At the end of last season my column begged the question of whether we need the top GP stars in the Sky Sports Elite League.
And, before going any further, let me make it clear I was as disappointed as anyone to see the likes of Crump, Andersen, Jonsson and Nicholls ruled out.
Ironically, two of those riders are now back in the Elite League - both in controversial moves which have caused unrest amongst promoters - and in Jonsson's case he wanted to come back but Lakeside felt preserving their Friday racenight was more important. Fair play to them, it appears to have worked nicely.
Andersen: Back in Elite League (pic credit Fotospeedway.pl)
The Elite League is nicely balanced. It's provided some good meetings, some thrilling racing and the new league points structure appears to have won over the critics.
When I was a kid I was brought up on watching the likes of Ivan Mauger at Hull and Erik Gundersen at Cradley and it would have been unthinkable to be without them.
And yet the Elite League this season has been just as, if not more, competitive than previous seasons.
Great start
My Sky Sports colleague, Kelvin Tatum, cannot remember a better start to a season on TV in the 11-years of Sky Speedway.
I'm delighted to see the likes of Hans Andersen and Scott Nicholls wanting to come back to British racing, make no mistake about that. But let's be honest, they are doing it because it suits them.
There is a small part of me which agrees with Wolves boss Pete Adams when he says a rider should sign a form at the end of each season to state whether he would like to ride in England the next year - and if the answer is no, that should mean for the entire season.
There were a lot of worried people during the winter - including me - wondering just how British Speedway would ride the revolution of missing GP stars.
But now, more than ever before, it appears the Elite League is the steppign stone to the GP - and both can't seem to work together.
That said, welcome back Scott and Hans. And I'd love to think we haven't seen the last of Crumpie riding in this country, but I feel he'll only return when his Grand Prix ambition becomes less. Let's face it, it's working for him right now!
British Speedway is criticised by many - but right now it is just as viable as Sweden and Poland who have problems of their own. You see, the grass isn't always greener on the other side!
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