Aries

That definitely needs to be looked at. Yes it’s unfortunate to have rain offs right at the death, but it is now September and there’s always the chance the weather takes a turn for the worst. They need to leave a two week gap in future, between the final set of fixtures, and the start of the playoffs offs to allow clubs time to rearrange postponed fixtures.

You’re right it is, unless Sheffield manage to run this at the weekend. Let’s hope Sheffield don’t turn us over at Foxhall tomorrow (providing that goes ahead as well) because if they do, we could have the farcical situation again of the wrong teams facing each other in the semi finals when the Sheffield fixture gets run after the play offs and the final table ends up different to what it currently is..

A squad would never be workable either would it? So clubs can build squads, how many riders is each club laying claim to that nobody else can touch? And the riders in said squads that don’t make the cut some weeks, how do they earn a living?

You’re talking a load of nonsense here as usual. It’s simply unlucky that Sheffield’s final planned fixture got postponed leaving very little time to get the fixture in before the play offs. What happens if it rains on Thursday and the return fixture is postponed as well with the play offs starting next Monday? Would you then criticise Ipswich for not fulfilling their fixtures as well? There’ll be even less time to run it before Monday and in all likelihood, wouldn’t be run. Yes, they probably need to plan the fixture list in future, so that there’s a two to three week gap between teams’ last programmed league fixture, and the start of the play offs to leave time to fit in postponed fixtures. But you, or anybody else, didn’t question the fixture list when it was released at the start of the year. It was just unfortunate that a last fixture fell victim to the weather. Everybody knows how difficult it is for promoters to compile fixture lists when availability of riders is a nightmare with 90% of the team riding here there and everywhere. It’s inevitable that sometimes fixtures will get run when teams are missing a rider or two.

Correct. Ipswich need a point, so even a draw and a superheat defeat at Foxhall Thursday would see us top.

https://ipswichwitches.co/raceday-guide-sheffield-a-3/ Harris guests for Doyle, Howarth for Ellis

Hardly a case of not being “bothered” is it? It’s a rearranged fixture and the semi finals start next Monday so the fixture had to be squeezed in this week. They’ll have known riders had existing commitments Wednesday, but had little choice but to accept the fixture date.

The weather can play a huge role also. Just seen the forecast for the next few weeks, and meteorological Autumn starts with low pressure and plenty of wet stuff around. We saw how much of a lottery the final was a couple of seasons ago at Sheffield in farcical conditions. Any favourites on paper would go right out of the window, it would simply be a case of who handles the conditions better. Lets hope the weather doesn’t spoil things..

I might bed Sydney Sweeney as well.

Not sure what Louis is talking about here! “Michelson laid the bike down” erm, no he didn’t Chris he was clattered in to and knocked off!

The “couple” of strange results was involving Leicester not picking up points expected to change the overall table involving the finishing order of all fours clubs, not just Ipswich and Sheffield. Belle Vue could still finish third but it would take some strange results for that to happen.

Of course, I meant in terms of the result not the racing. The result simply doesn’t matter here in the scheme of things. But I hope there’s some good racing for you and those that attend.

Matters little now, almost certainly going to finish Ipswich top, Sheffield second so this result is pretty irrelevant. Order of the day will be to make sure nobody does anything silly with the play offs less than a fortnight away.. In fact, it’ll take a couple of really strange results for the table not to finish Ipswich, Sheffield, Leicester, Belle Vue. Ipswich v Belle Vue Leicester v Sheffield.

Definitely at Foxhall, not so much away. Ellis comfortably better than Dan at Foxhall, Dan comfortably better than Ellis away so probably evens itself out over two legged meetings.

Difficult to disagree with any of that. Let’s have the same system in the Gp’s as well. If Kurtz end up top of the pile after Vojens, I’m afraid he isn’t world speedway “champion”! The top eight simply then enter two semi’s and then the final, to see who becomes world speedway champion in a winner takes all final..

That makes absolutely no sense. If it was top team wins the title without the play offs, it would STILL be a meaningless fixture! In fact, there would have been several meaningless fixtures an awful lot sooner if it wasn’t for the play offs. There was a kings Lynn fan still not giving up hope of qualifying as soon as a fortnight ago. They would have had to have given up the dream literally months ago if it was simply top team wins the title.

They do. They’re contractually obliged to show each team a minimum number of times (football). Of course some teams will be shown more than others. Speedway is the same, each track has to show a minimum number of fixtures.

Hopefully Ellis is ok. We’ll find out when the Sheffield preview drops on Tuesday. If he ends up missing the play offs, then Rew has to come in to the equation surely? Average fits, and he still feels like a Witches rider so more palatable than someone else. After a slow first half of the season, he’s ridden in to good form the last third of the season also.

They’ve been experimenting with different track conditions the last month or so, trying to find a track that suits everyone. Thursday was far too slick to be honest and there wasn’t a lot of grip out there. Heat 15 a perfect example. Brennan was clearly quicker than Lawson out front and was throwing everything he could at him, going inside and out but just couldn’t find enough to get past. Brennan is riding himself in to good form at just the right time. Looked quick Thursday.

Both our top two are having a stinker of a year by their high standards (tbf to Doyle he’s been bashed around again this year). Both averaging over a point less than they did last year. And we’ll still finish top. Shows the strength of the side. If they’d been averaging similar to what they have the last couple of years it would be a completely no contest.

Would Belle Vue prefer to Face Ipswich in the semi, or one of either Leicester or Sheffield? Because if they’d rather avoid another trip to Foxhall and hope they get dumped out in the semi, then it’s best to have an “ off day” here and let Sheffield win to help them finish top. Edit: wrong thread I guess. @Col you need to edit the header to Birmingham v Leicester