Islander15

The ones who are confused are the BSPL and Poole! Yes it appears that the name of Poole’s meeting is now being changed to make it sound like the Development Series and not the NLRC. But that’s not what they announced! How can the fans be expected to willingly attend a meeting and part their money when the authorities can’t even tell us conclusively what the meeting is for

Nope, Poole are advertising this as hosting the National League Riders Championships as a one off meeting as is usually the case. Leicester (and it appears Edinburgh too if their Caledonian Riders Champs is doubling as 2 competitions) are the only club(s) to announce rounds of the National League Development Series. Here is the link of dates (which only shows Leicester) https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2024-ndlrc-series/ Originally they said clubs who aren’t running a NL venture would have to have a round of the Series or run second halves, but it doesn’t seem like that is being made mandatory. Unless clubs are going to start announcing dates at short notice like Poole have.

This is the one-off riders championship that is hosted annually. It’s not the development series that is new this season and is supposedly around the country at multiple tracks, but so far Leicester are the only club to announce a date.

What is street parking like around the stadium? Is there ample free parking? £10 is a rip off but I don’t want to get there and there’s nowhere to actually park.

What day do Mildenhall want?

It’s disheartening to see the lack of interest in the NL these days. It’s come from dumbing down the league for years and years. Why would fans be as excited about an inferior product?

Tickets for SON 2 & SON final purchased

A speedy recovery to Joe Thompson, Ablitt and Barker. 2 very nasty looking crashes and a predictably east win. The track rode fine, but it would be much better viewing if there wasn’t so much dust.

No disrespect to Rowe, but he clearly isn’t a number 1. Can only see a heavy home win to make the second leg redundant.

The link they’ve tweeted etc isn’t working but this is it https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/speedway-of-nations-admission It’s only the 4 day package on sale now. The individual tickets go on sale on Tuesday .

Is there anymore entrants?

Ridiculous really. The track staff were straight on it when it stopped raining at 5:30pm and worked hard, but by 6pm it was obvious it wasn’t going to go ahead and needed a decision making. Whilst the dark clouds were getting nearer, everyone was just stood around waiting for the inevitable. Then It felt like the final decision got made for them when fans started walking out!

In years gone by Scunny struggled without an out and out number 1 until Douglas dramatically upped his game. Howarth is familiar with wearing number 1 on his back but after a sub par season at Plymouth, comes on a relatively low average to allow a stronger middle order. I’m not necessarily saying he will replace Douglas’ scoring but at home at a track he knows well I think he will score as a genuine number 1 and add a point to his average.

This should be an easy home win. If Howarth wants to fill the big shoes of Douglas then he needs to be looking at scoring a near maximum.

1. Luke Killeen 7.73 2. Luke Crang 3.61 3. Ace Pijper 5.81 4. Max James 5.70 5. Luke Harrison 6.86 6. Senna Summers 3.00 7. Harry McGurk 3.00 Total: 35.71

Yep that is against the rules, so I’ll go with your actual team.

It’s back! So build a team upto 36.25 points and the highest end of the season average wins! Only 2 riders from each club are allowed in your team. Averages can be found on the 2024 teams thread on here or hopefully soon on the BSPL site.  Previous results were: 2023: 1st Islander15, 2nd Adz_mft & 3rd Hawks1975. 2022: 1st Diamonds85, 2nd Sings4Speedway & 3rd PotteringAround. 2021: 1st Hawks1975, 2nd Islander15 & 3rd Iron Scorpion. 2019: 1st Iand, 2nd Flipper11 & 3rd DJC.  2018: 1st Hunters, 2nd SKJ & 3rd CUFC_Brummie.   2017: 1st Eagles69, 2nd Islander15 & 3rd SKJ. 2016: 1st Halifax Tiger, 2nd John Leslie, 3rd Turn Two. Good luck everyone

Where has this been confirmed?

What’s the chances that it doesn’t get staged if neither side can win the league?

As well as from the riders view point that others have discussed before me, there’s also the fans point. We’ve seen time and time again that sides that lose aren’t supported. We might want to watch development generally but if you are an avid supporter of a team then you want some success and a clear route to your Championship side. Teams have to be competitive, and win at home, to bring the punters in and bring the money in. I just look at the rumoured Edinburgh side and if I was a Monarchs fan, there’s only Sam McGurk that excites me to part with my money again.

He’s local and still young. He’s worth another chance.

Looking like a side that will finish bottom.

Good to see Wirtzfeld back in the sport. He’ll do well at NSS and Colts fans will enjoy watching him.

It looks like a familiar Scunthorpe team again! Tbf knowing Douglas was leaving it was a massive hole for Scunny to fill. I think by signing Howarth they have actually found a very good replacement. He knows the track and the set up and has shown at Sheffield that he’s not phased by having the number 1 on his back. Which before Dougie, it always felt like Auty rode worse at number 1 than number 5. The reserves obviously look weaker than last year, but so do nearly every other team’s. Ablitt is always a trier at EWR and was pretty good to watch so after most of the season there he should hopefully be fine with an entire season as the more senior reserve. Especially getting more EWR races in the NL. Then Harrison is a cracking prospect. Hopefully no pressure on him and he’s guaranteed a place for the whole season, knowing that he’s got the ability to pick up some points every now and again.

A very strong heat leader trio! But none of them have been dominant enough yet to say they’ve outgrown the NL. Especially Harrison and Pijper who this league is made for. Develop the youngsters and even if they are winning races regularly at this level, they’re not ready to be only in the CL yet, so hopefully if they do hit a bad patch of CL form they’ll get a NL meeting to get some good points and increase their confidence.