Vince

Do the heat shields need to be approved or can you fit anything suitable? I noticed on Ebay it says they are suitable for approved silencers which could be a different thing.

According to Hansards average wage for a manual worker was £3 9s in 1939 so round it up to £3.50 and you are talking over 25 times that. Struggled to find a recent average wage for manual workers but the overall average is £26k so if we assume 20 which is near as £400 week as makes no difference that would make the rate today well over £10,000 week riding for one team who supplied a mechanic to look after your bike in their workshop. Apparently that is nearly as much as some NL riders!!

You just gotta love the whingers on this forum, they don't even need to know what is happening before they start knocking it.

You say that as if it's a bad thing!

I have to say one thing for robert72, he doesn't give up........................................ever!

For me this is the biggest flaw of the asset system. It actually encourages promoters to bring in untried foreign riders and give the a long run in the team to try to get them to a point where they have some financial value. There is no point in their helping a young Brtitish lad make his way in a higher league because there is no long term benefit for their club. Much better if British lads could not become assets until they had ridden 10 or 12 meetings for the club that wants to sign them. A fee could be applicable to be paid to NL clubs if the lad then qualifies to become an asset in the higher league.

Might be the way to make Speedway accessible in more places for youngsters/ beginners........before they move on to proper bikes. Needn't be slow, sure I saw that electric bikes are lapping the Isle of mann TT course at or near to 100mph average.

There was a long running dispute between the ACU and the AMCA many years ago about the ACU not letting their riders compete in other events. The outcome was that it was judged illegal and that riders could not have their licences withdrawn for competing with a different federation.

Welcome to the Leicester 2013 thread, the current under 5's playground of the BSF :-)

For the biggest current club in British Speedway to report a financial loss when they have previously been proud to announce that they are one of the few financially viable clubs has to be some of the most worrying news of the winter. Put it alongside the possible loss of Sky or a lesser deal from them at the end of the year and it would appear there will need to be some really drastic changes in the very near future. Could be the end of the professional sport as we know it or just maybe the opportunity to restructure and improve.

I find it hard to believe that so many people cite the introduction of 4v engines as being so harmful to Speedway. Jap 2v engines were no more reliable and how reliable do you think a 2v Jawa would be with another 30 years development so it would also be revving to the same levels? The only extra cost of these engines is literally for the items needed to run 2 valves and that is minimal in the overall picture. Neither did the 4v or laydowns introduce slick tracks, they evolved because they worked better on the slick tracks that were becoming the normal. When I first went to Speedway in the mid to late 60's I used to hear all the old folks moaning about how much better it was when they used Jap's, they should never have allowed the Eso or Jawa, Cinders produced much better racing and on and on. Some meetings were brilliant, the majority OK, some poor (for the younger members I have to say that not every race in the 60's produced 25 passes!) All I used to see was 4 blokes tearing round a track risking life and limb and thought it was the most exciting sport I've ever seen. Now I am one of the old blokes and I hear basically the same complaints referring to days I can remember but still all I see is 4 blokes tearing round a track risking life and limb in the most exciting sport I've ever seen.The only real difference is that the crowd is very much smaller and that inevitably takes something away from the excitement.

When they stopped calling Speedway dangerous and started with the 'family sport' image building. It was a family sport anyway but in the 60's many of the kids annuals and comics would have something about Speedway and it always emphasised the risk. That also applied to the newspapers. My memory is not good enough to say whether their coverage decreased in line with the spectators but I have a feeling the sport fell out of popularity with the press before it did with the public. To my way of thinking the idea of promoting Speedway as a family sport was very much 'selling coals to Newcastle' what teenager wants to like the same things their parents do unless they can say they do so for different reasons? There is a lot more competition for peoples money anyway so I think spectator numbers would have declined no matter what but the marketing has been poor. For me the racing is at least as good as I have ever seen (I believe better) and rose tinted glasses bear a lot of responsibility for people knocking the sport.

