szkocjasid

I guess in hindsight I would say he was a "shrewd" signing last year as he out over 2 points on his assessed average. Trouble is there's now less improvement likely in his average for 2023. He'll be a good signing for as long as he stays riding in the UK for sure.

What about a team that has a 2 or 3 point foreigner in the team on a 4.00 average, but has a stronger Brit on a 3.75 average at reserve? Is that not much the same?

Personally I wouldn't call Basso a "major signing" I was however very pleased when he was announced as it Confirmed Panthers would be racing in 2023.

Anyone can say it's gonna be a huge year though! Obviously a club owner isn't going to say expect a poor season, but look at Birmingham last year said they were building a play-off calibre side & finished bottom. Have made promises 2023s team will be play-off chasing & most agree it's the weakest team out there.

But how does having an average used for team building but not team positioning "make it right"?

The 25% reduction works in the same way as any 2.5% reduction ever did - it's a Brits average to start the season on. As soon as they ride 1 match there average will be their rolling average counting 2022 & 2023 matches. From your example it would be number 2 (I've heard nothing official to say it's back to 20 match rolling aves in 2023)

It is much simpler to use just one average, meaning Brennan's team building ave would put him at reserve. I cannot personally remember any situation where the 2.5% reduction has led to a Brit with a lower average being ranked higher than a foreigner with an actual average for team positions.

I don't know where the talk of Sayfutdinov or Laguta riding in Britain is coming from, but I thought it was clear they can race in Poland as they have Polish passports, but cannot ride in the GPs or in any other countries GB / SWE etc.

I'm not sure I believe this team building vs rider average malarky & fully expect to see Brennan beginning the season at reserve.

I'd suggest the best heat leader trio either be Jenkins, Stoneman & Killeen, Bailey, Harrison & H.McGurk or Dan & Joe T with Max James? Too close to call, but expected big things of all three 3.00 riders.

While the Kent team doesn't look bad compared to last years. Workington, Leicester & Oxford look incredibly strong imo. So while it's hard to judge when other clubs either haven't made signings or confirmed their participation in the league, it seems the other clubs will be fighting for the remaining top 4 spot.

I also feel Kemp did exactly what could have been expected of him. He was a 3.5 Champ rider being signed to ride a number 6 rather than as a rising star!

There's a real mixed bad of 3rd heat leaders this year, so is Cook is 3rd heat leader quality? Lewis Kerr, Ben Barker & Charles Wright look the strongest. After that they are similar standards: Leon Flint, Kye Thomson, Tom Brennan, Ben Cook & Jake Allen. With only James Wright far weaker imo So it appears Cook is on a par with the majority of 3rd heat leaders after all.

Only the last 10 league matches count for a riders average, so a bad start to the season doesn't effect his average.

My efforts at a "realistic" Newcastle team for 23. Could also swap Batchelor & Thompson for Aarnio & Ashley Morris. Newcastle Troy Batchelor 7.29 Matthew Wethers 6.47 Broc Nicol 5.95 Dillon Ruml 5.47 Max Clegg 5.23 Dan Thompson 5.09 Connor Bailey 4.32 Total 39.82

But a new breed of fans haven't won anything (bar one KOC) so how can they think they're entitled to win everything lol!

I'd say Edinburgh have a strong top 2, both Cook & Pickering could top the 9 point mark (9.3). Thomson should be an acceptable 3rd heat leader (6.9). Castagna could put a point on his ave if he's now uses to the track (5.9). Fredriksen I think would just reach his assessed ave (4.1). But don't expect a lot from Bickley or Hook who I expect to be around the 3.0/2.9 mark. Think they'll finish from 2nd - 6th.

Updated predictions of the completed teams: Redcar Glasgow Scunthorpe Edinburgh Berwick Oxford

Some riders look like obvious choices to up their averages, such as MPT who has a 6.8 Champ ave & a 6.9 Prem ave. So surely he must be able to up his Champ ave? I read others suggest Jake Allen could easily up his average, but I see no "evidence" to support this as he's been on a downward run in recent years, same as Cameron Heeps. In other situations you can expect a rider to up his average by virtue of having an easier riding position in 2023, like Brennan, Vissing, Charles Wright, who should all score more away from the 1&5 positions! You could also argue the likes of Pearson, Fredriksen & Hook should improve as they get used to tracks in their second season, although they could all up their 2022 aves & still finish below their assessed aves! Finally there's the likes of Jonas Knudsen & Marcin Nowak, who didn't ride enough meetings to get a new ave, but we're scoring above their assessed averages.

Not sure how that is "tactically questionable". If Kennedy is the best reserve in the league he should be capable of beating opposition second strings riding at number 6 & Joe T should be beating opposition number 7s most of the time. Swap them round & Kennedy scores the points Joe T would from beating number 7s, but Joe scores far less & so does the team!

Teams are built to a 40 point limit, by the end of the season should average out at 42, so each rider technically should put 0.3ish on their average without improving as a rider.

I'm not saying the team as a whole underperformed, but looking at 5 of the (expected) 2023 team, I can't believe any of Cook, Castagna, Fredriksen, Hook or Bickley were pleased with their 2022 finishing averages!

Both McGurk's, Ablitt & Freeman all have new teams, gonna be a lot a changes for the Colts in 2023!

The elite league fast track format would be useful, heat leaders never meet reserves in that format!

No reason not to post their starting ave's though! As what PTW says, well done Poole