Noelinho

Hausl is young. He should improve. Lambert's scores are heavily padded by beating very junior reserves in heat 2. You don't get to do that riding at 2. His Scunthorpe performances have not matched his guest appearance at Ashfield.

It wouldn't be an upgrade. It would be a facepalm.

After one loss? Doubtful. It was still an entertaining meeting. Plymouth next. We've already beaten them at home once this season.

By my reckoning, Hodder outscored Max 41-34 head to head last year. He was also much stronger at home, where Max struggled (he had a higher away average). They definitely kept the right rider IMO. It seems other teams agreed, given Max didn't pick up a spot until Workington replaced their #7. His championship average has progressed, but his national league average hasn't. To me, that says Max has hit his level. Freddy's average progression has been slow, but it is still going up. That said, when I watch him ride, I'm not convinced there's a lot of progression left. He often chooses the wrong lines and looks tentative.

Time to create the West Coast Cup?

None of our team were up to scratch today, totally deserved to finish bottom of the group. Hodder is tentative, Sam isn't gating, Mario doesn't seem to have a good setup most of the meeting. I don't know which of those problems you fix first. Big loss at home even though the ref was quite happy for Leon to take out an away rider in heat 5. Without that, Edinburgh would've hit 50.

I’d be very surprised, given a rider like that would come in on an 8.50 average and never be available even if we did.

On recent form, the only thing he’s in danger of banging in is the air fence. I also hoped to see more from Loftus this season. I would have been delighted if he’d signed for Glasgow (though not a fan of poaching), but so far he’s not lived up to what I hoped. Both teams need more from their reserves. The weather is looking very grey, but hopefully any wet stuff falls somewhere manky like Maryhill.

It’s £1 more than the Monarchs charge, and the same price Berwick and Poole charge. Yes, last week was a trial, and that’s why it was cheaper. This is the normal price.

Glasgow are streaming it for £13.99: https://tv.glasgowtigers.co.uk/

I agree in principle, but I also know if we do that and guests become 2-point NDL riders, crowds will get worse very quickly. Guests of a similar calibre do at least mean we usually get good racing even if the system frustrates. Chuck in two-point riders and no-one will be satisfied. I guess if only one rider is missing, R/R isn't terrible, but I can think of quite a few fixtures where it's been multiple riders. Ultimately, might not be an issue past this year anyway, because how many riders of that level be left racing here?

Not to replace our reserves, they won't. Want a rider on a 2.00 average? Needs a British passport.

So which three riders would you sign to replace Mario, Sam and Freddy? I think you have 11.11 points to spend.

Let's be honest, we knew we hadn't done enough last night. I have no love for the KO Cup anyway. Of all the competitions, it seems the most pointless, with the number of teams we have. Never mind.

But Steve, he didn't even get a full max at home to Berwick. Relied on a paid one. Dreadful. He should probably retire and let the young guns like Scott Nicholls have a go.

I'm not so sure about that. With a year of experience in the UK, I'd think he'd be a good prospect to improve his average the next year. I'd hope his average second half of this year shows a good improvement on the first half. We'll see.

No one on here is getting their speedway opinions from a Camikaze comment on a press release, surely!

Mario is not even close to one of the hottest prospects on the international stage. He's a decent rider and if he's hitting 5-points regularly at the end of the year, he's doing his job. The level of expectation here is bonkers.

His points score has been helped by others not finishing in the same race and when he doesn’t gate, he doesn’t look like making any progress. Maybe he will come good, but he’s looked more like the rider that struggled in the middle of last season than the one who did well at the end. Freddy really needs to beat his average, and put a point on it. As a third year rider in this league, an average under 3 points really doesn’t cut it. Progression is an expectation this year, although getting the tyre pressures right is a good start…

Indeed. I saw after Mitchell Cluff’s first home meeting at Armadale a couple of Edinburgh fans suggesting he should be replaced by Max Perry. The grass ain’t greener. Best feed what you’ve got. I think it’ll generally be a tight league this year and I’m all for it.

I am more concerned about Freddy than Mario, but as always, the question is: who would be better?

This is the realistic view. Anyone looking for Mario to be another Villads will be disappointed. He's not. Villads is an elite prospect, an established SGP2 rider and an SGP3 medallist. Mario is not. Yes, he has a team medal, but that's from one meeting where yes, he did really well, but you also need to keep it in perspective. If you compare Villads to Mario in the Polish league last year, there's a big difference. In the second tier, Villads was 7th in the averages, Mario was 35th. Converting to British style averages, Mario averaged 4, Villads averaged 7.4. Villads also comes from Denmark, and their tracks and climate is a much more natural transition for a rider coming to Britain. None of this is to say Mario is a bad signing. I always saw it as a risk, and a much bigger risk than Kevin Juhl Pedersen, but one well worth making. What matters is his progression come August/September. He will struggle at some tracks, but the hope is that he learns and comes back stronger next time he sees them. I'm sure he'll be fine at home once he's had a few race meetings too, which is always different to practice. Give the guy a chance, but don't build him up to be something he was never going to be either.

Loving the 80s gay disco music. The racing isn't too shabby either.

Forecast is fine. Comparing the presentation of second tier British speedway to pro darts is silly. The equivalent is pub darts. The presentation is done by amateurs, and for all its faults it’s no worse than plenty of football presentation. On the list of reasons British speedway is failing, it’s not making the podium. I will say I did enjoy Greg Blair at Berwick, but otherwise I’ll shove my face full of sugar donuts from the first bend and chat to people near me. Tigers win. Looking forward to the club anthem blaring out as people leave when the match ends.

I expect Mario to struggle. Kevin might be OK but will likely be outscored by opposite numbers on his first visit. I'm pretty sure Edinburgh will win but let's see how our new boys adapt during the meeting and see how our reserves stack up. The 1-3-5 boys should be fairly equal and entertaining.