lucifer sam

Tai Woffinden. Rode half the season with a dodgy collarbone, and still racked up the GP points despite that. All the best Rob

Steve Worrall, Max Clegg and Danny Philipps? It's rather flattering that Cradley are trying to win the 2014 NL title with the 2012 Scunthorpe Saints riders. Might have to see if I can pop up a couple of times during the season. All the best Rob

Have we done something to upset you, Old Williamson? All the best Rob When did they shut? All the best Rob

The Oxford fans couldn't get a word out of the bloke. And a few years later, we found out why!!! All the best Rob

My subscription copies arrived earlier than usual... on the Tuesdays (Dec 24 and Dec 31). Another good reason to subscribe, I guess. Need to find time to tackle the Gary Havelock feature - this series has been tremendous. All the best Rob

And Erith... nowhere as usual... eh Williamson? All the best Rob

Apologies for that - it was supposed to all go out at the same time (last Thursday - an update to the website did say that the news was now going to be out within the next fortnight rather than the next week), but some computer problems put paid to that. Sorry - we do try to co-ordinate the news between the Telegraph, Speedway Star and the Press Releases, but it all slipped out of sync this time. But let's concentrate on the postivie, which is a very good new team sponsor for the Scunthorpe Scorpions. All the best Rob Peasley (Scunny Press Officer)

A very top heavy team. Might work, might not. All the best Rob

I find the site a fantastic resource. Looking forward to Parsloes third tier site as well. All the best Rob

There wasn't a points limit as such, it was a grading system, based on age as much as averages. It's how Scunthorpe were able to retain the vast bulk of the 2006 team for 2007. Very strange league in 2007. Scunthorpe, thanks to the grading system, put a team together no-one could get close to. The league's best rider (Tai Woffinden) was only a Grade 6, as was Josh Auty. In turn, Oxford had a side which the next strongest - nowhere as near as strong as Scunny, but more powerful than the rest of the teams. It led to some very lopsided scores - Oxford 71 Sittingbourne 21 and Oxford 70 Cleveland 18 spring to mind. And I think Scunny had the best-ever away win recorded in a league match (at Sittingbourne?). I remember being team manager for Oxford at Scunthorpe in 2007. We got battered. I think we lost 35-58. Rob Godfrey came up to me after the meeting, shook my hand and congratulated us on being the best visitors there that season. Grading systems just do not work - and create more of an inequality than a points limit. Having said that, the 2007 Scunthorpe side were a joy to watch, with so many talented youngsters in one team (which is what the grading system rewarded). The current points limit would prevent a team that strong being assembled in the National League again. All the best Rob

Morganbike, very much agree, but just to point out, you've put two seasons into one there. Woffy and Auty were at reserve at the beginning of 2006... the first of two sucessive championships for Scunthorpe. In 2007, it was Joe Haines who started off at reserve for Scunny and ended up pushing Byron Bekker to reserve. Scunny were very strong in 2006 and then almost unbelievably strong in 2007, with the likes of Woffinden, Auty, Tully, etc even better than the season before. Woffinden in the 2007 play-off final was sensational, a barely 17-year-old lad who was not only unbeaten in both legs, but also putting in some very good team-riding with Joe Haines. That's not to say that Mildenhall 2012 and Dudley 2013 haven't been fantastic teams, they have, but for me Scunthorpe 2007 has the edge. All the best Rob

I would say Scunthorpe Scorpions 2007 - awesome team who would have finished mid-table in that season's Premier League. They completely and utterly battered us (Oxford) in the final, despite the fact they were without the injured trio of Josh Auty, Andrew Tully and Richie Dennis. Half a team left, yet they still cruised to the title with ease. How many CL/NL teams have contained a future World Champion (Tai Woffinden) in their ranks? No contest really. All the best Rob

Gustix, The season finishes tomorrow (Thursday October 31st) All the best Rob

Well done Somerset! All the best Rob

Well Lindgren wasn't missing for ANY of them. I don't have a problem with Gollob having one more year in the GP, he's earnt the priviledge of one wild card and he's still box office. All the best Rob

ANOTHER wildcard for Lindgren? I don't think even Harris had this many wildcards. Yet another season of Mr. Dull in the GP series. All the best Rob

No Jonsson was not a wild card this season (he finished ninth last year, and therefore took the eighth spot after Crump's retirement).Wildcards for 2013 were: Vaculik, Hampel, Woffinden and Ward.All the bestRob

Whatever happens, it needs co-operation between the two clubs involved. It is only fair that Somerset have the second leg. Really each club needs a home date and also a reserved back-up home date, in case of a rain-off. A workable solution can hopefully be found for what I'm sure will be a cracking final. And then, from next season, the final really does need to be held earlier in October! There were reserved dates in the original fixture list (the second week of October being put aside for the final), these should be stuck to!! All the best Rob

That's pretty much the way it happened in 2012. Scunthorpe (who'd finished 2nd in the league, once place above Somerset) chose to have the 2nd leg. The two clubs co-operated regarding dates. Somerset were allowed to run on their usual Friday night (26th), while Scunny rode on the Sunday (28th), which then become the Monday (29th) once the Sunday was washed out. It was lucky last year that one of the teams (Scunthorpe) could run on any night of their choosing, therefore allowing some flexibility. This year, both teams have restrictions on the nights they can run. It just shows that the Redcar meeting tonight was being held too late, otherwise the first leg could have taken place at Armadale tomorrow night. Really any group matches needed to be done and dusted by October 6th, allowing the final to take place in the second week of October. I did say as much when I first saw qualifying matches being held as late as October 13th. All it needed was one rain off to cause problems and so it has proved. I still think play-offs are a great thing, but teams do need to get on with holding meetings. There does need to be a cut-off for group matches, to give plenty of time for the final. All the best Rob

Humph, isn't each Grand Prix a bit like the league? Regular EL matches followed by KO play-offs. Regular 20 heats followed by KO semis and final. All the best Rob

Hey, there's people around who are worse than I am All the best Rob

The sensible solution is staring everyone in the face, since it is already used in Rugby and many other sports where the champions are decided by play-offs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_premiership In Rugby League, the "minor" winners are given a Shield. We've got the Craven Shield around somewhere, so award that to the team that finishes top of the regular season. That way, the team who finishes top of the table does not finish the season empty-handed, while it does not devalue from the bigger prize of champions that goes to the winner of the play-offs. All the best Rob

Interesting. Especially as it shows where the strength of each rider lies. But I think you've included Tai's fourth ride at Cardiff which was a FN rather than a FX, and therefore should not be included in the figures. 151/74 = 10.20, so Tai does pip Darcy by 0.01!! All the best Rob

What is there to defend? The play-offs are great entertainment, and shock, horror, actually drag people into speedway stadiums. The play-offs are here to stay. All the best Rob

Tai didn't complete 12 rounds. He didn't complete the British Grand Prix, he only took 3 out of what would have certainly been at least 6 and probably 7 rides, before Freddie Lindgren injured him. I think this is "half" a meeting, if you're looking at an average. 151/11.5 = 13.13, a higher average than Emil. But, however you look at it, Tai was leading the World Championship when Emil was injured, and then, faced with a fresh collarbone injury (of his own making this time), he did what he needed to, to secure the championship. A very deserving champion!! All the best Rob