1 valve

During an early interview prior to the match Jason d said he had heard from other riders that the change of track had not meant new lines were needed and that by and large the same lines from last year were proving to be still the best lines. He then promptly came second in his first two heats including getting mugged by Wozniak on the inside of bend two (one of the unaltered bends). Subsequently he made use 3&4 to make passes on his way to race wins...so maybe there is something there to benefit from. However, not sure if the new lines on 3&4 are providing significant changes as yet, maybe they will become more prominent when 1 & 2 are altered to create a more rounded track with less speed to scrub off in order to take advantage of inside lines?

I think you are wrong on two points. First, when it was announced the Lions were moving to the EL I believe the majority of supporters welcomed this development because a. PL racing was not particularly exciting (despite what some may think) & b. it represented a chance to see a better class of rider, even GP stars. I am the first to admit the second aspect has tailed off, though it was good to see Jason D in the Lions colours and to see a Lion appear in the GP's, but we still do see better riders at BP than when in the PL, unfortunately we haven't seen a fair share of them sign for the Lions. Secondly the track is now half way through being altered, and yes it has taken longer than it needed to have taken but at least its now being done. What I do think DH is wrong to presume is that Saturday night is the preferred night for Lions fans and crowds will drop if Saturday is not an option. I can see some folk will not attend during mid week, but this will be offset by better riders being available to form a stronger and more competitive team which will attract more fans to meetings. So I suggest the future for the Lions should be to remain in the EL and move to a midweek race night and build a stronger team from the wider pool of available riders that would become available.

could someone confirm which nationals would be allowed to race or put another way which nationals are classed as foreigners?

I think it can be made to work very well if two race nights are chosen and those nights are Thursday & Friday. Not every Thursday & Friday but these two nights can accommodate weeks when there are GP's and avoids clashes with Scandinavian meetings as well as being relatively easy on riders travel planning. Not everyone is going to be pleased with whatever is finalized but eventually they will have the choice of going with what is best or facing the consequence of dropping out of the EL.

Running on the same 1 or 2 nights will actually help the economics in terms of cost per meeting. The challenge will be if restricted to one night, then there will be a reduction in actual meetings per season. this may be ok for clubs that rent the stadium given that stadium costs are variable in those instances (although the landlords may increase "the rent" to make up for lower income) For those clubs who own the stadium then 7 home meetings a year will be far from sufficient to maintain the cost of ownership. That particular problem goes away and profit is maximized if two back to back race nights are adopted on the basis that this will provide weekly fixtures.

Tigers might let you down

So if I understand you correctly. Take Leicester. They would run 7 Elite League meetings during the season every alternate Wednesday whilst staging weekly "British League "meetings on a Saturday (their current race night). This seems very workable, but how far do you believe the promoters will be able to promote two meetings in a week? also how many promoters would be up for it?

if we do see a single race night next year which means only one home fixture every two weeks is that sufficient to sustain a club given that with eight teams this will mean the regular season could be over inside four months. I.e start in mid and the season will be over by end of July/August. OK, the season could start later, or perhaps the number of clubs will be increased to lengthen the season and through in a new cup competition and we may see a worthwhile number of meetings after all

Shame this topic is beginning to go "off topic" and insults beginning to fly none of which are remotely interesting to anybody. But I am putting this down to the fact that there is now nothing to discuss now we have a team. The one exception is the track alterations so lets hope the weather is kind enough to see them completed - whoops just realized I have opened a window for someone to go on about the weather....again...Sorry. Anybody got anything interesting to bring up relevant to Leicester Lions 2016? - sorry I cant kick it off but hope you guys out there have.

why would there be a need for mutual exclusivity? Why not create a situation where a) Entices top riders back Eliminates the loss of riders through doubling up A change to regular fixed race nights must be thought through first on the basis of what is believed to be possible - which I why I looked at the 1 v 2 race nights then think about what race nights work best which in itself is fairly easy to work out giventhat only 3 nights are viable to provide back to back - Wed, Thurs & Fri. Will there be enough teams for the EL? who knows, But consider this, If the EL did race on 2 fixed nights (say) Thursday & Friday, and (say) top riders could be persuaded to return to the UK attracted by earning good money over two consecutive nights then maybe more teams could be attracted to the EL rather than teams dropping out You know it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom via dreaming up the concept of impossible tasks...just change for the best and the vision to go with it and promote the hell out of it for the good of the speedway in the UK.

As it looks like we will be seeing a fixed race night(s) for EL next year I am wondering what your thoughts are on whether we are looking at one or 2 nights per week and if so what night(s) should they be? To start with lets take the current set of circumstances. 8 teams v each other twice home and away. in this scenario based on one fixed night we would need 32 weeks to complete the regular season plus 2 more for play offs. On the face of it considering the current season runs for circa 30 weeks without allowance for rain offs or the World Cup this would appear not to work. If the season is reduced to 8 teams meeting each other home and away once on a single fixed race night then only 16 weeks would be required and there appears to be sufficient spare weeks to cover for rain offs and World Cup breaks. The downside is a limited number of pay days and stadiums being used only eight times a year so I guess other forms of meetings would need to be considered especially for those clubs who own their stadium or who are speedway solace. Teams who rent may not mind so much, but 8 earning weeks would hardly generates a return/wage for promoters and managers. If we look at 2 fixed race nights per week then the 2 meetings home and away concept can be retained and I believe is actually the most viable option given that it still provides sufficient time to run the season in what we would expect to be the best time of year weather wise, as well as providing sufficient income to the promoters. Having these race nights back to back would also help avoid multiple back and forth travel costs. What thoughts do you guys have?

