Marching Into 2023…

Snow is falling and when I woke up this morning, outside the house looked like Pablo Escobar’s front room, white stuff everywhere.

What’s going on? Aha, must be March, the weather is always a bit ropey this time of year which must mean the speedways starts up again soon!

Two weeks to be precise until Press and Practice here at Shielfield Park and I must admit, I’m a tad excited as I generally always am at this time of year.

That excitement will of course dissipate as the arctic temperatures take a grip of me and I wonder what the hell I’m playing at! Of course, at that point there will be bikes flying round the track and the sweet nectar of methanol fumes will hit and all will be well in the world again.

A roller-coaster of emotions before a wheel is turned, only in speedway can that happen!

Now normally by this time of year, I’d have had an extensive season preview done where I’d break down every team in the Championship, rider by rider and see where I think they would end up fairing. However, due to a number of external factors, for the first time in over a decade, possibly ever, I haven’t had the time to put anything together.

There are two ways we can look at this, if I don’t make any predictions then I can’t be wrong but realistically, where’s the fun in that? So being the stand up guy that I am, I will offer a much condensed version of what has become the norm over the last few seasons.

From a Berwick standpoint, I don’t want to say too much but I believe that as a team we will exceed expectations and perform better than the “experts” will have you believe. In terms of a key man as it were, I think Jye Etheridge and his fitness will play a massive factor in which end of the table the Bandits end up in come September time.

With that being said, I see Redcar being near the top of the table along with Poole and dare I say Glasgow with Connor Bailey, Zach Cook and Marcin Nowak being the key men for their respective sides, although I could see Glasgow falling short of expectations.

I also like the look of Plymouth and Oxford but for me much depends on how their new boys settle into British racing. Edinburgh can never be written off but much will depend on Craig Cook for me and it is a massive year there for the likes of Paco Castagna and Kye Thomson in particular.

Scunthorpe for me have once again built a side designed to win at home but one which may struggle on the road and I think Birmingham also fall into that same category as well.

What I will say though is that the Championship looks wide open this year and that I could genuinely see any of the sides topping the table should the deck fall favourably for them. Naturally, injuries and luck, good and bad will play a massive part in things and there is always going to be a surprise packet in the bunch.

Who that will be will be revealed in due course no doubt but one thing’s for sure and that is nothing is for sure in speedway!

There is a certain buzz back about British Speedway and it is quite refreshing to see, and what’s better than that is that it all gets underway again in the next week or so…

Count me in and let’s go racing!

Of course if you wish to agree, or disagree with the Mythman, have an idea for a feature, or you simply wish to chew the fat over all things speedway, you can email me jbspeedwaymedia@hotmail.com or get in touch via the JB Speedway Media Facebook page. If your compliments, or indeed gripes can be contained to limited characters you can tweet @Mythman666.

Until next time…and there will be a next time.

Right, I’ll hae’tae gan.

Mythman