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Congratulations to Taylor Lanning on his appointment as official photographer to Great Britain speedway team.

Yeah, I know. But I couldn't spell it.

if the event was 14 years ago and Gustix is an old man , what is strange about him not remembering all the details of the event ? how does that make him a " very strange individual" ?

would have thought Ulrich was completely nailed on for Newcastle

They are told that here - just not always that politely!!!

Heard he has a polish team lined up which means he will have , Poland , Denmark , Sweden and most likely back at Swindon 2nd tier in GB was never going to be an option. It makes a pleasant change for someone like Rasser wanting to progress to the next level and good luck to him.

Whatever you want

I declined them both, much easier for me, and my other members. Thanks anyway.

I'll deride whichever religion I like, thank you gustix, as they are all complete nonsense and do more harm than good.

Yes, but injuries and loss of form (Hans Andersen 5.79) or motivation and stepping up (Rasmus Jensen 7.86), make a big difference. Who would have signed Rasmus over Hans at the start of the season? And don’t forget, with six matches to go of the regular season, Kings Lynn and Belle Vue were still competing for the play offs, and even Swindon weren’t assured of a place. Only Boro were tailed off.

The £750 per meeting would be in addition to the current pay of a number one. If the standard of the PL does not improve and be clearly a level above the CL we might as well have one league. It used to be the case that CL number ones were PL reserves, now some are PL number ones too (Wright, Harris). It’s stupid.

No, eight is right for the PL, but only if it is significantly better than the CL. Eight teams of superior strength with eight GP riders would be good. Hasn’t the Extraliga in Poland got only seven teams now?

They could do with another five tbh.

Agree, Cadbury's just give me a constant headache these days. Stick to Galaxy now, can't be beaten. Unlike Speedway, it offers good value for money. Cadbury's has turned into the Speedway equivalent, lower the standards and charge more for it.

But how can Swindon afford Doyle? Or indeed the rest of their top five? Terry Russell says we can. How could Leicester afford Vaculik and Przedpelski? And Zagar rode here for several years; how has he become impossible to afford? Surely, if the PL is to be distinct from the CL it should aspire to have proper number one riders? Not Chris Harris and Charles Wright. There has to be some ambition. If BV, Wolves or Sheffield signed Zagar or Vaculik or Chris Holder would their average crowd not increase by 100 people and would not that cover the additional cost?

The point was actually raised by Speedway Star as something that should be done, hence the topic. The thing is, the last 40 years are the years that speedway began its slow, steady decline, and the top league was weakened deliberately a few years back, year after year, and costs were cut. The result was lower crowds. I certainly feel there is a case for strengthening the league again. For example, Swindon and Ipswich had to bring in NL standard reserves in order to fit a rider of GP standard into the team. I also feel that a team having to make major cuts after doing well suffers the following year as crowds fall away again, which, surely shouldn't be the objective. Personally, I've always found the massive destruction of successful sides to be a bad thing. It was noticeable at Oxford, in the past, that crowds fell when the successful sides were dismantled. I'm not saying I agree with teams having to build to the highest average, but something a simple as Troy Bachelor or going to Peterborough would bring a competitive league without having to work teams out to the nearest decimal point.

What Berwick need is a form of the squad system where Gappmaier rides home meetings only and a similar average more versatile rider takes the away meetings, job done.

Wrong the reason he came to us was Claus told him you get paid every week at Glasgow another point did the people who purchased season tickets for Workington last season ever get their money back

We also need to allow the younger voter. After all, they are the ones most affected...

Aye your hilarious or so you think , we just think your a bit of a t*t..

Sheffield F.C have been playing at the Coach and Horses pub in Dronfield for nearly 20 years.

Here's what I consider the most eccentric cover i have in my collection from 1929 Exeter, I just find the artwork of the pre-1960 covers more interesting, & you can wallow in nostalgia viewing my old programme gallery on www.speedwayswapshop.co.uk

Well one bonus of the thread going missing was the post that appeared I was talking to myself about something that hadn't been talked about has gone along with it..…

Pretty sure it was an airfence round the entire track.

If one big league, then the best way would be to use Championship averages. Riders without a CL average could then be assessed to CL standard, with a maximum of 12.00. Pretty sure Jason would be a 12. I don't agree with assessing above 12 though, as it is higher than any possible value to the side.

..................... and 'Bobble Hat'.

I'm sure he didn't complain as he would have been crucified...

If you wondered how the poster arrived at his figure, surely the best option would have been to ask the poster himself?

Incidently one of my first heroes when he rode for "The Rebels" during my first year attending speedway in his immaculate black leathers.

And Bert Harkins was, probably still is passionate about getting a Scotland team back. Sadly now it appears to be a non starter as I would think they’d have trouble getting a competitive pair, let alone team

Remember when the Scots (McKinlay, McMillan and Hunter) riding as Great Britain (British "Lions") together with English lads which was perfectly fine. Not sure when the last Scot, or indeed Welshman, last rode for Great Britain. Perhaps someone could enlighten me? It's a subject that Peter Collins was passionate about when interviewed a few years back.

