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Play off contenders

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I think Somerset Blue has summed things up pretty well.

I'll go for: Leicester, Sheffield, Redcar, Edinburgh.

There are a lot of even looking teams and it will be interesting to see how the likes of Glasgow perform with a big hitter at No1 as opposed to those that have gone for a more even top 5.

Should make for an exciting season and I for one cant wait.

 

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Workington

Sheffield

Somerset

Scunthorpe

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Every season people try an predict the Winners ,this season there is a lot of riders  who were heat leaders in the national league who will be occupying the 3 lowest point positions in most teams .Obviously it looks like Sheffield will have a massive improver in Drew Kemp so they will be in the mix ,think people liking Somerset will be disappointed as the two reserves will hold them back in away meetings . I witnessed last seasons favourites chosen by most people Scunthorpe ravaged by injuries .

So this season no predictions just hope all teams have less injuries to riders than last season and the best side comes out on top

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Berwick - look to have a simular team to last yr bit weaker at reserve and thats it,so can see them near the play offs this year.

Birmingham- looks woefull terrible team wooden spoon. Lack of heatleaders plus no senior reserve with league experience means no big scoring at top end or bottom.

Eastbourne have a very strong spearhead,very good bottom end will get found out a bit away from home but all in all a very good team definate potential for improvement from bottom 3.

Edinburgh- look a very good solid unit no real weak links in top 5 a no1 to get plenty of pts plus plenty of back up,a useful reserve in lawson can see improvement in lawson and some of top 5.

Glasgow-dont go much on this team tbh, with the points theyve used on bottom 3 they look worse than eastbournes and theyve used about 1pt less,def not play offs.

Leicester- good top end,good reserves and not a bad middle order think they should be close to play offs.

Newcastle- very good top 2 for not much useage on pts very good middle order,Max clegg will be ok at reserve but phillips can be carried think will be close to play offs.

Redcar-like this redcar team very gd heatleaders but not as strong at 2nd string,if they improve could well b a very good year for redcar,def play off contenders.

Scunthorpe-think they look ok but not spectacular top 4 looks good but bottom 3 looks weak,play offs a tough ask.

Sheffield- do look like the team to beat howarth and kemp on false averages could well add 4.5pts plus combined to averages proctor will be 1 of the best 3rd heatleaders,out and out no1 in King should see them near the very top.

Somerset-very good top 5,def the best heatleader trio at this level,and decent back up in berge and kurtz,just the reserves where will be weak but the top 5 should see them through most meetings.

Workington-like this team very gd no1 on a decent average plus decent back up in aarnio,wilson dean and campton will score points everywhere and lambert will be solid think theyl need bickley to improve this year.

Overall

Somerset 

Sheffield 

Leicester

Edinburgh

-in any order

Edited by Paddy The Rebel
  • Haha 1

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Reading through the many teams topics, most are saying teams will be weak at reserve. MOST ARE! That is why the 38 point limit was brought in to bring through the NL riders to the next level & not the EDR fiasco that we had in the EL a few years ago when it was a big jump for the riders & averages was a mish mash.

For me, it will be about how all the teams bottom 3 riders will score as having that top NL rider like Kemp & Mountain should score well at reserve. Kemp will move into the main body after 1 away meeting but should still score points against the reserves(ex NL) & some 2nd strings but he then will not have the scoring potential from 6 or 7 rides but a 4 point plus rider will take his place which is why I rate Sheffield. Having a rider of 2 points but is averaging 4.5 & Howarth who proved is not a no1 but again a steal on a lower than normal average shows that this team is made to around 42-43 already. But other teams are similar. Worrall has a lower than normal average. We have Nielsen who averaged 1.5 more than he is on now before his injury but we have Auty at no 1 even though I do not rate him as a no1 compared to other teams. His gating still needs to improve but he sorted his head out & proved what he could do increasing his average by around 1.4. Can he improve more? Unsure, but he was selling 1 bike so he is looking to improve his equipment. He just needs that PL place to give him more rides. There are places not been named yet though in the PL. 

