Roger Jacobs

But it has been such a well-kept secret!

Many thanks. These have been passed to the Live Updates team to add to the Heat Details.

Won't be difficult to work out their averages - the last 10 league matches ...

Confirmed in Panthers report of the match: "However, Basso has been struggling with a shoulder injury in recent weeks and further wrenched it during the meeting, meaning that having ridden in Heats 13 and 14, he did not feel physically able to contest Heat 15."

Has BassoRacingFan deleted the comment? There was a two minute silence, the National Anthem was played, and Kevin Long gave (by all accounts) an excellent tribute. British Speedway literally cannot afford to postpone* matches - especially at this stage of the season. The show must go on ... HM was fulfilling her duties just three days before she passed away. RIP. *As any fool knows, "cancel" means that a match is not restaged.

Was Basso struggling with his shoulder injury? Apart from beating Heeps & Tungate in 14, he scored his points by finishing ahead of Batchelor and Summers.

How do you know they haven't been asking other riders? The other night Plymouth were really struggling to find anyone, and other clubs have said it's been tough. On the other hand, Simon Lambert has been a loyal servant, and pops up with the occasional very good score.

Because the number of matches that count towards the GSA has dropped by two each month, and currently only counts the last 14 Premiership matches for each rider. Keep up at the back there

Sedgmen was not an injury replacement: https://britishspeedway.co.uk/premiership/sheffield-swoop-for-sedgmen/

There have always been meaningless fixtures towards the end of the season … even in the good old days of 18 teams in a league … indeed, that many teams means there were even more meaningless fixtures back then …

It's not a loop hole if it's in the Regulations, and has been approved. Not sure what the fuss is about, Heeps is #7 at Oxford, with a 4 point average ... for whatever reason, his form has continued to go backwards. Cheep and cheerful local guest, to keep the die-hards happy.

The meeting was abandoned - not sure what else could have been done? I agree that ticket holders could maybe get a discount on the re-staging, but other than that there was nothing unusual about the meeting.

How will independent governance help? How on earth would you enforce independent governance on entrenched dinosaurs who have overseen the decline?

The fact that the Stupid Heat was a very good race is coincidental - it could have been dull. The point is that the Stupid Heat is unnecessary, and gives a false result.

The British Final washout was not a farce. The SCB Regulations were followed.

Because we care about British Speedway, but don't care about Poland, Sweden, etc.

Will anyone outside the sport even know? They don't know about the GPs, let alone a random mid-week second division meeting.

It's not British speedway.

But only if it’s a draw … If it’s good to get more for your money, why not have 16 heat matches?

There's absolutely no guarantee it will be extra excitement. Tension maybe, but that's what a last heat decider is all about, and Heat 15 was a last heat decider! That has never changed (13, 15 or 16 heat formats), and there's no need for it to, just because of one particular outcome.

If, if, if ...

But why isn't a draw good enough? Why is it different from any other result in a 15 heat League match? I've been at matches in the past where the last heat has been very tense and/or exciting either resulting in a win or a draw - that's the whole point of last heat deciders. Inventing a rule that one particular outcome is different makes no sense. The change in result can have a bearing on League positions, but not every team will be involved in a drawn match - and some might be in more than one - so the rule creates an imbalance, the same way that the tactical joker used to. Ipswich now have 3 more League points than they would have in previous seasons (using the 1pt home, 2pts away format), and those 3 points could be significant in determining the Play-Off line-ups, because they could keep the Witches ahead of Belle Vue, who haven't as yet, been involved in a drawn match, or even Sheffield, who are 1 point down on what they could have previously scored They've already got Golden Heats for knock-out matches - they don't need random, imbalanced gimmicks for League matches. PS: I did watch the Stupid Heat last night, and it was a very good race - but that's just a coincidence. The Witches had already salvaged a draw in a tense last heat, which was fine by me. I'm sure you could see the tension and nervousness in Chris Louis, and he was probably puffing out his cheeks, before the tapes went up in Heat 15.

But why is a draw any different to any other result? A drawn match is normally exciting, or at least tense, in its own right. If you need an extra race because the scores are level, why not an extra race when the teams are only a couple of points apart, to see if one of them can earn a draw or a victory - or an extra race when a team wins by 6 or 8, to give one team a chance to win by more or lose by less to gain an extra League point? It's a 15 heat format for a League match, which produces a result for a League table.

Yes - it was a decent meeting. Witches earned a draw - and then they had the Stupid Heat ... the most pointless rule since the Tactical Joker.

It was just a coincidence that the Stupid Heat was a very good race. It's still totally unnecessary.