GS550

Oh dear! Gentlemen please. I get the Summers thing about his points scoring at Newcastle and seems a fair enough point. Maybe a bit naughty to refer to other posters as "knuckle draggers" which if I understand correctly is a derogatory and derisive term meaning, inter alia, "....unintelligent idiot, low level primate, unevolved human". Although I would probably rate myself as one. I guess many of us can quickly go from 'reasonably intelligent adult' to somewhere short of that on social media, says mr perfect here (not!) and as guilty of that syndrome as anybody. A wine gum anybody.

An ailment I suffer from after a curry. Jack Smith - yep having taken the hit this season prob better to keep for next season and reap any improvement. Summers - I agree he's lost some ground from last year and am also unsure whether his average will recover or bottom out but seems his future may be elsewhere.

Appreciate his virtues, but the stats don't lie - with an average of about 7 Robson wouldn't stand up to riding as one of the top 2 i.e. at either 1 or 5. He's also about 40 years of age and on the down slope with little or no prospect of improvement, more likely a reduction in average. I'd gladly take him on say a 5.8 or 6 point average as a second string that can pitch at times like a heat leader but for every stellar performance a 7 point ave rider will have a stinker to balance it out. I'm afraid you can't get a quart out of a pint pot. To be a top 2 rider at either 1 or 5 you want either an established a top liner that's around 9 point ave or a young rider that's on the way up on a rising average and unfortunately Robson fits neither of those pre-requisites.

You sure about that one? Sure he goes pretty well at times. But then so does Summers - at times. Overall the stats don't lie and to get about 8 point average then you will appreciate that on average over the season he is better than a rider attaining a 7.20 average. The other thing is age - at about 40 years of age Robson is doing well but he's on the down slope so little chance of improvement. Same could be said of Summers as far as prospects for improving goes but I'd personally be inclined to take Robson on say a 5.8 - 6 point (slightly false/low) average as a second string that can chip in now and again like a heat leader which is really what a 7 point rider (actual scoring ave) is gonna do imho. And I appreciate you know all this stuff anyway. And yes I don't have any solutions nor alternatives to suggest so I will shut up now.

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Sorry I'm a bit late but only recently seen the two legs on catch up tv. And, after a helpful pm a few months ago from him, i wanted to congratulate "Sydney the robin" by pm but seems not able to accept pm's at the moment. Anyway. Incredible viewing. Its years since I attended BL matches and in recent years its been second tier for me most of the time. Commiserations to Wolves, but personally I don't believe in the playoffs system and from my point of view it was fitting that Swindon being 1st in the league table should eventually secure the title. Incredible drama, incredible viewing. Hearty congratulations to the Robins.

What a load of garbage. Look at the Championship Top 20 rider averages published in the Speedway Star. Given 10 teams in the Division, it follows that, on average, there will be 2 riders per team. The actual rider representation per team, as published by Top 20 averages in the Star is:- Sheffield 3 Ipswich 3 Edinburgh 3 Glasgow 3 (Worrall / Lawson / Summers) Newcastle 2 Peterborough 2 Workington 1 Redcar 1 Berwick 1 Scunthorpe 1 You keep saying riders should have an away average in excess of 8 points. As before the Star's stats show that, with the exception of a rider having only a handful of rides and out for most of the season, only the top 13 riders in the whole league have an away average of more than 8. So on average that works out at 1 per team and which by your own figures Glasgow have. Even in the "improving on last year's average" stakes, your own analysis shows that Lawson increased his average by 0.34 compared with Worrall whom you heep praise upon only increased his by 0.09 and Lawson's is marginally the higher average. Your 2018 team selection which you've listed on another thread - only one of the riders you've handpicked has an away average of more than 8. So you contradict your own ethos. You say you hope Lawson is on the way out. Maybe better if your posts were! You should stick to chasing Miss Piggy.

Well with five grand sweetener to perry for standing down on top of the ten grand appearance money to sarjeant jobs a good un

Non forsit. Beatus auxiliari.

You do realise that you only need either the first word or the last word, not both Apologies in advance. I'll get me coat (yes you're right, that's grammatically incorrect)

So most of these have away averages of more than 8.00 do they

See what you mean and does sound like a good idea. But on the down side chances are the league would be strengthened year on year and maybe not sustainable? At the same time part of me says lets go for it and find out!!

What happens if their own team isn't involved.... but one of their riders is a guest. Does that count.

Haha. That's what I typed to start with and "corrected" it, lol

Great value though. The man's a legend. Brilliant light relief. I mean why bother subscribing to the 'Comedy Central' channel. My sides ache.

