GoldenGauntlet

They only took 2m off with the changes to bends 1 & 2 then? Looked a lot more.

Anybody know what the track length is now? Website still says 302m, which is what it was last year.

Wouldn't be a problem if the BSPA/promoters used a bit of common sense and didn't run the top two leagues on the same days.

I think perhaps they've been using what they thought was the best flour, but deliveries often didn't turn up, and when they did it turned out the flour company was sending them B-grade batches half the time. Maybe a less expensive and more local flour supplier would result in a better and more consistent product.

Cancelled!

Sky, however, say they're showing Berwick v Workington on Monday.

Nicholls scored 24 points from two EL meetings at Leicester last year.

No, the referee was Mick Bates. This was the meeting in which the referee (allegedly) turned the floodlights out by mistake, stopping the meeting for half an hour.

Satnav?

Not having many assets certainly doesn't help. I'd say the problem is more that the pool of potential riders is reduced enormously by the race night, the ruling out of riders from certain countries based on experiences with two or three people, and a track that for a lot of riders doesn't appeal as a home circuit.

Josh hoping to be back by the end of next week (as he stated on Monday). Most likely guests for Grzegorz until he returns (as the team manager stated in the Star).

It was a local derby the week before and there was the pairs on TV last night which would have stopped a few from going. Not surprising the crowd was down on last week, but was still a decent turnout despite BV fielding an unnecessarily weak team (which gifted Lions the win).

This has been the problem this year - not enough riders raisin their averages.

The eight day rule only applies to meetings on the same track, so if they wanted to they could use him in three of the remaining matches, revised averages permitting.

The eight day rule covers riders guesting twice in 8 days. Douglas wasn't guesting for Scunthorpe, so it doesn't apply.

Looking at the rules again it seems they may be able to use Wells, although 10 real points from 6 rides a couple of weeks ago isn't as good as I thought he'd done. Can't see many other options that look better than R/R

I thought about Wells as he rode well there recently, but I think his converted EL average would be too high.

Given recent experience with guests, and looking at who might be available, they might be better off using R/R.

Leicester, as all the others have won a major speedway trophy.

Bonus points are also included for qualification for Heat 15 putting Gathercole outside the top 3 scorers.

Current form and current averages might be a better guide when considering changes. I get these figures from the last 3 home and last 3 away matches: KN (CMA 8.17) Home 7.08, Away 8.80, Overall 7.56 JG (CMA 5.05) Home 7.08, Away 3.73, Overall 5.29 LB (CMA 7.09) Home 7.11, Away 8.67, Overall 7.73 KD (CMA 7.36) Home 8.27, Away 6.75, Overall 7.48 MK (CMA 7.06) Home 8.00, Away 4.89, Overall 6.30 + SN (CMA 4.16) Home 4.67, Away 3.29, Overall 3.86 AE (CMA 4.36) Home (hasn't raced at BP), Away (from Berwick) 2.77 Kauko and Lasse have raced in fewer of these matches than the others. Too early for figures to be meaningful for Branford.

All the riders have been better at home than away, and all have scored below their starting averages away, at least two by a bigger margin than Jan. Edberg hasn't scored well away from Berwick this season so that change doesn't seem to have strengthened the team. Personally I think Lions' home form is just as much of a concern because if we keep dropping points at home we're not going to make the playoffs. If we lost Jan just to get a rider who's better away, I think we could end up losing home matches, because we're not convincing at the home at the moment.

When you have four riders who have so far scored well below their starting average, why replace Jan who is one of only two Lions riders who have scored above their starting average? Is it a really nice wooden spoon that's given out at the end of the season or something?

The actual rule is "a Rider eligible for a NL Team who has never achieved an actual PL MA of 4.00 or above". All of those mentioned above must be eligible for a NL team since they already ride for them.

I don't think so. I believe NL riders who are riding in the PL can still guest as long as they have not achieved a PL average above 4.