lucifer sam

How's it going? All the best Rob

Whereas Peterborough's performance in the play-offs has been.... wait a minute, where are they? I hope the Massif and the rest of the Ippo faithful aren't too downhearted by the result. Somerset are the best team in the league, and there's no shame losing to them. I didn't think you ever had a chance of pulling 16 points back on them (the nature of the Somerset team makes them extremely difficult to beat by that much), although I'm surprised that Somerset won the second leg. All the best Rob

Ah, for No 7 read No 6 But the guest regs are a minefield. They did try to almost do away with guests in 1991/92, ended up with too many lopsided meetings and soon went back to widespread use of guests. As much as I'd like to see guests at reserve abolished, the reality is that doing that could ruin meetings as a spectacle. All the best Rob

Gaz: one question. How does Josh Bates have a fight with himself? Surely you should mention the Glasgow rider in question as well? Or was Rene Bach a complete angel who didn't have words with Bates after the race? All the best Rob

Cyclone, I largely agree with this, although I would point it is open to manipulation. For example, a team - let's called them Team E for the sake of argument - sign a rider, let's call him Kalle, again for the sake of the argument. He thrives at reserve and pushes his average up to nearly 7.00. In the meantime, team E continually replace a succession of useless riders on a 7.00 assessed average to keep Kalle at reserve. When Kalle is missing through injury/unavailability, that's when Team E are realty laughing, because they can being in heat leaders from other teams and line them up at No 7. So maybe there should be an average limit on riders who can guest at reserve? Maybe 6.00? All the best Rob

Agreed, a bit of fisticuffs/handbags between riders should be almost encouraged - because the fans love it. Buy any mechanics involved should be banned from the pits for future meetings. It's nothing to do with them and they turn a bit of harmless entertainment into thuggery. All the best Rob

That'll be Somerset in the final then. All the best Rob

Not good news. But fingers crossed, and good luck Devils! All the best Rob

Teams for Friday (Somerset always put them in average order): Teams: Somerset Rebels: Rohan Tungate (9.03), Josh Grajczonek [c] (8.90), Paul Starke (6.62), Charles Wright (6.59), Jake Allen (5.96), Robert Branford [g] (5.02), Tom Bacon [g] (3.00); Team manager: Garry May Ipswich Witches: Danny King [c] (9.57), Ben Barker (7.91), Nico Covatti (7.49), Morten Risager (7.13), James Sarjeant (5.80), Joe Jacobs (5.36), tbc [g] (3.00) ; Team manager: Ritchie Hawkins

Hieroglyphics? Can anyone else see any hieroglyphics? All the best Rob

Personally, I expect Somerset to come back strong. They've been the best team for the majority of the season and will be smarting after exiting the KO Cup. It'll be close, but I think Somerset will win on aggregate. All the best Rob

Or even Sheffield on 13th and Glasgow on 16th. All the best Rob

I see that argument. At the end of the day, though, I'm a fan, not a rider. And as a fan, I want to see the strongest and most exciting line-up possible for the Grand Prix series. And such a series would have Emil Sayfutdinov in it. All the best Rob

Yes, although Puk and NKI are the same man. I assume one of those is supposed to be Zagar. Al the best Rob PS R&R, there's room for them all, plus Emil, as long as Lindgren finishes outside the top 8.

I think it's any of the six teams who qualified for the play-offs. Rob Branford looks, by far, the best guest option for Rebels. All the best Rob

No they could all be back in, UNLESS Emil is given a wildcard. e.g. if current standings were the same, it would be Nicki P, NKI, Lindback and Zagar. Personally I'd like to see at least one wildcard go to a rider currently outside the series, and I'd like that to go to Emil. All the best Rob

Yes it does. It simply doesn't apply any more when rider is competing for his own team. But two guest appearances within 8 days at the same track would not be allowed. All the best Rob

Just a quick question... but why wasn't this meeting staged on September 25, and avoided many of the guests. There was no rush to stage the Newcastle v Scunthorpe meeting the week before, which had already missed the cut-off date for the play-offs. It seems strange staging a Newcastle v Sheffield play-off meeting on the same night as a World U21 Round, given the make-up of the two teams. All the best Rob

Yep, shock result, it looks like the reserved date for the semi-final at Sheffield is this coming Thursday. It will be interesting to see what Sheffield can do against Glasgow. All the best Rob

Squeaky bum time in Heat 15. And possibly Golden Heats? All the best Rob

Doesn't matter if the stadium is basic to begin with, simply that it's built and there's enough room to improve it as time goes by. Also important that there's room for a nice wide track - and it doesn't end up as another Leicester. All the best Rob

Don't forget Max Grosskreutz. The form man in 1936, until he was injured. He lent his bike to Wilkinson for the final, and Bluey flew to a 15-point-maximum on it. But, as you say, these things have happened since speedway began. Unfortunate, but they happen. All the best Rob

What are you talking about? Lindgren lifting was the cause of the accident - Harris was as innocent a passenger as Doyle. A racing accident, but one caused by Lindgren, not Bomber. Lindgren has been riding like a madman all year long. Take your blinkers off. And Bomber isn't going to get a wildcard for next year - we all realise that. But I'll miss him in the GPs - a 100% trier and a fair competitor. All the best Rob

For a week or two more, and then empty. Although the weird looking trophy with a Spring sticking out of it. Did you win that the last time it was held? All the best Rob

Congratulations to the Witches on their stunning against-all-odds aggregate victory against the mighty Monarchs. All the best Rob