Chris116

First chance for Eagles fans to see Ed Kennett in action at Arlington will be on Saturday 26th January when he is racing in the Bangers Champion of Champions event. Wish he would build a Superstox or 1300cc Stock Car as he was always good in the Rookie Rods when he raced them and has proved how good he is in contact racing over the years in the Bangers.

I agree that those in the know can find the website of any club very easily without going through the BSPA website. The problem is that someone who wants to find out about the sport and thinks there may be a team near them in either Eastbourne or Birmingham could look at the list of teams in each league on the BSPA website and conclude that the club had closed down. Having done that they could then meet up with friends at a pub and mention that they had been thinking of going to a Speedway meeting after seeing how good it was on TV but sadly the local track has closed and we now have even more people who think the sport is finished. The BSPA website should in my opinion have both Eastbourne and Birmingham links with a note that they are planning to move up from the National league to the Championship but that the move cannot be confirmed until all the paperwork is finished. That way the BSPA are promoting the sport not making potential new fans think that clubs have closed. Yes, I know if you check the stories you would find the details but the potential new fan is unlikely to dig very deep if it appears the track they might visit has closed.

I fully accept that teams have to meet the requirements of the league but removing all mention of the club Websites strikes me as counter productive to promoting the sport. I do not have a problem with some heading saying that the team have not yet completed all the formalities of moving up from the National league.

Don't worry about the red ink! I can understand the BSPA having a note against the two teams saying they have not completed the entry requirements but removing all links to both clubs seems rather harsh. How come Peterborough and Ipswich are not having to jump through hoops?

Not only do any news items on the BSPA website have the disclaimer but it is not possible to get to the club website as Eastbourne and Birmingham don't exist according to the list of teams in the league. If I was of a suspicious nature I would be thinking that someone wanted to sabotage their entries and if I was in charge at either club I would tell the BSPA that either the links are restored or I would be moving back to the National League which might ruffle a few feathers that need ruffling big time. The fact that both teams who moved from Championship to Premiership appeared immediately makes you wonder how they got accepted so quickly! Does the BSPA want to make Speedway grow or are they determined to ruin the sport?

Not only do any news items on the BSPA website have the disclaimer but it is not possible to get to the club website as Eastbourne and Birmingham don't exist according to the list of teams in the league. If I was of a suspicious nature I would be thinking that someone wanted to sabotage their entries and if I was in charge at either club I would tell the BSPA that either the links are restored or I would be moving back to the National League which might ruffle a few feathers that need ruffling big time. The fact that both teams who moved from Championship to Premiership appeared immediately makes you wonder how they got accepted so quickly! Does the BSPA want to make Speedway grow or are they determined to ruin the sport?

That is possible but then there is the question of how soon the BSPA were advised of the situation and how long was it before they took action. If Chris Harris has not been paid for nine meetings then that should also be true for all the other riders. So how many meetings did the bond cover? In other words was it that the riders were not paid for fifteen meetings and the bond has been used to pay six meetings? Could the BSPA confirm that all fees were paid up to date or was some of the bond used for that purpose? I understand that the team sheet given to the referee at each meeting has to be signed by the team captains to the effect that riders have been paid up to date. When did the Rye House captain refuse to sign that information? Too many unanswered questions sadly.

I have to ask where the bond all promotions are supposed to lodge with the BSPA went? If it was used up with payments to the BSPA before the riders were paid then it is a disgrace which the BSPA should be ashamed of and the riders should take action to rectify the situation.

So are they going to reinstate the ones they stole from Birmingham?

I am sure that the Kings Lynn award for Track of the Year is from Stock Car fans as it is a superb track for National Saloon Stock Cars and BriSCA Formula One Stock Cars.

While this is a reasonable sentiment, BMR who own Rye House are not flavour of the month with the BSPA so very unlikely to happen sadly as Rye is the only track I can really get to, to watch racing.

During my lifetime I have gone to Speedway meetings by public transport at Wimbledon, Hackney, West Ham, New Cross, Crayford, Wembley, Rye House and Poole. Only the last one of them is still open and costs over £40 even with a Senior Railcard plus admission and I don't get home until nearly 2am so I have given that up as a bad job. A few years ago it was possible to get cheap rail tickets on the Waterloo to Poole line and I usually included a trip to the Swanage Railway during the day which at least meant a rain-off was not a complete waste of money! The others I went to while at school/work even midweek.

Freeview needs to be the HD version to get channel 95 as I understand it. I can't get channel 95 sadly as I am in an area that doesn't seem to work, South West London being the middle of nowhere according to Freeview!

A dictionary is no use to someone who doesn't know how to spell the words! Need Santa to give out a Thesaurus or two maybe.

Your last five words may be partly the explanation!

I do not understand why the BSPA adjusted the league table immediately Rye House were closed but the averages they left until the end of the season! Surely all the changes should have been made upon Rye House being closed or did they forget the riders averages?

Today and some of the details have been posted on the BSPA website.

That looks like good news for the Eagles and I wish them all the best. Sadly it could have a bad effect on the National League which is worrying as that is where the next generation of riders learn their trade. For the good of British Speedway all three leagues need to be kept as strong as possible.

I would make it that the first 2 minutes ends and the new 2 minutes starts immediately. If the replacement is not ready at the end of that two minutes then the race runs with three riders and the rider who is now by himself goes off the handicap. Team managers won't take a chance on making that mistake as it would be an almost certain 5-1 against them. Harsh but it will concentrate the minds of managers and riders very quickly.

I think the rule should allow the team manager to either send out a reserve or have the excluded rider on a handicap. That seems to work well in the case of a tapes infringement.

The Rye House meetings were removed from the league table the day they were removed from the league. Why were the riders averages not treated in the same manner? If the meetings did not count in the league then surely they should not count in the averages either!

Surely if Sweden run on one of our protected days then it is the Swedish teams who will have riders missing?

It may not appear to be the most pressing issue BUT if used correctly and consistently then it will help with speeding up the running of meetings. There have been a lot of complaints about the delays in running meetings and this could help. Back in the 60's tracks had a large team of rankers who worked between every race but without causing any delay to the meeting. The tractor did one lap, sometimes two laps, between each race, again without causing any delay. The modern way of having very few rankers and the tractor(s) appearing every three or four races causes delays and makes for a less consistent track surface so needs to be looked at. Sometimes the old ways are the best!

All very quiet here and on the Monarchs web site! Any thoughts on the team for 2019?

That is the rule book as written by whoever thinks they can get away with it. Matt is just very good at reading between the lines!