enotian

setting a points limit in excess of the total combined average of riders available. Meaning there are teams starting the season under the points limit. Not just the Diamonds. Although admittedly the Diamonds promoters have displayed a total lack of talent in this area.

We might win the 2nd leg and still be in the cup!!! Shocking display from Harris. Scores way more in the PL against better opposition. Taking the P and taking his fee. Still more than BWD was contributing. Cracking effort from Wright, Clegg and Starke but if the reserves as this bad at home what chance have the Diamonds got.

Looks like snakes don't have a tail anyway. Shocking from the Diamonds. Or are they trying to bankrupt all the opposition by giving their promoters massive away pay days??

well my crystal ball is at the dry cleaners right now so I'm going to struggle to answer that one.

Your predictions are never far off but the Monarchs have a longer tail than a snake, while their newcomers acclimatise. 47-43 if the Diamonds can get themselves 10 points up after heat 12.

I'd say 10 points and finishing in the top 5 in that meeting is fit enough to score points at PL level. He's not been the rider he was for a number of seasons now but could still do a job in the PL. Not a top man but on a par with the majority of PL heat leaders I'd expect. Point is he can throw his leg over a bike and score points in what appears to have been a decent standard field.

Danish SGP and SEC qualifier 14th April Kildemand seemed to do well in a decent field last Thursday. More details in the International section of this forum.

Exactly and that's not going away anytime soon. I know the Diamonds have no other option at Brough but Sunday is a prime day for leisure activity and we're the only team in the top two divisions who operate on a Sunday. Crazy. It's one of the reasons I keep banging on about the standard of the 2nd division reducing so that the majority of riders are UK based and able to race every night of the week. There'll then be the opportunity for more tracks to operate on Sunday or whatever their optimal race day might be. But that won't suit the riders who want to ride 1st and 2nd division over here and whatever league in Poland/Denmark/Sweden etc. Some of them don't even get picked every week by their polish clubs. There's more to it than just a Sunday though as I don't think many riders like the shape of the track and if you've always got the begging bowl out I guess riders will wonder if the club will last the season. Of course one simple way of making No1's available to all this season would have been to restrict each team to one rider over an 8 point average. But that wouldn't suit those more desperate to win than see the sport prosper. Even if the Newcastle promoters find someone suitable to improve the team they'll have them over a barrel when it comes to negotiating terms. Every successful sporting series/league is all about product and brand. Some like Premier League football can do without restrictions as the top teams generate most of the international interest. Most motor sports have to have restrictions in place to make sure their product is competitive and exciting to watch. Sorry Poole fans but nobody outside of Poole is interested in you winning the title. But they might be interested if it was exciting to watch them win it.

