*JJ

Pink is good. You can easily see them!

The teams declared squads at the AGM, I think, but given the amateur staus of the riders, this will almost certainly change as the season goes on. Actually, riders need to be in different teams in order to get as much experience as possible.

what

You can buy a pre-owned 4 valve Jawa bike for about £1000, or a GM for £1500. 'F2' bikes are a dead letter; apart from the factors above, the ones I have seen are much more complicated than an ordinary speedway machine, and have a radiator!

There is somewhere: Scunthorpe. Mind you, Scunthorpe or California?

Does anyone know if there is a UK importer or agent for the Polish Joba speedway guards? I have found a website but there is no facility for ordering anything, so if anyone knows how to get hold of some?

Results: Open class, 1st Max Clegg, 2nd Jack Parkinson-Blackburn, 3rd Josh Bailey Support Class, 1st Mick Skinner, 2nd Chris Bambury, 3rd Sam Chapman (not the Birmingham Sam, another one!)

Yes it did - Richard Hollingsworth usually publishes the results on the facebook Scunthorpe Amateur Speedway page (he says Wednesday). What were you looking for?

Then look at the logos on his clothing! (Kangaroos).

All total beginners and not very good ones at that.

New riders are not necessarily teenagers; there are plenty in their twenties.

There's at least one: Erik Borczuk.

The contact is Laurence Rogers, aka Main Man. Unfortunately, you have moved to the wrong place; the nearest MDL team will be Birmingham! Milton Keynes ride at Mildenhall.

Unfortunately, Kent is way out in the sticks, the wrong side of London; no MDL rider is going to want to go there. Don't forget that they don't even get expenses! What they need to do is organise a Southern Junior League with Iwade and Rye House, and possibly Eastbourne, or any extinct clubs as per Milton Keynes.

The centre green is a typical stock car stadium: the cars destroy it.

As is the other Jack, in amateur racing.

Most probably Birmingham.

Not necessarily; the Heathens are now talking about going back to Monmore Green with the same promoters.

In fact, the NL IS a 'Professional Speedway League'; the President of the BSPA said so.

You don't have to wait for next year: amateur junior speedway is run by Scunthorpe speedway (Richard Hollingsworth) during the close season. The first one is today.

That will have the Heathens faithful biting the carpet!

The National League does NOT need to take a step backward into a 'Conference'. It has been very successful this year, and is set to expand next year. You could say that it is the future of British speedway! Ask any Eastbourne or Birmingham fans about it

Charlie Powell rode a couple of meetings for Birmingham this year and did well, but left, and the story was that Eastie were keeping him to less than three matches to keep his average at 3 for next year.

It is true that promoters do cancel MDL matches on a whim, when riders and helpers (including myself) have spent time and money travelling there. It is also true that promoters treat MDL riders like dirt, showing no loyalty at all to them. As for your comment that riders turn up when they feel like it, in fact they want to ride as often as possible which means riding for as many teams as possible. If promoters or managers want exclusive use of a rider, then they should put them on contract and pay them!

The fact is, that you can't just go into the NL these days: it is far too advanced, as many have found out (Harvie Banks, for one). A rider has to serve his apprenticeship in one of the (even) lower leagues before making the step up unto the NL - and it is a big step up. (I expect that someone is going to say 'Wot about Zach Waitknecht, then?' But he came up through grasstrack and the junior speedway system). I have spent the last three years helping a young man who wants to be a speedway rider. He has not done any grasstrack or any other racing, solely speedway. He had done a year in amateur racing and this year the MDL; perhaps if he keeps making the same progress next year, he may be ready for a try at the NL next autumn. But he, like most riders, has got a LOT of learning to go through before he is good enough for even semi-professional league speedway like the NL. While the NL is a development league in that riders have to enter it before they are ready for the PL or EL, it is certainly not the first step in a rider's development.