greyhoundp

HT, you know it really gets up my nose, when it is said we have no interest in developing riders, that is blatently untrue, the NL is not only for developing Riders its about Developing Clubs, this aspect of the NL is very rarely mentioned, and i just wish it was possible for all Teams such as Hackney,Long Eaton,Halifax,Bristol, etc,etc to be able to run in the NL, while trying to find a new Stadium site, HT i know you do lots of good work for Speedway especially young riders so my comment is not aimed at you, but only what you surmise to be true. Some years ago i was involved in trying to find a suitable site for the Heathens, and one time we thought we had done that, that site would have been based very much along the Scunthorpe blueprint, and even involved Classroom tuition to involve set ups etc,etc, bikes provided free to train with for local youngsters etc,etc, but "Sport England" in their wisdom decided to opose the chosen site.

Cant understand the Ukranian riders names, but surely Teams such as Newport could be bolstered by these riders.0

I am 99% sure Micky doesnt have dual or partriality, we will have to find him an english wife i know Jake anderson does, but he has opted to stay in aussie land for this season.

Have to agree with most of your comments PP; Armo, looked either rusty or not fully fit after his lay off. Richard, won one race and looked steady. Tom, Still short of his best, just could not find that drive round the outside. Ash, Has come on in leaps and bounds this year, good experience for him when he was at Edinburgh. Byron, solid, but never made one gate, says it all really. Darryl, won his first race, and was always on the pace. Luke, Badly lacking in confidence and when he goes into those bends it shows, but he can gate. All in all, while armo is not firing, we badly need an out and out No1 especially away from home. Oh and while we are on the subject, will Mark Baseby fill in for Royno ???? to be honest he is not Royno,s standard but who is at this level. IMO He can score the 7/8s sometimes more, that is all we can expect him to do, as thats his average, and all we have available so i say, sign Mark Baseby he will do a job, Cant see any Rabbits in Hats out there. Oh, have to agree about Stefan Nielsen He has a good surname but also young Steve Worrall he has improved vastly on the potential he showed last year. W e will see them both on Tuesday, lets hope they are not firing so well at Monmore otherwise we could be in trouble against Scunny who also have Ashley Birks and Steves brother Richie plus the experienced Paul Cooper, I feel we need to be firing on all cylinders for that meeting.

Hey we will have less of that, its not allowed, when i criticised the Track last year, i was shot down in flames by some, who more or less accused me of sour grapes. I love the people, the setting, and admire the work Buxton do, but i will say again the Track itself leaves much to be desired.

Lazysue, you bottled it then No i dont mean the beer Sue. Have you seen the Bulls changes ?? Jake Knight is in for Jason Garrity, and Mark Baseby is in for Kyle Howarth.

Question is will it be under the Brummies or Heathens page ???.

Its reported on the Heathens site That Mark Baseby is riding against the Heathens for Birmingham Bulls tomorrow, while it wont be easy for Mark, a good score against the Heathens will surely put him in Pole position for a team spot. Teams are; BIRMINGHAM: Jack Hargreaves, Jason Garrity, Steve Worrall, Kyle Howarth, Paul Starke, Stefan Nielson, Lewis Blackbird. HEATHENS: Jon Armstrong, Richard Franklin, Tom Perry, Ashley Morris, Byron Bekker, Darryl Ritchings, Luke Chessell. Late news is Jake Knight and Mark Baseby will replace Jason Garrity and Kyle Howarth for the Bulls.

Cheers for that Parsloes me old fruit, so Danny may be an Option for the Heathens.

Its not a matter of whos better, more a case of who can be fitted in, yes if we had Adams 11+ current average to use, but we dont, we have around 7.70 to use which is Adams last seasons average, + 0.07 which we arent using that gives us around 7.77 available, cant see a mass of riders on that average who are available, so Mark must be one of the best, unless theres a rabbit in the Hat somewhere. Kyles Newmans average 8.13. is to high. Danny Warwicks is 7.41, may be to old. Jake Anderson 7.02 Stayed in Aussie but is elegible i think, Mark Baseby 6.93. therefore is next in line. Take a look for yourself Cookie. http://speedwaygb.co/nlgreensheets10.html

Give Mark Baseby a spot against the Birmingham Bulls, and subject to his performance offer him a team spot, Its to much to expect our reserves to cover for Adam long term, whilst whoever we get to replace Royno wont score so heavily, so long as he tries and scores reasonably, then the fans will be behind him.

This is what i dreaded happening Royno has been pretty much unbeatable for us in the NL, I have sent my best wishes to Royno elsewhere. Personally I would stay loyal to who we have, and sign Mark Baseby to make up the Team, yes it may mean taking a short term hit by not being as succesful in 2011 as we would have been with Adam. It is almost impossible to find a equal rider ability wise on the average he is on, We only have i think 7.77 to replace Royno, so theres NO way we can find another 11.00 rider with a 7 + average so whoever it is we will be substantially weaker. Kiwi, yes its a development league, but whilst we could put in another "newby" we already have Darryl and Luke, Ash who,s only 17, and Tom who is in his second season,Richard who is also Under 20, these were supported by Adam still only 22, and the experience comes from armo, who is in the veteran stage of his career. Armo is already out, and now Adam is out for a considerable time, we badly need experience at this time. The Heathens fans are argueably the best in British Speedway, but they wont stand for having a Team who may be whipping boys for the rest of the League, we need to be succesful at least at home, and competitive away, this also benefits other Teams as WE have far and away the largest away following in the NL, and the envy of many in higher Leagues, this support will not pay the hard earned and expensive costs involved in travelling away to see us thrashed. This may be controversial to say, but it is fact. We have no god given right to be succesful, but expect to see the strongest Team possible within the rules.

