4thbender

Peterborough's qualification to the Championship Shield Semi-Finals on the basis of them being the "best second place" team is completely unfair. Their claim is based solely on their being part of a smaller group, which gives them a mathematical advantage: 9 points from 4 matches gives them an average points-per-match of 2.25. Sheffield, on the other hand, have 13 points from 6 matches, giving them a points per match average of 2.167, but this lower rating is simply because they have been part of a larger group and have ridden more matches. The second-placed team in the Southern Group - regardless of who it was - was always going to have a mathematical advantage over the second-placed teams in the Northern or Borders Groups. Peterborough have a 100% home record, plus a 3-point away victory, giving them a points difference of +10. Sheffield also have a 100% home record, plus a 4-point away win and a points difference of +39. This must surely mean that Sheffield have the better record in the competition. To give the semi-final to Peterborough, based solely on their intrinsic mathematical advantage, is a travesty. Sheffield have the better record and should qualify. The ruling is shambolic.

Hmmm, not sure. If 'Boro win you'll have a 100% home record plus a 3-point away win. Sheffield have a 100% home record plus a 4-point away win. Surely 4 points trumps 3 points????

Looks like Sheffield have tied with Glasgow as the best second place team in the Championship Shield (both on 13 points) but Sheffield have the better points difference of +39 compared to Glasgow's +6 over the six matches. Does this mean we go through to the semis? If so, that might fill up one of the blank Thursday nights in July!

I haven't seen the report in the Star yet, but there was always a possibility that the back injury was more serious than anyone anticipated. I hope the injury doesn't bring a premature end to a promising speedway career. JB was always a mercurial talent, so let's hope he bounces back next year and takes up where he left off.

Made that mistake once already. Never again.

…..I'll take that as a "no" then!

He's been off the bike so long that even if he comes back it's anyone's guess what sort of form he will be in. I think the best strategy is to make an alternative signing for the rest of the season or until such time as JB has proved his fitness. Can anyone suggest any available contenders?

Good signings - always liked Berge when he was at Owlerton and couldn't understand why we didn't make an effort to retain his services. Nathan is a much-improved rider since he was with us. Hope these two bring a change of fortunes at Teeside.

Drillerman gave heavy hints in last night's programme that team changes were imminent.

The way things are shaping up, our season will be over on 23 August (and STILL four blank Thursdays between now and then). I feel that the season has only just got underway, but actually (based on the number of fixtures) we're past the halfway point. This arrangement is a shambles and I hope the promoters are listening.

Hate to be critical of the Sheffield promotion, but the middle-order issue should have been addressed in January when JB injured his spine and there were still replacement riders available. Here we are with a third of the season gone and a black hole in the engine room of the team. Waiting on a recovery of a crocked JB has cost us a run at a title defence. Big mistake.

Actually I am! Whilst Campton was a surprise package last night, I think the result might well have been different if BWD had been in the team (he's already won two matches on Worky's behalf and last night might have been the third if he'd still been in the team). Either way, Worky played their part in one of the most exciting matches of recent years at Owlerton and well-deserved their point- Sheffield were lucky to get away with it. We urgently need strengthening in the engine room of the team. Jan is clearly not the answer and I don't think we should wait any longer for JB to recover. Who knows what state he'll be in if and when he gets back on a bike. He hasn't sat on a bike since October, retired in November, made a comeback in December, broke a vertebrae in January, had spinal surgery in February and has suffered nerve damage ever since. We urgently need a permanent signing to strengthen the middle-order. If JB puts in an appearance he should be loaned out to prove his fitness.

This'll be a real toughie with a cock-a-hoop Worky side (back from the best week's performance in their history) and an out-of-sorts Sheffield side. Thank goodness Campton is back - if they'd kept BWD in the side we'd have been in even more trouble (Just noticed that Peterborough have signed BWD today - Sheffield have missed a trick in not signing him to replace the ever-absent Josh Bates).

Amazing how quickly the cracks can begin to show in a team which everyone fancied to repeat the success of last season. The Bates situation is a worry. Recovery from nerve damage is the hardest to predict and I suspect that the management's silence on the issue betrays the fact that his return could still be a long way off. Even when (if) he does return, who's to say what form he will be in? Jan Graversen did a great job for us at reserve last season and we have to applaud him for that, but the Bates we all know and love is a precocious talent. Jan might be many things but he's certainly not that. In hindsight it would have been better if the management had cut their losses with JB after his accident and signed a permanent replacement of the "precocious talent" type. As things stand today, available riders that answer that description are thin on the ground to say the least but, with the best will in the world, unless JB and his medics can give a firm date on which he will be fit and back on a bike, Uncle Damien's best option is to start a search for a permanent replacement. If and when the prodigal nephew can demonstrate fitness and form, the door could always be left open for a return (maybe next season). The team has suddenly taken on the appearance of fragility - it's gone from hero to zero almost overnight. Just shows how unpredictable this wonderful sport can be. Fair play to the lads last night, they rode their hearts out against a team that's taken on fresh wind. But clearly there are holes beginning to appear in the Champions' armour and these need to be dealt with tout de suite.

