The fast track daft and other musings....

This blog post has been severely delayed due to a mixture of poor forecasts, waterlogged keyboards and maintenance to the blog site after poor work by the contractors. If you are all sitting comfortable then I'll begin...

The Fast Track Daft

And so it begins...

The ridiculous rules concerning FTR riders gaining averages after 4 meetings has kicked in and it has seen a string of riders moving in to the main body of the team, all of whom are struggling to score a point. Anyone with half an ounce of common sense predicted this would happen after the race format wasn't changed this winter, but surely we had to put trust in our glorious governing body. Surely they wouldn't get it this badly wrong?

Whilst the young Brits the FTD was designed to help (obviously the costs this cut was just a happy aside....) struggle to score, it will allow the likes of Klindt, Kurtz, Tungate etc to score easy points against riders low down the fast track list. Some might think it harsh to state these riders are stealing sweets from kids, and to those people I say this: you're wrong. Riders on proper second string money cleaning up with massive points every week does nothing to help anyone, except their own bank balances. It doesn't improve the product and it will hurt the promoters wallets.

This years 'fixes' to the draft have caused way more issues. The BSPA being entrusted to try and solve any of the problems which require a bit of thought is similar to allowing Joey Essex to be in charge of our country's fiscal policy. Utter carnage.

Davey What? 

People can't seem to grasp why Poole win the league so often. If they ever wanted a text book example, it's reasons like this. Poole are battering sides at home and will still win the majority of fixtures away, so they could easily have allowed Davey Watt to ride himself back into form before play-off time. Matt Ford chooses not to though. If he waited, he might not have got a replacement as ready made as Bjarne, and with other clubs sniffing round Bjarne while looking to strengthen up it's a double blow as now other teams aren't left with the Bjarne option.

Watt is clearly having personal issues but many people go to work with personal issues every day and still have to perform at their jobs. It's important to not forget that riders don't 'do it for our entertainment' - they do it because they get paid to do it. It's a job, and if someone is not performing at their job there are consequences.

It's hard to have sympathy with Davey Watt. He's been at Poole long enough to know how Matt Ford operates and it has to be one of the considerations when signing there. Perhaps if he had more respect for the other clubs he rides for the years Poole aren't interested he might get a bit more sympathy. He frequently looks disinterested, often whinges about nothing and is Australian. If he never rode over here again, I don't believe I'd lose any sleep.

The Storm, or the damp squib? 

Just what is the National league these days? A training and development league? Or a win at all costs professional league? It's quickly morphing into the latter with Birmingham and Eastbourne creating sides that the others can't compete with, and for that reason it's unlikely that the Storm Even Cradley fans are complaining about how uncompetitive the league now is. For fans of irony, that one's for you!

As a Coventry fan I can only really comment on what the fans want at Brandon, but with it being a second side it's got to be one of 2 things: competitive or exciting. Ours isn't either. We haven't found any potential Bees through the NL project since the introduction of the Storm, with the most exciting prospect in this years side Liam Carr, who isn't even a Coventry asset.

I do go to the majority of National League meetings, including travelling away to a lot of them, too but even I didn't go to the Buxton meeting on Friday. Watching a side with nothing in it to get excited about, against Buxton, in front of twenty people is not my idea of  Friday night. Especially when the Coventry promotion expect you to pay 20% more to watch the side than it has done in the previous 3 seasons!

Coventry should have knocked NL on the head at the end of last season when the crowds were appalling and each meeting seemed to descend into further farce. So what does our promotion do? Build another side that no one has any interest in and charge people more money to watch it. Classic.

Return of the GP's 

The GP's are back! Yes the first one was a bit naff, but it's Slovenia and it often is, but we've got one of the most exciting line-ups for years. A full year for Kildemand, the inclusions of Pawlicki, Zmarzlik and Lindback should give us some top action this year. There's not much that can be said about the meeting as it offered us so little and the first round is rarely indicative of how the rest of the season will shape up, except for Harris struggling to even look like he has a change of the semi finals. 

The biggest change this year for us viewers though was the switch the BT sport, and what a breath of fresh air it was. Keeping Nicholls on board was a great decision. He is knowledgeable, concise, and doesn't go over the top. Except maybe in his comments after the Ward incident at the Latvian GP, which were fully deserved. The best thing about the coverage though was our new host Natalie Quirk. She was excellent all round, anchoring her first GP brilliantly whilst asking insightful questions to Scott. It felt so much more professional than Eurosport have offered us over the last few years and long may it continue. The only disappointment was Nigel Pearson not shouting 'get out of the way I'm coming through' after Kildemand's move of the meeting. Great work. 

I would like to see some changes made to the series though by the introduction of penalties for pathetic behaviour. Any rider on the podium taking a selfie should have their trophy taken away immediately. Enjoy the moment, it's not like there won't be photo evidence of the podium, given the podium faces a harem of photographers! Other penalties should also include anyone wearing an ill fitting baseball cap, any rider whose kevlars don't match their bike covers, and any rider seen talking to Monster Joe during the meeting. 

Kenni Larsen

And finally....

After one of the most bizarre and disturbing speedway stories for some time, it seems Kenni Larsen is on the mend. The lad has become a real talent since he left Britain, scoring big points on the continent regularly. I really hope he is able to continue riding speedway following this as there's still a lot of unlocked potential in him. 

He's an incredibly likeable young man and it's fantastic news that it looks like he's going to pull through. The circumstances of the accident are irrelevant to me, but the news he will be ok isn't. Get well soon Kenni!