szkocjasid

If Riss was at 5, Hagon couldn't have replaced both Etheridge & Garrad in their last outing, but I know what you meant. I too would have put Riss at 5.

Berwick with a month off now, will there be any changes when they return to track action? Will Borke be fit by then? Looks like it'll be a fight to avoid the wooden spoon when they resume. At the moment I'd say Berwick, Edinburgh, Plymouth & Redcar look like the bottom 4. Think Bandits may be relying on other clubs dropping home points?

I'd say it's not the same riders as it's not the top averaged riders in each team, which has been the case for every NDLRC before (apart from injuries etc).

I would have to go through the fixtures to look, but I can remember a few double figure scores. Logically if his average has risen then for every poor match he's had, he must of had a good match to, otherwise his average would have dropped. Don't forget Kemp got his 5.5 average at reserve last year, this year he's upped that (slightly) in the top 5. I'm sure Kemp will no doubt want to kick on further, but I see no reason for anyone to be unhappy with his form so far.

Would have happened at Oxford on Wednesday if Poole had already ridden their home leg. Won't happen often as draws don't happen often, then can only happen in a second leg, then there's a 50/50 chance it'll be 2-2 or 3-1.

That's a bit ridiculous. Kemp for example has been good this season, you don't drop him due to one "poor" match. Besides he scored his average last night. Strange people don't complain about his inconsistency in the good night lol! The other riders team places could be under threat.

Because Dickson got it terribly wrong. If there was a chance Hagon would have scored in 13, then surely that translates to an almost certain win in heat 14? If riders underperformed, then they rightly can be called on it too. Doesn't mean the TM gets a free pass on bad decisions. The only defence Dickson can have is he thought ht 8 counted as a ride for Garrad & at the last minute was told he needed a 3rd ride, so had rode in ht 14, otherwise he should have been in ht 13. Dickson certainly didn't cause the loss, that was the riders. But it could have been closer for the bonus point with more shrewd team managing.

Great result for Oxford's, makes them favourites in the battle for 4th imo.

Certainly not.

Why is the rulebook so confusing?

Hagon was much more likely to win ht 14 than ht 13, so Garrad should've taken his 3rd ride in place of Etheridge, leaving Hagon in 14.

It's a situation I've not seen before, normally if you're not replaced after a 2 minute or tapes exclusion, it counts as a minimum ride. But as Garrad was brought in as a replacement, who knows? Dickson still got it terribly wrong though.

Very odd team managing going in here. Hagon replaces Etheridge in heat 13 (after Jye had beaten Flint in his last ride). Then drops Hagon for Garrad in heat 14. Does that make sense to anyone? As Garrad wasn't replaced in heat 8, that would count as his mandatory 3rd ride, right? If not, you'd use Garrard in heat 13 & leave Hagon in 14 surely?

How do they (promoters) know it won't work till they try it?

Every time Belle Vue do poorly, I think the same thing "you could have had Brennan"

As Workington's top 5 are all good, I see no reason not to swap riders round & give different pairings a try.

Scunny have a good top 5, all riders get a ride, so I don't see r/r as a weak option. Look at Poole, used a guest who scored 0 when they could have used r/r. Maybe r/r saves money, doesn't mean that's why they've done it. But definitely should be stronger at reserve, former Monarch Jacob Hook being an obvious guest choice. EDIT A further thought, from Scunny's point of view, you could say "what's the point of having a NL side if you don't give riders a chance" but Simpson isn't a strong NL rider, especially compared to Jody Scott who's averaging 9+ so deserves his chances with Oxford?

In this match number 3 could be easier, gets an extra race against Lambert & a reserve in heat 12, rather than Mountain & a reserve in heat 8.

Agreed. Play-off chasing teams, but not play-off challenging teams.

Looking at the stats on the Speedway GB website, Atkins has a 1.14 home average & 0.00 away average. Roynon can hardly do any worse.

They've been below the limit for some time now, don't seem to have any plans to improve the team imo. Seems strange that they'd give up on Klindt so early, but not bother making changes when they have points available (for both teams).

Back in April Oxford would've had over 6 points to replace Atkins, but either weren't ruthless enough / or very loyal & kept Atkins. You can be sure a team like Poole would've made a change, probably one of the reasons they always finish near the top.

So a fair replacement for Atkins then (based on his 2024 scores). But will Roynon score more than the guests have done?

Think that's a fair ruling. SCB obviously cracking down on riders missing fixtures compared to recent seasons.

I read the comment he was missing tonights fixture before I realised he didn't complete his last match in Poland. However, what if a rider agreed with his Polish club to take his first 3 rides each match & pull out of his fourth, then not race in GB or SWE, saying he agrivated his injury? Not saying this is what Kurtz is doing, but there would have to be rules in place to stop that happening.