Fromafar 10,363 Posted January 3 2 minutes ago, szkocjasid said: To me every club has both positive & negative sides to it, find it hard to pick a winner, which is ideal really. I agree,very difficult to pick a stick out Team,the 38 pt limit throws in a lot of unknown quantities among the lower average riders.On the track that matters,interesting season coming up IMO. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lisa-colette 6,032 Posted January 3 35 minutes ago, szkocjasid said: Think you are being very brave suggesting someone is "deluded" for thinking Poole will win the league. I certainly wouldn't say Plymouth's reserves are "miles better" than Poole's. But you are allowed your opinion and I certainly wouldn't call you deluded even if I disagreed with it! He's just annoyed everyone has put Plymouth bottom and most of the time Poole in the top 3. Like it even matters! On the track where it counts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
K7KDD 15 Posted January 3 (edited) 1. Oxford 2. Redcar 3. Poole 4. Glasgow 5. Workington 6. Scunthorpe 7. Berwick 8. Edinburgh 9. Plymouth Edited January 3 by K7KDD missed a team Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fromafar 10,363 Posted January 4 12 hours ago, K7KDD said: 1. Oxford 2. Redcar 3. Poole 4. Glasgow 5. Workington 6. Scunthorpe 7. Berwick 8. Edinburgh 9. Plymouth Depending who Bandits sign as last rider they may be in the mix for Top 4 .IMO.Might be strong in the 2nd string and reserve position which will be a plus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Normski 1,315 Posted January 4 1 hour ago, Fromafar said: Depending who Bandits sign as last rider they may be in the mix for Top 4 .IMO.Might be strong in the 2nd string and reserve position which will be a plus. i think a lot will depend on 3rd Heatleader performances, we have Etheridge, Poole Brennan, Edinburgh Kye Thompson, Glasgow Flint, Oxford Jenkins, Plymouth Newman, Redcar TJ, Scunny MPT. Workington still have 6.32 to play wit hfor final rider. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sings4Speedway 3,247 Posted January 4 1.Glasgow 2.Oxford 3.Poole 4.Redcar 5.Scunthorpe 6.Berwick 7.Edinburgh 8.Workington 9.Plymouth Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paulco 7,077 Posted January 5 To be honest looking at all the sides , the season doesn't fill me with excitement due to the reduction in the points limit . Maybe we've been spoiled this past few years , but the aftermath of dropping to 38 points is there for all to see . Anyway as for who does what , I think the play off places will come down to Redcar , Poole and two from four between Glasgow , Scunthorpe , Oxford and Berwick . Redcar look strongest . Bailey, Edwards and Mulford can all kick on and up their averages . Poole's top 4 will ensure no home defeats and could pick up something on the road against the weaker sides . Glasgow have probably the strongest heat leader trio and their season depends on Pearson translating his Aussie form back here to back them up . Oxford have swapped Kerr for a two pointer , but Jenkins could easily make the necessary progress to back up Masters and Nichols . Berwick look pretty solid throughout without having a real big hitter , but that could be the way to go . As for the other three . Can Cook and Batchelor remain focused enough to spearhead the Comets ? Edinburgh have the entertaining and talented Pickering , but rely on most of the same faces that flopped last year . And Plymouth .....well. Covatti isn't a number 1 not even in a watered down league and can Barker stay out of trouble ? 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
False dawn 2,298 Posted January 5 1 hour ago, Paulco said: To be honest looking at all the sides , the season doesn't fill me with excitement due to the reduction in the points limit Its interesting to reflect on your comment set against the discussion elsewhere about Poole moving back into the top division. At the time they dropped down, the strength of the two leagues was comparable. Therefore there wasn't a large change in the quality of riders and racing (?) on offer. Surely with the policy change to increase the differential between the two leagues, this is no longer true. Or less so, at least. It will interesting to see if there is an effect on the number of fans through the gate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paulco 7,077 Posted January 5 13 minutes ago, False dawn said: Its interesting to reflect on your comment set against the discussion elsewhere about Poole moving back into the top division. At the time they dropped down, the strength of the two leagues was comparable. Therefore there wasn't a large change in the quality of riders and racing (?) on offer. Surely with the policy change to increase the differential between the two leagues, this is no longer true. Or less so, at least. It will interesting to see if there is an effect on the number of fans through the gate. What might help crowd levels is that I dont see too many away wins with clubs carrying a long tail . 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ragdoll64 647 Posted January 5 1 hour ago, Paulco said: To be honest looking at all the sides , the season doesn't fill me with excitement due to the reduction in the points limit . Maybe we've been spoiled this past few years , but the aftermath of dropping to 38 points is there for all to see . Anyway as for who does what , I think the play off places will come down to Redcar , Poole and two from four between Glasgow , Scunthorpe , Oxford and Berwick . Redcar look strongest . Bailey, Edwards and Mulford can all kick on and up their averages . Poole's top 4 will ensure no home defeats and could pick up something on the road against the weaker sides . Glasgow have probably the strongest heat leader trio and their season depends on Pearson translating his Aussie form back here to back them up . Oxford have swapped Kerr for a two pointer , but Jenkins could easily make the necessary progress to back up Masters and Nichols . Berwick look pretty solid throughout without having a real big hitter , but that could be the way to go . As for the other three . Can Cook and Batchelor remain focused enough to spearhead the Comets ? Edinburgh have the entertaining and talented Pickering , but rely on most of the same faces that flopped last year . And Plymouth .....well. Covatti isn't a number 1 not even in a watered down league and can Barker stay out of trouble ? Fair summary Paulco. For Glasgow, as well as Pearson needing to kick on, Starke needs to come to the party and Flint has to improve his Ashfield performances (which I’m sure he will). Worrall will be ok if he continues to gate well but can sometimes disappear in big heats. We sure will miss Basso this year. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toady 231 Posted January 5 10 minutes ago, ragdoll64 said: Starke needs to come to the party Good luck with that we've been waiting several years but he never seems to make it (maybe he don’t like parties anymore) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss 10,780 Posted January 5 36 minutes ago, Toady said: Good luck with that we've been waiting several years but he never seems to make it (maybe he don’t like parties anymore) Depends what 'coming to the party' means but he starts on 3.99, shouldn't be beyond him to average 5 - 5.5 on better equipment. Pearson should really flourish. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tosh1218 592 Posted January 5 On 1/3/2024 at 5:48 PM, TheScotsman said: 1 Edinburgh 2 Glasgow 3 Berwick 4 Workington 5 Redcar 6 Scunthorpe 7 Oxford 8 Poole 9 Plymouth Scunthorpe won’t finish as low as that I’m sure they have five of last years team ,yes there going to miss a big hitter in Dougy , but also believe Nathan Ablitt will be a trump card now he’s seen all the tracks last season plus with the home advantage as much as I dislike Poole they will be in the top four again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fozzie4388 679 Posted January 5 Honestly Edinburgh 8th and Plymouth 9th but the other 7 could be in any order, Quite like the look of Berwick. Poole and Glasgow will be up there as they always are. Scunthorpe and Oxford look solid. Workington anything could happen with them depending how their newbies go on and Whether Cook can return to his best. Then there's Redcar and honestly imo i don't think they'll be as good as people are expecting but we will see Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ragdoll64 647 Posted January 5 55 minutes ago, Tosh1218 said: Scunthorpe won’t finish as low as that I’m sure they have five of last years team ,yes there going to miss a big hitter in Dougy , but also believe Nathan Ablitt will be a trump card now he’s seen all the tracks last season plus with the home advantage as much as I dislike Poole they will be in the top four again Lol……I think you missed the gist of the post. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
