Grachan

No. Reds and greens.

My son is colour blind. Couldn't tell the difference between the red helmet and the green one.

Bit of a coincidence, though, that the two teams with GP stars ended up as the top two teams is it not? Sure, both sides made changes, but Lindgen and Doyle were vital in their success. The reason Swindon were able to make that change is because they were struggling at the bottom of the league because of the attempts to force Doyle out of the league anyway, by giving him that ridiculous average which dropped by about 4 points. For Swindon to get its first World Champion in all the time that I have been going to speedway was amazing for the supporters. If clubs need to cut their cloth then fine, just don't force other clubs to do the same. It might not be the case with all fans, but I, personally, want to see the top riders. I'm sure BT do, too, if they plan to continue coverage.

Or, to look at it another way. Keeping Jason Doyle at Swindon might not add 250 to the gate at Swindon, but getting rid of him might lose 250. Also, look at Swindon and Wolves last year. They had GP riders, and reaped the benefits of that with bigger crowds and a play-off final due to having a winning side.

How can it be a ride if the rider wasn't under starters orders? A tapes offence is a ride. A 2 minutes exclusion isn't. (Or, at least, it never used to be.) This seems more in line with a 2 minutes exclusion as the rider never made the start line.

Was that before or after he said that it was good to be riding with a full team that had no guests?

Didn't Jason Crump get in that way?

Great signing for Leicester, and one that might help keep the points limit at a reasonable level too. Good stuff.

For God's sake. It's Vaculik. He's a 9 point rider no question.

As I said, it's lower than Doyle and Lindgren, but it's higher than Morris, Bjerre, Cook & Kurtz. That's about his level, or would you disagree with that? I think, secretly, you know he is worth more than 8, hence wanting him to come in on 8.00 so that he will improve his average.

He's a 9 point rider. Anything less is an under-assesment.

Based on what?

Which would put him lower than Craig Cook, Brady Kurtz and Nick Morris. Is that the standard you believe he is? At the moment we have Doyle and Lindgren over 9. The next rider is Morris on 8,87. I'd say putting him between those two standards is about right. Looking at the averages he has to be 9.00.

I think 9 is pretty accurate for someone like Vaculik. If you consider GP riders were on 8 before the 1.4 hike that took Doyle up over 13, I think it is a reasonable assessment now.

Poole would certainly be the most likely team if he came here, as they are the only one of the ambitious teams that will be looking for a number one. The problem is, as always, that there will be the other teams looking to drag the standard down once again. This would see a possible strengthening of the league so hopefully this would be taken into account at the AGM.

Where? Good news for British Speedway if true.

I think that the top 10 are pretty much nailed-on, but they make it top 8 just to cover themselves for injuries. So that's Holder and Vacilik as good as qualified anyway. Hancock was World Champ until last week, so was also certain to get one. They also needed a Dane, and whoever they picked was going to cast doubts. As a 3 times champ, Nicki just about deserves it, but, as others have said, it feels like the "Last Chance Saloon" for three of them. No point complaining about Lebedev. He never qualified so will have to try again. Maybe he would be a worthy contender, but the outrage about him not getting picked is a bit wide of the mark. Don't the reserve places get decided by positions in the GP challenge, hence Cook being in the line-up? Lebedev wasn't even in it.

There was no sarcasm in my post. I meant every word of it. To get rid of every rider over 6 is a diabolical idea that would kill the sport stone dead. So, what is your suggestion for Ben Barker to do for a living? What team would you suggest for Wolves?

Well, this ludicrous idea to get rid of all riders over 6.00 seems relatively popular in King's Lynn anyway. Guess which team has only one rider with an average over 6.00 so would end up the strongest in the league. go on. Have a guess. Speedway seemed to be doing pretty well about 10 years ago. Decent teams. Decent crowds. Every year since then it's been downgraded and downgraded. It's very frustrating as a supporter to have to put up with this every year. Last year they tried to force the best rider in the world out of the league and failed. Maybe they will try again this year. Let's hope not. This new idea would mean Ben Barker is too strong a rider for the top flight. Any suggestions as to what he should do with his speedway career? Wolves would lose their entire top 5. Swindon their top 4. But, hey, who cares? At least King's Lynn would probably finally win the league.

Spot on. And teams were a lot less even in the good old days too.

So what? I've been singing it all day myself, too. Didn't take long for all the old miserables to begin posting on here, did it? Jason Doyle? A mediocre World Champ? For God's sake people. This was a great World Championship story. What a sniffy lot you all are.

Tungate is a funny old rider, isn't he?

Good new for Freddie there, Steve.

Question. Is Pawlicki still on a warning?

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