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I'm finding some of this Cairns criticism OTT and rather odd to be honest. The lad is 16 and it was his first meeting as a fully fledged RS. I hope Rushen won't get this kind of hammering if he makes a slow start.

So, a young British kid (once again), goes from being a future World Champion, to being just another overrated rider... And. All in one meeting!!!!😁 Hyping these kids up does no one any favours, yet plenty seem to do it... "I watched him ride after the match and his times were close to those in the meeting itself"!! Was one particular pearl of wisdom I read about him about 18 months ago.. Riding on your own, without three far more experienced riders nailing you on turns one and two is a bit different from riding on your own, and your times , and finishing positions, in those races will get hit quite severely... Being fast is one thing, being a Speedway rider is another... Let the kid develop at his own pace, like all should be allowed to, as the entry level for UK riders is quite a low bar, therefore one or two can look "amazing" when riding against their peer group at 15/16... If these lads are Championship second strings by the end of 2027 then they are on track to become Premiership second strings, around two years later, (at 20/21 years old).... If they reach that level, then by 23 or so, Premiership HL and International level will be there "glide path"... Not many are Woffinden, Bewley or Robert Lambert level by 21 years of age, so just let these lads develop... And the aim isn't to have future World Champs, the aim is to fill team spaces with UK lads, something the sport desperately needs...

Luke Harrison might have struggled a bit. He'd only be five years old.🤩

Doesn't quite rival the unmasking of Kendo Nagasaki !

Its not OTT and its not odd at all. Go and read what people said about Boughen then look at the same people slating him as over rated when the wheels come off. I will take my hat off to Cairns if and when he hits form as obviously would like him to be a future star of the sport but after 25 years of following speedway there have been many , many riders hailed as the next Lee or Loram who go on to do not a lot. All this nonsense that riders should be in the top tier needs to stop. Riders should be left to the bottom two tiers to develop not slung into the top flight as rising stars having their confidence dented week in week out.

Rubbish.

I do think nowadays riders don’t really go through the hard yards like they use to,the fact is for everyone that really makes it (top 5 in world) there are a couple of hundred that fail, there are some really exceptional talents in speedway who were always going to make it like zmarzlik and bewley and then there are others like gollob and Pedersen who went that extra mile to make it but on the whole 99% just forge a league career which is no bad thing but my original point to this is you have to ride the struggle and get through it because it will come when you’re up against it and nothing goes right and the world is to blame and that experience will help you get through it,speedway is a mind game, the head on your shoulders is as important as the head on your engine, I’ve watched both Rushen and Cairns and indeed bickley, they all have the talent,Rushen seems the most natural on a bike but all 3 seemed from the outside looking in to have had the their career so far on the crest of a wave but the moment you take that to the serious stuff and three others want your peice of track it’s a whole new world and unless you are headstrong it’s a harsh one, good luck to both Cairns and Rushen and hope bickley makes a comeback too

Its not just one meeting though is it? What did he average for Poole from reserve last year, wasn't it under 4? As for crescent girl saying someone has lost their mind, dear oh dear. You lost your mind a long time ago mr barrie. its time the rising star program was removed from the top tier , it does more harm than good for young riders.

Agreed stacks of decent young british riders lost to the sport through being thrown into the deep end to early for every Screen, Loram and Lambert there's another 20-30 who although never hitting the heights could be the next Kings, Lawson's, Hurrys and have decent top league careers which would cut down on the need for flying in overseas riders.

Let’s hope we get the Sheffield Tobi from a couple of seasons ago. On his day can beat the best in the League we’ve seen him do it. Things obviously weren’t right for him at Lynn whether that be the ankle injury or other reasons going by what you believe, and Birmingham was just a disaster for everyone with so much uncertainty which couldn’t have helped riders’ form. Let’s hope this move settles him down again and he produces what we know he’s capable of.

