enotian

Trouble is Kiwi's have never gone well around Brough...... One can only presume he's been asked and, like many others, decided not to. Must've been on more than the Diamonds radar (doesn't seem to have a Polish team). Like you say he's odds on to add 2 points to his CL average this season. I Think he even had a PL maximum last season. First Kiwi to do so since one.... Mark Thorpe is what SS reported. Almost exactly the same average as Wethers but I suspect heading in opposite directions in terms of points and geography. You can't force these boys to sign if you can't afford to make it worth their while and the reduced CL schedule probably doesn't help either. Crazy this year not to have a new foreign rider on 5.20. As I understand it the assessed averages (normally 7.00) were set so low to actively encourage this approach. Fredrik Jacobsen looked full of potential at Belle Vue on Friday. Easily looked like a 6-7 point CL rider. Again probably too expensive. Nevermind.

Can you have a winning team without a No.1 standard rider? Yes. It's been done. Can you have a winning team that starts 2 points lower than the other teams? Maybe if you've got a team full of riders who'll increase their starting averages. Can you have a winning team that has no No.1 and starts 2 points lower than the other teams? No chance, unless you've got some serious increases in average. Assuming Ludvig and Robbo are in Ht 13 and possibly some Ht 15's and neither are on an upward curve they'll do well to maintain their starting averages. Lewis Rose is on the up but Ht 15's might restrict his potential increase. The rest will swap between reserve and 2nd string so should on average maintain their averages (remember there are not that many 2.00 reserves this season). Add the fact that Ludvig, Aarnio, Wethers and Wilkinson will only have 20 odd meetings all season whilst others have 50 plus can't be good. No point in denying this is collectively a poor team but will it be entertaining??? Maybe but getting tonked every week gets old real fast.

Oh, we really are on a budget then!!! Finances can be the only reason for this when you can sign a highly rated foreign rider on 5.20, if you can afford one. We can now narrow our search for a No. 1 down to somebody who averages under 8.00, lives local and had a good score at Brough Park once on a freak track sometime in the last 10 years or so. Are Ellis Short and Martin Bain in charge of the Diamonds as well??? It's George Stancl isn't it. Yes the reserves will be stronger this season but it's all relative because most others are as well. PS the standard just glad to have speedway applies but even happier it's a short season.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/85085-polish-transfers-2018/&page=15

I don't like either team suits or race jackets. There's no scope for merchandise. i.e. joe public wouldn't wear either out and about as people tend to with football/rugby/cricket/ice hockey/basketball/NFL/baseball kits. The kevlars should be considered as safety kit worn under a team shirt, that supporters could buy replicas of. I seem to remember Boro Bears (and others) trying these in the 90's but the designs were awful, they were baggy and the riders used to cut the arms off to display more sponsors so they looked shabby. Designed correctly they would be relatively inexpensive and could be made available to supporters. Got to be better than those god ugly wulfsport anoraks. Guaranteed to make any new supporter run a mile.

Is it the standard or how successful the team is that determines crowd levels? It is the solution to the Sunday problem though.

Sounds like head scratching is the current state of play. Can't see how we'd be allowed to start the season with guests but I suppose stranger things have happened. Perhaps if Kennett doesn't like the thought of the travel he could sign short term until say May by which point you'd expect who's actually getting rides in Poland to be clearer.

Or, as I posted last week, what division??? If Sunday isn't viable for Championship, it would be in the National League. Sounds like the finances are a struggle at Championship level anyway. Perhaps the U21 semi final will give a flavour of the future.

With less and less riders available to ride on a Sunday and Monday's allotted to the Premiership (even if they were viable as a race night for Newcastle) is National League speedway the only future option for the Diamonds? Having said that I'm almost certain that once a number of the riders who think they're riding in Poland find out that they're just squad members there desire to ride in the Championship will improve somewhat....

In the case of Kennett you can understand, if the money isn't right. Did I half read in the International section that one of the top German(?) ice racers has moved to Newcastle??? Get him signed, he'll be a revelation in this weather! It'll probably be September before this lot melts!!!

What if a rider claimed the points limit was set so low as to exclude their participation? Plenty have been in that boat over the years.

