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Does anyone care what John Cook says ? he should be fined for his ridiculous comments em he probably could not afford to pay.!!!!Look at the difference of Cook and passionate and progressive MR Bishop at the Isle of Wight they are like chalk/ cheese.

"Ben also needs to realise that he has the potential to be a professional speedway rider and that's a very different animal to being a star in a League where half your opponents struggle to stay on, get their bikes to do four laps and in some cases can barely skid a bike. I've seen him have some terrific rides at this and Elite level so the talent is there. I don't think the NL comfort zone is doing him any good" The above is a quote by Eastbourne's Jon Cook. Delightful to see what he really thinks of the National League, a league that Eastbourne have just moved out of and that featured a lakeside team not so long ago. Nobody claims that NL riders are the finished article but i personally find the above comments incredibly rude towards everyone who competes in and follows the NL. Here's my quote back "You can stick your opinions and any club you have anything to do with now or in the future where it doesn't shine as you won't be getting one penny from me."

Track not fit for racing Ray ? If so nothing new there

I saw an excellent meeting on the island on tuesday Sid. Cook's comments are an insult to all of those riders that put on a show to entertain us.

If you are on facebook, this is definitely worth a read (Isle of Wight Speedway page) It pretty much sums Barry Bishop up - honest, decent, caring and passionate. I daresay the words he first thought of aren't reflected in the post...………….

Let's hope the court case in Poland isn't adjourned.....

We have a youth meeting coming to Swindon in a week or so also with Kent bringing a side down in another meeting.I have seen a few NL meeting's and Swindon had a few a couple of season's ago ( Danny Ayres great value and entertainment).It showed me it does not matter what level it is at speedway it can still be entertaining the NL has come along way in my opinion a good product in its own right.

Totally agree. It needs a level playing field with fixed points money which then drives costs and if all riders participated using standard equipment and were then forced to hone their riding skills instead of being gate and go merchants on bikes that many if not most fail to control across a wide range of track conditions then the sport might get back to close racing, team riding and entertaining the punter. Until they bite the bullet and do what is right for speedway and not their own insular but contrived business arrangement where they operate on outdated business models with no idea of what the punter is crying out for, speedway will not even register on the sports radar of any potential new follower. SGP and many of the other televised European meetings as well as the overseas leagues have been given carte blanche to crap on U.K. speedway from a great height and this has been condoned by the BSPA headed by two cronies who the sport would be better off without. Sacrifice is needed for the greater good and the sooner that some of those running clubs realise this the better.

"Imperial Echoes" wasn't the original March-on music at Coventry. I made my first ever visit to Brandon in 1956 for the Final of the Midland Riders' Championship, and music played then was called "The King's Guard" which was a very stirring march. After Birmingham closed down in July 1957, I became a regular at Brandon and the "King's Guard" continued to be the introductory march for about a another season when so I was told, there was a break-in at the stadium, the record was broken and a replacement couldn't be obtained, so "Imperial Echoes" took its place. In those days, all tracks had a distinctive introductory march - there was "Entry of the Gladiators" at Wembley (which a lot of other tracks tried to copy), and "Marching Along Together" at New Cross, and my all-time favourite "We're on our Way" at Perry Barr. Birmingham's march-on was magnificent - all of the staff wore pristine white coats and marched in step with arms swinging, and at the end of the meetings the staff lined up and marched off just as smartly - a far cry from the way the staff come shambling out from the pits these days. Too many people seem to think that it doesn't matter these days, which is a great pity I think.

Was you in there when Nigel Leaver(sure it was him)done a collection because he had blown an engine,riders weren't so well off then.In exchange for people putting money in,his wife/partner done a bit of a strip.I soon got my money in the glass. Seriously though had some great nights in Champs bar,then food in Lynn then back home to Wisbech.Remember ending up round Henka's once for an after party,party.That was when Simon was about 2/3yrs old.I could waffle on for ages about all that stuff,but i did make a lot of good friends from those days.

Easy pop on ignore like i have. Then you just have to hope nobody quotes and everything's a winner.

I do t think it’s rocket science particularly. Better racing on hole-free tracks, more entertainment between raves to create an atmosphere, regular fixtures, less R/R and particularly guests, cheaper admission and better facilities for paying spectators where possible. Standards at the moment are very low and the bar needs raising.

