Hancock & The Polish Bubble

ITEM: On the surface of it, Greg Hancock signing for Poole, to replace the injured Chris Holder, looks very much like a good news story. A legend of British speedway, who spent almost twenty seasons riding for Cradley Heath, Coventry, and others, returning to the country where he made his name. However, as with so many things these days, the truth is probably a little less shiny.

Hancock quit the Elite League in mid-2007, with the disastrous BSI experiment at Reading falling down around his ears, and the American probably being owed no small sum of money. He moved his family to Sweden and began commuting from there, riding in the Swedish Elitserien, Polish Ekstraliga, and even the Czech league, but never once looking like he would return to the Elite League, despite overtures made by a number of clubs.

His absence could be seen as a symbol of the declining influence of British speedway on the world scene, but probably has more to do with the top riders not wanting to work so hard for their money, preferring to ride less meetings for the higher points money on offer in Sweden and Poland.

Whether it's necessary to ride in the UK to be a success is unclear. Tomasz Gollob rode just one season here, but also only managed the one world title. Jason Crump took a similar tack a couple of seasons after Hancock, even copying his move from Britain to Sweden but seemed to lack an edge after giving up the EL. Leigh Adams always seemed to make it work, though never won the big prize, but Chris Holder showed that a full season in the UK need not be a hindrance in the pursuit of SGP glory. Hancock, however, won a second world title whilst not riding in the UK, so who can tell?

A glance at the SGP roster for 2013 shows pretty much an even split between those who do and those who do not ride in the UK, and several of them preferred the Elite League over Sweden this season. This is probably because the money on Sweden is not as good as it once was, with several clubs in financial trouble, and with the standard of racing arguably the highest in all of Europe's leagues, that Tuesday payday isn't so appetising.

Poland, too, is beginning to show cracks in its veneer, which have long been predicted, despite the freakish fetishism some speedway fans have for the Ekstraliga. Rzeszow look likely to apply for 1.Liga (Second Division) racing next season, regardless of the their final placing, and Torun chose not to replace an injured Darcy Ward, preferring to use rider-replacement until his return, and when Chris Holder was ruled out for the season they chose to use Edward Kennett and Matej Kus as (terrible) replacements, rather than another big name rider.

Most interesting is the situation at Bydgoszcz, where the team manager has agreed to work for free, the club chairman has been removed by the fans, and the team have cut two of their three non-Polish riders in a money-saving exercise. Hans Andersen has been retained, but Aleksandr Loktaev and - guess who? - Greg Hancock have been released.

And that's where Hancock's return to the Elite League starts to look less like a returning hero, replacing a fellow Monster factory rider and helping out a team in trouble, and more like someone who has lost one payday and is looking for another.

Will it be good for British speedway? Well, it will certainly be good for Poole, although I shouldn't expect Hancock will score the points Holder has been. The Pirates have five home meetings remaining, and could reasonably expect their crowds to hold up or even increase slightly, although Hancock has no connection with their fans, who seem to prefer Australians to any other nation.

For the rest of the league? His appearance on the Pirates' team sheet will be welcomed by Belle Vue, Lakeside, and Swindon - Poole's three remaining away fixtures - but the other six teams will not benefit. Perhaps his return might garner some publicity for the sport as a whole, although the announcement didn't, and it's hard to see what impact a 43-year old can have on attracting new fans to the sport.

But Nigel Pearson is excited, and so it must be a Brilliant Thing. It's far more interesting as a bellwether for the decline of the Polish league, and whether more will follow Hancock's lead, looking for an easy payday on our shores. I, for one, hope we turn them away. It's one thing to encourage the likes of Vaculik, Sayfutdinov, and Dudek to ride here but another thing entirely when it comes to those who didn't care for us when it didn't suit them. Petty? Perhaps, but British speedway has to plough its own furrow now, and it can't possibly consider becoming a retirement home for some extremely fairweather friends.

ITEM: The first round of the revamped European Championship was shown live on Eurosport on Saturday evening, and the majority of viewers seem to have enjoyed what they saw. Although the Gdansk track that staged the event isnt the best for exciting racing - like Prague, location of last weeks SWC final, it is big and mostly flat - there was some top notch stuff at times, no surprise when you consider the quality of the field.
The cash infusion provided by Polish marketing company OneSport has attracted riders who have previously ignored the competition, and raised the standard of the meetings by some way. Indeed, last year's champion, Ales Dryml, and third-placed rider, Andrei Karpov, finished well down the field, unable to keep up with the higher speeds of Sayfutdinov, Pedersen, and Woffinden.

Five of the top six positions were filled by SGP regulars - Latvias Kjastas Podzhuks, fourth last year, continuing where he left off in the SWC to complete the top six - but the rest of the field provided a freshness that the SGP, already seven events old, lacks at this stage of the season.

