lucifer sam

It was actually in last week's Star (they broke the story), and then appeared on here afterwards. So it was the forum which was old news. All the best Rob

HT, I see. But you made a big assumption that my views were those of the Scunthorpe promotion. If that was the case, I would have said so. The views of the Scunny promotion are those on the BSPA website / Scunthorpe website and there is nothing about team strengths on there. As for the economic climate, well the whole country is in a different situation to 2006/2007. In case you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a great big recession. Scunny were never the biggest payers in the first place, but there's a good argument for the whole league to tighten its belts. Dudley and Mildenhall are probably OK, but to help the likes of Scunny, Buxton, King's Lynn and Rye House, a rigid pay structure would help. After all, for Dudley to thrive, ideally they also need the other teams in the league to be thriving as well. At the end,of the day, Dudley are always going to end up as one of the strongest teams in the league, and this isn't a problem - and the amount of away supporters they take is a boost to other tracks. Dudley and their vocal and large support are a good thing for the National League. But the situation where the standalone teams can pick from the cream of those riding for the second teams needs to stop, or otherwise the second teams simply won't bother to run, because you're taking away their main purpose - to develop riders for the senior team. You have to remember that any club running two teams is currently taking a double-hit during the recession - so there needs to be good reasons to continue running two different teams. The National League membership has shrunk in recent seasons from 13 in 2003/2004 to just 8 in 2012, largely due to the disappearance of most of the second teams. The National League has always been a compromise between teams with different agendas, but currently that balance is not quite right. Good luck to all the teams running in the National League next season, but I do wonder if measures are still needed to ensure the long-term survival of what is a crucial league to British Speedway, as it is the training ground to the leagues above. And these views are my own. All the best Rob

HT, there's no doubt of the strength of the 2007 Scunthorpe Scorpions. However, they were not the biggest payers in the league, and the riders were not "poached" from other teams, as Ben Hopwood was from Oxford by a south-western team. The strength of the Scunny side merely took advantage of the low grades given to younger riders at that point. You're implying there's a big double standard here. If so, please could you name the rider who Scunthorpe pinched off another club in either 2006 or 2007. Thanks. All the best Rob

HT, for someone so knowledgement about the sport, you do talk complete rot at times. Oxford were still about in 2007, so I do know various bits from behind the scenes at that time. Scunny were not the big payers; instead it was a south-west based team. The Cheetahs closed for four weeks during the summer, and when we re-opened, we found Ben Hopwood had been poached by this south-western team, who paid him double the wages (and Oxford themselves were not paying minimum wages). Not that I have any problem with Ben; I had a chat with his dad later that season and I told him I could completely understand his and Ben's position because it was an offer they simply couldn't afford to turn down. Scunny's powerful team for 2006 and 2007 was eventually full of PL riders, but it didn't start that way. They took on Josh Auty, Tai Woffinden and Joe Haines from scratch, Andrew Tully came from the Dale Devils after that team folded, etc. I can't remember the Scorpions going around other teams and pinching their riders - correct me if I'm wrong. At one point, Allen Trump wanted to put something in the Speedway Star berating Scunny after a Bronze Helmet challenge saw Danny Betson ending up going solo in the race, but I persuaded him not to, telling him Scunny are "the good guys", having built up a very strong side, but having almost done it from scratch. As it was, we were already involved in a war of words with the south-west team (the south-west team got up to all sorts of tricks - they were "the bad guys") and we didn't need to likewise engage Scunny. Please don't try to rewrite history, I would expected more of you than that. All the best Rob

That's a much better post. 21st CH, just read your own previous post again. Whether you meant it or not, it read that the likes of Scunthorpe, Buxton and KL were there simply to service Dudley. And Ashley Birks was a totally different matter. He'd already graduated to the Scunny PL team, so it made sense for him to ride for different PL & NL tracks last season. Good luck to Max Clegg, a smashing kid with a lot of talent. Meanwhile, the gulf between team in the NL needs sorting out. Yes, this league always has been a compromise between the "second teams" and the "standalones", but there should be greater protection towards the "second teams", because there aren't enough "standalones" if the second teams plus Buxton all pulled out. The standalone clubs should not be able to go and choose from the pick of the riders developed by the second teams - there needs to be something put in place to prevent this from happening again. All the best Rob

Unbelievable arrogance. And don't try to drag Stoke into this... The purpose of the National League is to train riders for the Premier League and Elite League, not for other National League teams. No wonder British Speedway is an international backwater. We need to get our superstars of the future into the top leagues. All the best Rob

Yes, I did see it before it went EC and Villers are right - any arguments are pointless. It does show that the National League does need to get its house in order, and sort out what exactly it is about (IMO a training league), and there also needs to be better protection towards the teams that have developed their own riders. All the best Rob

Yeah right. Jealous? What of? What have you won? This is a thread about Scunthorpe Saints, so please can all the gloating Dudley fans please vacate it, before I say something I might regret at a later date. All the best Rob

