thebaron

Swap you Mellgren for Simota; and we're talking assuming Holoub is out the equation mind. I like Bellego he flys round Scunny. Another point here; if Ryan has to qualify through the State Championship to get a Visa; presumably that's because he has to have a 7.00pt average to get back. Assuming he qualifies through top 4 in his State Champ; what average does he actually come in on in 2016? He is 6.68CMA in the final reckoning which is why he needs a Visa anyway and therefore must come back as 7.00pt rider. Or am I missing something ?; So Ryan's average actually inflates and... he's coming back from serious injury !. Ludicrous.

Ryan; How could he get 20 meetings in; when he was brought off by his team mate at Scunny and suffered a back injury and then broke his leg at Sheffield ? He's got to get fit to make the State Championships in the New Year; when he will not be at full fitness and could miss the cut because of it. That's just plain daft; the lad should have dispensation to return without qualifying through the State route; on the grounds he never had the opportunity to get his 7.00CMA which he would have but for all his rotten luck. We got to argue his case at very least.

What ?; including Bradley Wilson-Dean... anyone who cops for him; as a 3ptr virtually nailed on to be challenging.

I was thinking we were under 6 but your right assuming we have Zedi = Josh 8.00; Zedi 7.00; Alex 6.26; Carlos 5.33; Ryan 6.68; ANO 3.00 = 36.27 = 6.23. Assuming these are final CMA's. So those on your list would fit; assuming the final CMA's are correct. I reckon Zedi would be good for his average; we spoke to him and Tomas Topinka's mechanic who was with him on Friday. He wants to rider Premier League in 2016; and putting two and two together; his being there on Friday might be a give away. He was riding in the Czech Republic on Sunday so to turn up at Scunny's end of season bash shows admirable commitment from the lad. Rob; also referenced Lynn supremo Buster Chapman; so had me thinking that perhaps there had been contact with Kings Lynn; to whom Zedi is connected. I tell you; add Mellgren to that team for example; and its a fairly strong team team; particularly if our NL rider was Adam Ellis ? Someone said that Ryan might have to qualify for a Visa through a top 4 place in a State Championship !. For gods sake the lads battered from here to kingdom come; hardly rides at all and then gets told he has qualify for a Visa. Ryan surely is a special case how the blazes is he supposed to get his proper average if he is out injured. Some common sense please.

What the hell; bamboozled totally; are you ?

The fact that no one on here can fathom it; tells you all you need to know. And don't ask me because I am clueless on who's eligible and who is not. I reckon they are as well. If this is all we have to talk about post AGM; we are in big trouble. Seems this 3pt rider is the only thing that's come of this AGM and it actually waters down the racing quality in my view. If the likes of Adam Ellis is a 3pt rider; then who ever gets him will win the league; because he's that much ahead of his contemporaries in the NL. What about Bradley Wilson-Dean ? what is his PL average; suppose they will tell you he's a 7pt rider. Crackers; when all we want to see is the best riders on track. I don't give a monkeys if another track has seven 10pt riders and Scunny have two 8's and five 6's I just want to see the best racing. Averages are anti-speedway.

Have to agree with Broadsiders suggestion of a window before which you can only change your team due to injury or unforseen circumstance. 1st June would be fair enough. I agree on Nike Lunna not likely to figure from the off. Hes a talent; and one we nutured through a tough 2015 campaign.If he ended up loaned out someone will profit on a 4.5 average! I included MPT in my 1-7; but Leigh Lanham would be a good call on 5.71. Bags of know how on all tracks; capable of posting double figure scores. The draft rider; finishing third bottom we presumably get an early pick. Cannot see Adam Ellis coming our way; but if we brought back our own find; MattyO we would be getting a rider in great NL form and ready to step up to PL. Could see some decent scores for him from reserve. Expect him to be one of the picks in an NL rider draft.

Yes brilliant news last night but you might not miss as many as you think. From what I deduced we are racing every other Sunday at the EWR. I guess that the fixtures are going to run more like football; Home one week and Away in the next. So Premier fixtures staged over 3 days end of week; Elite fixtures 3 days front of week So we may be home Sunday and following week away to Sheffield then back home week after. Its sense really and potentially eases clashes for double up riders like Josh. Also I think they will incentivise away travel with concessions on gate. On the team front No Tommy Gun alas looks like money. No hard feelings rightly Thomas sees himself No1 as he achieved at Berwick; and it may not fit in our 2016 plans. Still our go to rider though if we need a guest. So we wish him well all amicable. For us; Wilko is comfirmed at reserve! and a draft rider so this is my 1-7 Josh 8.00 Ryan 6.68 Alex 6.26 Carl 5.33 Matt 3.00 MPT 5.86 Zedi 7.00 Tot 42.13. Merry Christmas

Just to say I was one of 47 Guiseley FC fans who went Wrexham last night. If you bought your ticket online and picked it up at the club shop away fans got £3 concession on the gate. Paid for me programme. Speedway could do this.

