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You sure your cut out for this , sit down have a beer light a cigar and watch some re-runs of only fools and horses. High blood pressure should start to drop quickly I would have thought.

Surly now this league is weaker than the championship, so the prices will reflect this,

Why is it always so difficult? How about saying... ”It is our intention to get the fixtures released as soon as possible. Due to rider availability and potential team changes within certain teams this might not be able to be confirmed right away. As soon as these are confirmed we will keep you updated right away.” Why are they so incompetent at just the most basic of basic communication? Don’t make broken promises and treat your paying customers like absolute morons.

The realisation will be when the fans quit.

Is he really a future star though? Been knocking around for years without progressing an awful lot. The rides being suggested are Kemp, Flint, Palin, the Thompson twins, Brennan and Rowe. These are teenagers who could progress nicely with the right development path. Some of them have Polish contracts already.

If I understand the new rules correctly there are one or two clubs that will need to make a change or two before the new season. For example Edinburgh, they currently have William Lawson and James Sargeant at reserve, and will no disrespect to them part of the new rules is to create a clear pathway for young British riders and I don't see how that applies to either Sargeant or Lawson.

The press release about the 16:00 start time definitely mentioned double headers with National League matches. And there's been a load of press releases about Freeman and Smith signing to ride for the Gems in the National League so I'm sure there's an intention to run the Gems in the NL.

Unless this is supposed to be funny, which it isn’t, then your coming across as a right bell end .

with both being club assets would benefit both club and riders but that’s common sense

Plus it's approximately 1775 years before his birth

Must admit has much as I've missed my speedway fix spending £18+ every week has got me thinking is it worth it. Certainly not vfm for the standard were getting

what price $#!t creek?

Possibly!! All will become clearer in the next week or so. Even though Danny has (a) tough decision(s) to make.

I enjoyed reading the five part Rhodesia Speedway History by Brian Burford in the Speedway Star over the past five weeks. That was an excellent read, absolutely fascinating stuff.

Might be too big a facility for league racing but would make a great venue for a speedway version of Rugby Leagues 'Magic Weekend'. I know Bradford isn't the greatest place to spend a weekend but it's close enough to Leeds to make it attractive to visit. Run all of the shared events (pairs, 4's, riders championship even a knockout cup) over a weekend and pack the place out. Nicely located for fans from the North and South. Great memories of the 1990(?) World Final. Great atmosphere.

Coming from Sunderland, I expect you're familiar with the technique of playing the man and not the ball. So, given that I'm a bell end, let's get back to playing the ball. Which bit of my contribution do you disagree with and why?

Yes the spread of the doubling up / doubling down virus has not been contained.

Must admit that the so called Premiership doesn't look worth £18. Can't see Bluster dropping admission prices, so will probably not bother.

BWD 8.75 or Rory 8.69 would just fit but would leave us with just over 2 for the 2nd reserve, it would have made sense to keep Joe Lawler if that was going to happen. So I cannot see them as options with the promotion.

I think for the good (or maybe even survival) of the sport, the fans in this country will have to go along with 'whatever' is served up this season.. And lets face it if you are still a regular, it means you are pretty much immune to the many years of nonsense that has passed and are therefore willing to accept what you are given, so hopefully will be relied upon to back the promoters.. A possible free pass maybe this season for the promoters, where some slack is given as they try and deliver the sport (and the Eurosport contract)...

It's something that is long overdue as communications in general aren't good. They really need an independent outside agency or expert in the field. I guess if you pay peanuts though you get monkeys Mike from BV maybe a good call.

Cheers for that it's starting to creep out now. Shame it's not transparent to all who have a vested interest

...and then everyone (on here at least) would be on at them for not saying anything!! In any normal year after the AGM in November, fixtures aren't usually available to fans til Jan/Feb anyway, even though clubs have their draft lists around the turn of the year.

Doesn’t matter when the fixtures are starting. It was just stupid to say the fixture list would be published. They would have been better to say nothing.

All well and good, but it’s a bit daft for the governing body to say on the 14th January : BRITISH Speedway clubs have today agreed a start date of early May for the 2021 season. Fixtures will be published next week for both the Premiership and Championship. And not deliver. Surely they knew all about the ‘rising stars’ then and the impact this could have. There appears to be a lack of joined up thinking...

No it wont Phil... its someting like under 23 or 24 and/or no more than three years in the Championship or other proper league which would allow a new over age rider from say Motor Cross to come in... apparently the rules will be quite strict but until they officially come out I'm only getting snippets and educated guesses back of folk... Regards THJ

Perhaps you can explain then, why the promoters said, in last weeks press release, that the fixtures for the top two leagues would be published this week? Surely they must have known there might be problems with rider availability! Perhaps it's another case of treating fans like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them manure!

The crowds were not so bad but there were a lot of meetings that year and some 'fillers'. I'd imagine the problem was the costs. It would have cost a bit to get Ron How and I believe they were after Briggs at one time. A very enjoyable year though after the problems of 61, 62 and 63.

Promoters have the draft fixtures so they can check rider availability, not least their chosen/allocated 'rising star', before confirming them and making an announcement.

