Ghosty 496 Posted June 16, 2022 1 hour ago, GWC said: 5 man teams and one league to get us out of this mess! The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks. Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway! P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,241 Posted June 16, 2022 49 minutes ago, Ghosty said: The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks. Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway! P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents. Couldn't agree more...we were spoit at Cowley during the seventies with the quality of the second halves and riders competing both establish speedway and occasional grasstrack rider (Julian Wigg, Ken Matthews, Chris Drewitt etc) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,163 Posted June 16, 2022 1 hour ago, Ghosty said: The main reason we have a shortage of U.K. riders is because none are coming from the Grasstracks. Grasstrack is now less than 10% of what it was 20+ years ago when most of the top riders were tempted to have a go @ Speedway! P.S. The old style second half with junior races allowed "wan-a-be-stars" to show their talents. Having the 2nd Division too strong also stifles growth... At least 3 of the septets per team should be NDL HL level, with one, at most, Div 1 HL level... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GWC 495 Posted June 16, 2022 BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions. Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fortythirtyeight 835 Posted June 16, 2022 1 hour ago, GWC said: BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions. Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere. Nothing the BSPL can do about it, it’s the riders choice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,163 Posted June 16, 2022 2 hours ago, GWC said: BUT there are just not enough riders and of quality to sustain this current malaise. Neither are there enough young riders coming through to sustain the injury attritions. Also I still can’t understand how or why the bspl can allow our 3 best riders we have probably produced in the past 20 years to ply their trade elsewhere. Poland's rules and wanting to not drop a level over here. .. Riding in Sweden (no idea how they afford it given the teams appear stromger than Poland), ensures Lambert and Bewley have to be "on it" every night, whereas over here they wouldn't get challenged the same... These lads need to continually benchmark themselves against the very best to keep on that upward trajectory.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 20,855 Posted June 16, 2022 The basic problem with the sport is riders riding all over the place. It robs youngsters of a spot all over. It is not only the UK that are having problems, but it was noticed and has been going on for a decade or more. I pointed out the dramatic drop in riders in Denmark. Just as i seem to recall Anders Michanek in Backtrack noted the drop in number from his time in Sweden. Poland, although maybe the only country trying to do something, are also seeing this happen now I remember back nearly two decades ago now and here in Germany we had qualifying rounds for the German championship and also i seem to remember the U21 championship, divded into North and South. Now it seems they are lucky to get a full field without using a foreigner or two on german licences... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted June 16, 2022 4 hours ago, mikebv said: Having the 2nd Division too strong also stifles growth... At least 3 of the septets per team should be NDL HL level, with one, at most, Div 1 HL level... You could be right but the old National league years ago had riders who could of been full time BL performers for a prolonged period..( ie) Perks, Sansom,Sampson, Jackson, Owen x2 ) Hunter,Sheilds, as examples .For me now the leagues are reasonably close the Prem for me is a poor product something needs to change. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GWC 495 Posted June 16, 2022 1 hour ago, mikebv said: These lads need to continually benchmark themselves against the very best to keep on that upward trajectory.... I watched Woffinden riding in Denmark the other night and his only challenger was Rasmus Jensen. Walk in the park otherwise. Bewley and Lambert seem to be doing likewise in Sweden a few times. If it’s ok for Doyle then our guys should be making the effort to bring their own league up a standard. When the money runs out over there (not Poland) I guess they’ll be back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GWC 495 Posted June 16, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, iris123 said: The basic problem with the sport is riders riding all over the place. It robs youngsters of a spot all over. It is not only the UK that are having problems, but it was noticed and has been going on for a decade or more. I pointed out the dramatic drop in riders in Denmark. Just as i seem to recall Anders Michanek in Backtrack noted the drop in number from his time in Sweden. Poland, although maybe the only country trying to do something, are also seeing this happen now I remember back nearly two decades ago now and here in Germany we had qualifying rounds for the German championship and also i seem to remember the U21 championship, divded into North and South. Now it seems they are lucky to get a full field without using a foreigner or two on german licences... Yes I think Golf is now the ‘in’ sport in Denmark they have some very good young players too. Much safer and less stress for the parents! Sweden apart from Lindgren don’t seem to have anyone of note sadly. Edited June 16, 2022 by GWC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
racers and royals 8,697 Posted June 16, 2022 (edited) 27 minutes ago, GWC said: I watched Woffinden riding in Denmark the other night and his only challenger was Rasmus Jensen. Walk in the park otherwise. Bewley and Lambert seem to be doing likewise in Sweden a few times. If it’s ok for Doyle then our guys should be making the effort to bring their own league up a standard. When the money runs out over there (not Poland) I guess they’ll be back. You must have watched a different Woffinden match to me- May 25th- hardly the other day and he scored 12 from 7 - hardly a walk in the park Edit the other match against Jensen was May 4th and Woffinden scored 13 from 7 - again hardly a walk in the park. Edited June 16, 2022 by racers and royals Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THE DEAN MACHINE 4,721 Posted June 16, 2022 Killing team sport using my home town wolves as an example Sam masters rides for Edinburgh .Nick morris rides for Leicester. Ryan Douglas rides for Scunthorpe Steve Worral rides for Poole. Drew kemp rides for Poole .leon flint rides for Berwick, only Luke Becker rides only for wolves, right there is why team speedway has died in Britain, how is anyone new to the sport supposed to follow their club when it’s just a glorified swingers club, speedway has many other issues as why it is dying but as far as team speedway goes this has killed the team concept 9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fina 78 Posted June 16, 2022 7 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: Killing team sport using my home town wolves as an example Sam masters rides for Edinburgh .Nick morris rides for Leicester. Ryan Douglas rides for Scunthorpe Steve Worral rides for Poole. Drew kemp rides for Poole .leon flint rides for Berwick, only Luke Becker rides only for wolves, right there is why team speedway has died in Britain, how is anyone new to the sport supposed to follow their club when it’s just a glorified swingers club, speedway has many other issues as why it is dying but as far as team speedway goes this has killed the team concept Add to that the guests within the same league and that does makes it difficult to really get a strong sense of who a team are and get into following them as a new fan. I actually forgot who Bomber rides for in Championship the other day and totally mis interpreted a comment someone made to me on updates. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,163 Posted June 16, 2022 (edited) 38 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: Killing team sport using my home town wolves as an example Sam masters rides for Edinburgh .Nick morris rides for Leicester. Ryan Douglas rides for Scunthorpe Steve Worral rides for Poole. Drew kemp rides for Poole .leon flint rides for Berwick, only Luke Becker rides only for wolves, right there is why team speedway has died in Britain, how is anyone new to the sport supposed to follow their club when it’s just a glorified swingers club, speedway has many other issues as why it is dying but as far as team speedway goes this has killed the team concept Sam Masters last week was No 1 in the averages in Div 1... Sam Masters last week was No 1 in the averages in Div 2.... Edited June 16, 2022 by mikebv 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chunky 6,018 Posted June 16, 2022 46 minutes ago, mikebv said: Sam Masters last week was No 1 in the averages in Div 1... Sam Masters last week was No 1 in the averages in Div 2.... Let's not forget that Andy Grahame qualified for both the BLRC and NLRC the same year... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites