Christopher Bcmma Cook

It's great news for rye house that I am always wrong

I have this down as a 61/29 victory for the Witches King 15 Kennett 7 Hawkins 3 Aspregen 3 Heeps 10 Mellgren 8 Tungate 13 Jakobson 8 Nielsen 10 Branford 1 Covatti 10 Edberg 2 61 29

I should have said 9 including bonus points 3 2nd's behind a team mate and a 0 would suffice

Doolan will do an OK job, if he can get 8 including bonus points that would be a good return only just getting back into Speedway, King seems like a machine, gate and win and when i say win its head down and just win

Should be one league but split between north and south no doubling up its a joke

I'm glad nobody took me up on my bet! Heeps needs to learn to gate, if he gates then great! but if not he has a poorer meeting, has talent no doubt... ...heard Gino might have damaged his collarbone but that was only from people closer to that area than I was, lets hope its nothing too serious

True but I still can't see more than 6

Maximum of 6

I'm willing to stake £10 with anyone brave enough

Anyone want to bet that risager will score no more than 6?

Change was needed years ago, its an absolute necessity that Speedway changes NOW.......... not gonna happen tho

I honestly think Speedway should just feature the Premier League with a North/South Division of say 12 teams in each league top 4 from each reaching the play-offs where they then race each other i.e. North 1st vs South 4th etc. etc. Have one cup competition which combines all the teams - dont bother attracting the grand prix riders revert back to 6-rider teams, as riders cannot double up, fixed points money across the leagues entice the "next generation" of riders to try speedway, grass track riders, motocross, road racing riders... most road racers spend thousands per year for no prize money, only few get anywhere, they could be earning x amount per point in the Premier League then charge £10 per meeting, kids under 15 free and crowds might return to watch more british/local riders also nothing wrong with creating a few stars to lose to the gp series and/or polish/swedish leagues when they get "too good"

i'm 100% certain it will be ON, skies are still grey but around noon they will start to clear

I think we will get away with the weather to be honest, might have some drizzle in the morning but that is all it will be, should be a bright day tomorrow from around 11 onwards maybe a little chilly but nothing like the Billy Sanders meeting.

Was looking forward to it ahead of my own big show in the area, I'm also a promoter, really bright here now, the ground where I live isn't bad if only the track could be covered.

If only the BSPA would "promote" the sport instead of just selling it (if they are actually selling it) to Sky to promote it.... Why can't they deal "Outside of the Box" maybe try getting on ITV4 (availale on all digi boxes) and getting the odd one on ITV (on a Saturday) and in return exchange the rights for regional advertising space to promote the elite league clubs!

I can't see why Sky would pay for the Elite League coverage and not pay for the BSB coverage (obviously Eurosport now has the BSB coverage but when Sky had it, it was free of charge and Eurosport don't pay for it either).... just doesn't make sense why anyone would pay for the rights under the current product offering.

So from that statement they haven't said anything to confirm how much over what duration... What makes me wonder is that if you take the British Superbike Championship, the best domestic race series in the World, compared to British Speedway which isn't the best domestic Speedway league in the world - It also doesn't have the professional look of BSB etc. Sky don't actually pay for BSB, they get it for free which Motorsport Vision allow in order for their to be television coverage for riders/teams to attract sponsorship in order to actually be able to afford to compete. I don't see how/why Sky Sports would pay a penny to broadcast Speedway in comparison, as its not in the same league as a product and especially commercially.

Does anyone know for a fact that sky actually pay for the coverage?

Kelvin - you mean maybe a one-off meeting with the top 16 averaged riders in say Sweden, Poland and the UK with however many from the 3 meetings taking the 7 slots on the next gp? I wouldn't expand it to other countries, let those riders come and race in those 3 leagues to merit a place only other way to make the speedway product work domestically would be to not focus on the gp riders, run on friday nights, saturday afternoon/nights sunday afternoons and not have any gp riders at all - regionalise all teams into north/south boost attendances which will hopefully keep clubs alive.

I see where you are coming from but a good percentage of football teams in the lower leagues are made up from players released from the top clubs academies, Speedway isn't set up the same way, this is about making the Elite League attractive to the top foreign riders, so the 2 "national league" reserves isn't even part of the equation

Was having a little think today on how Speedway Grand Prix could actually improve the standard of rider opting for the Elite League... Now in Football terms, the number of places handed out to clubs to qualify for the Champions League and the Europa league is done on a ranking system based on how different countries do when in European competition. For example. Scottish clubs no longer get an automatic place in the Champions League (if they win their league) - the league winner now has to enter the qualifying round and i believe this season they have to go in even earlier. Instead of having a "grand prix qualifcation process" which is just more meetings etc. Why don't they give the 3 qualification places to the riders to either A - finish top of the Elite League average, Polish league & Swedish league (who are not in the following years Grand Prix series) - this would make riders probably take a punt on the elite league thinking they could finish top of the non-gp rider averages and qualify for the grand prix series. B - Elite League riders championship gets a place for the highest finishing non GP rider, same as the Polish and Swedish Leagues. C - If they rate the leagues in order that Poland is no.1 followed by Sweden & England.... why dont they do either of the above to get the qualification and the wild card places i.e. out of 7 places available 3 places go to Poland, 2 to Sweden and 2 to the Elite League. The only way I can probably explain it is that the Europa league in football was deemed as awful by the top clubs as there was no merit in winning it, but this season the winner of the Europa league qualifies for the Champions League the following season. So by linking these 3-7 places in the GP series to the respective 3 leagues should only make it stronger.... As it stands qualifiying from the Polish & Swedish leagues would be quite competitive.... if you look at the Elite League you could probably guess who would get the places, so riders would look at the EL and think "If i ride there, I can get into the GP series easier" and once 8/9/10 riders think the same, the product in the UK becomes a lot stronger. Just an idea

BSPA haven't replied to my proposal for the future of British speedway lol

Personally I would have gone with 1. D.King (8.84) 2. M.Castagna (5.00)? 3. G.Manzares (6.02) 4. A.Sississ (5.00)? 5. R. Tungate (8.36) 6. A.Ellis (4.67) 7. M.Toft (4.92) Built for the future

I've been out of touch with Speedway for so long, lets see how far off I am with my Ipswich Septet lol 1. Danny King (8.84) 2. Ashley Birks (5.68) 3. Richie Worrall (7.32) 4. Cameron Heeps (5.38) 5. Gino Manzares (6.02) 6. Adam Ellis (4.67) 7. Richard Hall (4.28) 42.19/42.5 How far am I out lol