Got his name wrong, but despite that in my time of going he never rode for England. Think Steve is talking about the England teams of the 70s most probably. And who of that generation can argue that those teams were great ?

Not sure like, I've a feeling that there might be only 2 of the current squad back and, we all know who one of them is

If you remember, it’s no longer “TeamGB” (thank goodness) They ride as “Great Britain” One thing the “powers that be” have got right

But that would only happen if the team limit was raised rather than using 42.5 or reducing it.

We are not out of this season(1 day) never mind pre season optimism. There is still time for the rules & limits to change to spoil teams "possible" line ups. Post AGM we will know the rules but teams will probably not be fully announced until mid/late December (1 rider per week with some teams)

Aldi milk choc came out top in a taste test against other top brands.

Honestly Because there aren't enough riders to go round so the limit needs to be low, otherwise you end up with teams like Newcastle had in the 70's with a team average of something around 55, it just means the wealthy clubs have 4 or 5 heat leaders to the detriment of everyone else; but this is Speedway the where self interest rules... there just isn't the pool of riders to use for the amount of teams we have... 14 teams require 98 riders there are about 60 regular Championship Riders 24 to 30 double uppers and about 10 to 12 two pointers trying to make the jump from the NDL... the supply of riders is barely covering the demand (or need) That's the dilemma the BSPA have that there are not enough (good) riders (or rider's of a competent standard) to go round... This ups the rate for the riders as they (the riders) play one club off against another to maximise their earnings... this impacts the clubs because their isn't the money in the sport as there once was meaning they lose money... the riders hold the power and they need to realise the clubs need to survive to allow them to ride... Its a vicious circle that can only be squared currently by finding more riders at the prescribed standard for an affordable rate that meets a team budget or having less teams... or the teams have (Polish type) cash to spend on bringing in foreigners to the detriment of the Polish Leagues; which won'y happen anytime soon... or if you want to up the points limit reduce the number of teams in each league to around 8 per league and stop or severely restrict doubling up (with a possibility for 1 team up; one down; promotion; relegation, then you can up the build limit)... If Workington hadn't folded at the start of the season it would have left Newcastle in the lurch when Nike Lunna decided he wasn't fit enough to start the season and wanted a year out... The need is to focus on the whole rather than the individual Regards THJ

No, Jesus was third. As gustix said, there was a runoff for first between Peter and Paul; they both rode for the Saints...

“Unbeatable Swindon” is a joke. We won only three away matches before the Play Offs and our reserves were generally pants. If the other teams replaced their four point reserves with five or six pointers they’d all be near 46 points.

Ipswich could bring Kennett back in for Sargeant. You don't have to make every side equal averages to get a competitive league.

Belle Vue are four points below Swindon’s team so how about swapping Berge for Brady Kurtz. Would not this team stand a chance with an injury free season: Fricke Worrall Bjerre Bewley Kurtz Etheridge Lidsey

And that's unusual on the BSF???

Yeah Auty will drop down to number 5 quickly but I expected Allen to push on properly this year and cement the number 1 spot but he didn’t manage it. Signing Danny was a big winner last year but he’ll be coming off the back of a fairly serious injury and won’t have the confidence boosting NL heat wins. And he really is a confidence rider! Lambert has never really got any better than a 4/5pt man so I just can’t see next year being any different despite his strong end to the season at reserve. I feel like Palin is 1 year too early which Rob has done multiple times lately. Riders like Williamson, List, Bates, Perks & Bailey originally all spring to mind who are talented but made the step up maybe a season too soon. As for Aarnio & Jorgensen, they’re effectively the new names without being new! Both useful riders on their day but neither likely to up their average much and Jorgensen had a pretty poor season at Newcastle so I hope a move back to the EWR will help him out. Aarnio has improved since his last Scorpions stint but is injury prone.

And if I am correct my cousin Martin Elliott finished last in the last heat, and is proud he was the last rider to officially ride the track

Good luck with that!!

No doubt accompanied by Status Quo singing "Blue for you". I couldn't resist it. I'll get my coat.

NBJ,Ben Barker,Paul Starke, Tom Brennan, Josh Bates,Victor Palovaara, were all above 6points when they were dropped or injured.

Where does the money come from to attract this sort of team? Attendances overall are probably down, that is not because of a lack of world class riders, maybe a small % is but you would need to quadruple attendance to generate a gate to even consider having 2 world class riders in the same team never mind 6 Poland didn't grow through promoting the sport and offering value for money in terms of ticket pricing They grew from local government backing, tv backing, a shed load of sponsorship, in fact polish speedway could give tickets to fans for free and survive healthily... No TV company will give British speedway the money to compete with Poland, they had that before and failed to utilise it. The next 5 years is all about watering it down as much as possibly year-on-year offering the opportunity for younger riders to progress through the divisions and hopefully after 5 years we have a batch of 16-23 yr old riders who are making up 50% of most teams.

We should produce a track to suit Jake and Josh.