alan_boon

Yeah, come on Mr Vasey - give the public two 7-man teams!!!

R/R in a challenge match!

Just reading through the copy I picked up on Friday night - almost done! I'd just like to say, however, that the obituary for Tony Barnard was heartfelt and truly moving. A job well done.

Bit of a longer-term wish, this, but I'd like tracks like Coventry, Poole, Eastbourne and Swindon, who currently have no involvement in 3rd tier racing, to actively search for and support local-ish (30-40 miles or so) new tracks to be opened at NL level. For Coventry this might be Milton Keynes, Eastbourne out towards Dover, and so on. Given that some of these tracks will probably need to relocate in future, it would also be good practice for that!

I'll get myself along to Leicester, be nice to see something different!

Exactly, no one really to blame but if someone had to go then it was Sayfutdinov.

Poor Chris Holder - he looked tired there. Bless.

A racer, then? Never heard anybody complain about him. He's box office, thrilling and a breath of fresh air. Better one Emil than a thousand Bjerres or Jonssons.

Weird one there. Emil didn't seem to be riding off a line but neither did Lindback. A coming together but the right exclusion, I feel.

Correct decision there - Pearson and Tatum couldn't seem to grasp that the referee might have a look at the replay...

Well, well, well - a little bit of dirt on the track and the racing is great and not utterly predictable!

On assessed averages, I agree, although I’d be possibly harder – no rider assessed at less than a 6.00 in either league. If foreign riders wanted to come over and ride on lower averages, they should take out an ACU license. I’d also make the National League ACU-license only, and a condition of riding in it that the license has a minimum 5-year expiry period. I like your idea for guests, and it’s something that simply has to happen sooner or later. There are two ways of going about it – either have a pool of available talent that any club can utilise if its number one rider is out of action, or allow clubs to sign their own back-ups. So, for instance, Poole may have Chris Holder as their number one, but also contract Ryan Sullivan to cover for his absences. This could also work further down the order, although not so simply. A squad system simply has to happen in Elite league speedway, and it would allow clubs to run on Grand Prix weekends and the like. My own bugbear this season has been the 7 rides allowed for reserves. You are getting matches where one rider is out in every other heat, which is just absurd. I’d restrict it to 5, 6 in the case of a rider being withdrawn from a meeting. Every club, at least in the Elite League, would have a number 8 to use for any additional rides. This would have the added benefit of getting rid of that in-form reserve winning matches for his team, and restore the balance more to a 7-rider team, rather than a couple of heat leaders and a reserve. I’d keep the rule that sees each team having a number one guaranteed, with no Elite team allowed to employ more than one of the previous season’s top ten. If one of the top ten is not riding, then a team should still be able to employ, say, number one and eleven, within the points limit, and the team without a number one urged to seek other plans. I’d also extend it to the Premier League, if possible, though perhaps with a little more flexibility.

I see in the Star that Mr Morrish has declared September 11th to be the cut-off to decide league positions for the play-offs. The article mentions that it will anger some clubs who are trying to run a full-season program, to which Morrish says, "I'm puzzled that many teams appear to have a lot of meetings left to fit in when the season started in March or April." Erm, that's because the season runs 7 weeks after your cut-off, Mr Morrish! Is it time to say goodbye and thnkyou very much to what seems to be a redundant position now?

Finally updated in the OP.

Bum

Come on Bomber :/ a win or a second place with Kolodziej last is what's needed...

He's a German. Used to refereeing all those top quality meetings Germany has.

Coventry? Facilities no worse than here or Vojens!

Haha, what a farce. Third world track, third world referee.

Bjerre should suffer "concussions" more often...

Massively close going into the 4th set of races - 1 on 8, 6 on 6, and 2 on 5...

It's not the start Marshall holding the tapes after the green light comes on... Meeting's getting better. From my spy at the track (Clean Cut Sport's own Ballinger) the water has made the usual, boring slick track ("0.1mm of dirt") interesting at least.

Perhaps the answer is an Arena Essex team?

Alternate with World Pairs. Format changes to an 8-team, round robin with 2 groups of four. Using the UK as an example, matches would go as follows: Saturday: A1 vs A2, Eastbourne. A3 vs A4, Leicester. Sunday: B1 vs B2, Newport. B3 vs B4, Glasgow. Monday: A1 vs A3, Wolverhampton. A2 vs A4, Belle Vue. Tuesday: B1 vs B3, Scunthorpe. B2 vs B4, Birmingham. Wedsneday: A1 vs A4, Poole. A2 vs A3, King's Lynn. Thursday: B1 vs B4, Sheffield. B2 vs B3, Swindon. Friday: Semi-Final 1 @ Coventry. Saturday: Semi-Final 2 @ Lakeside. Sunday: Final @ Peterborough.

Josh Larsen, Billy Janniro and Billy Hamill?