Around the Premier League Tracks 2007 - the close season 2007/8
.
.
Thursday, 13 December


Premier League News


Oxford: Oxford Promoter Allen Trump has all but given up on Premier League speedway at Oxford for 2008.

And unless there are any dramatic developments between now and the deadline set by the BSPA of 5pm tomorrow (Friday) for a new lease agreement to be concluded between the club and stadium owners, the GRA, it appears that the final speedway race could have taken place at Sandy Lane.

In a statement issued today Trump said: "Stadium owners GRA's attitude of non-communication and brinkmanship prevents any form of negotiation and apart from an insistence on doubling the rent to £56,000 per season I've had no meaningful response at all from them.

I have found the GRA's landlord and tenant attitude depressingly unique in my business experience. Oxford Speedway have not had nor have they been offered a written lease and as a result would only have had at best a verbal season by season agreement open to arbitrary amendment by the GRA at any time.

I requested a three year deal to enable me to create a solid sponsorship base at the club bearing in mind the additional cost of Premier speedway but the GRA have not responded to this. Oxford Cheetahs have been cursed by this annual winter uncertainty and that has negatively impacted on the sport in the town. It is not possible to plan on a year by year basis.

I suggested that Oxford Speedway would be able to substantially increase the GRA's income through the bars and restaurant but with less than two days left to finalise plans and no meaningful response there simply is not the time left.

There is no doubt that Oxford Stadium was not user friendly to speedway supporters. With drinks at around £3 a pint and inflated food prices for speedway meetings coupled with other petty restrictions many supporters felt alienated by the GRA. This needed to be addressed in conjunction with an increased rental figure.

There was regular conflict with the Go-Kart operator last season whenever we had a change of date and bearing in mind the increased number of meetings for 2008 I needed certainty that an alternative night would be available in advance.

Even though I paid off the rent arrears of the previous promotion in 2007 I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the GRA are not interested in the sustainability of speedway at Oxford. I believe that my financial proposals for Oxford would have met both the GRA's financial requirements and the long term future of Oxford Cheetahs, unfortunately the GRA are fixated on doubling the rental figure to the exclusion of anything else.

I believe that the GRA have made a serious commercial error in this latest attempt at brinkmanship and they will now be faced with no income at all from speedway in 2008. Any attempt to substitute speedway with stock cars will I am sure be met with fierce resistance in the town and I believe that the GRA will live to regret their current approach."

Source: Oxford Cheetahs Speedway Official Website


Stoke: The Potters have been boosted by Ben Barker agreeing a new deal for a second successive season with the Loomer Road side. Barker joins Lee Complin as a confirmed starter in the Potters’ line up with more expected to follow soon.

Stoke promoter, Dave Tattum, said: “Ben is a very exciting talent and I’m sure he’ll continue to make profress next season. We’re delighted to have him back on board.

Source: BPSA Webite


Sheffield: The Tigers have appointed former England boss, Eric Boocock, as their new team manager.

Boocock, who spent last season with Elite League Belle Vue, replaces Reg Wilson who has stood down because of business commitments.

“I enjoy working in the Premier League and Sheffield is a club I know well. I have a lot of respect for the people there and hopefully we can have a good season,” said Boocock.

Source: BPSA Website


Newcastle: George Stancl and Christian Henry are the Diamonds’ first two signings for next season.

The Newcastle Diamonds' management team, freshly back from one of the most positive British Speedway Promoters Association AGMs in years have taken a huge initial step in putting together a team capable of challenging the best in the new-look and 17 (possibly 18) strong Premier League set to start in March 2008.

Promoter George English yesterday revealed the first two of their top-end spearhead that will hit the tracks next year, and they are two high-scoring and highly popular racers around the Byker track.

Making a very welcome return to Newcastle, in what will be his 3rd consecutive in the Black and White is 26 year-old Australian Christian Henry who will be welcomed back into the number 1 position and again as team captain.

Joining Henry up at the team's top end is a rider who adores Newcastle, the track and the City and raced as a Diamond in 2006 before reverting to Glasgow and eventually Edinburgh in 2007 and he is 32-year-old Czech star, George Stancl.