On the face of it, although clearly lacking an out and out number 1 aka Jason D, this line up has the feeling of solid scoring about it. The top 5 all have experience in the UK whilst the reserve pairing is widely acknowledged as one of the strongest. As a result, I can see Lions riders finishing first on more occasions than last and hence quite a few meeting wins. Obviously the risk of injuries could influence matters, but is applicable to any team. Now worth looking forward to the new season. Good luck with the track Glyn - hope the weather is kind to you.

If Nicki Pedersen agreed to ride for the Lions what thoughts are there on how many additional spectators would he attract to a home meeting? Go back a couple of years and you will see people saying pre season that the Lions would struggle because Jason Doyle was not a recognised No. 1 and not likely to improve. Not saying Wosa will emulate Doyley as a number 1, but may improve by a bigger margin/average

At the heart of the problem is that speedway promoters do not have sufficient trust in each other to work together for what is best for the sport and ultimately their vested interests. There are some who would/could work that way but they fear being taken advantage of by the others...So we are back to the trust thing. Some 50 years ago American football was in exactly the same predicament with even more at stake. Fortunately for the then owners, they agreed to give it one last shot of doing something to save them from self destruction and appointed a totally independent "Commissioner" to steer the way. A complete overall followed, a stack load of pride was swallowed, egos deflated and tons of bitter truth pills were consumed and then, the NFL was born...the rest as the saying goes, is history! If only UK speedway promoters could follow suit.

stand off or not. I cant believe clubs would say they are not able to ride Saturdays (which appears reasonable and realistic considering Lions cant find a full team for Saturdays themselves) without providing an alternative solution. So Mondays, Wednesday Thursday or Friday...take your pick - Obviously Friday would suit DH the best because of his thought that a no school day/next day adds to the attendance. And then we get back to the beginning..Coventry will not allow Lions to ride on Fridays as their regular race night. Which again confirms that whilst individual promoters insist on thinking about themselves first, there is little future for the healthy growth of the sport....or even long term survival. When will they ever realize that battles between clubs should be fought out on the track, not in the meeting room!

Clearly ignorance is indeed bliss for you Screamer...FYI race nights are agreed between promoters and changes to regular nights need to be approved by the same group.

Yes. Because he was only concerned about the limited time he had to travel to Poland and recover in time for the meeting given the late night finish on Saturday/early start Sunday. GP's were not an issue.

You are correct - and made it a great track to race on. Mike Lee was awesome and when they held the World cup final there his inside pass of Bruce Penhall around turns 3 & 4 was one of the best I have ever seen. You might ask why widening the bends helped a pass on the inside? the answer is that the alterations also delivered wider entrances and exits which meant a dive from out wide helped his drive out - even then he stuck his front wheel well over the white line.

Doyle would have stayed if the Lions moved their race night from Saturday to (say) Wed Thurs or Friday & he would have been happy to support Lions team building plans - the concept of mediocrity and not having a winning team was not an issue with him. As for moving from Saturday night, we need to remember that the Lions reentered British speedway as a PL Saturday night track which was more than not an ideal situation. The move to EL challenged that concept but...the correct questions to ask are"what alternatives were available?" and "were the Lions given a choice?" I believe the answers are "None" & "no" Meanwhile the promotion completed two seasons, the first no doubt a learning one the second blighted by injuries and resignations. Sure DH has stuck by his guns for Saturday night but given the circumstances I don't think he should be castigated for doing so and remember he is the ultimate loser or beneficiary of such decisions. Next year (2017) things will change, it wont be too late, but it would be good if before then the BSPA did allow the Lions to race on a Friday because even at this late stage this would provide a helping hand for the Lions to sign riders even on a temporary basis giving them time to finalise full time additions if required...sorry Coventry, but think of the big picture and the overall well being of the sport rather than your own short term agenda.

This is great news and does show that DH listens to the fans, riders etc (eventually) Now we need to trust in Glyn to do the right job. I cant help but think that if the right amount is taken away the resultant depth of the bends are going to provide different lines for riders as the meeting develops. That said I cant see the story on the Mercury site, is there a link somebody can post?

I was watching speedway when the CO chose to close Leicester and invest some of the profits heavily in to Brandon and make it (then) the best speedway/stock car/Greyhound stadium in the UK. And yes I was pretty well p*^sed off as a result, especially since from a fan perspective Coventry was well down (in fact not even on) my Christmas card list. BUT Speedway like any other team sport needs other teams compete against ..no use being a monopoly of one and the more teams, the better for Speedway. In these dark and challenging times for UK speedway the last thing we need is to see the demise of Coventry speedway...hell, the best nights at Blackbird Road was when we beat the Bees (not often enough) and still remains the same today. Lose Coventry and we fans lose that win/lose emotion v a (the) local rival forever...So then who would be the loser? Answer, all of us!

But within the points limit would make it more interesting?

He would be. But, does it come with the same caveat i.e. "I would like to race in the UK but not on Saturday night"

A merry Christmas to all involved in speedway, riders, fans and promoters alike. When all said and done we do love and care for this sport and in a free world its great that we have this forum to debate and voice our opinions on matters with our much loved sport. I wish all of you a happy new year and hope that in 2016 speedway here in the UK and the world over makes the much needed progress towards a healthy, worthwhile & sustainable future.

Actually, when you compare the line up to other teams and take into consideration the lack of top riders available or committed to EL, the Bees will most probably do OK. Swindon look strong at the moment, mainly because they have landed a true No.1 in Jason D. Imagine how Leicester fans feel having lost JD and knowing so many riders are just not interested in riding EL on a Saturday that they face yet another season of being the whipping boys of the EL. Might sound fun given the local rivalry, but frankly such a situation is bad for the sport.