Drawn at Brough in the U-21 qualifier and riding with Ash at Wolves in the Prem.... might go in his favour. Regardless of availability Kennett on 8.3 is a steal when his last 2nd tier average was 9.3 in what was arguably a higher standard league. Remember, there are a lot of blank weekends this season so it's not inconceivable that schedules could be aligned. If not what's to stop Kennet signing as an interim No. 1 until some of those expecting to ride in Poland find out those opportunities are limited. Kennett and Greaves for me. PS loving the Rye on Saturday confusion, hilarious.

Kennett to Lakeside, Lawson to Diamonds????

What about Lindgren, Robson & Morris joined by T Jorgensen, Rose, Wilson Dean and Clegg. Total 42.46? Expected end of season averages based on Morris & Clegg spending the majority of the season at reserve (both their starting averages are after riding mostly all season in the top 5): Jorgensen 8, Rose 7.5, Lindgren 7.5, Robson 7, Wilson Dean 7, Morris 6 and Clegg 5. Total 48. Should be competitive. Especially as all bar Lindgren will also ride in the Premiership. No out and out No1 but if you can't afford one use up the points with riders who can improve. I still fondly remember the season we started with Thorpe and Lamb at reserve. Strongest reserve pairing ever????

BWD is coming over anyway (signed for Somerset in the PL) and I assume will be based in this country, albeit in the south I imagine, whilst Lindgren is now based in Sweden. I don't know how any of the finances work but you can see Ludvig being costly. Otherwise he'd already be on the team sheet??? Sometimes you've got to speculate to accumulate. If you get the right 5.20 rider and he becomes a 7.00 helping your team challenge for the title you recover the extra cost via extra punters through the gate. Plus (whether you agree with it or not) he becomes an asset. With regard to Nicholls availability/eligibility I'm sure once the likes of Cook, Grajzczonek, Masters & Tungate tumble that their opportunities in Poland are limited the Championship will become an option for them.

Decent but can only see Rose, Morris and Bowtell improving averages whilst Aarnio and Lindgren might struggle with just 20 ish fixtures compared to opponents who are riding 50 to 60 matches. How about Bradley Wilson Dean and one of those 5.20 under assessed foreign riders instead?

Isn't the solution to the disparity of wealth not a GB Super League but a Euro League (or in reality the richer teams joining the Polish League) I think the reality is the even the Polish and Swedish "Elite" leagues are not without financial problems and might welcome a new era which I think would represent the first genuine pan European sports league. Probably run/branded by a BSI/One Sport type organisation to administrate on team strength you'd hope it could attract decent media coverage. Eventually developed into a 16 team European league with the bulk of teams from Poland, Sweden and the UK it could eventually incorporate teams/franchises from other nations (Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, even Russia) the 30 meeting regular season should provide enough fixtures for GP standard riders with the teams supplemented by those also riding in domestic leagues. Whilst the standard would be a little lower than the current Polish top division it would be an uplift on the current Premiership. Domestically in the UK there'd be a two league structure. One Championship standard (made up of those Premiership teams not in the Euro league and the current Championship teams) featuring those riders who wish to supplement Euro League racing and those riders based in the UK including youngsters from the National League.

With regard to pairs competitions I agree the 7 team heat format isn't ideal. Plus I still see Poland dominating, although the one off final obviously adds some jeopardy to that. I've often wondered if using the old knock out grand prix format would suit pairs better? I can't quite remember how it worked but I think it was 24 riders so 12 teams and if you lost a heat your next heat was an eliminator. Problem being some teams would only get 2 rides before being eliminated. I've tried to work out a further re-pecharge here https://app.box.com/s/fzngmofjdpxqb3ycqmkihyjmezg8mepe but never got around to finishing it. In the gp format the riders in 1st and 2nd progressed for the pairs the team avoiding last place would progress. Similar to 4-3-2-0 but in this format the 4 points/win means nothing if your team mate is last. Surely encouraging team riding??? Might make the pairs event a little more interesting.