They're getting too old, old and grouchy

I don’t agree that Cook has always been an unpleasant character. In many ways he has a lot of good qualities as a promoter. IMO Jon Cooks “ problem” if I can call it that is that he is not a “people person” , and an absolutely hopeless PR man. I do know riders who hold him in high regard as a promoter, but he doesn’t communicate well to the general public. He should be kept in the back office as an organiser, not let out in the spotlight .

I think the comments are not just an insult to the riders within the NL but also to the promotions attempting to keep their teams alive. Cook has basically said don't bother watching NL as the riders are no good and racing likewise. To generate a bit of publicity and gamesmanship between teams great, Eastbourne & Kent have done that very well over the past few seasons but to publicly slate opposing businesses is nothing short of desperation.

I'm afraid there are some serial moaners on the forum.Some just moan for the sake of it.Like some people need a coffee in the morning to get going,well some need a good moan to start the day and they are happy.

7 Team league, race each other twice, that's a wonderful 12 home meeting Plus the P/Off's for the lucky top 4. Fans moan at not enough meetings so the BSPA change the K/Out to the Supporters trophy, and what do the fans do......................................................moan. some of us still have the sport we love, stop moaning and support your clubs, to many once great clubs are no more.

The Promoters disrespect their own competitions by using a truly ridiculous operating model, taking away any credibilty or kudos in winning them.. Speedway meetings become meaningless under such administration.. Fans are not daft, therefore many who still follow the sport closely, and love watching it, don't attend domestic speedway but will pay good money to travel to Poland regularly to watch their Leagues, and attend GP's, SoN etc around the globe.. Stop running meaningless meetings by bringing integrity to the competitions and make them worth winning, and maybe those many, many disillusioned fans would start to return? One thing is for sure, keep doing the "same old, same old" and you only have one outcome..

Had my say on this on the Eastbourne 2019 thread. It's clear that most believe that Cook's comments are completely unjustifiable. Word I have is that he has little time for the lower leagues, including the old PL when Lakeside were EL. I know that the points limit in the NL was dropped to its present level against the wishes of most of the clubs and at the behest of the BSPA. This was apparently motivated by a desire to force riders up and lower pay costs in the Championship. There's no question in my mind that it made the NL's ability to draw attendances harder. Despite that, I think that NL teams have done an excellent job in putting out competitive, attractive line ups that are a long way from development league standard - anyone who has seen the Colts(for example) this year would, I am sure, agree.

Like all "leaders", politicians and dictators Chapman began with all kinds of honeyed ideas for bringing about a UK revival if things were done HIS way. Empty pointless hot air - shouted from the outside while he was a noisy looker-on, not sitting at the top table. The other promoters who had exhausted all their ideas gave him the green light and we have ended up going much, much faster down the slippery slope to non-viability.

A sensible rule book, properly policed and fairly applied would be a start and would give the sport credibility. For those who don't remember it was one of Chapman's promises when he took office. Many might think it is an easily achievable objective that wouldn't cost very much, if anything. For reasons I can't fathom, we are still waiting.

Totally disrespectful to both the NL as a whole and his own 2 riders who have chosen to ride for 2 teams. Also don’t forget that Bowtell has been touring around for an NL spot so his riders obviously don’t agree with him!

Think John cooks comments are just ridiculous. The NL is a great product. Let’s be honest John cook knows nothing about speedway as he couldn’t keep up with paying his NL riders last when they was in the NL, so god knows how he keeps up with paying the Eastbourne riders. As for the opponents staying on there bikes well stop lowering the points limit so much and forcing riders to ride above there means. Speedway is a progression sport, so if you dropping the team limit so much there is not point in haveing an MDL/SDL. I find NL good racing. But my personal opinion is that unfortunately this year the NL is a glorified MDL and it’s hard to sell a product like that and get the punters in. But that’s just my opinion. Id like to find out what everyone’s else’s opinion is...........

