Blodorn's favourite UK track is Leicester.  Aces only lost the fixture I went to see at Beaumont Park by 2 points due to an incredible ride by Fricke to split Kurtz & Bewley (after being passed Kurtz fell to give a further point away).

Not really, still stops a club picking 2 or 3 of the top riders in the league & sharing them out. Will this ruling stop the top riders asking for more money than clubs can afford? Once the 8+ riders get signed & spots fill up, the remaining ones will know it's sign for a "leftover" club or miss out, less options than normal.

Would it be so promoters doing early team building have certainty about riders averages? [Which would suggest a fairly high degree of confidence about next season's league format.]

I don't understand why they'd not count the last 2 fixtures. I'm guessing it's to stop riders trying to drop their averages once the play-offs start? But even if the matches took place before the play-offs, neither club could make the top 4. So what difference would it make if they rode before or after the play-offs? This is just an assumption obviously

Well they are still to publish the final green sheet declarations.

would think it more likely to lead to some average manipulation toward the end of the season depending on the Greensheets.