Exactly this. Even if Newcastle drop out and Eastbourne replaced them there aren't enough riders to go around. Demand for riders exceeds supply yet the promoters are figurative turkeys voting for Christmas by not creating a structure in which supply of riders exceeds demand. Saving themselves a couple of quid at the same time. Equally the current NDL product isn't of a sufficient standard to attract the required crowd levels and based on this years CL line ups hasn't produced any riders worthy of a CL place. So why would any team want to join it, unless they're genuinely youth speedway enthusiasts. The fact that there are only two stand alone teams backs this up. The conclusion is that the much heralded 3 tier structure doesn't work. The solution? Reduce the standard of the CL so that young riders have an opportunity and career path to progress by learning from more experienced riders. For the transition year the team structure could be defined by categories to ensure there are enough riders to go around and to provide a clear progression path for young riders. Top 4 made up of any combinations of any rider aged over 24 with a previous CL average over 3.50 (not allowed to double up in the PL), any British rider aged 24 and under with a CL average over 3.50 (allowed to double up in the PL) and any Foreign rider aged under 24. The 5th rider would be any British rider with a previous CL average under 3.50 or aged over 24. And the reserves would be any British rider aged 24 and under with no previous CL average. The categories would be reviewed each season so young riders could spend more than one year at reserve but not indefinitely, i.e. after 50 matches at the level you're no longer eligible for a reserve birth from the start of the following season regardless of average. Other young riders will progress through the categories based on performance. The key point is to provide a career path so each young rider has goals to progress while creating new opportunities for the next generation of young riders. Based on 2021 averages and ages Eastbourne could have tracked a team like Newman, Brennan, Kemp, Gilkes, Knight, Ablitt and Foord. Importantly it would be 2nd tier speedway with minimised doubling up so both the PL and CL could operate on their preferred race night with some co-ordination. There would be enough riders to support a 14 team CL without having rider supply exceeding demand. The barriers would be the top 2 or 3 clubs in the current CL not wanting to lower the standard but not wanting to move up to the PL either. And of course the lack of doubling up opportunities for the PL riders other than those U25 British riders. But unless the structure is changed I don't see how the CL can allow new entrants. Without them (or one or more of the existing CL clubs) fielding an under strength team. The buzz of returning to the league will only last so long if the team is constantly being hammered. Plus this should reduce costs which could, dare I say it, be passed on to the paying public in reduced admission at a time when lots of people are struggling with increased costs. There are no salient arguments for continuing as is but that is exactly what will happen.

Well there's a saving right there. Just contact them by phone or Skype. Imagine travelling all the way to Denmark only to find out that Bjarne Pedersen has retired The only hope is that one of the few PL riders who don't double up aren't getting in rides in Poland. Blodorn (doubt he'd be a heat leader), Jorgensen (been there) or Becker (imagine he's active in Poland). Peter Kildemand might be interesting if he returns to Kings Lynn. Presuming he's not riding in Poland as he's got a PL place.

It most likely means there's someone in Glasgow who looks a bit like him.

Having slated the Diamonds elsewhere I think they'll win this one unless Kye Thomson has improved to heat leader level after a good first season. The Monarchs look like a developmental team this season. Even with Harris the Diamonds will probably concede the now traditional 8 points at the back end but Thomson aside the Diamonds top six should have enough to see off the rest of the Monarchs.

Maybe. I think the Butcher and the Painter & Decorator are being taken for a ride. Got to commend these guys for putting their money where their mouth is as I sure wouldn't. But they really should have been looking for assurances that they wouldn't be left in the same situation as last season. Ironically the team they put together for 2020 had way more potential than anything that's been served up since. BSPL seem to have bent the rules for Birmingham to track Pearson maybe they could have done the same for Skorja and Smetana. That said I did put them in contact with a multi national business I work with for what appeared to be an open goal sponsorship deal and nothing came of it. Anyway I hear the catering is fantastic so I'm sure the crowd levels will hold up.

least surprising result in the history of the sport. no point in banging on about signing a number 1 or getting stronger middle order riders in. They don't exist. as I keep saying if the BSPL don't put some thought into making teams more evenly matched this is what will transpire and next season (or even this) there'll only be ten teams in the league and the season after that....maybe less. Plenty of results thus far back this up with plenty of massive home wins. Having said that some of the Diamonds press releases would lead you to think that they are either genuinely clueless or think they can fool the public by putting out a team of this nature. Remember the last signing would take the team right up to the points limit.... whisper 10 years ago.

They won it in September so it was only 3 and a bit months in the pub.

Not enough fixtures for Newcastle and I suspect Birmingham and Newcastle would struggle to attract fans for a perceived 3rd tier league. Is why they binned the Gems last season even though the Diamonds were hopeless. Plus you've reduced the CL to nine teams. It all becomes rather pointless. Realistically I don't think Scunthorpe can compete at CL level, unsure on Berwick (under the limit) . Don't think Redcar or Edinburgh or Plymouth have mega rich owners but seem to be well run clubs and would probably welcome some cost control. Especially if rising inflation means you either increase ticket prices and loose even more supporters or retain prices and loose money. All the evidence is out there. You can ignore it as the promoters seem to be doing or you can do something about it and build a structure that produces a value for money product which doesn't rely on wealthy individuals subsidising it. There's just not that many of them about. As I've posted elsewhere it's not even that big a thrill to win. Most of the remaining supporters would pop a hip out if they celebrated too much. It needs a sustainable structure with affordable pricing to attract a younger audience. Younger riders could play a massive part in that with their use of social media. The base product can still be thrilling if it's competitive and the race track is conducive to great racing but too many times it isn't.

with what teams?

