PotteringAround

Jack Smith 8.73 Nathan Ablitt 8.33 Dayle Wood 8.00 Ashton Vale 6.38 Ryan Ingram 5.18 Kenzie Cossey 3.25 Ben Whalley 2.00 41.87

That's not how averages work. Obviously it was only going to be a challenge match, so Buxton could use Zmarzlik if they wanted. I just found it surprising to see that they were planning to use a second-string "ringer" that took them over the points limit, when I would have thought it would make more sense to try out a legal reserve, since that is what they will need for league fixtures. As it happens it was rained off anyway.

Sacking one of the 6 riders before a wheel is turned? Seems harsh!

I understand that this is only a challenge and that Max Perry and Alfie Bowtell have apparent pre-existing commitments elsewhere. So no problem with them covering for these two with Rider Replacement and a guest (Darryl Ritchings). But I can't fathom why Buxton are replacing their non-existent reserve with a second string to take them way over the (already too high) points limit. Surely the spirit of Buxton is to bring on young riders, not to chase wins with ringers? Wouldn't it have made more sense to try out a rider who actually fits within the points limit and who could be their actual legal reserve? Owen Booth (above) sounds like a candidate in need of track time?

It's like Richard Branson. They say he's a brilliant businessman, but have you tasted his homemade Vol-au-Vents? I found the pastry too flaky, and not enough filling. The bloke can't cook. I was up for a big deal, but they put me right off.

1. Sheffield - Decent top 3. (Though C Holder on the slide a bit). Need Rowe to perform as last season, and Flint to bring his reserve form into the main body. 2. Belle Vue - Powerhouse top two. If the younger members can keep improving, they have a chance. 3. King's Lynn - Best side for years, but feel more like individuals than a team. If they all fire, they'll be hard to beat. 4. Leicester - Solid enough, but might be lacking in heats 13 & 15 against the above 5. Ipswich - Unless they sign a big name, having Brennan at No.1 is a tough ask. Will be solid throughout, and if the rumour of getting a heat leader like Thorssell on a reserves average is true, it will boost them. 6. Northampton - Unless they have something special up their sleeves it could be Lidsey, Wright, Lawson as top 3. Enough riders out there to build a strength in depth team, but not play-off winners.

Agreed. I could get from Stoke to Brafield in around 100 mins. Maybe 1 hr 45.

Yeah, Rob keeps coming up with these great ideas, but they always have their knockers.

Coming next, the BSN Cup draw....

Louis certainly seems to have been a bit of a "James Hunt" this winter.

The NSS was there in 2018. I merely searched to find every appearance at the NSS. I didn't take into account appearances at the dog track, or anywhere else.

And Emil Sayfutdinov would be a good signing. But like Zagar and Wright, his average doesn't fit the BV second-string berth either. BV needed a 5-point second-string, to complete the team, and seem to have found one of good value. As I say, if Kildemand's age of 36 makes him a bad signing, then we must write off Sayfutdinov, Wright and Zagar too, along with Chris Harris, Chris Holder and Jason Doyle.

Seems to have only ridden the NSS twice. 7 years apart, and double figures each time

Seems a strange take to suggest signing a 36-year-old Kildemand is a poor signing, but a 37-year-old Wright, or a 42-year-old Zagar would be good.

SGP is a world FIM event. Totally unconnected to the BSPL and the Premiership.

Doubt that. Give them a big name first, then reveal some of the lower order before going with another biggie.

Nick Morris and Richie Worrall disagree

When did I say you weren't entitled to disagree? I totally respect your right to be wrong. (even about Screen's age). I don't count Loram as a genuine world champion. Won the world title without winning a single G.P. in a year when there were only 6 rounds with a silly format which mainly required finishing 2nd in a couple of races. I rate Screen as a far more naturally talented rider who could have won real world titles with a little more dedication.

Screen went straight into the top-flight with Belle Vue as a 16-year-old in 1989. I'd rate him better than Loram.

I agree. Top marks for wanting to make an effort to solve the problems, but sadly zero out of ten for execution. I'm afraid it's all a terrible contradictory nonsense. It would take too long to show everything that is wrong, but just to highlight some points: 1. OK, you want 1 league (we'll come back to the problems with that). But then you want just 8 teams in the KO Cup. So what do the other 6 teams do for those 2 months? That doesn't work. 2. You want a 42-point CL level for 14 teams. What's your calculation for this? The CL limit was 40 with just 9 teams. It would have to be much lower than this to staff 14 teams (even if there were enough riders available... which there aren't). You want a "GP or top-level rider at every team". So that's a Monday/Thursday league? Even then, where are you getting 14 GP or top riders from? And how do you fit all the fixtures in on Monday/Thursday only? No chance. 3. You seem to want a 16-heat format, with 3 nominated races. OK. But what about the other 13 heats? You say who you'd like riders to be paired with, but it just doesn't work. It's mathematically impossible. Are you wanting them riding against the same rider every time? It just doesn't work in any way. If you think you can make it work, please provide the heat-by-heat race format. (You can't because it doesn't work). - Then we have one point for a win and one point for a draw. Well, obviously that doesn't work, but it's ideal if you're trying to encourage race-fixing! 4. Well, we haven't got a workable race-format. But let's just assume you have everyone racing the same rider every race. Your GP stars would see their averages brought down to around 6-7. The best reserve would gain an average of around 8 -9 points. I'm sure you see all the problems with riding positions and bringing in injury replacement riders after the first green sheets. 5. Now, you're asking for a 7-days-a-week league instead. So if you're not sticking to the Monday/Thursday league with "top stars", you have just made about 25 "top star" riders unavailable. You now have no chance of filling 14 teams. (You talk about R/R, but this no longer works with your impossible race format, so you need a rethink on that too). 6. No disrespect to Connor King, Arran Butcher, Jack Kingston and Kai Ward, but your teams are an uneven joke. And you've only listed 4 "Example teams". Presumably this is because you have realised that it's impossible to fill 14 teams with a 42 point CL limit. (In fact it's impossible to fill 14 teams at all, as it would need 98 riders, and there aren't that many available). 7. A G.P. style British Championship would be a nice idea, but not economically viable without a big sponsor. A British Championship would need Bewley, Lambert, Woffinden etc, but they wouldn't commit to more than a one-off British Final (But it is the least impossible of your 7 items).

Yes. Didn't you realise he could ride in one big league and do a Friday night in Scunthorpe and Saturday in Berwick, at the same time as being in the Latvian G.P., just by asking for less money!

Exactly. So a pointless exercise in preaching to the converted! Not a single non-speedway fan in the hall, but some misguided souls think promoters should have been there, "marketing the sport" to people who weren't there.

Exactly. Peterborough have an important message they need to spread throughout existing speedway fans in the East Midlands/East Anglia area. It makes total sense for them to be present at a Speedway collectors fair in the East Midlands, which is full of existing speedway fans from the East Midlands. That's a totally different scenario from expecting the Glasgow promoters to make a 600-mile round trip to Coventry, to a hall full of existing speedway fans, hoping to market the sport to some Glaswegians who have never seen speedway before, and who aren't there!

Several people from Workington, who have never seen speedway before, travelled all the way to a speedway collectors fair, and now say they will become regular fans? Pull the other one.