I thought last night's meeting was one of the best I've seen up at Shielfield for a while. Some great tactical riding, especially when TJ protected Jacob in heat 9. With our home form, it's still all to play for, but, hopefully, we can go 7 or more clear by heat 15.
I also thought all riders gave 100%, including Danny, who clearly had engine problems after retiring from heat 2.
Teams:
NEWCASTLE: Steve Worrall, Max Clegg, Lasse Bjerre, Matthew Wethers, Thomas Jorgensen, David Wallinger, Danny Phillips.BERWICK: Aaron Summers, Jye Etheridge, Paul Starke, Dany Gappmaier, Nikolaj B Jakobsen, Coty Garcia, Leon Flint.
Wallinger for Bukhave, due to Jacob having Danish commitments. Makes t even more interesting.
The Line-ups (courtesy of SpeedwayGB website)
BERWICK: Aaron Summers, Kevin Doolan r/r, Dany Gappmaier, Jye Etheridge, Nikolaj B Jakobsen, Coty Garcia, Leon Flint.NEWCASTLE: Steve Worrall, Max Clegg, Lasse Bjerre, Matthew Wethers, Thomas Jorgensen, Jacob Bukhave, Danny Phillips.
Wouldn't disagree with any of that. The only thing I would say though is the NL is now down to just 8 teams, so team spaces are limited. But you still have the likes of (and I'm not picking on these riders particularly!) Rob Ledwith, Paul Bowen and Ben Wilson, although, that said, it isn't as bad as it used to be.
The NL has been pretty much the same since it started way back when. You had teams who just wanted to develop riders (mainly due to them having a main team and a second team - like the Diamonds/Gems for example) and you've got those who are stand alone (Mildenhall/Cradley etc) who want(ed) just to win the league.
Anyhow - back on subject - any team news regarding Saturday?
I knew Kev was third in the averages from Saturday onwards. More prompted by the confusion of Matty guesting for Pickering! Also thinking exactly what ruffdiamond says above!
Have the rules changed as far as a missing top 5 riders is concerned? I noticed last week, Matty Wethers guested for Edinburgh (in place of Josh Pickering), when no one else was missing. Last year it was R/R for one missing top 5 rider and guest(s) and R/R for more than one missing rider.