Sorry, but hammering a 16 year old after one meeting, and only one completed race, is completely nuts. Some people have lost their minds...

He only finished one race. Must admit after that one race I immediately decided he was rubbish and should be sacked. Norick wasn’t much better, scoring only one point and even that was when finishing last. He has to go as well. I think that’s reasonable.

Wouldn't give a monkeys.... When I go to UK league Speedway, I just go to watch the racing, and dont let the Mickey Mouse way the sport is ran get in the way of what can be a decent night out.

Cookie, Viv Muddle and latterly Vinnie practising this morning and into the afternoon. Craig looked very comfortable.

Agreed I can't think of to many sports where you start in division three and end up in division one at the same time your in division 2 granted the odd special talent can make the leap but 90% of the time it does more harm than good and loads of potential top league future third heatleaders and second strings are lost to the sport.

He also has to get past Kyle

It's odd to be hammering a young lad one meeting into the season IMO but there we are. I'd far rather see our own youngsters at reserve than foreign tripe and at Lynn the most exciting element of this year's team is Scott and Rushen for me, can't wait to see them develop. You are right about the hype bit but thats not the riders fault as far as I can see, I'm sure he'd rather be left alone to develop at his own pace. It's us as fans who hype them up because very good ones seldom come around and we get all excited when it looks like one or two hit the scene.

Lewis Bridger another one that springs to mind.

Floppy Norris was another, proving that when he put his mind to it he was actually quite a decent rider!

Another example but in reverse, is Jason Doyle. Was knocking around the reserve berth at Poole on a 4 and a half point average approaching his mid twenties before something clicked! World Champion. Appreciate that’s a unique case that’s not exactly common. So on one hand best not to put too much expectation on youngsters who seem to have all the talent, but at the same time not write off riders who don’t immediately produce early in their career.

Danny King in 03 would of been british league cup for Ipswich not EL only meetings. Basically premier league standard at the time but point taken, as a 16 year old he was also streets ahead of Cairns.

Cairns has been hyped up massively over the last 2 or 3 years but its clear to see he is out of his depth at this level. There has been many, many better British teenage prospects over the years than him.

Top performance from Tate tonight ! Best in BV colours to my knowledge good to see we all know he’s got the talent . Got a feeling Cookie is going to be fighting for the number 1 spot this year. Can’t wait for the season to start now .

You are well aware and you've been very active. So why question? Why doubt? Why mire in the demise of speedway. Looks like you absolutely love it, cant fix it and never lend a hand but always online to want for more despite giving less. Aye but you bought a season ticket.....yet put down and question everything else. Get yourself involved Ian, change the dynamics of meetings, be more than a worthless typist on the Internet. You won't, you aren't.

Thats actually quite a refreshing way of thinking about it tbf, just a bit tricky in some ways cause the racing at Poole is rubbish haha

I always find that if you have very low expectations when attending UK Speedway, then you, more often than not, won't be too disappointed....

Fair enough thanks for the honest answer 👍

The Poole promotion were quoted as saying, when they signed him, that they knew he would miss some meetings at weekends but would do their best to work around it to minimise it.. Given he already had a Polish contract, Poole are secondary in priority... The Aces ride Monday and Thursday so shouldn't clash... Poole didn't have to sign him, knowing he would 100% miss meetings... No one held a gun to their head..

Plymouth v Poole Saturday

Being on the front cover and a two page spread inside without turning a wheel in the 2nd division doesn't help. Todays young riders love the social media and why not? but if they talk the talk, then they have to do the walk or just like on here they will get criticised. In fairness to Will Cairns, I saw him do an interview on a local TV broadcast on press day and he seemed to have his feet firmly on the ground. Good luck to all the young riders. I think Jody Scott and Luck Harris go about it the right way. Both have improved without the big hype. The parents of some of these young riders can stop the hype by cutting back on the articles and big interviews, but they seem to enjoy the publicity as much as their boys.

It crossed my mind too but theyve been defunct (competing-wise) for a long time and anyway arent exactly in same neck of the woods, Shirley😌

@Neila is still annoyed that Poole stole him off Worky. 😉

So crescent girl is dick barrie?

Can beat that back in the 90's drove from Workington to Oxford found out it was rained off when we got there, no mobile phones back in the day , spent a dry afternoon in Oxford went to Swindon massive storm 1 hour before the meeting and called off returned back home 600 miles and no speedway 😧

But Luke has been improving steadily, and goes about his racing quietly and has not been hyped up as much as others . Hopefully the young kids will kick on and be medal winners for team GB in the future

And one bad meeting and there would be loads of moaning on here about him....

Not thrilled with the team but it's decent enough considering they were fishing for scraps. I'd have liked a new name to UK speedway in there but it'll do. Just happy to have speedway 5 miles away!

Its equally often the case that the uber naturally talented riders are surpassed by slightly less talented but more dedicated riders. Three examples I can think of off the bat over the years Penhall was world champ v Kelly Moran who wasn't, T Rick multiple world champ v Henka who wasn't and Hancock four times v Hamill only once. In my view Moran, Henka and Hamill were three more naturally talented riders than the other three mentioned but just lacked that extra 10% grit that the other three had to really scale the heights and become multiple world champions. And just for the record I'm not implying Penhall, Rickardson and Hancock were slouches they were obviously far from it.

And, ultimately, it won't make any difference to the popularity of the sport if these lads do come through to ever become World Champions... The demise of which has actually accelerated during the time Havelock, Loram and Woffinden won their World Championships.. Should any UK lad become "World Class" they will be "owned" by Poland in their mid 20's, and quite possibly not even be riding over here... Tom Brennan should be someone they see as a role model to follow... Consistent, steady, improvement, as he has gained more experience....

Maybe speedway is getting like F1 if you have money behind you, you can get a team place 🤔

I mentioned this at the back end of last year, he failed to achieve a double figure score for Poole, from reserve, in the CL... Generally when somebody arrives on the scene with as much hype as Cairns did they at least put in one stand out score! I hope he goes on to make it, but from what he's done on a 500 so far... I can't see it 🤷‍♂️

Great night for Leon Flint at Belle Vue, top scoring for Sheffield, only 1 duff race. I think this is the year that Leon takes a step up, similar to what Dan Thompson did last year, maybe not achieving an 8 plus average but definitely consolidating heat leader status.

I believe that Papa Cairns has splashed the dosh, way too much, way too soon. Will has to do the hard yards and stand on his own two feet and develop at his own pace. Fancy vans, top engines, belt drives, Karger ignition boxes handed on the solid silver plate is a false dawn. Needs to work on his talent not his gear. He is talented.

If this was 2012, Northampton would be title contenders.

Craig is a type of rider who in the past had done only a little bit of practice, bit like batch 😀 hearing Craig has lost a bit of weight, so good to go, will be fighting Jonas for the number 1 position 😀

They won't be in the play offs...

Not sure what anyone else expects other than to be competing in the bottom two, late to the tapes so to speak, all done last minute, the track isn't complete, no real home advantage once tapes do go up, Northampton is very much up against it before a green light goes on but, if they can offer entertainment, can get the name out there, and survive into 2027 who knows... I'll certainly try and make one night this season and take my old man, but really do hope it works out for them, hopefully win a few meetings if they do then congratulations to them as its literally backs to the walls stuff already

Based on those 3 signings hate to say but I think there going to be the whipping boys. Hope I'm wrong

Kevin certainly doesnt get put off by less than perfect track conditions due to weather. The lad can certainly gate, ride slick or grippy, can ride a tight inside line and when pushed to the outside isnt fazed either. Extremely professional approach , fantastic determination and looks like a great signing for Glasgow after outshining several heat leaders who know Ashfiled like the back of their hand.