weatherwatcher

It is time they sorted theirselves out and managed to get some sort of simple rule to solve the problems they seem to be having with riders averages. Could be that it is a little bit above them all to sit around the table and then come to an easy solution. If they can't manage to do that then they should get someone in to do the job, who has an idea of how the sport should be run. Because at present I am afraid that none of them seem to know, what they are doing. With someone taking over the reigns, then maybe the sport will get back on track, It needs an independant person or persons, to take over and make the sport come into this century, instead of a group made up of team promoters and owners, who make the rules to suit, how they want the sport to be run.

So who is to blame is it the promoters that don't want a rider the following season that has done well in the EL and then they find they can't fit them in their team averages or the points average for the leagues. Why should a rider who has done well after going up to the EL have to drop down again the next year again because noone wants him to ride for them because the average his attained the season before. If that is not a stuppid rule then what else is it.

I put the blame on only having the light from my computer screen in here to type by or the fact that I have dyslexia of the fingers. Who cares anyway I don't. Adds to the fun and all the comments I get back. It still makes no sense to me that a rider can go up to the EL and say score an average of 6 is then go back down to the PL and go back to his old PL average. Surely they must be some rule that they have in place to make an addition to his PL average, from the scores he has managed to get in the EL. Or are they saying that the riding is that much harder in the Pl than the EL. Saying that though it could be true as they have in my opinion some better riders in the PL that they are now giving us in the EL. In some ways it is now not the best speedway league, as half the riders places are filled with a poor exuse for being just that this countries top league, they now fail to bring in most of the worlds top riders, they no longer want to ride over here, at the start of the season we get riders that come over here to earn a few quid before the leagues abroad start then we don't see them again. Sorry this is nothing to do with the original post, but it still makes no sense how they give these riders averages, you only have to look at how they give overseas riders that come over to the EL, still waiting with baited breath to see what average the give to the young pole that is coming to race for Leicester next season.

Just seen this the SCB site. How on earth can they give Palm Toft a PL average of 4.92, when it was even thought by Workington that he would have had a 7.28 average. The way they are giving these averages, you will soon be seeing most of the lower hald EL riders all riding in the PL with these silly faulse averages. Who comes up with them and how do they find the means to warent them. No wonder British speedway is in such bad shape young British riders have fat chance evn getting a PL place if they give these oversea's riders such stupid low average scores. The sport is being run by a load of lunatics. WORKINGTON have added a fourth Dane to their team for 2015 with the signing of Michael Palm Toft on loan from Scunthorpe. The 24-year-old spent last season in the Elite League with Belle Vue, and was recommended to the Comets by his Aces team-mate and former Workington man Craig Cook. Co-promoter Steve Whitehead said: “There had been some queries about Michael’s average, which would have been converted to 7.28 for the Premier League based on his 2014 performances with Belle Vue. But, when Craig Cook mentioned that he felt he would do a great job in the Premier League based on his Elite League performances, and we received confirmation that his average would be the 2013 figure of 4.92, we started to talk to Michael. “In the end it was quite an easy deal to do. Michael is very keen to join us and team up with the other Danes, and in acquiring his services we feel that we’ve bagged a rider on what looks like a bargain average.”

I hope he can get his hunger back again and a year or maybe 2 may just be what he needs. He has far more skill on the bike than quite a few out there, I think he has just lost that spark to keep going any longer. He could come back again a far better rider if he can get himself sorted out. He may never become world champion but he still can make his mark in the top flight. Best Wishes to him and I hope he returns again soon.

Do the riders that are asking for sky high payments not realise, that in doing so that they risk clubs folding when they finally run out of funds. Surely it is much eaisier for them to ask for a wage that all the clubs are willing to pay. Maybe it is time for the promoters to set a limit on what all of agree to pay the riders. All the teams pay the same rates for the riders potitions 1 to 7 in a rising scale. If the riders are not happy with what they get, then they will not have a team to ride for, because the way they are going with these demands for extra money it is a sure way to see more clubs going under this year. Yes we all want to see so and so ride for our clubs but in this day and age the way the sport is going, it is only asking for trouble.

