Al Stewart

2011 18 matches at home average 9.63 17 matches away average 8.59

To be honest I think most teams would welcome Gathercole. The thing about speedway is that every rider has a part to play and you don't need to be a star. The important thing is that you are not asked to play a part above your capabilities. If he was signed as a no. 1 he would probably fall short, if he was a no. 3, 4 or 5 he would be excellent. He's also entertaining. The only downside is he tends to get injured through trying too hard. I can't understand anyone rubbishing him in the way we've seen.

An away 5-ride maximum from a position in the team? Really?

You could never really say that, however he did get a 15-point maximum at King's Lynn (riding at no. 4), 15 at Scunthorpe, 15+3 at Rye House, so if you could get him back to that form you would be delighted.

One or two other falls, yes, but we never thought of him as a regular faller. He didn't ride the track very well admittedly but in full flight on the bigger tracks he was a great sight. Well worth a go on his average. As for whether he will be at Armadale, you'll have to wait for the rest of the team announcements, sorry.

I don't understand why anyone would be anything but delighted with that Ipswich team. They were a close second last year and have replaced Barker and Lanham with Worrall and Manzares. Pretty good, definitely challengers.

Because Kalle rode last season his average must be recalculated over 24 matches. I think that will make him about 4.9.

Claus didn't have many falls last season. Came off twice at Scunthorpe, had two big tangles at Armadale which weren't his fault but only missed two matches in total.

So that's a waste of two posts then.

I'd say that would be a decent reserve pair.

He's very keen to ride abroad but because of his EL average he is rated at the same level as GP riders in both Sweden and Denmark, so hasn't secured a place there. He has offers from Poland but possibly from clubs where other riders have had problems.

I think you are overstating the extent of Craig's dominance on the basis of two maximums at Newcastle. He rode 231 races for Monarchs last year and scored (with bonus) 628 points, a great effort, but that is still 65 dropped points over the season. There was plenty of entertainment along the way, numerous wins from the back, so it wasn't boring.

This is absolutely correct. When Somerset chose to race on Fridays they accepted then that existing Friday tracks had seniority and need not give up their race day. You might feel sympathy that they have had to do it three times already, but they accepted it. If it's correct that the team higher up the league table gets to pick first or second leg, that's fine, it just means Somerset can stage their leg either before or after the 25th. There are some Playoff rules in the rulebook, none of them contradict or even touch on the above.

I spent a few minutes re-activating my Redcar forum account only to find there's nothing there, so don't bother.

I think GHCooke's post is the single best post I have ever seen on the BSF, thank you very much - intelligent and informative, and surely the definitive description of where we stand on track covers at this moment. The article should be reproduced wherever track covers are discussed (usually from positions of total ignorance).

I detest the TR, especially in a short series of matches like the Playoff groups. In the league you can justify it to some extent by saying everyone gets a shot at some stage, however in the Playoffs Somerset have had an extra 3 points which were not available to Newcastle - simply because of how BADLY they did in the early stages. That 3 points could yet decide the group. I know some fans like their teams to try to avoid the TR but in effect you are giving up points and should not even have to think about anything other than doing the best you can. If Newcastle had ridden for a 3-3 rather than a 4-2, they lose two points but avoid losing 3, an overall gain of 1.

There was permission to run on Saturdays also in those days, but it was removed.

We've asked Morten to guest for us next Friday. Edinburgh that is.

He really wasn't that bad, loads of effort but didn't gate and that was even more important than usual.

I must remember not to wander into an Ipswich thread again. The same happened last time, it descended into an almost surreal level of drivel and unpleasantness. I'll leave you to it.

Surely very harsh to complain about Barker's absence, he's always been a rider who has turned out whenever he can as far as I am aware. He came all the way up to Armadale recently when he could have waited for a home match comeback.

Presumably Barker will be riding?

There will be some Edinburgh fans there, in person!

This might be a reasonable assessment in the circumstances but all Cyclone's previews are exactly the same - Monarchs will lose! That's not because he isn't an Edinburgh fan - it's because he is! He is the same with Hibs - always predicts defeat. We did win at Somerset and Newcastle, Theo Pijper has some new equipment, Claus Vissing is back home testing clutches... so you never know.

I see Plymouth have slipped Connor Coles in replacing Jensen. They haven't played the game with their signings this year.