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There is 0% whatsoever a legitimate reason for Ipswich to be allowed a guest when there are plenty of RS options available. That said this being Speedway - you never know lol!

Sadly that never happens, a rider can get replaced at the drop of a hat, even if they have upped their average. Whereas a rider who doesn't get paid & want to leave to join another team will get a 28 day ban for "withholding their services" Speedway contracts certainly seem to favour the clubs over the riders!

Totally agree with Lisa's comment here, if Batchelor & Ablitt are so much stronger than Thomas & Newman why didn't they sign them to start with? There is very little difference between Thomas, Kemp, Rowe & Dan Thompson so can't understand why Poole would even consider re-thinking the team building strategy they came up with in the winter!

There's both pros & cons for the play-offs. Not a fan of them myself. But I'd be interested to see what the crowd was for Sheffield vs Ipswich on Oct 24th, what would have been a league title decider, basically turned into a challenge match!

Personally I think it would be really out of order to drop a rider in March with no other team spots available, especially as there are options available for a straight swap for Thomas!

I'm sure I read the opposite. Can't stop teams being allowed a guest in case there's no one out there, so in theory a team could use guests from their 2nd match till the end of the season!

Bowen & Hodder seem pretty good reserves tbh!

I make it 8.12 left for the final rider

Jakobsen will get 4 matches before he moved up (2 x KOC) plus an away league match before the home league match he needs to get a new average. Should give Lynn an early season boost. It'll definitely be Pickering dropping to reserve as the rest of the team won't get new averages when Jakobsen does!

There's not a lot between the middle order tbh. I certainly see Jorgensen at 2.

Since Lynn are starting their season with one of their strongest riders at number 6, how about having a weaker rider at 5 to be "protected" by Jakobsen & Klint in his 4 rides? 1. Klindt 2. Jorgensen 3. (H) Kasprzak (A) Palm Toft 4. (H) Palm Toft (A) Kasprzak 5. Pickering 6. Jakobsen 7. Edwards

Not necessarily, for a start he has a higher average than Pickering, so if Jakobsen gets a new ave before the team averages change on 1st May Pickering would go to reserve. Of course if Jorgensen turns out to be the 6th best rider, he may still move out if the reserve berth if he scores well after dropping down (assuming he will).

I'm expecting Blodorn to end up at reserve, scoring plenty points at the NSS, but not away (especially at Wolves).

This would make the most sense, the riders who helped their team qualify for the final, get to race in the final!

My predictions were based on riders averages (where they will finish up) I have no knowledge of Turner so left him at 4.00, after I read enough comments decided to drop that to 3.00! Anyway that's what should happen in a forum, if someone puts up a good counter point, forum users can re-think their opinions lol! It can be done, (quoting posts from different pages)!

I am now thinking Berwick could avoid the wooden spoon, I probably still rate them bottom, but much closer to Oxford & Berwick than I first thought!

I recommend Proctor on the 7th of December! If he's good I'll remind everyone, if he's poor I'll delete this post lol!

I think Proctor is a sensible choice, especially riding at reserve. Although his form in the French meeting, would put me off a little. But if the option was Proctor who lives over here vs Manzares who would have to be flown from Sweden for each match, I'd 100% be going for Ty.

Think Proctor is the best 4.00 rider available tbh, he averaged 4.55 (5.52) in 2022, which is far better than Hook 2.78 (3.44) for example!

Just watched the match on the BSN. Typical Berwick track tbh, if riders gated on got into the outside line, not much chance of passing. At this stage of the season (pre-injuries)you certainly wouldn't have expected Berwick to lose so many at home. Agree with others that it was a poor show of Bowen & Bromwell to ask about team changes so early in the season, as a former rider you'd expect Bowen to side with the riders & expect them to be given time!

Still waiting for two teams, but this is how I rank the completed sides: 1) Workington 2) Oxford 3) Leicester 4) Mildenhall 5) Kent 6) Berwick

Slight change in my predictions, now putting Redcar top. 1st) Redcar - 3 good heat leaders. Bailey & Edwards could swap the 2 & 6 positions throughout the season with whoever is at reserve scoring well. Not got great home track advantage, but expect them to keep matches close away, so don't need big home wins anyway! 2-6) Plymouth - 3 good heat leaders & 2 good second strings, expecting big things from Gilkes. At reserve Turner a complete unknown for me & Trigger could be the weakest rider in the league. Home track advantage should help with bonus points. 2-6) Glasgow - look pretty decent in each position. Vissing could be a trump card! Think the reserves will up their averages too. 2-6) Scunthorpe - great number one. Then solid throughout, probably have the best reserve pair. 2-6) Poole - great top 2, then race with 4 second strings. So missing a 3rd heat leader, but should always have a decent reserve. 2-6) Edinburgh - fab top 2. Having better reserves than the 2 teams below them sees them into the play-offs. 7th) Oxford - probably have the best top 3 in the league. Then almost running with 4 reserves, too long a tail. 8th) Berwick - top 5 looks good, especially at home with Etheridge. Weak at reserve. 9th) Birmingham - the only team I see with no play-off chance. Great number one (will drop his average though) & Sedgmen rode very well last year, but there's plenty of stronger number 2's. Missing a 3rd heat leader & using up 8 points for their reserves who'll need to improve to even reach those averages.

I'd personally go for Kemp, if you compare his average as a number 6 3.15 (3.65) to Flint who rode as a RS 3.54 (4.25) it shows he's not far behind the man most agree should be the strongest "RS". He may also feel he has something to prove after being overlooked for a team spot in both leagues. There's no real risk with a rising star though, if you get your first pick wrong, just try another! It's never going to be a case of the averages not fitting!

1) Sheffield - look to have strength in all the right places, heat leaders not as strong as some others (but not weak either), but make up for it elsewhere & look to have good reserves. 2) King's Lynn - solid top 6 & should have the strongest reserve in the league. While they don't have any top heat leaders, they make up for it with their second strings / number 6. 3) Wolverhampton - very solid top 5, could all average 7+. No superstars, but a decent number one & the strongest RS. 4) Ipswich - powerhouse top 2. Rest of the top 5 isn't as strong as any of the teams I've placed above them. 5) Belle Vue - fantastic number one & a good number 2. Not quite got 3rd heat leader / second string strength. Have the weakest RS. However home track form could help with bonus points! 6) Peterborough - great number one. But after that doesn't look so good. Not an awful team just, don't see much improvement in the rest of the team. Other teams simply look better. 7) Leicester - top 4 looks great, but think Sedgmen / Allen is where they are weak. Sedgmen would be an ok reserve but don't see him as a top 5 rider. I do feel all the teams look strong enough to win plenty of their home matches, so I don't think anyone will be cast adrift & this could be the closest league for some time. The more I compare teams, I realise most of the number 6s could end up on similar averages: Blodorn, Hume, Allen, & both Cooks. So I feel they cancel themselves out, with King's Lynn & Sheffield having the advantage there.