ancient mariner

I apologise if I have come across as a constant sniper and/or a moaner (Mrs Ancient Mariner will probably agree with you though!). Like you I feel that NL is very much underrated and unloved. You may rest assured though that I have not specially selected the Buccs for criticism, however I stand by my comments. If Plymouth were to treat you as a visiting supporter in the same manner, you may rest assured that I would be just as quick to criticise them too. I hope that I have reason to visit Wimborne Road in the future - perhaps when the Devils are in the EL?

To all contributors to this thread, please accept this as acomposite respose. To Bob: Many thanks for your unsolicited and unenexpected support. Much appreciated To Derek: My criticms of the programme were very specific and I'm disappointed if you consider them to be a criticism of you/your compilation. It is all to do with the presentation and nothng to do with the compilation. I see no reason for us to argue or fall out on this. However, if you insist ... To Various Other Contributors To This Thread As Applicable: My particular 'beef' is that as an away supporter I pay my entry fee, I buy my programme, I go to my selected position around the track and I only then open the programme. Imagine if you will the reaction of the programme seller were I to insist on reading the programme prior to purchase. As an away supporter I'm hardly in a position to use my programme twice, am I? A home supporter can buy a programme for 2 meetings at £2.50 = £1.25 per meeting. As an away supporter I buy one of these programmes for 1 meeting at £2.50. Why should I pay twice as much? Were you to visit Plymouth and pay £4 for a programme I would expect you to be outraged and I would support you absolutely. I am increasingly of the opinion that the Bournemouth promotion fails to provide me with a product that I can reasonably expect, given the fee charged. I am seriously beginning to question whether I will ever again bother to visit Wimborne Road again.

Hi One of Clubs Try this alternative site - the Devils forum. There is a wealth of information here: http://plymouthdevils.proboards.com/index.cgi Briefly; Track is the shortest in the country at 216 Meters Entry £9 Adults Children up to 16 £5 Under 8s accompanied by an adult free (unsure) Family ticket (2 adults) + 2 children £23 Parking free in the Coypool Park and Ride - then a short walk to the track You can get really up close to the track which has recently been bladed and is now as flat as a billiard table. I think the racing is good, usually a good amount of passing, but then I'm going to be dead biased Please come and visit, I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised

The riders can only ride as well as the track will allow. Until the track is prepared in a way to give good racing it is bound to be a not particularly good meeting. Trouble is that the track has been the same on each of the four occasions I've visited in the past two seasons. And another thing - where on earth did that (very expensive at £2.50 and not worth the money) programme come from? Plymouth have never ever fielded the team published on the scorecard. Having made five (yes - five) amendments to the running order, there was just one heat where we were not writing different name in each of the heats. Then a league table valid as of June 4th? The promotion are having a laugh at my expense I think. I expect that Kings Lynn would have done rather better and they are not even an EL track, I hear.

It would seem that Paul has been sacrificed on the altar of expedience. I believe this to be a kneejerk reaction to a season of underperformance by a Devils side, this brought about by a hasty and ill considered team selection. And so Paul Starke carries the can. I've been vocal in the past on this forum as regards the willy nilly introduction of non British riders at the expense of British ones. And here we have another case in point. The facts that I follow the Devils and that Paul will probably get another ride very quickly are absolutely irrelevant. Believe me, were Paul to ride again at the SBA and it was for the opposition and he scores a skipload of points, I'll be there at the front of the queue to applaud his efforts.

Has not the problem been caused by the statements made by the BSPA at the inception of the league? The intention was to progress from the CL, align the new NL with PL and EL, generally apply many of the PL/EL rules and make the NL more competitive. Well the BSPA seem to have achieved their aims alright. The rules are open to interpretation with no apparent clarification or logical guidance from those alleged to be in charge, so I think we can say that the alignment bit has been achieved. As for the more competitive bit, the NL is definitely that. Promotions are now looking for every little 'edge' that can be extracted to the detriment of the whole ethos of the NL. Those that do not or cannot follow the herd are left in the wilderness. The nonsense of hugely over-qualified non British riders in the NL is merely a symptom and not the cause. The BSPA needs to decide what it actually wishes from the NL, create the necessary rules to achieve those aims, to apply the said rules properly and fairly and show that it actually cares about the sport at this level. I am not holding my breath. Certainly I very much hope that Jayne's post was made in the heat of the moment and that Buxton continue to grace the NL with their presence for many years to come.

Roger nearly always has the hump, Shadders. It's just a pity that he does neither himself nor the Devils any favours through such ill considered posts. Perhaps Roger should count to ten and then decide to count to a further million before he makes any further posts?

LMAO

No idea Shadders, but if you DO find out, please be sure to let us lot down at the SBA know. Kyle would have scored more but was distracted from his racing in his last two heats 13 and 15, also not helped by poor starts in both these heats. As I stated earlier, the track is now totally different to how it was last time Kyle rode it.

Yes indeed it was a very good meeting. Marc Owen is a remarkable young talent. Lets hope his family can keep him well advised and away from the temptations and stupidity that fame, fortune and an over inflated impression of ones own worth so often brings - mentioning no names here of course. Before the meeting I would have taken any win by the Devils, including by 1 point, so 50-40 was as pleasing as it was unexpected. The track was recently 'bladed' and is now as flat as a billiard table. The past few meetings have seen a lot of FTG as a result and we were worried that this might be end of the good racing that we usually see at the SBA. But now the track seems to be sorting itself out and we saw a lot of passing last night both inside and out. Thanks to both teams for a highly entertaining meeting.

Please don't think that there is any anti-aussie invective here. It is all about the rules and the utilisation of them by promoters. I have no other particular issues with your post - for heavens sake, surely all any of us asks is for good speedway to thrive, wherever it takes place? It must, however be fully understood that we here in the UK fear greatly for the future of the sport in this country due principally to what we perceive as thoughtless formulation and haphazard administration of the rules, especially in the NL. British riders that succeed do so in spite of the system rather than because of it. It is a natural reaction that we here are going to be protective of new, up and coming young britsh riders. In exactly the same way Dave that you are quite rightly protective of your youngsters were they to be subjected to anti-aussie invective. So is the BSPA the right organisation to administer the NL or even to administer the sport in the UK at all? Should the name be changed to the 'SPA'? Thoughts welcomed.

You are of course quite right, but it's just the weasel words that are used that are so annoying. Plus of course the 'rule(s)' in the first place; but I guess that I'm now in danger of becoming a 'stuck record'

I don't care how it's dressed up, it's ditching a young British rider and replacing him with a rider who is unlikely to ever pledge his allegiance to British speedway. Darned right it's a possibility - it's just been proved only too well by the Heathens. Not impressed one tiny bit.

You smell them a good way before you see them

Provided the rules allow it (and they do) then that's fine. I've stated previously that I have no issue with the individuals or the fact that they are gifted (indeed if they weren't gifted then they probably wouldn't be here in the first place). It's the system that I don't like. With the BSPA's attitude the way it seems, then if a young Brit makes the higher levels of the sport them it is IN SPITE of the system rather than BECAUSE of it. You make the point of junior racing and quite right too. The Danes have been promoting junior racing for years. We in Britain have compelling evidence that it works - but we seem to do stuff-all to encourage it in this country. Why is that?

Ben, no disrespect meant. Morris and Branford are both highly talented young men who clearly have a future in the sport and the very best of luck to them both. It's what they represent - the imminent demise of the sport in Britain without a continued and plentiful supply of young, talented British riders. Indeed they might just pledge to race for Britain, but Tai is in a minority of one at the moment and I suspect that you made this statement tongue in cheek rather than in any high expectation? I will be delighted to be proved wrong though. I absolutely agree though that Buxton and one or two other notable promotions are to be loudly applauded for their efforts. Just a shame they don't get more support from the BSPA :huh:

And that is exactly the point, if they do as you suggest then there will be no places for British riders. How is Paul Starke going to get a full place in a PL side if his promoter doesn't allow him the rides this season? I'll give Buxton three cheers for bringing on Cooke, but none for Branford and Morris, but of course we've been here before ...

Sorry Jeff, I didn't properly read all the posts in the thread before I responded. Right, that's my apology for my stupidity done and dusted. Are you tempted to offer one too?

Thank you CC - absolutely spot on. 2 disgraceful (and successful) attempts to influence the referee who was too weak or incompetent to make the correct decision.

Oh dear. How sad you are. Watch the races on the link that Andrewrunagall has kindly contributed. Then, I suggest, you should come back on here and apologise - not to me or other members of the forum, but to the riders.

My grandchildren have just started Grasstrack and are loving every minute of it. So can anyone suggest what I should do if either should show a particular talent for the sport and wish to go further. Nothing on this thread has encouraged me to think of speedway. BSPA? Huh. Until an organisation that really cares about the sport (rather than making/trying to make money from it) runs the U-15s, it seems that we can all forget it!