Grachan

Definitely true. Swapping reserves and second strings round is just shifting the points around. I said the same thing when Swindon were having big scores at reserve. What does cause problems, though, is those big scoring reserves then being forced into heatleader positions. That's when there are points dropped. This race format really is a shambles now that reserves can move up. Who was Kurtz guesting for btw? (That's a proper qustion. I don't know.)

If ever a match was lost in the first 3 heats it was this one! We actually outscored Poole over the remainder of the match so I guess restored some pride despite failing to get a point. Well done Poole on their double but well done Swindon for fighting back well in both matches.

Andersen was first in heat 11. That was the heat where he got a second warning and was fined. Heat 13 he moved again. The ref said more than one rider moved so did nothing but call a restart. Hans then moved again in the restart! The ref let it go, but he came last anyway. Hans not being excluded in heat 11 did effect the result.

Good meeting and a good crowd. Found myself locked out of the car park and having to find somewhere to park. Some stretched out races but some decent races in between. Unfair to criticise Tungate. With him and Sedgeman forced to ride as heatleaders Swindon were never going to win, but fair play to Sedgy who adapted to the role very well. Poole were far from convincing. Even with the line up as it was it took a few exclusions and the bizarre decision not to exclude Andersen from heat 11 for them to do it. Why was he not excluded? A rider gets a warning for moving at the start. Moves again, so gets a fine but isn't excluded? Can't figure that one out at all. If Nick had been a heatleader and Rohan a second string Swindon would have won, I'm sure. Poole might kick on now, but will still need more thsn this if they are to be the team everyone expected.

Only if Swindon use a facility.

It's not as big an effect as you might think. If he scores 21 then 3 of those rides would, presumably, be against heatleaders. So he would gave scored 9 of those anyway. Look at the points Tungate scored at reserve. There's no point having someone like Holder there when there are other riders who can get big points against reserves, leaving Holder to beat the heatleaders. If he is on 21 max form, you are basically losing 2 of his heatleader rides if he is beating the likes of Nielsen at reserve.

It makes a big difference. In theory Tungate and Sedgman could beat the riders Grajczonek and Morris are against. We gain little from that. But Tungate and Sedgeman will struggle against heatleaders. So we lose out there. So it weakens us. Holder would be wasted at reserve. I don't see how they would gain from it. You want a reserve that can win the protected heats, but there is no point having someone who can win heatleader races down there.

If we have Rohan and Justin as heatleaders then we could be in trouble. No point having Nick and Josh scoring big against reserves when the other two are capable of dong the same. I think this weakens Swindon a lot, and shouldn't be happening. Poole to win then, unfortunately. If Holder can't bang in the points against Rohan Tungate and Justin Sedgeman then he may as well go back to the Isle of Wight.

I'm glad it's not the Sky meeting. I wouldn't be going if it was. The afternoon start is good for me!

You think Poland would give a stuff if - Woffy apart - they couldn't use British riders? We are lucky to have a rider who is above all others on the World stage. Whether we like it or not, speedway in Britain just isn't a priority any more due to its constant "cost cutting" tactics of the last decade, and also, for many top riders, it is the first to go to the chopping block when schedules get too busy due to its many race nights and also, no doubt, its lower pay rates. If it was, the top riders would be here. Woffinden is doing what he needs to do to maintain his place at the top of the tree. No point standing up for Britain when it's Britain itself that is causing the problem.

What you need to realise is that Poland and Sweden are the leagues riders need to be in these days if they want to make an impact on the World scene. It's not the British leagues any more. The only top riders in the EL are those who are looking for further meetings on top of what they already have.

A fascinating meeting. On form it's Swindon's to lose. On paper it's Poole's to lose. Could go either way.

I loved those 3TT eveents. Maybe because I regularly attended all 3 tracks back in those days of speedway obsession. But to have meetings at Swindon, Oxford an Reading all over the weekend was great for me.

I don't know who told him, but the person at the Swindon forum who said it was Ipswich who wanted it introduced was Matt Ford, who was there as a guest speaker.

I believe you are correct regarding Ipswich being instrumental in the introduction of the Tactical Ride. There was a pre-season forum at Swindon the year it was introduced and it was announced there that Ipswich wanted this and would not stay in the EL unless it was introduced - hence its introduction. And now they are in the PL anyway. Why would Sky want this instead of the old TS, which gave the top riders more outings and made matches closer and more tactical that the TR?

The averages are in a right state at the moment. THey have no bearing on the quality of the rider. The ace format needs to go back to one that gives riders proper averages. If that involves a second reseves race and a nomnated riders heat, I'd even be inclined not to include those in the averages so that heatleaders have a proper hight figure and reserves have a proper low figure. Also, there seems unneccesary complication of what a rider's average is when riding in a different league. For me it should be this: EL - use EL average. PL - use PL average. Whatever their average was, that's their average. Seems logical to me. If they only rode in one league in the previous season then use that one with an assessed average for the other league.

Not such a big call really. Not if you look back through the heats at who Tungate and Sedgeman had beaten and been beaten by. Another very good result by Swindon, who continue to surprise.

What needs doing? I haven't seen the article so I don't know what he suggests.

Depends what new rules they come out with really. It's all very well suggesting tearing up the rule book but they need a viable alternative first.

I can't find the link unfortunately, but there was an article where he said it was ridiculous that he had to ride in the semi final of the British Championships on the day of the GP practice and that he totally supported Tai's decision not to do it.

They already did that this year - to both Mr Woffinden and Mr Harris. Whoever decided that Chris Harris should ride in a semi final on the day of the GP practice is obviously trying to make some kind of point. I doubt Chris will be in the GP next year, but if he were and they did the same I suspect he, too, would pull out going on the comments he made afterwards.

Give the starting marshall red and yellow cards. Yellow card for Cook - cheers from the crowd. Good fun, and no doubt about the situation.

There would be no point Wright replacing one of the Aussies if he was down at reserve, Just because the rider at reserve can suddenly find points a lot easier to come by, doesn't mean they are suddenly better than the riders in the main team. I just wish they would put the race formula back to how it was so we can have proper averages where there best riders have the highest average rather than nearly a whole league of riders between 5 and 7 that tells us nothing.

Some people are making a lot of Swindon's current big scoring reserves, but in reality it doesn't make such a difference. Take last night as an example, and looking at how the team rode. Last night we had the following: Wright: 0, 1, 2 = 3 Tungate: 0, 0, F = 0 Sedgman: 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3 = 17 Morris: 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 = 12 Total = 32 One would expect, if the teams were as they should be, you'd have Wright at 6, Tungate at 2, Sedge at 4 and Morris at 5. If you swap the team round to that order and look at the scores, those people might be surprised at the "difference" in expected points. Assuming the following from last night's form - that Wright beats all reserves, Tungate beats all reserves, Sedge beats all reserves and second strings and Morris beats everyone but Iversen. Also assuming they all do the Hucklebuck, this is what you get (with possible errors on my part - but this is how it came out when I quickly went through!) Wright: 3, 1, 2, 3 = 9 Tungate: 0, 1, 2, 0 = 3 Sedgman: 3, 1, 2, 2 = 8 Morris: 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 = 12 Total = 32. So, in other words, the same. I didn't go through the scores so don't know if it would have affected the TR.

Read Rob Lyon's comments. It's bad when King's Lynn lose too! The only Swindon are "relying on their reserves" is because the riders who should be scoring elsewhere are in the wrong positions. Swindon would be at their strongest with Wright at reserve beating other reserves and with Sedgeman and Tungate as second strings.