szkocjasid

Looks an awful long tail, but better heat leaders than Berwick & better second strings than Oxford!

In an ideal world the top 6 or 7 riders from last year would have left the Champ & just done Prem with Poland / Sweden. That would have lowered costs with the highest earners missing out. Also should've made the standard of top & bottom Champ riders closer together for better racing. As what always happend though, top riders are retained, 2.00 reserves added in, 4/5 point riders miss out & the gulf between the strongest & weakest in the Champ gets larger!

These comments are from Rob Godfrey when Scunthorpe signed Joe T “With Leicester moving up, we’ve gone for Joe. We wouldn’t have minded having Dan in our side as well. But I think it will help them riding for different tracks." So sounds like Dan T must have another club or why would he turn Scunny down?

Think you're being hard on Complin, take away his scores at Newcastle & he'd have a much better average.

Just realised I was referring to comments on the Leicester thread. But I suppose a strong team would prefer a rider scoring 5 each week, to ensure they win. A weak team may prefer 9 one week 1 the next, as the only way they can win is on the riders good days!

Wrong thread

Actually he WAS inconsistent. His rolling ave is 10.13 (last 10 matches) but his average for the whole season was 9.33, showing he wasn't as good early on, but came on strong. In May he actually had a 7.90 ave!

Plymouth look like they'll be building with 3 strong heat leaders, but still could be stronger than Berwick & Oxford at reserve.

As there's 9 teams on the league, the top 9 riders can rightly be described as number ones. Using the 2022 aves, not just the last 10 matches (rolling aves) Howarth is the 5th best rider in the league. So I think it's fair to call him "an out & out number one" Masters (10.03) Morris (9.33) Douglas (9.24) Harris (9.07) Howarth (8.87) Cook (8.84) R.Worrall (8.74) Pickering (8.67) Lawson (8.48)

I do like Alfie Bowtell, but he really has to up his away scores (must have the biggest home vs away split in the league 7.33 / 2.43) as Birmingham looking like they could struggle (especially away) next year.

I don't agree that Mountain isn't strong enough to be a number 6, as he clearly has potential. While he could be the lowest averaged number 6 in the league - that means the team can have a stronger top 5, it's not like anyone is suggesting using a 3 point Mountain if a club has 5 points available!

Despite being well under the points limit, still looks a strong team to me!

Personally think Birmingham look weaker than those 3 teams

He has a low average because he was poor last time over here. I know he had family issues, but it doesn't seem wise flying someone over from Sweden if there would be equally strong riders based in the UK.

Andersen or Cook with Mountain would be my choice

I noticed Belle Vue's team only fits if Brennan gets a 25% reduction. So Mountain must have a 3.38 ave, leaving 5.48 for the last rider!

Team looks good, especially at home. Personally I'd have gone for a stronger "rising star" Connor Bailey?

Rising star "graduates" must have a 25% reduction for the team to fit. I for one am glad they've actually stuck to the rule!

Is that wise, with all the tyre issues, would it not be better for a new track to be slightly smaller or less circular?

Don't think so, Complin's away ave was far better than his home ave for Newcastle. Put him on a home track he likes & his average could rise.

Not "unfair on them" at all 1) With a very strong top 5, scoring lots of points the reserves don't need to score much to win 2) if they don't think it's fair, don't sign for a club with 2 x 2.00 reserves

Any rider can change his mind until contracts are signed. Lawson last year decided against Plymouth & headed to Poole, Redcar suggesting Jenkins was gonna stay before going to Oxford. I don't particularly blame the riders as clubs are quick to drop a rider when it suits them.

I think Mulford is a good signing on a 2.00 ave, think he has the ability to average 4.00, but still think he'd be at reserve all season.

I can't see Mulford moving out of reserve all season tbh. Definitely not after the first set of averages (carrying Kent scores).

I'd say the complete opposite, Oxford have a far stronger top 2/3, Redcar stronger at second string & reserve Berwick weaker top 3 than either Oxford or Redcar, but have the strongest second strings, reserves between Redcar & Oxford.