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Well speedway has just gone full on Mickey Mouse with this decision Irrelevant that it’s Poole it’s a cup competition for the top league and the top league only Basically it will be a Poole select side ….. as an Ipswich fan I don’t want Tom representing Poole and risking injury and not would whichever club Ben Cook rides for Absolute farce of a decision

Wouldn't mind a Berwick rider being in decline and be in the top 5 or 6 of the averages in various countries for the past few seasons.

I think fans who discredit this idea is taking the p!$$ to be honest. Woffinden has almost singlehandedly lifted Great Britain back on the world stage. Without this guy, we'd be nowhere near the medal tables in the 'Speedway of Nations', 'World Cup', 'Speedway Grand Prix'. He has given our up & coming young lads something to believe in & aim for. The belittling of his achievements & service by many to British Speedway overall is nothing short of absurd. Disgraceful in fact. Tai Woffinden IS a true 🇬🇧 legend

Poole will provide better opposition than a bye, I don't see any problem with it...

Wonderful 🙄

Still a class act at this level. We will happily swap, we will keep cookie an you can go into the season with batchelor as your number 1? Thought not

Expecting: Ben Cook Jan Kvech Richard Lawson Niels K Iversen NIcolai Klindt Chris Harris Ashton Boughen *confirmed

Personally think it’s bonkers that the pirates cab ride in the premiership KO cup. Well it’s not even Poole it’s effectively a select side they can go with. Must’ve been several pints down when they came up with this and thought it was a good idea.

Ridiculous being in the Premiership k o cup.

And he didn’t get going until May/June! His mechanical issues were well documented both here and in Poland. Once sorted he was back to the form he showed the previous season where he comfortably topped the averages. He’s now on a figure a point less than the one he started on, there’s an increase there. He’s another reason we’ve managed to squeeze in the team we have, alongside five brits with reductions and one of them on a 25% reduction. Our main competition you’d think, will all have a weaker team on paper than they did this year. We probably won’t get another opportunity as good as next year for a while, they’ve built absolutely superbly.

I would say Brennan, Dan T, Ellis, Sayfutdinov & Jenkins could all be expected to up their averages. Can't see any team getting close to them over the regular season tbh.

Was looking forward to return of green helmet colour. Gutted. being serious, glad there are so few changes KO Cup; was the draw arranged - getting Holders back at Poole. What’s not to like? It will be box office.

Shame Poole didn't get Leicester. Could have doubled up as the jubilee trophy.

Oh great! Let's p!$$ off the best thing to happen to British Speedway recently - British Speedway Network, by dropping their competition!!!!??

And rightly so. Much better idea than having an uneven number of clubs and one club skipping a round. Good decision.

So the 7 Prem clubs invite the 2024 Championship winners into the ko cup 1st round rather than have 3 meetings and a bye! What's not to like.......?

Know which one will have the biggest crowd and it not vs Plymouth!!

Still no Jubilee final. Gutted.

Well a 40 point limit to work with. Better news is we’ve got the pairs on the 5th April. Now to see some announcements.

Musielak has always wanted to ride in the UK since he started riding for Swindon (and Wolves before) - his commitment and availability have never been an issue.... until he went to KL.

I agree about Lawson over Becker....all day long!

For someone on a decline at the time of his crash he was 3rd in the averages for the league behind Doyle and J Holder. But yes he's on a decline 😂 and for him being injury prone. Every rider would be out with the injury he sustained, I don't see him having time off for a dodgy shoulder or concussion because he rarely crashes

It wasn't done to strengthen Leicester, but to get under the points limit. Everyone knows Leicester will be weaker next year.

He must really hate Glasgow….he’s the only one not been mentioned in their line-up…..lol

Bewley, Kurtz, Emil And Doyle, TWICE!!! What's not to like..?

And gives us even less racing for our money.

On the Pirates website today Danny Ford states that they have only given 'provisional' acceptance to the Prem KO Cup, depending on having a strong enough, Prem strength line-up.

