greyhoundp

Its to be hoped there is no dirt on the Track, and that its more rideable than the last meeting that was held at Brandon, if its in the same condition that it was in 2 weeks ago, then im afraid some of these inexperienced youngsters may be caught out. All i can say is Good luck guys and stay safe.

So how can you enforce it ?. As a promoter i can agree to pay official rates, then aside from this there is the good old cash in hand, thats always gone on, and will continue to do so, NO way that you can enforce official pay rates, there are to many ways around it.

Yeah maybe from Porkys perspective it will start with a C, but im guessing it wont be followed by radley Can you remember how he spelt Kent, i think if memory serves me correctly,he spells that with a Cent. . Im pretty sure Porky will lead a Cradley war cry, if he doesnt, Im betting someone on the terraces will lead it off, hows about young Harris ?. How will we get on, well Im pretty sure we will be too strong for The Storm at monmore wood, and Im expecting everyone to chip in with useful points, but especially interested to see how Nath gets on.

I too looked at the weather forecast, and decided to give it a miss, after all a 360 mile round trip, to see Cradley doesnt come cheap. However looking at the comments one cant help but see where Speedway is shooting itself in the foot, can anyone imagine a newcomer going to Coventry for the first time last night ?, i doubt they would be going back again anytime soon, and whats more worrying is it would take a great effort to probably get them to go to a Speedway meeting ever again. This is where almost every Speedway promoter fails not only do you have to get them through the gates, you then need to provide a watchable and entertaining product, or they wont come back again, Coventry Speedway YOU FAILED last night, not only yourselves, but the sport of Speedway in general. The sport is on its Knees and the people that run it, cant see past the end of there noses.

Im sure 21st will be there.

Any other NL rider thats available, Im thinking Starkie probably has the highest current NL average in the NL, so any available rider will be chosen, plus there is the possibility we may use RR for some home meetings.

Its not a matter of getting carried away, Kings should be up there challenging for a play off spot, along with Mildenhall, Coventry, and Cradley.

Plus he won the Golden Hammer meeting a few years back, for whatever reason he has never achieved the step up from NL to Pl, he has the ability, thats without doubt.

This is an interesting meeting, involving 2 of the undoubted front runners for honours in 2014, Yes Cradley <aint it great to say that name again> are obviously not so strong as last year, but i expect to see improvement from all the riders except Starkie, how much remains to be seen, and will unravel as the season progresses, but i expect Stevie to confirm he is on a bargain average and will push Starkie for the No1 race jacket, Tom will be the great unknown, will he return to his previous Heathens form, and is his 2013 form just a blip ? or has he reached his level, time will tell and the Heathens season will depend a great deal on this. Max and Nathan Im expecting big things from Nathan this season, 2013 was his 1st season, and he did very well especially away from home Im expecting Nathan to push on and attain a 6/7 point average this year, even from the difficult No2 position, Max he did well in 2013 but this season will be a season of consolidation for him, i expect a small improvement from him, but nothing sensational, now down to the 2 reserves this is where i am expecting Cradley to have the biggest advantage over other Teams we seem to have 2 of the best prospects around, and they have the advantage of having at least a season under their belts, and by all accounts they both could push on to improve their averages considerably. Coventry we have Nielsen and D. Greenwood replacing JJ and Branford, so on paper Nielsen for JJ is more or less like for like, maybe Nielsen is slightly better, D.Greenwood for Rob Branford this slightly weakens Storm but nonetheless not to a great extent. Now to the Trophy meeting I expect the Heat leaders to cancel each other out, the 2nd strings i expect to see Nathan do well at Coventry, and Dan G to go well at both Tracks, its down at reserve where i expect to see Cradley out score Storm and therefore come out on top, and retain the Trophy for 2014.

If there are 20 riders available then they can be shared around, if there are 10 available then they can hold out for £20/30 pound per point, basically its supply and demand, this year there is a shortage of middle and top order riders, so the riders that are available, can dictate what they want, to a certain extent. This applies also to most jobs, 1 applicant can dictate more his terms than a job that has 20 applicants, at least thats how it is in my line of work, why do you think big bosses want us to remain in the EU ?. Im not meaning how many points are available, i do realise its the same whatever the limit, this is about how much they get paid for each point, 20 riders after i available position, or 1 rider after 20 positions, i know which one will be able to strike the best deal, i repeat myself, this year there is a rider shortage, and the smaller teams will suffer, and struggle to be competitive especially away from home.

Yeah well thats not Buxtons fault, they pay the rate they can afford, maybe its not feasible to control the pay rates, but if the points limit is lowered then that is a more controlable way of indirectly putting a limit on riders pay, this year there does appear to be a shortage of middle to higher average riders available. However with the draft maybe some riders wont ride for £10 per point, but if they want to be included in the following seasons draft, then they do need a NL average.

