Big Diamond

Hope track helps home advantage for rest of the season especially for Ludvig and Robbo as we need more race wins but both struggling to pass. However sunday was a great meeting and vital win to end the poor home run especially with monarchs next who will expect 4 points. On the peformances King was excellent as was Kerr. At reserve Mills got stuck in and proved that a few reserve points and you might win, but Greenwood of the pace which is a concern.

Awful peformance and the team will struggle to beat anybody with much stronger sides than the Bears to come. However Redcar deserved the points not their problem Diamonds are awful. Dont like talking about rider losing jobs but if team want to avoid woodon spoon will have to make more changes to many riders in position they cant handle. Weak at reserve Schrammy good 4 point backup reserve but cant carry Greenwood, Rose not good enough for second string. This if fine with a top 3 that get 35-40 points between them like Somerset last year or Kenni,Lemo and Rene for the Diamonds 2010 side, but we dont have that either. King might be good enough but average surely has to drop Robbo and Ludvig dont win enough races to do that need a solid team to be effective.

Happy with a point against improved Plymouth shows the team can be competitive away especially with a number 1 who can score double figures. Hope King can be kept next season but that will will depend on rules and averages. Still think bottom end is to weak but happy to see young Brits getting a chance which has worked for the Diamonds in recent seasons.

Hopefully promotion can once again make a good team shame no ritchie but think we can cope. Anton and Lewis leaving would be a big problem but both would be a great start to a team. Good thing is there is plenty of options on similiar averages so solid 7 team could be on the cards depending on who is at reserve.

I always wanted a rule to help brits that are not potential stars from day 1 but could improve but spots are taken by poor foreigners at reserve. However they seemed to have made a mess of it, it Should have been 1 nl in pl teams to help them develop and maybe get better equipment and experience and hopefully improve. Good example paul Starke waited a long time but took his chance. Then EL have 1 decent pl proven brit like Kerr,Newman,Howarth and Birks and hope they improve with the constabt rides at higher level. Instead system is basically cheap riders as second half but counts as team points that will lose confidence by being thrown in the deep end.

Well done Tai.

Well done Diamonds good to win silverware after a good season. Even more important win something when you have a top team as next year could be different especially with potential league change structure changes. Just a shame could win against full Witches team feel sorry for the fans who travelled.

Hopefully another win tonight who have Starke and Lemo as decent brough riders and Bech who im looking forward to seeing what he does. Richie and Schramm will want to make up for missing out yesterday after the second half session they had.

Good win to prove be can beat Monarchs at home even if they were missing few rider dont think it would have mattered much. Also Diamonds threw away loads of points especially reruns and r/r was awful. Anton also not at his best but even more track time for him and still got a decent score. Well done Lewis need him to continue form and was happy with Ludvig peformance also needs to keep it going.

Another playoff being champions issue with not all meetings being finished, although Bears should have got there anyway but its the principle for Lions. The negatives just outweigth the so called positives, and damage sports credibility even more. Also still think playoffs should be separate for the few positves it provides, although probably just mess it up like young shield, promotion/relagation attempt. They dont even know what to do with league cup as it changes all the time never mind how to handle playoffs.

I like the playoff system but not for the league title, hate it when 6th place are called league winners. League are supposed to be long term not short term like cups. Even worse when sky talk about coming top meaning something cant have it both ways. There is always three main arguments for the current system. Its more exciting, It makes money and all sports use the same Playoff system.Not always race for top between Somerset, Ipswich and Edinburgh would be better than race for 6th. Its also been obvious only seven teams will challange for the playoffs most of the season.Also if a team dominates the league like Glasgow two seasons ago they shouldnt lose it from one bad meeting or no fit riders. Might as well start the season in july no need for so many meetings. Now loking at finacial gain does it really make a big difference every year same story of debt and doesnt help any team but those in the final. The reasons for sports problems isnt having no playoff for years survived without for a long time, it also wont save the sport from its problems. Plus PL and NL isnt even on sky which is why they were introduced.Having watched and followed almost every sport only Rugby use the same system of Playoffs so thats not a good reason American sport started the idea but dont have one league split into east and West. Not ideal but better than speedway system. Football only use it for last promotion for tv kept clear of league title. Cricket not used in County championships and one days games and t20 are shorter competitions split into groups so no league playoff there. Basketball and Ice Hockey same level as speedway in importance use seprate league and playoffs. One sold out Wembley arena last year and the other sells out Nottingham arena every year. That without having the league settled by it. All that has to be done is league title goes to team that finishes top then have a separate playoff competiton, then sell it as important and try to show them on sky. However if its treat like the young shield it wint work.

The team comes top this year will have a real battle whoever they choose all sides have picked up points against other playoff teams this season. Also looks likely that Bears will get there with Lions poor show against Diamonds. Rye house stuffed bears in cup but less to fight for this time and potentioal tacticals in this meeting.

Good test for diamonds with hard meetings to come . Leicester might need the points and are a decent side but have struggled in past seasons but Wells is a decent guest. Tough to predict reckon home win by 10.

I personally hate the playoffs even more than tacticals, To have a chance of being champions a team only has to be good for 5 minutes, look at the EL, if Poole or Peterborough get in they will probably be favourites. Glad Diamonds probably won't come top like last year, avoid pressure of being best team but not champions. If there must be playoffs copy basketball and ice hockey where they are kept seperate but both important competitions or like America split into two leagues and meet at the end of the season. This way all the postives without the negatives rather than false champions and a micky mouse cup everbody forgots about seconds later for 1st place. Plus with injuries, luck is just as important as talent at this part of the season.

Good to see cook now riding in the tests aussies team going to have to ride well to challenge on paper.

Good peformance led by Richie with good peformances by Robbo and decent but not great by Tully, Also good finish from Ludvig after poor first two rides, both reserves were excellent as Bears surely would have hoped for Steve and Wilko to do better. Also Schramm slowly picking up the track at the righ time. For the Bears only Ostergaard impressed with some riders contributing nothing. Welcome to the new signing assessed riders can be a gamble, however we needed a new rider cant wait to see what he can do hope we have found a gem.

The signing must be better than r/r otherwise its pointless. George knows what he is doing and im sure will sign the rider most suited to the role we need most with the remaining meetings left.

Hope to hear news of a signing tonight dont really want r/r for rest of season. If it is Hall not my first choice by a long way but might be like Schramm useful away especially for playoffs and might do better at home for Diamonds than against with a bit more home advantage. If there is a signing we will soon find out.

For the Diamonds it was job done and everybody got a decent score especially Schramm highest score since signing and Henry paid max. However tigers apart from 2 were terrible, Roynon is a good rider with no luck but may have signed to soon for tigers was out the race after bend 1 even if he gated. Hope he bounces back like he has many times before with no more bad injuries.

Great result by the diamonds would have taken 10 points down without hesitation 4 is a bonus. On paper Tigers shouldnt do what Monarchs or Witches did round brough. However Wells, Roynon and Lawson are cabable round Brough so hope all seven Diamonds turn up and finish the job comfortably.

Well done Diamonds great result could have been more but Monarchs were always likely to make comeback. Could be just as close on sunday but rather up 1 than down 10 or more.

Well done Diamonds great 6 man peformance and good to see Tully back and scoring some points. Now need to find a way of getting Steve going he is really struggling this season.

Well done Diamonds on a suprise win with 4 riders but also well done to those involved in another excellent Pl meeting on sky.

Well done Diamonds was worried what the score would be without Richie but that was a great win just need to finish it off second leg. Also well done Kyle great guest job in a heatleader spot.

Well done Diamonds great team performance.