A rider failing to bridge the gap between the NL and the Championship (or PL as was) is nothing new. They can be nigh on unbeatable at the lower level yet still struggle when they step up - Barrie Evans and Jay Herne spring to mind. Personally speaking, I think your view of the NL is nonsense. The gap between riders in the NL is comparable to the higher leagues and may even be less. Is there anything in the NL that compares to the difference between Craig Cook and Danny Phillips, for example ? How about Jason Doyle and Simon Lambert ? As someone who regularly attends the NSS, the Premiership racing there is better than the NL. There is no doubt in my mind about that, but to suggest the NL is 'pretty boring' is rubbish. The meeting with Plymouth, for example, was to use my own words 'splendid'. If riders like Morley and Wood can't - or shouldn't - ride in the NL, what happens when Eastbourne drop them - as seems entirely possible ? Cook seems to have his own agenda here - Bowtell has 'fire in his belly' despite the fact that of the three his present average is the lowest and around half of Morley's. I wonder if the comments are motivated by the fact that of the three Bowtell is the only one not riding NL speedway. I think what makes me most annoyed is Cook's stupid and entirely inaccurate view of NL - 'where half your opponents struggle to stay on, get their bikes to do four laps and in some cases can barely skid a bike'. That, as anyone who watches the NL speedway regularly, is utterly ridiculous and an unwarranted insult against the riders in that league. Not only that, it has the power to damage the huge effort that NL promotions are making across the country to attract paying spectators and stay in business. They deserve better.

I don't often agree with Sings, but on this subject he is 100% right. Jon Cook should be ashamed of himself for this insult.

IMO Chapman is a clueless numpty. He couldn’t run a bath! He’s been chairman of the BSPA and overseen the biggest decline in British Speedway in recent years. Chapman and his useless sidekick are arrogant and don’t listen or understand the fans and are totally incapable of improving the sport. If you ignore your customers, they will eventually ignore you. Speedway and loyal fans deserves better!

He didn't make it back and had no intention of doing so. The meeting was rained off so the interpretation of him being missing changed from being AWOL to unable to get back after a rain off. As you say ' all within the rules ' but just another example of our Micky mouse rules and the jokers who interpret them.

Doing the job he was retained for though.

Was not poor at Sheffield last year? He can ride Workington, Sheffield and Berwick well, anything else seems a bit of a fluke, Coty for me, although it doesn’t really matter too much, both probably similar

Danny's performances at Peterborough have been poor to be honest, which is a bit of a surprise. 2/4, 3/5, 4/5, 0/3, 0/2. So probably the best squad to represent us in the 4's has been selected.

Could be down to the reserves Starke guests for Joshie

I hoped it hadn't rained this week,booked a week off work as we are having a patio done.You can guess how far we've got

Brings back memories Tell. From about 18- 30 I used to arrive at the stadium around 6.30 on Sat night. Have a few pints in the back straight bar, and a scan through the programme . I used to stand on the 2nd bend, just before the bar. A few more pints during the meeting, then afterwards over to the home straight bar, where a good few riders used to come in. A few more pints in there. Back then they had Champs nightclub at the stadium, with free entry from the speedway bar, so many times I ended up nearly doing a 12 hour night (6.30-2am). Cost me a bloody fortune mind

Good job Craig Cook doesn't ride for Swindon, he loves a wet track (NOT) as we found out last year!

Now we're talking,that should pack the placetakes me back about 30yrs but i will be there

Had it been on I’m sure Doyle and batchelor would have been keen to ride on a wet track

Eastbourne website has him listed as "Head of Speedway Operations".......he is certainly a head that's for sure.

Very enjoyable meeting, some good close racing and very slickly run indeed. All done in LESS than 70 minutes! - 15 heats + 3 track grades + 2 short hold-ups for falls (Vicentin, when leading Heat 10, and Atkins at his 'bogey' second bend in Heat 11). Meeting started early, around 7.25pm, following 7.15pm rider introductions. By 8pm we were starting Heat 10. Meeting finished just after 8.30pm. They should run EVERY meeting like this, even when not trying to beat the weather. It was a terrific pace - exactly what is needed in this sport, instead of the ridiculous long gaps (and silence/inactivity) between heats we usually have to put up with. Vicentin is box office - terrific rider and clearly a character too. Look forward to seeing him ride again. Zack Cook was promising. Behind the scenes, Covatti and Jack Holder were there for them in the pits, spannering. Anders Rowe did really well, although the announcer kept mispronouncing his name(!). Anyone else noticed how Rowe begins races? He's the only rider who looks down at the tapes rather than looking to the side at the poles the tapes are fixed to. I see he only turned 17 last month. He's got great potential. Crowd very thin, as expected, but I think people who didn't come missed a treat.

