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I would normally suggest it's far too early to be thinking about changes, although Oxford dropped Klindt after only 3 matches last season. Mind you, that was to get Riss into the team, who seems to be Schroeck's golden boy. Normally you'd drop a lower averaged rider to strengthen up, but Gusts has started well & there's no chance Schroeck would drop Riss. Who would be willing to come over that would be a stronger rider than one of the top 4.

Comment from Gusts on the match report “There were reasons why we lost today, such as Peter Kildemand being injured. We will learn from it as a team and do better next time.” IRR scored 3,0,2. I don't think they can blame Kildemand's injury for the loss. I honestly think Schroeck & the promoters believe they have a decent team. So it may take a while for them to understand why they lost home & away?

I've never understood this, when promoters, riders or team managers belittle any competition that isn't the league, sometimes they'll even suggest the league isn't that important until you get to the play-offs. Even if they believe that, do they not realise how these comments could affect the crowd? As a fan, I'd want my team to win every competition. Certainly put in the same effort each time, after all fans aren't given a discount because it's "only" the KOC or a challenge match etc & I'm sure riders won't get paid less.

Firstly I think it's too early to think of changes, but they may eventually look to replace Hagon. It doesn't seem like Leicester is his best track, thought he may be better off at Belle Vue, but given Leicester "protected" him as their rising star, they must rate him, it wasn't like he was the best of what was left? As for Joe T he's a better rider now than he was when dropped last year, so I'd consider him if Hagon doesn't up his scores after a month or two. If Nathan Ablitt had a Champ team he's be an option, but racing in the third tier only, wouldn't be so keen on using him in the Prem.

Not just Brummies fans, quite a few predicted a poor season for Leicester. But I will agree some Birmingham fans clearly overestimated their team too.

I don't like the play-offs & think whoever tops the table should be Champions. However as they all know the rules before the season starts I don't feel bad if the table toppers fail in the play-offs, even if it's injuries that cause that. The only way I would feel for them, would be if they voted against the play-offs but the majority voted for them.

I see no chance for Oxford progressing, Lynn could even win on the night. I suppose Oxford's best chance would be if you remove the points scored by Lynn's top scorer lol!

Not just a defeat though, if it was a 2 or 4 point loss, Brummies fabs could still be positive for the rest of the season, but a 20+ home defeat should never be happening.

Certainly something for the team manager to consider when having such a potent reserve. Maybe give Harris an extra ride early in the meeting, so if he's having 6 or 7 riders they are spread out? Although if you replace a second string after one poor ride, then they win their last two, looks a poor decision! I guess in the situation above, could've put Boughen in for Cook, waited 2 minutes, then Harris in after Boughen is excluded. A couple minutes rest for Harris.

At times last year Harris dropped to 4th (second string) in the averages, but pretty much remained at number 5 all year, riding in heat 13 will lower your average. This year Lynn have 5 riders "stronger" than Harris, Belle Vue 4, Birmingham 3, Ipswich 4, Leicester 4, Oxford 3 & Sheffield 4. So it could be fair to say Lynn have a "second string" riding at reserve, rather than a heat leader.

I have to admit if I was a Brummies fan of have preferred more of an apology / statement to get things right, than the excuses I read about.

If Harris is flying need to keep an eye on all the top 5, for example Harris was stronger than both Klindt & Boughen on Monday, but one of them had to have their 4th ride in heat 12. Although it would be easy to look at the programme & suggest Harris could have replaced Klindt in heat 9, Klindt was going well at that point.

While what he's saying is technically true, it's also pointless (they could have won if they didn't have Harris), is he maybe trying to ease fans fears of their weak team / disappointing performance or is he to put this politely incredibly clueless?

Because Belle Vue were the best team in the play-offs, weren't the strongest team throughout the season, but they didn't have to be. They're probably not gonna be the strongest team this year either, but regardless of injuries, if they win the play-offs then they'd be deserving Champions.

By that logic Zmarzlik shouldn't celebrate winning the world title because he didn't beat Laguta or Sayfutdinov, or we could question why Bewley celebrated so much when he won at Cardiff, when he didn't defeat the best 15 riders in the world!

I always rated this Witches side as favourites & it looked as if only injuries could cost them the league. But now I feel I've underestimated them, maybe only injuries will stop them winning every match?

I do agree, but if I were a long suffering Stars fan, I'd be delighted we don't look like the weakest team for a change. Ridiculously early days, but looks like 5 teams fighting for the top 4 spots

Don't worry there's still time for them to weaken if they get too close to the play-offs lol! As crazy as that sounds, that's what they did (multiple times) last season.

If the riders were closer in ability, then yes you'd hope Mulford would beat the RS 2 out of 3 times. Unfortunately for Belle Vue's chances I think he's one of the weaker rising stars.

There is a problem with using a converted average to pick the field (another reason to have the meeting later in the season) for example Riss has a higher average than Danny King, but King had a higher average when they last both rode in the Champ (2023), King has a higher Prem average currently. But as they're using Riss' 24 Prem ave & King's 24 Champ ave, Riss is higher ranked. Just as well it wasn't every number 1 & the top 7 number 2s or King would've missed out.

Oxford fans on FB especially seem to be very protective of Schroeck, don't like him getting any criticism. I was even blocked from the Official Oxford FB site for daring to suggest he was an awful team manager. No abusive language etc, just giving an honest opinion that didn't flatter Oxford.

Surely that's a mistake & it's meant to say battle for 6th?

I personally don't think you could expect more from Mulford. He beat Jenkins once & lost to him twice, who else in the Ipswich team is he likely to beat? The fact he beat a stronger RS once is a positive for me.

While it's a great start for Lynn, Oxford won't be their toughest opponents this season & it'll be harder once Harris isn't at reserve. But whoever replaces him at reserve should also do well (but not scoring maximums). But after 5 poor seasons, Lynn fans must be feeling more positive than they have for some time.

Some managers are more ruthless than others. Someone like Middlo would replace a rider when 20 points up, because he wants to win by 22 points. Ruthless maybe but he gets the results.