szkocjasid

Was thinking the same thing, given himself a chance of signing for Plymouth rather than Birmingham

arnieg understands me

I'm not sure if there are any better 3.00 riders available, but they can always make changes if needed. The Oxford team is clearly built to win based on having 4 heat leaders, plus the very promising Jody Scott who may end up being their 5th HL. I would rate their main rivals Workington (S.McGurk & Kelly) & Leicester (Spencer & Foord) as ending up with stronger reserves than Oxford (Clouting & Fellows) though.

One of the reasons Kemp hasn't got a Champ spot this year is because he did "too well" last year. Along with the likes of Dan Thompson, Broc Nicol & Dillon Ruml who also can't find Champ team spots. Whereas riders who performed far worse last year Pearson, Fredriksen, Hook, Complin, Heeps & J.Thompson have all been signed up.

I think Thomas is very promising, so can see why Ipswich went for him, biggest shock pick over Kemp has to be Mulford for me. 2.00 Champ rider (with a sub 8 NL ave) picked ahead of a 5+ Champ rider!

That was me er the case, a rider could be a "rising star" for probably 9 seasons (16-24 years old) as long as their average doesn't go too high!

I don't think it's fair to judge any young Brit against the talents of Woffinden, Lambert & Bewley at a young age.

Looked almost a NL strength line-up, but you can only beat the riders who are against you. A useful warm-up for Schlein, but doesn't give any hints about his form ahead of his comeback.

Harlow Hammers Get rid of the greyhounds & race at Harlow Greyhound Stadium. Red & white race jackets not team suits lol!

You want both, build top heavy & hope your reserves improve, or build strength in depth & hope one of your top 3 become a superstar!

Going by averages should it not be? MPT vs Lawson (Lawson) Allen vs Cook (tougher to call, Allen now but Ben by end of the season) Lambert vs Z.Cook (Cook) Thomas vs Mountain (pretty equal)

While I know this is a joke, it actually would make little difference, Glasgow we're always going to finish in the top 6 anyway.

While I agree Morris won't keep his average, after the problems they had with heat leaders last year, I can see why they've gone for one of the top 5 riders in the league to lead their team!

Good signings for the Academy. Must admit I'm surprised due to the travelling, but we'll done to the riders to be willing to travel to Scotland fir home matches.

I'm sure it would depend on the rider, I'm sure if Zmarzlik said to Lublin he wouldn't sign a contract saying he'd have to pay a fine if he got injured & missed matches, they'd change it sharpish!

I wouldn't sign anyone (not even Zmarzlik) on that guarantee. Maybe offer them £400 a point & tell him if he scores a maximum each week - he'll get his £6,000!

King's Lynn's hopes of a top 4 spot increased as soon as it was decided their final match wouldn't count for the averages, leaving Jakobsen on his 5.04 starting ave!

Roynon really shouldn't have a 6.00 ave for 2023. That was his 2022 Champ ave doubled, as he didn't get a NL match, shouldn't his average now be his 2023 Champ ave doubled?

Got a KOC tie with Leicester & possibly a final to fit in too.

Not necessarily, if the stand alone clubs all lost their first match (assuming they didn't race each other) they wouldn't get any extra matches!

Totally to do with the standalone clubs wanting more fixtures. Ideally there should be a National Trophy for standalone teams, but with Workington being so far away from Mildenhall & Kent, doesn't suit the league geographically.

Aggregate wins won't be enough to finish in the top 2 though. Gonna take some away wins surely?

Personally think Workington look the strongest team by far. Leicester 2nd best marginally ahead of Oxford. Then Kent, Mildenhall, Berwick, Belle Vue & Edinburgh. This is based on signed riders as Belle Vue have 2 & Edinburgh 0, can't predict them any higher!

You make a fair point, although Basso got a higher average than Brennan riding with Ostergaard who is stronger than Vissing.

There's not actually that many clubs with 2.00 riders. 2 clubs have 2 x 2.00 riders, 3 clubs have one 2.00 rider, while 4 clubs have no 2.00 riders.