"It's a great way to start our team building by announcing two of the best scoring riders around our Newcastle Stadium home in Byker in recent seasons." said English, "Both riders can race at our track with the highest level of expertise and this will only do us good in our quest for success.

"Christian [Henry] comes back to us as skipper for a second season in his 3rd as a Diamond, and we are looking forward to seeing him continue where he left off last year which was a season that saw him make massive strides with his improvement, and it's an improvement we fully expect to continue throughout 2008. He is due back from Australia on December 24th in order to get his preparation well underway for his 2008 racing, such is his commitment to success.
George [Stancl] just loves Newcastle full-stop, and it's great to welcome him back after a year out at Glasgow and Edinburgh last season. Again I'm convinced we'll see a solid year of solid scores from this guy in 2008.

One of the important main reasons cited for the return of Stancl to the Tyneside outfit has been the recent launch of a "new-look" Newcastle Speedway in terms of structure, attitude and management which really turned Stancl's head when a decision had to be made. Details of the "New-Look" will be forthcoming in due course.

Source:Worldspeedway.com


Workington: Carl Stonehewer has been given the all-clear to ride again in 2008 after a visit to his specialist.

Workington Comets had re-signed their former captain in the belief that he would be fit to resume his career at Derwent Park. Today Stoney said: “It’s a great relief. I thought I would be ok but it’s good when your specialist says that the bone has healed well and you’re ok to resume your career.

“I’ve been swimming to keep myself in trim and now he’s given me the all clear to start some physio so I’ll be working hard on my fitness before next March. Hopefully I will get back on a bike in February and have a spin round Northside or even Derwent Park if I’m allowed. I can’t wait.”

Stonehewer will form a new spearhead for the Comets alongside number one Daniel Nermark and captain Kauko Nieminen – and will be working for a new owner in Keith Denham. Most of Stonehewer’s career has been spent as a Tony Mole asset but now he’s part of the Comets rider base owned by Denham.

“I’ve spoken to Keith since confirming I was coming back to Derwent Park and I’ve been impressed with his enthusiasm. He is putting his heart and soul into Workington speedway and what he has planned for the club and the track sounds awesome.

“It will be up to us as a Workington team to put an equal amount of effort in to try and give him the success he is looking for. I haven’t had chance to get-up to Workington and take a look at the work being put on the track but by what everyone tells me it is fantastic,” he says.

Workington have completed their team plans for 2008 a good three months ahead of the new season. Rivals Birmingham have announced the signings of Canadian ace Kyle Legault and inspirational skipper Jason Lyons for next season.

Legault will ride on loan from parent club Sheffield and Lyons is already a Brummies favourite after a sensational season in 2007. Jubilant Birmingham boss Graham Drury said: "Kyle is a young lad who went within five rides of becoming a fully qualified Grand Prix rider and we simply had to keep Jason.”

Sheffield have unveiled three more riders in their push for the 2008 Premier League title - and they're all familiar faces! Ben Wilson, Joel Parsons and Paul Cooper have all signed new deals and will join skipper Andre Compton - who signed a new two-year deal last week - and Ricky Ashworth in next season's side.

Source: News and Star


Birmingham: The row which is developing over the noise caused by speedway racing at Perry Barr is causing Birmingham some concern.

University students have joined Birmingham families in a "noisy neighbour" war with a speedway team which wants changes to its licence.

City councillors must decide whether to allow more Sunday racing and other alterations requested by the Birmingham Brummies, at a meeting tommorow. Speedway returned to the city only in March, after a 20-year absence, but neighbours of Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium have already sent in nearly 100 representations to the council.

Birmingham City University, which has students living in halls of residence opposite the stadium in Aldridge Road, claims it has conducted its own noise monitoring which shows that the din "exceeds acceptable council, national and European levels".

A spokeswoman said: "The university has consistently objected to the presence of speedway racing at Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium, in that the noise and disturbance generated are incompatible with the activities that take place on our adjacent campus.

"The university has commissioned a study of the noise levels generated which concludes that it exceeds acceptable standards as set down by city council, national and European bodies." The university spokeswoman added: "The current planning application represents a significant intensification of speedway racing in the greyhound stadium."