Whilst i may not always agree with what they do, i cannot fault them for how things are run in general, especially on race nights, the Olly Ommer Club for kids, and for out of season events, all in all a beacon to hold up to some of our so called Elite Clubs.

All i will say about this http://www.speedwaygp.com/news/article/3158/poole-set-for-new-home is beware, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Reading, and now Poole, GI are only in this to top up their pensions, they have ZERO record for building new Stadia, they dont have the funds to do so,in fact the money they make from running Swindon and Poole would not even but the land, i would hazard a guess it barely covers the salaries of Clark Osborne, Bill Glass and Co, hence the need for continually selling off assetts.

I usually like and agree with what most of what Proud Potter writes on here, however his comments with regards HT ie "rehash of previous misinformation" I find that to be treating a respected supporter, and sponsor of Speedway and riders, with arrogance. Malcolm indeed seems to be falling into the ways of the Tatums and others on the promotion, who believe supporters need to be treated like dog dirt on your shoe. In this day and age every supporter needs to be listened to, not belittled as Malcolm seems to be doing these days if they dont agree with him. I fully agree with Vog,s sentiments, i said on another thread it needs the Tatums to walk away from Stoke Speedway, maybe just sell the Speedway side of things, and retain the profitable Stock car aspect. That would be best for everyone concerned, then and only then would many of the old supporters return.

Goodness me, whilst i dont pretend to know Robert, whenever i have seen him ride, which has been well into double figures, he has never come across as a spoilt kid, like all speedway riders he doesnt like being beat (name me one that does). He won the Under 21 Title fair and square on the night, you can only beat whats in front of you and he did that. I think you must be in a minority who thinks Robert is a cocky upstart, but hey we all have opinions, and mine is that you are wrong..

After having had the weekend to think about it, here is my Team; Stefan Nielsen 8.00 Darren Mallett 6.04 Stevie Worrall 7.09 Dan Greenwood 5.74 Tom Perry 6.30 Brandon Freemantle 3.00 Danny Philips 3.00 Total 39.17 I would expect several of these riders to improve considerably over the season, big seasons ahead for Perry & Greenwood, do they improve or are they at there level ?. Nielsen and Worrall will definately improve, Mallett neeeds an injury free season, Freemantle & Phillips should be amongst the Top reserves in the NL. The only reason i didnt select James McBain is i believe he will move into the main body of the Stoke Team, after the 1st set of averages.

Well for sure Vog, Danny Phillips WILL be in my Team.. Just need to find the 6 others to go with him lol.

Haha, Thats true but some Team Managers have had several months, i will take a few days over the weekend, and hopefully come up with a team that can produce the goods.

Right lads lets have a bit of fun, pick YOUR team within the averages, then at the end of season, we total up those seven averages, and the highest combined average wins. So come on, we all fancy ourselves as Team managers lol, lets see who can really do it. It would be nice if Proud Potter, Jayne, and Dale would join in . Averages to be The official green sheets only. Whoops I forgot my old mate Main man, Im sure he would love to choose a team for this, but then I guess he will have no choice but to pick The Storm team..

I would have thought Nathan Stoneman, would be a good shout for a Team spot at Lynn, I read on his Facebook recently, that he is NOT an asset of any Team..

Of course there is a way around it, or is what the EL is doing with NL riders at 6 & 7 illegal ?. No quite simply it only needs a pick of draft NL riders at 7 or 6 & 7 for it to be possible, where there is a will, theres always a way, especially in speedway.

Nathan Greaves, yes its going to be tough for him, because he has moved up in to the main body of the Team, but Im expecting him to be able to handle that.

I really think that with the shortage of Heat Leaders, the NL needs to reduce the points limit in the NL, i think a 36 point limit would be better suited at this moment in time, especially with many riders now doing all three Leagues. This would open up positions for the Gearys, Dwyers, and such like, who really need to be racing League Speedway on a regular basis, against better riders to improve themselves. And while Im here, I would like to acknowledge the Job Scunthorpe did in bringing on young Max Clegg, many seem to think it was Cradley where he first emerged, 2013 was his 2nd season of NL racing. Im looking forward to seeing how Nathan goes this year in this his 2nd season of NL racing, he tended to get overlooked bcuz of Max,s progress, Im hopeful it will be comparable with Max, already he is on a par on the bigger Tracks, he just needs to improve on the smaller Tracks to make significant improvement on his average.

Just a slightly different choice of words "The IOW" staged PL racing, but i believe i am correct in saying even then it got in to financial difficulties, which it is paying off until this day.

So following on from the sad but inevitable decision at this late stage of the close season. Does anyone have any IOW shares they would be interested in selling ?. Yes i am aware I can approach the Chairman, but would he be keen to sell shares to someone who would like to see Speedway return? .