CLRC

[arnieg 3,655]

1 hour ago, HGould said:

It's undoubtedly a good line up. 

It's also a truly shocking indictment and proof positive of the terminal decline in UK speedway that the average age must be around 35.

This is the second tier 

Where are the breakthrough British riders. Clearly they are either not good enough or opportunities are stunted by PL riders, factually both reasons. 

Kyle Howarth (29) is the youngest Brit in the field. And only Pickering (26) and Basso (22) are younger.

[lisa-colette 6,040]

1 hour ago, HGould said:

Indeed. 

There in lies the root cause. 

Doubling up or factually down to create income post the Sky money glut of 20 years ago. 

That money dwindled so double down created a false fake paradise as a generation matured. 

If you create a system then you can't blame those who exploit it. 

Speedway has to go 2 tier being as close as it can to professional full time and semi professional part time. Accepting that it's an 8 month season in Europe to deliver for the full time or a 6 month season in UK to deliver for the part time. 

No doubling up must be enforced other than age limited to say 23 or 24. 

Strict pay rules. 

That's how it started and 2 riders shared a reserve position, until the Aussies started moaning about how it wasn't fair on them and now it is a free for all! 

[eric i 621]

 Troy Batchelor? surely you must have to complete more than 4 meetings in the championship to qualify.

[Petecc 352]

1 hour ago, arnieg said:

Kyle Howarth (29) is the youngest Brit in the field. And only Pickering (26) and Basso (22) are younger.

As far as i know,  non of them are men of colour or women or identify only as a toilet brush. Maybe wanting to be part of modern society we should be  joining in more? 

[Jaizer 2,867]

41 minutes ago, eric i said:

 Troy Batchelor? surely you must have to complete more than 4 meetings in the championship to qualify.

Presumably Morris was in and rather than give next in line  (flint or Allen as their clubs have one representative) they've let Birmingham use bachelor. Be far better with one of the others mentioned imo 

[crescent girl 1,907]

Certainly a disappointment for those of us looking towards a brighter future for Team GB that Tom Brennan and Leon Flint aren't there.      Some of the averages used to place others (Troy being an obvious example) are a bit hooky, to say the least..........

[Fromafar 10,394]

31 minutes ago, crescent girl said:

Certainly a disappointment for those of us looking towards a brighter future for Team GB that Tom Brennan and Leon Flint aren't there.      Some of the averages used to place others (Troy being an obvious example) are a bit hooky, to say the least..........

Apart from Batch due to lack of matches,don’t really see any other “hooky”riders.IMO

 

[Wee Eck 703]

6 hours ago, HGould said:

Indeed. 

There in lies the root cause. 

Doubling up or factually down to create income post the Sky money glut of 20 years ago. 

That money dwindled so double down created a false fake paradise as a generation matured. 

If you create a system then you can't blame those who exploit it. 

Speedway has to go 2 tier being as close as it can to professional full time and semi professional part time. Accepting that it's an 8 month season in Europe to deliver for the full time or a 6 month season in UK to deliver for the part time. 

No doubling up must be enforced other than age limited to say 23 or 24. 

Strict pay rules. 

If doubling up is done away with, two things will happen - there won’t be enough riders to go round and riders will ride more in Europe to make up their wages. They’ll still be “doubling up” (or down) just not in UK.

The lower league has always been a home for older riders still capable but past their best. Just think of those that have graced it like Zorro, Shane Parker, George Stancl, Freddie Schott, Havvy, Carl Stonehewer, Joe Screen for starters. And there’s loads more 

[mikebv 10,322]

7 hours ago, HGould said:

Indeed. 

There in lies the root cause. 

Doubling up or factually down to create income post the Sky money glut of 20 years ago. 

That money dwindled so double down created a false fake paradise as a generation matured. 

If you create a system then you can't blame those who exploit it. 

Speedway has to go 2 tier being as close as it can to professional full time and semi professional part time. Accepting that it's an 8 month season in Europe to deliver for the full time or a 6 month season in UK to deliver for the part time. 

No doubling up must be enforced other than age limited to say 23 or 24. 

Strict pay rules. 

The 2nd tier promoters have got used to Div 1 HL's so not much chance of DUing ending...

And the riders have got used to the earning opportunities*... 

(* Other than one big league stopping it)..

The middle tier should have two RS per team, one and NDL HL level rider, and one an NDL SS or reserve...

Its role should be a stepping stone from Div 3 to Div 1, not a league where the vast majority of riders are fully pro...

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by mikebv

[Najjer 2,890]

3 hours ago, mikebv said:

The 2nd tier promoters have got used to Div 1 HL's so not much chance of DUing ending...

And the riders have got used to the earning opportunities*... 

(* Other than one big league stopping it)..

The middle tier should have two RS per team, one and NDL HL level rider, and one an NDL SS or reserve...

Its role should be a stepping stone from Div 3 to Div 1, not a league where the vast majority of riders are fully pro...

