szkocjasid

If Sheffield had two riders in mind they wanted for the final, the best option would be to "drop" their second choice tonight (as they are 99% through) and go with their 3rd best option, the use the second best pick for the final. That may be what they are doing with Lawson & Harris?

I understand your point, but if you can pick "horses for courses" during the season, why stop just for the play-offs? Plus there's the +5% at home rule, some riders could guest at home but not away!

Whatever to he ruling is, I'm sure in this situation if the Wolves riders told the ref the track was safe, it's unlikely to be abandoned early

Why are some people so upset Edinburgh didn't have a guest for Cook? it's not against the rules, r/r is allowed whatever the situation. All year long I read comments about too many guests, now complaints teams aren't using guests lol!

Good stuff, must have read my comments lol!

For the integrity of the sport (don't laugh at me) it really should be run. I don't know if Workington have season tickets, but if they do, they'd be missing out on a match, so would any sponsors expecting x amount of meetings for publicity. Not to mention young hungry British youngsters wanting track time.

Totally agree there, even with Tarasenko getting an r/r outing, the reserves still have to take 10 rides between them, Poole's reserves are going better. Gotta fancy Pirates for a big home win & narrow away defeat.

Poole aren't winning against adversity, they'll win because they are stronger than Glasgow & clear favourites imo Yes Tarasenko is on a daft average, but Poole or Oxford could have signed him too! If we struck off everyone who came up with idiotic rules, there would be no-one left to run the sport lol! Stop pretending Poole are underdogs to 1) give yourself an excuse if they lose, 2) celebrate a triumph against all odds when they win. Many tried that tactic with Scunthorpe & I didn't believe them then either. If you REALLY believe Poole are the underdogs, I'd say you should have more faith in your team. Since dropping down Poole have won everything (7 man competitions). Poole are the best team in the league!

I too was wondering why the Kent match is taking so long to be announced, no Champ matches this Saturday, so could have raced without missing riders

You called that one correctly

Would you rather see Josh Pickering get an extra ride or watch Troy Batchelor? (who could be the strongest guest option)

Good point, run that meeting on Wednesday if it's too short notice to plan the play-off final

Maybe they should have waited till after tonight's match to announce the re-staging, if Glasgow lose at Redcar, Oxford may have been willing to turn up with half a team?

Obviously it makes sense for both clubs to be a full strength (baring injuries) for both the fans in attendance and the "integrity" of the sport. But why have a cut-off date that either means, clubs racing understrength or after the cut-off date? Nothing against Scott, but should the Championship play-offs be held back because he has another job? What if Lee Complin needs to work on Tuesday, can it re-arranged again?

This bit confuses me: It had been ruled that all Play-Off group fixtures must be completed by October 1. In accordance with this, the Tigers management had offered to run the restaging this Friday. However, Oxford were unable to accommodate this due to rider availability. Therefore the next available race night was Tuesday and that has now been confirmed. Does that mean cut-off dates are not set in stone & only applicable if clubs don't have riders missing? So I'm assuming next year a club is allowed to refuse a date before the cut-off date of any competition, as long as they have riders missing? So really the rule should be along the lines of "all Championship fixtures should be completed by 31st August unless clubs are unable to accommodate this due to rider availability in this situation clubs can run on the next suitable date for both clubs"

When Scott signed a contract for the GPs he must have known there was a chance of a Saturday match taking place, either because of rain-offs or racing Berwick. So I assume there is a contingency plan for fixture clashes. I don't think Oxford should be able to refuse the date because he is missing, especially as Redcar rode at Oxford with missing riders. Plus other riders have second jobs, but still make all their matches. I'm not saying Scott isn't good at his TV job, but him missing the match isn't going to stop people watching / hurt the show, but missing the Oxford match could be a travesty for the Cheetahs, so I'd imagine he'd prefer to be there.

I'm sorry but I think that's the worst thing they could do, fans already complain that too many guests are used, now this would lead to clubs using a guest when their own riders are fit!

I wouldn't say Joe struggled at Scunny earlier in the season, he was doing his job & got dropped because they couldn't find a replacement for Kennedy. He struggled at Birmingham (as many do), but has found form since joining Poole (as many do)

I don't think you can give any Speedway club that much credit, plenty matches been called off early (not just by Glasgow) in the hope the weather will be better later on. Looking at Scunthorpe & Redcar, it appears they no longer cared about the KOC, just the league, but as soon as they're knocked out of the play-offs, will again try to explain to their fans how important the KOC is & why the fans should turn up to watch it! I'm sure Glasgow are expecting Oxford to either be told to turn up on a certain date, or race in October, can't believe they would risk no racing the tie?

Don't think they will ever do that (sadly). Last year there was 10 play-off matches, this year it's up to 14. If they think they'll struggle for dates, top 4 knockout is only 6 matches!

I'm not sure if that's a rule, I know guests can't compete for different teams in the same time.

I'll go for: Wolves 51-39 Sheffield

I'll go for Belle Vue 52-38 Ipswich. Witches top 2, to score enough that the rest of the side only need a few points each.

I think if Emil can win the first heat it will give Witches a massive boost. But if Aces can get a heat advantage, could it make Ipswich doubt themselves?

Are you sure? It seems like Pedersen, Kasprzak & Laguta have missed GB meetings when still riding abroad, but they never got a ban?