Hunters

That makes it a different story, I can see a close fought match should be good entertainment.

Unfortunately I have a bad feeling about this one. With Dan Bewlay having up to seven rides I can see him continuing to get a massive score and our weak tail will struggle to get 3 or 4 between them. Our other three could put up a fight with 17 rides between them but its a very big ask for them to get 40 or more. I think they will do well to hold it to a 52-38 loss.

Thanks for that. It Thanks for that . It does seem strange why they don't use it more often, almost as if they have forgotten about it.

That's interesting, I have been back 48 pages of N L news on the SGB Official website and find that on Nov 2nd 2008 they commented on Weymouth's Conference success and the next item 16 days later referred to Mildenhalls involvement in the new National league. From then on it is always NL and I can find no reference anywhere either on the official site or individual promotions sites calling it the National Development League apart from one or two individuals on this forum. I would be interested to know what evidence there is to confirm that officially it is the NDL because if so the BSPA , SGB, & Control Board are doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

Which brings me back to what I said a couple of weeks ago. Alright to use the first four matches for 3.0 and new comers but to use it for riders with an established average is lunacy and now the manipulation begins. Not that I begrudge Stoke having a break they actually need it.

I understood it was the Travel Plus National League. Presumably they have changed it to NDL in the last couple of days.

But Ben is nearly 3 points above Widman taking them over the limit so is there another change with Adkin or Wilson?

With Branford, Morley and Clegg scalps already I was keen to see how he handled Adam Ellis on Friday. Sadly it wont happen.

Nial Strudwick probably. I don't think you can have a guest at reserve. How are we going to get Ellis Perks to stay on his bike? He is exciting to watch having a go but with a tape break and two falls last night could have cost us League Points. Charley Powell saved the day. A couple of wobbles but stayed on and might just be getting to grips with it. If he had continued the habit of falling when in good positions we would have suffered last night even with Kelseys Injury. That's the problem with having three genuine 3.0 pointers. If one of your top 4 blows it you are in trouble. I have always preferred balanced rather than top heavy teams. I don't rate their chances of getting a point at Belle Vue on Friday. We cant keep relying on Adam and Jake to do the business in heats 13 & 15.

I believe Jonny is his father and what a proud dad he is entitled to be.

I would not think anyone would have a problem with that. The issue is why are they not using rolling averages for riders who already have an average. How can you replace history developed over 20 or 30 matches with just the latest 4? Seems bound to lead to team manipulation. Congratulations to the Young Eagles. Tom Brennan won the 500cc yesterday and Nathan Ablitt won the 150cc in the British Youth Championship 2nd round.. A nice double.

That is fine for newcomers and with a 3.00 average but to apply it to riders with an existing average built up over many matches seems ridiculous. I wonder who thought that one up. I notice that subject to any further rain offs Buxton will now ride all their first 4 League matches away. This must surely produce a lower average for many of them. If then they are injured the guest will be at a lower average than should be whereas if Chessell (In this instance) was injured a 10 point guest could be used instead of low sixes. So far re declarations have been injury driven at I O W & Eastbourne or availability at Rye House & Buxton but I can see a lot of manipulation ahead. Maybe the rumours about Ben Hopwood yesterday are right ! It would have been his 4th League meeting and his average for the first three has already dropped to 7.2. This could well mean Jake Mudgeway (7.62) not being able to come in when his passport issue is resolved.

I obviously don't know the rules but I thought it was like for like.

Can somebody enlighten me on the rules for Green sheet Average calculations for the NL? I am still thinking along EL lines of the last 28 matches rolling average with the last 4 home and 4 away for newcomers. I notice that Cradley have become the first team to complete 4 league matches this season and the new Averages have Luke Chessell at 10.00 despite starting under 6. Surely this is a mistake. The only other conclusion is that they are using this years results only but even then three of the 4 matches were at home. If this is so it will be a complete farce as his team could redeclare leaving him out and bringing in a genuine 10.00 man.

That is a surprise. Where did you pick that information up. Any idea who Blacklock replaces and why?

Very difficult to make the call this week again. Has been raining on and off for 24 hours and my patio is flooded. Forecast tomorrow has more rain between 10 and 12 and again between 2 and 4. With the saturation we have had I would think it difficult to dry it out by 7.30. Hope the forecast is wrong but if they wait and it does rain more in the afternoon they will be criticised for not calling it off earlier. They are in a cleft stick.

