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Happy with Leon , his Ashfield form or lack off is based as an away rider against a then strong Tigers home team. I can understand some wanting Claus over Leon but I think there is more scope for improvement in Leon than there is with Claus. Riding Glasgow as a home rider is much easier than a visiting one.

His average is OK on paper when looked at it at the end of the year we were quite happy as we broke it down into the basics. First 6 meetings he rode was still suffering massively with the injury which restricted his movement on the bike. Then he moved into the main body of the team at 3 which whilst getting back to fitness was hard work for him onto of numerous heat 15s against big hitting riders. We set a target of 7.5 at the start of the season before the crash and to end up on 6.86 we felt was a good effort. If he had refused the additional heat would of been almost on target

They have to start the season on a lower team average than they ended last year with, so they were bound to be weaker.. Unless they could have got a "four point superstar" on an obviously false assessed average.. Personally I would have gone for a weaker No6 and replaced Blodorn with Charles Wright, as "the tail" looks too long if the Aces want to be title contenders... Thy don't look like they have that "4th Heat Leader" that they had with Wright, and, instead have two clear Second Strings and two clear reserves..

Barker confirmed at Plymouth

Luke will be a good rider given time. Did well in some matches for Redcar last season. Was on the pace and in control when riding, just needs to get out of the gate on level terms and he will be fine. Had Danny King giving him pointers after meetings last year and was improving all the time. Good signing for Scunthorpe.

Already done it thank you.

OMG absolutely the Birmingham management have forgotten what happened at Reading when he was sacked half way through the season as technical advisor!!! why do they need a Team Manager, Assistant team manager, and a Director of Speedway (that clown Rogers)? the only reason I can think off is they think he will bring some Wolves fans to Birmingham, and from what I’ve heard he’s not cheap, as for the signing well I hope the remaining signings are Big hitters, when you look at the heat leaders that there first home opponents are Sheffield, but good luck for the coming season, I really do think you need it.

The jury is out for me on the TM - I was sort of hoping for someone with a little experience of Premiership management - but we'll see.

Ipswich - Sheff look really good.then you have the rest

P.s bit of an anti climax tonight.... Was expecting a No.1 signing??? I will put my faith in Sam... Unfortunately, i think he likes Zagar! maybe Ronnie Correy or Greg Hancock ?? Lol

Said it wud be Sam... gud choice! Very knowledgeable and a great motivator. Steve Worral is a nothing special signing... average...average..average Nice guy tho!

Might be wrong but wasn't it said that Ben Basso had to practice on Saturday mornings and that was the reason he couldn't ride for Glasgow next season.

hope coles does get a reserve spot as he has not got a team in the championship yet

I like this team tbh. Pickering, Riss and Sedgmen as a top three in a 38pt league is very competitive. Paco could nudge that 5.30 up a touch too

Not entirely sure but think I read somewhere nowak equivalent would be an 8 now. But an Aussie/ Dane riding in extraliga with no UK experience would be a 5. Work that one out

Ah, okay. Thanks. Be interesting to see who they put at 3.

pretty sure most have to practice on Fridays to get team spot on saturdays and yes loophole closed

So glad I was scrolling through Instagram when they went live with their announcement and interview! Seems a bit of confusion about everyone saying Tom didn't want to do Championship? He always did. Maybe some crossed wires somewhere. Our gain anyway

Leicester just announced Becker… just Douglas left to announce then

Tom Brennan it is then

Yeah I'd imagine there will be a few tutoring sessions by Mr Harris before the season starts too. I can't say overly excited by this signing but the move away from the comfort/ stress (delete as appropriate) of being the captain of your hometown club might just allow him to kick on to a 7 plus by end of season. Must be one of strongest 3rd HLs in this league too I'd wager

Craig Cook at Redcar Danny King at worky good swap

Of course there will......

good, means there wont be any play offs in the freezing cold, with wet tracks in October

Special announcement scheduled for 6.45pm this evening!

Same at Sheffield. Last home fixture is 15th August. Not sure how the fixtures are worked out, but if a team is in a close battle to make the playoffs it seems a bit unfair to have your last 3 matches all away !!

Leon is a big lad. He's fit and he does all he can I'm sure but he has a big physique. In an age where the higher up the rider scale you go weight by the gram is like gold and every bit off is an advantage, he starts at a disadvantage. He has to find the balance between optimum strength and weight. I know Team GB work very hard on this based on a number of articles about sports science and nutrition.

Yes, I believe I may have mentioned Tom Farndon winning the 1933 Star Riders' Championship once or twice!

Can never fault his attitude to racing. He can be a right pain in other aspects mind

Think that is slightly unfair. Sure we have had a number of mentions, even a thread or two on the subject. Not sure how often you can keep going over old ground For instance think it was also mentioned on the Ray Tauser (Tauscher) thread that he held 3 world championships in the same year what with the Paris and Australian versions...

