Vince

I find it difficult to imagine that somebody completely new to the sport gives a toss about guests, R/R, riders racing elsewhere. After all unless somebody tells them they wouldn't realise a lot of this for a while, explain that guests and R/R are a necessary evil because of the extreme danger of the sport and it would probably become an attraction! The only real exception being the joker in the SWC which is so blatant and even has a silly name to make the sport look bad. In my experience newcomers either love or hate Speedway within a couple of heats and it's little to do with anything other than their personal opinion of seeing four blokes flat out. In the long term all those other things may start to grate but not for newcomers in my opinion.

So despite the sport in this country not being good enough for you to watch you are still able to guarantee to market it more effectively than anybody in the past 60 years? Perhaps some are sceptical because they have dealt with marketing and business consultants over many years and have yet to find anybody capable who would make such a guarantee. However I should imagine that with your marketing ability there must be enough money in your kitty to allow you to invest in Sheffield and/or Peterborough and demonstrate how you can turn the sport around with your own business at risk. You make a lot of good points but they will always be overlooked because of your 'know all, everybody else is stupid' attitude. If you really want Promoters to use your services recognising their abilities rather than insisting that their knowledge and experience counts for nothing compared to your superior intellect would be a start. Telling everybody about what you have actually already achieved with your marketing strategies should be the clincher.

To be fair a lot of us thought we knew it all when we were young!

I already know enough see that this is potentially the most positive thing to happen to the sport in decades, only potentially because unfortunately I don't have access to your crystal ball. I am also obviously out of my mind because I believe that if the format is changed so that we aren't seeing reserves out against heat leaders that means we will see more heat leader vs heat leader races. Clearly I don't have the in depth knowledge of the sport that you do but I would expect that to result in closer, better racing more often. To me it doesn't matter if riders are half a second or a second a lap slower than the top guys, if they are of similar ability and can race each other I would prefer to watch them. The very best riders are fantastic to watch in full flight but I mainly watch Speedway for the racing and some of the best races I have seen have been at NL level.

Each to their own but I would much prefer to see 4 riders line up with every one of them having a realistic chance of scoring decent points.

Considering that we don't actually know exactly what has been agreed to at this years AGM yet that is a stroke of pure genius on your part!

With a team strength of 38 points they won't come up against too many top riders at second string.

Was just about to post something very similar. I don't know a great deal about Phil Morris, what I do know and have seen over a good few years is that he is very keen on helping youngsters make their way in Speedway. I don't believe that there is any way he would involve himself in a scheme that would hurt the development of young British riders. If that pay rate is right it may not be a great payday but these are kids who generally would be riding NL at £10 per point (in theory) or PL and not earning any or much more than they are being offered. We don't yet know what the package is but the opportunity is there for a kid to make some big strides if they take advantage of it. As for upgrading to EL equipment that's not strictly true as they will be riding against the same people they would be in the NL and PL. However when the time comes to make the step up perhaps they will be better informed as to the upgrades they really need to make rather than just throwing money at stuff that won't actually make them faster.

You make some valid points but I do think that in some ways you are arguing against something I never actually said. I don't think that the way Speedway is run couldn't be improved and in many things by a great deal. That is a world away from having some ideas and claiming the BSPA as a collective are stupid for not doing things the way I think best. A more realistic shed analogy would be for somebody to assume that a builder is bad because you are told a shed he built for a mate leaks and the builder is going bankrupt. It might be a bad builder but it might be the mate insisted that the shed be built on an unstable base and the builder is going bankrupt because the mate hasn't paid him. The point being that unless you have all the relevant facts it can be too easy to assume somebody is incapable. I am sure there are a great many people on here who's skills could be invaluable to a club. However skilled the marketing expert unless he knows the budget he is not in a position to make decisions rather than suggestions. Certainly they are not in a position to assume that the marketing is not done in a certain way because of stupidity on the part of a club owner, it might be lack of knowledge in that department, it may be lack of finances, it may be lack of will but I still think to assume as a collective the BSPA are stupid is wide of the mark.

Keep up, read the second line of my post again

So if we look at this with a glass half full attitude based on what we know and a lot of assumptions. If the riding order is fixed as regards heat leader and second string we will see no more reserve vs GP rider programmed races. We will see more 'like for like' races which should be more competitive. Better racing at a stroke! The fast-track riders get to race only against one another and second strings of a standard they would be likely to meet in the PL anyway. However if the pit order was 3-6-1-7-5 those youngsters would get the opportunity to learn about set up's and attitude from some of the best in the world. It always seems to me that once you get to the top class set-up's are where the Brits struggle. If, as fans we stop looking for more World class riders and aim to develop EL second strings and heat leaders to populate our own leagues then there is a good chance of success. If that happens the World class riders will emerge in time. Those with the talent and attitude to become world class will succeed in any system but at least this will give encouragement to youngsters to get into and stay in the sport, the more of them there are the more likely that exceptional talents will appear. There is a real opportunity to progress these youngsters if the whole package can be put in place with regard to training in all aspects of the sport. What's not to like

Anybody can have any opinion they like but there are some saying that the BSPA are stupid or have no idea when it seems quite clear that they are the only people with all the information. We all think that they sometimes make silly decisions, sometimes it's easy to see in retrospect that the right decision wasn't made, but very rarely do we fully understand the whole story of why a decision was taken. Saying that in your opinion they are wrong is fine, assuming that because they take a different course to what you would like to see because they are stupid just seems daft to me.

