4BM

I can see Sheffield running R/R again for this one which will be a massive mistake, as can’t rely on Pickering and Howarth to cover the points Woffinden should have got, know it’s all hypothetical and Woffinden pulled up no trees on last visit to King’s Lynn. If they do go R/R then home win 50-40, if Sheffield get a decent guest (Fricke, Harris as can’t see Janowski who’d be first choice flying over for a guest visit) then could see Sheffield sneaking it 44-46

No, Sheffield don’t do live streaming for their home meetings

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Tai Woffinden R/R, Josh Pickering, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes. OXFORD: Rohan Tungate, Erik Riss, Maciej Janowski, Charles Wright, Chris Harris, Ashton Boughen, Luke Killeen. R/R at number 2 should work out better for Sheffield than having it at Tai’s usual number 5 position, as should ensure a strong partnership with Jack in 3 races and allow Sheffield to use Jack in Ht8. This one should be a lot tighter than the last 4 meetings where Sheffield have got around the mid 50’s in each of them, as a few of the Oxford team have had more than one good meeting at Owlerton (Harris, Wright, Riss to name a few). This though should be the first match of the year where Sheffield have a stronger 6 and 7 than their opposition so if Jason and Dan continue recent form that could be a bonus for Sheffield. Always good to watch Bomber around Owlerton no matter who he’s up against and the battles between Charles Wright and Kyle are always fierce (you wouldn’t think they were good mates!), Magic should improve on his last visit to Owlerton and Tungate fast if he gets in front with him weighing less than an average persons leg! Sheffield need an improvement from both Kyle who’s had two under par performances in the last week and Josh who only seems to get going from Ht14 onwards. Personally think change to rising at number 2 for Josh when back to a full 1-7 will help him. Think Sheffield will get the home win and nick the bonus point on offer too, with a 50-40 win.

Think this will be as tight as the meeting between the sides earlier in the season which went to a super heat. If Pawlicki was fit and could have brought his weekends form in Poland over to the UK as that would have been a game changer, but Castagna will give his all as ususal. Looking forward to seeing Lindgren v J.Holder and also interesting to see Brennan v Fricke as Brennan guested superbly at Owlerton last week and Fricke could use this as a testing ground rather than going with what he knows works. The Brummies reserves could have the upper hand in that department if the Sheffield duo don’t get out of the traps which they’ve both been guilty of so far this season especially away from home, so could come down to MPT/Cook/Lampart v Howarth/Pickering/C.Holder. It’ll be tight rather way but going for an away win 44-46

Wojdylo looked to have 2 mechanics with him tonight one of them being Lambert’s dad, if he’d have had 4 it wouldn’t have helped him as on more than one occasion could hear them telling Rob Lyon they couldn’t do much with what they were working with, so is Wojdylo just using the basics over here and keeping best kit for Poland and Sweden?

Sheffield ride their 18th league match (75% marker) of the season on 1st August, can they really afford to wait for Woffinden? He’s not going to ride until Cardiff and even if he did ride prior I imagine Wroclaw will have first dibs on his services possibly the weekend prior to Cardiff and if that doesn’t go to plan for him that’s R/R and guests for the rest of the season and we’ve seen how that hasn’t worked recently. Surely if there’s anyone out there (Musielak, Lambert, both have good relations with the club) that can ride from next week/week afters fixtures before we hit that 75% threshold they need to come in. Gone are the days of Woffinden bringing in additional 10’s of fans to Owlerton (away meetings possibly) and a new face might just bring that team spirit spark back which hasn’t been there this season.

Ryan Douglas hurt his hand in Sweden tonight, says he needs stitches, hopefully the injury isn’t too bad and isn’t in a place that will stop him riding, if it does then has to be R/R with no guests sake level as him available

Totally forgot about Jake Mulford, has the experience of NSS. Suppose the bigger problem is who is going to be number 6

After his guest performance for Leicester at the NSS I’d say Luke Killen is the obvious choice as the Rising Star to replace Bailey who has decided to take a break from the sport.

Can only see another home win for Sheffield here again getting into the mid 50 point bracket, especially with a weakened King’s Lynn side visiting Owlerton. I thought if Sheffield hadn’t signed a replacement for Woffinden that they would have gone down the R/R route with C.Holder, J.Holder, Pickering and Howarth getting an extra ride each, but I think they’ve gone down the tactical guest route in getting Brennan in (usually struggles around Owlerton) so he can’t guest for any rival teams also riding on Thursday.

Problem is Ermolenko was in his pomp 30 years ago in early 90’s as a rider, so those coming through now who are generally younger than that don’t relate to him or just seen him waffle on Eurosport. Brummies either need someone who is British the recently retired bracket (last 5 years) or International who has links in last 10 years to Britain who they will have watched riding when growing up. From seeing the riders in the pits with Ermolenko there just doesn’t seem to be that click and that will ultimately wont help the spirit in the camp

Guest needed for Dan Thompson now with him being out with dislocated shoulder, unfortunately back to the Witches being a patched up side with 2 of the 7 injured. Hopefully for the good of speedway they get a full team back as nobody likes seeing guests week in week out

Wonder if Musielak could head back to Sheffield to replace Woffinden with his long term injury. Sheffield don’t ride again until 18th July after their two meetings this week with Musielak’s ban ending on 14th July and guess who the opposition would be? You’ve guessed it King’s Lynn!! Would also be a great fit for Doyle at Ipswich, plus believe his mechanic is based there. Just leave King’s Lynn in a mess trying to replace two riders and anyone who is free can hold them to a ransom If desperate to not run guests and r/r for rest of the season

Fantastic effort from a patched up Sheffield, Kerr put in a good shift but we all know that J.Holder and Woffinden would have scored more than 11 points (Kerr’s and R/R) that’s was put on the scoreboard. Best I’ve seen C.Holder ride away from Owlerton and 100% as always from Pickering and Howarth. It’s a shame that Gilkes as Rising Star just isn’t cutting it on the road, he tries but rides the same mid to outside line all the time even if the kerb line is the fastest, fell that another couple of points from that position was key, time for a change in that department at Sheffield? I’d personally give Mulford or even Killeen a go for a few meetings as can’t do much worse points wise

If that’s Woffinden out for a length of time then get play off Bob in the team, with Lambert having a lower average it might help with possibly strengthening up the reserve area