Saw that, and noted Gary calling him his 2nd heat leader which is a relief, as a number one he isn't. Needs to improve his away form next season but can't fault him at home.

Obviously it’s easy for me say it say watching from the armchair I know but just seemed such an obvious mistake he made multiple times

Plenty of dates available for the Jubilee Trophy/Cup Thing then....

Only good news if Mo is sitting down with the consortium. If he's sitting down with AEPG's inside man (Buster) then it's irrelevant........I doubt Buster would even make the effort to turn up tbh.

To me he did as well as you'd expect of a 16 year old in his first Champ season. After half a season of NL racing it was big jump up to be a reserve for Redcar. I was a little surprised his NL average wasn't higher (it's not bad) after his guest appearances at the end of last season, but it was still a point above Ace Pijper & look how well he did for Glasgow. I wouldn't call him a "trump card" like a David Howe, Tai Woffinden or Jordan Palin who were expected to take the second tier by storm in their first season - but these sort of riders don't come along every season. He's still a promising rider & a good signing on a 2.00 ave.

Flesh wound

Let me tell you watched Luke Harrison a lot at Workington last year this lad is the real deal for sure brilliant signing for Scunthorpe

It was so frustrating this season watching lambert boss the heats and then choose gate 2 and give big guns gate 1 to just push him out of the way. Happened 3-4 times. I get he’d won races off two but if you’re backing yourself to make it off 2 just back yourself to make it off 1 and when you do you’ve got the advantage to push your opponents out like they kept doing to him.

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/council/council-set-to-step-into-battle-over-future-of-speedway-in-peterborough-4437626

Leon Flint confirmed for Glasgow..... https://glasgowtigers.co.uk/flint-wants-next-level/

Your second point about not arranging it that way is spot on If it needs a double header the easiest way (and it’s still a bit of a pain) is charge people the full price on entry then offer a partial refund as they leave before the second match. Edinburgh did that for a double header last year. The main downside was seeing a queue prob 200 deep that weren’t staying for the second match which was pretty disheartening really.

Best post of the year...

Yeah really hard to watch the gps last season. Almost giving the championship to zmarzlik. Too many throttle jammers and not enough track craft used theses days.

Peterborough's and Wolverhampton's demises were not down to team affordability and budgets. They were down to stadium ownership.

They’re more than just “marginal” changes and Ipswich finishing fourth is a bit deceiving. The issues with Erik Riss are well documented, Ellis is a huge upgrade. Jenkins isn’t as big an upgrade on Hume but still an upgrade all the same. And there’s a third factor here and that’s the Rising Star. Over 10 meetings last season Joe Thompson had a GSA of 1.18. His string of zeros were a big factor in Ipswich’ poor form early on along with Riss’ struggles. When Ipswich finally got a rising star in that made a contribution in Dan Thompson, the narrow defeats turned in to victories and they were probably THE form team by the end of the season which coincided with them winning the cup and narrowly missing out on the title. It would be interesting to see a league table from the moment Dan Thompson joined. Starting next year with Ellis Jenkins and Dan Thompson instead of a struggling Riss, Hume and Joe Thompson isn’t marginal improvement, it’s huge. Belle Vue for example look to be weaker than last year whilst Ipswich have strengthened. Ipswich will rightly start as one of the favourites IMO.

You can keep Craig Cook, I’d sooner have Jason King, never mind Danny, than Cook.

Nah... It's 'cos so many of the GP's are in Poland! There are a bunch on here who will tell you that! He's just lucky...

Zmarzlik has every part of his game covered and if one part is Beaton by an opposing rider it doesn’t matter he makes up in a different part, he studies other riders, he knows what other riders will do often before even they do, every rider in the GP can beat zmarzlik regularly but that doesn’t matter because he knows when it matters he will triumph because if they have a fault he will make them do it, add to all that and has any other rider got more corner entry speed than zmarzlik? And more importantly hold it tight when they get there, the guy has the lot, talent, discipline,backroom team, bikes, track craft, ability to gate or read a first corner and a will to win that I just don’t see in many riders, an example of that is watch zmarzlik in a nothing meeting in Poland, there is no “just there for the money” attitude, it’s 100% all the time, laguta got the better of zmarzlik by not being a better rider or racer but just by doing what laguta does and that’s gate and go fast and win races, he didn’t really let zmarzlik get a chance to pin him back,any other year zmarzlik 2nd place score would of been 1st, others like Doyle spends to much time riding the riders not the race and his discipline at the start line is shocking , madsen is too equipment dependent, lindgren is there but just doesn’t have that something to get him over the line and although they all of capable of winning a GP or even being world champion I don’t see anyone toppling zmarzlik until his desire fades and gaps in his armour being to show

Lee Complin for Glasgow.....

A touch of class about Ipswich unlike king's Lynn