As you said Sky no longer sponser Speedway in this country and from this year they only took on the TV rights, not sure what they pay but nowhere near the amount that they where handing over when the sponsered the EL. I was not saying that the promoters of clubs sit on their backsides and failed to find sponsers, they all do a great job to keep our clubs going. What I was saying is that with Sky stepping down as the major sponser of the EL with not just a few pounds but a total of £1 a year in sponsership, then I can't see how the BPSA can sit back and fail to replace Sky as the main sponser for the EL. This is nothing to do with the local clubs this is about sponsoring the EL. If they can justify losing that sort of income a year then they have some strange idea's, even so the money they got from Sky from what I heard was just wasted. The other pointof using old run down Stockcar stadiums is a good point. I saw the item today about the break in at Stoke, it is very sad when something like this happens and there is a big chance that the club may have to stop racing as they can't find the money to replace the item damaged in the break in. But I must say that the photo from the local paper, shows a picture from the stadium with some of the damaged item, the thing that drew my eye though was the state of the boarding around the fences, it was in such a bad state of repair and had even been painted over, when it was falling apart. This is going on at stadiums all over the country, that seem to think that us the fans, like to attend meetings in something that looks like it came from the 1930.s. I am sure that the clubs have enough money or the say to the people who rent these stadiums, that it is time to bring them up to scratch. How long is it since any work has been done to your local track, there are a few that have bothered to keep their stadiums tidy but far to many seem to see that it is not an issue and the supporters can either lump it or like it.. Far to much is now being spent on riders wages these days that it leaves very little money to play about with. All I can say is with a big tidy up then they may just get more people attending and major sponsers who would be willing to have their name associated with the EL. The money that came in should not be wasted on riders air fares and wages but should be used to bring our stadiums, that are in some cases in dire need of an update, with the money that came in from a big name company that sponsered the EL.

Have the BPSA done anything at the AGM about finding a sponser for the EL. Instead of just sitting and chatting they should be out there trying to get a big name firm to come in to put a bit of needed cash into the sport. I could see no problem going for someone like McDonalds and having posters in all of their branches, advertising speedway, or can they manage to plod along now they have lost the few million that Sky gave them every year. The sport needs a major advertising campain and they need to get off of their fat backsides and do something positive for speedway. To much talk and very little in the way of action from them.

Don't think that much has been achieved at all. We now have an Elite League of 8 teams, it will be very interesting to see what SKY TV do now with their coverage of the sport as they said last year that it was only workable to cover the sport with 10 teams in the EL. It could be better anyway if another broadcaster took over we just may get a bit more in the way of a weekly coverage again. Not sure about the rules with the FTR scheme, does it mean that all those who rode as FTR this season will carry on again next year because I do think that 5 or 6 of them should now move up to a full team place, how can you have a FTR coming out of seneral meeting scouring double figues, some of them where doing better than the top riders. They have proved they did the job this year, just hope the promoter have the guts to give them full team places.

This is the best news I have heard for a long time in speedway. Not just one club saved from being just a memory but two. Best of luck to both teams for not just next season but also the years that follow, and long may they reign.

From the committiee's I have been on over the years the chairman has a definate out come on what happens. He is usually the guy with all the money who sits in the big chair and rings the bell at the start of and the end of the meeting and also when he finds that things have also gotten out of order or are not going the way he wants them to.

They will replace Cooke with someone who they can tell what they want doing. Not someone who has any brilliant idea's to turn the sport around, because they just don't want to kanow if it upsets their apple cart.

What was the last thing that Darcy said to his mates at 6am on the morning of the Latvian GP. One more for the road lads, they will never know, they won't smell the 2 pints of Vodca on my breath and I can still talk a lite strain, or maybe a stripped lion. He mates turned round and said you could not even walk straight round a bend. But being a speedway rider the straights are not to long so just keep your mouth shut.

Perhaps what they are aiming at is for speedway to be run behind locked doors with no supports and no listings to give any results. They could then cheat all they wanted and change their teams so that they could win the league, because the way they are going about things that is what is going to happen in the all to distant future. Do they want the fans to come and see good speedway or are they just happy to see it decline so far down the path, that they have no choice but to close down all the stadiums. It seems that way

Phil would be an ideal choice. If the Brummies and Cradley both race at Perry Bar in the NL. Then with help from him he would be able to find any good young British riders that where needed to make either team a winning side in the League.

To keep The Brummies alive any league is better than no racing at all. Hope it works out.

