szkocjasid

There can't be anything wrong with that rule, otherwise they would have changed it for 2023. The majority of the promoter's must judge it an acceptable situation for a rider to get injured in his first match & be allowed guests for the rest of the season!

So it's been the Premier Trophy, Jubilee / Summer Trophy, League Cup, Championship shield maybe? I'm sure one year the KOC had group stages too!

For riders getting a non-rolling average, it should be 7 days after their 8th match, so Knudsen wouldn't have to wait till July 1st

Not if the promotion were happy with the 7 riders signed & weren't planning on making any changes!

I did rate Plymouth, but with Turner scoring 0 I can understand your concerns over Thier reserves!

If Basso goes to number one (very possible as he misses heat 13) I'd expect Brennan to move to 3 & Harris to 5, although when Basso went to number one last season Brennan was left at 5 with Cook at 3!

I doubt they'd make a double change but if they did, the only one I could see them making would be dropping Kennedy & Joe T for Dan T / Ruml / Kemp & Kinsley?

I don't think Schlein's average will drop, TJ certainly will, but his loss may be made up by Knudsen's gain?

Jorgensen used his Prem ave converted as he didn't ride Champ in 2022. He's now back onto his rolling averages (including 2021 matches) so will get a new average on 1st May, along with the rest of the team - unless the rules have changed again! Knudsen may get a new average sooner. He needs 2 more matches to get a new average, but I don't know if BSN qualifiers count?

I don't think Berwick were that bad, they lost by 16 points (not a thrashing) away from home, against a team expected to be amongst the favourites for the league, who were strengthened by Edwards taking 3 of Mulford's rides!

Trying to give a realistic suggestion, close enough to entice some Diamonds fans so they don't lose money. Let's be honest Bandits would get thrashed by Lynn!

Bad excuse for me, should've started with a challenge match (against Newcastle) if they were concerned about being rusty!

I'd put the riders where I think it suits the team best, which for me would be Tom at 3 & Ben at 5.

Pickering is 5th in the averages, so can't really lump him in with the "top 3". If he can ride Armadale, there's no reason why he shouldn't do better at Wolves - that being said, he's only lost to Wolves top 5, who are all flying on their home track!

Can't see that happening as Wolves top 5 are all decent. Don't see their averages dropping much, if at all!

I rate Lynn, but don't think this is a track they'll do well on, so will go for a Wolves win 8-10 points!

In Wolves case, after Masters the next 4 are pretty close in averages, so using second strings to cover Becker's rides isn't an issue, a reserve having to take one ride, probably would hurt them the most. How the averages luck out makes a big difference too, missing Schlein (7.14) and Masters gets a ride, missing Becker (7.11) and Masters does not get a ride. Makes a massive change to their r/r strength for the difference of 0.03 in the averages. Whatever the system is, it will suit some clubs more than others based on how their team is built. Lynn & Sheffield having a strong reserve would probably make them the teams most capable of covering r/r.

Scunthorpe have a 28 day facility "which can be extended" for Kennedy so in fairness Wolves MUST be allowed a 28 day facility for Becker (surely)!

Could the ref not just exclude the rider for "delaying the start" in that instance?

Watching EMTV+ & Mike Hunter was interviewing Ritchie Hawkins & they mentioned a debacle of Witches getting knocked out by Berwick in the KOC, so I thought I'd look up the matches to see what happened. A few interesting comments, most expecting Berwick to need a big lead & assuming it's over after a 4 point win (they only lost at Ipswich by 2 in the second leg). Also lots of anti guests comments, I see some things haven't changed in the 7+ years since this match!

I don't think there's any available riders who could score what Kennedy would have, any decent riders available have averages that are too high!

Don't know if you meant that as a negative comment towards Berwick, but Edwards taking Mulford's rides is the equivalent of Berwick racing a team above the points limit!

He probably won't have many options though.

What's going on with Richard Andrews in this match, 2 rides & 2 falls, odd as it's not as if he's a NL novice who's never ridden Plymouth before!

Expecting a 10-12 point lead for the Bears here.