MD

And Mountain, all those years experience and believing the ref would change his mind. Thought higher of him.

Looked like Complins bike he was riding. His riding style was very loose and struggled to turn it tight just like Complin did. He deserves time to settle enough though he doesnt have much.

Its never that bad, ever. Try Berwick or Worky on the Sat first.

Thats true but the crowds have stopped turning out at Cardiff and it must cost a 7 figure sum to rent, lay a temp track, lift it again days later and clean the stadium down from dust. There comes a critical point where its just not financially viable anymore and an alternative needs to be found.

They could start by pricing the SoN appropriately and making it remotely attractive to fans. Its not a GP so automatically draws less interest. The backstraight and bend 3/4 temporary stand may be a bit sparse this evening. They could also be lobbying behind the scenes to get the rights to the British GP and get it out of Cardiff where its become long term, a non-event racing wise. How long it can continue financially is unknown but it needs re-invented at a new venue IMO, and not another temporary track. Manchester would be just the place.

Evidence if you needed it that our fixture list is killing us. That Plymouth fixture was off the back of 7 weeks without a home Tigers meeting and since then we are in a 3 week gap to the next one. As it is we then only have 2 home fixtures in August. The hardest bit is how to change it, the lack of fixtures has gotten incrementally worse from 2021 and if true that it was only Glasgow and Poole, who for example voted against lowering the points limit, perhaps other clubs in our league are happy with the fixtures this way and will vote accordingly. I don't want or don't see moving to the PL as a solution however I don't think this can continue either. Once upon a time I arranged my holidays around our July away fixtures, now I can barely muster the energy to head to Ashfield on rare Friday nights, but do admit to loving it once I'm actually there.

He'll fit right in at Glasgow then, we barely have a meeting from one week to the next. Its becoming ever harder to maintain enthusiasm for a sport thats become so infrequent and dragged out over 6 months when it could be done in 3 - 4 including rain offs and play offs.

Ivacic will be riding in Manchester tomorrow at the SoN. Hope he doesn't get injured!

The self imposed no foreigners rule has lasted half a season, and would likely have been far less were suitable riders available. As mentioned we've now possibly alienated Team Pijper. Stene looks a real prospect as well.

An average gives the actual performance but not the reasons for the performance which should be taken into account. Look at Claus, unhappy at Brum in 2022 we signed him for 2023 on a 5.00 and he finished with 6.24. Just going by raw figures infered above we would never have signed him. Manipulating the average system to find riders who will outperform theirs is the name of the game, and increases the likelihood of success. I think that was the thinking behind Starkey though its not worked. He started on unreliable equipment, appeared to lose his confidence and is trying to turn it round having acquired newer kit. I may have read he had a new baby recently and could be wrong, but if true is always a drain on parents energy. I hope he can turn it round but Im not sure, by only riding the CL we've barely had any fixtures especially at home the last 2 months and thats never good either. Between him and JP its hard to pick up heat advantages on the road, and when our heatleaders are being outgunned like last night, it becomes a difficult watch.

How does Kye Thomson maintain an average of 6.51?

One of the main reasons has been to protect the Premiership and its TV deal by creating demarcation between the two leagues i.e. diluting the CL. This year there are more big name riders than for a long number of years but there was a time just before and after Covid that some of the PL teams were just Championship riders.

Allegedly it was only GLA and Poole who voted against lowering the points limit to 38. It will rise next year as it has to, as many lower and middle order riders from last season will have upped their averages due to the overall lower standard of rider this year. So it'll largely be the same calibre of rider next year under the illusion of an increased points limit. Twice home and away would be much better, we can still run against the other Friday clubs on our alternate night.

Its definitely a factor but not the sole one, prior to last week we had no home meetings for 6 weeks and there are a further 6 weeks free to the end of August.

Which is followed by 3 home meetings then another 3 week break. Think I'd rather we ran all our fixtures and the season finished in July or early August when the weather is at its best than drag out this nonsense and suffer rain offs, slick tracks and poor racing in Sep/Oct. There is also freezing your nuts off for 2 hours on the terracing, not that the customer experience is ever a factor.

To have any chance of making the playoffs we need Leon to be outperforming his average especially at Ashfield. He seems to recognise he loses momentum running high and wide on the corners and sticks to the inner third at the kerb which doesn't always yield results. Better teams will be calling soon and we shouldn't take too much from tonight's scoreline.

I agree but having your TM leave you in no doubt before leaving the pits cant do any harm.

Glasgow were there for the taking last night and half way through the meeting it wouldn't have been a shock if Berwick won. The ht13 inspired comeback could have been nullified if Hagon was in ht14. Next week hopefully Cami can communicate to his riders to get to the tapes on time, and stay in the saddle. Ht8 was avoidable nonsense.

What about the TM, did he play his best cards every heat tonight?

Getting beaten by Jye Etheridge is a poor night but its an expected points return from Leon. He is exposed at 3 in a very soft middle order and despite no lack of effort isnt improving at Ashfield. Still lacks speed into turn 3 which kills the gains he makes coming off the second bend.

Hagon would have maximised his return in ht14 and likely won it IMO, he just got better as the night wore on. Putting him in ht13 was mental, he made a nuisance of himself initially letting Kerr build a lead but was never going to do anything against that standard of rider. He got zero points the same as Garrad would've. Its another Dickson spectacular and potentially cost his team an away win or at the very least gone into ht15 one point ahead.

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Combined with a lack of meetings to make it worthwhile for any potential new signings.

Will be interesting to see the size of crowd for this one. Its been 6 weeks since the Tigers last home meeting and a defeat at that followed by three more on the road. Cash hasn't been splashed on new signings so its the same team who've struggled thus far, and the school holidays are about to begin. On the plus side it looks like it'll be pleasantly warmer.

With Tarasenko, Basso and Vissing that's perhaps understandable but we couldn't manage just Vissing this year I find hard to believe. If the above is true we've created a bottom three side to suit the admin of the team rather than whats best for the team.