Grachan

A decent effort from Swindon considering the weak bottom end of the side, but gave away too many 5-1s, which we couldn't afford to do. Having not being there I can't give an opinion on heat 15, but the opinions from the Swindon camp (and the ref, obviously, who didn't exclude anyone) are very different to the King's Lynn "hooligans" (to quote Rosco), where first bend bunching is clearly the order of the day. Good to see just how much Batch has got into the King's Lynn psyche, anyway. He does that.

Maybe they haven't confirmed any replacements yet.

Johnny Marr is a Belle Vue fan. Morrisey even wrote a song about him and called it "Speedway".

Ellis, Wajtknecht and Smith all missing for Swindon.

Not if you are using Championship averages and a 0.8 conversion. It weakens ALL the top flight clubs by over 6 points each. (This is all for if the leagues merge by the way. Otherwise there's no need to apply CL averages to the current PL sides))

If you had give my post more though, you would see that each team would NOT be strengthened. All the teams in the top flight would be weakened. But it gives them leeway to have strong sides and stops it going down completely to CL level - plus you get the "illusion" of the high points limit to keep people happy. With a conversion rate of 0.8, all the teams in the top league would average over 50 at present if that is applied to their current 1-7. Why is the conversion rate not realistic? It is based on a random sample of riders using their actual rolling averages. Cook: PL 7.64 - CL 10.23 = 74.68% Worrall: 5.81 - 7.62 = 76.24% Morris: 6.91 - 8.83 = 78.25% Ellis: 6.49 - 7.92 = 81.94% Wajknecht: 4.33 - 5.24 = 82.64% Harris: 7.05 - 8.11 = 86.93% Schlein: 8.00 - 8.79 = 91.01% Average percentage = 81.67%. Perfect for a 0.8 conversion factor. Doyle at 9.69 converts to 12.1 so 12.00 is pretty fair. Oh, and he's already desireable to fans. Because he's the World Champion. So why shouldn't Somerset have him if they feel it is within their budget?

I'm a paying customer. I don't need to provide a solution. That's not my responsibility because I am no longer a "real fan". I'm the guy sat at home watching the telly who needs to feel inspired to go. Weakening the league even further will not do that. All I know is that, at the moment, a sport that used to inspire me to go every week now barely gets me out of the house. Here's my idea. Yet another dumb "save speedway" idea. Have the league at Championship level if that is what people want - ie have Championship averages. But, also, have a high points limit so that teams who want to be strng can be so. I know it's a weird idea, but not having all teams equal might actually attract fans in to watch good sides. So, make appoints limit of, say, 45 or 46 - just to give a bit of leeway in team building for the stronger sides and make them attractive. Then use the Championship averages if you so wish. So, what do we do with riders who only have a top flight average? How about giving them an average based on reality that won't force them out of the UK? Take a random sample of 7 riders who ride in both leagues - Craig Cook, Richie Worrall, Nick Morris, Adam Ellis, Zach Wajtknecht, Chris Harris, Rory Schlein. THe averages converted at 0.82. So, if you compare their averages in both league, the conversion is about 0.8. So, for riders only riding in the top league, give them a 0.8 conversion. This gives Jason Doyle an average of 12.1 - so, just to be sensible, make 12.00 the limit. Still pretty high, yeah, but still worth having if Swindon's title win of last year is anything to go on. So: Championship averages Points limit of 45 Conversion rate of 0.8. Maximum average of 12.00. Won't solve the World, but might stop it ending completely.

Why "get real"? I think that what I said was correct. As the standard drops, so do the crowds. And, yes, I am dreaming. Dreaming of a time when Speedway in this country was of a high enough standard to attract casual supporters. You know them? The ones who get criticised on here for not being "real fans", but pay to watch when there are decent riders on show. Sure, there are people who are happy to see speedway at a lower standard, but, the fact is, that the lower the standard then lower the crowds. That's just the way it is. And, surely, if Somerset, for example, want to have a big star rider then why should they not be able to have one?

So, dumbing down again. Always this is the answer, and always crowds drop as a result.

I think that's a valid point, and, as you say, it is encouraged by the rules even if it is, technically, cheating. The average manipulation we get now is because the points limit is always too low so it is the best way to get a stronger team later in the year.

The rules did not allow him to do it, otherwise it wouldn't be cheating. You could say it encouraged cheating, but there was a rule saying riders had to make a bonafide attempt to race - although being excluded for that would, ironically, have counted as a race and lowered his average. I remember Rickard Hellsen making the most obvious bad final turn too, enabling to be passed after the rider in front had an engine failure. He'd already signed for Long Eaton for the following year and came perilously close to averaging over 6.00 in that moment.

Because he was cheating. That's his fault, not the league's.

Is Ronnie designing the track? Surely there should be some rider involvement in how it should be. I believe Chris Morton designed the Belle Vue shape, is that correct? Martin Ashby and Mike Broadbanks are at Swindon every week. Surely they could be involved? Or Barry Briggs.

Definitely. That initially opened the floodgates, although more in terms of overseas riders rather than the actual standard. Didn't Swindon once sign Gordon Kennett as their number 8 after he dropped down?

I remember Dave Jessup and Gordon Kennett also dropping down, amongst others. It started to get a bit silly when Bo Petersen and Brian Karger both signed for Arena-Essex.

There was nothing wrong with that rule. It meant we had a proper first and second division. Sure, people like Simmons may have dropped points to drop down, but at least it kept the leagues at a standard they are supposed to be.

King's Lynn lost. If Lambert had scored as expected they would have won. Seems pretty important to me.

Ebdon was consistent that day and excluded anyone who touched the tapes from either side. I had this meeting on tape for years. There's also an interview with Carl Glover, who says he told them before the meeting started that this would happen, so they couldn't argue about it. As for last night, my issue with it is that Woffinden was at the tapes and ready to race, but, because the Poles were dicking about, he moved back and cooled his clutch and waited for them. Then, as soon as the two Poles were ready, Woffy moved back to the tapes, ready to go. It was an outreageously bad decision, although, the way Woffinden rode last night, he may well have run a last in that race and wouldn't have reached the semi anyway, so not as disastrous as it could have been. I do think it was a biased decision from a Polish ref, though. That, plus Doyle's warning, should exclude him from any future GPs.

Nobody would want to finish top if that happened. They'd miss out on a big crowd for the semi.

Fabulous meeting, just slightly ruined by the anti-climax ending to heat 15. Every meeting I've seen from that track has produced fantastic racing. Heat 13 was an absolute classic. Doyle, Holder and Cook going at it hammer and tongs with Fricke at the back and seemingly a spectator to it all. I'm still not sure how he managed to win that! Well done Belle Vue on reaching the play-offs. It would have been a travesty if thry'd missed out thtough Bewley's injury.

Are these the real dates or have you made them up? It's hard to tell sometimes.

I think you've spent too long supporting Poole.

I don't think one Reading supporter constitutes "Swindon fans on the whole".

I think Somerset would like Swindon to get into the play-offs and be able to choose them, because of the local derby aspect and the fact that they should be able to beat them.

Saturdays would have been lost to the GPs though. If GB had embraced Sundays when they had the chance, they would have had that slot now probably. Poland, presumably, started using Sundays because it was the only day that was available.