InTheDeepStuff

Jason said on BSN that he’d be back riding for Sheffield this Thursday 23rd (Leicester at home). Dan had concussion on Wednesday last week 15th with the 9 day rule he should be out until Saturday 25th.

Bastian Pedersen would come in on a 4.00 wouldn’t he? He’s a very exciting young prospect from when I’ve seen him, just another one with the added cost of travel to/from UK

So Jason Edwards out with his fractured cheekbone with Jack Smith coming in to replace him and Sportowefakty reported that Dan Giles crashed into his own teammate in Poland yesterday and has concussion so that would be him out for what the period of time for his age group is mandated in British Speedway, so Sheffield promotion will be on look out for another guest rider. Can a RS with a Premiership club guest for another RS or does it have to be an unsigned RS??

Howarth has had two meetings where he rode under his 5 point average (the last two home meetings) it’s not like he’s been scoring 1’s and 2’s in every meeting. The testimonial is a stand alone event, plenty of riders have had testimonials attacks where they no longer ride at, hopefully the promotion stick with him and give him the chance to ride into form

No, only got around 8.45 points for two riders if you take out Howarth and Edwards as the team average for May bang on the 40.00 point marker, Kerr and Howarth’s averages very similar but Etheridge over Edwards’ 3.00 points average.

Still on assessed Championship average so can’t double up yet. Also will depend what work permit he’s got as seem to remember Ben Cook wasn’t allowed to double up in his first year on UK

When you win you don’t look at the under performing riders whereas when you loose some fans on their back straight away, prime example when Sheffield won away at Leicester the other month Woffinden scored 5 yet nobody screaming for his head (he had enough of that in Wrocław!). Just seen Woffinden’s interview and might be a bit of reverse psychology re team changes to get a few misfiring riders firing, but personally don’t think TV is the place to air it

He desperately needs to be riding in the Championship, it’s Ok going to practice in Poland and have one smoke blown up his arse, or go there and get zero rides at number 8 for Pila or ride for Grudziadz in u24 league but tracks there will give him nothing when riding in the UK. Dan needs to be watching every race he’s not racing in to help him with how the track is riding, example last few weeks is going for the dirt in ht2 when it’s plainly not there and the inside line is the way forward but he only seems to have one way of riding. A move out of the Sheffield team might not be a bad thing for him before he hits the zero confidence zone that Kyle Howarth seems to be in (we know Kyle can ride a lot better/faster than he is now)

Depends on who Sheffield getting for Edwards with him having a fractured cheekbone. Kyle Howarth got double figures there for Sheffield last season so might be a track he gets some points on the board (like he did away at Leicester), Jack Holder has rarely been beaten there over the last few seasons, Woffinden will be fast there and Pickering will be hoping it has some dirt on it and if Chris Holder gates like he can he’ll be hard to pass there (not sure he’ll pick up points from the back though!) I can’t see it being as dominant away win as the ones in 2023 as team built differently but think Sheffield will get this 42-48

No as in main body of team at start of season I believe that means you opt out of the RS scheme for that season, so Edwards cannot be at number 7 through 2024

I think once Jason went into the 1-6 that means in effect he opted out of the RS scheme, so even if Sheffield dropped Gilkes then can’t replace him with Edwards and bring in another non RS for the number 6 slot, might have been told info on this

People mentioning Batchelor, Vissing etc who have ridden for Sheffield before must have forgotten how they struggled especially around Owlerton! Unless Sheffield can get some untapped talent over from the continent on a low average (Woffinden or Holders’ team mates??) then it might be time to keep as is and help team mates out with advise, support with engines etc

Tye two Sheffield riders under threat have the be Howarth and Gilles. Howarth needs to be looking at his engines, looked the slowest of the 14 riders out there tonight, know he uses family to do tuning etc but whew everyone else uses PJR, Ashtec, Kowalski, BVM etc so maybe time to drop the loyalty and try elsewhere as always going to struggle keeping up if not. As for Gilkes he’s gone backwards, consistently rides the wrong lines at wrong times in meetings (wide in 3 and 4 in ht2 I mean what the hell!) and the bullied by the riders when it comes down to the right moments, the crashes and injuries definitely playing on his mind, question is who is out there to replace the two of them? The Rising Star list gets smaller by the season, what’s left now Pijper, Killeen, Atkins and the J Thompson?? and then a load of inexperienced NDL riders. As for Howarth if you convert his 5.62 from Prem (x 1.5 isn’t it?) to Championship that’s someone with c.8.4 average like Allen, Sedgmen will that make them stronger. A lot for Bates’ and Stead to think about over next few days

Forecast for Wednesday and Thursday not great at moment, hopefully weather doesn’t cause an issue like the other week! if there’s a chance of it being postponed Chapman should post the forecast he’s got to back any decision up Sheffield might need a guest for Edwards if he’s still feeling second hand

Massive home win, 57-33, Aces top three far too powerful for the Oxford equivalent. For Oxford to have any chance of a decent score Cook needs to be on the ‘special’ engine he rode Sheffield the other week if not even 33 might be a push

