stevethelion

Don't think he'll be rushing to get back for Leicester, not one of his favourite tracks( toothache last time wasn't it)?

Glad to see Lions have done the sensible thing & have replaced Bates with Palm-Toft, until he's fit. R/R instead of Bates was making us look a bit weak, but Palm Toft gives us a bit more strength. Did think with R/R, Poole would have been favourites, but now should be much closer. Need plenty of dry weather between now & Monday though to get this on.

Leicester have been given 28 day facility for Josh & are using R/R, so presumably Sheffield will be given the same.

With the current weather situation that's looking unlikely to happen for April then.

The averages are released on the 23rd of each month, to take effect from the 1st of the next month, so presumably the 23rd April will see the new averages released, by the 1st May Josh should be back anyway.

Completely agree with you, I think the family loyalty thing might be swaying their decision regarding a replacement. R/R makes us much weaker ( only 3+1) against Somerset & the match could easily have gone the other way. It is important we get off to a winning start, not only regarding league points, but to keep crowd levels high , the attendance for the Somerset match was pretty good, if they were to lose a couple of matches that would soon drop off. When Josh was interviewed at P&P he said it was the sciatic nerve that was causing problems, not so much the actual fracture & if the scan on the 16th April was clear he hoped to be back on his bike on the 17th. But he his going to be behind other riders in terms of match fitness & with plenty of matches coming up surely a temporary replacement would make more sense. The weather is helping at the minute & if they aren't going to replace, the more postponed matches the better, until Josh is back to full fitness.

In the regulations published earlier in the week ,it gave the conversion rate at 1.3 between the leagues, so as everyone believed Sarjeant's average would be his Championship average from last season (3.33) divided by 1.3 = 2.56. But looking at the starting averages for the coming season Sarjeant is listed at 3.25 in the Championship, which divided by 1.3 comes to 2.50. So by their own rules he should be starting on 2.50 for Lions. I can only presume they have ruled him to be too low & have adjusted accordingly. Which if correct seems strange as you say considering the averages of others.

Providing the averages are Vaculik 8.00, Pieszczek 6.50, King 6.66, Andersen 7.75 Newman 4.86 , Sargeant 2.56 , we can fit Bjerre in . He is 6.10 we have 6.17 left.

I would think with the Sheffield connection Bjerre would be the obvious choice, it also probably strengthens the side.

James Sarjeant needs adding to Lions team.

Holder only slightly behind Zagar in his dislike of BP, the last time he should have ridden for Poole here he suddenly developed toothache, this after riding for Poole at Belle Vue in the morning, with Poole 'conveniently' having Fricke lined up to guest in the evening. So can't see him coming to Leicester.

Interesting, that according to the Leicester Mercury website , Sargeant as been signed on a full transfer & will become an asset subject to approval. It also states they are trying to avoid paying costly loan fees, with Josh Bates registration being owned by the club it only leaves loan fees being paid for Newman & King.

That was my first thought, but it will only fit if Pieszckek is given an average under 7, so if Pieszckek is a 7 as most people seem to think he will be, added to Nicholls 7.48 it comes to 40.52, only leaving 1.98 for the last rider. I'm pretty sure the minimum for the last reserve is 2.00 so wouldn't fit.

If Pieszckek is a 7, which I imagine he could well be ( similar status to Przedpelski, who was a 7) ,then Nilsson could fit in but would only leave 2.33 for the last rider, which doesn't leave a lot of options.

Agree with you that Wozniak is a great competitor, but there is a great deal of difference between the Wozniak who rode at BP, where he averaged 7.25 in 2016 & the rider you get away from BP, where he averaged 4.62 with only 4 heat wins. Even having rode the away tracks for 2 seasons he didn't really master them. With Vaculik & Pieszczek new to British tracks it probably would be too much of a gamble to include Wozniak anyway. Having said that there'd probably be not too many home defeats.

In an article advertising season tickets on the Lions website, it states Mondays as being the preferred race- night for home meetings.

Nor Leicester as they had new promoters too.

Got to agree with you about Kyle Newman, must try to get him back, especially on his average ( 4.86) , if he's fully fit he could add a point to that average. I'm still unconvinced about Riss, he seemed to get passed too easily at times & his awareness of team-mates around him seemed lacking at times. Just wonder if they might return for Lebedevs again, after initially signing him last season & then not being available because of his Polish commitments, That shouldn't be a problem if the fixed mid-week nights happen,especially If he is still on the 7pt average he was given last year.

From the press release, wasn't it BT who requested the change of night, due to the bad weather forecast, so no real blame attached to the club, presumably they realised it would clash with the football. The ironic thing is the forecast was wrong, where I am, about 4 miles from the track we had a few light showers from about 3pm, but not even enough to wet the pavements. although it was windy & with leaden sky's it wouldn't have made for a pleasant evening. But the meeting would have gone ahead no problem.

The statement also appears on the Sheffield website, so I imagine the abuse must have come from fans of both clubs.

Second leg now clashes with Leicester City's home match with WBA, which is on SKY, so won't be much of a crowd at BP next Monday.

Pretty sure your right about Pawel, can't see him making an appearance. But still allowed guest for Bjerre, you can replace any double- upper with a guest providing he's riding for his other team, which Bjerre is.

Have to agreed with that last sentence, if the fixed night rumours of Monday & Thursday for the Premiership are true, it would make sense for both clubs to keep their existing race nights with Sheffield going into the Premiership, riding on a Thursday & Leicester in the Championship on Saturdays.

Heeps for Bates, for both legs, presumably they're thinking Somerset won't pull back the 28 points they need against Wolves in the KOC. If they do, Heeps won't be available as he'll be riding in the final against Belle Vue on the night of the 2nd leg.

Won't be Bewley for the first leg, he's riding for Glasgow against Newcastle that night.