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They could put out a NL team and still be top 5

You are right, the championship promoters do seem to have it right, at least a bit more right than the premiership. However. Without the premiership, the championship would not work. The championship uses many of the riders from the premiership, but as was reported in the star, at a massively reduced pay rate, so without premiership money it wouldn't work for the riders. The premiership has lost a handful of teams in recent seasons mainly due to losing their access to a track. No one from the championship wants to move up, as their business model would not work,either due to race nights, losing local derbies, extra costs etc. In addition to all this, next year Poland are prohibiting riders from racing in more than 1 extra league, meaning we probably lose most of the better danes we have , and potentially quite a few to Sweden,meaning less " top" riders in this country, making next years premiership potentially weaker , so it begs the question, what next? For the championship to work it needs the premiership for the premiership to work it needs riders, so if the premiership falls, so does the championship in its current form. Riders need to earn x amount of money so either the championship has to pay more or costs must be cut. British speedway needs more riders to fill its teams, so we need to rebuild.If that means a " lower" standard , so be it, likewise if it means 5 or 6 man teams , so be it. Let clubs race on their favoured night, we've already been done over by Poland, and other riders will ride in Denmark or Sweden, so early on this season there needs to be a rider census to get a rough idea as to how many riders would be available to fill all championship and premiership teams, riding on whichever night, and then work out team sizes and strengths from there, based on 2 leagues, one professional league, but with protected races for at least 1 or 2 " juniors", and the national development league ,with a clear progression between the leagues. Reduce engine servicing costs, ban trick parts, put a rev limiter on that will make a difference, maybe a minimum flywheel weight, do the consultation now, with a view to 2027, reassure the punters that genuine change is on the way,and rebuild from the bottom up. Now going to grab my tin hat and get behind the parapet waiting to be shot down

I think we are sorted for the reserve birth

I’d take Brennan as a number one over Tai. Keep his crappy opinions about Ipswich up north with the other NMs. Ipswich needs to keep riders who feel like they are part of the club and the feel, not people who speak badly of it. Tai and Lidsey can look somewhere else for a ride IMO.

No tin hat needed, most people seem to realise this. Presuming that there is no TV deal any longer (TNT still shows as a broadcast partner on the British Speedway website, whether that just contractual or not who knows?) what exactly is the difference in the PL/CL operating models now? With the Polish restrictions coming into effect in season 2027, I wonder if anybody from the BSPL has reached out to the Swedish and Danish authorities, as they will both be in the same boat, to discuss some kind of collaboration to resist or counter these restrictions, a joining of forces to offer riders 3 leagues to ride in with guaranteed reduced money rather than the "gamble" of Poland.

"Speed" was no issue that night 🤔

Craig will make us very strong in my opinion a number 1 rider who’s isn’t riding at number 1, this signing gives us a lot of strength and if Tate does what we know he can they are in for a great season with 4 strong riders. Hope Tate and Cookie are paired together they rode so well together last time 5-1s incoming !

They'll never learn... cannot understand for the life of me why anyone would sign Craig at this point. An absolute liability, completely unpredictable and has let down clubs year on year. Good luck Workington, I suspect at somepoint this season you'll need it once Craig disappears...

Cook`s signing will end one way and one way only. Recent history tells us everything you need to know.

Robert?? 😆

The issue is "The Professionals" don't want and need what "The Hobbyists" want and need from the sport, and vice versa... One side of the equation pay their way in life through the money they make from their business, whilst the other side of it are quite happy funding their main leisure interest, and can be quite satisfied in not making any money at all, as long as losses are within budgeted figures.. One side see the sport as aspirational with "winning the league" being the target as this can deliver higher financial reward.... The other see it as a hobby where "winning the league" can actually cost them more, and, as we have seen, even get them closed down due to unsustainable costs which were not covered by extra punters coming through the turnstiles, with "winning at home regularly" being their main aspiration... One side has punters used to watching sone of the world's best, paid for by the promoters at that level, and mid level riders earning their highest wage of the two they earn... The other has punters used to not seeing the world's best, with promoters not having the resources to use them at that level, but are happy to pay exactly the same mid level riders a lesser fee than the top tier do for their services, (but can only do this due to the top tier paying these mid level riders the bulk of their money).. To accommodate riders the top tier have to ride on nights not conducive to the entertainment industry, and the second tier can ride on the "better nights" but often do it with teams using many guests due to other rider commitments, (136 used last year in tier two, 62 in tier one).. To be honest, given the complete opposite needs and wants of the promoters, who in their right mind would see the Chairperson role as something to aspire to and actually want?... Putting together a plan that suits all, given their disparate "wish lists" does look an impossible task, and when you add in a lack of independent leadership, with a lack of vision, strategy and ambition for the growth of the sport, and you really do have major, major problems....

A great opportunity for the "professional" clubs over here to join a "European League"... Riding on any night neither team have riders clashing with Poland, so Fri, Sat and Sun could get used, as and when, and the likes of Poole could join in on Wednesdays . And then the "hobbyists" over here could also then carry on with their own league.... Like Rugby Union have done with their "United Cup" competition, as none of those leagues by themselves could generate enough publicity and money, so several clubs from different nations compete against each other... Five or six rider teams could be used to help a spread of riders if needed.. A European League just may get some TV company, and some maimstream media interested and some bigger sponsors..?

