marko

Mason a novice? He isn't that good!

Yet another two fingers stuck up by Mr Cook at the fans, its their choice who they want to have in their team but don't come crying when hardly anyone comes to watch and no sky money to bail you out this season, I certainly will not bother investing my time or money into a club that is clearly on the wane and has no ambition even when racing at the lowest tier, the fact they are giving team places to riders 15 years past their best which was never very good in the first place says it all. Good luck Lakeside, your going to need it if you are still going to be in business in ten months time.

With all due respect, at this level the riders main income should be outside of speedway the same as a non league footballer often has a primary job or business outside of his football training and matches. I would say the same should apply to the lower riders in the middle tier too, the only riders who should be full time riders are those who race for multiple teams at a high standard whether it's in this country of a combination of this and those abroad.

I would rather us sign riders under 25 or riders with a total of less than 8 years experience in the sport, i would not able to support a David Mason esk type of signing, its goes against the spirit of the Division.

The good thing about the true youngsters is that will listen to advice where as other riders will hear but not listen.

Kelvin is far more important to have in the pits then on the track where he has to worry about himself, i honestly think some of the gutsy youngsters would scare him and he would end up doing a Batchelor most of the time and bottling it rather than wanting to have a proper blood and thunder race with them, besides i doubt his joints (some of which are replacements) would be upto taking the strain.

tea boy he has had over 20 years to crack the larger tracks, he is what I can only describe as a professional junior, I hope youngsters aspire to be much more like a Jason Crump, Tony Richardson or even a rider like Chris Harris than be a rider stuck in the bottom tier because the only riders he can beat are ones who are either young enough to be their son or so green they find it hard to put together four consistent laps. Sorry but I would rather see a youngster try his wattsits off and fall off from trying too hard than watch an veteran poodle around for four laps, the sport is about Racing, not Riding.

I remember watching David Mason for London Lions 20 years ago and he is no better a rider now than he was then, how can a rider who has never been anything teach other riders? if a rider like that wants to ride a bike then he can go and do events with the Dragons or Southern riders clubs, certainly shouldn't be taking a team spot which a youngster wanting to make his way in the sport could have yet alone draw a wage from it.

On the subject of older riders in the NL, im sort of against it BUT if they are their to help bring on the kids and not just their to earn a few quid at the expense of others I'm okay with it. Amazing how Ben is still only 22, he will be very hard to beat around Arena, given he has taken the scalps of some very good riders in the past. I like where this team is going currently, to make a success of the NL I think the promotion need to important factors, 1. a young team full of racers who are their to race and not just to ride and 2. setting a realistic price for the pleasure of watching said team, I think £13 is about right going by what most teams charged last season, for some sitting on the fence your going to need that hook of it being more affordable to get them down their to see what NL speedway is about, once you have them then the money will continue to come in, its better to charge say £12 and have people come once and then maybe every match than attempt to charge say £15 and put people off and therefore never getting anything from that particular section.

With the points limit as it is i would guess we could only have two out of Ben, Robert, Leigh and Zach All but one of the CH teams is complete and I cant see Leigh or Zach riding for Edinburgh so are they in contention? could we squeeze three in and then go with a longer tail end in the hope one or two of them will turn out to be overnight sensations which can happen at this level? that would be my call as a top heavy team will nearly always beat and strength in depth one.

Friday's in the NL would be worse than a damp Monday with sky in town, I feel, it has to be Saturday or Sunday, maybe a Sunday afternoon? I would be quite partial potentially to the latter, night meetings can be on the cool side at Arena at the best of times. PS everyone is talking about Leigh Lanham but how would his average compare with Robert Mear because I had Rob and Ben in my mind, people have also mentioned Zach W but I think he will be racing in the PR and CH? so riding in the 3rd tier would be too much. Leigh once settled in would be a very good number one at home but away from home? I also think Robert Mear might be a better fit for helping to motivate the kids, not saying Leigh could not, that's just the impressive I have from this side of the fence.

I have to say that's an encouraging start, I think if the club is to grab the fans attention they will need to sign young riders like these two and not journey men who have been racing for years and years or riders in their 30s regardless of experience. Ps don't know how old Rob Mear is now but I would have him leading the team as he has experience of teaching through the academy and will be a good mentor and Ben Morley should be a given.

its a sport which can be entertaining, entertainment normally means the outcome is predetermined and done in such a way it adds to the drama (ie pro wrestling, movies, sitcoms, soap opera's etc), speedway CAN be boring, meetings CAN be one sided and pretty much a non contest, sure we have gimmicks to try and keep the score close but the bottom line is its a competitive sport where everyone is out to win even if that means for a large part of the viewing audience the action itself does not hold much interest.