AGM; we always go into to it hoping for something to improve things and help speedway forward. Invariably the outcome is disappointing as we see it as fans and promoters see it first and foremost as a business. Without knowing all the financials and the many in's and out's; for example the availability of riders to man teams then its like sending your letter to Santa as kid hoping against hope for Action Man and ending up with his cheaper stable mate Tommy Gun - excuse the pun. But here's some of the things I would ask Santa for (Rob you do the big jolly fella with the beard) 1. Speedway at Scunthorpe in 2016 would be a start for me. 2. Merge the Leagues; the Elite masquerades as an Elite competition when it is really a rerun of the Premier. 3. Split the League geographically North/West and South/East Conferences - reduces travel and costs for everyone. 4. Launch British Speedway 2016 at the New Belle Vue; all teams represented. 5. 7 Rider teams with 9 man squads; including a Marquee Rider and 2 British Juniors at 8&9 for all teams. 6. The Marquee Rider; centrally contracted with the BSPA and allocated as the No1 and promotions/poster rider at the club. 7. Scrap Averages and Grade riders so that we are not splitting hairs over 0.01pt to include a rider. Get riders out there ! 8 20 Heat meetings may include 15 Heat Team match + 5 Heat 2nd Half or 20 Heat Individual Meeting or 3 team/4 team event. 8. Consider opening the season with 3 teams in a meeting; call it the Spring Cup; local opposition; more fans attending at tracks. 9. Give concessions on the gate to fans who travel to away meetings. 10. Bring back the Golden Helmet match race for No1 riders. Holder defends at next meeting and so on. 11. Each track to stage an Individual Championship Meeting. 12. Regionalised League (as in 3.) but National Knock Out Cup Competition all teams in the hat; two legs. 13. Keep Play-Offs; top 4 from each Conference into Play-Off Qtr-Final; Semi-Final-Final. Grand Finale at Belle Vue. 14. Concrete start grids; so no gardening and no advantage off any gate. 15. All meetings to be filmed; officially to allow for racing incidents to be viewed again if necessary; fairly and consistently. 16. Take all the annoying anomalies out of the rule book; too many to list here. But make it simple; less red tape more racing. 17. As in the Grand Prix add the Helmet Colour to the back of the team race jacket. 18. Team race suits to be mandatory to present a uniform image at each club. 19. Sharpen up centre green presentations (not a problem at the EWR by the way); but make the presentation more professional. 20. Keep meetings moving where ever possible; think along the lines of the GP's; successive race be ready to roll. 21. GUESTS! of course; this is the one. If we merge the Leagues we can tidy up the guesting farce. With two Regional Conferences; a rider in the N/W can only guest in the S/E. Simple and very effective. That's just twenty one! off top of my head; sure there is much more. But realistically I am not holding my breath on anything radical.

Not prepared to criticise Theo who has been darned superb for us this season. Sorry he will not be there to take the applause that he so richly deserves for his unstinting efforts on the track for Scunthorpe. All the best Theo and thanks.

Not the best way to go out if we do with two Sheff riders and R/R. Would have been nice to have said so long and thanks to a full team of Scorpions. Will leave with a heavy heart and some reluctance to once again becoming a supporter of a defuncted track. Hoping that something can be worked out to keep the fantastic EWR open next season.

You might have a problem with Tommy Gun. If we run; he's coming back to Scunthorpe but good luck with keeping the Bandidos alive in 2016. My recent visit highlighted to me that Speedways Border outpost is not enjoying the best of times. But for speedway with an old school feel about it; I think it is hard to beat. All the best to the Bandits.

Great opportunity to ensure we do not land the wooden spoon. By no means underestimating Redcar; but this looks do able to me. Come on you Scorp's lets do this.

Yes thats right now I think of it; so on that count thats one aspect of FZG that is unwelcome. Of course theyre a miniority I am sure.

To be honest I wondered if we might have another dabble in the transfer market; and bring Leigh Lanham in. Good signing and makes us a 1-7 again; nice surprise to end the season and Leigh knows his way around the EWR; top scored for the Rebels early season as I recall. Great value by the way on Monday v Tigers; nigh on 40 Heats including the MDL Open; and Leigh's Scorpions debut. What is not to like about that. Here's to a great afternoons racing; who cares who wins (well Rob might!); as long as we're all safe and go home having enjoyed the show. Up the Scorps!

Just to say; that my point was not to in anyway countenance any inappropriate behaviour of the FZG fans; but to highlight the marked difference between the levels of support shown on and off the track for their team. AND all the merchandising and the promoting of the this team to and by their fans; even got their own TV Channel!. I have watched a lot of German football down the years and you could have fooled me if the FZG were not a football crowd ? and of course they do have a football section attached to the club. Maybe that's part of the answer to make the speedway club more central to the community and introducing more aspects to it than just the speedway itself. Make it more of a culture ?

