Hunters

One extra team in the championship in 2018 so it looks pretty certain that Lakeside have moved up. Does that mean they will not run a NL team? After all they could not find enough dates this year so two teams should not be possible.

Not really, I went for Hunter because I think the Kings have the same problem as us. Three decent heat leaders and then Rowe as a good second string should leave only room for three 3+ riders to make the team up. Therefore Hunter becomes spare, possibly Andrews as well. We are working at present on 39 points and Hunter ,Rowe plus two at 3.0 uses 16.5 only leaving 22.5 for the heat leaders which must surely mean no Bowen and I cannot imagine that. These lads can work the numbers out and I expect Hunter and Andrews are already wondering where the can get a ride next year. The same can be said for Charley Powell and Matt bates. The top three all have this problem unless they severely weaken their heat leaders.

The final averages leaves my team with 3.42 for the A N Other at 39 limit. 42 would give Charley as an option but there might be better out there.

Josh v Jake is a difficult call, Josh is young and more potential but I don't like double up's. Georgie v Mark depends on the limit as there is about one point difference. Kelsey should be maturing I would like to see him knuckle down, could be a big gainer. Charley I cannot see fitting in on his average. My preference depending on points limit would be Knight Hunter Brennan AN Other Wood Dugard Edwards Could possibly fit with lowest limit (39) when final averages appear.

Who cares? They need all the help they can get to make it more competitive for the end of the season. The aggregate result is not in doubt so with Drew Kemp probably getting double figures from 7 rides it will be far more interesting for the supporters.

With AGM time approaching it is time to start thinking about next season. For me there are two big questions, How many teams and what points limit? From what I have been reading there seems to be some doubt about Lakeside and Cradley continuing which would be a sad loss. On the points issue I have had my calculator out. There are 33 riders on the current GSA in declared teams including 2 or 3 injured who should be back next year and have an average of over 7. Totalling them up and dividing by 33 gives an average of 8.55. If they could be spread evenly that would cost each team 25.65 for 3 heat leaders and at 39 only leave enough for 3 at 3.0 points and 1 at 4.35. All those others above 4.35 would be out of a team (27 of them) and a couple of dozen at 3.00 most of whom are not ready for the NL would have to be found. This problem was partially avoided last year because the championship brought one into each team at 2.0 and riders like Ellis, Shanes, Perks, Clegg & Carr moved up although some came back when injuries kicked in. I cannot see them increasing the NL 'spaces' next year. Obviously the likes of Bickley, Hunter, Rowe and Atkins are going to get a place which means some of the over 7's will not. I do not think they will be able to go with less than 42 this time around and of course if there are less than 11 teams the problem just grows.

Back on topic I thought Ref Gay did a good job keeping things going very promptly, if only we had him the previous week things could have been different. However on the two exclusions I gave him the benefit of the doubt in heat 3 when I thought Tom might have been at fault but he was better placed than me. Heat 4 was different, it was going into the bend not on the apex and gave me the perfect view. When Drew Kemp went in Mattie Bates was outside of him and there was acres of space between them. Then we had a typical Bates fall and the yellow light went on instantly excluding Kemp. A terrible decision. To his credit Drew did not make an issue of it but he was hard done by. After his terrific last to first in heat 2 he deserved better.

Agreed, He did not fall therefore attracted no attention and showed no sign of a problem going back to the pits. No reason for the home side not to proceed with their end of season send off. Sour Grapes no doubt and the rant by adz is the lack of respect. I will not repeat his final word, it speaks volumes.

Any idea's who takes Mountains place tonight? They will be looking for at least 12/13 points from 6 rides from the guest if they are to keep the score down for the second leg I would think.

BSPA fixtures say second leg at Mildenhall on 29th so it looks like the Eagles v Former Eagles will be called off. Pity, I was kind of hoping that the vacant No 3 spot would be BWD.

Huge thunderstorm and hail just now and forecast to continue until 11.00 tonight on and off so expect to see postponed until tomorrow which is already a reserved date for the Mildenhall clash.

You have hit the nail on the head, that is three seasons out of three now, what is there not to like. Shows what a fantastic job Martin and Connor have done to keep speedway alive in the area. Time for the fans to show their appreciation on Saturday and turn out in force for the end of season meeting.

Nothing tough about it , would need a Tsunami to stop you.

I too thought 20+ was on until the disaster of heat 13 by Josh Bailey and the Fog. Now the second leg is a dead rubber. Have to say I enjoyed seeing Dan Bewley and he brought the best out of the three heat leaders. When Wood beat him in 57.7 secs it was Georgies best time by almost a second and only .6 outside Adam Ellis track record. A few heats later Jake Knight repeated the result in 58.0 and it was his best ever time which says it all. Shame about missing the last two heats as it proved crucial but they asked for it by holding an interval when fog started drifting under the lights at the North end for a while as early as Heat 6. Hope Mellish is OK for next week and the weather holds up, there should be more good scraps with Bewley in the Cup.