Short sighted in my opinion. Especially if you're looking to attract a new (neutral) audience via streaming. That's why the product needs to be good. Would you pay to watch the Diamonds get humiliated at Glasgow on Friday night? Ultimately if you strangle the life out of the opposition they'll disappear and there'll be even fewer teams. Just look at MotoGP and F1. They place restrictions on teams because they could see the product becoming boring with only a few riders/drivers able to win due to their financial clout. Which lead to some manufacturers leaving the series. You have to look at the wider product. Sport is about jeopardy. And lets face it how much of a thrill is winning a national speedway league? I remember the Diamonds win in 2001 and it was a great night but I didn't spend the rest of the year talking about it in the pub with my mates. It barely made the local news and didn't seem to have a significant impact on crowd levels like it probably did in the 70's. It's the ultimate cheap thrill so why damage the product for the sake of winning something nobody cares about anymore?

Where are these stand alone clubs coming from? Is there Mildenhall and Kent presently. Possibly IoW if they forgive BSPL. Potentially Workington although they might have loftier ambitions. There's only enough clubs at present for two leagues of any integrity. Newcastle should clearly drop into the NL but there just aren't enough fixtures and that's with reserve teams. I agree the young riders need to face and learn from more experienced riders which is why the standard of the 2nd division should become a sustainable hybrid of the CL and NL with current CL 2nd strings become No1's. Those CL clubs who don't want to reduce the standard can join the PL. They employ many PL riders already anyway. Having a sustainable 2nd division would potentially allow more new entrant promotions and teams to allow the sport to grow. At the moment it's starving itself of oxygen by forcing promoters to spend beyond their means.

correct my apologies but 43 points then you have 4 riders whose combined average would be circa 15 points. It would be pretty disastrous if those 4 only contributed 3 points of the back of three 1-5's. One of the 4 might even average more than the best rider in the other team. You'd be hard pushed to provide an example of a team having 4 riders failing to beat a single opponent. And the only need to do it three times to win the match. The reality is that Workington are the last team to win the Championship starting without a rider averaging less than 8.00 points and they finished someway behind Peterborough in the league table but had riders who had improved by the end of season play offs, from recollection. Noticeably no team started or ended the season with 3 riders averaging over 8. The fact that Poole followed the 3 big hitter policy last season and this would suggest there's an inherent advantage in fielding a strong top two/three, especially in a league where there aren't enough no1's to go around. At the end of last season there were only about 14 riders likely to return in 2022 who averaged over 8.00. With two clubs snapping up six of them it's not difficult to see why some teams are not competitive. You only have to look at the results so far this season to realise there's a large disparity in the team strengths. Can't be a good way to attract supporters in my opinion.

how you going to do that?

yeah it's a handful compared to what went before it. there'll always be some opportunities for British youngsters by virtue of the low starting average. But with less teams operating and some teams not being able to secure no1's and building strength in depth (even though that's sub optimal) those opportunities are now less and less. There'll always be special talents who are sought after and will achieve regardless. Robert Lambert was probably the last one but they don't come along too often. Others need sustained opportunity to progress. The CL just isn't providing that currently. Don't get me wrong youngsters can't be allowed to have protected team places without progressing but it's fairly easy to say you get 40 CL matches before your average increases regardless of your actual average. So youngsters know exactly what they need to do to retain a team place. I don't think there are any debutants at reserve in the CL this season. How long will any current NL talents continue if they never get the opportunity to progress? It's basically product development. All successful businesses do it but speedway has lost its way in trying to meet the demands of the doubling up riders which has restricted opportunities for youth to progress. They clearly know it's an issue as they wouldn't have announced the rising star system but have had to abandon it after one season because it's unworkable at the current CL level, being full of experienced double uppers.