At least the comments of Ian Jordan are a tad more sensible, and he distances himself from the disgraceful comments of Jon Cook. However a bit of digging suggests that the SCB can not take action against Jon Cook, as neither Jon Cook nor Ian Jordan are promoters (Nor are they SCB officials at all). The people who will have to take responsibility for the programme comments which bring the sport into disrepute are the licenced officials Mike Bellerby & Trevor Geer. But I wonder if all is not harmonious at Eastbourne. The promoting company (Eastbourne Eagles Ltd) was formed on 14 December 2018 with Ian Jordan and Jon Cook as the Directors and both as 50% shareholders. Then quite recently on 28 May 2019, Jon Cook resigned as a director, leaving Jordan as the sole director. Cook also ceased to be a 50% shareholder, so it looks like Jordan is now the sole owner.

Be summer again next week

I think if it was Starke he will have been signed up already, I have a feeling that Rosco is waiting for a rider to become available & averages to fit. I personally wouldn't mind either Jonas Jeppesen or Andreas Lyager being bought in if at all possible.

Yes, I don't pretend to understand the structure of management operating at Eastbourne. The demarcation between jobs and functions within the promotion seems somewhat 'opaque' to an outsider. So it is difficult to tell who really pulls the strings. One thing for certain is that whatever is written in the official programme, and by whoever. It is the licenced promoters who are solely responsible to the SCB if the content breaks the regulations on bringing any part of the sport into disrepute. That, I assume, would fall at the door of Trevor Geer and Mike Bellarby. I also have no real understanding or inference to make from the news at Companies House that John Cook resigned from the board of Eastbourne Eagles Ltd on May 28 and the company address shifted too. Suffice to say some sort of 'change' has occurred behind the scenes for sure.

Entertaining meeting. Vicentin looked competitive and I would compare to Groubar standard. Cook also tried hard and looks to have potential if given time to settle in somewhere. After getting sorted out Barker proved he can still deliver so don’t think he will be clubless for long. Given the threat of rain, Chris Durno pushed the meeting along. Helped to make it a slick, well presented evening (I was told that the Isle of Wight presenter Rob............filled in for the usual guy) in front of for a crowd of about 350.

No not at all that is what i thought is there likely to be any more movement in our averages by that date ? I do not mind them taking there time tbh . I know a lot of people do not like R/R but for a couple of meetings its OK . Few more quid for our other riders covering his rides hopefully.

We only have Newcastle at home before July, so no big deal really?

If the racing was great then I think we would be reeling from the excitement of it, talking about what we just saw etc, nothing else required! IF the promoters and riders could attract more fans/more money then it would open up more opportunity to provide more razzmatazz if that's what you are after, etc etc Hopefully more young people with oodles of enthusiasm would be attracted too because that makes a difference ....

It's a shame Cook has spoilt the very impressive reputation the new Promotion were building with a silly and unnecessary throw away line but that's his style. The project seems to be driven more by the new bloke Jordan, who as someone has pointed out seems very un-speedway like e.g transparent and good in print and on the mike.

Ben Morley has been riding NL speedway for 10 years now if he was going to kick on i think he would of done by now . Georgie has only been riding since 2015 i think so surely comparing them is a little unfair. Sings i am afraid you wont like this . NL racing is on the whole is pretty boring far too much difference in rider ability i am afraid . As i have said before you can fill out the programme before you go and be 95% right . Riders like ben,geogre,clegg etc should not be in it now tbh. I would not of gone and payed to watch it tbh this season had we remained in the NL . As for same amount of falls come on there are far more in NL the stoppages in the championship are for crashes because the riders are so close together. fortunately in the NL you just get fallers because because most heats are so strung out there is never normally another rider anywhere near.

The senior team are not racing on those dates but on the 25th there is scheduled to be a round of the Under 21 league in Gdansk featuring Gdansk, Grudziadz, Gniezno, Bydgoszcz, Lodz and Torun. Also, if you are interested in mini speedway (85/125cc), there is a meeting scheduled for the 23rd.

I am convinced that there is a difference between his control of KL and Panthers and that of Ipswich.