Around the Premier League Tracks 2007 - the close season 2007/8

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Friday, 9 November


Premier League News



Stoke: News on Glenn Cunningham’s progress following his injury at Somerset last month was carried in the Sentinel:

Glenn Cunningham's injury picked up at Somerset last month turned out to be more serious than first thought. But the Potters rider is now recovering - with a steel rod in his leg.Cunningham, who top scored with 10+1 on his former home track during the Potters' 58-34 first leg defeat in the Young Shield, laid down his bike to avoid team-mate Claus Vissing and broke his right leg after hitting the safety fence.

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"It was one of those incidents from which you just walk away 99 times out of a 100," said Cunningham, who is due to return to hospital soon. I must have hit the fence awkwardly and the impact broke my thigh."It's one of those things, but I knew it was quite bad straight away because I was in a lot of pain. I had internal bleeding as well as the break and then I lost more blood during the operation. I had to have a transfusion and, while I would normally have been in hospital for two or three days, I was in for a week."I have a rod inserted in the leg from top to bottom and I have to go back for another X-ray to see how things are healing."

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There was also news that Rob Grant was keen to make a comeback with the Potters and intended to buy new equipment to kick start his career again:
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Rob Grant has given Stoke Easy Rider Potters a boost by insisting he wants to continue racing and will invest heavily over the winter in a bid to resurrect his career. Grant had been on the verge of retiring after failing to find a team berth in 2007. But a strong showing in the Garry Stead benefit meeting convinced him otherwise.

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"I enjoyed that meeting and it made me realise just how much I miss speedway," he said. "I haven't helped myself in the past by having only so-so equipment, so I'm now prepared to get two new bikes and make next season the one in which I can get my career on track."The 2006 season saw a big slide in my career, but I was hoping my low average would be a help at the start of the 2007 campaign. As it turned out, apart from a brief spell helping out Berwick, there wasn't any interest and I hadn't raced bikes since April until I had a go in Steady's meeting."Given that, I was quite pleased with the way I went and maybe the short break will work in my favour in the future.

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"I have spoken to Dave Tattum and I'm sure he will help me get fixed up even if it is not at Stoke. I've been busy doing other things and tried to put racing out of my mind, but it's not so easy and now I want to come back with 100 per cent commitment. “I want Premier League racing. Conference League is okay, but it's not the level that I want to be at and I'm hoping someone shows an interest in me because I won't let them down."



Workington: The new promoters at Workington have expressed their views on Terry Russell’s proposal for promotion and relegation to be introduced between the Elite and Premier Leagues. This article appeared in the News and Star:

BRITISH Speedway President Terry Russell wants to see promotion and relegation introduced between the Elite League and Premier League next season.Russell, who is also co-owner of Swindon, has labelled the current league structure as ‘tired’ and in need of a revamp. He said: “I’d love to see promotion and relegation because you need that in any sport to be taken seriously. It can’t be right that teams don’t want to go up.”

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New Workington owner Keith Denham has an open mind on the subject, but believes there are a number of things in the sport which need to be changed. He says: “I would be interested in hearing a full discussion on the merits of introducing a promotion/relegation aspect to speedway and I know where Terry Russell is coming from. “But there are other areas which we need to be looking at first, particularly the total team points averages. We won’t know where we are going to be on that subject until the AGM at the end of the month but it seems unfair to me that successful teams are penalised under the present system.

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“At the moment we all have a 40 point limit but there have been suggestions that this could be reduced to 37. Another school of thought wants it raised to 43, which we would be in favour of. I think the points situation wants looked at closely before we get round to discussing promotion and relegation. “Speedway does need a revamp and I’ll be interested in to hear any suggestions which we can discuss as promoters.”

The first-ever four day conference is being staged on November 29 to December 2 in Brandon, Coventry when all the new rules governing the 2008 season will be put in place. Ian Thomas, co-promoter at Derwent Park said: “People have said that this conference will be the most important in the history of the sport. I am sure it is going to be very interesting but I’ve heard it labelled in similar terms on previous occasions down the years.”