NJC71

As an aside I wonder if Christian Henry will be fit/intends to ride next year? I know he had a bad one last year with injury but he would be more than worth a punt on a 4.97 average.

Hmmm.... no problem with Lindgren returning but not quite sure that's "exciting" news that needed a countdown. Maybe there's more annoucements to follow today/tomorrow...

KB isn't realistic. That team looks weak at reserve too and personally Rosen is a no for me. He was poor last sesson. The 3 point rule was badly thought out for me. I don't know who these 3 pointers are and fear some of the northern tracks in paricular will have to take riders who are not ready for PL racing. The big issue though is that it could cost riders on 4 point ish averages team places, as I would imagine most teams will want an experienced high scoring reserve alongside the 3 pointer. We'll see.

Very pleased to see both back. Confident Aarnio will score well wherever he rides and I like his attitude. Steve just needs to find a bit more consistency on the road to become a genuine PL number 1. Shame if Richie is heading elsewhere.

Good move. He can always come back to the PL if it doesn't work out, he has to give it a go. Just hope he get's a proper opportunity to show what he can do. He was very impressive towards the end of last season. Will be a big loss the the Monarchs though. Riders who can pretty much guarantee those sort of points home and away don't come around very often.

So I assume the requirement to have a 3 pointer at reserve will rule out a Nielsen/Rose reserve pairing and possibly mean a choice between the two to ride at 6? I thought Simon made steady progress last season and was going very well around Brough towards the end of the season having gained the confidence to ride the wider lines. Would have been quite happy to have had him back but with an in inexperienced rider at number 7 it puts a different light on things. While I support the move to have a 3 pointer at 7 it does possibly mean there'll be a few riders on 4 point(ish) averages who might struggle to get team places with many promoters going for a more experienced higher scoring option at 6. That would be a shame. Talk of KB is not realistic. Why would he want to ride PL? If we can get both Steve and Richie I'll be well happy. Aarnio is also a must wherever he rides. Don't see any reason why he wouldn't score well at 2 or 4 if needed. His signing should be a priority.

Assiming the league structure remains as it is and we ride Premier, I would be happy to have Steve, Ludvig, Nielsen and Aarnio back from this year + Lewis K if he's fit to ride. Would also take Richie back as he's much better than his average suggests. Wouldn't be surprised if we line up something like: S Worrall Aarnio R Worrall L Kerr L Lindgren S Nielsen L Rose Personally I would be quite happy with that.

I'm far from convinced that the absence of double up riders is the key issue. I don't recall Steve Worrall missing a Newcastle match due to riding for Belle Vue. My argument is that it is very difficult for PL teams to permanently or temporarily replace injured riders. There might be 91 riders available at the start of the year but that's not going to be enough when the inevitable injuries occur. The evidence is there to prove it. Who can Newcastle sign to replace Christian Henry on a 6 point average? Teams declared with 7 riders is missing the point. Sheffield had Simon Stead declared for months. He isn't going to ride is he. Same for Newcastle with Henry & Kerr or Redcar with Bjerre & Robson or Berwick with Vissing. Who can these teams sign to replace those riders? Give us names? I'm sure Brian Havelock & George English would love to hear from you. If it wasn't for doubling up I doubt the EL would be able to exist. Anyway time to agree to disagree.

If there isn't a shortage of riders then I need you to tell me why, at nearly every meeting I attend, one or both teams use rider replacement or guests or quite often both. I can't remember the last time I watched a fixture between two 7 man teams. Why have several teams been unable to sign replacements for injured riders quickly, if at all. You are basically saying that those teams haven't bothered through choice. I know for a fact that's not the case. You insisted earlier that all PL teams are running with 7 man teams which they clearly aren't so forgive me for being somewhat sceptical over your claims re rider availability.

i would love to see a list of all these riders who are available to sign, can commit to all fixtures and are affordable to all clubs. NL riders is not the point, you cannot replace a heat leader or second string with a National League rider. Even then the vast majority are based in the South and their capability/desire to travel to the north of England/Scotland every week has always been an issue.

Yeh right so these teams have loads of options and just basically can't be arsed to sign riders. You are in denial. Newcastle couldn't even get a guest for a KOC Semi-Final. Of course you'll be telling us that there were loads of riders desperate to ride but George just didn't bother asking.

Yes I can and no they don't all have a full seven. There are less riders than team places and has been pretty much all season. Newcastle and Redcar to name but two have been running with 5 man teams for a good while now. Sheffield ran with a 6 man team pretty much all year. Berwick don't have a full 7. There have been loads of other examples of teams running with guests and rider replacement for weeks and weeks. It is not about having enough riders to fill 1-7's at the start of the season. There are always going to be injuries, loss of form, in season retirements etc so there needs to be plenty of riders in reserve for speedway to get by and there just aren't enough of them. The number of new riders coming into British speedway every year, be it young Brits or new foreign riders has been declining year on year and it's getting worse. Check the facts.

Can't understand why some are arguing that there are plenty of riders - sorry but there aren't. Some teams are able to sign replacements, perhaps because of race nights, finance etc. But a number simply haven't been able to. No point in suggesting changes to race nights because it won't work. Many teams have limited access to stadiums or won't move to different race nights because historically crowds are poor on other nights so it would be financial suicide. You only have to look back to the 80's/early 90's and compare the number of riders competing in this country compared to today. There was no doubling up then and the difference with a similar number of teams is staggering. 6 man teams has to be worth looking at. I would even support a return to the 13 heat formula and meaningful second halfs.

