bigcatdiary

Pairs at Leicester is my guess

2022 PSA 6+2 PSB 4+2 PAIRS 17

The rules have changed this year. Facilities are granted by the SCB Manager - Neil Vatcher, he determines the length of the facility but my information is it’s going to be limited this year after the furore caused by the Kennett situation at Plymouth last year. The most important change is when clubs are granted No official facility. In the past teams were forced to use a 2 point junior rider. This year teams are able to use a rider whose CMA is 25% less than the rider who is missing. To put this into context Wolves can continue to use Scott Nicholls to cover for Becker as Nicholls current GSA of 5.28 is at least 25% below Becker,s current GSA of 7.11 (7.47 home). Or can use another rider up to an average of 5.33. Thats my understanding of the regulations for 2023.

Which begs the question why did it take so long to come up with the answer, because it didn’t go into the Semi finals as quick as it normally does.

They clearly don’t have anyone backstage now that is technical minded for these situations, didn’t Phil Rising use to cover these situations. Having said that it doesn’t happen very often because race wins, seconds, thirds and various other finishes usually sorts it as well as who beat who but in last nights meeting it was all equal, perhaps a simple run off would have been the obvious answer going forward, it wouldn’t haven’t taken any longer than the delay last night either but lack of common sense always shows up in speedway especially the U.K. I do agree with others that we had an easy scoring system when it was you got the GP points you actually scored on track during the meeting, the current system seriously favours riders who pull out one good semi start or race when they have just scraped into the semis.

So did I , much better showing the GP without countless ad breaks and Nicholls is quite good at his job. The GP was a complete and utter gate and go show and although the rain didn’t help I don’t think it affected it as much as most thought it would. The four of us watching though Woffinden and Bewley would pick the two best gates (Red and Yellow) in the second SF but no they decided to let Zmarzlik select Red and paid the ultimate price as he outgated both of them, up till then they both looked quite quick, but they both blew it big style in the semi.

Oakes Article this week is on Wolverhampton

That and losing KERR was the final straw.

He’s neither, just a PITA

I disagree but Holder and Tungate would have better choices than Pedersen and Worrall in my opinion. Losing Pedersen’s scoring potential has seriously affected our capability and Iversens indifferent start to the season has just highlighted our genuine lack of heat winners.

To be fair I thought Panthers did better than expected, Basso was poor tonight and we lacked the race winners but they were competitive out of the starts whilst the Aces had better track craft. The BSN coverage is very good and much better than Eurosport with the addition of a presenter who isn’t a blithering idiot like Ermolenko. We desperately need a no 1, we cannot go on like this, it is surely doing nothing for the team spirit let alone the supporters who really deserve better than this.

It’s a good point, and it says a lot about the sport in the U.K, and why the media generally ignore it.

With only Ipswich not racing and Nicholls already committed to Wolves it always looked like King would would have been the obvious other choice, I can only assume he said no or they feel RR is as good or better. BSN it is then.

Now that’s a surprise isn’t it.

Pretty much most of the clubs in this country are staged in old run down stadiums with very little facilities for supporters like seats or shelter from the elements some of which have been staging speedway for decades but they continue to run because they clearly get attendances which covers the costs for whatever the league they are in. Your point about the lack of young fans is however a good one, few tracks offer cheap admission for children under the age of 11.

Doesn’t fit on the starting GSA The evidence suggests Tomalin wanted Holder and Tungate.

Voting with your feet is never the answer, thats the main reason speedway clubs fold. I would have thought that was obvious to a Rye House fan.

Can I suggest you do what a lot of other Panthers supporters do and just ignore the idiot.

1. 60.6, AW, 59.6, 58.4, 59.0, 59.2, 58.7, 59.7, 59.4, 59.9, 58.9, 59.2, 58.9, 59.2, 59.1.

RISS missing through being unwell, team was built top heavy so most affected by their fourth rider being unavailable and having to be mostly covered by the bottom 3, that’s the chance you take, I certainly don’t think it’s down to just Danny King.

Probably the same reason nobody wants Craig Cook or Troy Batchelor

Damp track and damp atmospheres.

Probably because most of our retirements were in good scoring positions at the time they broke down

The track was in a pretty dire condition and the racing was pretty non existent but the closeness of the scores kept it reasonably entertaining, although the constant breakdowns from Peterborough riders favoured Leicester. The referee didn’t help either, heaven alone knows what he was watching when Lawson clearly slowed in heat 5 and Basso ran into him but he excluded the Dane whilst Lawson had similar bike problems in the rerun. The only genuine overtake was Fricke over Iversen in heat 13, all the rest of the action was finished at the conclusion of bend 2 lap one. Leicester did just enough to hang on for the win but it could have been a different story if the Panthers had a full 1-7. Sedgmen was the Leicester match winner whilst Worrall and Cook did their best to keep the scoreline respectable, but it was all about trapping and it was that which ultimately decided the result. Allen had 6 starts and trapped once, winning at a canter in his best effort but looked hopeless in his other 5 rides which gives a good indication of what it was like. Iversen just isn’t quick enough at the moment but the real problem is at no 1, Pedersen quitting has left a large hole and his big average isn’t covered by either RR or a bang average guest.

My understanding is the SCB are controlling the rule book this year with the manager Neil Vatcher ruling on facilities for missing riders and how long they apply. I haven’t read the new regulations cover to cover but it’s available to read following a download from the SCB website.