szkocjasid

Why not? The rules (stupid as they are) agreed by the teams pre-season are that finishing 6th out of 9 means you deserve a shot at becoming Champions

It was a weak field because of the reserve situation, if everyone has to qualify, plus taking the reserves from the top non-qualifiers, then people can't complain about it being a weak field! ok they will complain, but we can reply with "they are there on merit". I would never comment Kim Nilsson isn't good enough to be there, as he qualified. Personally I don't care if it's the same 15 every year, or "fresh" riders in the GPs, I just want the best riders (ideally no wild cards) in the field, regardless of age / nationality / gender.

Did look that way. Part of the reason is the reserves are no longer the next best riders in line from the qualifiers, but riders from weaker nations with no GP riders. For that reason even if Kolodziej (or Kubera) had finished 4th in the GP qualifiers and 2nd in the SEC & was the highest averaged non GP rider in the Extraliga, he still wouldn't get a reserve slot!

Obviously Dudek (21000) finishes above Lebedevs (210XX), but wondered where does Basso (210) fit into that? I know 4th is better than a non-finish, but is a non-finish worse than a not having a ride?

Must have been a heart in mouth moment for Glasgow fans, when Basso fell. Thankfully he gut up & walked back to the pits

Wouldn't call it farcical, Belle Vue had the option use him as their RS, obviously they feel Bailey is stronger.

Disaster for Doyle & Ipswich. Hope he's not too badly hurt

In theory it should be his Prem ave converted, no need to keep his assessed Champ ave for next year. But Adam Roynon signed for Plymouth on a 6.00 NL ave, didn't get a new NL ave and still kept that average for 2023 when signing for Edinburgh, instead of using his more up to date Champ ave converted?

My biggest complaint against Stead & Allen is my filling the squad with 10 riders, Lawson & Wright being the obvious omissions. Even if they have something against them & don't want to pick them (which would be unprofessional) why not give 2 junior riders squad positions to give them a confidence boost, Flint & Bailey for example?

I honestly think it's the worst scoring system in the history of the GPs. After semi final 1, the riders in 3rd & 4th don't know how many points they've scored, till semi 2 is completed. So it's possible riders who are sitting 14th & 15th in the standings could decide who wins the world title based on them finishing 3rd or 4th in the second semi final!

Given how few home matches Plymouth have ridden this year, 8 league, 2 BSN, 1 KOC, if the fixture list is similar next season, there would be no need to race on Saturdays or Tuesdays on GP weekends?

Technically Tarasenko, shouldn't be on a 5 average next season, he has a Prem ave that can be converted, rather than using an assessed average. But given Edinburgh signed Roynon on an old Champ converted average rather than a current Champ converted average, you never know what will happen!

With Poole & Oxford in the play-offs, Wednesdays will be hard to organise. Can Birmingham run on a weekend?

The problem is Ace has a low NL average. 5.81 is surprisingly low for someone with a 3.2 Champ ave.

So it doesn't other you Russians racing in the Premiership as you have no interest in it? Something is either right or wrong, you cannot pick & choose when to be "offended" For example I hate racist, but I would never say racism in Football doesn't bother me, as I'm only interested in Speedway. I know you suggest Russians should be blocked on "principle" but as Russians are allowed to compete at Wimbledon do you honestly see Putin cancelling the war, because they're aren't allowed to ride in the Championship?

I've read that but "officially" don't think Oxford can do that!

Edinburgh have no choice, Wood is fit so they have to use him. Should have signed Killeen when he was dropped by Oxford.

Mega respect for everything the SRBF does, but after reading riders injured racing at IOW (Nora) wouldn't be eligible for financial support, why does Wright, racing in Poland? I'm not suggesting Wright should not receive support, just pointing out should riders not get the same help if they crashed on the IOW? Get well soon Charles

Bullets look week, but Colts reserves could end up scoring 1 point between them, so could end up a really close match. Good choice to use Killeen at 2, means he takes his r/r outing in heat 13.

Sacking Kerr wasn't their plan, they wanted rid of Ellis, same with Leicester, they didn't want to get rid of Harris but were keen to replace Batchelor. Could even say the same for Joe T at Scunthorpe, all 3 riders dropped because of issues elsewhere in their teams.

Well done Ipswich, thought Sheffield would have done better than that. Pleased for the Ipswich fans, as it's been a long time since they've won a "major" trophy

But if Sheffield didn't keep Tai, they wouldn't have been able to fit in Holder, which would mean they'd still have Ellis in the team!

Your argument makes perfect sense, allowing teams to cover missing riders equally. I just feel the "two wrongs don't make a right" philosophy (while not totally accurate) would be used to agree with the current ruling.

Gotta side with Roger here, any rule which limits guests has to be seen as a positive. Feel more should be done to ensure clubs don't become strengthened when a rider is missing. I don't understand why some act like a team being weakened by injuries is a travesty, it happens in any sport. Besides I feels there's still a few RS options who are worth a try: Atkins, Smith, Joe T & Boughen shouldn't be out of their depth.

I'll go with Ipswich 47-43 Sheffield Tigers to win the KOC