4thbender

Top marks to the promoters on pulling that one off. The team is looking like a unit with strength in depth. How about Steady for team manager?

Are you for real? Batesy did indeed score 17, but then caused a near-riot when he took on the entire Glasgow team and track-staff in a game of bare-knuckle fisticuffs. His antics didn't endear him to the Glasgow faithful.

Thrilled for the people of Plymouth. Great news that Devon will not be lost to our great sport. Hope everything goes well for you in the NL and hope to see you back in the Championship in the near future (if Sheffield haven't won their way into the Premiership by then!)

Sorry mate, you're wrong. The early bird catches the worm; If you snooze, you lose; need I say more?

So you'll settle for whoever's left after all the other teams have had their pick? Doesn't sound like a promising strategy to me. I hope and trust our promoters are getting their bids in before the cream of the crop gets snapped up.

Going by the colour of his hands, Eric Boocock might qualify.

"Is football failing black managers? BBC Sport investigates" says the headline (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31970841). Heaven forbid that they should ever decide to investigate speedway in the same way. Anyone know of a black speedway manager?.... or rider? ....or fan? ....EVER?

Steady's guesting at the Glasgow Tigers Supporters Group next week: https://goo.gl/gdDRWA Wonder what he'll say when asked if he'll be riding next year!

It wouldn't surprise me.

Don't jump to conclusions about Kyle and Josh; neither one of them has agreed terms yet. Grajzc and bomber are pure speculation.

Holder please.

When Garrity's on song there can be few riders more capable of getting the crowd on their feet. He has that Doug Wyer quality of making sure no-one goes to the bar when he's riding. However his propensity for finishing up in A & E seems to mean he only ever appears in half the fixtures (the rest being filled by guests or rider replacement). On that basis his loss is possibly not as serious as it might otherwise be. Having a 9-point rider who's missing for half the season leaves a big hole for the rest of the team to fill and guests rarely live up to expectations.

Sounds as if this could be the best thing to happen to speedway for years. Anything that makes the sport more affordable for riders, promoters and sponsors has to be good news for the fans as well.

If it were that simple all the riders would be using it already. There has to be a downside. How does it compare (in terms of price and performance, for example) to GM or Jawa?

Don't quite understand what you're getting at GPR. My point is that, for 2017 at least, what we have effectively is a Southern League and a Northern League in all but name. Simple really. On a more technical point, does anyone have views on the announcement that the BSPA will be working with the Swiss manufacturers of the GTR engine which, allegedly, will drastically reduce riders' maintenance costs? Would any techie on this forum care to explain to the rest of us what impact this may have on the sport or whether it's just pie in the sky?

The North/South divide has been achieved by stealth. Look at the comparative geography of the two leagues and anyone who fails to see that geographic location played more than a small part in determining the makeup of the two leagues is deluding himself. Glad to hear that Workington are definitely running.

And we haven't got the PLRC (or its new equivalent)

It seems that next year we'll be riding in a smaller league (the Championship) consisting of Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ipswich, Newcastle, Peterborough, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, and possibly Workington. We'll be racing on a 2 x home and 2 x away basis, with automatic promotion for the champions to the higher league (Premiership). Rye House and Somerset have opted for the Premiership in 2017. Crucially, we'll only have 40 points to play with in building a team.

Keep it clean.

From my perch on the fourth bend I noted a distinct drop-off in the normal crowd numbers for the quarter- and semi-finals at Owlerton. What happens next Wednesday remains to be seen, but I sense that for many Sheffield fans the season finished three weeks ago. Had we had Steady, Garrity and Berge, the story might have been different, but turning out on a cold, dark night to watch "borrowed" riders trying to win a league title for a Sheffield team that was acknowledged sixth-best in the league is taking irony to its limits.

If by hook or by crook Sheffield manage to beat Somerset in the final, a major injustice will have taken place to take away the achievement of a team that's lost only four times in the entire season. It will show up the farcical nature of a competition wherein a team finishing sixth can be anointed as "League Champions" having used a litany of 'ringers' in the process. As a tigers fan of 50 years standing, it will give me no pleasure or pride whatsoever to become "champions" in such circumstances. I therefore hope and trust Somerset give us a walloping in both legs. However, I would add that Howarth, Bates, Sissis and Greaves have been outstanding throughout this debacle and deserve the praise of all Sheffield fans. It is a pity their efforts have been diminished by the ridiculous rules of the competition. For me, Howarth has been the discovery of the season and his name should be first on the teamsheet for 2017.

Summer sport? We'll still be settling this at Christmas.

...... and Howarth!

It appears Plymouth are down the swanee. This is obviously dire news for speedway and I wouldn't wish to be seen to profit from another team's demise. However it does mean that Jack Holder will be looking for a new club. He'd be ahead of Todd Kurtz and Kyle Newman on my list.

What? No Kyle Howarth? Big mistake.