All of which begs the question, why did they bring in Harris at 3.00 when they could have had someone at 4.82? They have been pretty good at teambuilding and committed to success which makes me think that there are more irons in the fire and further changes planned in due course.

I wonder if Islander who seems to be au fait with the rule book can clarify the potential situation at Eastbourne. The recent changes which were forced upon them because of injury and limited rider availability leaves them 1.82 points below limit. When Kyle is fit and Adam probably leaves, assuming his average is still 10.14, there will be a further reduction of 1.47 (10.14 - 8.67). Do they replace someone else with another rider averaging 1.47 more which would still leave them 1.82 below limit or can they recover the full shortfall by brining in for example a 6.29 for a 3.00? If they cannot eat into the 1.82 shortfall then we have the strange situation that having replaced the two injured riders (13.85pts) with Adam and Luke (13.14pts) they would not be able to bring them back when fit again. It looks like being a difficult season if they stay at almost 2.00 below limit.

You plainly have not read properly or understood a word I have said. It had nothing to do with disadvantaging Plymouth or their rescue bid. I made the point clearly that if a rider wished to double up PL & NL then provided he met the qualifying criteria of both Leagues he should not be stopped merely because of the order of signing if he wanted to. That has absolutely no inference that he should ride for NL to the exclusion of PL be it Plymouth or anyone else and in case you are also unaware of it, in double up situations where their is a fixture clash PL get priority anyway. In this particular case it may well be that Neilsen has not even been approached or that he has no desire to ride NL we don't know . I was looking at possible alternatives in a shrinking rider pool and highlighting that the rule was to say the least irrational. I don't know where the believe that Plymouth's rescue bid is being undermined or that three riders are being poached by greedy clubs comes from, that is also irrational and can only be a figment of your imagination. This appears to be just another attempt to deride Eastbourne and their supporters. I had hoped that we had been rid of this sort of behaviour when we left the EL but apparently not.

Branford at Eastbourne after his punch up with Georgie last year? not a snowballs chance. Now Hopwood is out of the picture we really do have a problem. Could it be argued that Stefan Neilsen's contract was with the old Plymouth Promotion and that it expired when they closed and being without a team he was eligible to sign with Eastbourne before agreeing to ride for the new Plymouth promotion, thus making it a double up not a double down. Interesting legal point and maybe that is why we still have silence on the subject. Regardless of this it seems ridiculous that a rider can sit down with two promoters one NL and one PL at the same table and if he signs the NL contract first and seconds later signs the PL contract it is OK but if he signs the PL first he cannot sign the other. Ridiculous rules that make Speedway look silly. If a rider is eligible for each league there should not be any reason to stop him riding for both. Looking forward to the Kings Lynn match, with Luke Bowen at 1 and Jake & Georgie in great form plus Ellis usually up to scratch I can see a real close encounter. The result will depend on how the reserves cope with 11 rides between them. The Stars have a big advantage there with Kinsley . Charley always looks fast but struggles with the tight turns at Arlington, I have a feeling he will do a lot better on the larger tracks and the Coventry match was an improvement but he must stay on his bike when in a good scoring position. I may be tempting providence but I think a point is within our grasp maybe more if the reserves can pick up 6 or 7 between them. However I got the Coventry result oh so wrong and more egg may come my way tomorrow.

They have to get this sorted. Should go cap in hand to Ben with a sweetner and use the spare 1.5 points to get a good reserve. The way Jake, Georgie, Ellis and Ben rode at Coventry was as good as anything in the league and should be worth a point at Kings Lynn. The Reserves with having to cover for Andrews did a little better but they need to go well on Wednesday for the team to have any chance of winning.

I don't do Tweets, Twitters or Facebook so what did Conner say? As Plymouth race on a Friday, Neilsen could perhaps double up which I presume Perks will have to.

I had looked that one up and Stefan Neilsen is a Dane according to wikapedea .

I cannot believe they would release Ben and say they would get a big hitter at No 1 unless it was already sewn up. I can only see Adam Roynan as available in the converted to 9+ range. I hope they have not made another 'points mistake' this year. It's getting a bit of a worry.