If you weren't already aware of the event, however, you may have missed it. The Speedway Star, pretty much the bible for speedway fans in the UK, ignored it, with not even the most cursory mention of the event in its pages. A cynical man might argue that this is because Philip Rising (managing editor), Paul Burbidge (chief news reporter), and Dave Fairbrother (staffer) are also on the payroll at OneSport's rivals BSI, although whether the omission was under orders from BSI or a pre-emptive strike by loyal employees is unclear. Of course, cynicism being what it is, it may have been a genuine oversight. I'll leave ti to you to decide the balance of probabilities on that one!

The next European Championship event is staged in Togliatti, and it will be a rare chance to see a televised meeting from the Russian track. The Laguta brothers, especially wild card Artem, are track specialists, and so the SGP boys miht not have it all their own way on this occasion. While it's probably a nightmare for the Elite League, in its current incarnation at least, to have to deal with this series on top of the SGP, under-21s, World Longtrack, and all manner of other distractions, it's a refreshing change for the casual viewer at home. If the issues with our domestic league can be sorted, I hope his series  providing competition to a moribund SGP, is around for some time to come.

ITEM: Last week I laid out some changes to the regulations I'd like to see for the 2014 season in the UK. This week I have some more for you. My aim in doing so is to try and spark a bit of discussion and maybe, just maybe, the powers-that-be miht see something they like. Or not.
* Team line-ups to feature only 1 reserve
                   Teams competing in the Polish leagues, from the EkstraLiga at the top to the II.Liga at the bottom, have to include two home-grown reserves under the age of twenty-one. No-one who has paid any attention to the development of young Polish talent in the last few years can argue that this has been anything other than a good thing. There isn't sufficient quality in the British under-21 (or under-23, as I would recommend starting with) at present to go with two reserves at that level per team, but there is probably enough to cover 1 reserve per team. This format worked well in the past, with the main body of the team comprising of six riders taking four rides each, and a reserve with two programmed rides. Throw in a nominated riders heat and you have 14 heats per meeting, leaving ample room for the second-half racing I demanded all tracks stage after the main event.

* No GP - or GP-level - riders
                    Now this will ruffle some feathers, I understand that. But I'm firmly of the opinion that, in a time of austerity (and, let's face it, speedway has been facing austerity longer than the country as a whole), you need to cut back to grow again. In an ideal world, wed have enough money to have all the top guys racing here, and fill the team places beneath them with a decent standard of riders so that the racing was close and exciting. However, that's not a realistic prospect right now - nor will it be for some time yet. Given that, the disruption that the GPs cause to our domestic schedule is unwanted and unacceptable. British speedway would much better concentrate on providing a good standard of racing, and narrow the gap between the top and bottom racers. And to do that we have to cut the head off our talent base. It's unfortunate, because it will catch riders who have been loyal to British speedway throughout their careers, and who would probably stay loyal given the chance. But if we can reform our league so that instead of 10-point men to 3-point men, we had 8-point men to 4-point men, the racing would be closer and the disruption from the GPs all but gone. And then we can grow.

* Ease up on the tapes infringements
                    If there's one thing that infuriates most regular fans, and risks alienating new ones, its constant restarts due to tapes infringements. I'm not talking about those rare occasions when riders actually touch or break the tapes, but those times when riders look to pre-judge the tapes rising (or actually make a lightning start which the referee can't or won't believe they can do). Before I go any further, let me get one thing right: I'm not talking about a rolling start. That's cheating and should be stamped out by officious start marshalls. But if we were to let the natural punishment stand - if they jump too quickly they touch the tapes - and allow riders to get on with getting out of the gate, meetings might run a little bit quicker.

ITEM: The list of defunct speedway tracks has stayed unadded-to of late. That's a good thing. Leicester even came back from the dead. That's a brilliant thing. And in the years leading up to their return, an intrepid band of fans kept their name alive, tracking "Leicester" teams in second-halves and challenge meetings. It's a common phenomenon, and this season alone sees the participation of teams representing Long Eaton, Milton Keynes, and Castleford in the MDL, hopefully as a precursor to those clubs returning at tra cks of their own.
Kent announced last week that they would be taking on a Wimbledon side, on August 12th, and it will be the first time in five years that a team wearing the gold star will take to the track. However, the prospects of returning Wimbledon to the borough of Merton seem as daunting as resurrecting any of the old London sides, and so the question has to be asked, is there any point keeping these clubs alive?

When Dudley returned they very pointedly chose not to call themselves Cradley Heath. Dudley, as the local authority governing their former catchment area, was seen as a preferable name to attract sponsors and - more importantly - the imagination of the councillors and council officials who would decide whether any potential new stadium was viable.

So, following their example, would it be more prudent for Wimbledon fans to track a team that had all the trademarks of their former club, but which carried the name of a more receptive municipality? If a potential new track in Berkshire happened to look more viable in Bracknell or Newbury, wouldn't Reading fans be wiser to talk of a Bracknell or Newbury Racers?

Nostalgia, of course, is a powerful thing, as is the enduring hope of the human spirit. But there must come a time when realism steps in. The example of Dudley - as yet unfulfilled but hopefully not for too much longer - is a good one to follow.