szkocjasid

I'd suggest the best heat leader trio either be Jenkins, Stoneman & Killeen, Bailey, Harrison & H.McGurk or Dan & Joe T with Max James? Too close to call, but expected big things of all three 3.00 riders.

While the Kent team doesn't look bad compared to last years. Workington, Leicester & Oxford look incredibly strong imo. So while it's hard to judge when other clubs either haven't made signings or confirmed their participation in the league, it seems the other clubs will be fighting for the remaining top 4 spot.

I also feel Kemp did exactly what could have been expected of him. He was a 3.5 Champ rider being signed to ride a number 6 rather than as a rising star!

There's a real mixed bad of 3rd heat leaders this year, so is Cook is 3rd heat leader quality? Lewis Kerr, Ben Barker & Charles Wright look the strongest. After that they are similar standards: Leon Flint, Kye Thomson, Tom Brennan, Ben Cook & Jake Allen. With only James Wright far weaker imo So it appears Cook is on a par with the majority of 3rd heat leaders after all.

Only the last 10 league matches count for a riders average, so a bad start to the season doesn't effect his average.

My efforts at a "realistic" Newcastle team for 23. Could also swap Batchelor & Thompson for Aarnio & Ashley Morris. Newcastle Troy Batchelor 7.29 Matthew Wethers 6.47 Broc Nicol 5.95 Dillon Ruml 5.47 Max Clegg 5.23 Dan Thompson 5.09 Connor Bailey 4.32 Total 39.82

But a new breed of fans haven't won anything (bar one KOC) so how can they think they're entitled to win everything lol!

I'd say Edinburgh have a strong top 2, both Cook & Pickering could top the 9 point mark (9.3). Thomson should be an acceptable 3rd heat leader (6.9). Castagna could put a point on his ave if he's now uses to the track (5.9). Fredriksen I think would just reach his assessed ave (4.1). But don't expect a lot from Bickley or Hook who I expect to be around the 3.0/2.9 mark. Think they'll finish from 2nd - 6th.

Updated predictions of the completed teams: Redcar Glasgow Scunthorpe Edinburgh Berwick Oxford

Some riders look like obvious choices to up their averages, such as MPT who has a 6.8 Champ ave & a 6.9 Prem ave. So surely he must be able to up his Champ ave? I read others suggest Jake Allen could easily up his average, but I see no "evidence" to support this as he's been on a downward run in recent years, same as Cameron Heeps. In other situations you can expect a rider to up his average by virtue of having an easier riding position in 2023, like Brennan, Vissing, Charles Wright, who should all score more away from the 1&5 positions! You could also argue the likes of Pearson, Fredriksen & Hook should improve as they get used to tracks in their second season, although they could all up their 2022 aves & still finish below their assessed aves! Finally there's the likes of Jonas Knudsen & Marcin Nowak, who didn't ride enough meetings to get a new ave, but we're scoring above their assessed averages.

Not sure how that is "tactically questionable". If Kennedy is the best reserve in the league he should be capable of beating opposition second strings riding at number 6 & Joe T should be beating opposition number 7s most of the time. Swap them round & Kennedy scores the points Joe T would from beating number 7s, but Joe scores far less & so does the team!

Teams are built to a 40 point limit, by the end of the season should average out at 42, so each rider technically should put 0.3ish on their average without improving as a rider.

I'm not saying the team as a whole underperformed, but looking at 5 of the (expected) 2023 team, I can't believe any of Cook, Castagna, Fredriksen, Hook or Bickley were pleased with their 2022 finishing averages!

Both McGurk's, Ablitt & Freeman all have new teams, gonna be a lot a changes for the Colts in 2023!

The elite league fast track format would be useful, heat leaders never meet reserves in that format!

No reason not to post their starting ave's though! As what PTW says, well done Poole

Of the completed sides I'll rank them: 1. Redcar 2. Glasgow 3. Berwick 4. Oxford

Interesting view of the Monarchs team as 5 of their (planned) team are coming off a disappointing season in 2022!

There's no point having a rule to stop the reserves swapping heats, while you can choose which reserve gets the easier number 7 spot. Imo should follow the Prem reserve rules "rs" or lowest averaged reserve has to be at number 7 & can't be replaced on heat 8!

I would suggest Oxford build their team on the basis of Atkins & Killeen upping their starting averages & not depending on the top 5 winning matches on their own. Personally I think they are amongst the weaker 2.00 riders & that Oxford will struggle.

I can't see Edinburgh winning that argument as the NDL was happy to let IOW walk away, rather than work with them to keep them in the league.

It's an exaggeration to say it's virtually the same riders in the top 2 divisions. Looking at Premiership riders in Champ teams: Berwick (3), Birmingham (2), Edinburgh (1), Glasgow (1or 2), Oxford (3), Plymouth (2 or 3), Poole (1 so far, likely 4), Redcar (5), Scunthorpe (1 so far, likely 3).

That team looks very strong, but Workington have also made a great start to their team building. Can't say they are favourites till more teams sign riders. But as things stand wouldn't be surprised to see Leicester & Workington in the play-offs.

I've seen the crash & it didn't look dirty to me. As I saw it Morris drifted out as McAllan came over & they clashed, racing incident as I saw it.

Complin was very poor at Newcastle, take away those home matches (he'll never have to race at Brough Park again) and he averaged 3.86 (4.43) which is a decent "away" average for a 4.00 rider. Taking into account all his Champ level matches (inc guesting) minus his Newcastle home matches and he averaged 4.32 (4.72). Away from Brough Park he did much better!