Noelinho

Also, maybe they could allow guests who have been attached to (and ridden for) a team in the current and previous season?

Winning the league is really not a big deal for me, as long as we're generally at the sharp end and entertained. And we are. I think the majority of the fans here would take the racing over trophies too, as long as we're generally doing well.

We have some mad rules, that's for sure. I didn't know that one either!

My main objection to the current system is that only league fixtures count. All competitive fixtures should count, for me. I would set an upper limit to riders’ averages - 9, perhaps. Prevents the top riders from managing their averages to remain employable. I would be tempted to reduce a team’s building average slightly every time they make a change. But that could reward mediocrity… maybe it would be counter-productive. Maybe you could get rid of R/R and that would give some of these riders more opportunities?

Yeah, he was chatting next to me after the meeting and didn't seem too bothered about it.

There were four heats with no passes.

Good meeting so far. 12 passes in 10 heats. Redcar are well in it, I'd say it feels quite even overall. Marcin Nowak has been a bit off at Ashfield recently though, and he needs to start scoring a couple more points each meeting really.

Shots fired.

Fun fact for you: Lee’s best heat statistically at home this season? Heat 2. It’s not even close. 13+3 from 8 rides in heat two (6.50). 14+5 off his other 22 rides (2.54). If we’re going to slate the guy let’s at least get our facts right!

This only really helps a team if they don’t want to keep the rider finishing in front. Although it helps to suppress the average of the rider getting the bonus points (which will definitely help him), it doesn’t materially change the points average for the team… unless they want to let the lead rider go.

Maybe I should point out, tonight is Redcar and this is the Pirates thread. There’s still two weeks before the handbags on this one!

Ashton Boughen wasn't an option for this week, so that's a pointless suggestion.

I would hope for more, but it shows he wasn't the weakest link.

Well done Poole. I only saw heats 2-4 but doesn't take a rocket scientist to read between the lines. You have to ride what's in front of you and at Poole, that means gating. I don't understand why people would rather watch gating than racing, but they make it work and people pay, so that's how it rolls. Surely experienced riders can learn to set their bikes up to gate there, at least after they've had a ride? Anyway, on to Friday. Might not be a trophy, but plenty of passing, and that's what I like to see.

On that logic you just get 5x6-pointers and 2x5-pointers. Now you've got 7 "scorers" (whatever that is, but why isn't a guy scoring 3.43 on a 2 point average considered a scorer? It's more than twice Ablitt's average last year!), so one more than Poole last year. Sure fire winners! Also, even if there are "other riders available", we don't always get to choose them. They're allowed to choose to ride elsewhere too. You can't just assume you can pick 7 riders and leave the other clubs to what you might think of as the scraps.

Absolutely. But if you have an extra meeting per week here, you might drop one other country where you ride. And if overall you ride in fewer places, it would help with scheduling a little.

Our Redcar rematch was a Tuesday, so it might make sense to do it again. Not sure which nights are better for the gate.

They're not normally hard. I think the issue with 14 July is the track is already in use on the Saturday and Sunday, so it's a lot to ask of volunteers. The following week it's rider availability - would've been a good date for the Oxford rematch. Not sure who is not available and why for that date.

From what I've seen, it's unlikely to be a Friday. 14th and 21st July are both free for both clubs, but sounds like they're not logistically easy for the Tigers. So it might end up being a Sunday or Tuesday. I never know which of those days is preferred. We seem to fluctuate between the two when racing on off-nights.

Maybe if there were more fixtures in the league, riders wouldn't feel the need to ride in quite so many different places? That's part of the issue. You can't make a living on one meeting a week, and let's be honest, it's barely that over a season right now.

You say Marcin is weak at 5, but then you also say reserves are more important. Well, if Marcin is weak, you need someone with a higher average. But then if the reserves are weak too, you need reserves with higher averages. So you’re now shoving in three riders with higher averages. Out of Bomber, Claus, Tom and Ben, who are you kicking out to make way for those in your team building? And when you’ve done it, was it worth it? Does it makes the team better to get rid of any of them? Theres more than one way to win. We saw Peterborough win with strength in depth. We saw Poole win with a reserve averaging 1.5. To be honest, the one of the biggest factors is healthy riders in September.

It's still June. It's the final. It's not going to be a problem to finish it. But I suspect that would be the new date. The only other free Friday before September is 21July, and Oxford makes a lot of sense for that date as we are away there two days earlier.

Maybe, but I'm not sure the promotion would really want to run on an off-night at this stage of the season. We ran a Tuesday against Redcar but I think that was because with both teams being Friday nights at home, fitting the fixture in another Friday was going to cause issues. Both teams are available on Friday 14 July.

Nice rant, but did you know Claus has increased his average from 5.00 to 5.69, and Marcin has increased his average from 5.00 to 5.94? Or that Ace, who "won't help us win anything", has exactly the same home average as Lee this season? Our top four have better averages than Poole. Their reserves have higher averages than us. Which will prevail at the end of the season? It'd be hilarious if it's Redcar, because currently they have worse averages at both ends, and they've beaten us twice!

I really can't see this happening on Friday. Forecast has been for rain from midday Friday, and it's been that way all week. May as well write the comments now... although I noticed no-one seemed to question Edinburgh failure to call off before last Friday's meeting...