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Not many will rate Eastbourne as contenders for the playoffs , but Wood and Brennen generally had the beating of anyone at Arlington last season in the NL including Kemp and Mountain, add in the fact that a lot of riders in the championship won't have had any experience of the tight turns of Arlington , can't see them losing at home next season especially with a top end that ride Arlington well. Away will be Eagles of old but win all at home, pick up an odd point or two away  and you certainly should get to the playoffs, probably not win them, but top 4 a definite possibility.  

 

Edited by gazzac
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I like Somerset,Sheffield, Workington and Eastbourne.Having seen a lot of National League racing over the past years, I fully endorse the views of gazzac (above). In my view Wood and Brennan will prove overall the best reserve pairing in the Championship by a country mile.At Arlington they can both already post times as fast as those seen in our past Elite league days, and were at least as good if not better than Kemp, and way better than Mountain plus the other highly rated National league riders.Away they won't be as good, but you only have to win a handful of away matches to reach the play offs. Providing you are solid at home and we will be. Our top order is as good as any other team. Morley and Bowtell are a little underpowered in the middle order, but I still think our home form plus the odd away result will see the Eagles in the play offs. 

 

 

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I will go with

Sheffield

Somerset

Eastbourne

Leicester

Dark Horses

Redcar

As people have mentioned at Sheffield we have Drew Kemp on a 2 point average, whereas in truth but for one meeting he is really a 4.5 rider, on top of that we have Kasper Andersen on a assessed 5.20 average whereas he is maybe one or two meetings away from been a 6 point rider., both Andersen and Kemp are false averages and gives a more than potential 3,5 advantage over the other teams.

Eastbourne might have decent reserves at home, but with American Broc Nichol either starting or moving quickly down to reserve we have a rider that can adapt very quickly to a small technical track as he is used to riding those types of tracks in the States, he proved that last season when he cope more than adequately at Lakeside.    

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where do the dark horses race at ?  (here we go ):D

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17 hours ago, gazzac said:

Not many will rate Eastbourne as contenders for the playoffs , but Wood and Brennen generally had the beating of anyone at Arlington last season in the NL including Kemp and Mountain, add in the fact that a lot of riders in the championship won't have had any experience of the tight turns of Arlington , can't see them losing at home next season especially with a top end that ride Arlington well. Away will be Eagles of old but win all at home, pick up an odd point or two away  and you certainly should get to the playoffs, probably not win them, but top 4 a definite possibility.  

 

Don't under estimate Tom Brennan away from home,  he is no one track pony and his recent tour of Australia has been an eye opener.  Some really good performances against several of the 1 to 5 riders of the championship and even equalled Jason Crump in one of Jason's rare appearances. You can check out his results on the usual updates site in the Australian section which does not include his 11 points just losing out on the final of the Jack Young Cup.  He will only be reserve until the first new averages and I expect big things from him this year.   

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7 minutes ago, Hunters said:

Don't under estimate Tom Brennan away from home,  he is no one track pony and his recent tour of Australia has been an eye opener.  Some really good performances against several of the 1 to 5 riders of the championship and even equalled Jason Crump in one of Jason's rare appearances. You can check out his results on the usual updates site in the Australian section which does not include his 11 points just losing out on the final of the Jack Young Cup.  He will only be reserve until the first new averages and I expect big things from him this year.   

Tom Brennan is a good prospect , but dont expect too much from him just because he beat crumpy in one of Jasons rare meetings down under . jase is there to bring on  young kids on and give them a kick start  , so to speak .as you say , a rare meeting for him . but well done to Tom .

the same goes for Jedd List , scored 7  points in a meeting full of novices and i can see him having a tuff time in the championship until he gets sorted , Berwick are my tip for the championship in 2019 and a couple of underdogs to run them close .edinbra look good also, but the other scottish team have a longish tail . too many points gobbled up by Craig i think .

just my opinion of course . 

 

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