Cue Ball

Not saying I don't like watching Josh, just saying he has a track record of being inconsistent - the fact he achieved over a 9 point average one year and is now back down to 7 says s lot. Personally I would pick Stead over him any day of the week if my team depended on 3 points to win a match

Josh has been threatening to average 8.5 for a few years, when he rode for Sheffield though every time he got close he went to number 1 and promptly dropped his average back down again - to maintain it he will need to learn to consistently gate, something which has alluded him so far

Why was he not eligible? I thought it had to be 2 of your top 3 scorers or reserves - with 9 points he was joint top scorer prior to beat 15

If crowds what they were in 1997 then prices would probably be considerably lower than they are... Also didn't Newport go bust, so perhaps they weren't charging enough

Cracking team performance from the Tigers! Any ideas behind the selection of riders for heat 15? Bates was justified, but didn't quite follow Bellego's selection - the result was beyond doubt I know, but seemed curious to pick the lowest scoring member of the top 5

Think the red light was already on when the accident happened for Skidmore jumping the start and so couldn't have excluded him

Agreed, personally thought that the scoring system was good - it rewarded strong away performances, something that in speedway is not as easy as in other sports

Think you're getting your threads mixed up - this is one about a meeting at Sheffield

For Sheffield the reserves will still be Bates and Sissis - can't see anybody in our top 5 dropping to reserve anytime soon

Think the only word to describe Stead last night is imperious. I know its early in the season, but on the basis of what we have seen we were trying to work out which riders might get close to him around Owlerton - Cook, Allen and Masters were about the only ones we could think of. What's the view on Sissis? Think he will take a bit of time to get there in full race conditions, but he looked comfortable on the bike at least, wasore orless on the pace and managed to keep Auty behind him for a couple of laps before a slight mistake let him through

Scunny's wins at Owlerton were mainly due to a combination of Jorgensen and Douglas, neither of whom are currently in the side. Home and potentially away wins for the Sheffield folk.

Think normality will resume this year with Sheffield returning to being the better of the clubs

D'oh! Autocorrect or fat fingers?!?!?

There are a few on the GT Media face ok page that I have seen knocking around

And so it (sort of) begins, anybody going to P & P tonight? Not sure how much practice there will be given they were on track most of yesterday

Happy with that.

Who is the Polish chap riding in Ricky's meeting - Artur Czaja - is he riding in the UK this year?

Thanks

Anybody know what average Klindt has got?

3 or 4 years ago I would have loved to see Bunyan ride for us, but think he is past his best. Would much prefer Andre or Wilson unless anybody can come up with a better suggestion

Not really plying his trade as he wasn't working or getting paid for it

I agree - why on earth would we want somebody on a 4.28 average that can score double figures for fun week in week out around Sheffield and that is exciting to watch? His away form maybe patchy, but there is only a small % of supporters who go to away matches, the majority want to see exciting racing and to win at home every week. Hall at reserve would guarantee that

Gutted for Taylor, but given his average and the rules its not unexpected. You would expect that a fit Andre would be the person who is more than able to fill the void, but is he fit? Wouldn't mind seeing Pepe back in the team, last time he rode for us I feel that he was harshly treated because he came into the team as a number one, something he clearly wasn't when you look at his average, as a second string / third heat leader he is more than capable. The only draw back with Pepe is availability, he missed a lot of meetings because of continental commitments

He hasn't as far as I know

if I was a club that had signed a rider expecting them to be available for all my meetings as they weren't contracted to another club, I think I would be more than a bit peeved if they signed for another, something I couldn't prevent, that then meant they were going to miss x % of my meetings. This just seems like a strange rule to me - think it should have stopped as being he who signs first, gets priority