Clearly credibility would be diminished by having made up countries in a World Final but to be fair Cricket and Rugby seem more than happy to include a team representing Ireland. Consisting of players from both the Republic of and Northern Ireland/Ulster which is it's own powder keg. Indeed both sports have national teams made up of many different nationalities. Not just the minnows either. England, Australia and New Zealand rugby teams are often supplemented by South Sea Islanders on spurious residency rules. The Rugby League world cup had a team representing Lebanon which, without knowing for certain, is unlikely to have its own league system and was likely made up of immigrant Aussies not good enough for the Australian team. Makes Holta riding for Poland seem quite normal. So whilst a Milik/Vaculik pairing would be farcical other sports seem to get away with it. I totally agree with the general consensus here that the 4TT SWC format will be a massive miss in 2018. The Swedish qualifying round this year was sensational. Now if Poland's dominance was a problem in so much as there is limited interest in staging the event how about..... ,,,and I appreciate this goes against the ethos of the winners being the best in the world but bear with me....... ......why not have a SWC excluding any SGP riders??? Presently the likes of Hancock, Woffinden & Pedersen have opted out anyway so why not exclude them all. Effectively Poland would lose 4 and the other nations would 2 or 1 rider with the likes of Slovenia and Slovakia never making the later rounds anyway. Certainly Poland would still be competitive and arguably still favourites but it might make the likes of Czech Republic, Latvia and Germany more competitive? Just a thought......

Good point if the sport was decided on a spreadsheet. Luckily it's not. To assert that a rider who averages 4.94 is better than a rider who averages 4.51 is flawed. In 100 match races between the two does the 4.94 rider win all 100? Does he win more than half? The answer? Nobody knows. Granted the wider the range the more predictable the outcome of the match races. Averages can only ever be indicative of a riders ability. If you wanted you could actually work out a riders real average by removing the points they gained by good fortune (in which a rider in front retired or fell or even made a mistake). Statistics are great but they're almost all inherent of dysfunctional results and therefore skewed and without wanting to have riders averages quoted with a standard deviation the rounding to whole numbers or 0.5 should provide a valid indication of the riders ability.

Well if George has got £4k to spend on a holiday I expect Jason Doyle to be our No 1 in 2018!! Clearly I jest. I expect the limited number of meetings in 2018 are an interesting concept for Newcastle regarding stadium rental. Do they rent March to October or on a per meeting basis. Either way I can see negotiations with the landlords being tricky. Also team building could be tricky. Would someone like Ludvig or Matej Kus bother having a UK set up for about 30 meetings. Like it or not doubling up riders have such an advantage and with the new fixed race nights for the Prem eliminating clashes it might be worth hanging fire on team building until Prem line ups are sorted?

Totally agree. Look at the big franchise sports of American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Ice Hockey all crammed full of stats which really add something to the commentary. Cricket being a fine British example to the point where TMS have a resident statistician to point out key milestones. All of which are fairly simplistic averages and rankings adding interest even when the action is lacking. Football doesn't readily lend itself to such statistical analysis but look at the OPTA stats a commentators dream. John Motson is lorded for use of stats. I'm sure it would add colour to speedway if the announcers/presenters/commentators could quote the latest statistics such as a riders average from gate 4 or who has the most points in the league from heat 10. There are numerous possibilities which I'm sure would be collated if a betting company were invited to collaborate. Could even lead to sponsorship opportunities with prize money for riders heading various categories. Just who was the best rider from gate 1 in 2017?? Not essential to the plot but interesting to know. All the best things in life have layers. For some people watching 4 bikes racing around an oval is enough, others like to keep score, some like to know the stats to aid predictions, some like the mechanical/technical aspects and some even enjoy knowing about the personal lives of the competitors. If people enjoy it it's all good. PS round to zero decimal places for team building so it's far easier to make replacements without being constrained because a rider is 0.05 over the rider they're replacing or restricting team building because the total exceeds the limit by a fraction. I recall in the 80's Eastbourne not being allowed to track the team they wanted because their total came to something like 0.01 over the limit. As such I think someone like Darren Standing was forced out of the team on that basis. Nonsensical.

All of which makes you think that using averages to two decimal places for team building is ludicrous. But that's another story. Mind even if the averages were rounded to zero decimal places the limit should still be 42

Whoooosssshh

Didn't Workington announce Bickley a year ago??