MD

They arent obliged to, its either safe to race or its not. With both Captains seemingly in agreement its not, the disagreement would seem to be between the Ipswich promoter and Captain. Thats two weeks in a row Ipswich has been rained off which may be more to do with their efforts to get it on. Pity, we could have done with some practice on a small tight track with a visit to the 0131 next Friday.

He also declined to be based further south which didnt help his career when it was on the up. Auchterarder to Somerset or Poole is an all day event, to then have to ride four or five heats at the end of it.

Surely this was known about when they signed him. So thats Mark Riss, Garcia, Ruml and Clegg binned this season and Williamson chucked it early doors. Lawson at reserve could be a masterstroke, just like Clegg no pressure on him to score surely.

Sensing their might be a few 'From the gate' jibes tonight.

Starkey has been injured half the season and has only really started to get going. If he keeps his average below six we'll happily have him back.

Aaron Summers guests for Vissing at No3. Not sure why but again too many variables to have an inkling of what Glasgow will do with Nathan Greaves r/r, with his rides to be taken by Starke and the reserves. We again look weak at 6 & 7 in comparison to NCL making heat advantages very hard to come by so its over to the big boys, Cook and, erm, well Harris! Having consistently lowered my expectations as the season has gone on, predict a home win with Glasgow not even getting a look in for a point.

More like the remaining Premier clubs will be invited into the Championship as it has clearly failed after changing rstablished race days just to suit 4 or 5 riders.

Riders also need to be managed during the season and be clear on no piss taking. Going back a few months we had riders refusing to take ht15. Dickson wouldnt have stood for that, just as he didnt with Barker's self inflicted mechanical issues in 2016. Stuarts downfall was the top heavy team preference he favoured for many years, despite evidence that it never worked for Glasgow. You can understand the Facenna's being unhappy with him spending their money and getting it sorely wrong on team make up. However looki g at where we are now are we actually worse off without him?

Trying to work that one out, I've been to all the July meetings except Berwick away. Its either the Lakeside home meeting or BSPA error. Think I'll go with the latter!

Sarj has kept his low all season! Consistent in that regard if little else.

After this season Sarjeant is unemployable in speedway. He's been round at least half the Championship clubs and used up all his chances IMO.

Yip, and we can hardly argue we didnt know what we were getting with Sarjeant at the start of the year. I think there was an element of trying to recreate the past when he got his average above 4 with us in 2015 and was decent at home. However you could have worked out pretty soon into the season that wasnt going to happen and on a starting average of 3.33 or whatever it was, it is almost impossible to find a replacement.

Yip, Harris has all the hallmarks of a rider comtemplating retirement. Would have Lewis Kerr back, he's rider of the season for me and he's been injured 3 weeks. Starke has been a major disappointment, had some heavy crashes earlier in the season and never seems to have recovered. If his final average is below 6 I'd give him a second chance though. Vissing been fine and Jack Thomas has come on a bit though often on a hiding to nothing against experienced reserves. We've suffered this year with being soft at the top and bottom, something we need to correct next year.

Schlien is only part of it, unrealistic to expect 18 from anybody. We were outscored at reserve by 15 points, one of whom was unbeaten by an away rider which is more of a factor than anything.

Nope though Harris was their marquee signing rather than the then team manager who had to fit him in. We seem incapable of learning from the current and last season that weak reserves dont work. We also need a bit of continuity by retaining at least a couple of riders from one season to the next though all of this lot can go and we can start that in 2019 ☺.

Ouch, pretty embarrassing result which almost certainly confirms no play offs this year. I cant see us even winning our remaining home meetings never mind on the road. Too little too late with the Cook signing, the real damage was done structuring the team the way it is but I've more than mentioned that this year. The only consolation in not making the play offs now is not having the 0131 do it to us at the end of August, home and away. Plenty of time to analyse why we arent there compared to 2015 & 2016. Bring on the test match!

Gives us a very long tail, heat advantages will be hard to come by. The top 4 will need to be on it, no falling off on 5-1's or touching the tapes. Hopefully Schlein is up for it otherwise could be a difficult night.

Massive crowd and massive crash in an entertaining but otherwise unconvincing home win. Greaves crash was a whopper being on the end of first bend bunching. Unfortunately he looks to be injured and we are back to square one with our reserves unable to bridge the gap for a rider in the 1-5. For almost every heat win Glasgow got, Berwick packed out second and third, though our under performing reserve got the finger out in a couple of heats to make all the difference. In his first meeting Cook has worked out that the inside line is often the fastest way round in the first half of the meeting and you also need to cover it on turn 2 from the tapes. Too often tonight we were beaten there with riders going for the standard throttle on, sitting mid to wide track. We look vulnerable.

What were they?

A

Rides at the wrong home track for his riding style.

Good point. Arriving late I never questioned it. I've given up on keeping up to date on the alleged rulebook but thought guests could only be for a No1 unless two riders in the same team were injured?

Great meeting, massive away support, just losing out on the last corner of ht15. We were looking out of it until the Cook TS/Harris 5-1 in ht 9. Unfortunately Vissing lifted at the gate in all but his first ride impeding himself and Pickering rode beyond all expectations as a guest. Hopefully this kick starts our push for a play off place, it cant wait any longer.

That Edinburgh meeting was a sickener and did more damage than anything, all the points above plus being beaten by a 4 man team, off the back of an absolute pumping by Workington two weeks previous to it. The bubble well and truely burst as the reality of our team hit home for some. For others like me these results were only a matter of time as the cracks were too wide for the proverbial paper. However we still have a great stadium and facilities just missing regular weekly meetings and making better choices in selecting riders. Unfortunately we are only in control of one of those.

Only if we overcome the naivety of this years signing policy. Despite two team changes the problem that is Harris still exists as does Sarjeant.