Costs are going up all the time because promoters made the huge mistake of deciding to pay certain riders a guaranteed sum regardless of how many points they actually scored, its one of the worst things to ever happen to our sport, riders should be paid travelling expenses and for whatever points they tally on the night including double points but nothing more. If that is not enough to make ends meet then do what other riders used to do, get a part time job, when I started watching the sport in the late 80s most if not all the riders at 2nd division level and probably some in the 1st had jobs away from speedway and they didn't have big expensive sponsored vans either laid on for them either, I recall following one rider out of Arena one time, cant recall his name but he was a foreign rider, riding for Hackney and he had two bikes on an open trailer, that was his means of getting his bikes about.

I will make a prediction that Lakeside will be the most expensive club in the NL if they race in it, they were joint top of the most expensive clubs in the Elite League (shocking given the state of the stadium) and when they staged a 3rd tier challenge match a season or two ago they wanted more than the other NL teams wanted at the time for watching National League fixtures.

Ah Chalky White and Troy, a blast from the past from happier times when I would drive to Arena even if it was pouring with rain even though I knew I would not likely see much if any racing, the days before those that run the sport started to turn me against it.

I thought it was a given we are now a NL club?

I think what you will get from those 5 is commitment, they are known for being racers on the track who seldom give up, (ok maybe not so much Watty in past seasons but none of us knew what was going on behind the scenes!) I doubt there will be many meetings where Rye will need to use guests riders etc, this is a workman like team and I doubt they will get troubled at home but still offer a reasonable amount of fire power on their travels, something my team could never do.

The fact Edward Kennett has been quoted as saying he talked to Scott Nicholls about going to Rye makes me wonder if Lakeside pulling out of the top flight and Rye moving up was known well before the AGM? Funny also how Edward will not be attending the Hammers end of season diner & dance yet Swede Kim Nilsson can.

The only way i can see Hammers making a go of the NL in a viable fashion is to have a team of real prospects, not career reserves or riders who have been stuck at this level for quite a few years and in all honesty, will never likely amount to anything more than very average third tier rider. There are three on Falcon Hammers list that easily meet that criteria and Lanham is not one of them. I don't know much about Verge, Saul or Kirby so I'm guessing they are youngsters in their first season or two of racing, Zach of course would be a shoe in and Lanham would be acceptable because whilst he is on the way down, he has experience of racing at a high level both competitively and personally. There are one or two kids in the academy who will be worth looking at once they are old enough to ride at this level, Jason Edwards is definitely one.

If Davey and Rory never return to something like their old selves it won't be for a lack of trying, Batch on the other hand, different story altogether, he only tries when it suits him and that's not very often.

Wishful thinking by some hoping that prices will be slashed but it will be said by the bspa no doubt that the dropping of the FTR system counters the lower standard, in other words I doubt prices will come down even by a penny, more likely they will go up.

So if in 12 months Rye House or another team finish mid table but decide it's better for business to run at second division level they won't be allowed to drop down? How would it have affected Lakeside if it had been in operation this season? As others have said the principle is ok but there is no way this will work in reality because the sport is too unstable in terms of movement of clubs opening/closing and changing how they operate.

Had a wry smile yesterday when passing over the A12 at Bow a couple of times (I drive trains) the roads heading to and from the Blackwell Tunnel were just a giant car park as they always are on a Friday, always the same every week, never changes and I heard the M25 was even worse with queuing traffic along the whole of the Northern stretch, and you can bet the local roads would have been as equally bad, just further proves running speedway at that venue on a Friday night is akin to burning money, a later start helped initially but even that does not help now.

I would not blame Stuart Douglas for walking away, it's his toy but he never gets to play with it and through one thing or another speedway at that venue has become almost unviable on more than one level. National League or whatever they wish to call it won't likely draw enough fans in, I think the speedway track will remain but it will only be used for training etc the same sort of setup as Iwade has with two distinct tracks. So yeah I can see the Hammers winding up and the place taken over and used solely by the Hagon Shocks academy and the ride and slide people, OR it could be 1996 all over again with the current promotion walking away or moving elsewhere and a new management taking over and trying their hand at seeing if they can make NL speedway work with a view of moving into the CL in 2018.