szkocjasid

This year's play-offs are different in that 2nd is no better than 6th as the winning team picks their two opponents. So technically teams should either aim for 1st or top 6, there's nothing in between!

Ben Cook is 4.06, so that puts this team over the limit!

This team fits exactly! Berwick Connor Coles 8.80 Greg Blair 7.75 Ace Pijper 6.90 Archie Freeman 5.29 Luke Muff 4.78 Mason Watson 4.41 Ben Rathbone 4.07 Total 42.00

I disagree with Howarth's average going down as he rode at number 5 for most if the season so had the difficult heat 13 to contend with. Can agree with R.Worall & Riss losing something off their ave as they spent most of the season in the easier number 3 spot.

Dan is clearly ahead of Joe & has been for the last two seasons. Certainly can't base a seasons form on just the play-off finals.

Personally don't think it looks strong, but need more complete teams to compare it to. However also look good enough to be title challengers (only need to finish 6th out of 9).

If true I think that's a bad move by Leicester. I think it's clear the Premiership needed Leicester more than Leicester needed the Premiership! What if Leicester had stood their ground & agreed to the move up as long as they got their fair share? I'm sure the TV companies want more clubs & Wolves certainly do!

Of course some of the fans may be streaming instead of attending, costing a club money. But if bet far more are fans who wouldn't go anyway, due to travel distances or even being based in Australia!

For the last two seasons Poole have had the best team in the league, so you can't expect opposition second strings / reserves to do a great deal at Poole imo

I've gotta say I think Complin in underrated, which I can understand as his rolling average finished at 3.18 & he has to come in on a 4.00 ave. However that doesn't tell the whole story. Complin's average for all fixtures (Newcastle, Plymouth & as a guest) is 3.60 take off his fixtures at Brough Park (which were far below his away scores) as he'll not have to return there and it goes up to 4.32! Stats from http://www.gbspeedway.com

How about? Plymouth Kyle Howarth 8.36 Richie Worrall 7.97 Ben Barker 7.80 Ben Morley 4.94 Dan Gilkes 4.55 Connor Bailey 4.32 Ablitt / Trigger 2.00 Total 39.94

1) Lawson's 2022 ave was half a point lower than Howarth's 2) Lawson never rode at number one for Poole (99% sure) Not sure he fits the "out & out number one" mould. Probably need to be a 9+ rider to qualify (which means Howarth doesn't either).

Ringwood was better 3.70 (4.20). Seems he was worth another go.

Was it not a similar situation with Grajczonek & Davey? Mitchell was thought to be the most promising but it turned out to be Josh!

Jayden O'Malley 1.73 (2.09 with bonus) from 27 matches. Harley Horwood 2.69 (2.82) from 15 Michael Penfold 0.47 from 5 I guess as long as the occasional Darcy Ward / Nick Morris comes along, new Aussies will often get chances!

I see they announced Barker has being in the number 4 race jacket, I think some team managers think they are being "clever" by having a stronger rider in heat 14. But for me it would make sense to adjust your riding order based on your opponents, i.e if there's an opposition heat leader Barker should beat & an opposition second string Gilkes should beat - then line them up against them in heats 8/12/14 for the extra point.

Looks an awful long tail, but better heat leaders than Berwick & better second strings than Oxford!

In an ideal world the top 6 or 7 riders from last year would have left the Champ & just done Prem with Poland / Sweden. That would have lowered costs with the highest earners missing out. Also should've made the standard of top & bottom Champ riders closer together for better racing. As what always happend though, top riders are retained, 2.00 reserves added in, 4/5 point riders miss out & the gulf between the strongest & weakest in the Champ gets larger!

These comments are from Rob Godfrey when Scunthorpe signed Joe T “With Leicester moving up, we’ve gone for Joe. We wouldn’t have minded having Dan in our side as well. But I think it will help them riding for different tracks." So sounds like Dan T must have another club or why would he turn Scunny down?

Think you're being hard on Complin, take away his scores at Newcastle & he'd have a much better average.

Just realised I was referring to comments on the Leicester thread. But I suppose a strong team would prefer a rider scoring 5 each week, to ensure they win. A weak team may prefer 9 one week 1 the next, as the only way they can win is on the riders good days!

Wrong thread

Actually he WAS inconsistent. His rolling ave is 10.13 (last 10 matches) but his average for the whole season was 9.33, showing he wasn't as good early on, but came on strong. In May he actually had a 7.90 ave!

Plymouth look like they'll be building with 3 strong heat leaders, but still could be stronger than Berwick & Oxford at reserve.

As there's 9 teams on the league, the top 9 riders can rightly be described as number ones. Using the 2022 aves, not just the last 10 matches (rolling aves) Howarth is the 5th best rider in the league. So I think it's fair to call him "an out & out number one" Masters (10.03) Morris (9.33) Douglas (9.24) Harris (9.07) Howarth (8.87) Cook (8.84) R.Worrall (8.74) Pickering (8.67) Lawson (8.48)