Difficult one to call, The colts tail looked very weak last time with even Bickley only managing to beat Bates of the home side. Same applied to Mellish. Bates spent more time on the track than on his bike that night. To keep a decent score the top three must all go well but all three have the extra r/r. Really looking forward to seeing Dan Bewley for the first time but it is not guaranteed that he will be invincible even in the car park as someone said. You only have to look at the way Woffinden performed at Arlington, scores of 3,4,5 even conceded a 5-1 when wearing the Black & White T/R. Jack Smith looked a real tiger in 2015 as Brum reserve but disappointed the following year with 12 from 13 rides despite getting 3 of them as the only finisher. Will his mastery of the NSS this year be transmitted to Arlington? big question. Rob Shuttleworth has had one rather poor outing with Coventry Storm and will need to have improved considerably. There is no doubt the eagles top four are going well with some impressive times less than 1 sec behind the Elite League average in 2014 so gating will be a larger than usual influence I suspect. If Bewley likes the track and gets his 18 then I would expect a 12 to 16 points home win with no chance of hanging on to it away. On the other hand if Bewley has a bit of a struggle adapting then it might be 20 points and at least give the colts something to think about in the second leg. The motivation will certainly be there and should make for a very entertaining final.

The choice of words is misleading. Jake did not 'opt out' but withdrew because of lack of equipment having blown it the previous evening at B Vue. Whether he contacted them to tell them this in the intervening hours or simply did not turn up we will never know. If he did not tell them then he deserved the ban for not communicating the problem, If he did then there was no way he could get the mechanical situation resolved, being away from home and travelling from Manchester to Leicester. Some of us were upset that the club were not given a guest facility as it was an individual event and should not have impacted the rest of the team. As it happened it seemed to motive them even more judging by the result.

If Eastbourne win tonight they will simply be making numbers up in both finals. I cannot see them getting less than a 24 point deficit at the NSS and no chance of making that up against the full strength Colts. Bewlay and Smith have rarely ridden away in the NL this season but you can bet they will in the finals. Kent have the best chance of giving them some sort of challenge having held them including their top two to 16 points earlier in the season. This is no doubt down to Central Park being a lot more like the NSS than Arlington is. On the negative side the Colts will be more at home at CP. Tonight will be all about local bragging rights and who will be runners up. The finals will be very damp squibs.

Feel sorry for the Fen Tigers supporters. Bates and r/r for Mountain and Halsey is pretty awful and will struggle to get 30 points tonight giving no chance of a decent contest on Sunday. Surprised someone like Jake Knight could not be drafted in as he misses tomorrows action because of the suspension.

Never anticipated that result and I was happy be so wrong, they must have ridden out of their skin. We are in for a nail biting finish Saturday. The result may well swing on how they handle the Jake Knight situation.

Glad to see some teams at full strength but throw the rule book at Knight and then conveniently break it a week later for Kent and B Vue. The inmates really are running the asylum.

Love the optimistic spirit but anticipate a 16 point lead at least for the Kings tonight, making the second leg a dead rubber. Even a massive effort and 6 point deficit will not be enough to overcome with r/r for Knight on Saturday when Hopwood will be riding for Newcastle but they will have a guest facility. The handicap will be too much unless they can find a way to rearrange the team. Interesting to see that Glasgow ride on Friday so no Jack Smith for the Colts against Lakeside. Belle Vue might well have blown it with that very weak team they put out at Lakeside.

Now that is imaginative. I'm impressed, I hope they are listening to you. Very, very , very impressed with Tom Brennan last night. Came within a couple of feet of getting under Adam Roynan 3 times but couldn't quite get enough speed to be first into next bend so switched outside on last bend for drive and beat him to the flag by a wheel. A couple of rides later gated poorly against Josh Bailey and Steve Boxall but came under Boxall on lap three and held it. Great Speedway from a terrific prospect.

Thanks Jayne, but why penalise the club or is there a rule that says the club is responsible to ensure that riders turn up for individual meetings? If not then the sensible thing would be to give the club a guest facility in that situation for the banned rider regardless of whether he is no 1. The track specialist argument does not hold up because it is home meetings and no rider of the same average should score better than the man that rides the track all season. As regards the incident itself from what I have read I have some sympathy for Jake. He was at Belle Vue on the Saturday and would have stayed overnight somewhere to be at Leicester on Sunday rather than driving back to Norfolk through the night and then setting off to Leicester after Lunch . No chance to get his machinery sorted and he even had to be left out of the team due at Cradley the following Wednesday so what was he expected to do. With hindsight he should have turned up and used his second bike for a lap or two before it packed up and then had to retire, that way he would be out of trouble and could collect his travel expenses into the bargain. He was probably gutted to miss the meeting because what better than to stop off on his way home from B Vue and pick up 7 or 8 points at least and continue on home with an extra pay check.

I still cannot get over the two home match ban. Never in any sport can I recall a similar such thing. A two match ban would have been the two matches this weekend and allowed a replacement in both matches to alleviate the effect on the club who are not responsible for a riders appearance in an individual event. Now with a change in averages tomorrow dropping Knight from No 1 there will be no guest allowed in the semi final against Kent hugely disadvantaging Eastbourne who will have to go with r/r for Knight. Things were already going to be difficult against an ever improving Kent team and this action will be seen by many speedway supporters as a move by the BSPA to handicap them. If this morning's rain continues and tonight is postponed the same situation will occur in the KO Cup. Is it too much to ask that the BSPA give a full explanation of their reasoning behind their unique decision, reasonable but of course futile, to ask.