Bagpuss

Are my ears burning HMRC winding up order anyone?

Which ties in with the points limit. The whole idea is to make teams as even as possible, was obvious when the points limit was announced that there wouldn't be enough quality riders to make everybody competitive.

Which will put us in the same boat as everyone bar Poole & Belle Vue, those two look streets ahead of the others. The result of a too high a points limit unfortunately.

Very unprofessional of Tatum to run his mouth off about the club he works for at an event hosted by another.

Looks like Huckenbeck will be number eight and S Lambert number nine if you like, with the final rider still to be named, thats how I read it anyway. Bjarne Pedersen looks the best of whats left and that would mean a pretty reasonable squad although not on par with Belle Vue and Poole.

Looks like a squad system through the back door for those who want it.....not a bad idea but the communication from the governing body has been dreadful.

My first meeting will be the Peter Craven Memorial at Belle Vue, very much looking forward to it. After that I have no idea really, everything around King's Lynn feels very flat at the moment. I expect curiosity and the desire to catch up with mates will draw me to the NA at some point but I'll need much more VFM for my seventeen quid to attend regularly.

In his biased opinion I would suggest.

Each to their own really. I think you get good and bad meetings at all levels but personally I've never got much of a buzz from NL speedway despite attending several meetings at Lynn over the twenty odd years its held third division speedway and quite a few at Mildenhall too. The skill level and speed is obviously lower than the two leagues above it and while I accept you may get more passing in what is essentially a training league its not really for me, but it is for many people and good luck to them. It certainly is in better shape than the EL and the lower running costs means clubs may have more security at that level.

Very much so, IIRC it was agreed that the top riders would be shared out evenly yet I can remember some former BL teams with two or three and some NL sides struggling to find one. However I'd like to think that speedway promoters can see the benefit of acting in the best interests of the sport as a whole and not just their league or club. An 'us and them' attitude won't move speedway forward.

Makes perfect sense to have the British Final on the same track as the SWC final and also on a big fast track in terms of trying to be successful in international events in general.

Wouldn't mind betting that he is the back up plan.

Would solve one of the problems which can make speedway look very amateurish.

I would love to know how anyone can have any idea what the weather will be doing in two months time.

Nope, meant 1986. As in the season that Paul Woods & Mark Courtney rode for Lynn.

I think our 2-5 look pretty good but with weak reserves compared to others and no number one we are looking at a bottom half finish.

1986?

Do you mean no chance of the Play Offs? Because other than Poole & Belle Vue the rest look awful, I'd say Swindon have as much chance of 3rd or 4th as anyone.

I'd imagine every rider would have to appear in a certain number of meetings. And I don't see many riders just doing EL, most riders ply their trade in more than one league. The system wouldn't be without its issues but Starman always seems to look for problems where there potential solutions, boils down to how much you want the sport to change for the better I suppose and whether your glass is half full or empty. One thing is for certain, EL speedway can't keep going along its current path or there won't be a league for Poole to win every year.

Why?

There is the Starman 'can't do' outlook once again. How about we implement it in a similar fashion to Sweden where it seems to be successful? To my mind you sign ten riders and can use any combination of those as long as your match day team comes under the points limit using the averages those riders started the season on. Should be no need for R/R or guests and riders who don't want to ride a whole season of 28+ meetings don't have to. Certainly not going to entice every top rider back over here but would encourage some to return.

Admission prices finally announced http://www.kingslynnstars.co/2016/02/15/admission-season-ticket-prices-announced/

Set nights away from PL has to be the first requirement, and if its two nights a week rather than four I believe some riders who have binned off the EL will come back. I think squads are also needed and will work, riders don't seem to want 30+ meetings a season over here but 15-20 might work. The most important thing is to get teams as even as possible and eliminate all of the R/R and guests which we are inevitably going to get again this season.

But what a poor, lop sided league it looks. Two sides miles ahead of the others, one reasonably competitive and then five which look poor with Leicester the worst of the lot, mainly because of a too higher points limit for the riders available. Lets hope no club goes silly with the chequebook during the season in an effort to be competitive and ends up in financial trouble and that next year's proposed changes do some good as the EL badly needs a shot in the arm.

Absolutely. Whats is happening at Glasgow is great news for speedway but unfortunately it brings out that great British trait of being jealous of others' success in quite a few posters.