Speedway organisers want to increase the number of heats at race meetings. They also want to race on eight additional Sundays a year - including four bank holiday weekends - and are seeking a compromise on who pays for noise monitoring.

Councillor Jon Hunt (Lib Dem, Perry Barr) said: "The application has been useful because it has enabled residents to be consulted on their experience of the first season - and, unfortunately, many are not happy at all.

"More residents have taken the chance to complain about noise levels than when the first application for speedway's return was lodged late last year. As well as letters, we have received visits at our advice bureaux from groups of residents and have also had phone calls.

"The consultation has raised real issues in the neighbourhood about the impact of speedway. Prior to the original application there was no experience of the event in its current form. Given that much of this summer was wet and rainy this is quite disappointing, and suggests that a long dry summer might cause significantly more problems."

Coun Hunt added: "I have had a meeting with the speedway organisers last week and it was quite constructive. I had a tour of the site and there are gaps in the stadium, which I would like to see filled with sound barriers."

Tony Mole, director of the Birmingham Brummies, said: "These changes do not impact on the university. If anything, Sunday racing would be more helpful to them. As far as the residents are concerned this is just an application on conditions of planning consent. We have no problem for the sound testing whatsoever - our problem is who pays for it."

Mr Mole added: "After we got permission last year we were told that we would have to pay the council to do its monitoring, at their prices. We're unwilling to do that. We want to pay for a tester to visit four times in the season. We then have controls over the costs and we would expect the city to be present during those testings."

Mr Mole said the next racing was scheduled for March 16, and added: "Crowd levels for our first season exceeded expectations." The planning committee must decide whether to accept amendments to the team's temporary three-year licence. It has received 61 signatures on two petitions, 46 letters of objection, based on noise, and eight letters in favour.

Source: Birmingham Mail


Berwick: The Bandits have been dealt a blow with the announcement that they have lost their main team sponsor.

Anderson's (Quality Butchers) of North Berwick, have backed the Bandits for the past two years. But last Wednesday they revealed that they were not prepared to carry on for a third successive season, and so the search is now on for a replacement.

Promoter Peter Waite said: "We can only thank Anderson's for the invaluable support they have given us over the past two seasons, three if you include what they did they year before they came in as main sponsors.

"We have had a very good working relationship with them. I would go so far as to say they have been the best sponsors we have had during my spell in running the club, but reluctantly, because of their own business commitments, they have decided they cannot sponsor us again in 2008.

"It's no exaggeration to say they've kept the club afloat over those years when to stand alone would have been disastrous financially. It's a fact I know to be the case because I've had to run the club solo without backing like this and it means cutting all costs to a minimum and then panicking week in week out and it's a position I cannot bear to think about going into again."
The announcement came as something of a shock to Waite, who had been hoping the company would extend their deal into a third year. And it has meant the Bandits' boss has been forced to put his team-building plans on hold for the time being until he knows what his budget is going to be.

"The financial implications of this are massive," he said. "A small club like Berwick needs the backing of a sponsor if it is to survive. Since the AGM, when the new points limit was set, I had been looking at several options on the rider front. I was talking to certain individuals, but now it looks like I might have to go back to the drawing board as we will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

"If I had known at the end of the season that Anderson's were not going to be backing us again in 2008 I might have been able to line up a replacement. But here we are, two months into the close season, just starting to put our team together, and then this happens.

"It's a hard one to swallow because I was planning my team around the finances I thought I might have. Now it feels like the rug has been pulled from underneath me. It would be easy to say that I don't know where we go from here, and in some respects that is true.

"Finding a new sponsor who is willing to put that sort of money in is easier said than done. All I know is that I cannot afford to bankroll it myself. But despite this I still have to go out and put a team together. It won't be easy under the current circumstances, but we will just have to do the best we can."

Waite had mixed reactions to the annual conference. He was disappointed that the points limit for team building purposes was raised to 41.5, but he was pleased to see that the two three-point reserve rule was scrapped.

"That means teams can have a much more balanced look about them, and that is something we have always tried to do at Berwick in the past," he said. "I was also pleased to see that the assessed averages for foreign riders was reduced, because that will give us more scope as well.
"Someone like Matej Kus (a young Czech who has been a long-term target for the Bandits), will now come in on seven points as opposed to eight, which makes him a more attractive proposition. Then there are the Australians who now come in on only five points.

