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I'd personally put r/r at 5 before using at 2. As for the argument against using it at 3 or 4, "you are weakening that position if the other rider isn’t going well" but wouldn't that happen anyway, if Brennan or Ellis doesn't go well they've weakened the 3/4 pairing without moving r/r there? I personally look at who the riders would meet in their "extra" ride, Sayfutdinov is the last rider I'd want in heat 8, if you expect every Ipswich top 5 rider to beat Boughen, then that's only a point gained if Sayfutdinov beats the second string. Out of curiosity what do you think of King being put at 5 to pair with a reserve in 3 of his rides?

Looking at the two teams, really should be Witches biggest defeat of the season!

I don't understand r/r @2. Means Sayfutdinov gets his extra ride in heat against Boughen, is that really the best use of your top rider?

It's very easy to find a rider, the Champ is full of riders who'd want a Prem place, much harder to find a strong rider. While Brummies could use a 75% guest (5.50) there's not much point in that. Of the riders currently riding in GB, Victor Palovaara would probably be the best bet.

Poole will be 1.26 over the limit in June. So Cairns for Starke wouldn't give them much to play with to strengthen elsewhere (if they wanted to).

Well Mark Parker is still in the team, despite you saying he was only in for the Workington matches! Does that mean my pound (point) is relevant now? I've said it before & I'll say it again, there has to be someone stronger than Parker willing to ride at reserve for the Monarchs. Especially now they're meeting 2 x 2.00 reserves against Glasgow! Marson, McGurk, Spencer? They've announced MPT, but sticking with Parker at the moment!

Was probably the worst time to have a postponed meeting, with an away win in the morning, would that have increased the attendance in the evening? Fans who were fed up of losing, deciding to give it another go?

Soon to be their number one!

I don't think it has, top 4 still seems finalised (baring injuries).

Totally agree.

Looking at the June averages Connor Coles would fit as a temp replacement for Wood, as would Adam Roynon. In a way Wood is lucky he's carrying his low 2023 scores in his rolling average, keeps his figure at 2.00 for longer. Will also help him get a team place next year if he doesn't race the full 20 meetings for Berwick this year.

If Rew binned it, does that not mean both rider fell on their own & should both be excluded?

Kildemand was always gonna have 7 rides, another reason to use him in heat one, spread the rides out? Same thing happened with Lynn, Kvech getting an r/r outing in heat one, when Klindt was gonna get 7 rides.

Normally when the 5th best rider is missing for r/r at number 2, the 4th best rider gets the r/r outing in heat 8. This means the reserve coming in for the r/r outing is "protected" by the number one & means don't have to use both reserves on heat 8. Although in Oxford's case their number one isn't really any better than the rest of the top 5 & their number 6 isn't much worse than the top 5. But yes I agree it was an odd decision to use Riss on that heat. Maybe Schroeck thinks he's so good he'll beat Kurtz / Bewley when he meets them?

I was saying as Birmingham were due to race twice tomorrow, calling off the evening meeting wouldn't save on air fares like it would in normal circumstances.

I think it's strange calling it off so early as all the riders would be in the country anyway, so it's not like they're saving on air fares by calling it off a day ahead.

Very much agree. They seem clever enough to move up one stage at a time to better Luke's career. For me the next step would be to take guest booking for a RS, not that there's many options, hopefully none as we don't want injuries.

Ok, no one wants to see a poor track, but "crap vs poor" sounds like a good match. Just like a match between the best 2 teams in the Champ would be, weaker riders but equal teams is better than watching a thrashing against a strong team.

When was the last time Plymouth beat Poole twice in the same season?

It shows how well Palovaara is going to see a comment like "he only scored 9 points"!

I think that would be a really bad idea, a 16 year old in his first season would be hindered if ranked below riders who were old enough to ride last season. I'm not sure how I'd decide it, but a ballot should NEVER be the answer.

Would've been hard if not impossible to achieve that team building with a 40 point limit. Another strong heat leader would mean weaker reserves needed. With Bowes being on a 5.00, but the Kennedy's & McDiarmid on 4.00 (or 4.27 for Zaine) it was easier for them to be at reserve.

I think that will work against them. Many fans will have planned to go & despite the drubbling, turn up because they had no other plans anyway. If it's postponed, then may be harder to get a decent crowd due to the first leg score & wouldn't have the advantage of people having already planned to go?

I stand by what I said, my point was that Parker is far from Champ standard & I couldn't believe there weren't stronger options available for the team? That is where I felt Monarchs weren't giving their all, for example I could never imagine a team like Poole with their winning mentality, settling for a 3.00 NL reserve in their team. Parker did exactly what I expected, only beat a non-finisher. Well done to Mark for doing that though. Delighted for the middle order pairing, feel some of the criticism they've received has been too harsh. Two good scores against weaker opposition, can they continue against the leagues stronger sides?