But then no as big heat advantages are unrecognised i.e. a 5-1 or for that matter a 5-0. As "Fueltaps" said: "It could also mean 5-1 × 7 and 2 - 4 × 8 meaning a traditional 51 - 39 win becomes a 8 - 7 loss." Which I find ludicrous. Sorry. I agree.

Appears to have been 13/5 ? (Ht 13 3-3, Ht 14 5-1, Ht 15 5-1) You were pretty close though, sorry mate!!

While I agree with the gist, not sure about when there's a genuinely flooded track that is not race-able and genuinely not possible to complete fixtures by the end of August. Under your proposal, taking 2016 season at Armadale as an example, Edinburgh would have been penalised when they had simply been victim of an horrendous weather pattern. So not sure your proposal would be either fair or practical. Agree something needs to be done to make use of dates though.

Well said and says what many of us are feeling.

What do we need changing in Speedway next season? Worth having a look at this thread.... Glasgow Tigers V Newcastle Diamonds Ko Cup 1/4 Final 1st Leg Fri Oct 6th 2017: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=85449 Tells you so much that is wrong with the sport and why so many are just fed up with how the sport is being run. So many factors on that thread and so many fed up and deciding not to attend, e.g. Lawson being absent due to doubling up, other riders injured and not allowed to sign replacements, first leg of KO Cup in.... October!! , etc. Due to doubling up, injured riders but not allowed to sign replacements, other rules relating to who has priority of which rider and/or which competitions have priority but then its not stuck to, rules being changed on the hoof, riders that should be available are not due to ad hoc changes to the rule book, it culminates in..... A first round KO Cup tie in October whereby Glasgow will have only two of their riders, four guests, and r/r. The thread noted above summarises so much that is wrong with the sport and the paying public is just fed up. That kind of tie doesn't interest me and I won't attend, and as has been noted on that thread there is a distinct lack off interest and even the Glasgow Tigers Supporters bus has had to be cancelled due to lack of interest, whereas if they had held this tie in say May then there would have been plenty interest and coach loads would have attended. The people running the sport need to have a long hard look at themselves. I won't be attending either due to the same apathy which has crept in among so many on that thread and who can blame them. BSPA sort yourselves out.

The point regarding 1997 was of course also on topic i.e. de-strengthening of the second tier. In the longer term it didn't do the second tier any harm, and indeed the standard of rider substantially increased in successive years back to where it was, arguably stronger and a higher standard of rider such that many riders can change seamlessly from one to the other (doubling up/down). It may allow a larger number of riders to be utilised and reduce the need for doubling up/down. At least that's the logic. Just an idea. Yes there does need to be a better bonus for finishing first than getting first pick of the other teams. That better bonus should be - the League title.

I feel your pain. This season seems to have been a shambles.

Just an idea, but we could maybe do with a de-strengthening of the second tier, like was done in around 1997 season? I'm sure most of us already know all this stuff but maybe worth a recap. As you may recall the two divisions ("Div 1" and "Div 2" as was called then) merged in 1995 season, thus was formed the "Premier League" of 21 teams. The amalgamated one league format remained for another season i.e. 1996 season. However, in the close season everything changed as the top boys wanted to break away hence the Elite League was born and the second tier retained its Premier moniker. The second tier was "de-strengthened" as they seem to call it so previous second strings under the amalgamated set up now became heat leaders as some of them had been before the merger but now achieving even higher averages than before - given that the second strings and reserves were now of a lesser standard even than before the amalgamation. Prelude now over, there's maybe a call for a similar de-strengthening of the second tier. It seems to me that the difference in standard between the top two tiers is much less then it used to be (e.g. old BL/NL of the 80's). I know that some of that is due to not attracting GP riders as once was or World Finalists pre-GP days. Nevertheless, the difference in standard between second and top tier could maybe do with being restored by de-strengthening the second tier. This would enable young up and coming riders to be utilised and the tendency for doubling up could be reduced - a top rider probably wouldn't want to "double down" so much anyway. So doubling up/down could be limited as some appear to want (e.g. limited to British riders only) and it may be enough of a compromise between those that reckon doubling up should or has to remain and those that don't think it should be there at all. My mate Spanner may well be swung by this (thanks for getting back to me mate). That's just my take on things. But really we're all on the same side, we all want Speedway to flourish. That we have different ideas on how to get there is a good thing. The more the merrier.

I could do with a proper rest meself

Maybe better to "attack the post not the poster" as the saying goes. I made a valid point, namely regarding Bewley, tbh I only expected a reasoned point in reply. So the shoe appears to be on the other foot? You close by saying "Goodbye. I won't be looking at this thread again". Well that's entirely up to you. Enjoy your speedway.