ITEM: So, at only the fourth attempt, Scunthorpe Scorpions are the
Premier League champions. It comes on the heels of last year's National
League championship for their junior side, the Saints - winning is
certainly becoming a habit at the Eddie Wright Raceway.
Formed only seven years ago, Scunthorpe are a blueprint for a successful speedway club, with a top notch racing track and steadily-improving facilities at their brownfield site. It is fitting, then, that their opponents in the play-off final, Somerset Rebels, are themselves a good example of what can be done from scratch with a plot of land, some industrious individuals, and a whole lot of hard work. It's a credit to the Premier League that such clubs operate at such a high standard at that level, and they should be lauded as great examples of community clubs gone right.
With new clubs still planned for Bristol, Norwich, Sittingbourne, and Cornwall, amongst others, the prospective promoters could do far worse than beg, borrow, or steal from the experience that Scunthorpe and Somerset have put to very, very good use.
ITEM: There's always talk of what may come out of the BSPA AGM ahead of the meeting in mid-November, with wild rumours thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Occasionally, though, something slips through that has been discussed, suggested or agreed upon at the pre-AGM meeting, and an interview with Aaron Summers in last week's Speedway Star contained a hidden nugget.
Summers, who has once again signed for Redcar in 2013, was asked about doubling-up with Coventry, and revealed that the rules were to be changed to allow any rider who doesn't ride in a foreign league to double-up between the Elite and Premier Leagues. Furthermore, I believe, at this point, that the foreign leagues in question are the Swedish and Polish leagues, only.
This would be a game-changer for some British riders who have long-chased continental opportunities with little success. It would allow the likes of Lewis Bridger, Edward Kennett, and Simon Stead to race in both senior British leagues, increasing their race sharpness and - more importantly - earning power.
It would also rule out certain riders from doubling-up, of course, and this season such a rule would have prevented Jason Doyle, Sebastian Alden, Ludvig Lindgren, and Kauko Nieminen, amongst others from riding both EL and PL.
The logic is obviously to reward those riders who put the UK first, and this is to be commended. I'd go further, and add in the Danish League. No disrespect to Charlie Gjedde and Ulrich Ostergaard, but it's hard to see what allowing them.to double-up year after year does for British speedway.
I'm also led to believe there will be further changes to the doubling-up rules, with pairings done away with in favour of a facility for a missing rider, and perhaps the addition of a further place available to be filled by a double-up rider. This would bring the potential places for PL riders to also ride EL down from 40 to 30, but also hopefully improve the quality of those riders.
Positive stuff, and you can only hope the rest of the AGM comes up with such logical rulemaking.
ITEM: Where next for the Belle Vue Aces? Unable to complete their 2012 fixtures, and with lingering doubts over the viability of the new National Speedway Stadium to be built down the road from Kirkmanshulme Lane, things look decidedly dodgy for one of speedway's legendary sides.
While Chris Morton and David Gordon's time at the helm of the Manchester club have hardly been glory year's, this season has been a disaster from start to finish, taking in meetings called off in fine weather, rumours of late payments to riders, and ending with a crumbling stadium and dangerous track unfit to race on.
There is talk that the Aces are looking at a substantial five figure sum to even get the track fit for racing next season, money which - with the new stadium always seemingly around the corner - they can ill afford to spend.
Given that Kirkmanshulme Lane is unlikely to ever stage speedway again, the club could be faced with two options: ride elsewhere (Stoke or Buxton being the nearest options) or take a year out, keeping the club alive with promotional activities and the occasional away challenge.
Both have their advantages and significant drawbacks, the biggest being risking losing what loyal fans they have left in Manchester, but they would risk doing that anyway with another season at a substandard Kirkmanshulme Lane. If it were down to me - and it never is, so my opinion should carry very little weight - I'd plump for the latter, but only with a firm and fixed start date for speedway's return to Manchester.
Whatever they decide, or are forced into, there are choppier waters ahead for Morton and Gordon. I wish them all the luck in the world.
ITEM: There's been a fair amount of griping - admittedly from fans of defeated clubs who finished top of their leagues - that the end-of-season play-offs are not a fair way to decide a championship.
It's an old argument, and one that will rage as long as the play-offs are in place. This season, however, all three teams who finished top of the league after the home and away campaign was finished fell at the final hurdle, and the record books will record that the second placed teams took the title across the three leagues.
Whether it is "fair" or not is a matter of opinion, although the evidence is probably weighted on the side of a team having the best record over a regular season being crowned champions. The more relevant argument is if the play-offs are desirable or even necessary.
With the finances of speedway clubs dependent on getting people through the turnstiles, and sponsors interested, to the very last, it makes sense to keep the season alive as long as possible. That six teams were still in with a chance of lifting the Elite League title going into the last week of the regular season was fantastic business for those tracks, and those they visited, ruined only slightly by cramming in so many fixtures due to the weather.
Similarly, for a sport desperate for television coverage, the creation of an end-of-season finale makes so much more sense than allowing the season to peter out long before the trophy is presented.
