HGould

the trunking you can see will probably be the inside of the dog track as that ties up with width of new speedway track as you can just see outside of junior track on the extreme left of the picture. 320 is a nice size me thinks.

Great news Skydog, Swindon is much more sensible for lots of reasons, and good luck to all concerned.

I have to sadly agree with Richard, it would in my opinion have been wiser to wait and try again later in the year and give longer to prepare the case better. If Local Authority Planning turns against you, a very sticky wicket. Kent also left in position of turning all Provisional Dates in to actual dates and a nightmare so far for away visitors in particular to plan and Monday is so tough travel wise from North or West. I am sad to say, as have a lot of respect for Len, that this has not been handled particularly well.

Yes, in my experience Richard, if you are turned down once, best tactic is to walk away; leave it, take a bit of time and fine tune and try again 18-24 months later. Not the kind of committees to annoy with what they grow to think are futile appeals. Would have thought Kent have someone professional helping them as us fans are not always ideal in these cases as we have an emotional attachment that planning geeks just dont understand.

That's not good news for Kent or Speedway. The Planning Dept seem pretty fixated against any change of race night and we have seen elsewhere that it is very hard to change initial opinions. Unless the current 3 League, fixed race night in PL structure is changed, Kent are basically stuck in the NL with the only Monday night option being PL. Can Len risk a move to the PL? massive increase in costs on gates of 600-700? if he can only run Mondays? Kent solace may be 1 League and Monday night in one big League but can crowds cover increased costs?

very good bit of business as he has immense promise and still very young probably be pushing to be a heat Leader this season so his stock and asset value will rise. I'm feeling a lot more confident of our chances now that I was a month or so ago and a good sigh to see main Sponsors back with a better deal too. Excitement mounting at Brummies

£100 a point for probably your no 1 and 2 if they are 8 - 9 point + men in CL would now be the norm. Some top riders even in CL have a "guarantee" that would pay a fixed sum in all matches. I heard that's what Rye House were paying in PL last season - sums of £1200 a meeting guaranteed quoted, and some more experienced CL double up's getting same sort of figures. There are teams who don't go for top end strength but solid 1-7 built around 6-7 point riders but even then you would expect to pay about £70 a point.

I might be wrong but i always thought Team Decs had to be in by 1 March to be checked and ratified by BSPA. Until Team Decs go in and are ratified, ethically I guess a Club have not "declared" officially 1-7.

Palovaara is 6.25 - so would leave 6.68 to play with. Worrall might get a 2% reduction (at best) so lowest he can be is 8.01. So bigger change needed to fit Worrall in. Rider has to be 6.68 or lower

all very strange in what has been the usual way Club has been run, as some have said, relatively new Promoter and obviously he thinks he has found a better option, may be cheaper option. Will be interesting to see who it is. Campton is my guess

It's an interesting point you make; as years ago speedway fans would rush to wear anything with club logo's on it. It's a brave and innovative move, prices look about right compared with other clubs merchandise. As with many things Glasgow set the bar high with their website and online merchandise and this new Eagles gear looks competitively priced and more lines than Glasgow currently, so as you sat time will tell.

Heard BW-D going to Brummies after first averages. Suppose BW-D will be linked with everyone at some point, likely first heat leader injury BW-D will be in (sad but that's speedway).

Another impressive effort from The Eagles. https://www.eastbourne-speedway.com/merchandise/ Reading through it seems these are the guys who supply BRDC at Silverstone who own the Track and F1 License; and Corporate gear for some massive Blue-Chip Global and National Companies; and the Company Boss is an ex F3 driver. Company based in Tamworth, somebody at Eastbourne is doing some serious homework and making great contacts, this Company is on the doorstep of my Club the Brummies and also Wolves and Leicester, why aren't we in there getting deals done.??

Feel sorry for Scunthorpe fans, surely as Mr Godfrey sees himself as "Mr Championship" you'd think he would be eager to be the best / up with the best of all aspects of running a CL Club, seems the opposite is the case in terms of communication, effort and outlook. Shameful!

Birmingham - in Dave Mason and Laurence Rogers 2 guys who want to provide entertainment and to improve their Club. Based on where you live however, I would say Eastbourne, been so impressed with all they have tried to do this winter, as the previous Poster said, their new website and link with Speedway Portal sets the bar higher than anyone apart from possibly Glasgow and their social media. I think if I lived down there I would certainly give them a try but try Brummies first!

