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Making my first visit to Scunthorpe since before the pandemic, despite it being a nice day, I'll wrap up well as I always remember it being cold lol! Can you pay by card at Scunny? Ta

One thing I'll add about Batchelor, who on the opposing team did fans expect him to beat (besides Hagon)? For example Leicester's other reserve Cook, had a greater Champ average than Batchelor. He scored about as well as I'd expect him to.

It's tough to call, neither club has been going great recently.

If it's a draw, the superheat is for both the match result & the bonus point.

Rearranged fixture on tonight. The British Speedway website isn't entirely accurate with their promo The Monarchs lead the table after their dramatic Super Heat win at Ashfield earlier in the month, and they need to avoid defeat in the return fixture to progress, whilst the Tigers must win inside the regular 15 races. Whoever wins goes through, if it's a draw whoever wins the superheat goes through. EDINBURGH: 1) Craig Cook 2) Lasse Fredriksen 3) Kye Thomson 4) Paco Castagna 5) Justin Sedgmen 6) Max James 7) Connor Coles. GLASGOW: 1) Chris Harris 2) Paul Starke 3) Leon Flint 4) James Pearson 5) Steve Worrall 6) Jack Smith 7) Ace Pijper.

Just saw that on Twitter & was gonna say the same thing. Against a full strength Witches team I'd agree. But should've done better against a weakened Ipswich side.

Might have been easier for Brummies to make the decision if they had known Lindgren was coming a week or so ago when they dropped Milik for Sedgmen. Lindgren for Milik would've been an obvious & easy choice to make. Now Sedgmen has signed, not such a clear cut decision to make.

Yes, but Brummies scoring well against a weak team is still an improvement on their usual performances.

A few years back Marcin Nowak missed a fixture at Armadale for his wedding & Glasgow were allowed a guest, very controversial at the time as Nowak was terrible at Armadale, while is replacement Heeps is far stronger there. Anyway, unless the rules have changed since then, Plymouth should get a facility to replace Newman. For Brennan or any rider who accepts an invitation for an individual meeting, surely they'd accept under the agreement that of there's a re-arranged league fixture they would no longer be able to take part? Rain-offs are not exactly a new thing in Speedway, so riders should be prepared for last minute fixture changes. Mind you it would be a shame if a rider has paid for a flight but then can't go!

While Castagna is nowhere near GP standard, countries like Italy will get a couple of spots in the qualification system, so if he's one of the best Italians, then why shouldn't he enter the qualifiers? If riders only entered the GP qualifiers when they were GP standard, it would be a very small qualifying event. Some will enter for their sponsors some young Brits may enter for experience on continental tracks, some maybe just want too see how far they can go?

Indeed, his June average would be 7.12. 1) doesn't fit in place of Kye or Paco. 2) would he even outscore them enough if they had to make a second change & bring in a 2.00 rider for Coles to make it fit?

Where do you draw the line though? Should clubs have 3 ambulances & a helicopter just in case it's needed? Tbh a second ambulance is there to keep the meeting running, rather than for rider safety imo. It means when a rider is taken to hospital the meeting can continue without a delay, that's not "rider safety" - that's keeping the crowd happy. Obviously there will be times when a second ambulance is needed to take more than one rider to hospital (thankfully few & far between) but I'd suggest 99% of times I read a comment about a lack of a second ambulance It's because a meeting has been delayed / postponed, not because a rider had to wait to go to hospital.

I don't agree that (signing) Gilkes is a "waste of time" but I respect your opinion, as there's a big difference between saying that & calling him a "waste of space" imo. However don't forget Gilkes has upped his average every season, despite multiple injuries in his short career. So as long as he averages above Knudsen's 2024 efforts (4.39) then his signing will not be a waste of time.

Had to weaken as they were above the points limit. The riders they would've expected to step up in a weaker league haven't done it though.

Like the "loyalty" he showed to Nikolai Klindt?

That seems very harsh on Gilkes. If they had 11 points available & signed him, you could argue it was a pointless transfer etc. But I think you're being out of order calling him a "total waste of space"

I personally think they've dropped too many points at home already. But if they can pick up wins at 4th place rivals Leicester & Oxford, then they have a chance. At least should be good enough to avoid the wooden spoon now.

Fantastic signing imo. Makes Leicester favourites for fourth spot now.

Kerr had a promising start to the season, while it hasn't hurt Oxford or Berwick due to guests / replacements, Kerr will want to get back to where he was. Good luck to him.

Perfect time to come back, zero pressure with no one expecting Bandits to get any points from the fixture.

Zischke probably agreed with Darcy's advice, so followed it. But if he keeps scoring double figures for Workington & feels he's not getting enough racing, he could end up changing his mind.

Janowski had been a top GP rider for years, last year he had a poor (injury hit) season but I didn't see any reason why he couldn't reach his starting average. Oxford are currently 4th in the "rankings" (away points gained - home points lost). So it's up to Leicester to start winning away to put them under pressure for a play-offs spot, providing Oxford don't lose at home.

As Poole only needs 33 points, think they should be safe using r/r if Brennan is not available.

Zischke doesn't have to do what Darcy advises though. He's about to have 2 weeks off racing in the middle of the summer, might make him re-visit the idea of Prem speedway?

Honestly don't remember many saying they thought Oxford would win the league, but no doubt there would have been plenty who thought they could win the league, myself included. Of course that was when I thought Janowski was gonna be an 8+ rider. Anyway they can still be Champions, don't have to be the best team until the final 4 matches.