deanr1

Batch often goes well round Brandon, he's had some very good scores there including a 15pt max. That said I don't think he'd be keen to come to Coventry, and we don't really want a rider who's only with us due to a lack of opportunities elsewhere.

To some extent I agree, Garrity has been a star at reserve for the last 2 seasons but riding in the main team will be a lot more difficult. Riding against better opposition will mean he has to ride harder to score points,I can see even more exclusions this season! He will probably average mid 5's in the main team, i don't think we need to get too hysterical over whether he signs or not as there are other options available, maybe not as entertaining but just as capable of scoring 5 or 6 points a meeting. Don't get me wrong I love watching Jason and his enthusiasm is great, I hope he stays but if he wants to move on then it's not a disaster. I'm more interested in whether or not we get some decent heat leaders to support Bomber as we can no longer rely on the big reserve advantage to save the day.

After all the crap that goes on between these 2 teams, how refreshing to see a decent meeting between Coventry & Poole settled as it should be - on the track and no rule bending or dodgy refereeing in sight! Both teams gave it everything, well done to them both. You would have to think Poole will be the happier of the 2 clubs with that result but we have riders who go well at Wimborne Road and anything can happen in speedway, it's not over yet! I didn't think Lindgren would be a bad choice of guest but he was woeful, had we gone with RR we probably would have won it but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He used to be great round Brandon but has been rubbish every time I've seen him in the last couple of years, I don't know what's happened to him. Nice to see Sarj looking fast again after his recent dip in form, I think those injuries knocked him back a bit.

I think Mick has done the right thing, its great that we've made the play offs and although the idea of signing a world class rider is exciting, throwing a 5 figure sum at a rider for possibly only 2 meetings is ridiculous if it's money we can't afford. Fair enough in the days of Sandhu I would want us to go for it, but we no longer have his vast amounts of cash behind us and we need to cut our cloth to suit rather than financially cripple the club by getting caught up in the play off hype. There's no guarantee Emil or Woffy would do the business anyway, neither was a dominant force last time they rode here, and has Emil even been to Poole before? I doubt he's done many laps round there. Look at Zagar, he's a top class rider but he's had plenty of shockers, there are no guarantees a GP rider will get a big score, they could crash, have bike problems, or just have a poor night. It's not worth gambling crazy money like that, they might score 15 but they might score 5. Lindgren is a good choice of guest and is a better rider than Joonas, could be a great move if he can rediscover his old Brandon form.

Definitely wouldn't rule out Belle Vue, very solid top 5 including a big hitter at number 1, they just lack a big scoring reserve really.

I remember watching Ward team riding Dennis Andersson round for an 8-1 at Brandon a few years ago, we had been well in control of the meeting and that race turned it on its head. Awesome ride, I think the Aussies in general are very good at team riding. Another memorable piece of team riding but for the wrong reasons was Kennett and Pawlicki at Brandon, I can't remember who it was against but they was on a 5-1 trying to team ride and I don't how they both didn't end up in the fence! There's a good image of it somewhere... Hans Nielsen was another great team rider back in the day.

I would have loved us to sign him as a second string, I don't think anyone was questioning that he is a good rider, more a case of on paper you would expect us to score more points from RR than Max would get as a heat leader against such a strong team. I'm pleased to say he rode very well tonight. There's no doubt the wet track worked in our favour, if it had been dry I think Swindon would have taken the win but sometimes these things go in your favour and sometimes they don't.

I thought Max would be a terrible choice riding as a heat leader against a strong side like Swindon, how wrong I was! He does seem to go well in the wet as he did last season for us, an inspired choice! I also would never have picked him and King for heat 15, so good job Havvy makes the decisions and not me! Now I'm off to enjoy some humble pie! :-)

Yeah fair point, they also might be thinking giving the rest of the top 5 extra rides puts them at more risk of injury when we really need to keep everyone fit. I think Fricke will struggle against such strong opposition though.

Rider replacement is clearly a stronger option than Fricke as a guest, not sure what goes through the minds of those running Coventry sometimes.