On Liecester Lions website David Hemsley has posted today what he want to put forward at the AGM. Change the FTR to one young British rider and another from your own choice be it a British lad or an overseas rider. Not really helping to bring the British lads on, but I can see the point there that some of the FTR are not up to the standard of the top FTR so giving an unfair advantage to the team that has got those riders. We will have to see what happens but I think it will be something along those lines. It may take them a few weeks to let us the speedway fans know what they have been up to, but sure as God made little green apples it will not be anything to help British speedway.

I don't think the promoters have got the bottle to give our young riders a chance in the main team. All they want are the top riders and all that matters is winning the league at the end of the year. If you bring a couple of youngsters into your glourious EL side and fail to win even if the lads are giving thier all and getting better by the week, it is of no use to the team if you are stuck in the lower part of the league table, I personally would rather see our youngsters given that chance.and hopefully we would end up with a few more top class riders in this country. But no the promoters want the top stars and overseas riders and sad to say do most of the fans. I am sure we would see far better racing than we get now, giving some of these guys a chance to make it in the main team line up.

It seems to me that the GRA are a very greedy set of idiots if they are charging those sort of figures to rent a dog track based stadium. If they cut the cost of the rent by half that amount what with food and drink sales on top of what they get in rent, then they would still make it worth thier while. Or is it just a fact that all they are really bothered about is literally going to the dogs. I do hope the 2 teams can manage to come to the tapes next season. I it is stupid if the GRA waste the chance of running the stadium on 2 nights with both clubs riding at an already laid speedway track. Or is that just to simple.

No matter who it was they wanted Cradley out and I do appologise to the Wolves promotion for saying it was them not Ladbrookes. Maybe they don't get the Lions share of betting money from speedway.

It is the pld mushroom syndrome keep us all in the dark for as long as possible and then make as much money from us at a later date. All they give us ever are a few select words to keep us all quite for a few weeks, until the whole fiasco kicks off again and then we find out what a cock up they have made of things yet again.

I would rather have one Barry Briggs than 10 Darcy Wards.

It is well time that the promoters did just that, promote thier teams, which most of them are doing a pretty poor job of anyway, the only thing they promote is thier own financial interests. It needs a body of people who can sit on a board and meet at least 6 times a year with an AGM as close to end of season as possible, to sort out and iron out any faults that are happening. Make the promoters work for thier money and get the stadiums up to date and let people know that they have a stadium and that speedway is still alive, just. There has to be a major re-think, I know a lot of promoter only rent thier stadiums but it up to them to get the owners of the said stadiums to bring them into this century, it is no different to renting a house if the roof is leaking get the landlord to mend it. A decent set of people who would make up the board can look at the sport from various angles that the promoters don't want to see or even to look at. Changes have to be made before the sport is gone. Then all we will be able to see is a few dedicated riders racing from a farmers field on a Saturday afternoon, much in the way it was in the 1930,s. Riders who enjoyed tinkering with thier bikes in the shed after getting home from work at very little cost. The cost of risen to such a large extent, that now lots of riders can't afford to upgrade thier bikes and be competative. If things are done in the right way, reduce the cost to the riders, with cheaper bikes that are cheeper to run, and give us more competative racing at a cost that reflects these changes, then they may just save the sport. bwefore it becomes a very, very minority sport.

Don't think that Wolves promoters of track owner want Cradley racing there next year, they have made the point this year that they want them out of the way. Not much chance of them ever getting back in Dudley, unless there are some major changes on the council. Need some pro sport councilers insead of anti ones There must be other places near or around the region that would welcome them and maybe even help to build a new stadium. What they need is something along the lines of what happened at Leicester. Is it viable for Cradley to go up to the PL have the got the financial structure to afford to run in the PL and I think it would be asking to much to expect for the Brummies to go down to the MDL.

I do hope the Heathans make it in 2015. We need to see teams keep thier tracks not lose them, we have lost to many already. And with the historical name that has been in speedway for ever it seems it would be a crying shame to see Cradley lose out again. All because of people demanding to much Lets hope that something comes out of this and that the Perry Bar stadium will see racing again next season, without all the shananigans that the Brummies faced this year. It would be nice to see both Cradley and Birmingham sharing the stadium. Even if the Brummies have to go down to NL to compete in what has become a costly sport it has now turned out to be in the higher leagues. It is time to somehow cut the cost and bring speedway back to what it used to be a sport run for amatuer riders who came to mettings to enjoy thier racing at a cost that they could easliy afford and also at a cost that the promoters could live with without going under. Best of Luck to both teams for 2015.