Roger Jacobs

Paying customers robbed of two races by the rule that allows the result to be declared. The declaration also denies Ipswich the chance to score an away point, which might prove important. Karma maybe for the Stupid Heat farce

Hawkins said: “The riders available to cover for Ben on his average in our league are limited. So, it is mainly just the rising stars on an average below him and then you are looking at the Championship for riders that are not doubling-up, so they come on a converted average and there are very few riders not doubling-up at the moment. It is a big ask to find a reserve capable of doing what Ben could do.” No idea what Sedgmen's average is, but if he's in place of Allen then it's 4.57 or lower ...

Nielsen is lumbered with a 5.14 average ... Tigers have strengthened-up with Sedgmen in place of nice bloke Allen. Allen is on 4.57 and Barker on 4.44. Wonder is Sedgmen's average would fit under Barker, or is it agonisingly just too high?

Currently 4th in the Green Sheets, so Musielak, Howarth and Mountain (with the option of Allen ).

Witches line-up is a bit odd: 1. Doyle, 2. Batchelor, 3. King, 4. Starke, 5. Riss, 6. Nicol (G), 7. Hume ... but it won't make any difference. Sheffield to win, and maybe even by 16-20 points. Could well look good on TV, with Tigers passing Witches.

One person = people? This whole forum is a small microcosm of a small number of fans - only a handful bother to post regularly, so it's hardly a broad view ...

Fair enough. The point (if you'll pardon the pun) that I'm trying to make is that if a draw is a close result, which the away team was previously rewarded for automatically, then so is 49-41 or 41-49, because both results are close enough for teams to gain or lose another league point. Why is a draw different, when it's a tense result in its own right? Why does it need another heat, when no other valid results do?

Where is this published, please? The TV fixtures do seem to be a well kept secret - although I'm guessing they will decide as they go depending on the potential for each fixture as the season develops, e.g. do they focus on teams in the top six challenging for a play-off place.

But the whole point is ... why? A draw is a valid result, no different to 44-46 or 62-28. Why is there a need to make it different? The League point structure was changed to reward the away team with an extra league point for a narrow loss (-7 or less), a draw, a win by up to +6, and a win by +7 or more, because in speedway it is recognised that a good away performance is more difficult to achieve. So why does a draw have to be different to any other result? If the result had been 44-46 or 46-44, maybe there should be two or three more heats to add even more excitement? If it's 49-41 should there be another heat to see if the away team can get the extra away point. Or if it's 41-49, should there be another heat to see if the home team can stop the away team winning the additional league point?

So why only for a draw? Why not for a close result, which could have gone either way? Why not have 20 heat matches, so people get even more value for their money? Maybe, on the basis of last night, there will be thousands more at Foxhall next week ... actually not, there's not another home match until 14 July ...

But why only for a drawn match - it's still a valid result. Why not have a coupe of extra heats if it finishes 46-44 - with a bit of different luck the result could have gone either way. What makes a draw need an extra race, because it's not exciting enough in its own right? How many new fans will be drawn (LOL!) to the sport, in the hope they get an extra race?

Joke rule. Farcical result. Complete load of bolleaux.

Why give away a point that might enable the Panthers to overtake the Witches for third from bottom?

Eurosport covering 11 league meetings (same as BT Sport), so there will be breaks.

No denial that s/he's a wind-up merchant ...

Another splendid Poole result

Given that the Stars have had seasons with zero home wins, 2021 wasn't as bad as it could have been - and 6th place is in the top percentile of their all time League place finishes

Was thinking of going to this, but … hmmm … might well wait until the next home fixture … which is 14 July!

It failed. Thanks to vested self-interest the "top" clubs didn't release riders for those brave enough to move "up". Consequently, there were uncompetitive teams, and the whole point of the amalgamated league was wasted.

The league set-up didn't help, because with the points limit that was chosen they must have known there weren't enough riders to ensure a reasonable distribution. Certain teams must have pushed for the higher points limit to suit their own needs, e.g. three established heat leaders and/or new imports in preference to the Rising Star programme.

1) Even from a distance, this was sadly so very predictable. 2) Can imagine the vultures are gathering already. Birmingham could probably sign Clegg, or even Starke, in place of Pearson.

It was introduced to stop riders from picking and choosing when they rode.

Wednesday night at Poole, with a live stream available for the other five thousand who would have gone if it were on a Saturday ...

No mention of it in the Ipswich preview: https://ipswichwitches.co/raceday-preview-peterborough-premiership-a/ But details included on Peterborough page: http://www.peterborough-speedway.com/news.php?extend.4038

Ipswich is the backside of nowhere - Wimborne Road is closer to Foxhall than the NSS or Owlerton. It's all relative. And yes, I know Ipswich is a Prem club, but Witches fans might well be interested in the Champs Riders Champs because current and former Witches will almost certainly be in it.