To be honest Garrity (& Sarj to a lesser degree) is the only reason we've been anywhere near the play offs in the last 2 years, if we'd been as unlucky in the draft as say Leicester or Belle Vue then we would have been wooden spoon contenders again as we were in 2013. Hopefully we can pull a signing out of the bag to make us competitive in the play offs, and get Garrity and King fit again. Our promotion doesn't have a great track record though, sticking with the dreadful Hansen all last season, getting rid of MJJ, signing Jamrog, and not replacing Robbo, they make some strange decisions that's for sure. I think Barker or Howarth is the best we can hope for.

I've just heard from someone in the know that both King & Garrity are riding. If that turns out to be true then I don't understand why they aren't releasing the team news? This might not be correct so don't take it as gospel, just sharing what I've heard!

Totally agree SCB about MJJ, I thought he did alright for us last year without us ever really seeing the best of him, maybe we would have seen him step it up in the play offs and really shine, dropping him was a bad move. Realistically he should be one of the top 10 EL riders if he was here and fully committed, but there lies the problem! Like you say though, it's a pipe dream... I think! :-) Bech was one of the best visiting riders I've seen at Brandon in recent times when he came with Lakeside last year, but looks to have gone off the boil a bit, would still be a decent improvement over Robbo. I think that's an unlikely one.

I just think he wouldn't be up for it SCB, I can't see him giving it 100% or even close to it, he looked like he couldn't be arsed for Leicester. I would also say all of those prospective opponents you've listed there are better than Bjarne these days with the exception of Krczmar & Porsing. Would love MJJ but I think we're being a bit hopeful there! I've only seen Mikkel for a handful of laps so don't know too much about him.

Pedersen would be a dreadful signing, he's well past it now and didn't look remotely interested for Leicester. The ideal would be a 6 pointer who earned that average as a heat leader, same situation as we had with Joonas, they should then get more than 6 as a second string. Mads K would be my choice, I don't know what he's like around Poole but he's good at Coventry and has ridden for both Kings Lynn & Swindon so should be half decent around those tracks too. Howarth would not be a bad shout, he did well for us last year, and would surely want to prove a point against Swindon too. I would be very happy with either of those.

I've heard it all now!

Perfectly summed up really! I think he'll do slightly better than 6.5, probably low 7's but he's not a number 1 by any means.

He rode like a reserve for Coventry most of last season, can't see him cutting the mustard as a PL number 1 when you look at the top riders in that league.

You must be one of a very small minority who don't feel that guests and doubling up are bad news for speedway then and make a mockery of the sport. Last years play offs for example, we knocked out Swindon, then 2 of our riders ride for Kings Lynn in the other semi final. That's laughable in itself, but then 2 of the Swindon team we knocked out pop up again in the final riding for Poole. And we wonder why fans walk away from the sport never to be replaced. But you keep burying your head in the sand if you like.

Rory Schlein the professional guest! I don't know how many times I've seen him guesting against us in the last few years but it's too many. No doubt we will see him lining up against us for more teams who aren't Kings Lynn before the season is out. I notice there were 5 guests riding at Swindon tonight, the season has barely started and already all we see is guests guests and more guests.

I haven't been to a Stox meeting since I was a kid, I might take my kids along to a meeting as it sounds like a good night out and something a bit different.

Seems like a strange decision to me booking Doolan when Garrity goes so well round Monmore and we also have Joonas and Sarj who can take his rides. Obviously we could lose a rider but in the vast majority of meetings we finish with all 7 riders that we started with so it sounds like we have planned for the exception rather than the rule.

I think Lakeside will do alright on their visits to Coventry. AJ, Bech & Lawson always do well there and Kennett knows his way round. I was really surprised by Bech, I'd go as far as to say he was the most impressive visiting rider last season for me, and only Darcy Ward has impressed me more in recent years round Brandon, he looked that good.

Certainly the best team we've started a season with for a good few years, even in 2010 it wasn't until we made changes later in the season that we looked like one of the best teams. Should be a very competitive league this year, nearly all of the teams look good. When I've watched him in the past he does strike me as a rider who's scores look a bit 3030! He seems to either win or come last but most of the times I've seen him he's been a heat leader, he should do just fine as a second string in this league, 6 or 7 points in most meetings and he's done his job. King and Joonas compared to what we had last season at 3 & 4 is a vast improvement and looks pretty solid especially at home.