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Is Pearson on an 8.00 average? Edinburgh have 9.03 left for their final rider, makes me think they are signing Hook on a 9.00 ave, making the Belle Vue team 42.99!

Can't agree with Buster at all here, dropping Holder is fine, that's his prerogative but to only announce it after the transfer window has closed is childish & unprofessional!

Can't say I understand your philosophy. If Buster thought Holder would walk out on the club mid-season then why hold talks at all?

Should be one of the top riders in the league!

Personally I'd definitely have the top 2 at 1+5. King should beat the opposition reserve in heat 12, so you're looking at Ipswich gaining a possible 2 point advantage using Emil in that heat, compared to a possible 4 point advantage in heat 13 (where I'd expect King to be 4th).

Personally I won't believe Emil will be here till it's announced officially. But if he does sign I'd start with Heeps (despite thinking Hume is better) so Rew gets to start at reserve. Once Rew moves into the top 5 then bring Hume in? Can always change your mind if Heeps keeps scoring well!

Well not everyone, cause I disagree lol!

Depends how well Rew goes I suppose. Can't be avoided though, to have a powerhouse top 2, going to be weaker elsewhere. Could really have done with using up an extra point to get the advantage of Hume dropping 25% off his average (like Belle Vue have done with Brennan). No advantage of the team starts under 41 points with Hume.

When you compare their Championship form, Hume is 1.5 points better than Heeps.

If that's true Ipswich will have an 8 point advantage to defend in the other 13 heats. A weaker reserve pairing wouldn't be such an issue

Compare Masters away average to GP riders Jack Holder & Max Fricke, Nikolai Klint (only did 4 matches mind) or Chris Harris (number one last year, but not this year) & he doesn't seem so bad! Masters 7.36 (8.09) Fricke 7.32 (8.10) Harris 7.27 (7.87) Klindt 7.06 (7.53) Holder 6.34 (7.22)

You're right, I must have misread your post

Workington, Oxford & Leicester look the favourites to me.

I can't remember where I read it (maybe in a Speedway Star) but Danny Phillips was hyping up the Bullets as play-off contenders. Naturally he's going to say something positive like that, as no-one signs for a club planing to do poorly. But I do feel he's gravely mistaken & that Berwick will be nearer the bottom than top. Built to just over 40 points, which means they need to put 2 points on their averages, just to be a mid table side. I honestly don't see much potential for riders to up their averages. The league certainly looks stronger than last year. Coles is a good number one, but rode at 3 last year, so by adding heat 13 to his races, if he keeps his average, he'll be doing well. Ditto for Blair, had a great season, but at the easier number 4 for half the season. Phillips is an acceptable 3rd heat leader. Freeman showed so much potential for Newcastle & Armadale I expected a lot more from him last season. Now out of the reserve berth, it's tougher. Like Coles I think he can improve (by keeping his average). The bottom 3 all have the potential to improve, but I see that as a slow & steady rise up the ranks, which is where they will miss Luke Harrison! So on the whole, the team doesn't look bad. But if you have 6 or 7 strong looking teams & 1 or 2 average looking teams, they'll be near the bottom. If I was a Berwick fan, I'd just be happy you're getting to see lots of Speedway in 2023. More matches than Glasgow & Redcar (not to mention Newcastle).

If you remove the top rider from each team & replace them with all the 5/6/7 point riders missing, then the league would be even weaker. However the difference in standard between the top & bottom riders would be closer, so the racing should be better (in theory)? It certainly feels it's wrong for any team to rave admission when weakening the league for sure!

I totally agree, very annoying to see foreigners who couldn't reach their 4.00 assessed aves get team places before 5 point Brits.

After reading that correctly I agree with you lol! These older riders can assist the development of their team mates & be a target for developing riders to beat. I.e if you can beat Ben Morley, then you're reaching Champ reserve level. I agree they should get rid of the "development" name & just call it the National League.

I agree using 2022 form doesn't tell the whole story of Richie's form around Alwalton, as Panthers were weak. However had he scored 3 or 4 points each visit, I could understand people being negative towards his signing, but he didn't, he scored well.

It certainly irks me that Sam Masters (who I have nothing against) gets a Champ spot despite being one of the top Prem riders & has a team in Poland, ahead of Kemp or Thompson. But where do you have the cut-off on averages for riders doubling up? Most clubs will pick an 8.00 & 2.00 rider over 2 x 5.00 riders, which is why these guys have been left on the sidelines.

Doesn't really work in this scenario as there are 5 point riders available instead of B.Cook, but no 6 point riders I'm aware of instead of Andersen.

I'm not sure "lost his way" would be a good way to describe Kemp, who almost put 2 points on his average last season.

I'm sure I have thought Sheffield looked the strongest team for all 3 seasons they've spent in the Prem.

Apart from the number one, the top 5 can ride in any order.

I think Worrall is a decent second string, not understanding the negativity by many. So what if his average has stayed much the same in the last few years? Not everyone can be a heat leader, plus he's also avoided dropping his average when others have. If Peterborough end up a point (or more) under the limit, then maybe it was a mistake to sign Ben Cook so early? Could have used the extra points at reserve!

Must have been very quietly dropped then. Anyway I'm sure it would have been unpopular with the riders, but popular with the promoters