Impressive work and commitment by Startrax so far. It will be interesting to see if there is anyone interested in promoting speedway at Odsal, and what level of support they would achieve. A couple of questions : Are the straights narrower than they were before ? What impact will the hospitality stand on the 3rd / 4th bend have on a speedway track? How far away is it from the fence and would that require the fence to be brought in a bit for speedway? There are some very big posts that support that stand

There would be no clashes between PL and CL due to race days so they would have to ride for their NL team as and when fixtures allowed. I feel they are going to learn more and progress quicker in the top two leagues.

Won't be any speedway though

I'm not ruling him anything all I done was pulled all of the last years names straight accross and if I had left him out it would have been "why have you dropped James" he was at 7 on their team from last year and now at 7 on my spread sheet and until Edinburgh do something with their team he's got the lowest average so he's at 7... like Newcastle there will be an enforced change in that team but it might not be James who gets cut... if it's giving you that much consternation would you like me to take him out all together? FFS the details of the Rising Star thing only came out yesterday and Edinburgh still have a declared team from last year... so will I wipe him or them all or just leave it till someone tells us what's happening... or will I put a number 8 on that one with RS against it... James Sarjeant will not be the RS rider ok... happy now... but he may not be the rider who makes way for a Rising Star... Jesus... no wonder these promoters get pee'd off... Regards THJ

Looking good...

I totally agree with this. In fact, there have been many fascinating pieces in the Star since lockdown. I'd love to see more such articles. How about a piece on Hevingham the track that staged one meeting in the mid 70s and then got 'buried' apparently. Or something about the Mike Parker attempt to get speedway going near Rimini in Italy in the mid to late 60s. On an entirely personal note, I'd love to hear the story of the Melville/Rycroft promotion at Oxford in1964. Lasted a year and I think a lot happened. Keep up the good work.

Birmingham have all six riders coming back, so you can include Valentin Grobauer. The 'rising star' is Jack Thomas.

So much for equality. There are some crazily strong teams there like Eastbourne and Leicester and some shockers like Poole and Kent. Expect some major changes long before we get to May

Although you didn’t turn a wheel for us, good luck Ben Barker at Newcastle this year.

Eh?

You will enjoy it when you get it- top edition this week.

With all the problems surrounding Brexit and the current travel restrictions which are likely to continue for a while, I think that to use British riders was the right move. While I don't study team make ups normally, being a bit bored in lockdown, I saw the figures on this forum which made interesting reading. It looks like Eastbourne, who chose Brits for 2020, and able to keep them all under the new rules ( which I have not had the chance to get to know and/or understand) have the strongest team in the league. Almost everyone else, who had listed foreigners originally (like Covatti at Kent) is now playing catch up. No one's fault, just the extreme circumstances that have hit us. For myself I will not worry about winning or losing this year, just happy if I can see some action.

Another 5 year plan how many 5 year plans has that been in the last few years now, couldn’t make it up. Riders who were promised a team spot now out of work, which is ridiculous. Championship watered down again with now having to bring in wobblers who aren’t ready for this level.

Exactly my point.

Let's be honest the main reason for fixed race nights was simply to ensure plenty of guests for both leagues would be available and provide plenty of Double Up/Down opportunities for riders who need to ride in two or more leagues to make it pay... A quite incredible operating model to devise, nail your mast to, and expect it to deliver a successful business..

In all honesty there is zero point having a GP in Cardiff if no crowd is permitted .

Imagine ensuring that having enough guests are available as one of your main priorities when planning a fixture list? Rather than planning one that takes every opportunity possible to run Speedway meetings at weekends... "Please take us seriously fans, media and sponsors".....

You’ve partially answered your own question. Godfrey WILL do what he wants. He CAN run any day he likes as it’s his stadium with little in the way of restrictions, the simple answer is he makes good money off hiring the track out at weekends ( amateur meetings , stocks etc ) so he’s not going to financially penalise himself by going back to Sunday’s. He is also the chairman of the mafia and so will do what he wants and others will do as they are told, Peterborough and Workington being recent examples who were dictated to by him and Buster and forget the ‘ benefit of the sport ‘. Your ‘ dream ‘ is just that, a dream, sadly.

Yes you give the criteria, i will just throw an hypothetical example, If Cradley said they wanted to ride at Monmore in the Premiership in 2021 what would the response from the BSPL be ?, Its totally hypothetical as it wont happen.. but i think most of us know what would happen to the Ghost team situation, it would turn into "its for the good of the sport" or some other reason to allow it..

Simple answer. The BSPA does not like what they refer to as "Ghost Teams" unless it suits them of cause. There have been a few such teams using such names operating in the junior leagues over the last few years but prior to the 2020 season the powers that be banned them. I think Cradley not running was finally the excuse they needed to remove this thorn from their sides. I think it got to a case where some of the people (not all I may add) running the ghost teams were nothing more than a bunch of glory hunters using defunct names to play real life fantasy speedway. The BSPA gave them a criteria that they had to show concrete proof that they had acquired land to build a new track in the catchment areas of the said defunct clubs but the reality of that happening is like Donald Trump becoming the president of Greenpeace. Things can change though and if Rob Godfrey ever decided it may be good business to run a second team in the National League as either Halifax Dukes or Hull Vikings the ghost team rule would change overnight.

What came first, the chicken (the people running the sport) or the egg (us, the fans)... In this instance, it is most certainly the chicken!