On last night's showing my money's on Sheffield for at least a point (and possibly three).

Sheffield looked to be having a bad night early on. Both Kyle and Lasse finished fourth in their first rides (when was the last time that happened?) and neither Jack Smith nor James Shanes looked at their best. Someone must have been doing a rousing job in the pits because it all appeared to come right after the interval - especially Jack pulling out all the stops in heat 14 for a 5 - 1. Todd looks like the most improved rider of 2018, winning heat 1 when Kyle missed out and going on for a paid 13. Winning when the team is not at its best is the mark of a championship team.

That's just farcical. If it rains for the meeting in 3 weeks time it means your fans won't have seen speedway for 6 weeks! Whatever the problems, rationing the sport is not the answer.

Speedway has never been able to make up its mind about whether it's a team sport or a circus for daredevil showmen. For my money, they should drop the pairs, the fours, the league riders' championships and all the other window-dressing events (which are just meaningless dross). They should concentrate on a single league of 18 - 20 teams and a regionalised cup competition. League play-offs should be consigned to the dustbin, and the simplified structure of a single league and a cup competition could guarantee all teams a solid programme of 25 home matches per season, potentially a few more for teams with a good cup run. Speedway could learn a lot from those other "dying sports" of cricket and rugby. Through sharpening up the presentation and encouraging greater partisanship they have turned around their fortunes and crowd numbers have gone through the roof. I remember as a lad going to Bramall Lane to watch Geoffrey Boycott bat for a day and a half. By the third day of the match there was no-one left in the ground. Compare that to a Twenty/20 match last summer at Headingley when the terraces were packed, alive and buzzing. Speedway needs to ask itself what its own version of that looks like. Trust me - there are solutions, but it needs people with vision and ideas. Rationing the sport to reduce financial losses is a losers' charter and, if that's the best the promoters can offer, they should be hounded out of the sport.

I'm not a fan of lost causes.

Words might fail YOU, but happily they haven't yet failed ME. Maybe your powers of observation have also failed you. In 2017 there were 360 Championship matches; this year there will be 220 (that's a 39% reduction - with one MORE team!) I began supporting the Tigers 52 years ago, but this is the first time I've felt that my loyalty is being taken for granted. Once summer really gets underway, with a load of blank Thursdays in the fixture list, fans like me might get out of the Speedway habit. After all, there are many alternative Thursday night distractions: Quiz Night at the Red Lion Crown Green Bowling at Hillsborough Park (they're after new members) A round of golf at Worrall Road Leave for the caravan a day early and have an extra-long weekend Have a swim at Hillsborough Leisure Centre For those with more eclectic tastes there's Spearmint Rhino or (dare I say!) Naked Night at La Chambre. With the exception of the latter, these are all Thursday options I'm planning to take up over the course of 2018. If Speedway wants to reverse the trend of diminishing numbers on the terraces it had better get its act together. Otherwise fans like me might discover that there's life outside Owlerton Stadium.

It's Thursday night (Speedway night at Sheffield) and I'm sitting at home looking for things to do (I might actually get in the garden and do a bit of weeding). Tonight's match has been "rained off" - the 41st casualty of the 2018 season (and it's barely 2 weeks old). I wonder how hard promotions are actually trying to get these fixtures going - I've seen meetings go ahead in far worse conditions than those outside today. Admittedly the weather in late March and early April has been pretty awful but, with so many blank Thursday nights planned for this summer, I wonder whether promoters are taking the view that it's an easy option to call matches off at the first sniff of moisture in the air and tell riders and fans to stay at home. Moreover, with such a dearth of matches planned for the height of the season when kids are on holiday, is it a pre-meditated plan to postpone early matches at the drop of a hat to allow the extremely thin July and August fixture lists to be "padded out" with re-runs? In the unlikely event that Sheffield fail to make the play-offs, without a load of early re-arranged rain-offs their season will be over on 23 August. There is a clear danger that people (like me) who are looking for something else to do on Thursday nights might actually find something. When that happens, the promoters' policy of "less is more" might turn round and bite them in the bum.

Don't set off - it's POST-PONED! (http://www.sheffieldspeedway.co/news.php?extend.2516)

You're right to check. It's been awful misty drizzle for the past two days, but the precipitation has been light and there's no sign of flooding on the streets round about. Forecast for tomorrow is brighter so, fingers crossed, we should be okay (but watch his space). The UK season is barely 2 weeks old but according to my calculations there have been 39 rain-offs, so you never can take things for granted! Whatever the weather brings, the little Peterborough bubble of euphoria following the shock result at Ippo is about to get burst - you're gonna get your ass kicked, so don't come expecting a result.

Second leg is at Newcastle on 29 April.

Sorry, but your bubble will be burst next Thursday at Owlerton. Your feet will be firmly back on the ground come Friday morning.