Al Stewart

Unfortunately remaining matches are home v Wolves and away v Rye House. They need to beat Wolves on Friday.

Well it's certainly going one of the ways!

Even in normal circumstances they would do some track prep between meetings so there is bound to be a gap. When you have just lost 34-58 and have maybe two riders injured, perhaps enthusiasm is waning slightly.

Anyone who was available and willing that is. You'd be surprised how limited the choice can be. Riders race so much nowadays they are not always desperate for an extra meeting, even if they are not racing anywhere else.

This is an interesting case because I think Sheffield could easily have avoided this when the draft fixtures were issued. There are quite a few Fridays when Somerset are NOT racing and the matches at Edinburgh (3 of them, he's missed them all) could have been switched to these dates. I had a feeling they were not unhappy to use guests for Grajczonek with his inevitable high average. That doesn't alter the main point of course.

Thankful to read one or two more balanced posts on here after some of the earlier ones spitting venom in the riders' direction. It's appalling by Chapman. Holder has given endless entertainment to speedway fans, Batchelor has been a King's Lynn rider since 2005, and yet they can be treated like dirt and put out of work? You don't need to support their actions in that awful KL meeting with Poole to think that they have been badly treated, and when it is the Chairman of the BSPA who has done it then it is truly a very black day for British speedway. Not only does E I Addio have the best name on the BSF he has also written one of the best posts. Coventry_Bee also (the post not the name).

The rule was never anything to do with whose fault it was. I think it was first introduced because fast-track reserves were not strong enough to cover, that's quite right, but this year it is effectively a new rule covering any rider injured prior to his third ride, in a team not already using r/r. It's one of the better rules of recent times and prevents a match being spoilt by an injury. It could be open to a bit of abuse but I don't think it has been so far.

Part of Speedway history Rob! It is suggested on the first page of this thread that there is English commentary on Eleven Sports for the World Under-21. I'm watching it in Polish, can I do something to get the English? I'm watching through wizja.tv

According to brother Erik, 3 or 4 weeks. He says that what was said on TV from Wolves on Monday was not right.

Masters' foot certainly is not touching the white line, what are you looking at? Or are you just seeing what you want to see? There is nothing whatsoever wrong with that start. The referee has a perfect view from above, there is no scope for anything underhand going on, and Jim Syme is a guy who plays it by the book. As for being a selective 23 seconds of video, what do you want to see? If Lindgren was complaining about the starting positions, that is the few seconds either side of the tapes going up. What else is there? Newcastle looked like they were going to win early on, and they were unfortunate not to get a point because they were on a 5-1 at the first attempt at heat 15. No arguments there. Edinburgh are vulnerable at home and are tending just to stumble home over the last two or three races. But let's not talk drivel shall we?

That's a bit strong surely? Berwick's true 1-7 would have Nick Morris, Lewis Bridger, Doolan, Gappmaier and Howe with Etheridge a decent reserve. They were caught out by the fact that Bridger acquired such a low average, then got injured, leaving them to choose between a moderate r/r and Jacobs, who hasn't paid off yet. I don't see what they could realistically have done about the situation. Their full team would be perfectly acceptable.

You'll have to learn to spell Sedgmen.

How about: Masters Championship 8.90 Premiership 8.08 Wells Championship 8.46 Premiership 6.42 Might it be that the 1.2 factor is used unless they have done 4h/4a in which case they calculate a true Premiership average? I've no idea but it could be that.

Surely it's obvious for a 22 race meeting that you need to record the following programme as well? I always do that.

Edinburgh won the wooden sppon (unluckily) in 1984 but retained it (deservedly) in 1985 with the following team: Brett Saunders Bobby Beaton Steve Finch Dave Trownson Phil Jeffrey Billy Burton Alan Mason Some decent riders there but none of them were at their best that year. We did win away at Long Eaton with Burton and Mason both doing well, which they didn't often.

Anyone who thinks this will be easy for Edinburgh isn't looking properly at the lineups. I'll be delighted with a 2-point win.

It seems Steve Worrall is riding for Newcastle.

I got a deal from Virgin Media to add Premier Sports for effectively £3 per month for 12 months. They said I got such favourable treatment because I also have Sky Sports. As a Premiership Football watcher as well, that is no hardship.

I have paid £9.99 for 90 days and received a code. The part of the operation which is currently a mystery is where to put this code in order to watch something. When I try to watch Eurosport for example, it simply invites me to buy a premium subscription. No box for a code that I can see. Not helped by Google Translate which insists all the pages are already in English, which they aren't.

This is the relevant rule: 16.2.7 A SGB Premiership or Championship League r ider will establish an MA after 4 Home and 4 Away fixtures, becoming effective 7 days after the last qualifying Meeting . Should an Established MA not be achieved to be effective from 1 st May, then the MC may issue a revised MA, based upon actual rides if the Team re - declares. The fact that the word 'may' is in there is NOT meant to suggest that it will be on a management committee whim. The point is that no team should benefit from re-declaring using a mixture of old and new averages. So obviously it would be totally wrong to keep Gappmaier on 4 while moving under-achievers like Bridger and Carr on to new low averages. In my opinion this rule should only be used to raise a rider's average, not lower it on the basis of a small number of matches.

I'm sure Berwick have not finished making changes. They have more chance than anyone else in the league to do so.

I'm standing in Sheffield city centre looking at blue sky and sunshine, plus some clouds. There has been some rain. It looks at the moment a nice night for speedway. If you want to avoid a late rain-off, of course have an early one at the first suggestion of possible rain. But don't expect me to attend if that is the policy.

Your suggestion that it doesn't make sense, is correct. I can only imagine that some numbskull thinks that because David last rode in 2015 that the conversion rate for that year applies. Of course it should not, that would be the case only if he was going to ride in the old Elite League, which no longer exists. Having said that, I suppose there is a possibility that after the first set of averages are issued, both leagues will revert to a limit of 42 with a conversion factor between leagues. That might be what they mean regarding David's average, ie 4.8 after the first Premiership averages are issued. They are really going to tie themselves in knots here.

I'm all for David Howe getting back into the sport if he wants to but why would anyone think he should be on a 4.8 average? If his old Premier average was 6.72 then that is what his average is. The reduction if you have had a year out through injury, if that is justified in this case, was formerly 8%, which would make him 6.18. Division by 1.4 isn't remotely relevant.

Part of the referee's consideration should be: who was at fault, and who benefits or loses out from awarding the race. In this case the faller was a Berwick rider, but the team who lost out were Edinburgh who were denied a chance at an additional point. The referees should have the common sense to build that kind of reasoning into their thinking.