Sophies Mate

Brad has got his flight booked for a reason it's his 21st birthday and his dads 50th birthday towards the end of October and usually the season has finished by then think in the last few years theres only been one or two meetings towards the back end of October at Eastbourne, so you can't blame him for wanting to be home to celebrate!

Bought mine too, makes sense to advertise this now to maximise on the attendance. Helps people with young children who won't want to take them to arrange child care and also for others to make travel/hotel arrangements. When you think about it a lot of hotels offer really good advance deals and being October you could probably get a good deal bearing in mind not all of the fans are locally based and means they can organise hotel stays if they want - not sure where the nearest hotel to the Amex is though! Also means that we could get a mini bus organised for those that are local and don't want to/can't drive and would like a drink or three!

Not an exit, only replacement for a few weeks whilst Kelsey gets over his knee injury - its on the club web site and facebook .

How old do you have to be to ride in the NL? As if it's 16 then Tom won't be able to join after July 2 2017 as he is 14 tomorrow. He is a very talented rider and think he will go far the way he races round Arlington is a joy to see. Nathan and Jason will also be great additions too.

If Luke can avoid bike problems I think he won't do too bad hes no stranger to Arlington as he has ridden there in the youth championship and has been down on the occasional winter practice

I have to admit to being one of the doubters when I heard that we were going to be an NL side now that I have been to all the home meetings and one away meeting (well 5 heats of one ......) give me NL any day didn't really realise how dire EL is/was the racing has been excellent as others have said loads of passing, the riders actually want to race only retire due to bike problems/injury when they do fall off theres none of the laying there trying to get others excluded etc all without exception get up really quick (apart from the odd one due to genuine injury) and if they can jump back on the bike and carry on. Have not seen any prima donna antics at all so far unlike some of these so called 'top riders'. There is a real team spirit amongst the team and they all work well together and love the way that they have so much time for the fans whether old or young or in between which is key in keeping fans new or the die hard fans. After seeing Mattie race for the first time on sunday he looks to be an excellent addition to the team and it's really good to see plenty of racing for the junior riders too some of them will I'm sure will go far! Martin and Connor are doing an excellent job they know how valuable social media is in getting the word out there about speedway.

Thanks Alan !

Question for someone who knows the rules in NL do the reserves stay as reserves as they do in the el league or can they move up?

Glad someone else has asked this as we were talking about the same thing as having dropped from elite to nl we werent sure!

Glad you like them Steven as six of the photos are mine

Bradley Wilson-Dean has now arrived in the UK and is on his way to Sussex!

I've had the same invite at work too but then again we have over the last few years purchased some very large and expensive machines from Dugards!!

Couldn't agree more !! Beaten by a lady hmmmmm think you're on the wrong site for that ...........

It was announced that Eastbourne could not afford kevins services even though he dropped his price he was dearer than paying for two reserve riders. Now you can decide what you like from that statement but as Martin said he and Connor have got to run this as a business now they will not have Bob helping them out. Thats something you cant blame them for if we want speedway to continue at Eastbourne then cost savings need to be made where possible. Yes Kevin is a great announcer but its more important to pay the riders especially the UK riders too many have dropped out and it needs to stop. NL racing will be exciting at times and not so other times but then again show me a team in any sport that is always exciting to watch?? The drop in admission prices especially the child prices coupled with the friendlier sunday afternoon time will hopefully draw the families back at the end of the day we need younger fans to come along!

As previously said and see sussex bulldogs post there are too many meetings in the PL hence why the drop to NL

Thanks

Maybe something will be said at the presentation evening this saturday, I am not able to go but i do know a few people that are going and have asked them to let me know if anything is mentioned about this, plus if they mention any plans for next year. Another question I have is about the national league trophy as I have not followed NL until now I don't know how this works is this contested by the top four teams from the previous year? Or how is this decided?

Like to think we will have a team that will be up there and as the admission will be cheaper and having nearly half the amount of meetings hopefully that will increase the attendance.

Too many meetings in the PL for Bob Dugards liking, plus I think he believes the NL will be cheaper to run. Admission will be cheaper so I guess the club is banking on more people attending because of this.

Thanks everyone it seems that theres more club's that do let you than originally thought. Definitely agree it's an added experience for children and I think for newbies to the sport in particular.

Yes I noticed that when I went up there in April thought there was a lot of wasted space by the pit area which could be put to better use, guess maybe thats in the plans at some point to update as and when money and maybe planning allows? I did however like the rst of the track found it clean and tidy and in particular liked how the stand opposite the start/finish line was above the track found it great to watch the racing from there.

Whilst ive not been to many away tracks, the ones I have been to the fans have not been allowed in the pits either before or after the meeting. Where as at Arlington this is allowed think its a good thing for the fans to have the chance to meet the riders and even during the meeting they are able to view whats going on in the pits which I believe adds to the experience. I do appreciate that some riders may not like this before a meeting when they are trying to prepare and focus on the job in hand but would be interested to know how many tracks allow this and if other fans like being able to do this?

The photographer at Eastbourne (Mike Hinves) gives access to his photos to the local Eastbourne newspapers (Gazette and Herald) to chose which ones to use in their write ups surely more regional papers could do the same with other tracks that have licenced photographers (this way gets round this problem and saves them money too by not sending a photographer). I also know that the sports writer fot the Argus -Brian Owen attends most if not all home meetings to do his reports and regulary interviews riders to get thier thoughts and also he contributes to twitter on a regular basis too.

First time for a long time that the Eagles have not had a British Rider in their side in fact back in 2008 we had five British riders in the team Scotty, Lewis Lee, Brundle and Eddie Kennett ...............

100 give or take a few and most were friends and family I'd guess with a few regular speedway fans.