Because under the current system they can make money in future transfers or loan fees if they pay the right price

Since riders are self employed and not paid a year round salary or retainer it is difficult to see how the asset system can possibly stand up legally. For me the biggest problem with the system is that British youngsters cost clubs money in loans fees so are either not given the opportunities or only given a very short time to achieve their average when they step up a league. An untried foreign rider could be bought in for similar money but will become a club asset and therefore is worth giving a long run in the hope he will come good as he would then be financially beneficial to the club. I can see how the asset system can benefit the clubs but it is a nonsense that youngsters can become assets of a club they have never ridden for and who have done nothing for them training wise.

No but how many riders from the midlands have benefitted from their efforts and is that worth jeopardising to whinge about one rider who, if the only poster to know anything about him is right, is unlikely to get a NL place anyway? I would be suprised if your posts on here haven't cost your boy a lot more rides than this lad ever will.

1. His mother is British so that means he is as well, just because you don't like it doesn't make it any less true. 2. I don't know Kelvin or Chris but it sounds like British riders will be worse off without them around trying to help and that is the most likely outcome of people like yourself slagging them off. Tell me how many rides will the lads that even you agree are British will lose then. 3. One of the major problems in British Speedway is that people who do nothing to help but are very objectionable on internet forums make those who do actually do something for the sport give up, feeling that nobody is backing them. Like this thread, the critics are a minority but often a very vocal one and it must make the people who are trying to organise some Speedway for midlands lads wonder whether it is worthwhile.

Does anybody believe that if the answer is yes Robert72 will accept it and wait and see what happens? Or like me do you think he is just hoping for any reply that he can dispute and use in his continual attempts to put anybody off going to Leicester Speedway?

I don't think anyone is suggesting that at all, certainly I am not. That's why I said 'as things stand' when talking about NL opportunities bviously you need more interest in the sport all around in order to get more kids wanting to get on Speedway bikes. However that is a completely different argument to whether this lad might take a place that is desperately needed by somebody else.

I am all in favour of the NL being for British lads but if there is a British parent I can't see how he could possibly be denied a place - if his ability justifies it - he is British end of story. As things stand I believe the opportunities are there for youngsters of a suitable standard to break into the NL, it's the step(s) up from there that need sorting or possibly the places for middle average NL riders are where it starts to break down. I think a few years ago there would have been a valid point about there being too many of doubtful patriality in the league but I will put my tenner alongside Vog's if you can list more than 5 current riders.

Too true! How dare they put money into a Speedway track?

I have seen quite a lot of Robert practicing this year and the lad is definitly a special talent. However if it were down to me I would have him ride NL next year alongside whatever meetings he can get in Germany. It would seem very likely that he will only get beaten now and again in the NL but it will happen. It would also give him a lot more experience of different tracks and conditions in competitive circumstances, difficult to see how that can be bad thing until he is 16 and able to move up a league (or 2).

You really need to get over yourself and recognise that just because somebody holds a different opinion to you doesn't automatically make them wrong. I am not a Poole or especially a Holder fan, in fact Nicki P is probably my favourite rider but I never thought it was a clear cut decision and on review think the ref made the correct call. Clearly my opinion is not as important as yours (in your mind) but I'm pretty sure this forum is here so I can state it.

I hate that saying ever since I first heard it from an ACU official who had never sat on a bike in his life. It's crap when applied to most motorcycle racing and hardly applies to Speedway at all. If Holder had shut off everybody would have been down. I already said that I first thought Holder should have been excluded and seeing it again I still think he could have been but all 4 back was also a fair decision in the circumstances. In my opinion it was nowhere near clear cut and obvious who was at fault. The only reason to exclude Holder would have been that onto the run into the corner he could have predicted what was about to happen and the more I have seen it the more I tend to think my first opinion was wrong and the ref right.

I thought Holder should have gone (and I wanted him to be champ) but my son thought it was the correct decision. Difficult call and nowhere near as obvious as some on here are saying imo.

OK, I can't resist asking why you brought him to the UK instead of Denmark or whatever?