szkocjasid

If he's reliable then he should be a fantastic reserve, if he doesn't do what's expected of him, just drop him for another 4 point rider, but worth the risk if you want to win the league imo.

Last season they didn't seem to want Riss at reserve, practically said the bonus of dropping Kemp for Killeen was to have a "solid top 5", I always thought strong reserve was more important? I'm sure Riss too has said he wants to be in the top 5, which can be achieved by scoring more points obviously.

People need to remember the low points limit, it's very hard to have a 5 point reserve, a 4 point reserve with potential to improve would be a strong reserve now. Even saw on the Workington page, someone saying Connor Bailey wasn't a strong enough reserve, don't know what points limit they were planning on lol! If Wright signs for a team, would have to be as a second string.

There was a rule, but a different rule to the Prem. For example Adam Roynon (I believe William Lawson too) averaged below 3 but stayed on 3.00. I believed it was once you had averaged over 3 you couldn't drop below it. Maybe the rule has since been dropped? Unless my memory fails me & they both averaged exactly 3.00?

You also have to factor in, who Schroeck will drop throughout the season to make his team weaker, when in with a chance of the play-offs 😏

Even if Doyle does take a while to get back to his best, that will not harm Ipswich in the slightest. In the play-offs era there is less risk brining a rider back from a long term injury, especially in this case as Ipswich will certainly be in the top 4.

Too many Cook's lol! I'd rate King & Ellis above Z Cook & Blodorn. But not a massive difference.

These riders won't all be in the Aces team though, if Belle Vue have Bewley / Kurtz / Lidsey as heat leaders, they can't have Cook as a second string, unless there's no Blodorn. As a neutral, Doyle & Sayfutdinov best top 2 and I fancy the Witches as having stronger second strings. Also Witches have the better RS, even if Cairns signs. I expect Belle Vue to make the top 4, but Witches to top the qualifiers fairly easily. But over 2 legs in the play-offs anything can happen.

With the new rules Zmarzlik could've won the British GP, finished 10th & missed the semi finals, next year he'd still be in the meeting.

Who would've you picked then?

Was there not a season where they pretty much announced "we haven't made any decisions yet, you'll have to wait"?

You're entitled to your opinion, but completely disagree. Can see this Ipswich side being one of the most dominant teams for many a year.

Leicester must be happy with their number 7 as they "protected" him as their RS.

I can't disagree, can't really blame Brennan or Ipswich for wanting to win things, which I why I think the limit should be 39, so the best riders get shared out amongst 7 teams not 6.

If Brummies pulled out saying they couldn't build a competitive team once last year's star man went elsewhere, I wonder if Ipswich would get any flak or people would just say - that's sport!

They'll win at Birmingham surely?

It's pretty simple, it's to share the available riders out amongst the competing teams. With the amount of heat leaders leaving the Champ in recent years: Riss, Morris, R Worrall, Douglas, Basso, Tarasenko, B Cook, Pickering & Brennan from memory - who would come in to allow all teams to build to 42. I'm pretty sure the more clubs would close once Poole, Oxford & Glasgow took up all the available heat leaders? Workington have done tremendously well introducing Zischke & Vuolas to British Speedway, but they may not remain in the Champ for long.

But if Ipswich & Glasgow have completed their teams. Does that mean everything has been decided before listening to the fans voice reps?

If it's a low points limit (anything below 42 is weaker than last season) it'll be very tough to have a reserve stronger than Bailey / 5.00 newcomer at reserve. If Lightcap was available on a 4.00 average, could slot in at reserve.

That rings a bell, 3.00 becomes 2.925 which I thought got rounded up to 2.93, which would've put Scunthorpe 0.01 over the limit. Using these rules Ace would be 2.92 also.

Same here, it's not a rule that gets used often so hard to remember it.

Well the other clubs might be keen on having Doyle or Sayfutdinov lead their team, so call Ipswich's bluff lol!

I'm really not sure, for example a rider on 2.01 doesn't drop below 2.00 with a British reduction. But you rarely get riders who have previously averaged above 3 then dropped below it, so it's hard to know if the rule still exists (& if it includes British reductions). Most recent cases are Adam Roynon & William Lawson (stayed on 3.00) while Kyle Bickley dropped below 3.00. So consistency is lacking somewhere.

Swap Starke with Cookie & it'd be competitive.

Agree with everything @Beirao said, 2 riders who didn't meet the minimum 2.00 averages can only be described as a weak pairing. Even if every team had 2 x 2.00 riders I'd say they were all equally weak. Good luck to the reserves, always good to see Brits getting team places & hopefully they'll improve.