szkocjasid

Gotta say I find it impossible to suggest who will get the Wooden Spoon in the Prem, all the completed teams have positive sides to them, so it could be a very close league. Certainly closer than the Champ who have one team (Birmingham) who look far weaker than the rest. I've picked Leicester as the weakest looking side so far, but even they have a great top 4!

I've read comments like that often, but when was Kasprzak last beaten by a "rising star" granted his last GP season was dissapointing - but there's no RS in that, same with the Extraliga, not the force he once was, but the Premiership is a far weaker league!

As Leicester have a NDL team, replacing Lawson with Joe Thompson would be a sensible choice!

The only way to complete the Jubilee League would be using last year's teams, so the riders who qualified for the final, race in the final! If you allow guests to strengthen Poole / weaken Leicester then it can surely only be a challenge match?

Totally agree!

Jakobsen & Pickering are the most likely to put a point on their averages, but I expect Kasprzak to up his average too.

That rule no longer exists, if a club has "no facility available" they can use a guest up to 75% of missing riders ave.

Part of me thinks if Birmingham are allowed a guest then Morris missing matches won't harm them! But I can also agree with HGould that if Morris isn't going to be available every week they should look elsewhere (2 x 7.00 riders rather than a 10+4)?

Jenkins, Bailey, Dan & Joe Thompson are all clearly still developing, so why shouldn't they be in a "development" league. Not sure why a "development" league has to mean a weak league? Personally I have no issue with the likes of Morley racing in the NDL as he can assist teammates on & off track as well as be a target for young opposition superstars (Harrison, Killeen, Perry) to find out how close they are to Champ level. Interestingly you never hear people complaining about Lewis Miller or Kieran Douglas being in a development league, despite the fact that neither of them can be considered a developing rider! No offence to those two, not everyone can become stars!

I'm sure everyone would admit Jason Doyle is an out & out number one, but he's not qualified for the GPs in the last two seasons (relied on a seeded spot) so can't use that as an example to suggest Masters isn't an out & out number one imo

But if the NL went down to 4 or 5 clubs, would that be feasible. If there was no NL where do the Championship riders of the future come from? Teams could end up flying more riders in from abroad / paying for more visas, making the Championship more expensive & possibly losing more clubs - so even less matches!

Because Redcar don't have a NL team.

Yeah I went via my memory rather than looking it up, but I guess that means they dropped the stronger rider & kept the weaker one. Not meant as a dig at Poole, who want to win no matter what. But certainly think Roynon is more likely to get a full season if he signed for Plymouth rather than Poole.

The Premiership is really hard to call, no weak looking teams for me (so far). 1. Sheffield - everything about the team looks good & a strong reserve in Kerr 2. Wolverhampton - 5 heat leaders & the best rs 3. King's Lynn - expecting Kasprzak, Jakobsen & Pickering to up their aves well. Will have the best reserve in the league in TJ. 4 . Belle Vue - great top two, not convinced in Wright as a 3rd heat leader, also think the bottom half will be weak away & have weakest rs in the league. 5. Leicester - good top end, but can't see any improvement in their averages. Weak looking bottom 3 for me.

I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, Lambert has that average for a reason, he's a 5 point rider! It's not like he was at reserve all year getting the easy rides!

Not a big issue for Oxford if it's too soon for Killeen in the Champ, just replace him with the next best 2.00 rider Ablitt!

That's a disaster for any riders traveling from the Sittingbourne area!

Quite a few riders who rode well for Poole at reserve got dumped when their averages went up, Hans Andersen, Artur Mroczka, Renat Gafurov & Drew Kemp spring to mind. I guess it's a risk a rider has to be willing to make, improve your average & you may get dropped!

I wasn't aware of that. But if Mountain wants a Prem team he's not in a position to turn down any offers, so should try & convince the promotion he can improve around Foxhall

It's certainly a shame that even in a 3 team league, fixtures don't get fulfilled!

Because people are allowed to have different options on a forum lol!

But Bellego hasn't been signed as a heat leader!

It was announced they were no longer "rising stars" due to their age, nothing to do with their averages.

My point still stands, you lose the benefit of signing them with 25% off their average if you don't reach the 42.00 limit!

Was that not his first Championship season when signed as a 3.00 rider? I would judge his current potential based on that season!