"That's a big, big plus . . . imagine what that would have meant to teams in the past if riders like Chris Holder, Troy Bachelor, Glenn Doyle and Corey Gathercole had come in on a figure like that. There are quite a few young Australians hoping to make the breakthrough in Britain next season and I am sure a lot of British clubs will now be casting their nets to try and land them."
Waite was also delighted at the decision to scrap the aggragate bonus and make it three points for an away win instead of two.

"Getting rid of the aggregate bonus point means big things to me. Whereas in the past teams with massive home track advantage could win the league on their home form alone by picking up 14 bonus points as well, now we all have the chance to get up to the top of the league in a fairer way, and with the new points system coming in I honestly believe this will make for a better league all round with much more competitive racing to put on display for the fans."

Source: Berwick Advertiser


King‘s Lynn: Shaun Tacey having done an about turn on joining Mildenhall due to his son’s grass track commitments at weekends has joined King’s Lynn instead. Trevor Harding is also back for the Stars next season.

King's Lynn Stars last night announced a shock Norfolk return for old boy Shaun Tacey.The 33-year-old Norwich born racer was the surprise name revealed at a fans' forum as the club finalised its 2008 Premier League line up.Australian racer Trevor Harding is also back at Saddlebow along with exciting young compatriot Kozza Smith in a competitive middle order.

The new look trio join reserve pair Simon Lambert and John Oliver unveiled last week - with Tomas Topinka and Kevin Doolan forming a potent front line spearhead.Stars' co-promoter Jonathan Chapman insisted Tacey could be the missing link in the crucial number five race jacket.

“Last season we asked for someone to step up to the plate in that position,” he said. “Paul Lee tried but his form dipped towards the end. It's key because you have three races with the reserves and we need someone to help the younger lads along. We know Shaun is so much better than he showed last year at Mildenhall and we know what we'll get - not just at home but away in the pits and helping the team.”

Tacey jumped at a Norfolk homecoming after being strongly tipped for a Mildenhall return despite a disappointing West Row campaign last season. “I was prepared to talk to them (Mildenhall) about a team place,” he confirmed. “But with my son starting grasstrack next season, which usually takes place on a Sunday, it was never looking promising. I then made it clear to them that I wanted to ride for a week night club and as soon as I was made available King's Lynn came up with an offer. I believe they changed their team plan for me as they had another new Australian lined up. “I'm sure they have done the right thing by bringing more experience into the team. I'm really happy to be back and plan to recapture the form I had in 2004. Since then the fans have given me great support and I hope they are just as excited about my return as I am.”

Chapman is convinced the club will again fight it out for Premier League honours after dominating the sport's second tier in recent seasons.“We don't think we'll be far away with this side,” he said. “We got it totally right in 2006 and we were nearly perfect in 2007. It's very similar to last season but with a bit more experience at number five in Shaun. We feel if Tomas can maintain his average the other six are more than capable of putting a few points on theirs.

This time around there was a little bit of politics when it came to team building but we're still the second team to announce our plans. We never worry about what other clubs are doing. We just feel it's important to get things right.”

Chapman insists the club have pulled off a major coup to land Queensland starlet Smith.“He's got a lot of natural talent - in that respect he's very much like Troy Batchelor,” said Chapman. “Supporters will have seen him ride a few second halves last season and we know he has to adapt to British tracks but there is no one better to guide him along than Tomas. Kozza has got even more tiger in him than Kevin Doolan. He never knows when to give up so we'll maybe have to tame that a little.”Stars' team boss Rob Lyon confirmed Smith's compatriot Harding edged out popular rider Chris Mills - who joined Premier League new boys Reading last week.“Because of the points' limit both wouldn't fit in the team together,” he said. “It was a hard choice but Trevor, overall, had another solid year of progress and even though he dipped in form when he was missing home, he has heaps of natural talent. This year we are expecting him to raise his average considerably. He is well liked at Lynn and even though the fans loved Millsy he was never going to be a club asset after Reading refused to sell him.”

Source: Eastern Daily Press (EDP24)