Sadly it has taken Darcys injury to really bring home to me how Speedway in Poland is on a different planet to UK Speedway. I have been looking over the net for information about the club Fabulaz ZG and its fans. Have a look; its mental. Is there anything there that we can learn from and use here. I suggest there most definitely is. #GETWELLDARCY

Went to Berwick on Saturday; I have placed my impressions on the Bandits v Somerset thread. Thommy and Theo aside the Bandits were run out of town. But if we have problems at Scunny trust me there equally bad if not worse at Berwick the crowd was very sparse and minus the Rebels faithful would I imagine probably make it unviable. Tough tough times for speedway and I know that the speedway family has far far more immediate concern for one of our fallen stars right now.

Its 37 years or so since I last saw speedway in Berwick. Infact it was the Willie Templeton testimonial in 1978 to be exact. I seem to recollect a different state of affairs back then; a sunny Sunday afternoon; and big crowd. Contrast that with Saturday night v Somerset 37 years on was I even in the same stadium? you could have fooled me. Except I must have been since Dick Barrie was still carping on from the centre green!. So somethings never change thank goodness I suppose. I walked to all four corners of the track and were it not for a contingent of brave souls from Somerset on bend two; I would say Berwick speedway looks in dire trouble support wise. Very thin crowd; very little atmosphere or enthusiasm pervaded. As I say I was a bit unsure if this version of Shielfield Park was the same as the last?. Back in 78 I might have stood on the 3-4 bend; but I was stood on grass; and there was no perimeter wall behind me and was the pits to my right back then? Maybe one of you Bandits fans can correct me. Anyway the racing on Saturday was fairly routine. Bandits had two Scorps in their team Theo and Tommy Gun so that was added interest for me. But the Bandits were hapless against the Rebel rout. Edberg for Bandits was way off it! totally zeroed out and Garcia also not really at the races. Had it not been for the Scorps pair it would have been a complete "stick em up Bandits" by the Rebs. I found a small crew of flag waving Bandidos on turn three. The over hanging view point had me reminicing for the Shay Halifax in fact the place had that old school speedway feel about it to be fair. Whos the irrate video guy on turn one ? As I wandered back to the exit gate I happened to stand on turn one looking back at the start gate. Just for posterity I thought I would nab a camera shot of Shielfield Park race 13. Incidentally nothing in programne banning public caneras from what I can see. Next news theres a quite intimidating and agitated chap having a go with a steward cause he claimed I had stood in front of his camera! Didnt even see his gantry hidden in the corner and hes clearly miffed off. When I tried to apologise; he seemed even more uncharitable "dont speak to me". Ok I had made a mistake but it was nigh on four decades since my last visit. Dont think he was anywhere near back in them days. Nothing to warn you not to stand there by the way or as I tried to explain ask me simply to move away. I am struck by how narrow the track is and a bit unforgiving. Its like a switch back down-the very bumpy long straights. Indeed it is a big circuit; so much so in Heat1 I am thinking hell thats a long 4 laps and it was! because it was 5. The flag marshall cocked up and put the yellow/black up late on lap 4. So overall impression returning after four decades. Berwick Speedway is not in the best of health right now. Its has a nice retro feel about it for me but clearly it is the few die hard fans who support it; not in sufficient numbers. Having fallen foul of the rather irrate video chap like Somersets Rasmus Jensen later tweeted "Berwick last night glad to get out alive". I probably wont be back anytime soon. But good luck with efforts to try to keep Berwick speedway alive in this traditional northern outpost. Another track lost is another one too many.

I can answer the guest problem. The two league system makes no sense as in effect the teams in each league are staffed by the same pool of riders which is not infinite. At this moment in time British Speedway is not best served by two leagues. So from where we are amalgamation and regionalisation is the key. Thereby reducing travel; costs all round. By creating a two region N/W and S/E Conference this partially solves your guest rider issue; as teams in the N/W Conference can only utilise a guest from the S/E Conference and vice versa. I read Philip Risings article and he is getting down the same avenues as myself. I presented a viable plan on these forums last year and both my promoter and Speedway Star have the plan. I see in this weeks Star that BSPA Chair Alex Harkness is already preparing us not to expect revolution at the BSPA Ann Conference but I would caution him to at least show us some evolution and embrace a reform of the leagues. We are moving in difficult times; so you have to take steps to keep the sport functioning properly until we have better times. I fiercely contend that merger and regionalisation will allow us a firmer base from which to go forward. The guest rider farce is in part addressed by the regional league structure. I can go on ....