Well Malcolm, I'm sure one of the teams in question wouldn't be daft enough to announce the signing on the very same day that the Saints announce their withdrawal... or would they? All the best Rob

That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? What is the purpose of the National League? For me, it is a stepping stone to bigger things. It's there to produce riders for the Premier League and Elite League. Where things go wrong is when clubs start to push up the costs to going all-out to win. The way to win the National League is by developing your own riders; not to take them from elsewhere. All the best Rob

Talk about missing the point. The National League is a training league. If each team is bringing in two new 3.00 riders each season, the points limit is about right, although I'd like to see it reduced to 36 or 38. The top riders in the NL should be moving into the PL each season, leaving the bottom five in the team plus two new youngsters for the following year. The National League is first and foremost a training ground. Any team success is just a bonus. All the best Rob

That's a rather condescending post. All the best Rob

The point being it is the final race of the night (Heat 19 in total), so the track had lost much of its bite, but it doesn't stop Ryan Douglas on a borrowed bike having a bit of a charge around the outside. All the best Rob

I saw Ryan Douglas ride in a Swindon v Oxford second half last year (although as the Oxford team manager, I would have preferred he hadn't, because thanks to him, Swindon beat us ). He came in at late notice for Swindon, I think he was on a borrowed bike, and he scored 11 points out of 12, dropping his only point whilst taking his fourth ride in 4 races. He nearly went around Brendan Johnson with a brave move in Heat 4. He looked fast, with plenty of courage, which is ideal for riding at Scunny. All the best Rob

Not long now to find out the complete team of the defending Premier League Champions. All the best Rob

FULL 2013 SCORPIONS LINE-UP TO BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions, the defending Premier League Champions, will announce their full team for the 2013 season this evening (Sunday, November 18th). The Scorpions were going to announce one name, but are now in a position to reveal the whole septet. Promoter Rob Godfrey said: “I don’t wish to give the game away and ruin the big announcement this evening. “But I think our supporters are going to be delighted once they see our 2013 line-up, as we strive to become the first ever team to retain the Premier League trophy.” The full Scorpions team will appear on the official Scunthorpe Speedway website (www.scunthorpescorpions.co) at 9pm this evening.

Great to see Edinburgh saved for 2013. All the best Rob

Just quoting that one for future reference All the best Rob

Jarek Hampel in 2008 & 2009, and Darcy Ward in 2012? Not that I necessarily agree with the White Knight, but there's two answers to your question. All the best Rob

Erm... surely we don't have any speedway at all if you do that. All the best Rob

Forget young master Crump was also in the 1996 line-up. Make that nine world champions. All the best Rob

Take a look at the line-up circa 1995 and 1996. Much stronger: Nielsen Rickardsson Ermolenko Hamill Hancock Havelock Loram Gollob EIGHT World Champions, for starters. And that's before you mention Knudsen, Louis, Gustafsson and Screen. Much weaker line-up these days. All the best Rob

I'd like to see: * Minimum of 4 British / Commonwealth riders per team (raising to 5 in 2014 and 6 in 2015). * Tactical subs (6 or more behind) instead of tactical rides. Also a team six points or more behind can swap gates (1&3 instead of 2&4 or vice versa). * Maintain current scoring system, but also have aggregate point. * Pits telephone calls to ref to be broadcast over the PA - keep the crowd informed and entertained. * Keep points limit of 42.50. * Reserves at 6&7, but rest of team can line-up as team manager wishes. * Foreign riders cannot drop under initial average. * Assessed averages on new foreign riders to be increased. * Double points for Heat 15 - more last heat deciders. * Go straight into league matches - split into northern and southern conferences, teams meet other teams in same conference twice, teams from other conference once. Top 4 into play-off semi-finals. * Award the Young Shield to the team that tops the league table, so they've got something to show for their efforts (similiar to Rugby League's minor). * Scrap the League Cup and PCT. * KO Cup matches over one leg until the semi-finals. KO Cup dates reserved, with final in mid-August. * Play-off semi-finals and final to be televised. Play-off final in final week of September. All the best Rob

He's a Scunny asset. Hopefully Cov will give him a team place - it was a shame he missed out this year. All the best Rob

1. your teams top rider? I can't choose one. All of them. 2. your teams most improved rider? Michael Palm Toft - it all clicked for him around mid-season. Fantastic 21 point-max against Workington. 3. best match witnessed? In terms of sheer drama, the play-off final. In terms of racing, Scunny vs Leicester in August - Nick Morris was scary but thrilling in that one. 4. worst match witnessed? Away to Rye House - a frustrating night. 5. did your team do better or worse than expected? Er, well as league champions I'd say we did OK!! 6. best fans to visit your track? Somerset - very vocal in the final (I could hear them and was located in the pits) 7. best track( other than your own team) Well of course the Eddie Wright Raceway IS the best track. But Somerset is second best. 8. worst points of the season? Lee Richardson's accident All the best Rob