Wee Eck

My understanding is that, under BSPL rules, directors, owners and promoters are treated the same.

Gosh! Genius! I bet no one thought of that one…..

What is the fixation, or maybe bitterness, with Glasgow? If reducing wages at Eastbourne is a possibility, then does that not suggest that the club were paying too much to begin with?

In an interview last year or the year before, he said he rode hard and it was up to the referee to decide if he’d ridden too hard. Now a referee has made that decision, he complains. IMO Fast Freddie is more and more Dirty Freddie. Maybe he reckons he needs to be more like Nicki Pedersen if he’s ever to be World Champion?

I thought Mondays and Thursdays were protected days for the top league so they would get priority if some upstart Championships decided to jump on one of their days?

My recollection was that the Golden tyre worked well for Greg when the silencers changed to the ones that Eddie Kennett was caught doctoring, but when the rules changed again, basically back to the original silencer, after some poor early season results, Greg bought himself out of the contract. That was some time ago now

It seems that 15 of the 16 riders at last night’s Wroclaw GP were using Anlas Tyres. It seems they are consistently providing more grip though I don’t know if the longevity issue has been resolved.

Match off

Figures are available from Companies’ House website. The following are approximate losses made in the 2019 season: Leicester £30k Poole £16k Berwick £9k Belle Vue £84k Edinburgh £18k Redcar £35k Scunthorpe £3k Swindon £78k and the only profit I could find: Wolverhampton £7,000

Not that I can remember but I might be mistaken. And, if I did, then I was wrong. I’ve taken an interest in Joe and Dan since I first saw them ride 125s or maybe 150s at Northside four or five years ago, maybe even longer, and have always been impressed by the Thompson family set up. Their dad has put many hours and many pounds into supporting them, and they all deserve to succeed. As far as Leicester is concerned, I stand by my views on financial profligacy. But they are only my views, nothing more.

The signing of Hans shows ambition and a complete disregard for Leicester’s finances. It’s no secret that they’ve struggled to pay riders on time in the past and there’s nothing in the way things are this year to suggest that will change. I know the press release says the owners will bail them out but what an example to set by the vice chairman? He supports, from his own pocket, a move that basically hands the title to his team and bankrupts them at the same time. The other clubs can write off 2021 but they’ll have the visit of Anderson to boost crowd numbers and, although they can expect to lose at hone, at least they’ll have decent crowds and lower wage bills. Meanwhile, Leicester will run up 60+ borefests which will see their crowds drop. Great business move, Mr Bates.

It’s a shame for Zane, especially after coming over last year and waiting around for any racing, none of which happened for him. He was much hyped, especially by Dick Barrie, but it was a lot to expect a 27 year old (now 28?) to be able to mix it in what is a competitive league. 14 points from 19 rides shows how much he has struggled. But, will Garry May work his magic on him at Plymouth and will Zane come back to bite Poole on the backside in the second leg of the KO cup?

They were involved with the No Limits programme from day one when they were only 14 I think, and are now involved with the GB Academy. As someone said, they are a year behind the likes of Rowe and Flint but are showing great strides. They are still only 17 so time enough to get involved with the Young Lions. By my reckoning, they’ll still be eligible for under 19s until 2023 and under 21s until 2025 so still plenty of time

As the new promoters, Discovery, own Eurosport, then I’d have thought it was nailed on that coverage will be on one of their sports channels. They could pick Eurosport 1 or 2 which many people already have as part of a package or Eurosport player that requires a different subscription. My guess is they’ll use the player option to maximise their return.

Thanks. I didn’t know hence my saying “not sure”. That has to be the smallest number of commuting non-Brits for decades

All except Luke Becker….. Very few riders in this years Premiership are “fly in, fly out”. I reckon only, Kurtz and Bewley (BV), Riss (KL), Andersen (not sure about MPT and Ostergaard) at Peterborough, Holder and maybe Ellis at Sheffield and Becker (Wolves). Changed days with no Swedes and no Poles in Britain’s top league.

https://www.armadaledevils.co.uk/news-centre/article/2021-06-20/archie-joins-the-devils

I find James’ approach confusing as I would expect that he has the potential to earn more in the long term from speedway but concentrates on grass track and long track to the extent that his race style doesn’t work for speedway - he needs to get his backside off the saddle as he goes into the bends. He has been told and put it to good use, but then reverts to his old style. Although only 24, he’s been racing since 2013 so I’m not sure when “he will get better”. I’m sure he’s enjoying himself, but the Brummies need riders who will improve over the season if they’re not going to be also rans

They want the stadium demolished and to be joint developers with the town for all the new flats that the council (BCP) want to build on the site. They are using their long lease of the site as leverage

It was my opinion, maybe badly phrased, that, although James was top scorer, it was the whole team that came through on the night. The expectation was that Newcastle would struggle at Armadale but they produced a great result. If you look at the headline numbers, it could be taken that the reason why Newcastle did so well was because of James, but actually, James simply did his job well. He didn’t beat either of Edinburgh’s top two, but managed to get amongst the points by beating riders who simply didn’t perform. Anyway, it’s looking as if the teams collective efforts on Friday will come to nothing as the Monarchs have come out with all guns blazing this afternoon….

Just my view. James Wright is a former Premier League Riders Champion and former Scottish Open Champion so, although coming back from retirement, he’s no novice. Edinburgh last night were two heat leaders, four also rans and a non-scoring reserve. Wright beat non scoring Wooler twice, Greaves once, was 1-1 with Thomson, 2-1 against Lawson, who often tails off as the meeting goes on and 2-0 against Pickering, one being when Pickering fell. So that’s really just once. James was in good form on a track he knew well, so should have been expected to do well when 4 of the Monarchs were struggling. Had they ridden to previous form, he wouldn’t have done so well, in my view, hence my conclusion that seems to have upset you. The second leg will be interesting. If these four Monarchs race according to normal form, I doubt James will do as well. But that’s only my opinion.

Not sure what went wrong for Edinburgh tonight but just as well Kyle Howarth was a poor guest for Newcastle. At 36-36 after heat 12, Edinburgh were unlikely to lose as they should power to 5-1s at home in 13 and 15, which proved the case. The score that really shows what happened is the last places: Edinburgh won that 10-5. James Wright might have been top scorer for Newcastle, but he didn’t really beat anyone that he shouldn’t have. It was the strong overall scoring by Newcastle that kept this close with a special mention due to Adam Roynon on what I’d guess was his first meeting at Armadale for a very long time. Edinburgh management will have expressed their disappointment at the performance of some of the team so the return leg is likely to be a different story. I’d expect an aggregate Edinburgh win unless Newcastle can field a competitive number one. Even then, it’s likely to be close.

Well, that’s almost as short a retirement as Josh Auty’s

Retired

Clearly, you didn’t read my reply….. and I spotted my mistake as soon as I posted but it doesn’t actually change anything. I’ve never heard of Smart DNS nor Smart DND but am happy that my life is not diminished because of that. But I guess my bank balance will be better off. For the record, I watched British speedway tonight live on Eurosport. On channel 411 on my tv. I’m not sure if that makes me a Smart anything, perhaps just a viewer.