JT

If anyone wants an excel racecard for this meeting e-mail me before 15:45. jamesturner365@hotmail.com

How about trying to get a major manufacture like Honda involved again just at first for CL racing? By having one manufacture like the Yamaha R6 Cup in track racing, all riders are on a level playing field, costs would be reduced dramatically which in turn would attract many new riders and the profile of speedway as a whole would be raised enormously by having such a big manufacture involved! Introducing THE HONDA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE

I'm going for what should be an excellent meeting!

The trouble with this is some countries domestic championships are far stronger than others, a hell of a lot of riders would just become Hungarian or Austrian to have an easier ride into the GP's and it would become farcical!

The Conference League has been at the centre of many an argument in the last season with Mildenhal and Wimbledon tracking teams worthy of the Premier League and others like Newport tracking essentially novices. Although teams like the Fen Tigers come under heavy criticism for tracking such strong teams, they are in all due fairness taking advantage of the loopholes in a division that was once called 'The Development League'! Instead of moaning at sides whose teams are either too strong or too weak surely it would be more productive if speedway supporters from all leagues identify the problems, possible solutions and discuss new concepts that will hopefully culminate in a grand plan that maybe in the winter we could send to the BSPA. First of all as mentioned earlier it is clear that different teams have different agendas and with the current rules and regulations (or lack of!) it is inevtible that their will be much conflict between the stand alone clubs and clubs using the league to find and develop raw talent. A solution needs to be found that will meet both agendas at the middle and make certain that teams are not too strong or too weak. The subject of Old hands is another that has come under the spotlight in recent years, now I can understand why CL teams MUST use experienced riders, to help develop younger riders but the term old hand needs to be looked at carefully and revised. In my opinion an old hand should be a rider with more than 12 full months professional (PL or EL) experience in which the rider has obtained a PL average of +4 or an EL average of +2, this will avoid flooding the league with riders like Paul Lee who although still relatively young is obviously of too high quality to have more than one in a team. These riders will be named the clubs 'Development Tutor' rather than the old fashioned term 'old hand' and will be the clubs number 1 rider and responsible for coaching the more inexperienced talent. Each club will only be allowed one of these riders. Post any new ideas you have, opinions on other peoples ideas and discuss what is wrong with the league in its current state to ensure that next season will bring on more British talent!

After reading reports that the recent British Final was a pretty boring affair, what can British Speedway do to make the Championship regain its former glory?

Team GB 1. Scott Nicholls 8.66 2. David Howe 7.71 3. Lee Richardson 7.79 4. David Norris 10.12 5. Mark Loram 10.10 6. Stuart Robson 6.93 7. Chris Neath 6.29 Total = 57.60 Denmark 1. Hans Andersen 8.42 2. Jesper B. Jensen 7.35 3. Bjarne Pedersen 8.67 4. Kenneth Bjerre 7.60 5. Nicki Pedersen 9.22 6. Niels-Kristian Iversen 6.43 7. Charlie Gjedde 7.00 Total = 54.69 Elite League average wise Team GB should run away with this meeting but we all know how league form means nothing when it comes to the international scene where as the recent Danish GP proved, riders raise their game to a different level! Should be a superb meeting for Sky, lets hope the track is in good condition and the rain stays away!

I was just suggesting possible teams based on the riders who have been qualifying or finishing highest in the World U21 rounds!

Anyway back to the subject! I think its safe to say the Danes would be very strong with a number 1 like Bjerre so would Sweden with Lindback, two riders who are likely be in the 'Senior' side! In my opinion with some of the teams below this would be a very good tournament! Obviously however some of these riders may be older than 21 next year but if this tournament was run this year then it would have been very exciting! Denmark 1.Kenneth Bjerre 2.Morten Risager 3.Mads Korneliussen 4.Henrik Moller 5.Kristian Lund/Ulrich Ostergaad (Under 21?) Sweden 1.Antonio Lindback 2.Fredrik Lindgren 3.Joonas Davidsson 4.Daniel Davidsson 5.Eric Andersen Australia 1.Rory Schlien 2.Trevor Harding 3.Matthew Wethers 4.?? 5.?? Team GB 1.Edward Kennet 2.Daniel King 3.Ritchie Hawkins 4.Jamie Smith 5.Steve Boxhall? Poland 1.Krzysztof Kasprzak 2.Janusz Kolodziej 3.Robert Miskowiak 4.Miroslaw Jablonski 5.Adrian Miedzinski Germany 1.Martin Smolinski 2.Mathias Schultz 3.Christian Hefenbrock 4.Tobias Kroner 5.Rene Schafer Czech Republic 1.Jan Jaros 2.Tomas Suchanek 3.Patrik Linhart 4.Miroslav Fencl 5.Zdenek Simota USA 1.Ryan Fisher 2.Byan Yarrow 3.Eric Carillo 4.?? 5.??