All that tells me is that Lidsey is getting worse around Foxhole while the others are improving.

Is Mayfield eyeing Foxhall as a potential venue for the Speedway Grand Prix in future years?

Averages are calculated to 3 decimal places, and rounded to 2. Cook's rolling average is 207 points from 101 rides = 207/101 x 4 = 8.198 If he was a foreigner, 8.198 would round to 8.20 As he's British, he gets a further 2.5% reduction. 8.198 x 0.975 = 7.993 which rounds to 7.99 (But even if it was 8.00 he would still fit)

A very good signing. Workington done a full season without a number 1 last year but are going into this season with two number 1s

Craig Cook would fit 😜

Lots of opinions on here regarding signings let just wait and see unless you know something come forward and declare yourselves. For all we know it could be Zippy, Bungle and George at 1 3 and 5!

Will wait and see…Watch this space..

BCP council are morally & financially bankrupt. Unfortunately I believe that you are correct in your assessment of the situation.

If it is Mayfield then I think it's definitely Woffinden at No.1. The Mayfield man is good friends with him and got him his GP place for this season.

It was a more constructive idea than the clowns who run this sh*t show have ever made to spark some sort of life into it . Fancy a job at the top table ? 🙄

Sweden last year had an average attendance of over 2700... Denmark appears to be "on the up"... So two leagues that could pay more maybe? You would have to presume any Swedes or Danes will stick with their own league, plus Poland, given their sponsors will invariably be linked to their home country . Any non Swedes and Danes eg Aussie's, will also go where the money is best you would think... Some major plans need to be made, and quickly, for 2027... Given GB, Denmark and Sweden will all be fighting for the same riders, and none of them have a big number of home riders of a "decent" level, to fill their own leagues individually, then one Euro league really could be the best for all... And would mean any Polish riders would ride in this one Euro league as their "other one"...

Agreed with us now so far behind Poland if the one other league comes in most top riders will surely pick Denmark or Sweden due to logistics, Would there be merit in forming from whatever is left a top eight league of championship standard and then a championship lite league for another eight teams agreed it won't be pretty but I would imagine we must be down to 90% of the fans being the die hards now.

If serious money ever came in that would be probably the best way forward and then lease out like a franchise model the promotion to interested parties but you would have one big dog hopefully acting in the sports interest rather than eveyone pulling in purely their own direction.

So good they named it twice.

Of course they will bring forth Poole motorsports… oh wait a minute.

It wasn’t in an interview it was what I was told.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/25749989.matt-ford-sites-looked-at-poole-pirates/?ref=cprfa Game over guys!

I see Poole might have to move and are in Talks with Osborne Clark..you know how this ends .No doubt another councik going to fall for the old routine

Bit like Patrick Bamford when at Leeds slagged off the Blades and their manager - then what happened 🤣

The Premiership is a farce Full Stop. be surprised if they maintain crowd levels,with repetitiveness of fixtures. Sad times for the sport.

Theyll come 5th at worst in this tin pot league. Imagining celebrating an achievement where you only have to better 4 other teams. There’s a lot of over excitement on here over nothing but a joke competition.

That's a big IF...

If Witches end up with a poor Team and a poor season their fans can only put the blame on Louis for his poor exit strategies.

Only throttle jockeys with little skill refer to Ipswich as that.

11 October 2022 - Ritchie Worrall ht 15 at Plymouth .. but it was almost certainly a timekeeper error!

Yes and you can discount Musielak performance last year as not a true reflection of his ability at Ipswich.Ouch calls other posters trolls when he doesn't like their answer!!

This is a cold hard fact though from the horses mouth. Why would we want him at Ipswich, “Ipswich is a S hole, I hate going there like everyone else but we have to” - Lidsey

Sounds like the timekeeper was in a rush to get away to me 🤔

Yes pity so many top riders missing for different reasons Gave a few who not familiar a chance but you could virtually split line up in half on chances and no chance But good experience for those others

As far as I know, Spedeworth doesn't own the Stadium - they lease it from the owners of the Heath, and sub-let to the speedway.

If it’s true about the new owners at Ipswich then hopefully it might work out. British speedway is in even more of a mess than when BSI got involved at Reading. British speedway needs this to work.

Yes

Another thread, or another AGM?🙂

Clarke Osborne is a parasite. Although Torquay Utd fans would probably call him far worse,

Poland have already announced their plans for 2027 regarding rider availability and we've done absolutely nothing to mitigate this by starting our league transformation a year before them, it's not even been addressed... we seem to be just blindly sailing on, full steam ahead 🚢🧊

That’ll be no hope then, as they haven’t “stuck to any guns” since the beginning of this whole sorry saga. Agree about Osborne though.

Think you will find Rob has wanted to give this job up a long time back but noone wants o take it on.

First title of the season, well done Poole