lewy 2,326 Posted January 1, 2023 1 minute ago, Fromafar said: Decent riders can ride any track.Most riders have been around long enough to have visited most tracks more than once.Now put a bit of dirt down and see who the decent riders are.! Good point,interestingly at Plymouth in recent seasons we've had crump,bjarne and andersen who all wanted the track really slick hardly any dirt and on the other hand riders like barker,Worrall, complin,kerr and howarth prefer more dirt and a definite outside line that works. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fromafar 10,367 Posted January 1, 2023 6 minutes ago, lewy said: Every team has some form of home track advantage purely on familiarity, also pit bays,home support, certain referees,and start marshalls,at certain tracks especially Poole .generally feeling more at ease in familiar surroundings. Not like you to mention Poole. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lewy 2,326 Posted January 1, 2023 Just now, Fromafar said: Not like you to mention Poole. Tongue in cheek mate,I'm sure they'll come back all guns blazing.lol 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavan 5,050 Posted January 2, 2023 1. Redcar 2. Plymouth 3. Scunthorpe 4. Glasgow 5. Poole 6. Edinburgh 7. Berwick 8. Oxford 9. Birmingham 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ScunnyDan 335 Posted January 2, 2023 Poole Plymouth Scunny Glasgow Redcar Edinburgh Oxford Berwick Birmingham 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mc131 365 Posted January 2, 2023 2 hours ago, ScunnyDan said: Poole Plymouth Scunny Glasgow Redcar Edinburgh Oxford Berwick Birmingham Redcar alot stronger than midtable Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
torpointfanatic22 268 Posted January 2, 2023 1. Redcar 2. Glasgow 3. Poole 4. Plymouth 5. Edinburgh 6. Scunthorpe 7. Berwick 8. Oxford 9. Birmingham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wee Eck 703 Posted January 2, 2023 3 hours ago, torpointfanatic22 said: 1. Redcar 2. Glasgow 3. Poole 4. Plymouth 5. Edinburgh 6. Scunthorpe 7. Berwick 8. Oxford 9. Birmingham I think that top four looks about right. Redcar, Plymouth and Glasgow have built strong teams and Poole always manage to get up towards the top of their league. Edinburgh’s performance will depend on what Craig Cook does - if he has a season like 2022, then, even with Pickering’s expected continuing improvement, the loss of Masters will hurt them. Scunny I just don’t see what the fuss is - unless it’s expected that they’ll do well from the return of the aggregate bonus point. They’ll score well at home but are rarely a good travelling side. Berwick and Oxford may surprise a few but the only surprise from Birmingham is - despite rumours and expectations - they’ve again put together a very weak team. IMO Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
torpointfanatic22 268 Posted January 3, 2023 13 hours ago, Wee Eck said: I think that top four looks about right. Redcar, Plymouth and Glasgow have built strong teams and Poole always manage to get up towards the top of their league. Edinburgh’s performance will depend on what Craig Cook does - if he has a season like 2022, then, even with Pickering’s expected continuing improvement, the loss of Masters will hurt them. Scunny I just don’t see what the fuss is - unless it’s expected that they’ll do well from the return of the aggregate bonus point. They’ll score well at home but are rarely a good travelling side. Berwick and Oxford may surprise a few but the only surprise from Birmingham is - despite rumours and expectations - they’ve again put together a very weak team. IMO Yeah the Scunny one is a strange one. MPT is definitely a bargain on that average and will score well at most tracks, Allen also surely can't be worse than last season. The remaining 4 for me leave a lot to be desired. Mountain and Thompson (especially the latter) haven't got much form away from Leicester and I think may struggle early on, Lambert is massively overpriced on his starting average and Kennedy hasn't really kicked on in 3/4 years. It could all come together for them of course but I can't put the top 4 on that basis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss 10,781 Posted January 3, 2023 52 minutes ago, torpointfanatic22 said: Yeah the Scunny one is a strange one. MPT is definitely a bargain on that average and will score well at most tracks, Allen also surely can't be worse than last season. The remaining 4 for me leave a lot to be desired. Mountain and Thompson (especially the latter) haven't got much form away from Leicester and I think may struggle early on, Lambert is massively overpriced on his starting average and Kennedy hasn't really kicked on in 3/4 years. It could all come together for them of course but I can't put the top 4 on that basis. Mountain and Lambert will be very strong at home and the idea is obviously to win every home meeting by margins to allow ple ty of bonus points. Thompson is a very shrewd signing looking at the other reserves around, he really should be scoring half decent points everywhere against quite a few two pointers. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phillipsr 2,056 Posted January 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Bagpuss said: Mountain and Lambert will be very strong at home and the idea is obviously to win every home meeting by margins to allow ple ty of bonus points. Thompson is a very shrewd signing looking at the other reserves around, he really should be scoring half decent points everywhere against quite a few two pointers. Your final point here is the big one really.. Thompson may not seem that inspiring but compare him to every other No 7 and suddenly he looks a good signing.. not sure i currently see any that are better than him... Even if Poole name Roynon I'm not sure he's ahead of Thompson at this point 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Falcon1983 557 Posted January 3, 2023 I would go with the following but when it comes to the play offs who knows depends on team changes Poole Redcar Glasgow Scunthorpe Plymouth Edinburgh Oxford Berwick Birmingham 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cast1rn 464 Posted January 3, 2023 6 hours ago, phillipsr said: Your final point here is the big one really.. Thompson may not seem that inspiring but compare him to every other No 7 and suddenly he looks a good signing.. not sure i currently see any that are better than him... Even if Poole name Roynon I'm not sure he's ahead of Thompson at this point Kyle Bickleys best opportunity at 7 aswell. it all depends on how the team managers use the number 7, will they get 4 rides or will they be subject to heat 8 switch and only 3 rides. Ablitts average last year and his scoring on first glance look extremely underwhelming but the reality is out of the four rides where he should’ve been up against the oppositions 7 he only got two opportunities. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
szkocjasid 3,033 Posted January 3, 2023 13 hours ago, torpointfanatic22 said: Yeah the Scunny one is a strange one. MPT is definitely a bargain on that average and will score well at most tracks, Allen also surely can't be worse than last season. The remaining 4 for me leave a lot to be desired. Mountain and Thompson (especially the latter) haven't got much form away from Leicester and I think may struggle early on, Lambert is massively overpriced on his starting average and Kennedy hasn't really kicked on in 3/4 years. It could all come together for them of course but I can't put the top 4 on that basis. I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, Lambert has that average for a reason, he's a 5 point rider! It's not like he was at reserve all year getting the easy rides! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spiderman1 183 Posted January 3, 2023 27 minutes ago, szkocjasid said: I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, Lambert has that average for a reason, he's a 5 point rider! It's not like he was at reserve all year getting the easy rides! Agree , Kennedy also is ready to fire,scunthorpe have a very competitive side away and a home fortress with them riders , as I said before, with a team with 3 Queenslanders it will be fighting for top honours in ‘23 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