I honestly think Ipswich have a massive chance on the back of having Douglas in for King. Ipswich’s reserves should get the upper hand when they meet up especially Rew as Edwards and Gilkes not scored too many at home over the three meetings but team built so not reliant on them, Doyle and Sayfutdinov v J Holder and Woffinden should even itself out throughout the meeting, so all pressure on middle order Thompson, Ellis and Douglas against C Holder, Pickering and Howarth. Only C Holder been consistent at home between those three, with Howarth particularly disappointing not getting more than 5 at home yet (only score more than that once all season!). Can see Ellis wanting to prove a point after being dropped last season and Douglas was generally Wolves best rider at Owlerton season upon season. Not many will push Sheffield at home but can see this being an away win 43-47. ** Killeen in for the injured Edwards edging this even further towards an Ipswich win **

Something desperately needs to be done at Owlerton with gate 3 (and possibly 2), so unfair on the riders who have that no matter what stage of the meeting (unless you get away with a roller!), it’s the same week in week out. Either the trackmam isn’t listening to the riders asking for the star line to be dug up completely as like packed concrete now so no chance of getting a rut to use to get off the start, or he just hasn’t the tools/knowledge to do so. Such as shame as you can write off whoever is in the gate which spoils the racing

They could do worse than bring in the likes of Schlein, Sedgman, Barker or Etheridge and as a starter the miss firing Pawlicki, Milik or Lampart, whilst trying to get a proper 8-9 point rider as number 1. They know the UK track and not paying to fly then in and out of UK

Just back from this meeting, Scunthorpe got the upper hand in Ht1 and never looked back or in trouble after that. For Redcar Wright did what was expected, Riss untouched all night, Edwards battled for every point, Knudsen didn’t threaten at all, Bailey so inconsistent you’d think ones be looking over then shoulder at the axe if carry’s on that form, both Mulford and Trigger only picked up a couple of points between them which isn’t what you expect at home. For Scunthorpe the Howarth and Mountain pairing were excelllent, Palm-Toft loooed fast all night, Allen backed io his other heat leaders, Boughen really exciting liked the high wide line all the way around the track (even if he went backwards a few times with the lack of dirt), Lambert his by bike gremlins it seemed and Harrison you can say just getting the experience needed. The big disappointment was the track, dirt line disappeared after 5/6 races, track man kept grading so close to the fence but failed to make tye high line a fast racing one. Stood on entry to bend 3 and was sections of the track crumbling, from outside looking in the track man needs some help from the likes of Steve Lawson, Chris Meredith etc. before it gets any worse and ruins the good reputation the track has built up over the years

Wright looked very slow at Sheffield last night on both his bikes used, so Redcar will be hoping he’s found what was wrong with his kit last night or uses a different engine at home, whereas Riss looked pretty quick and was up there challenging so great timing ti o bring him in as a guest. The Scunthorpe heatleaders of Howarth, Palm-Toft and Allen will all need a performance if they’re re go get anything out of the meeting, Howarth looked a more settled last night, gating was better and unlucky not to score a few more points

Oxford definitely have riders who know the fastest way around Owlerton on their day like Wright and Harris, plus Riss and Cook both won ELRC’s there. Not sure how Janowski will take to it, we’ve seen Poles like Musielak take to it like a duck to water then others Kasperzak, Wodylo, Ulamek etc ride round at half throttle. Tungate is hit and miss for sure around Owlerton and young Boughen only ridden there one when guested for Sheffield last year for his first ever Premiership match and when gated in Ht8 looked fast out front. You’d think for Sheffield Jack Holder will be riding the crest of a wave after the weekends SGP win, plus Woffinden be out to show his result was a fluke and get some race wins under his belt to boost his confidence, both Chris Holder and Pickering rode well in their only home meeting of the year so not to much to say about what they can produce, main concern is the bottom three of the team, Howarth’s form away has been OK just riding to his average, home v Kings Lynn he struggled for speed bar one race last time out which is a common theme (does he need a change of tuner or some tweaks to his riding style??) we all know he can get around Owlerton as good as most of the riders averaging 2-3 points more than him, plus his scores in Championship have been really poor for Scunthorpe in a watered down league, Edwards has been better away than at home so far with Gilles the polar opposite as away been in droppable form yet bagged big points in last three rides v a weak Kings Lynn team. I think this could be quite close, not last heat close but something like a 8-10 home win

He’s seemed to have crumbled in the Premiership over the last few years no matter which team he’s ridden for. Looks like he’s used to winning races in the Championship for fun, but when it comes to Premiership he struggles against both the riders he beats week in week out in Championship and also the top boys in the Premiership which seems to play with his head a bit and that’s when you see the throttling off/bottling first beds and then the axe comes around and he gets into that vicious circle of moving between clubs after only a month or two as we’ve seen over last few seasons.

51-39 home win, Ipswich reserves will outscore Sheffield reserves by at least 6 points, we know both Holder’s aren’t keen on Foxhall, Pickering and Howarth very hit and miss around here also, Woffinden the only Sheffield rider to hit double digits.

Hopefully Morris and co get hold of this early doors and set a standard, ridiculous call off, Sheffield should be awarded the away win, home season ticket holders given free meeting I.e KO Cup, the penalty for Buster being one less meetings income might make him not try cheat the system again

If the track is grippy then that won’t favour Tobiasz as well as both Holders, both he and Jack always wanted Owlerton on the slick side like the Polish tracks. Woffinden can usually ride most surfaces thrown at him and Pickering g and Howarth don’t mind it deep. Can only see Sheffield continuing their winning streak against Kings Lynn but maybe not as comprehensive as the 2023 scores