that's right but the standard of the top division is much reduced from that era as few World Stars compete whereas in the 90's they nearly all rode in the British/Elite league. So whilst the 2nd division standard is reduced the gap between the divisions is much closer. Which I think was a deliberate move by the promoters to encourage promotion and relegation between the two divisions which just never transpired. Not sure the 90's produced British riders aplenty? Two world champs and no world cups?? Hardly any SGP round winners. Appreciate it's before your time but compared to the 70's the 90's would be considered as a a barren spell.

I think the reality is there should only be two divisions. Not many might agree but I think that the current Premiership is a decent product based on the TV matches I've watched only. But only six clubs is an issue. At least a couple of CL clubs could afford to compete at that level and sourcing 14 additional riders shouldn't dilute the product too much. The CL should become a sustainable hybrid between the current CL and NL. Used as a platform to progress British youngsters who would be the only riders allowed to ride in both divisions. With the current 4 star riders being reserves in the PL and Heat leaders in the CL. Current CL 2nd strings would become Heat Leaders (i.e. Roynon, Wright, Wethers) with any non UK riders also being Heat leaders. With the reserve births restricted to riders of limited CL experience and 2nd string for those riders with CL experience you haven't achieved Heat leader status. You can then see the career path for a youngster. SGP3, CL reserve, CL 2nd string, CL Heat Leader/PL reserve, PL 2nd string, PL Heat Leader/International rider, SGP. Some will progress more quickly than others, not all will make the grade but the opportunities should be there. And clubs would be incentivised to develop young riders with the overall aim of having British riders competing and winning on the World stage, which is still the best way of getting wider media coverage of the sport. At a more sustainable level perhaps the likes of IoW and Mildenhall could join the CL and it would certainly be easier for new entrants (Workington, Coventry, Kent) to join. Of course the problem is how do the current plethora of Double Uppers maintain their income levels? Without them increasing their demands on PL clubs? My suggestion is to run a stand alone 4TT league akin to the Hundred in cricket. Which would form the content for the BSN. Each match streamed would feature 3 away teams which should increase viewer numbers. You could even include clubs representing defunct tracks (Falcon's, Viking's, Bee's, Wasps, Heathens) to attract those lapsed supporters. There were only 2 divisions in the 70's and that produced an incredible amount of British talent because the opportunities were there with the number of tracks in operation. Now there are less tracks a more structured career path is required. The current CL doesn't really provide those opportunities.

They're not though. Averages are based on 4 rides. If your two best riders get to have 5 rides then they score more actual points than they average. And matches are won on actual points. As I posted before if you've got 3 riders who always beat the opposition that's a guaranteed 44 points. without the other 4 riders beating the opposition. By definition the 6 point riders are less consistent and invariably drop points to the lower averaged rider opposition. It used to all be about having riders who would improve on their starting average the most. Having 3 nine pointers makes that really difficult on the basis you've got to be a bit special to average 10. Now that there's a dearth of 9 pointers it doesn't matter that much as if your 9 pointers maintain their averages you'll be right up there. The format is fine if there are enough top riders to go around but there isn't at present and there's not even enough 6 pointers around to go for a strength in depth line up. Hence a number of teams being under the points limit. So teams aren't even starting level on combined average points anyway. The point which I think we can all agree on is that more competitive teams increase the chances of an improved product which can only be a good thing. Part of the answer to achieve that is to understand the limitations of averages and the heat format and adjust the rules to level the playing field. A bi-product is you'd potentially reduce the demands of the top riders knowing team places are limited which can only help.