Problem is clearly not George or anyone else not putting the effort in to find a guest it's a problem with a complete lack of riders and it's killing speedway in this country at all levels. Yes there are efforts to try and address that at junior/amateur level but that needs to be expanded/properly funded and will obviously take time to bear fruit with no guarantees. In the interim the Premier League have two options as I see it. Either introduce a fast-track system along the same lines of the Elite League by forcing PL clubs to include 1 or 2 NL riders each or if that won't work go to 6 man teams. God knows what the Elite League will do.

I don't really disagree with you Dave. The fast-track system in my opinion is only really papering over a massive crack with the lack of riders in the EL. The fast track riders only generally ride against each other and although they benefit from riding more frequently I'm not convinced it is making a big difference to quality or numbers. Far better to have a fast-track system between the NL and PL. Seeing a number of quite frankly poor foreign riders riding at reserve in the PL is no good for anyone. I'm aware there is excellent work done by the likes of yourself to give access and opportunity but that work relies on un-paid volunteers. It badly needs supported by quality coaching, centres of excellence etc to bring these kids on and give them a recognised path from beginner to international rider. What really does my head in is narrow minded decisions like not putting a GB team into the World Pairs and preventing riders competing in European Championship. Short sighted decision making that discourages GB riders. Ok so many of my gripes probably sit more with the SCB or the wider sport, e.g. cost and rider safety which is a serious blocker but I still think that too many clubs in this country are only interested in themselves and not in the sport as a whole.

Well whatever the circumstances the Diamonds line-up tonight, as it was at Plymouth, it is totally unacceptable and is cheating the paying public. This is 24 hours after ridiculous line-ups at Redcar where both sides resembled PL selects. The BSPA must now surely recognise that efforts have to be completely focussed on increasing the number of British riders taking part in the sport. They have to stop burying their heads in the sand and continually tell us that the annual conference has been a success and the future is exciting. It's not and hasn't been for years and nothing has been done about it other than the introduction of stupid rules like the TR which just alienate fans. It will take years and years to turn speedway around, the seeds should have been sown years ago. If nothing is done soon we simply won't have a sport to watch before too long.

Don't know what's gone on but we couldn't get a guest? For a KO Cup Semi-Final? What a shambles.

Yeh right. Tero has been riding with broken ribs for several weeks now. Anybody who stands near the pits will visibly see how much pain he has been in after races. Two meetings on the same day not surprisingly took its toll. He's done amazingly well to score the points he has. 😡

The Diamonds will still be operating r/r for Christian Henry - unless you know something I don't...... Can't see anyway the Diamonds can overcome the Monarchs, especially as the Monarchs have the master of Brough in Cookie as well as Masters, Wolbert and Sedgmen who are no slouches around here either.

Good meeting until the track got a bit dusty over the last 4 or 5 heats. Glasgow's tail always looked likely to be decisive against a strong Diamonds reserve pair and so it proved although Lawson was very poor tonight. Until Morris got going Glasgow were a 1 man team although Liam Carr ride better than his score suggests. Get Tero signed up for next year. Would be nice to watch a match with two 7 man teams. Can't remember the last time it happened.

Well that was the best meeting of the season so far for me by some distance. Maybe they should flood the track every Saturday in the future as I've not seen a better surface at Brough. Aarnio again a revelation and must be nailed on for a 2016 team place. Bring on Glasgow, if The two reserves ride like that next weekend we have every chance.

Would be a good idea to try and sign somebody. Would make more sense to sign a new Dane with a view to next year as constantly using r/r and a guest is a real turn off. Getting someone in now would at least create some interest for the fans. Totally understand the reluctance to bring a rider in quickly (out of respect to Lewis K) but if Lewis R is nearly ready to return it would make sense to do something now, even if it means bringing in a 3 pointer for a while until Lewis R returns. Technically speaking we might have more chance of beating Glasgow with a guest and r/r but I'd definitely rather see a full team.

And what sort of person puts comments like that on Facebook? If you're going to put personal insults like that on social media you can hardly complain if the person you are publicly insulting objects can you, regardless of the incident involved. Best wishes to Lasse for a speedy recovery.

Better than using 3 point guests and I doubt there were many options available so worth a try. He has had decent meetings at Brough in the past where he's normally been in the top 5 so no reason he can't score decent points at reserve.

Henry has had a poor season, Lewis Kerr has had plenty of decent meetings but isn't really "tearing up any trees", neither is Rosen (injury certainly won't have helped) while Nielsen although mainly steady hasn't kicked on as might have been hoped and neither has Lewis Rose either (get well soon Lewis). Steve Worrall is the only rider who has ridden consistently well all season. Predictable and incredibly boring that all that is ignored and as ever only Ludvig is singled out for criticism. Jees...... At least Ludvig provides some entertainment. I'm sure all of the riders have given their absolute best but this team was always a gamble that was only going to come off if 3 or 4 really kicked on all at the same time. Unfortunately it rarely works that way and we are paying for not having more than one consistently high scoring top ender or at least a consistently high scoring reserve. Not the fault of the riders, just a gamble with the team that hasn't paid off. If Lewis R is going to be out for a good while then it absolutely makes sense to try and bring someone in and get Henry down to reserve where he would surely be a high scorer...if he can start to make some consistent starts. Who is around on a 5.7 average is another matter. Even if we are allowed guests for Lewis there are very few decent options available and Nielsen isn't riding well enough/or is good enough to shoulder the burden. Very important that the season isn't allowed to just peter out. I myself have missed a number of meetings this season due to having other commitments but I have to admit that after a busy Sunday the desire to go to Brough is not great at the moment and just soldiering on with weak guests isn't really going to persuade me or others to make that extra effort to get there.