Until next years piss up in tenerife where they decide to change it to 38.5 to benefit some club or another. Wouldn't believe any multi year plans that these clowns come up with 🤡

I agree with that,they should only use their actual 1-7.So as it is they can use horses for courses,I'm assuming they can use guests to strengthen up.If that is the case that would make them favourites wouldn't it.

Where? Barlinnie.

Yep I'd agree with that. Just a coincidence though I'm sure that they've drawn the Holder's team and that Cook & Brennan would be free to 'guest' 😁 BV v Ipswich a juicy old tie.

Who thinks up these micky mouse ideas ?? Tho does this open up the way for poole town fc to play in the champions league?

just seen the draw poole likely to get marmalised by sheff so probably moot beyond that

Should be good if Ben and Tom can be included against Sheffield.

Poole helping out the Prem Cup!!!

Clearly on decline shockingly only number one in the away averages for the entire league this season 😉

Probably means allowing guests when riders are racing in Poland with no bans?

I would agree, Emil did not have his best season but doesnt mean he is in decline! Sometimes riders have a not great season for different reasons, to repeat an old saying form is temporary, class is permanent.

Seems absurd that you suggest that Emil is on the decline - Or have I misinterpreted?

Think a lot of people are forgetting the impact Cook has on a meeting/ the team this guy needs to be recognised for Tate rise in his early rides. Vintage Cook riding covering every line possible team riding. Not to mention heat 15 against Oxford at home defended every attack. Away performances not the worst good at Plymouth, Oxford, Redcar, Edinburgh… If Cook has left Workington he will be a miss for sure there is a big lack of number 1 in the league and will weaken Workington for sure in 2025

No doubt they are favourites. Last year they were odds on but injuries caught up with them in the end. People such as Doyle are irreplaceable if they get a season-ending injury.

Last season they didn't seem to want Riss at reserve, practically said the bonus of dropping Kemp for Killeen was to have a "solid top 5", I always thought strong reserve was more important? I'm sure Riss too has said he wants to be in the top 5, which can be achieved by scoring more points obviously.

It will be a shock IF there is a rider at No1

Well put 😄

I've thought this since day 1 and this should really be the discussion of this topic. Heat 15 is what it is, it's nominated, heat 13 isn't always guaranteed to be the "best" heat of the night, especially if your number 1 or 5 is having a bad night or gets injured, so leave that alone. The super heat should not involve any riders that have appeared in heat 15 imo, makes it more of a team result.

How about riders in heat 15 being nominated by opposing team managers? Could end up being a repeat of heat 2, but league speedway is supposed to be a team sport and it might encourage more balanced team building with strength in depth. Before anyone asks, no, I haven’t thought this through!

Dont see why not. No team can have riders with averages of less than 2.00 so by definition this pair must be among the lowest / weakest in the league. Bear in mind neither actually achieved 2.00 and they were particularly weak away from home.

Rather than make all these novelty changes it is a pity nothing is done to get the best riders lining up!

Nah, rumour is that he's gone to Glasgow.

Well my choice is obviously very biased but it was Sky’s production followed by BT both of whom were very professional and forward thinking with their production with Sky making it HD, Jib cameras, Kerb cams,multiple slow mo’s then BT took over and made it a UHD production However this came at a cost with each Sky meeting production costing the same as what Eurosport spend for 5 UK meetings. There simply is no budget for UK racing everything is done using the cheapest option possible for example they use a lot of University students who are looking for unpaid experience that’s why we get some dodgy camera work and editing, vision mixing . The Sky production was normally a 15-18 main cameras and 2 slo mo plus 2-3 radio cameras while Eurosport is 4 main cameras plus 1-2 radio camera they don’t even pay the OB provider for lighting for presentation and instead Mr Morris brings his battery flood lights. Who knows when the contract is up for renewal again Sky may be interested as would now be a good fit for the Sky Sports + channel and is a good filler when no Football