[TonyE 822]

I believe 29 riders are to be offered 'fast track' contracts.

[Woz01 3,589]

Lewis Blackbird has tweeted that NL riders being promoted to NL will only get £40 a point! Surely that cant be right, for some that might be petrol money alone!

[GoldenGauntlet 45]

Lewis Blackbird has tweeted that NL riders being promoted to NL will only get £40 a point! Surely that cant be right, for some that might be petrol money alone!

I can see a fair few deciding that they're better off riding NL/PL, which could mean going down to NL second strings to fill the 20 slots. A good idea but maybe too much too soon to have two per team.