 

There shouldn’t be a middle tier full stop. Most of these Championship teams can afford Premiership riders (hence this line up featuring 13 Premiership riders) so teams should be able to compete either at Premiership or National League standard. The Championship is the big problem for British Speedway with doubling up getting out of control. 

Premiership and National League with 6 rider teams is the way to go.

[Jaizer 2,867]

10 minutes ago, Najjer said:

There shouldn’t be a middle tier full stop. Most of these Championship teams can afford Premiership riders (hence this line up featuring 13 Premiership riders) so teams should be able to compete either at Premiership or National League standard. The Championship is the big problem for British Speedway with doubling up getting out of control. 

Premiership and National League with 6 rider teams is the way to go.

Couldn't disagree more. Prem can't attract the best riders, so guys who'd never have been HLs in the past now are because the strength of that league. Powers that be even watered down the level in champ this season, name one rider that doubled up last year that hasn't this? All did was cause the 4.5-6 riders missed out. Champ wasn't the issue when was elite league and best riders were there.

Again champ fixtures are getting fewer and fewer hence riders need to double up to make money. 2 home and away would have plenty meetings no need to double up as much 

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,735]

You just have to go back 10-20 years, and look at the strength of both the leagues, Championship has tried to maintain its strength, albeit not quite as strong, Premiership has fallen off a cliff due to the Sky payments ending. 

[Najjer 2,890]

2 hours ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

You just have to go back 10-20 years, and look at the strength of both the leagues, Championship has tried to maintain its strength, albeit not quite as strong, Premiership has fallen off a cliff due to the Sky payments ending. 

But that isn’t relevant to where we are now. The speedway world has changed dramatically during that time with Polish and Grand Prix finances so that most top riders don’t need UK, Swedish or Danish league racing to earn their living anymore. 

I’ve explained numerous times that there isn’t enough riders around to spread across all teams for one big league - hence the need to run at Premiership standard (essentially the majority of Championship riders with some of the top riders and Polish league riders too) with 6 man teams. Ride everybody twice so there is plenty of matches along with extra rides for riders per meeting with less travelling expenses involved. 

The one thing British Speedway should not be doing (or you could argue shouldn’t have done) is set itself up to earn riders a living. That is the complete wrong attitude!

[Pinny 2,536]

12 hours ago, Najjer said:

There shouldn’t be a middle tier full stop. Most of these Championship teams can afford Premiership riders (hence this line up featuring 13 Premiership riders) so teams should be able to compete either at Premiership or National League standard. The Championship is the big problem for British Speedway with doubling up getting out of control. 

Premiership and National League with 6 rider teams is the way to go.

I disagree. Doubling up started off around 20 years ago when Elite League clubs could use two Premier League riders to share one position. Premier League riders never missed any meetings for their PL club, unless of course they were injured or riding overseas.

They then brought in doubling down where two EL riders could share a position in a PL club and its just turned farcical ever since.

Ever since those days, the crowd has dropped off alarmingly at most tracks if they are still operating. Look back to 2002/3 ish times on the forum on the archives and see if there is anywhere near as much bitching and moaning about riders being missing as there are now. If a rider missed a meeting back then it was the talk of the month on the forum, now its happening everywhere every week.

It is sad to say but the sport in the UK is dying on its knees. Incompetent people running the sport, spineless promoters who refuse to bring their club into the 21st century, riders taking the complete p155.

We say it every season but the sport needs a complete revamp in the UK.

And also, referring to another poster, the standard of top flight speedway had fallen off a cliff long before the Sky payments ended.

[Najjer 2,890]

27 minutes ago, Pinny said:

I disagree. Doubling up started off around 20 years ago when Elite League clubs could use two Premier League riders to share one position. Premier League riders never missed any meetings for their PL club, unless of course they were injured or riding overseas.

They then brought in doubling down where two EL riders could share a position in a PL club and its just turned farcical ever since.

Ever since those days, the crowd has dropped off alarmingly at most tracks if they are still operating. Look back to 2002/3 ish times on the forum on the archives and see if there is anywhere near as much bitching and moaning about riders being missing as there are now. If a rider missed a meeting back then it was the talk of the month on the forum, now its happening everywhere every week.

It is sad to say but the sport in the UK is dying on its knees. Incompetent people running the sport, spineless promoters who refuse to bring their club into the 21st century, riders taking the complete p155.

We say it every season but the sport needs a complete revamp in the UK.

And also, referring to another poster, the standard of top flight speedway had fallen off a cliff long before the Sky payments ended.

Doubling up in its current guise didn’t start 20 years ago though - there was many more riders back then and the situation was more than under control. The current problem has only really come to light in much more recent years completely ruining teams identities and team speedway in the UK in the process. 

The Poles allowed doubling up for the first time during the covid year and they absolutely hated it, thought it was a mockery and soon abolished it as a nonsense at the time. The sooner UK speedway does the same, the better.