He was a good prospect, despite his machinery being poor as Shawn said he could mix it and his 11 points at Newport was testemant to that!

Right here we go lets get the innovation side of the brain ticking! First of all the 'Tactical Ride' rule MUST be scrapped and almost certainly WILL be scrapped following the shenanigans of the last month. For the presentational side of things in the Elite League ALL teams should be made to wear team suits made from Kevlar or Nylon, the Colin White and SJP style ones not the Pro Star Pyjamas that Oxford wore this season. Along with this these suits must carry an obvious colour scheme and prominent club logo, in my opinion some of the current teams suits are hard to separate from others and for a new viewer it is virtually impossible to judge which team is which, particularly the Swindon and Oxford ones where the former despite being called the Robins have a palm tree and the latter has a pathetic little logo on the side! One positive from the Oxford presentational side is the uniformed bikes, having all 7 riders with silver bikes is perhaps more obvious to viewers than the team suits, combining both team suits with bikes all the same colour would make it even easier for everyone to spot the different teams. I don't know if this would be practical or what the costs of it would be but maybe making all Elite League riders have different coloured handle bar covers for what ever helmet colour they are, this would again make it easier to determine who each rider is but there is the problem of riders having Billy Hamill style handlebar covers and the potential costs and time consumption of such a rule. Now on to the most important side of things the actual rules and layout of matches! As previously mentioned we must reinstate the tactical substitute rule. As far as matches go I don't think there are any more improvements you could make. The team building front and what riders ride in each meeting is where the most radical changes must be made. As a promoter suggested it is vital that we avoid a situation like that of Coventry - Oxford and that a track reserve at every track at the start of the season two track reserves must be employed, these track reserves must fit the following criteria: -Must be Under 21 and British. -Must be available at every home meeting at their respective tracks. These riders will enjoy the following benefits: -There travelling costs (which should be minimal as they are likely to be local) will be funded by the BSPA. -They must be paid a respectable appearance fee to fund their racing. By employing two riders where possible from the CL squad you will have a rider for each team who will step up when the reserves in the actual meeting have completed their 7 allowed rides or and when like at the Cov - OSM fixture there are no riders left! This rule will be employed in both leagues and would give British youngsters vital experience of being part of meetings. The guest rule MUST be scrapped if the sport is to move forward, how we get round this problem I will leave up to you! What I do feel is important is that we keep the 45 point in the Premier League. However to help encourage promoters using young British riders ALL British CL riders under 21 with no Premier League experience (As a member of a team for 12 matches) will come into the league on a 2 point average rather than a 3 point one. All British riders should benefit from a larger reduction to their average maybe a 10% one and all PL teams should at least track one British rider! I will leave it there for now but and will add to this list as soon as I think of some more ideas!

What you been drinking??? Never mind Richard Juul or Richard Hall! I think Whacko was taking a light hearted look at the teams!

Good post Whacko. The way I see it with the KB and Rico incident is that Richardson got excluded for being the cause of the stoppage for falling on his own, if Rico had fallen straight after Bjerre dived under him then it would have been Kenneth being excluded, the fact that Richardsons fall was delayed meant Richardson HAD to be excluded! I think Richardson was taken by suprise and at first tried to save himself as an automatic reaction (as anybody would do travelling at 60+mph!) but when he realised Bjerre was far ahead he put the bike down!

Nice to see a smiley before the managing Newport bit! Good point SCB, would be interesting what Middlo thinks about this, haven't I seen him with the riders at a GP before?

Yes but he is GB World Cup manager AND Poole EL manager, doesn Jacob Olse manage any other teams other than the Danish World Cup and GP squad? I think the GB riders need a big personality with international experience in the pits to get jeed up!

Perhaps Crumpy is taking a more relaxed approach this season? If he is then it is certainly working!

