szkocjasid

Because he has never averaged above 4 in the Champ, Leicester want to win the league & there is no age limit in the NDL. Gavin Parr could stand in for Middlesbrough if one of their riders broke down on the way for example.

Because of the points limit, every team will look weak, but I do feel the Belle Vue team looks especially weak. I know they have 2 riders to sign, but think they need a big season from Harry McGurk.

I've not seen that match, so maybe that's why I'm more keen on him than any others. But if a rider did that in my team, I'd be sacking him the next day.

If Celina doesn't ride to her average, then Workington have used up 6 points for a weaker reserve pairing, while other clubs will have only used 4-5 points. So they'd need improvement from Vuolas & Zischke to cover that. It's so hard to know what she'll do, as opinions on her ability differ greatly.

I like the look of the Workington team, BUT it is the sort of team that could get hammered away, especially early on while the new foreigners get used to the UK tracks. But you could say the same for Oxford, their bottom 4 could all score 0 away from home on a bad day! As for Batchelor, if he can get a 7.16 average when he apparently "can't be bothered" think what average he could get if he "can be bothered".

I have to disagree & say there is improvement in all 3 of them, Cook was going great till the crash that injured the photographer, Vissing averaged 7.07 for Glasgow but carrying his Birmingham scores, drops that to 6.24. Batchelor probably had the least improvement in him, but he's shown he's a ok "3rd heat leader" at Oxford & Birmingham, in a weaker league could be a "2nd heat leader".

I think Batchelor is a decent enough signing, average should improve with less top heat leaders about this year. Leaves enough room for Vissing as 3rd heat leader. If the the potential improvement of Vuolas & Zischke comes through, looks a play-off side to me.

Because most team managers don't swap the reserves round. Last year Poole took Ablitt out of heat 8 often & this year Redcar swapped the reserves more once Harrison signed, but apart from that, didn't notice much "swapping round of the reserves" happening.

I think Nielsen would be a bigger gamble, if his average drops to 3.00, far less alternatives available. Thomsen can't drop below 4.00, so I don't see that as a gamble really, if he's awful can sign another 4.00 rider (& repeat till 75% of the fixtures are raced) or even Nielsen then.

It's a big step up for Hodder, but he has shown massive improvement in his 2 NL seasons so far. I just hope all the 2.00 reserves are at 7, so they get more races against each other.

Schlein would have been a good signing, but not now they are looking for heat leaders.

Because he let his British clubs down last year by missing matches? Plus was poor away from home for a former world champion.

That's a fair argument. If Redcar get a big improvement from those 2, expect them to be in the play-offs

As others have said, can't see that happening, Workington have plenty of points to play with so won't be looking for a reserve imo

I'm surprised by some comments saying Mountain is weak / needs to step up this year etc. Don't forget Mountain is being signed as the weaker second string, while he & Scunthorpe will hope he improves, I don't think the team will depend on him to have a decent season. As a number 5 (5th highest average) Mountain is the strongest in the league, with a better average than "number 4s" at every track bar Poole. The more I think of it Lambert & Mountain could be the strongest second string pair in the league? Although Workington's duo have the "potential" to challenge that.

Couldn't have put it any better myself

While Mountain didn't score so many points in the top 5 compared to riding at number 7, I'd hardly call a 5.4 rider weak! Especially if you consider Thomsen didn't reach 4.0 for Birmingham when he last rode over here.

Saw that & thought if he can reproduce that form for the Comets he'd be a steal on a 5.00 average.

How much does a team manager really have to know. There's not a lot of tactics needed, riders can give each other advice about equipment / track lines etc. Besides Cami Brown has shown you can make poor decisions & still win the league (as long as you can sign a 9 point rider on a 5 point average).

Certainly have to disagree re Ablitt. Upped his average from below 2.00 to 3.00 riding in the tougher reserve position (6). Think he did very well last year. Can understand an argument against Mountain, who scored fantastically well at number 7, but wasn't great in the top 5.

Tbf now the point limit has lowered, many teams look weak, or certainly week in some areas of the team. I'd say I've not seen a single team I would call strong, but someone has to finish top (even if they all look weak pre-season).

Interesting thing about the Scunthorpe team that Woffinden came through from was it was a very strong team built to win the league, but they were also young riders who developed well as a team.

This sort of thing has happened for years, Kolodziej doesn't get a wild card for GPs (despite his average in Extraliga, plus 2nd in Euro Champs) because of his age / nationality, Kai Huckenbeck gets a GP wildcard because of his Nationality, last year's GP reserves were all picked because of their Nationalities, Chris Harris dropped from the GB squad because of his age. Now gender has become another reason to pick someone along with nationality / age, ahead of ability.

I asked a similar question, hopefully not because she's female, because that's not equality!

Legally I'm sure she'll be allowed privacy, most likely get to use the changing facilities showers first or last. There's no way every stadium can build new facilities before the season starts. But this is something new, females race at Amateur / junior league / Nora level - they must have suitable arrangements.