Ben91

Blackbird, Poole and Hawkins hardly pulled up any trees.

It didn't have to be an assessed rider at all, plenty of riders out there that would have had experience of the PL tracks and still given us a strong reserve. If Karger struggles then that's a lot of pressure on Morley and Eddie will be carrying a very poor team, yet again.

Meh. Oh well, a point under the limit, that's more like it for a Rye team.

Probably just a typo.

Greg Hancock, World Champion in his forties. It happens.

JPB's scores in his NL meetings last year were better than Smith's generally. They'll both do well, would have JPB down as the one who will do better out of the two though.

Half a half-assed job each? What could go wrong?

Still has?

Ridiculous, he's not British and he's been around for longer than electricity.

If it was that bad he should have just pulled out...

Mear? God no. I'd rather have Kurt Shields back.

Nothing like a good excuse for a poor meeting.

Roy's nan is a lovely woman.

Why is it a bridge too far for him and not for BWD then? The counter side of your argument is that Zach will be racing a whole lot more regularly than BWD, the confidence he will gain from scoring well in the NL will show in his PL performances, plus the fact that he will be getting lots more track time. As for being disappointed, I don't really care who does better to be honest, I won't lose any sleep if the kid doesn't score a point all season. It's just my opinion. The only pressure that goes with being a number one is mental I think, less likely to bother a youngster who has the talent and gets his head down and races. He's had plenty of big races in 2015, it shouldn't phase him too much IMO. There may not be any improvement in his NL figure but it's a pretty high one to begin with, shows the quality he possesses.

Zach's also a fair bit younger, their averages were almost the same in the NL last year. He may not be a Woffinden or a Lambert but he'll be a good rider in future. If he ends the season at Somerset as their highest averaged rider I'd be incredibly shocked, unless they have a terrible season. But he'll probably end up on a figure similar to whatever BWD puts in, if not better.

Zach will end up a much better rider than BWD. Need to take those rose tinted specs off.

Hence why the improvement comes from lower down the order, riders on averages that are below their ability. While I can't see JPB or Smith replicating Zach's 2015 efforts they should both average 4.5-5 across the year. Add Bacon's likely improvement of a point or two and that's a very good bottom end for the Brummies.

Be plenty of amendments to the individual meeting line up too I bet.

It's not as if they've had all winter to find a way to make it work is it...? Oh wait. It is something different granted but to say the fans have been listened to is a little patronising when the fans who wanted changes to the format were calling for regional qualifiers. If the fans are the justification for the changes being made then give them what they want.

Be awkward if you have a rain off or two and Holub doesn't get a new average before Klindt leaves.

The governing body needs to be independent from the people running the teams, it's quite simple. Otherwise there are vested interests, promotors need telling "These are the rules, play by them." Not to be suggesting rule changes that will benefit themselves each winter and then hoping they get voted in.

Never thought there was any planning permission, hence the temp stand being just that, a temporary structure made from scaffold poles. Quotes are better coming from someone, not from 'Team BMR' too. I still can't get my head around the NBJ decision. Within our own asset base we have Anders on an average similar to Lanham and Heeps, neither of those offer anything more than Anders on track. The apparent Lambert situation has derailed plans, as soon as there were any doubts about him signing we should have looked elsewhere. A basis of Kennett, NBJ, Kasper, Mellgren and Morley would have left scope for a heat leader plus Branford or a strength in depth approach with Eddie and NBJ both capable of scoring big at the sharp end plus the luxury of a strong reserve all year. All we can hope is that the new promotion have learnt lessons from this winter's team building at both levels.

If the rider didn't want to ride for us then it's best not to keep him against his will, although I was looking forward to watching his development, along with Bowtell and Hunter. Woods surprised me last year by attaining an average over three, if he does the same in 2016 he'll have done well, the tail looks a lot longer now.

Big improvement usually comes from the bottom end of a team anyway. If you have three riders towards the bottom end putting 4-5 points on between them and the top end maintain their averages then you're set for a good season without a doubt.

Speedway is a dangerous sport, regardless of whether you're a rank amateur, NL rider or GP star there is always the chance of injury so I can't agree that 15/16 year olds with little experience of racing in the league increases the danger. These youngsters are being given NL spots over the riders who have been pottering around in the second half leagues for a few seasons because they are either better already or have greater potential. The standard of kids being churned out in Poland is what we should aspire to as a nation, that won't happen unfortunately if we wrap our prospects up in cotton wool.