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Think yourselves lucky, having Doyle & Sayfutdinov - yet worrying about a third heat leader. Birmingham fans could be facing a season with no heat leaders the way it's going! I know it's not the job of Ipswich, Sheffield, Belle Vue etc. to ensure Birmingham have a strong team. But when (rather than if) we end up with a 6 team Premiership, they better not complain about lack or variety of fixtures.

How about this team is it's a 40 limit? Charles Wright 8.37 Danny King 7.88 Claus Vissing 6.34 Jason Edwards 6.18 Nathan Ablitt 4.91 Jake Mulford 4.27 An Other 2.00 Total 39.95

Have Redcar themselves announced the signing of Mulford now? Even if the plan was to announce to the team at the Christmas party etc surely once it's been leaked, they may as well put it on their website / social media?

My top 20 riders (weighted averages) 1. Sam Hagon - 11.03 2. William Cairns - 10.60 3. Joe Thompson - 10.45 4. Luke Killeen - 9.89 5. Jake Mulford - 9.07 6. Ben Trigger - 8.94 7. Nathan Ablitt - 8.87 8. Jody Scott - 8.64 9. Connor Coles / Jason Garrad - 8.31 11. Max James - 8.14 12. Luke Harrison - 7.95 13. Dayle Wood - 7.90 14. Freddie Hodder - 7.87 15. Tom Spencer - 7.47 16. Max Perry - 7.04 17. Ace Pijper - 6.88 18. Vinnie Foord - 6.69 19. Ashton Vale - 6.37 20. Sonny Springer - 6.36

Cheers

I include guest performances. More matches included = more accurate stats (is the plan)

It could go either way. I'd expect Cook to improve as a rider, as he has done every season so far, which would normally up his average, but racing in a more tough position makes it harder. Let's say he's good enough to be an 8.00 rider at 4, that may translate to a 7.25 rider racing at 1? Anyway if King's Lynn have 6 riders within one point of each other, I doubt anyone would be at 1 or 6 all season, could change every month.

My top 20 riders (weighted averages) 1. Richard Lawson - 10.02 2. Sam Masters - 9.89 3. Josh Pickering - 9.80 4. Chris Harris - 9.65 5. Scott Nicholls - 9.37 6. Tom Brennan - 9.31 7. Charles Wright - 9.11 8. Ben Cook - 9.04 9. Erik Riss - 9.03 10. Craig Cook - 8.99 11. Troy Batchelor - 8.89 12. Rory Schlein - 8.31 13. Danny King - 8.19 14. Steve Worrall - 8.13 15. Michael P Toft - 8.02 16. Dan Thompson - 7.95 17. Kyle Howarth / Anders Rowe - 7.86 19. Jake Allen - 7.80 20. Justin Sedgmen - 7.67

My top 21 riders (weighted averages) 1. Jason Doyle - 9.95 2. Emil Sayfutdinov - 9.63 3. Tai Woffinden - 9.52 4. Jack Holder - 9.39 5. Max Fricke - 9.33 6. Brady Kurtz - 9.16 7. Freddie Lindgren - 8.91 8. Chris Holder / Dan Bewley - 8.90 10. Scott Nicholls - 8.26 11. Rohan Tungate - 8.08 12. Maciej Janowski - 7.81 13. Ryan Douglas - 7.79 14. Sam Masters - 7.71 15. Richard Lawson - 7.59 16. Ben Cook - 7.51 17. Tom Brennan - 7.30 18. Niels K Iversen - 7.25 19. Josh Pickering - 7.24 20. Luke Becker / Charles Wright - 7.13

No-one would deny that. But Leicester have to drop points from the 2024 side. They wouldn't choose Howarth for Lawson because they think it's strengthening up.

Would teams need to race on an alternate race day though? 16 home matches, 6 away Fridays (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scunthorpe) is 22 Fridays. There's 27 Fridays between April & September. Race play-offs in October (no koc). Still leaves 4 spare Fridays for rain-offs (one used for best pairs). Worst case scenario would have to race an occasional alternate race day?

Until the rules are decided at the AGM, any plans could change. So clubs can have a planned 1-7 but doesn't mean they'll get it. I don't know why so many people suggest Birmingham could go under mid-season? Tolley has lost money each year, but still completes the season & I don't hear of riders not being paid (which you do at other clubs). Rather than Morris changing rules, for me it would be better if Birmingham said, we can't compete under a 40 points limit, so the rest of the clubs have to choose, do they want a 7 team league (39 limit) or a 6 team league (40 limit). Then go with the majority vote at the AGM! For Ipswich if their current 1-7 fits under 39, they'd be massive favourites for the league.

But that team would have a very strong top 3/4

I find that hard to believe for 2 reasons: 1) does that mean Lynn are paying for Harris' mechanic? Most people on the forum say Buster doesn't like paying much 2) what was the team plan when they wanted Harris? Did they have to go back to Woffinden or Pickering & say "actually Harris is too expensive for us, we want you after all"?

Until they announce a decent signing or two, I can only imagine they'll be worse off than last year. With rumours of no Lindgren & Brennan, I fear for Brummies. Certainly hope I'm wrong.

Ipswich did that last year, started on 39.00, didn't gain any advantage from Jenkins dropping 25% off his average.

An injured King riding in the top 5 averaged more than Rew racing most of the season at reserve. Don't see how that makes the middle order look vulnerable? They were the strongest team last year (till injuries occured) if they've replaced Rew with Brennan, now they're even stronger.

That means everyone averaged above 5 away from home. Did you mean to say that?

Belle Vue haven't built a team over the 40 points limit, their final 2024 side is above the limit. If the rules stay the same, they have to weaken the side, hence Zach for Ben (for example) Which would be a shame for Brummies as I'm sure they'd like to keep Zach.

Gave me a chuckle lol!

If I was a Leicester fan, wouldn't be particularly excited about signing Howarth. Feel he's been on the slide the last could of years. BUT I'm pleased a Brit has got a team spot & his last spell at Leicester was probably the best of his career, so maybe this move can rekindle that?

I'm not sure why they are in such a rush to announce signings before the AGM. Even if you think the points limit is settled, it's not 100%. By all means I would've announced Sayfutdinov, get everyone excited for the new season, but I probably would've kept quiet about the rest.

What I dislike about this format is that it means 1st is no better than 4th, while 5th is no better than 8th. Of course 4th is gonna be infinity better than 5th. You won't get any excitement at the bottom of the table as the team in 8th will no longer be desperate to make it to 7th, once you can't make the top 4, just take it easy till play-off time.

Why would that be? Surely every rider that gets dropped doesn't fall out with their former team manager? If anything he should be thanking Dickson his career has rubbish up since leaving Leicester. I reckon every Champ club would be keen to have him.

Totally agree