Ben91

I doubt he'd have been allowed to! Can't beat evenings like that. Fwiw I reckon Johnson is a decent signing for Eastbourne. They appear to have taken a more strength in depth approach to things and with Warwick and Owen alongside him he'll have good support. He's still young and could well be a slow burner. I'd rather see Johnson than an old stager take a NL spot. Will be interesting to see how Eastbourne complete their 7.

Just playing devils advocate here but how does an average speedway fan relate to Brendan Johnson any more than they do with any other rider?

I believe he is a Rye House asset, the Raiders could do a lot worse than look at Chessell for 2015.

I believe his grandad was a rider. Long before my time though. Les rings a bell.

Cradley look stronger because they have the tricky bottom end sorted and with good riders to boot. To say they are going to walk the league is going a bit far imo though. Neale has experience at the bottom end for Cradley, while Perks is the best 3 pointer anyone could have signed. Luke Harris has bags of potential and won't be over awed starting as a second string. Greaves will develop into a real NL heatleader too. Looking at the Brummies so far there is no doubt that Perry and Ellis will be one of the best heatleader duos out there. They will have a long tail though and it may be hard for them to fill the bottom end to the same standard that Cradley have. It seems to me at this stage though that there may well be a tussle between the two Perry Barr clubs for the league title in 2015.

That's a Matt Wethers size gap. Would probably push his average up by half a point back at Armadale. An assessed 5 pointer puts more pressure on the two reserves to perform and also on Wolbert and Sedgmen who will have to both improve too.

Considering they have used almost three quarters of their team building total on the top four they are definitely top heavy. No-one may have called it top heavy before the AGM but no-one knew the points limit before the AGM so perhaps it was a little premature for the Kings to sign over half their side. Morley should be a top dog in the league this year. Adam Ellis is the only rider signed by any team so far who could be classed as head and shoulders above him on track. Shanes and Ayres are highly likely to improve too. You'd also imagine Aaron Baseby can at least maintain his starting figure considering there will be more three point riders around, which is a good thing for the division.

Mason is likely to be back at Rye House. There is, and rightly should be, limited space for more experienced riders in the NL. They benefit their team mates yes but one per team is plenty. Mogridge, Verge, Kirby etc aren't being forced out of contention in the Kings side because of the points limit, they are being forced out because 1) the Kings have gone top heavy and 2) they announced the bulk of their side before they knew what the points limit would be. That being said they have made a good start to team building and with the right three riders in the last three slots they can challenge for honours without a doubt.

Lubos Tomicek > Nico Covatti. Lubos was half a wheel away from becoming a GP rider remember.

Second sides in the Trophy gain nothing and are just hen picked riders from the sides that aren't in the competition. Look at Leicester last season. If Lakeside enter the trophy I hope they're told to field a 7 man team of riders who are not attached to NL clubs already.

Hear 15 does count towards averages, however an average is worked out over what a rider should be scoring over 4 rides. It is points scored divided by rides taken times four. So if a rider scores 10 from four rides his average is 10. If he then races in heat 15 and finishes last that average drops to eight.

Every sports person is human, their profile is irrelevant. They earn a living paid for by supporters going through the turnstiles and the least supporters should be allowed to do is voice their opinion. If the riders don't like it, don't read the forum. Higher profile sportspeople receive criticism in a far wider range of ways and the measure of them is how they deal with it. Nothing is different with a speedway rider. The reality is that six of the riders in this season's line up have been Rockets before and all bar one (Kennett) have fallen short in their last spells with the club respectively. They are on the averages they are on for a reason.

They're sportsmen, criticism is part of the job. The criticism is more levelled at the promotion however for yet again giving us a mediocre looking line up.

He could always go back to Redcar and under perform. Won't be worth that 21k if he's back on a five point average next year.

This is why the asset system needs to be scrapped. Riders should be free to move where they want between seasons.

Kennett was the only positive from the side that started last season for me. He did do the job of a number one but the team was too weak for him to carry it. I can see the same happening this year. As I said before there are too many question marks. I fear for us going away to places like Sheffield, Peterborough and Workington as we'll be lucky to pick up more than a point or two from reserve. Can't blame Greenwood for going to Somerset to be honest, did we even make him an offer though? Looking at some of the sides declared already I'm fearful for this season.

He's been a snip on his average ever since he came over here. One of the most overrated riders about.

From that press release it seems not. Good start to team building for the Kings without a doubt.

The Raiders are going to be looking to develop riders, Kent are looking to win the leagues no real clash of interests there. Talk of potential thrown meetings on either part etc will happen of course but I can't see that happening tbh. Simple solution is to ensure the sides race each other home and away early in the season when there is still a lot of racing to be done.

A lot of better riders in the draft this year. Won't be that clear cut.

Tai was never known as a gater at Rye to be fair. Kasper is a hard rider which is positive. From his last spell at Rye my only criticism other than his poor gating would be that he doesn't like to try the outside and just plugs away trying to push the bloke infront out of the way. That may have changed last season of course.

Can't see that. Always a danger with riders like Charles Wright that one thing goes wrong mentally and they'll plummet. Seems a rider very dependant on confidence to perform.

Sheffield have made a very good start to team building. Why ruin it by signing Risager. When he first dropped down I expected he'd be a good PL heatleader but he's fallen well short. If you go with Bates and Ellis at reserve then your tail is too long IMO as well. Don't get the hype over Josh Bates personally and I think Ellis would perform better with a strong partner to cover him if he has a poor meeting. Hope Sheffield have a good season in 2015, the signings made so far are pointing towards that happening.

Bowen Morley Mason Chessell Harris Watts Sheppard Possible line up, fits under the current points limit, would need rejigging if that changes obviously and not taking the situation regarding Bowen's eligibility into account.

Benny Johansson. Case closed.