Falcon1983

P.s. £26k ain't bad if you have covered your costs in sponsorship, also taking into consideration crash damage etc.

Think you all miss the point... UK Speedway should not have "professional speedway riders" in it, riders are part of the overall problem in the sport not being professional as doubling up has allowed them two levels of income, all riders are going to claim they are skint when they are not just so they can earn more. British speedway needs to go back to racing on the best night for each club and if riders cannot attract enough sponsorship to cover costs etc then get a job! Many riders at BSB level would love £26k back in prize money over a season, loads have jobs too... Your "professional" MMA fighter on the domestic scene works for a living and fits in training, fight camps and fights... The riders have had it far too easy for them for too long.

I think any of the riders that actually love racing speedway would race no matter what money is on offer, many a rider of the past raced for the love of the sport and have jobs. As mentioned British Superbikes have riders who pay to race as it's a professional series but has amateurs competing within in it, there is no prize money its covered by themselves or sponsors. So riders would have to basically get sponsorship in to cover the short fall or running costs. So let's take a no.1 riding in am 8 team league, 2 home and 2 away meeting so that's 28 meetings per season at club level maybe with some form of KO Cup so if you get to the final that's 6 meetings. 34 meetings, say they average 10 points per meeting thats £500 x 34 = £17,000 in points money, most support class riders at BSB level would bite your arm off for that to offset their costs. This level of rider presuming he's British should qualify for the British Championship. Say he scores 10 points per round at £70 per point that's £700 x 7 that's another £4,900 70 points gives an overall championship finish of say 4th that's another £5,000 So from 41 meetings, said rider earns £26,900 not bad prize money from a non professional sport. I'd even go to extremes of making British Speedway a short summer series maybe ran from late May til early September and only have one home and away league fixture and concentrate more on the individual championship

I think it's time to wave goodbye to those riders who race in the GP series and those who earn a good wage in Poland and just give uk Speedway the opportunity to grow again before maybe the pendulum swings back to UK speedway where potentially bigger names return but I cannot see that happening for a good 20 years, the BSPA needs to 10yr plan and look to grow domestically not chop and change every 12 months. British Speedway at any level in this country should not be associated with the word "Professional" as it is not a professional sport, it does not owe a promoter, or a rider a professional wage. If you look at British Superbikes one of the league motorcycle champions in the world there are 5 or more categories circa 200+ riders, there is no prize money, maybe a handful of riders are paid to race, costs are mainly covered by sponsors and most of these riders have day jobs, all of these racers are ultimately trying to be the next Marc Marquez but for 99% of the paddock they wont make a living out of the sport. I think to progress it should be 2 leagues only, go back to the British League consisting of 8 teams perhaps those with the better facilities/support. Then have the national league made up of the remaining clubs. Purely as an example Poole, Ipswich, Belle Vue, Kings Lynn, Wolves, Swindon, Sheffield, Leicester. £10 Entry for spectators Revert back to the old 13 heat format £50 per point speedway Riders will have to make up the lost income via sponsorship. National league can be more based around £20 per point. British League play offs on BT Sport only. Have a multi round British Championship across 7 rounds all LIVE on BT Sport, if paid by BT Sport if they contribute £30,000 per round. Offer £70 per point (1/3 of BTs contribution) £70,000 then distributed to top 8 at the end of the championship 8th - £1,000 7th - £2,000 6th - £3,000 5th - £4,000 4th - £5,000 3rd - £10,000 2nd - £15,000 1st - £30,000

52-38 to witches

Ipswich to win to keep things interesting for a little while longer... Harris - 6 Heeps - 6 Lawson - 6 Allen - 6 King - 8 Kennet - 8 KP - 6

I'm going to say 16 or less from both meeting for Chris Bombed Harris

NBJ used to ride Foxhall quite well if the right one turns up can see 7 or 8 points but can also see a score of around 3

King Kennet Harris Very poor showing from all 3 lucky witches got back in, why wasnt allen used more?

Two slight things I'd change that doesn't pull up many trees Team kevlars for all teams in the top division at least, also would change rules for away teams Highest average rider must ride at 1. But 6 and 7 can be any 2 riders from the 3 lowest average riders in your team Gives away managers more to think about, for example maybe witches could drop heeps back to 6 and push Kennet into 4 or put Allen at 2 with heeps moving back to 7 Think this rule base would generate some better meetings potentially more away wins

I'd have gone Lawson at 2, Herpes at 4

What witches need more is to simply win by a big enough margin to not let teams take any points Let's hope Richard keeps his guys cool, no point risking certain moves for little reward which is what happened to Allen earlier this season Keep it close, keep it in control with few risks possible.

