Roger Jacobs

If, if, if. That's the whole point (pun intended). We will never know, so nobody can say with any certainty what would have happened.

We will never know the result if Lidsey had ridden. Nobody could have predicted what did happen last night. Race the same match tonight with the same teams and you'll get a different result.

Not severe criticism, but I agree that Brennan didn't ride defensively against Cook. Coming off the second bend he went madly wide, and then off the fourth bend his back wheel wasn't on the grip, so he couldn't match Cook who got his wheels in line perfectly. Heat 8 was a disaster. King didn't even look competitive. No idea what happened, unless he thought that everything had gone so well that he needed to make some changes?!

But why only add to the value for money if there's a draw? What's so special about that result, which requires an extra race? What about a team only losing by 2 or 4, and earning another race to try to win or draw? Some teams could go all season without a Stupid Heat, while others could have three or four. If they want to add value for money, add an extra heat (or two) to every match anyway ...

Kurtz extra ride because they were in T/S territory. By your reckoning, Lidsey would have been scoring well, so the T/S wouldn't have been needed - thus, using your yardstick, everything to do with Lidsey.

It didn't look dusty on the TV. Sure there was dry stuff coming off the wheels, but it didn't show up as clouds drifting over the terraces - not the way it has at, e.g. Birmingham and even Oxford.

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Well, I quite enjoyed the meeting. I've never been a fan of the track, but there was some racing and definitely plenty of incidents - certainly more than Monday night. Heat 6: hard ride by Fricke - he had the speed and the line, and it was very much a GP type of pass. Similar principle to Kerr's pass on Thompson in the SF at Foxhall. Chris Harris: He has reached the highest level of the sport, and produced some remarkable, memorable racing - but what a whinger last night! Complaining about the track, and saying that he'll always do his best to entertain - but forgetting completely how dreadfully poor he was on his home circuit on Monday. As expected, KL's decision to use guests backfired - the benefit of having a strong reserve negated by poor performances that swallowed-up the reserve rides. Leicester by far the better over both legs. PS: Are Leicester going to be allowed a facility for Becker for the rest of the season?

You get the impression that from meeting to meeting not even Drew Kemp knows which Drew Kemp will turn up.

See my post not far above yours. For Klindt to have seven rides, other riders will have to be off form, so there's no overall benefit. The major reason for KL's successes with a strong in-form reserve has been when filling R/R gaps (and against Ipswich when Boughen was replaced twice because of injury).

I seem to recall that Wiltshire was rather good at Arena. Annoyingly, he was very good at Foxhall. A classy rider. It got me thinking about a modern equivalent ... among the Aussies it would have to be Fricke, who is proving to be an intelligent and measured racer.

In May Klindt scored 8+2 from 6 (3 R/R rides, but T/Sd by Kvech). The Leicester riders he defeated were: Kemp and Thompson.

Aside from all that, the point about having an in-form reserve is using him to fill gaps: i.e. at KL: Kvech against Ipswich in the Cup was able to take two of Boughen's rides and also Heat 15, while in the first Prem meeting took three R/R rides. In the second Prem meeting, Klindt took reserve rides in place of Scott & SLambert, plus an R/R, while the in-form Kvech was able to take an R/R and a T/S for the R/R (if they hadn't been 6 down, Klindt would have taken another R/R). at Ipswich in the Cup: Klindt only had 6 rides, a reserve in place of Harrison and an R/R (filling a gap). However, against Leicester: there weren't any gaps to fill (R/R or T/S) ... for Klindt to have seven rides, it needed other riders to be off form, so his extra points made little or no difference - other than avoiding a defeat.

Similar averages?! Cook's GSA: 6.02 6 matches in 2025: 22 rides 22 points = 4.00 + 3 BP = 4.55 Becker's GSA: 7.51 9 matches in 2025: 39 rides 68 points = 6.44 + 7 BP = 7.69 Becker is the Leicester #2 by GSA, Cook is the King's Lynn #5 ...

I've just done a quick edit to the end of your final sentence, to make it more realistic.

It'll be more than the #1 and #6 that will be different. Kvech will be #1, so at least the #5 will also change ...

In a chat on BSN they asked had he changed anything, and he said "sprockets, jets, everything". It's surprising how such an experienced rider and his support team could get it so wrong ...

In a chat on BSN they asked had he changed anything, and he said "sprockets, jets, everything". It's surprising how such an experienced rider and his support team could get it so wrong ...

Technically, Iversen doesn't have to have scored much more, because they are rolling averages, which also depend on the old score(s) dropped. There's only 0.7 between #1 and #6. In August, Kvech will be #1, and the in-form Lawson is fifth! Indeed, if the Stars home meeting with BV hadn't been rained-off, they might have had the opportunity to massage Lawson's score to put him at reserve in August.

But the only way Klindt can have seven rides is as per last night, when a couple of other riders are off form, so there's no benefit.

Maybe he could have tried pushing wider on the third and fourth bends, but he's had plenty of injuries and, as a racer, Kerr I think has always been fair. At Foxhall he was getting abuse from some Ipswich fans for a hard ride against Dan Thompson ...

Didn't even know YouTube shorts is a concept. Why don't they allow landscape - they could call them YouTube trousers.

"Maybe" ... and it's the complete lack of transparency that is still so annoying. Crowds are up! From what to what? Silence ...

Plymouth's crowds might be up on a Saturday night, but (i) by how much, and (2) actually, how many attend? Bet it's no more than a few hundred ...

I've never understood why people insist on filming with their phone in portrait - a landscape view will capture this sort of action.