jbell1995

Plymouth have posted to say the fixture this evening is ON. It's been a torrid 24 hours weather wise. Still damp this morning but they seem upbeat and confident. Obviously plenty of people on here keen for this fixture...

Here we go then, the new season kicks off at the Colisseum with the visit of Oxford. Always a good fixture between these two clubs. Interesting to see how the track rides after the winter renovations. Back straight widened by 2m so should provide more space for better racing. Interesting to see how this Plymouth side goes, I've got a little feeling we might be changing a view early season opinions as the year goes on

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Ben is an entertainer. I love having a chat with him on Gladiators TV because you're always learning something. He's passionate about the club and will be desperate to right some wrongs of recent seasons. As you point out, his average has dropped but surely, of all the riders in the league, he's got most scope to improve his average? If he stays injury free, I can see him putting two points on his average at least by the end of the season

What would his Championship average be? I'm not sure what the conversion is PL > CL? Maths was never my strong point...

? Ben Barker 5.87 (Presumably) Joe Thompson 5.63 ? Alfie Bowtell 5.07 Mitchell Cluff 5.00 Lasse Fredriksen 4.67 Total 26.24 Remaining: 13.76 Not too bad a position for the Gladiators promotion to be in IF they can find the right number one but those are in short supply. Likely they'll need to be looking overseas you'd imagine? There's scope for improvement on Barker and Fredriksen's averages for sure. Bowtell should be able to improve somewhat but even if there's a slow start for him, he drops to reserve and he'll be strong there. Thompson is the enigma, can he improve his 5.63? He's young so he's only going to get better and goes well at Home. Cluff, only time will tell but having watched some of the clips from the SA solo finals, he can gate!

With Bowtell at 5.07, could be a good battle for that reserve spot IF Cluff is a 5.0 or higher rider

Would Mitchell be on a 5.00 average? Don't know anything about the lad but fingers crossed it works out. Welcome to the Gladiators

Crikey, there won't be a better 1-5 in the league that's for sure. Some job by the Glasgow promotion, if that team won't excite fans up and down the country in the Championship this season then none of them will. Fair play to the team up there, exciting times for Tigers fans

At the moment, I don't think it's a stretch to say the team is: 1. 2. Bowtell 3. 4. J. Thompson 5. 6. Fredriksen 7. Total: 15.3 We can probably add Barker to that who's around 5.8 I think? So that will leave 18.7 for Garry and Mark to get in a No's 1, 5 and 7. I think that's potentially a strong position to be in assuming the No.7 will be someone on an average up to 4.0 but no more perhaps?

Lasse Fredriksen is signing number 3 of the winter for the Gladiators. Happy with that, there's scope in his 4.6 average and he scored well (9+1) on his visit to Devon last season. Could be a strong first reserve providing we don't sign two riders below his average

Points limit will have a lot to do with team building for Garry and Mark you'd imagine? It simply can't get any lower surely? We've seen this season how tricky its been for a number of clubs to replace injured riders because of the points limit and commitments in other leagues etc

Is someone able to merge this topic with the one @lbw has created please? Saves having two threads

Would make sense to have squeezed it in before the deadline of that competition. That does ring a bell I must say

I can’t actually find any record of when this fixture was due to take place so I’m starting to doubt myself about if this is a rearranged fixture or not haha

I’m trying to find out when the original staging was meant to be but can’t seem to find it at the moment. It’s been a wet night in the city but it has now started to brighten up, a lot of time until tapes up

Yes I believe so

Another fair effort from the team last night. Does make you think with how the Thompson’s have improved all year and with Alfie and Jacob pitching in with points here and there and Barker now returning to a bit of form, if the team had a settled number one would it have been different. fingers crossed 2025 is less stressful for Garry and Mark

I'd be surprised if the Gladiators went R/R at No.1. Surely, given his exploits earlier in the season, Troy Batchelor is the first person Garry has spoken too about guesting tomorrow evening??

Might as well create a thread for the middle of the Gladiator's triple header this weekend. The Pirates are back in town tomorrow night looking to defend their 20 point aggregate lead.

A lot of people interested in this one obviously... Not sure of any team news as yet either..

Gladiators begin their busy bank holiday weekend with a trip north to Redcar on friday evening. Unsure as to what the situation is guest/rider replacement at No.1 but will be a tough ask for the Gladiators you'd imagine with a Bears side featuring Wright, King and Edwards.

It was another good meeting at the Colosseum on Saturday night. Track was in great shape and another decent crowd in. Great to see some Tigers fans down in Devon as well. Some good racing on track, Harris obliterating the track record was a treat in heat 1. Miracle both Jordan Jenkins and Joe Thompson walked away from that crash under their own steam. Best wishes to Joe and hopefully Jordan is okay as well. Fair play to Cami Brown and the Glasgow promotion for getting the fixture on with their guest choices. Both Jenkins and Jason Edwards gave everything they had for the Tigers cause. Wish them all the best for the rest of the season and look forward to their return to Devon in 2025

Whilst I accept Barker got a jump on Harris in Heat 11, people need to look at the video again and see the initial movement at the tapes comes from Jack Smith

That’s not great. Shame for Cami and the Tigers promotion. Could be tricky trying to put together a team. I guess this where it’s beneficial to build such a big lead after the first fixture