JamesB

s There are strong suggestions that Thursday will be one of the two Elite racing nights next season. More non Thursday meetings this year could be the promotion trying to understand the demand if they have to move away from Thursday.

I am not going to judge anybody on the strength of one meeting. Hopefully, that was Castagna and Sarjeant's bedding in meeting. I thought Ritchings did a good job and it looks like there may be some potential there.

Has he been signed as an asset or on loan? The article on the official website initially reads like it's a full signing but then at the end makes reference to Steve Jansen donating half the loan fee to the SRBF.

You are correct. John was a latecomer to speedway having ridden grasstrack from a young age, however many of those who subsequently followed the same route at Ipswich were much younger. John says in his book that he found it easier than most other riders to ride rough tracks because of his background. I guess if you have natural ability on a bike then you have a chance of switching disciplines successfully.

Have a read of John Louis' book. John himself 'just got on a speedway bike' direct from grasstrack as did many other successful Witches riders of the 70's.

I don't really see a stand out team at the moment. Glasgow and Ipswich have gone for the top heavy approach whilst most others have gone for depth. I quite like the look of the Newcastle line up especially as they have 7.2 available for the final pick.

Many thanks for your expressions of concern. I'm happy with the team. There are some ifs and buts, however I think you will probably end up saying that about every team as they are announced. It's all speculation until March. Let's hope for a season of entertaining and enjoyable speedway!

I would expect to see him riding in Europe somewhere.

There's a few references on here to weak looking reserves. Each team has to have an NL 3 pointer, so we're all in the same boat there. I don't profess to be a great expert on NL riders, but I trust Louis as an ex rider to be able to spot one of the better ones. The majority of us wanted a more top heavy team and with that you have to accept that you are not going to have a 4 - 5 point reserve. I think it looks decent and there's only 42.5 points available!

I like the look of that line up, but then again I've said that for the past couple of years. I have never been Risager's greatest fan, but as a second string I think he should be strong and will hopefully average 6 - 7. Covatti has the ability to add a bit to his average and Sarjeant is a stronger option in the main body of the team than Nielsen. I think there is upside in Sarjeant's average. Whether the team is capable of actually winning something will come down to how well Kerr and Castagna perform. I thought Kerr was excellent at Foxhall last season and if he has fully recovered he could be a strong third heat leader. If Risager and Kerr do perform well, that's a team with potentially 3 1/2 - 4 heat leaders in it. AS I say, looks a decent line up with a few who could/should add to their starting averages. Roll on March.

I would agree with all of that. Nielsen is a bit of a concern in the main team, however he did seem to push on a bit towards the end of the season. I would imagine it was a close call between him and Morris.

They change to larger fuel tanks before the 16 lap final which are supplied specially for the purpose by Louis. Having said that, the Consolation final is over 6 laps, so a standard tank is capable of 6 laps.

Agreed. Having only just moved back to the Ipswich area late last year, this is the first 16 lapper I have seen for a while. I thought it was an enjoyable meeting with some good competitive racing in some of the heats, normally provided by Nico doing his normal trick of missing the gate and then charging round the wide line. That boy really is worth the admission money and hopefully we'll see him back next season.

On that basis speedway has never been a professional sport in my lifetime (first meeting at Foxhall in 1969). Prior to the T/R ride, it was possible to replace a reserve or lesser rider with a Tactical Substitute on multiple occasions which must have been an effort to keep the score close.

I'm sure you are right but I think that pressure has a part to play in all professional sport in some form.

The Devils have been on fire, but get well beaten by what looks on paper to be a not overly strong team. How else do you explain that?

As I said, pressure can do strange things. I really thought that the Devils would get at least a point and probably three tonight. They now need four tomorrow. Hope remains.

I thought both Heeps and Manzares were a bit unlucky tonight. Heeps was looking quick and deserved a few more points. Manzares lost his only bike and it must be difficult riding a bike set up for someone else. Does he normally turn up to a meeting with just the one bike?

I would agree with that. I thought it was a pretty decent performance tonight, accepting of course that it would probably have been closer with Cook riding. If Gino's engine had not blown and Cameron not fallen whilst in second then the aggregate scores would have been level!

I am not a lawyer but I would expect that any ban could potentially be challenged under 'restraint of trade' laws particularly as this is intra EU.

I hope their fixtures don't get impacted by the weather. If we are going to stay in sixth, then I would rather it's achieved with all teams completing their fixtures.

Plymouth are stacking up the meetings hard against the deadline. Looks like they will be riding the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

That was as straightforward as they come. I thought it might be reasonably close tonight but the Panthers were woeful, worse than Scunthorpe and Berwick which I didn't think was possible. Trouble at the moment is, it's hard to tell if the Witches really have upped their game at home or if it's just poor opposition. Next week should provide a better sense of the progress.

Finally, some news on the Twitter feed. Witches back to full strength with the Panthers using Porsing at 1 and r/r at 3. Also states there will be a youth second half consisting of 6 heats.

A good win, just a shame it couldn't be converted to 4 points. If both the Witches and Plymouth win their home fixtures then Plymouth need to take 4 points from their two away meetings.