Ipswich need to decide who is their best option at no.1 and who their best reserve pairing is, then start manipulating these rolling averages to get riders into these positions for the play offs

48-42 Doyle 13 Bellego 4 Jensen 8 Ellis 6 Batchelor 12 Perks 3 Guest 2 ----‐--------‐--------‐------‐---‐ Harris 7 Lawson 6 King 6 Heeps 7 Pieczek 6 Kennet 4 Allen 6

I would agree with this 100% If you had 4 divisions of 16 riders for the individual series you could then have 16 teams for the 4team club championship And do some form of NFL draft system in terms of picks

Ipswich now weaker with Heeps in the 1-5 no doubting he will hold his own but Kennet wont score what heeps has done at reserve Heeps needs to slow it down and get back in that reserve spot for the play offs ha

4 points at Peterborough 0 from Belle Vue 1 from Swindon

Very familiar with all 3 well bar stadium rent, but even on the figures quoted deducting VAT and operational costs, still profitbal for a promoter, the same promoter who claim they dont make any money from the sport which they do or they wouldn't promote

This is the problem with promoters, no ambition, why not the olympic stadium for say a british final or end of season round of a championship? Speedway needs to be in the heart beat of this country and that is London

I will explain I mean if there was some form of standard points money on offer in a revamped semi pro league, either team racing or individual you could start by basing it off 600-800 per meeting or per round or however the format is So let's say it's for a team championship but based on the 4TT structure, that's 4 clubs at one track, 16 heats of racing If you say 800 x £18 thats £14,400 so £900 worth of prize money per race 4th = £50 3rd = £100 2nd = £200 1st = £400 That works out at £750 per heat so promoter already has £150 left over per heat plus whatever excess he gets through the gate If at Foxhall for example they can easily double 800 people so the promoter or series will have £2,400 + £14,400 which would be profitable after costs Less racing so less costs to the riders in terms of maintenance, if they can secure enough sponsorship to cover racing costs and they average say 3 seconds and a last place over 20 meetings a season that's £13000 from a hobby

If team speedway was to stay I think something like a 12 team league with a squad of 5 riders and it runs on a 4TT format even at semi professional standards with a youth league similar to what the conference is now. That would at least give fans the chance to identify with their club, no doubling up and also its individual racing but with a team goal in mind. If standardised points money was brought in across the board also so you earn what you score per meeting based on say 600-800 spectators then promoters could even make money The sport either needs one professional league or division or individual or even semi pro, the sport is not a profession any more it's a hobby and riders need to understand this

You could only realistically use tracks that are also used for other events, as there will only be a handful of meeting per year, so those only facilitated for speedway on it's own and has no other income other than speedway will be for housing, which is what will happen to the sport eventually anyway.

100% currently should be a 5 round championship perhaps the only speedway other than the play offs that BT should cover

The tracks that are able to stage other events etc could put on other types of meetings such as perhaps the likes of Ipswich, Lynn, Boro and Mildenhall staging their own mini series of the Star of East Anglia. Obviously what I am saying is that perhaps someone like Sky Sports and a branded sponsor can make a 10 round series work financially for riders, let's be honest here also the "Super 16" in what would be the top flight many get income from riding in other countries. If promoted well you could get 4,000 to 5000 spectators at Foxhall alone for one round, I know alot of speedway supporters are over a certain age where routine is everything and team speedway means everything but this is my point, team speedway only means it to fans, it doesn't mean it to riders Go back years where there were genuine rivalries between clubs, fans and riders, now in a fans head rivalries still exist however for clubs and riders they do not.. Riders due to doubling up and social media are all mates, how do you feel when your team in the championship tweet that Rory Schlein scored 9 points tonight for Wolverhampton (as an example) why would YOUR club tweet about your rider scoring points for another team? Because he is not your rider is he, that's not a team sport Then how much team riding is there anyway in this gate and go, win at all costs no matter where your team mate is because winning maximises my own income. Personally I'm one who prefers individual meetings and can see speedway has no way of coming back from where it is now despite how many times the BSPA gloss over it every season

I've been thinking about this for a while, team speedway is not really a viable option at the moment in terms of riders doubling up etc across 2 or 3 divisions. I understand they are trying to do away with it over 5 years and that there are a crop of youngsters whom in 5 years time may be able to boost numbers. However, what state will the sport be in when 5 years is up, will there be a sport left? Personally i think team speedway is already on it's way out, it's only the fans whom cling on to team speedway purely as they have already built a relationship and affection with their chosen club. I think individual speedway is the way forward for the Sport perhaps not the way forward for clubs. I can see there being perhaps 4 divisions of 16 riders call it a Premier League, Division One, Division Two and Three Potentially ran to the same format as the speedway grand prix, with a broadcaster like Sky TV doing something big with the main league where the prize money can be something quite attractive to riders. Run from April - August covering 10 championship rounds, with some form of promotion/relegation bottom 4 riders in the premiership going down top 4 from Division One going up etc. All the way down to Division 3 Rounds ran on Friday, Saturday or Sundays to boost attendances Just for fun, which 16 would be in your premiership? Mine would be 1. Jason Doyle 2. Max Fricke 3. Troy Batchelor 4. Robert Lambert 5. Craig Cook 6. Kenneth Bjerre 7. Rory Schlein 8. Jacob Thorsell 9. Brady Kurtz 10. Jack Holder 11. Hans Andersen 12. Chris Harris 13. Danny King 14. Scott Nicholls 15. Richard Lawson 16. Dan Bewley Ten Rounds at Belle Vue Swindon Glasgow Ipswich Olympic Stadium Sheffield Poole Kings Lynn Birmingham Peterborough