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With his knowledge of the track could be Dan T getting one or two extra rides, not Rew. Ipswich are in a good situation with reserve options.

Signing a temp to replacement for an injured rider is what every club should strive to do, means less guests, not sure how that isn't "getting its act together". As for Nicholls guesting for Doyle, this happens every week, nothing unusual about that.

You make a good point. It's a similar situation to riding in the wet, clubs don't want poor crowds, so call meetings off. Therefore riders don't get much experience riding in the rain, but once we get to play-off / KOC finals in October, there's no option but to get on with it. So riders have to race in the rain, but have never experienced these conditions before.

Best chance Birmingham will have of getting a win. Just need to make sure Nicholls gets 6/7 rides.

Nicholls was signed on his 2023 converted Champ average. Now he's ridden in the Prem, they are using his rolling ave, which mostly counts of his 2022 matches for Peterborough (where he struggled). Couldn't be simpler!

The Elite League & Premier league had 6 man teams in 1997, with the Elite continuing this in 1998.

Oxford can still qualify if 1) they get better results against Plymouth or 2) they qualify as best second place.

Maybe Scunthorpe & Oxford fans are lucky, but at some tracks you'll get about 14 heats of "follow the leader" every week. So these supporters will be wondering what you're complaining about lol!

But they're already a point under the limit, so must believe Heeps is better than a 6.00 rider? He's the one signing that confuses me, the top 2 are obvious. Then there's 4 improving young Brits. But Heeps has been on a downward path for a few seasons now. If they had 5.00 remaining I'd understand his signing but not 6.00. They'll likely be above the limit as soon as Boughen & Killeen get new averages, so if they were looking at changes would have to be before then.

I think they probably are, only potential weak link is Jenkins, now he's not a RS, but I think they have a better RS than Sheffield & Leicester who have similar number 6s. So plenty to like about this Ipswich team.

That's a tricky one. Didn't Glasgow put a match back 2 or 3 hours last year to get it run. While that's a lot of waiting around, is better than fans driving home with no racing because of a window they have to complete it in.

After all the negativity he got on here, he deserves his plaudits.

Oxford built a point under the limit, so looking for a big improvement from one (or more) of their bottom 5. Probably will be a different prospect around their home track, but bonus points will be harder to come by than last year.

With Oxford's long tail this sort of result could happen from time to time, but I didn't expect them to lose by this much. Early days but can't see Poole losing many aggregate points / ties.

I think Poole should have given Perry a 4th ride, surely it's more important to give him track time than to win by 32 points instead of say 30?

Not so easy to find re-staging dates despite clubs seemingly having so few fixtures. I looked and Scunthorpe or Workington or Scunny have a NL fixture, on every Friday till well into June, when I got fed up of searching for a free date. Maybe they'll put back a league match to run the BSN fixture, or race on a Saturday when they have an away match on the Sunday?

Now Workington & Plymouth (sort of) are complete. Final predictions. 1. Poole 2. Scunthorpe 3. Oxford 4. Berwick 5. Glasgow 6. Workington 7. Edinburgh 8. Redcar 9. Plymouth

He's been a "number one" when at Leicester. So in a weaker league, certainly has the potential to put a point on his average.

Great start for the Cubs. With only 5 away matches this season, that's such a great result. The pressure is on every other team already.

Wouldn't say Howarth was signed to "fill Dougie's shoes". Kyle has a sub 8.00 average so is never gonna score what Douglas did, but his lower average allows them perhaps the best second string pair in the league, that could be what wins them meetings.

With Jenkins moving into the top 5 in April, i'd put him at number 2. But will Ipswich do a straight swap with Rew & use him at 4?

Best way to combat that would be for King & Ellis (I'd put him at 4) to perform on those heats. Not moved Doyle away from heat 13 imo.

Must put the pressure on the opposition too, knowing what's coming at the end of the match?

Could not agree more. All they've got to do is keep it close all meeting, with a great chance of advantages in 13+15 for the win.

Harder to call this season, not really got any 3.00 riders who are expected to turn into heat leaders like some seasons have had. 1. Leicester 2. Oxford 3. Edinburgh 4. Belle Vue 5. Scunfield 6. Middlesbrough