szkocjasid

I'd agree they're unfortunate to be without Riss, but the RS position is their own doing as far as I can see. Missing a 5 point Champ rider (Thomas) but had two 5 points riders available (Kemp & Rowe) plus 4.5 rider (Bailey) but chose a 3.5 rider (Joe T) instead.

Very good post, especially the last couple of points

It's certainly a bold prediction to make that he'd be in their senior team in 2 to 3 years. How many 16/17 years olds make it to the Premiership at that age?

Predicting the final positions as you say is a bit of fun. But anyone "loudly" declaring that a team is awful / going to be miles behind, would be the time to say "I was wrong" imo.

Even if Kemp was only available for 28 days I'd still sign him up. Could just say to Joe you're resting him for a month to work on his form in the Champ & NL, with a view to coming back in a month? He's hardly in a position to argue he's scoring enough points to warrant keeping his team spot!

Gotta say that was a bad defeat for Witches, against one if their play-off rivals is a 6 point swing (including bonus point). Certainly think their first strengthening should be a new RS.

There were quite a few who seemed to suggest they were the worse team by far & not just slightly weaker, when positioned bottom. I wonder if they'll hold their hands up to that lol!

If I hide some of my predictions I think I've done quite well lol! Sheffield ✓ King's Lynn - miles off Wolves ✓ (my write up was very accurate) Ipswich - close enough Belle Vue - doing better than I expected Peterborough - not far away from prediction - of course I thought they had a strong number one! Leicester - Sedgmen doing very well & is the reason they are higher than I predicted.

Can't really slag you off, because I had Lynn down for a play-off spot too, but at least I didn't say they were "absolute bankers" lol!

MPT has not been reserve standard for years. He even started last year as number one for Peterborough. Now I'm not suggesting he's a strong number 5, but should be doing better than he is.

This is a tough one to call, Lynn now have a superstar number one & a decent guest in Nick Morris replacing an out of form Klindt. While Sheffield are using r/r for Bellego (Ellis, Kerr, Howarth x2) who has hardly scored any points away from home. Both teams look stronger tha normal!

Would that change anything though? Obviously I don't exactly know a speedway riders mindset, but currently Bickley knows scoring double figures & having a 9+ NL average doesn't translate to scoring well in the Champ. So now he doesn't have a Champ team & he continues scoring double figures & having a 9+ NL average - what has changed? How would he ever know if he's ready for the Champ again?

Can only see a big win for Glasgow here.

Is it a massive concern when Poole still keep winning at home & on aggregate? For Plymouth or Edinburgh it'd be a big concern after home defeats, but Poole are so strong, their top mam can drop a point off his average & they'll probably still win the treble!

I don't believe so, any comments I've read from Bickley (especially last year) suggest he wants Championship racing.

Or is it the best time to have only 2 teams make the play-offs? As I see it there are 3 teams stronger than the rest: Leicester, Oxford & Workington. If 4 qualify for the play-offs any fixtures between these sides have less importance as you know they'll both qualify. As it is these meetings now become far more important & interesting as only 2 of the 3 can qualify? With Belle Vue, Edinburgh & Mildenhall all looking strong at home, it's a very interesting league, I'd have preferred no play-offs.

I'm now thinking Hook could go to Glasgow so Berwick can get Complin. Probably suit both riders & teams better?

I'd go for Jacob Hook on a heartbeat. Hopefully he'll learn to ride Berwick, but he's gotta be better than any 2.00 guest for Stoneman

Gotta agree with you in that one. If they'd got Sam Hagon as their 2.00 rider, would have been worth the change, as it is I'm not convinced they're any stronger

I don't think Glasgow should be in a rush to make changes based on one or two bad meetings. Look at it this way, they've reached the BSN final & haven't even gotten started in the league yet! Not exactly a time to panic. Plymouth & Edinburgh have both recently made changes & I'm not sure either club has strengthened, so I wouldn't panic into making a change after ONE home defeat!

I've read a bit about Chris Harris being in a "false" average because he was at Berwick last year a track he likes. But his home (9.66) was only a point above his away (8.64) average, which can be expected for any rider surely?

If Complin ups his average to 4.86 Glasgow would be delighted & certainly wouldn't be looking to drop him!

I still think Workington look the strongest, but definitely makes Oxford far more potent. Really is a hard league to call, as you'd want it to be.

Totally agree with @Jaizer with his comments about Pijper. I'd even disregard ideas that he was caught out by a gripper track. As a 16 year old on a 2.00 average, he could race in perfect conditions 100% the same as a previous match he scored well on & struggle, that's just the nature of signing a 2.00 reserve. Certainly doesn't mean he isn't ready / should be dropped / should drop down to NL. Besides racing NL only wouldn't help him gain experience / track time as there's not many matches in that league.

Morley was very good at Plymouth, so should at least help them win at home. Home 7.43 (8.19) Away 3.90 (4.50)