Seems we have a team bieber fan club growing.

Seeing as this is a Mark Baseby admiration society, I will add my name to it, and add that Kings Lynn could indeed do far far worse than sign Mark for The Starlets.

If we r given a good weather forcast,i would expect a large contingent of Heathens fans to be present at West Row on sunday, this despite ever continuing rising fuel prices, which is bound to have some effect now on affordability of some families. Heathens fans are arguably the most loyal in the Country, and with the meeting being held on sunday which is usually a very good day for travelling around, that plus it being Mildenhalls first meeting back with some iconic names from the past being involved, i would expect to see a healthy four figure crowd. The result mmmmmm difficult one this, but i would put The Tigers as slight favourites, especially as The Heathens are not noted for there gating ability, and it important at West Row. Whats the best way to travel up from Bournemouth ?? and does anyone from that area want to come along and share the costs ??.

These Trips are not easy to organise, both on this side of the Atlantic, nor on the American side, they are very time consuming and rely on volunteers entirely,with help from Sponors to varying degrees, and family and friends, No its not possible to get things right all of the time, but people do there best, and thats all one can ask for, sometimes things are beyond control. May i suggest to those whose only aim appears to be to criticise that rather than sit behind a keyboard "very easy to do" and find fault, then they either step forward to offer help, or offer some sponsorship whereby the product can be strengthened so that the spectator can have more evenly balanced teams to watch. Yes in an ideal world it would be great to watch again a fully fledged Test Series GB versus The USA, Kenny Ingalls, Ryan Fisher Eddie Castro, Chris Kerr, Gino Manzares,Ricky Wells, plus some of the ex EL riders who still ride in the USA, now whether this team would be stong enough to compete against a PL Strength GB Team i dont know, but they would surely be crowd pullers, and the BSPA should be able to arrange sponsorship with SKY who i feel sure would love to Televise the series. Any critisicm should be aimed at people who run the Sport on BOTH sides of the Atlantic, not at voluntary helpers and organisers who give up there time freely, nor riders who give of there best, albeit at times it is not good enough. Yes its fine to moan and groan, but sometimes one has to think is there something I could do to help put things right, and are my Criticisms Fully justified. Any way, good luck for the rest of the Tour, and long may they continue.

Predictions lol, personally i cant see the Heathens finishing in the top two, but a play off place has to be the aim for now, Saturday i would be happy to see us keep the result to within 10 points.

Thanks for everything Sarah and Kelvin, most people just dont relise the time and effort that is needed to arrange Tours such as these, and for riders to let you down is unforgivable. I am sure your next venture will be a success, and wish you luck with it.

Whilst i can see the thinking behind the alleged 30+ rule, it does seem strange NO announcement was made in the Post AGM Press release, again it was a case of not what was announced but what was not announced, even esteemed Promoters who contribute on this Forum, forgot to mention this ruling. Deanno yes its no good making rules for The NL, and then not do anything further up in the PL and EL, Team opportunities must be freed up in the PL, and then in the EL, there HAS to be rulings for a minimum of British born riders in Teams and this must be increased over time until a reasonable level is reached, Promoters must start to balance out "Self interest alongside Speedways overall long term Interest" for the EL i guess it is a case of retaining SKY money whatever the cost, for the PL it must be a case of either lesser costs though this is debatable with air fares etc, or the prospect of finding a rider on a lower assesed average than his likely attainable average. To overcome the latter, every British born rider included in a PL Team must have at least a 0.5 point reduction off his average for Team building, a similar ruling must be included for the EL over coming years, whilst this in itself will not stop the decline of opportunuties for British born riders, it needs to be included in a package of measures that are brought in to give Team spots for home grown riders.

Morris is inelegible as he has signed for Glasgow, and the other "Our Ashley" is riding for the Heathens.

I would hazard a guess that at least Adam and Rob will be lining up for the Hitmen in 2011 alongside the ones already signed, but someone posted on The Heathens site that Lewis has retired.

Well it must have been an inspired guess Vog, cuz I arrived at Richard thru a process of elimination,its to easy just reading about it. will we be strong enough to win the League,? that i dont know, but lots will depend on Adam steering clear of injuries, if he can do that then we will be up there, if he picks up an injury, then we wont...lol simple thing this speedway predicting.

For one of our remaining two signings, who have alegedly already signed i am going to say one will be Richard Franklin, he has not as yet been announced in any Team, the other for us to be equal of any other Team we will need an aussie with partriality who will need to put on at least a couple of points on his average.

To say anyone will win the League at this stage is being over optimistic, with signings so far made it will be very competitive, but it is still a little to early to pick out a favourite though some teams have very strong Top ends, some have very strong bottom ends, none as yet who i can see have both, and some who have to complete there announcements, so i am not prepared to say as yet who WILL win the League.

Steve i believe Jayne has answered elsewhere, that ANY PL rider without a current team and whose average is under 6.00 may ride for a NL Team, but once he signs and rides for a PL Team he is inelegible for the NL.