acclennell

Am I beeing wooshed or has there been an agreement to bring someone else in and it's just waiting for the official announcement?

First and foremost I hope both riders are ok and back in the saddle again soon. Tonight though fully illustrated my point on why I can't for the life of me see why DP has not been replaced. It nearly cost us tonight and an average of just around 1.4 for a full season is not good enough. I'm all for loyalty but surely it's not beneficial to the team and to the rider himself. Answers please on a postcard, as I can't think of one valid reason he has not been replaced months ago.

He's right though

And maybe not

Comfy win by at least 10 points and probably more

Good win although looks like we nearly almost threw it away. Think that just about will cement our place in the playoffs now, with a few home games in hand and still some winnable points away from home.

Disagree strongly as it's really hindering our bottom end scoring especially on away tracks and in my opinion we could do no worse than giving someone else a go - but everyone entitled to their opinion

I'm gobsmacked to be honest but there must be a reason we don't know about - it may come back to haunt us later on though. The lad has had a good run but at this moment of time is not Premier league quality.

Remember Joe and Rod both getting paid 21 maximum at Oxford when we won by 2 points and either BB or AE were missing (think it was BB) and also remember Joe getting a 21 point maximum against Mildenhall the day after the 4s when BB was missing and Mildenhall who were right behind us in the league and winning until the last heat when we got a 5 - 0 and Joe was doing wheelies the whole 4 laps. Think Nikki also got a 21 point maximum against Peterbrough if I recollect. Great days but maybe this should be in the Newcastle thread :D - hopefully this years team will repeat the feat and win the league and cup.

He has only failed to get double figures in one match at Workington last week since Glasgow away at the end of May (his first visit there and he still broke the track record). His gating does let him down at times but he is still a top top rider and there have not been many 18 year olds who have performed as well as he has at a similar age.

Oh for a 4.5 average rider at number 7 now

Don't tell the Workington fans that Robert has qualified as he is not very good according to some of them.

5 man team as Mr Scarrisbrick wasn't too bad

I don't get why Phillips has not been replaced as he is nowhere near Premier League standard at this moment in time - I know you can replace him with Rose for one of his rides but I would be suprised if he is averaging 1 point this season and a lot of his points have been gifted. Questions on a postcard.

True but Lewis is very strong at home and it's about aggregate scores over two legs - totally agree about Phillips mind and I'm very surprissed he hasn't been replaced well before now.

Yeah just watched I agree good gate - must say seemed to be no drive at all on the outside line in that heat

If he is eligible in my opinion it's a no brainer - over to you George

My only worry would be that we never seem to hit form at the same time on away fixtures and always have one or two riders who have performed poorly - but saying that we still always have scored at least 40 points in each away league fixture. I still say over 2 legs we can beat anyone and my prediction is that Newcastle will win both the League and the KO Cup this year. But without doubt it's going to be the closest play offs since it started.

If that top 6 qualify (got a sneaky fancy Workington) might scrape thru) it's going to be some play offs this year - possibly the closest so far

Thing is he is 18 and still very young and learning - his average is on a parr for the two riders you mention and who are also a few years his senior also - with repsect to both riders neither SW or RW were near the level RL was at that age. You also mention RW who certainly wasn't a fabulous gater early in his career either - he can gate it's not as though he is left every time but just needs to add a bit more consistency to it and that will come through good advice and experience. I have mentioned before it is his one weakness otherwise he would be on an 10 - 11 average easily if he was a consistent gater - he seems a smart lad and will know that he has to improve in his gating.

Are you trying to say he is not a high talent and destined for higher things? Because if you are then you're talking absolute rubbish.

It's a shame George can't get him in touch with Rod Hunter or Dave Hammett for tips on how to gate as they were the best I have seen Seems via the updates that it was his gating which was the problem

He is mind you but he does need to improve his gating for sure to really step up.

Agree Ruff frustrated as it seems to be every away meeting we have 2 riders badly off form and you can't to that week after week if you really want to win stuff. It's not only this year though it's been a few years now. I have been LL's biggest critic but he has been pretty consistent this year in the main away from home. I would not have signed MK never been a big fan - we shall see what the end of season brings but there are a few tems now picking up away points so we are far from certain for qualifying and also bearing in mind that there will no doubt be a few meetings when we are not tracking our full team. Mind you the times we have tracked our full team away we have blown it anyway.

It's been for a few year now though and especially on certain tracks also - what is it with our team this year (and others years) when at least 2 of our riders are off form at away meetings nearly every time - you are not going to win anything if this continues. Very poor performance by MK who after scoring 10 at Somerset then scores 2 (and one of those due to an exclusion) and as much as I think RL is an enormous talent his gating needs to improve (I know he's only 18 before anyone says). Very frustrated supporter, what is it with the Diamonds team(s) at Workington or Scunthorpe :sad: