Grachan

So why wouldn't Swindon have signed Darcy Ward if there hadn't been play-offs? A signing which, by the way, has had the immediate effect of increasing Swindon crowds.

What wouldn't have happened? So Swindon wouldn't have signed Darcy Ward and would have spent the rest of the season using a 6 point PL rider at number one in front of crowds of about 500? Is that what you're saying? In that case, thank the Lord for the Play-offs. By the way, how come Belle Vue signed Ove Fundin mid season in 1967 then? They didn't have play-offs then.

Any point starting a topic on this seeing as Armageddon is predicted for tomorrow in Blunsdon? Easy win for The Bees.

You can have more than 2 riders over 7, even if you redeclare, as long as you already had more than 2 riders over 7. So if you have 3 riders over 7 you can replace one with another rider who also has an average over 7 as long as the average is lower than the rider being replaced.

It can be hard to work out what you are babbling on about at times, but if that is a reference to my post allow me to explain. Chris Harris scored 3,3,2,3 making 11. So I went through the heats dropping one place to see what the score would have been. Then dropping by 2 places. Then scoring 0. So if Nick had ridden and scored 2,2,1,2 (ie 7) it came out at 40-50 If he had scored 1,1,0,1 it came out at 42-48 If he had scored 0,0,0,0 it came out at 45-45.

No they can bring in a rider to replace Janowski up to his average. The ruling specifically states that. "A Teams combined MA for the top 5 positions must not exceed 34.00 points nor include more than 2 x Riders, whose MA exceeds 7.00 or 2 Doubling-Up Riders (satisfying the same conditions as for the initial Team Declaration) when re-declared, either permanently or temporarily, except where the MA of the introduced Rider is equal to, or lower than the Rider being replaced. "

The thing is, the rule was made to allow for an equal distribution of heatleaders. Swindon had one proper heatleader at the start of the year, in Troy Bachelor. They had no real number one. Miedzinski was signed as a number one, but he was never one really other than by average. Swindon then lost him in his first match. So we were left with just one rider over 7. Sure, Nick Morris upped his average to over 7, but none other than you yourself was going on yesterday as if he was hopeless because Swindon were using Harris for him, so does he or does he not really count as a proper heatleader in your book? Without a number one, Swindon were stuffed. If the opportunity to bring Darcy Ward into the side was there, and to do it we just had to bring Troy Bachelor down a couple of tenths, then so bleeding what. You can bang on about cheating as much as you like, but the fact is Swindon were in trouble and would have been down at the bottom of the league now and using PL 6 pointers at number one without that. If you'd rather have that then that's fine, but thankfully our promotion showed a bit of nouse and brought one of the best riders in the World in. Now our crowds are up about 33% instead of down about 50%. So good for Rosco. Thankfully not all promotions are satisfied to be losers. Call me a "red tint" if you like, but I'd have said the same about any other team had they done the same.

You know what. TNT is correct. From the regulations: 17.4.1 A Team’s initial Declaration must include 5 Riders whose combined MA does not exceed 34.00 points. This Declaration may include a maximum of 2 x Riders, whose MA exceeds 7.00... From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/initial initial adjective 1. of, relating to, or occurring at the beginning; first: the initial step in a process. (Whoops. Should have read 17.4.2!!!! A Teams combined MA for the top 5 positions must not exceed 34.00 points nor include more than 2 x Riders, whose MA exceeds 7.00 or 2 Doubling-Up Riders (satisfying the same conditions as for the initial Team Declaration) when re-declared, either permanently or temporarily, except where the MA of the introduced Rider is equal to, or lower than the Rider being replaced. Only Riders with a lower EDR Grading may be re-declared for the #6 or #7 positions.)

The issue was that Ward would have given Swindon 3 riders with an average over 7. Bachelor's score meant his average ended up just below 7. Whether or not it was tactics or genuine engine failures is the issue, but I fail to see why people get so hung up on this issue. It's common sense to use the averages to your advantage if you can.

Some tough away meetings remaining for Swindon, who will struggle to find another away victory now. Done well by picking up 4 pointers in the matches where that must have been the goal, but can't see us getting much at Coventry, Belle Vue, Poole and King's Lynn!!

Belle Vue have a points difference of 48. Swindon have a points difference of 19. Both had 11 home meetings now. King's Lynn have had 10 home meetings. Could be any two of these 3 at the moment.

Come on guys and gals. Put your handbags down. Great win by the mighty Robins. Even if we hadn't had a guest and gone with just one rider in Nick's programmed rides, we'd still have got a draw. That's how mighty the Robins are. So anyone who trots out the line that we only won because of Harris is a nincompoop!

So, if Nick had scored 2,2,1,2 Swindon win 40-50. If you drop him 2 places and give him 1,1,0,1 I make it 41-49. I'm sure Nick could have managed 3 points.

Suppose Nick had ridden and finished one place further back than Bomber in each of his rides. That would give him 2,2,1,2 from his programmed rides. Swindon would still be 8 up going into heat 15.

So presumably Lakeside never use guests then? Nick Morris has been exceptional this year, and his average reflects that. With regards to using Harris, it's not Swindon's fault that Coventry's top 2 have been dropping their averages.

How could you tell? Nick isn't riding. So I may as well bet you that he doesn't. BTW, I reckon Nick would have scored a maximum, so let's base it on that.

Bournemouth Echo may not be the most reliable of sources, but an article there said that Matt Ford was disappointed that Ward had gone to Swindon. He said he wanted him to go to Lakeside and a deal was agreed, but Darcy said he wanted to go to Swindon.

Well done PK on a good win in the end, but don't think Tai was at fault. PK was out wide and came in onto Tai, but maybe the fact that Woffy lifted slightly just before influenced the ref. Great for Woffinden, though, despite that. He looked in trouble after 4 rides but kept a cool head as usual. Didn't even seem bothered that he'd been unfairly excluded. Just happy to have increased his lead.

Yeah, I'm seeing things. Houses. On bend 4. If they aren't in the stadium grounds then they're pretty damn close. It certainly looked to me like they were where the old route to the pits was, down from behind the main stand. Am I the only person who finds that a bit of a concern? They are going to build houses over the current stadium. They are building houses now, which will need to encroach on to where the stadium is. Yet there is no new stadium being built. What will happen? Will they suddenly just stop building these houses now, until the stadium is built? I certainly hope so, but if you were a house building company, would you wait? This has to be concern now, because the new stadium i conspicuous by its absence.

Could always start another topic. Why is Cardiff better than Pocking?

So no point having the 1 GP rider rule either then?

The current rules prevent that anyway, with the 7 point rule.

Swindon's number one was out from the first meeting! We didn't have a number one! How is that lucky? Had our number one still been in the team I'm sure he would have been dropped anyway to fit Ward in. Lakeside could have had Ward, but he didn't want to go there despite Poole agreeing the move. He chose to go to Swindon instead.

Swindon couldn't fit Ward in. They had to drop Kyle Howarth.

My memory may be playing tricks with me. Perhaps Arnieg can tell me if I'm right or not. I'm sure there was a 70s match where Doug Underwood was the only Reading rider in a side that otherwise consisted of 6 guests.