Any info on Andreas Lyager? Have a read of this http://www.speedweek.com/speedway-racing/news/75721/Norden-Andreas-Lyager-gewinnt-Stoertebeker-Superpokal.html Can somebody have a word with the lad because I think he might have a problem with his sat nav next week. He thinks he's signed for Southscope ! http://websta.me/p/1046328523381709667_402355421 Andreas in action below; seems keen enough; if he's been pestering Rob for a chance; so lets give the kid his chance ! By the way; have not had chance to comment on Friday; but yet another cracking nights action at the EWR v Newcastle. Our new Czech mate Zedee Holub "Didn't he do well". Immediately sussed out the track. A controlled; rider; who can think his way through the race; forming an instant understanding with Alex Davies. Knew when to take the race himself and when to back Alex; great signing and clearly connected with the crowd; as Rob invited the pit staff to "send the boy round" to take the applause and salute the crowd. A couple of pointless rides in the end but 8+2 debut was impressive in a dominant Scorpions performance. He looked well set up from the off. We were thinking on a theme tune for the Zed Man and came up with Zee Zee Top "Sharp Dressed Man" over to you Barry ! Theo Pjiper was superb all night and great to see him reaping the rewards for the skill and craft he shows on the bike. All the riders contributed down the order; and covered for Ryan's absence. Special praise for the Bates Boy; wow did he hammer round on the outside for his two heat wins. I have to confess I was almost watching through my fingers; for fear of him coming a cropper !. Fearless; his sweep round the outside in the re-run of Heat7 was awesome to watch as he went on to win He's a genuine prospect and has come on a lot since his early days as a Scorpion. Notice Redcar went down heavily at Glasgow this afternoon and sit just three points ahead of the Scorpions in the race to avoid the bottom spot in the PL. Sets up next Friday nicely and on the evidence despite all the bad luck and injuries the moves made to bolster the team can pull us clear. Add in the debut of Andrea Lyager who's 7pt average may look a bit steep (but anything he gets is a bonus) and the I think we can look forward to next weeks meeting.

Och! this hurts cannot believe Ryans rotten luck last night get well soon fella. Was not there; how did it happen; because if again a rider ends up under the air fence ? then we want to seriously look again at these fences. Looks a let down of a night for Holub; but you cannot judge him on one meeting. Only thing I might do different was let him ride at home first; as you get the bounce on the crowd from the initial interest in him. Ce la vie thats done so on to tonight. Suppose we will be r/r now for Ryan. This season (and not just for Scunny) has been a nightmare tbh. Rob and the team really dont deserve this; you make the efforts to change things and then another man down ! I see in this weeks Star Editor Philip Rising is rallying us all to come together over the winter in making some defining change to help the British Speedway scence. I can see already he is supporting some of the ideas I have long since put forward. Next year (whether Scorps make it to the tapes or not) we have to be brave and make some defining decisions. About rider safety; machinery and tracks; about promotion and marketing; about league, competition and team structure; about costs and revenues. It seems a turning point is sign posted up ahead and British speedway needs to ensure it does not end up down the wrong one to a cul-de-sac. Right now though got to get up for tonight; we need to show support to Rob and the team. It looks like a great day for some speedway and lets have a safe and exciting nights action. Come on you Scorps !

Reading the last two; and as good a rationale as you can make out. Get well and get back Lewis.

Tony; just reading this and I am absolutely on your page with this. It is pretty much how I envision things in a amalgamated regionalised format. I would though split the leagues slightly differently in as much as Scunthorpe have to be in the N/W and I might have Cov/Lei in the S/E ? I agree also who decreed we have to run with 7 riders to a team? As recently as 1997 we ran with 6 in the inagural EL season won by Bradford!. As you say that has also applied in seasons past as well. My vision is 6 man teams 8 man squads with a designated No8 (say NL ability) and an affiliated rider maybe based overseas but whom you can bring in to cover for injury. There are lots of overseas riders whos Euro commitments prevent them committing to full time in the UK. But on a short term affilated contract the UK may be workable. Another point you touch on is the 21 rider guest pool. I think that has merit for those who fail to get a regular team place. But part of my plan is to recruit 21 Marqee riders on central contracts and draft one rider to each Conf club. The draft could take place at the opening of the Belle Vue National stadium maxing publicity. Each club receives their marquee rider; clubs are helped to finance the marquee rider by the BSPA via tv money/sponsors etc...and that rider is the "standard bearer" to promote the speedway centre he rides at. Lets say Scunthorpe received say; Martin Smolinski in the draft ? Smolinski is the Marqee rider who is presented as the figure head at Scunthorpe and similarly others tracks have their Marquee rider. The draft could also include the Development rider taking the 6th spot in the team; there are surely 21 competant young British riders who could take up a reserve slot in each team. I have more within my plan; but compelled to respond when I saw how much we are down the same line.