Looking at Bickleys website you'd have to say "more hype than substance" at the moment. He sis go to Australia in the winter but seemed to be outshone by Wajknecht and Brennan. I don't see him as anything but a reserve all season at Glasgow but may increase his actual average from his away average (as this will be a new track for him and very different from Workington) in 2018 of 1.13 to around 3.00 overall. Is he a better long term option than Joe Lawlor, frankly not sure??

Back on topic and I think it is crystal clear from the article and other comments over the years that what Godfrey really doesn't ever want is one big League, I have always thought he sees the Championship as a Northern League and the Premier as a Midland ( south of Belle Vue) /Southern League and probably wants an 8/8 9/9 type split and 2 home and 2 away. I'm not sure how close he and Buster are, but it looks a bit of a dictatorship at the moment The fact that it took so long apparently for Birmingham and Eastbourne to be ratified to the CL in the winter and in that 5 page article he could not mention Somerset; Birmingham or Eastbourne once again proves the point. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2019 and what the reaction to either One Big league or a North/South split is in 2020 as it seems a few Clubs already "hanging on" like Redcar / Newcastle (Nissan) and Swindon (Honda) plus others in Midlands (Wolves / Birmingham / Leicester) could be hit by sudden collapse in Car Industry and associated supply chains; and any even small loss of core support could impact on pretty much every Team, with very few exceptions.

Richard - I think both Grahame Brothers and Andy Smith and others of that era suffered due to outstanding quality of American and Danish Riders in that era. Alan would have been no 1 in many sides in his pomp but had Penhall; Gundersen; King; Pedersen around him, likewise Andy who would have ridden with Neilsen and others. If either Grahame brother were around now would be no 1 in most sides in PL.

That's probably the first and only time Ledwith and Kennett have been mentioned in the same sentence; in terms of pedigree and ability anyway. Does seem a strange signing but if your old enough your good enough works both ways I guess. Would be great to see our Andy and Alan Grahame v Gordon Kennett and Martin Dugard.

A bit off topic but I have long been a believer that a "Veterans League" attached in some way to actual matches and a Junior League - so say 2 heats of U16 and 2 heats of veterans with a bonus point - added to aggregate score of those 4 extra heats may be something worth trying in Shield or something similar. Run 1 Junior and 1 Vets Race each - between Heat 6 and 7 and Heat 12 and 13??... aggregate winner of those 4 races gets a Bonus Point in mail League Table

who said there was anything wrong with lady riders?, Rachel improved lots during the season, we had an older chap at a few away matches - will find out the name. Nothing wrong with that either!

S4S very much respect your views and sentiments, I think we'll have to agree to disagree though about a Club subsidising another that is 100+ miles away. As there are Clubs much closer to Reading that seem to not wish to help. I do think BSPA have to take accountability here, happy to collect Bond money and presumably sit on it, or may be if they took Loan Fees from some of the displaced Riders they now own and invested that in Junior Development Leagues. One issue with SDL/MDL/NDL is they are more "amateur" Leagues now than Development; we certainly had a few 40+ year olds and a wonderful lady rider at Brum last season!

Why should any Club in PL or CL subsidise a 3rd Party SDL side? If they were branded as Eastbourne then yes, but why should they subsidise Reading or Weymouth? Isn't it right they should pay to use the track? Eastbourne have picked an all British 1-7 and promoted 2 NL Riders to 6 + 7 and top 2 in NL Riders Championship to 4-5 berths. That's developing British talent! They have offered facilities to Reading on a Sunday when Reading and other SDL riders are likely to have far more track time as a result?; and if Martin Dugard is around some expert tuition. Track time is surely what they want at SDL level not rushing 6 heats at 10pm at night in the freezing cold. Got to think too about the track staff at all Speedway venues, most work for nothing.

Curfews will always be a problem if MDL/SDL/NDL are run after main events. I went to Eastbourne 2-3 times last season and they ran youth races before the main meeting and SDL after the main meeting (Reading SDL). It got a bit too much for me. The racing went on from about 6.30 to 10.15. I would imagine they not Reading had to pay for Medical cover and Referee so it seems to me that John Cook has decided that he wants to cut costs of Track and Paramedic cover before and after League Racing. If Reading run there on Sundays they will presumably pay for Paramedic and Referee and one big benefit is any SDL/MDL should get 2 lots of track time racing and practising before the SDL/MDL match and have no curfew issues.

Have to agree, both great riders, Mavis was flash, brash, great gater ; Gordon was Mr Consistent, best white line passer I think of that era, so close to winning WC in 1978 and like Peter Collins couldn't gate, PC went round the boards and GK round the line. Hard to split them but would agree Steve GK was more complete rider for me.