Aces High

Massive year for Craig, I hope he can take his chance to reach the 'next level'. He might not be the strongest rider in the league but he is one of ours and nowadays it is uncommon for any rider to stick with one team for so long. Good luck to him! It will be interesting to see how well forcing riders into your team works for Poole and Lynn

So will it be Max, Dan, Craig, Polish dude or mystery reserve revealed tomorrow? My money is on Dan.

True, even football doesn't fill stadiums week in week out in this country anymore. The thing I don't get is that speedway races are 1 minute long which is ideal for creating digital content only nobody seems bothered to do do anything with it.

It's annoying, and seems silly, but it is the best way to do it because of how twitter and facebook newsfeeds work. Announcing the team in one go would get lost in the news feed on the day it is published. If it is split out into 7 stories (or 14 as they seem to be doing a post the day before about an announcement) that continue to generate likes and comments over a period of time far more people are likely to see at least one of the announcements that way. Other than the one reserve we all know the team anyway.

6.18. Delighted Rohan is back. Wasn't sure about the signing last year but seems to really be a good fit. He has been fantastic in Aus too, both in the GP and the Aussie Championship. Seemed keen to comeback too given that he has been wearing his aces racegear all winter!

Your maths might he a bit wrong there, i make it that leaves 4.19.

You would think so but Max's progress kind of levelled out a bit last year. Hopefully he can kick on and become the rider we all hope he can be. His aim should be hitting around the 8.00 this year.

Cookie at 1, Stevie at 3 and Tungate at 4? I think that would be stronger away from home.

Unless Drozdz was assessed at something stupidly high or Cook isn't returning (unlikely) Shanes would leave us way under the 42.5.

Stevie finished on 6.77 didn't he?

Bull in a china shop is the perfect description.

Only saw a few Colts meetings last year but the Bickley really impressed me towards the end of the season, I thought he looked a better talent than Jack Smith. Has a really smooth style, always looks in control. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in the Championship but he certainly has talent. Dan is pretty much the exact opposite, with an all action style but sometimes pushes a little too hard. Was way past NL level last year, most meetings last year were spent trying to break his own NL NSS track record. Best of luck to Workington in 2018!

Given that Jacobs is a specialist around the NSS he'd probably be good on the continental tracks...then Poole would be desperate to sign him!

Totally see where you are coming from but it is worth bearing in mind that neither of those sports rely on gate receipts as their primary source of income. While we would all like the price of speedway to be less I think it is fairly obvious what would happen if it was. Speedway is stuck in an impossible place. Every sport that is trying to survive on gate receipts alone is struggling but the only option for speedway is TV. Sky tried but are no longer interested and they don't seem to be able to offer BT the product that they want. It doesn't help that little of the sky money seems to have been invested in making the stadiums look a bit better which doesn't exactly help sell the sport to TV either. Cutting costs to maintain will work in the short term but sensible investment is the only way to survive long term. Slightly off topic but £20 for football is dirt cheap too....tickets for my club (Leicester) usually cost £38-48 and were pretty similar to that in the Championship. Good on Villa for offering reasonable prices.

Very pragmatic of you but it is still sad that doubling up is just justified because of a lack of riders and then lads are having to retire because of that same rule. This shouldn't be happening.

In a normal season yes but I think Cook is as strong as most of the number ones so far (Kurtz, Thorsell, Morris).

Fricke should be looking at kicking on and pushing Craig too. Could see them both averaging 8.50 or so. We look good at reserve but a lot will depend on how Drozdz and Tungate do. Also nice to see continuity between last years team and this.

Maybe one of the aussies is more likely with ML running the Australian team? Todd Kurtz would be good, has experience in the UK too so might be less of a risk. Lots of pressure on Drozdz though if he is riding in the main body of the team rather than at reserve.

Assuming Tungate and Stevie are back and Bewley gets a reduction I make it about 5.12 should Drozdz be assessed on a 4. I'll reserve judgement until seeing the whole team but it does seem like a risk. Smith is a trier but in reality he was the worst rider in the league last year, his average was less than 2. Some more time in the Championship will do him good and hopefully he is back in 2019.

3.89 if using the 1.3 conversion.

That team looks really good, I hope it is close to what we get. Lebedevs would start with a lower average that Dan too

Shame, although Tai on a 9 would make more sense than Thorssell on 8.64.

Is Tungate still rocking his Aces Kevlars like in the GP?

He was a bit out of his depth in the top league but he did show some signs of improvement and I hope he is back for the Colts at least. Bit concerned that our 1-5 is going to be a bit weak now, we only really need someone to take three rides.

Makes sense about the blood clots. Not sure getting on a speedway bike is the best thing you could do either though!!! Fair play to him for getting back on the bike so soon after the surgery then.