Noelinho

Easy win for Berwick

The “young guy off BSN” was Greg Blair. Didn’t hear the comments about the little fat man, but I was probably annoyed because having waited 30 minutes for my chips, they got cold really quickly and some of them got blown away in the wind!

On the first question, gates open for riders two hours before a meeting. It would be pointless to test them before they go to a meeting (they could just take a banned substance after the test, then go to the meeting!), and that only leaves a small window before the meeting starts. You test them before the meeting rather than after, because it’s a safety issue. This is different than to say, athletics, where safety isn’t such a big concern in, say, the 100m, where you run in your own lane. On the second question, I do agree it seems a bit daft not to test everyone when you’ve bothered to send someone to do the testing (side note: remember, the testing costs more than just the cost of the test itself - you have to account for people and processing). It also gives people the opportunity to argue others might have been caught if only they’d been tested too! In athletics, they usually test the podium positions and then others are random, but that’s because it’s done after the event. I personally don’t have a problem with the way the rules are set up right now. It’s a preventable problem. And even if you could get a different rider in, who would come in on a 3.50 average and do much better than Ace did? The only other solution I can think of that hasn’t been floated is to just not test, but I’m not convinced that’s a great strategy!

The difficulty on the night is who can replace them in time? Connor Bailey was at the track, but his average is too high. On a purely practical level, it's difficult to replace a rider at such short notice, and whilst a number eight is an option, we all know teams won't take one to every meeting because it's another expense. We only used one in the playoffs because they were the playoffs (and we were already running R/R). In normal matches, no teams really going to do that. In terms of re-running a match later, I think fans might find that even worse, if they've paid to see a meeting that then doesn't count. It's a tricky problem to solve when the rider system isn't a squad system. Football teams bring more than 11 players to a match - it makes it much easier. I don't see an easy, cost effective way of doing it in speedway.

I don't know. I didn't see him and I didn't ask. He wasn't on the track walk (but I'm guessing the rules wouldn't allow him to stay in the pits or with the team anyway).

There were a number of stories doing the rounds at the meeting, what you hear just depends on who you talk to. We'll just have to wait and see.

It was fine - much better than people had said to be honest.

I thought we won the league because we snuggled Artem Laguta in with a moustache?

Some good racing tonight. Maybe because the Glasgow team has some former Bandits in it. Can turn it around at home, and would've taken a 6 point loss before I turned up and before Lee was excluded from the meeting.

They probably need different engines tbh, so not going through happen. They always say it's the engines.

Since he can't race, could he help them out in the snack bar? It's painfully slow.

No stream today.

What’s all this English chat doing on a Scottish fixture? English chat for English threads!

Looking forward to this one. Looking forward to seeing a stronger Berwick team, but not too strong, please. Doesn't look like rain will be an issue, so that's good.

It can be lots of reasons. They might want a challenge at a different track, they might not like the travel, somewhere else might fit in better with other commitments, they might want different people around them, a better deal, perhaps they can ride at a slightly different position somewhere else, maybe they just feel they need a change to unlock something that feels missing. Or maybe they just want to mess with people’s thoughts on internet forums! Probably not a high priority that, actually…

I don’t think the change was exactly forced on Tom, my understanding is he didn’t clarify whether he wanted to come back or not, and it got to a point where Glasgow couldn’t wait any longer. Regardless, I think the change is a good move for him, and he’ll be under less pressure this year, which will be the biggest help. He certainly showed at Poole in the playoffs that he can ride the track, and he’ll be particularly good away from home. He was better away from Ashfield than at Ashfield last season.

Agreed. Forecast for Friday is awful.

Let's remember, we had Dayle Wood riding in this league last year. We've seen worse than her.

Maybe Berwick might be in with a shout as well? I suspect the Northern group will duff each other up too much.

There will be a bonus point for the aggregate against Poole though, won't there? Anyway, good point about best second place. I hadn't thought of that.

Used to, but I think they removed that restriction. Not sure though - think my season ticket would be cancelled if I bought an Edinburgh stream!

Yes, the photos definitely look a lot better than the drawings.

That is one reason Glasgow don't stream. They say it goes affect their gate.

Depends a bit on mentality. Some feel a lot of pressure from it. Others aren’t bothered. At Glasgow last year, Tom was definitely the former, and Bomber was the latter.

Nothing will galvanise Edinburgh to the playoffs this season! I did have to laugh at Sedgmen saying they could do special things if they "all ride above their level, which I know we can", or something like that, to BSN.