szkocjasid

Before the heat Monarchs would've preferred a 5-1 & as in the first 12 heats would tell their riders to go for a 5-1. They then could have added, if you're losing a 2-4, we'd actually be better off losing a 1-5. Not saying I agree with that idea, a manager telling a rider to lose a place? But if it helps the team, tough call to make!

But that rule already exists if a rider is missing and no facility is allowed (Doyle & Tungate missing flights for example) then the club is weakened. The rules basically say if a rider misses a flight through no fault of their own you get a 75% guest, but if they want to take a break from GB but ride abroad you get a 100% guest. That's why I questioned it, if there's a situation when the authorities deem it acceptable for a club to ride understrength with guests, is a rider withholding their services a scenario that warrants this ruling? Kinda getting away from Belle Vue now, if Kurtz has made a comeback in Poland, then I'd expect him to be back for the next Aces match.

Not saying I wouldn't want a guest, but I don't see how it puts any real pressure on the reserves. Zach Cook gets a ride, Hagon who's having a great season can take 3. Biggest issue is Foord would have to take a 4th ride. For the Oxford match, is Zach & Sam (X3) stronger than Joe T?

Which is my question. Should the rules be changed, even if it hinders the team?

Due to the make up of the teams, doesn't make a big difference moving Klindt from 5 to 4. As Oxford are a strength in depth line up heat 13 (Tungate & Harris) may not be any tougher than heat 14 (Janowski & Riss?). Perhaps the plan is for the experienced Klindt to support the debuting Kvech. While Basso at 5 has back up from Wojdylo?

The whole point of a suspension, is to punish the rider, but not the team, doesn't work if the rider is happy to take a month off though. Maybe they need to change the rule to 75% guests?

The precedent has been set by Musielak / King's Lynn. If Kurtz would rather just race in Poland for the next 4 weeks, he can take a 28 day suspension, then come back & all is forgiven. Belle Vue get to use guests or r/r. Everyone's happy (except the fans).

I think Doyle is a 99.9% certainty to get a wild card next year, Fricke's performances shouldn't make a difference to Doyle imo. If Fricke can get near the top 6 after missing the start of the season, he'll likely get a wild card too.

GB does the same thing, Max James missing for a NDL match to appear at Edinburgh's press & practice event. British promoters can't complain about it happening to them, if they do it themselves, Leicester were even allowed a guest to cover for James, so the SCB / BSPL must have approved it?

Kye has had some bad matches, such as last night, that can't be denied. But he's also had some good matches. His average is much the same as last year, granted in a weaker league you'd expect it to go up. But just because he's a "heat leader" doesn't mean he'll knock in double figures ever match.

That's what may happen, meetings being run into October, despite gaps in the fixture list. Stricter rules needed for sorting out fixtures imo.

I would support a ruling where teams can't say no, unless there is a very good reason. It's a Wednesday, Poole's normal race night, Scunny's team has at least 6 British Based riders, apart from MPT possibly racing in Denmark why couldn't they race?

The name itself is very confusing. Calling it a development series, sounds like a GP style competition to me, where points all add up.

Looking at the SpeedwayGB website. Poole are hosting one of the National League Riders’ Development Series meetings. This isn't the traditional National Development League Riders Championship, held at the end of the season for the leagues top riders. Unless they are getting rid of the NDLRC at the end of the season & just slotting it into the development series? The fact that so many people can't agree, shows how poorly Poole explained the meeting in their announcement.

It's very confusing, they have announced they're holding the Riders Championship, but the description sounds more like a development series meeting?

I think you are both confused. Poole are holding the NLRC which is a one-off meeting. The meetings at Edinburgh & Leicester are part of the development series. But these are still singular events, they don't carry the scores for an overall winner. Even if the Poole have announced it incorrectly & the NLRC is part of the development series, it's still a "one-off" event, with a winner declared on the night.

On paper this meeting should be a big win for Oxford. But the Spires haven't been as good as I expected this year & Ipswich can still win when understrength, so who knows!

Standing up to Poland would be telling their riders to turn up at Lynn or else. Or refusing to sign any Extraliga (1 or 2) riders. Calling off a match because you don't have a full team is NOT "standing up to Poland". Poland won't care if Lynn raced understrength or postponed the match as long as they get their riders.

Good news is, once MPT is fit again, he can guest for Musielak

There is a difference between the Kurtz & Covatti / Musielak situations, if you cannot see that I despair. Kurtz rode in a one-off match (GP qualifier) but hasn't ridden for his British or Polish clubs since. Covatti has basically declared he's fit to ride, just not in Britain. If Musielak doesn't turn up on Thursday then he's done the same.

That'll make Thursday more interesting.

It was a bit odd, but I was delighted to see Leigh Adams as the all time top averaged rider.

Think you are looking at the averages from a few seasons, if you looked at the same place as me, need to change the range to 2024 stats only. Michelsen is 21st on 6.86. Even so a riders Extraliga average doesn't mean a lot when racing in GB. Janowski is 7.54, Pawlicki is 6.82 who have both struggled over here. While Doyle is down in 40th averaging 6.20, with Woffinden further back on 5.76.

I'm not sure I understand that logic, the number 6 has to score well because the top 5 aren't? Is that not a fault with the top 5, wouldn't you look to replace one of them, rather than the number 6. Regardless, Cook is an improvement on Kemp, so was a sensible signing imo. Harsh on Drew who had done nothing wrong, but that's just sport really.

I think there's a very good chance it'll be the 3 GP riders in the SON team.