szkocjasid

How about? Belle Vue Dan Bewley 8.91 Brady Kurtz 8.24 Matej Zagar 7.20 Norick Blodorn 5.45 Jye Etheridge 4.76 Tom Brennan 4.40 Connor Bailey RS Total 38.96

How about? Sheffield Jack Holder 8.61 Tobiasz Musielak 7.91 Chris Holder 7.16 David Bellego 5.80 Craig Cook 4.92 Lewis Kerr 4.59 Dan Gilkes RS Total 38.99

Flint may not be eligible as a RS now he has a 7+ Champ ave

The problem with 2nd vs 3rd, winner meets 1st. Is that whoever wins the semi gets two bumper crowds & table toppers only get one. Plus 1st place team will be more rusty than their opponents. No point having a situation where finishing top could be a hindrance.

At least it's better than 4 out of 6 qualifying!

Winning a super heat gets you 2 points, losing a super heat gets you 1 point. So it wouldn't be 4-0. They also announced if the both legs were tied the super heat in the second leg would would for the match points & the bonus point!

It's possible they never thought of that!

Not really, they sti have the option of signing a heat leader & reserve or two second strings. The only thing you don't want to do is fill up the bottom end, leave loads of points for heat leaders & then miss out on them!

Wouldn't go anywhere near Jacob Hook. No offence to the lad, but why would you use up 4 points for a rider who averaged 2.78. Far better to go with Jake Mulford (who wouldn't score any less) but gives you 2 extra points to play with.

Statistically it makes sense to go solid, 2 x 5.5 riders. Whoever is at number 6 can take 5 rides a match, with Ablitt only needing to take 3 rides. Also the top 2 get 5 rides a match, as a third heat leader would only get 4 rides. While Poole have been the best team with 3 strong heat leaders, that didn't include starting with 2 x 2.00 riders. Anyway the scores Ben Cook was putting in, could make him a decent 3rd heat leader in a weaker league.

Not a fan of the play-offs but if they had to keep them, should have just made it top 4 qualify! How can a team "celebrate" qualifying for the play-offs by finishing 6th out of 9?

True, I think the Northern teams completed their fixtures. But I'm also referring to the league in general, first couple of matches had scoreboards listed, then that stopped. I was never aware of fixture & results unless I went out of my way to find them.

I agree teams should be able to get their fixtures completed before October, but the reality is that it won't happen. Clubs call off matches days ahead due to poor weather forecast, or don't agree to dates due to foreign commitments! 2 home & 2 away, plus top 4 play-offs & no KOC / trophy, would probably be best for the Champ, but I feel could hurt the NDL!

I think riders would find it a lot harder to step up without NL racing. Just look at the progress of Ace Pijper after one season of NL racing then beats Sam Masters at Redcar! As for a "meaningful second half event" I think the Premiership has already shown how little they think of rider development. PJL ignored in 2021, then not completed in 2022. Given clubs only had to race 2 x 6 heat home matches that's a pretty poor effort (by the southern clubs) imo.

I think it's important to look to the future of British Speedway. 100% need to avoid clubs having too many fixtures to do Champ & NL, so therefore pulling out of the NL. Certainly can't expect the NL to survive on 3 clubs (or 5 if counting Prem teams). I have no issue with a lower points limit, but I wish they had the same riding order ruling as Prem teams (weakest rider at 7, can't be dropped from heat 8)! Using them at 6 means after heat 2, they may not race a reserve again. Gotta encourage the top NL riders to step up as surely it's cheaper to use 2.00 Brits at reserve than to fly in foreigners?

As there will be 6 teams in the play-offs & only 3 not qualifying - the majority will be riding on into September.

I'm not sure why people think it'll be such a short season. For most clubs it's only one less home match, given the play-offs didn't get completed till November, I don't understand how any promoter thought they could fit in 2 home & 2 away (unless they got rid of the play-offs).

Is Hume still a rising star though? When the rule first came in, RS had to be U-25 or have raced less than 3 seasons of speedway!

Certainly no point risking the future of your club to sign a rider you can't afford!

Not better than "Sudden" Sam surely?

In Leicester's defence they must have ridden more fixtures than any other club this year, Championship / NL / KOC / NL Pairs - only got into trouble with the track in late October.

They had a similar system at some point in the play-offs with a higher team getting a points advantage (can't remember how much). But no points advantage was used in the final! Didn't last long though!

I don't like play-offs, think the league leaders should be champions. But if they are having them, think it works best with 2/4/8 teams qualifying. You could say it suited Poole finishing 3rd. Got an extra home match (potential big play-off crowd), & their riders will be race fit. Compared that to Glasgow, who had a big gap before their most important match if the season. If top 3 Prem teams qualify for the play-offs, could finishing top be a disadvantage?

I've long thought there should be a maximum average in the Prem (9.00?) I agree you don't want to stop rider like Doyle racing because he takes up too much of the points limit. Wouldn't have any maximum limit in the Champ though, once a rider can get a 9/10.00 ave they really should be moving up to Prem / racing abroad!

People would be expecting news after the AGM, to say nothing would have been worse imo.