szkocjasid

Why not just have a 5 heat individual (each rider sits out a heat). Only one extra race, but as each rider gets each gate position, fairest way to do it. As it is now, finishing 3rd in race one is no worse than 2nd, then finishing 2nd in race 3 is no worse than 1st. With the mini individual every heat counts.

According to the unofficial averages, Kildemand will get a new average of 7.71 next Saturday. That will leave Berwick 2.15 under the points limit. Will they look to strengthen up?

I don't understand this part "Erik informed us this morning that due to his Landshut meeting being called off he was now required at GP qualifying practise" Can anyone explain? It sounds as if his Polish match has priority over GP qualifying practice, but his British match doesn't? I'm guessing originally Riss could make it to the Landshut match, but GP qualifying must be harder to get to? Has this ever happened before, a rider due to ride in Britain on a Saturday, has to miss the match because a Polish League meeting the following day was postponed?

I'm pretty sure Glasgow could've used 2 guests, no requirement to use r/r. Oxford we're going to run with 4 guests before Heeps got injured, then using r/r for him.

Very surprised by this result. Glasgow's top 4 not doing their job collectively. Brilliant by Poole.

Not sure about the team managers decision not to give Masters the tac sub ride! Ok Jenkins was missing in heat 13 - just use Hook, then Sam as a tac sub for Hook in heat 14!

Should mean less gaps in the fixtures for the rest of the season though

Most fans are complaining about Oxford using 4 guests & a r/r, you don't normally get so many objections if there was one rider missing from both sides. You seem very negative to my question would running a NL fixture instead of the Champ fixture have worked, but you've never once said what you would've done? Run the match as it is? Postpone it for another day? It's very easy for you to dismiss any suggestion I make, but you never make an alternative suggestion?

But before Cairns got injured they had 16 NL/NT riders available. Anyway, all I said is could they have ran the NL fixture instead of a match with multiple guests? Even if it wasn't two complete NL sides, would that have been a better alternative to an Oxford Champ side with only 2 of their own riders?

I like that logic, Harris in heat 5 against Lawson, Howarth in heat 9 against Rowe. Flint can only go in heat 12, so Barker in heat 3. Harris gets a two-on-the-trot, but none of the other 3 do.

Barker is a big upgrade on Boughen. Don't think r/r should awaken Glasgow too much, but may score a point or two less than Dan T would've. On paper could be a big win, but Glasgow's weak reserves could keep it closer. Mind Starke & Ritchings aren't the strongest of opposition, so who knows?

Because Cami the team manager knows what he's doing (never thought I'd say that). r/r at 2 means Chris Harris in heat 8 - waste of your top riders' extra ride coming against a reserve & second string imo

Starke would be eligible for the NDL/NDT if he didn't have a Champ spot. Maybe that could be the reason given for him being allowed to ride? He's in a similar situation to Ben Morley, if Morley signed for a Champ team, he'd have to give up his NDT team spot. Maybe that's the logic if Morley can ride, Starke can too?

With Vuolas being second in the averages, r/r should cover well. Gives the Comets riders an extra ride to impress & stave off being dropped, with the poor start to the season they've had a great many could be under the threat of the sack.

So Mark Parker is still in the Monarchs team despite a couple of people seemingly adamant I was being foolish for my comments about his inclusion! Is my point relevant now by any chance? Anyone care to admit they were wrong?

Can only ask the clubs if their riders are available. Birmingham race on Mondays, King's Lynn on Wednesdays, Plymouth are racing on a couple of Tuesdays and Poole just ran an individual on a Wednesday, so it is possible to run away from weekends.

Normally I'd question putting r/r at 2 when it's the second highest averaged rider, feeling that it would be a waste of Masters' extra ride coming in heat 8, but that's not the case this time. Heat 8 could conceivably be Sedgmen & Palovaara against Masters & Hook!

A bit late now, but could they have moved the Edinburgh vs Oxford NDL match to this date once they knew so many riders would be missing? Any Oxford fans who had already planned to travel up / took time off work / booked hotels, would still get to see an Oxford team riding? Having recently booked a hotel room for a fixture that got moved, I can understand why they may not want to postpone at short notice.

100% agree with you. Don't understand what foreverblue meant?

Quick history lesson on why that is a bad idea. In 2015 Edinburgh had 2 x 3.00 reserves (minimum average at the time), when you didn't have to have any. They both upped their average to 3.5 approx, then in 2016 a ruling was brought in that each team had to have a 3.00 rider. That meant Edinburgh having to drop one of these improving young riders because they had done too well. So by all means, suggest 2 Brits at reserve, but don't limit it to newcomers, where will they find 18 new riders every season for the reserve berth. One thing they could have done, was to increase the minimum average for foreigners to 4.50 or 5.00 making it much harder for them to drop to reserve, not lowering it to 3.00, which doesn't help Brits at all! Probably should mention King's Lynn now, if Nathan Ablitt had a Champ team I'd give him a go as a RS, but if they can use guests, no harm in picking riders on tracks they'll go better at?

To be fair to Schroeck Killeen wasn't in form before the meeting, but could still have gone with r/r knowing McDiarmid was flying before the match. Maybe Schroeck couldn't handle r/r, he can barely manage to give his stronger reserve more rides in matches lol!

Amazing to think there are only 3 Poles in the qualifiers when Italy & Slovenia also have 3, then there's 2 Austrians. It's actually a clever idea for Kurtz & Holder to enter the qualifiers, if only to limit fellow Aussies chances, as harsh as that may sound. The more Australian's who qualify for the GP / do well in the Challenge, the harder it would be for Holder & Kurtz to get wild cards spots (if they finished outside of the top 7).

15 development league riders rode in this meeting. Starke stopping a 16th rider getting a ride, isn't really gonna hurt youth development in Britain. Starke riding also give riders looking for a Champ spot someone to try & beat to prove they are ready for the step up. If any rider beat him they'd maybe get a foot in the door & be in line for guest bookings / Champ team spots.

That's exactly it, I cannot understand how he can be so bad? How has he still got a job as team manager? Do the promotion not see the mistakes all the fans see? To think he got manager of the year award last season baffles me!

Well if Killeen was Oxford's second best rider (used in heat 15) why wasn't he given extra rides before heat 15?