Grachan

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?

Other years are also available!

League champions. World champion. Gotta love those years that end in a seven!

I suspect either Musielak or Bellego will have to go. The real worry is if the turkeys vote for a low points limit yet again and Swindon become unrecognizable from the team that won the title. That is not good for business.

Thanks. I did later find it and edit my comment. I originally found a different article.

It seems more and more common these days to see clubs putting very amutuerish statements out on their websites which are not-very-thinly veiled criticisms of riders and/or supporters. This one is a classic example. If they want people to attend their end-of-season event then make it an event people want to attend. Having said that, riders wanting payment to attend does seem a bit odd, but I don't think putting these type of statements out on websites make a club look professinal.

Because he would have been on an average of about 6.5.

Swindon actually made less changes than anyone apart from Belle Vue.

By loophole, I meant his average was an old average obtained in a league before the multiplier was added in 2017. But he was there for anyone to sign if they wanted him. He was probably signed on the basis that if he rode to his average it would plug the gap in Swindon's team. I don't think many people expected him to do as well as he did.

Another way might have been to ride well, increase the team average, get Sedgman up to a decent average, then, after sacking him, sign Musielak instead of Tungate. The loophole was Musielak's average. Belle Vue missed it. It's often been raised as an issue in the past that teams such as Poole have found it easier to strengthen when doing well duebto higher averages.

Also worth pointing out, of course, that Belle Vue were up near the top of the league when they made changes - and sacked a rider who was riding well to bring in Tungate on what they hoped was a false average, sacking a rider who was riding well to do that. Swindon's changes were brought in when they were struggling to beat an egg, and Musielak was brought in to a troubled position that had struggled for points all season, resulting in poor old Swindon being near the bottom of the table much to everyone's amusement. Having said that, though, Musielak's 4.53 average worked in our favour as it was achieved in a stronger league.

Although, technically, they didn't get the trophy for finishing bottom. They got it for winning the tie, as did the team that came top. If someone wants to put a trophy up for any meeting, I don't see what the problem is. The trophy was probably put up by someone and may have been separate to the relegation issue.