So, love them or hate them, deciding a title by play-offs may not be the fairest way but it is the most sensible, given speedway's current situation. Get on board and think of the bigger picture.
Formed only seven years ago, Scunthorpe are a blueprint for a successful speedway club, with a top notch racing track and steadily-improving facilities at their brownfield site. It is fitting, then, that their opponents in the play-off final, Somerset Rebels, are themselves a good example of what can be done from scratch with a plot of land, some industrious individuals, and a whole lot of hard work. It's a credit to the Premier League that such clubs operate at such a high standard at that level, and they should be lauded as great examples of community clubs gone right.
With new clubs still planned for Bristol, Norwich, Sittingbourne, and Cornwall, amongst others, the prospective promoters could do far worse than beg, borrow, or steal from the experience that Scunthorpe and Somerset have put to very, very good use.
ITEM: There's always talk of what may come out of the BSPA AGM ahead of the meeting in mid-November, with wild rumours thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Occasionally, though, something slips through that has been discussed, suggested or agreed upon at the pre-AGM meeting, and an interview with Aaron Summers in last week's Speedway Star contained a hidden nugget.
Summers, who has once again signed for Redcar in 2013, was asked about doubling-up with Coventry, and revealed that the rules were to be changed to allow any rider who doesn't ride in a foreign league to double-up between the Elite and Premier Leagues. Furthermore, I believe, at this point, that the foreign leagues in question are the Swedish and Polish leagues, only.
This would be a game-changer for some British riders who have long-chased continental opportunities with little success. It would allow the likes of Lewis Bridger, Edward Kennett, and Simon Stead to race in both senior British leagues, increasing their race sharpness and - more importantly - earning power.
It would also rule out certain riders from doubling-up, of course, and this season such a rule would have prevented Jason Doyle, Sebastian Alden, Ludvig Lindgren, and Kauko Nieminen, amongst others from riding both EL and PL.
The logic is obviously to reward those riders who put the UK first, and this is to be commended. I'd go further, and add in the Danish League. No disrespect to Charlie Gjedde and Ulrich Ostergaard, but it's hard to see what allowing them.to double-up year after year does for British speedway.
I'm also led to believe there will be further changes to the doubling-up rules, with pairings done away with in favour of a facility for a missing rider, and perhaps the addition of a further place available to be filled by a double-up rider. This would bring the potential places for PL riders to also ride EL down from 40 to 30, but also hopefully improve the quality of those riders.
Positive stuff, and you can only hope the rest of the AGM comes up with such logical rulemaking.
ITEM: Where next for the Belle Vue Aces? Unable to complete their 2012 fixtures, and with lingering doubts over the viability of the new National Speedway Stadium to be built down the road from Kirkmanshulme Lane, things look decidedly dodgy for one of speedway's legendary sides.
While Chris Morton and David Gordon's time at the helm of the Manchester club have hardly been glory year's, this season has been a disaster from start to finish, taking in meetings called off in fine weather, rumours of late payments to riders, and ending with a crumbling stadium and dangerous track unfit to race on.
There is talk that the Aces are looking at a substantial five figure sum to even get the track fit for racing next season, money which - with the new stadium always seemingly around the corner - they can ill afford to spend.
Given that Kirkmanshulme Lane is unlikely to ever stage speedway again, the club could be faced with two options: ride elsewhere (Stoke or Buxton being the nearest options) or take a year out, keeping the club alive with promotional activities and the occasional away challenge.
Both have their advantages and significant drawbacks, the biggest being risking losing what loyal fans they have left in Manchester, but they would risk doing that anyway with another season at a substandard Kirkmanshulme Lane. If it were down to me - and it never is, so my opinion should carry very little weight - I'd plump for the latter, but only with a firm and fixed start date for speedway's return to Manchester.
Whatever they decide, or are forced into, there are choppier waters ahead for Morton and Gordon. I wish them all the luck in the world.
ITEM: There's been a fair amount of griping - admittedly from fans of defeated clubs who finished top of their leagues - that the end-of-season play-offs are not a fair way to decide a championship.
It's an old argument, and one that will rage as long as the play-offs are in place. This season, however, all three teams who finished top of the league after the home and away campaign was finished fell at the final hurdle, and the record books will record that the second placed teams took the title across the three leagues.
Whether it is "fair" or not is a matter of opinion, although the evidence is probably weighted on the side of a team having the best record over a regular season being crowned champions. The more relevant argument is if the play-offs are desirable or even necessary.
With the finances of speedway clubs dependent on getting people through the turnstiles, and sponsors interested, to the very last, it makes sense to keep the season alive as long as possible. That six teams were still in with a chance of lifting the Elite League title going into the last week of the regular season was fantastic business for those tracks, and those they visited, ruined only slightly by cramming in so many fixtures due to the weather.
Similarly, for a sport desperate for television coverage, the creation of an end-of-season finale makes so much more sense than allowing the season to peter out long before the trophy is presented.
So, love them or hate them, deciding a title by play-offs may not be the fairest way but it is the most sensible, given speedway's current situation. Get on board and think of the bigger picture.
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