Teromaafan

Hardly a master stroke because if Scotty has seven rides it highlights the weakness in the team’s top five.

Be interesting to see how they shuffle the rider order next month with Scotty dropping to reserve.

Doesn’t matter what points are available and what you can supposedly afford (money not really a stumbling block as I recall, according to the management before the final 1 to 7 were declared), riders have to want to ride for you.

Your reference to F1 has no relevance to speedway? No, the race wasn’t stopped and the red lights did not come on. This is because there wasn’t time to do so (and no point in view of the stage of the race). Regardless of this, the referee can still make decisions after the race has finished. There is a reason why the SCB are looking in to this.

So if this incident happened before the final lap, what would the referee have done? There would have to be a re-run. When was the last time two riders were excluded when a race was re-started? What would happen in an individual rather than team event? Put simply, when have two riders been excluded in relation to the same incident? When races are awarded, one rider is excluded and race points are awarded to the other three riders accordingly. (P.S. You weren’t in the referee’s box last night by chance were you?).

Fortunately neither Joe or Drew were injured. In hindsight, one of them could probably have got up without the aid of track staff and pushed their bike the last few yards to get a point.

Fair play to Brum. They took the home team to the final heat despite having to carry their ‘No.1’. Early days, but if this what the Brummies can deliver, the league will be all the better for it. The closer the scores of course, the more interesting the return fixture becomes with regard to the bonus point.

Know what you mean, I sometimes take ages to make sure a photo is right!

Could be Brum’s best hope if the Aces turn up on the Sunday instead!

A 15 team league for me every time. The doubling up monster will prevent that from happening though. This would be a big reduction in meetings/income for current double uppers (of which there are far too many), which leaves them in a dilemma. Can’t see any of them taking a financial hit (may need to think about going part time) and some will consider quitting the sport. It will no doubt be possible to find the additional riders needed from somewhere, but your opinion that the overall standard would be above that of the current Championship appears to be over optimistic.

I think your top four is about right. Finishing top isn’t as important as it was a few seasons ago when that team had choice of semi final opponents. It is quite possible that the team finishing fourth is the in form team at the time. Why on earth did they change that rule? I thought it was one of the best rules of the sport.

Undisputed. It’s just that team speedway, by its very nature, is hugely impacted by any injury to individuals. As a British speedway supporter, I want to see the best riders that the league can attract. Because of fixed race nights, the absence of a top rider, particularly in the Witches case, will only weaken the team (any guest for Ipswich would be a downgrade, R/R even worse). The very busy schedules of the top riders, by the law of averages, will result in casualties at some point. The upcoming season is looking like one of the best for some time in view of the riders we will be watching. Having followed Leicester from a kid through thin and ridiculously thin, I think that success this year would have some kudos. (Yeah I know, outside of the speedway bubble that means sod all!).

……..and the latch for the pit gate?

Most of the comments on this thread relating to Kemp pretty much sum him up. He will be 22 this year but has been around a while. If he is going places he really needs to kick on this season and put at least a point on his average (currently just over 4). From what I’ve seen of him he is great if he traps but isn’t that keen to chase down and jostle opponents, particularly in tight situations. We all know he has potential, but that word has a sell by date! Really hope this is his year.

Averages are total points scored divided by number of rides, multiplied by four.

Stop trying to be clever. Brum’s top end are a pick from what left overs were available and could be tempted!

You will have seen Becker race far more times than me and if you think he doesn’t need the protection of riding with the No.1 then I’ll take that!

Might be tempted to put Becker at No.2 to start with. He’s the only one of the top five that has never ridden for the Lions previously and would be riding with Fricke in three of his heats.

If everyone's prediction that Brum will finish 7th turns out to be correct, It will be good news for speedway and Brum fans in particular, as it will mean that they will have seen the season out.

Harsh, but tells it like it is!

Agree that the team (top five anyway) looks pretty solid. Rather than pick up points on the road though, I think they will be more reliant on aggregate bonus points. When meetings are tight, we will struggle to provide back up for Fricke in heats 13 & 15. This is where the likes of Ipswich, Sheffield & Belle Vue will have the greater fire power.

…………..Or easily the best mascot in the league?

‘….we wouldn’t be frightened what the money would be’…. It’s not a question of if, but how soon that stupid statement comes back to bite him.

Not sure what Joe is gaining still racing at this level. Yes he’s getting laps in, but will have very little racing, especially at home.

With all this emphasis on providing opportunities for younger riders, the minute tapes go up for heat 1, the priority for a team manager is to win the meeting. How often has (and will) the objective been to get the RS’s compulsory three rides out of the way? How often does the away team’s RS take their programmed ride in heat 14? Reserve switches are a common match tactic and the stronger reserve will be used where a likely heat advantage can be gained. To compensate, this often results in the RS being thrown to a tougher heat, where nothing is expected of them, but gets them their three rides. How about making it compulsory for the RS to take a minimum of four rides?