szkocjasid

Bailey was doing terribly at number 2 at the start of the season, think he scored about 1 point in heat one in the first 7 matches or something like that. So defo made sense to me to swap Bailey & Hume round.

Basso upper his average from a 5.00 assessed to an 8.5 ave & got over 6 in the Prem. Were you expecting more from him?

It was the same price as a normal Champ & NL match, but they didn't get to see 30 heats. Can't call that excellent value for money myself!

A quick glance at the fixtures shows he'll have a 2.00 ave till July 19th at the earliest. No matter how much they may improve, am certain Complin & Pijper will remain at reserve all year.

Teams could put their top two riders at 1&2 if they so desired!

I'm sure there's been matches when both reserves were injured in heat 2

Ablitt's situation at Poole is no different to his current spot at 6 for Scunthorpe, doesn't get heat 4 or 8 racing at number 6. He did get a 4th ride at Glasgow though, as the match was lost, something he rarely got at Poole even when the match was won.

That last part wouldn't work, as many 2.09 riders who improve their averages from 3 to 4 will be dropped for the next batch of 2.00 riders. I'd certainly be happy with the number 7 having to be the lowest averaged rider & not being allowed to get dropped in heat 8.

Think Workington are favourites for the double, Complin, Pijper & Crang are all former Berwick riders, so should go well. Really rate this Workington side, partly because Harrison was at reserve, but they did well enough without him at home.

Poole (strengthened by r/r) to go through. Should be very close but can't see Redcar winning by 6+

Are you referring to the Fours? Didn't he release Jack Holder to race in Poland for a fee? I'm kinda impressed tbh, these days Poland would just take the rider & GB has chosen to give up their priority on certain race nights.

Mulford isn't actually in his first season, first full season - yes. I wouldn't be looking at any replacements as I don't believe there's any better unnattatched 2.00 riders out there. So I'm sure he'll get plenty of time.

Only slightly, 9.38 to 9.15.

I wouldn't say Mountain belongs at reserve, he's been a solid second string for a few years now, only dropped to reserve because of team changes, not poor form.

If true, that's a big mistake by Drew imo

What @arnieg said, after their exploits with Leicester in 2022, expected them to carry on in the same vain for Plymouth

I had Redcar top, so happy with that. Then Plymouth, Glasgow, Poole, Scunthorpe & Edinburgh in the top 6. Glasgow & Poole doing what I expected as top 6 teams. Scunthorpe started like I expected, but since their changes doing far worse than I predicted! Plymouth doing far worse than I expected, top 2 not showing their Leicester form. Edinburgh also not doing quite as well as I thought. Of my predicted bottom 3, Oxford have impressed me, getting more points from their bottom 4. Berwick doing as expected (apart from unexpectedly winning at Edinburgh), while Birmingham probably doing worse than I expected & I predicted them for bottom lol!

That's a bit of a daft comment really

Where does he say that? I've not spotted it

I'm 99.999% certain all draws, wether in the night or on aggregate lead to a superheat. They got rid of KO Cup replays a few years back due to too many fixtures, there's no reason for that these days though! (Yes I know this isn't a cup match)

I for one was planning to go, the only thing that stopped me was the admission price

This is tough to call, could be a superheat

When you read about Birmingham getting 200/300 then yes 1,200 for two teams in poor form seems fab!

That sounds a fantastic crowd to me!

It looks like Paco rode well, still surprised they picked a 5 point rider over 6.5 & 8.5 point riders though!