Excellent point 'Presenter', I think Jacob Olsen takes even more hassle of the riders shoulders in the GP's and allows the Danes to just get on with riding, maybe us Brits should employ a GP 'representative' for the riders? I don't think its fair to suggest to Middlo who is Poole and GB manager to do this extra work, in my opinion we need a devoted and knowledgeble former rider to undertake this task!

First of all lets get this straight, I am not Danish but am still a big fan of Scandanavian riders and British ones of course! Second of all I agree that Scott was great tonight, I don't think people overlooked him more like forgot about him after the events of the final! On the topic of the 16 for the GP, NKI and KB may qualify from the forthcoming WC final anyway, but as young and exciting riders try and name riders who deserve the place? In my opinion certain riders who just a couple of years ago were some of the Worlds best, Loram and Max are quickly becoming past it despite both being brilliant in league speedway! Some of the riders in the GP are poor, for being the first pair of wildcards to reach a semi final I find it hard to see why both these riders shouldn't at least be on the shortlist for a place!

Poland have announced a shortlist of the riders for the SWC: 1. Tomasz Gollob (captain) 2. Piotr Protasiewicz 3. Grzegorz Walasek 4. Jaroslaw Hampel 5. Krzysztof Kasprzak 6. Rafal Dobrucki 7. Wieslaw Jagus 8. Sebastian Ulamek 9. Tomasz Chrzanowski 10. Marcin Rempala 11. Janusz Kolodziej 12. Robert Miskowiak Wouldn't suprise me if this list is in order! I can see the riders highlighted being the 5 riders at the Poole meeting!

Do I detect a certain element of jelousy of Scandanavian talent here? I agree Scotty Nicholls was imense today and saved the Brits from further embarassment as all the other were hopeless. And don't call me a dweeb you toss pot, the Danish wild cards you talk about haven't only 'pulled one out of the hat' in their home countries but have also done it on the international stage throughout 2004 (both in WC final). Sad really isn't it that none of the British wildcards (although I liked Floppy) could 'pull one out of the hat' in front of their home fans? I appreciate good speedway and I felt that Iversen and Bjerre showed how bright the future of the GP series could be and the inclusion of these two riders would in my opinion increase the excitement of the meetings far more than watching certain riders plod around for 1 or 2 GP points in most meetings!

I've noticed this over the last 2 years, nearly everytime time Crump starts off poorly and doesn't look fast enough he sorts it out and wins the GP, when he wins his first ride easily he normally goes backwards! Putting the opposition into a false sense of security? I hope Crumpy wins the GP this year and that he doesn't get injured in the long break that is coming up, if he wins this years championship I can see him winning many more times, he is still young enough to win a few and just needs to get that big breakthrough! Looking at the amazing young talent at tonights GP he and many of the other GP veterans certainly wont have it their own way, which can only benefit the GP series! Lets hope they keep something like the current formula for next season it is certainly very exciting!

Sorry but after a struggling return from injury Robbo will have no chance against the likes of Norris, Havelock, Screeny and Louis for those last two places! On the OZ topic, Rory is one for the future but I think their are riders available to OZ who internationally are just ahead of him at this stage, his time will come in the near future though! For Poland, Pepe I believe had a maximum or close to one at Eastbourne in the last World Cup? It is hard to stress how much these riders raise their game compared to league racing, you may call it selfish on the riders part (Riding far better individually then team wise) but averages in league racing doesn't count a lot when it comes to the cut and thrust of international speedway!

Nicki continued his top form in the 'you know' stakes tonight but he now has a new word in his dictionary F**K whcih he told his ex-freind Tony Steele to do many a time in the space of 2 minutes! Millard gave the understatement of the century when he said 'I think Nicki Pedersen isn't very happy'!

I was thinking that when I watched it, compared to the other high quality GP ads this one is rather dissapointing and certainly not something I would watch and take an interest in buying tickets for! Almost seems with the party theme that the event is more like a school fete than a World Cup speedway tournament!

Yeah you have got a real talent there, he is one of the only riders I have seen who can go to almost any track and crack it straight away! Somerset was a classic example last season, after falling in his first ride in his first meeting every time he went back there with the Wasps he was unbeaten! Must give Tim Stone credit here for risking brining PUK over, he and the OSM must be grateful that Newport launched his career! PUK, Bjerre and Lindback are riders who will make sure the GP series gets more and more exciting in years to come!