Why do so many people assume they know more than the BSPA about Speedway? You may not like the way they do things but it's fact that they are running tracks while the vast majority of us are looking in as outsiders with varying degrees of knowledge. There are very, very few on here who know even the basics of running a Speedway track and maybe one or two who have the in depth knowledge of the promoters. You/we may not like their decisions but given the fact that they have all the required information to arrive at a decision and non of us do it seems a bit daft to just assume they are stupid. In general they have somehow made enough money to run a Speedway track whether as a business or an expensive hobby, the vast majority of us have been unable to make enough money to consider it even if we wanted to. It's all a bit like the postman telling the bricklayer how to lay bricks because he saw somebody else do it once, or the brickie telling the postie the best way to deliver letters because it's obvious - even though he's never actually done it. Assuming somebody is stupid because they don't do things the way an amateur thinks best seems a bit, well, stupid!

There seems to be a lot of negativity about the idea of having two British (NL) youngsters in each EL team and I can understand the scepticism, however the full details aren't yet known and if there is a complete fastrack system put into place it could be the most positive thing to happen to the sport in many years. Originally I had real doubts but many of them are being answered as more details of the plan become public. Just imagine if each year those entered into the fastrack system are given proper coaching, help finding and keeping sponsors, mechanical and setup advice from top riders, dietary and fitness help rather than just being chucked into the EL. Suddenly it becomes a very worthwhile exercise and would explain why 20 riders are being selected and drafted rather than a blanket under a certain age and average rule. Just being in the team at EL meetings would be an education in itself but not enough on it's own in my opinion. Maybe it's just a pipe dream but anything close to that would be far better than has so far been available so I really hope it could become a reality.

If the rule was something along the lines of any rider under 25 who has competed in the NL and has a PL average less than 5 or 6 gets put into the pool then it would be a great idea. If it was any current NL rider, even though I am very keen to see British riders helped I don't think it would be doing them any real favours, I also don't believe the rule would last long.

I would have thought the exact opposite would be more sensible. Bring in a structure that the sport can afford and that would be attractive to the fans who attend meetings and then if you can sell what you have it's a bonus. The alternative is to wait for a TV deal and if it happens spend every penny it pays on trying to survive rather than to help with the long term future. If it doesn't happen it will be too late to make dramatic changes and you will have lost riders and fans who won't or cant wait around until just before the season to arrange their own lives. The biscuit crisis is dependent on the TV deal. A tentative offer has been made on a bulk order of chocolate digestives but if no TV deal is finalised by January they will be left on the shelf and plain digestives substituted. At the current meeting chocolate cake has been purchased in order to show Sky how confident they are.

I love the SGP and think that at times it has provided the best racing I have seen in over 40 years of watching, however perhaps the more sensible route for riders would be to pull out of the GP until they are paid a rate befitting a World Championship. Of course it won't happen as there will always be somebody willing to take a devalued World Championship. But the amateur way that motorcycle sport is run by some of the self interested parties at both International and national level needs to be challenged. There are some great people trying their best within the FIM and ACU but they are beating their heads against a brick wall.

Just how do foreign lads on a 5 or 6. point PL average survive if they get paid less than British riders and only get the same travel expenses? For sure there are plenty of British lads out partying instead of dedicating themselves to Speedway, there are also plenty of foreign lads doing the same thing, including some that ride over here. Equally there are riders of all nationalities, including Brits, who work very hard to get as far as possible in the sport.

He is if you are calling in a local plumber to repair a leak that is preventing your business from running efficiently. There are numerous exceptions to employment law, in the case we are talking of those concerning training and sport would cover anything so far discussed. The whole self employment / asset system could be another story but if it suits everybody there won't be an issue.

You need to look into European employment law and especially the exceptions, much of what is accepted as general knowledge isn't based on fact. A few years ago I was in a position to look into how these things would work and all were possible within the law at the time. Unless things have changed dramatically in the past 5 years or so I believe most if not all are workable.

Only allow British riders to become club assets if they have actually been trained by or ridden for a club for at least two years. Give British riders a really good advantage for team building averages. Bring first year British riders in on a two point average and keep them at reserve for their first year. Give clubs an even bigger discount for team building if they have trained the rider, he comes from within 50 miles of the track, or they arrange accommodation, transport etc to allow him to ride at the other end of the country. Give clubs an extra allowance for each year that they retain a British rider. Do not ever allow any foreign rider an average below their original assessment.

Some time ago on another topic you clearly stated that it cost £4000 to rebuild a CRF 250 engine, I offered to do it for £2000 but you didn't take me up on it, that was a shame as I could have done with the excessive profit. As topics that old don't seem to be available any more then I am sure you are aware can't link to it so if it makes you happy to lie that you didn't say it carry on. I can easily see another point of view, if you read what is written you will see that I have said more than once that I don't necessarily see F2 Speedway as the way forward but that I do think it deserves proper consideration. I can accept that somebody doesn't like watching F2 Speedway bikes, I couldn't let the statement that they were ridden like shorttrack go because it is impossible. In the same way the blanket statement that Speedway engine parts were less expensive than their MX counterparts could be proven wrong as the figures are easily available. No vested interest but quite a few years of paying for MX and a few paying for Speedway has left me with a clear view of what I think offers the better value for money. As my real passion has always been for Speedway I would like to see the sport survive and cant see the logic of complaining about everything that anybody suggests might help the long term future of the sport. MX clearly has something to teach Speedway when their practice days are attended by ten times the number of riders that Speedway ones are.

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. It's understandable that you might not realise that F2 Speedway bikes didn't have brakes despite your 30 years experience. It's equally easy to see how you could make the statement that it costs £4000 to rebuild a mx engine if you don't know any better. Everybody has their strengths though and yours is the way you can repeatedly make the same comments in slightly different ways while managing to entirely ignore any facts or figures that don't fit and avoiding using any facts yourself. You have an incredible ability and I would think Alastair Campbell will be in touch for some advice very soon.