Only 8 rider spaces left

[spin king 1,923]

So only 8 Premiership places (Excluding Rising Stars).

So from which countries have these riders that have filled these rider positions.?

Well only 29% of filled places were UK riders

A breakdown of the rest is as follows;

Australia 41%

Denmark 12%

Poland 6%

Germany 6%

France 3%

USA 3% 

Of the team place left there are two rider vacancies at Ipswich and 6 at Peterborough.

Interestingly the Kings Lynn team does not have a UK rider other than the Rising Star.

So what are the chances of Peterborough and Ipswich filling the remaining spaces with UK riders. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,706]

Very sobering stats!!

[Falcon1983 557]

70% commonwealth riders, not bad

[TheGuvnor 73]

Would be nice if we could get to a point where a minimum British rider quota per team was put in place. Clearly we’re a long way off of that. It would improve the standard or British riders produced and only the best overseas riders would be sought to race here too. Win-win. 

[Panthers99 434]

25 minutes ago, TheGuvnor said:

Would be nice if we could get to a point where a minimum British rider quota per team was put in place. Clearly we’re a long way off of that. It would improve the standard or British riders produced and only the best overseas riders would be sought to race here too. Win-win. 

But would make the general standard a lot worse. Rising costs and weaker product, sounds familiar.

[TheGuvnor 73]

2 hours ago, Panthers99 said:

But would make the general standard a lot worse. Rising costs and weaker product, sounds familiar.

Arguably scaling back is precisely what the sport needs to then grow once more. The top tier clings on to delusions that all the GP riders will come back one day while every man and his dog is allowed to double up so they don’t have to stretch themselves trying to get a ride abroad because they can meander around the UK leagues, pay the mortgage off and not have to get a proper job. 

[mc131 365]

Has Craig cook missed out on a pl spot for the coming season?

Edited December 16, 2022 by mc131

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

2 minutes ago, mc131 said:

Has Craig cook missed out on a pl spot for the coming season?

Too early to say but not looking promising 

[1 valve 558]

14 hours ago, mc131 said:

Has Craig cook missed out on a pl spot for the coming season?

Seems strange that this does indeed look the to be the likely case.
Can anybody shed any real reason(s) why this is so? i.e. Asking for too much money, Average too high/low or reliability issues etc etc.
Would be god to have any answers based on fact rather than negative biased "opinion" 

Overall from a fans perspective. It would be sad to see him (a British) rider missing from PL action.

[mc131 365]

2 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

Seems strange that this does indeed look the to be the likely case.
Can anybody shed any real reason(s) why this is so? i.e. Asking for too much money, Average too high/low or reliability issues etc etc.
Would be god to have any answers based on fact rather than negative biased "opinion" 

Overall from a fans perspective. It would be sad to see him (a British) rider missing from PL action.

Obviously still a good rider but last couple of seasons he hasn't been great in pl so teams mayb over looking him

[RS50 359]

15 hours ago, mc131 said:

Has Craig cook missed out on a pl spot for the coming season?

Sheffield fans would have been disappointed with him this season. If I remember correctly, he implied that he could improve his average. However, it reduced quite a bit, despite riding mainly at number 2, whereas previously, had been a lot at 1 or 5.

I suppose the question could be, is he now on a bargain average, or just on his way down.

[Daniel Smith 5,666]

53 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

Seems strange that this does indeed look the to be the likely case.
Can anybody shed any real reason(s) why this is so? i.e. Asking for too much money, Average too high/low or reliability issues etc etc.
Would be god to have any answers based on fact rather than negative biased "opinion" 

Overall from a fans perspective. It would be sad to see him (a British) rider missing from PL action.

Due to mental illness he's become hugely unreliable. Easily still a 6-7 pointer witht the roght mindset, but you just don't know when he'll turn up. 

[Bagpuss 10,783]

I think its as simple as that, he did quite well at Lynn in 2019 but was quickly released in early 2021 after a poor start and wasn't great at Ipswich and then even worse last season at Sheffield. It's a pity but Prem clubs just don't seem to trust him or the baggage he seems to come with. I expect he will get a gig later on the season when injuries and sackings start to kick in.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Bagpuss

[ch958 2,395]

On 12/15/2022 at 8:19 PM, Panthers99 said:

But would make the general standard a lot worse. Rising costs and weaker product, sounds familiar.

yes but what do you think 'the product' is? To me its close competitive racing on a decent track with reasonable facilities, I don't need to see big names just decent racing and a settled team with 'our' riders we can get behind them.

I wonder how much of your £22 is going to tuners/ other stuff that makes no difference to the racing?

[TheGuvnor 73]

Cook is probably the poster boy for a generation of British and Australian riders who have been hampered by the relaxing of the doubling up rules roughly a decade ago. 

Those riders in the past would have had to make a real fist of it trying to become serious top level riders in Poland and on the world scene or accept that a career as a top tier mid-order/second tier heatleader was for them. As it is they can just do the rounds with two teams in Britain which is no good for anyone.

That’s on the rule makers not the riders by the way. Cook always seemed to be unsure whether to take the plunge or not. If he had he may have achieved even more than he has. Hopefully he enjoys his speedway going forward and leads a happy life because he’s a class act. Mental health is a harrowing thing and too often goes unchecked or downplayed.