arnieg

'Banned' 'failing' 'despite' 'evidence' - all a little over dramatic me thinks. How about: The standard 7 day sickness protocol, as per SCB regulations, will apply to Dan Thompson who has covid.

Is Kolodziej likely to be fit?

He certainly flirted with Latvian nationality at one stage.

In Russia yes, but as a Putin apologist he's basically stuck riding domestically.

Hard to see beyond Flint or Dan Thompson. Hagon, Boughen and Joe Thompson (+ Ablitt if fit) seem best bets for third rostrum spot.

So you don't want any Poles bar Bartosz, or Max Fricke in the series. Just who do you think should be in the GP's?

Although a 2023 away average of 5.09 is hardly mind blowing.

Paco Castagna is 223 on the list. All the others you quote are in the top 100. Based on 2023 meetings (in practice Nov 22 to Oct 23) covering 900 meetings and featuring over 800 riders here's the top 20: Incidentally the next five are four more Poles and Nicki Pedersen. Note: The exercise involves working out a weighted race average, so for example points scored in a Grand Prix ride are worth over five times those scored in a National Development League match. As the largest league in the world, I have given the British Championship a weighting of 1.00 – tougher competitions have higher ratings and weaker events get a weighting of less than one. The weighting of each competition requires some judgement, aided by comparing the performances of riders who ride in multiple league/events across those competitions.

For top riders the most reliable ranking source would be the Polish Ekstraliga averages. Fricke, Thomsen and Dudek should all be in the GP on that basis. If you want to see some world rankings based on the method you outline see the Oxford Chronicle (formerly Cheetahs Chronicle) issue 1 from this year. [Spoiler alert: Bartosz Zmarzlik comes out at number 1]

It's the 'Zlati Znak' about as important as the 'Teesside Silver Helmet' Line up includes Paco Castagna, Max Dilger, Rickards Anvesulius, Jakub Jamrog, Jan Macek, Den8s Stojs etc

Except you conveniently miss out his 7 at Workington last Saturday and 8 for Redcar at Workington at the start of the month.

Both Bailey and Gilkes have GSAs over five. How many Championshipnreserves have an average under five?

In 2004 Mildenhall rode 41 NDL fixtures. The maximum this year is ten.

And I see covers were used. Aren't we being constantly told by forum "experts" that these are the solution?

Full fixtures are here: https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2024-ndlrc-series/ You might notice there appear to be a few missing

And there must be some examples of double headers where riders have had 13 or 14 races in a meeting.

There isn't but Oxford deployed a tac sub on ht 9 for Cook in yellow) and both Riss and Tungate came out in yellow!

What about the new "double tac sub" rule might have livened things up.

In theory yes, but reception at the ticket office is poor and they often struggle to process card payments. Take cash.

He has an established match average - but so did Janowski. When is it too old to count? So it will either be 9.29 or 8.00 like Janowski. Don't you just love the way the regulations give clarity?

Last I heard was that he wanted to come but couldn't get a visa

That it's so far away?

Fantastic match, with some superb racing, Workington really is a great track. But given my Oxford allegiance more than a little bit miffed by that ht 4 decision.

Well it is considerably more plausible than the Americans claim to have invented baseball

He's still improving and riding far better than last year. Remember he's racing stiffer opposition. Beat Mountain on Wednesday, Knudsen and Toft (both from the back in back to back races) the previous week and of course there was that race win at Ipswich against Jason Doyle