szkocjasid

Agree this is Belle Vues best chance of an away win at Ipswich.

Gilkes has a chance, but Oxford's top 6 will make it difficult. Think Sheffield need to rely on their top 5 for a result.

Edwards opposite number is Kerr, think he'll struggle to score much at all.

That makes sense, to test his fitness in an individual meeting before racing for Birmingham. If he rides a Polish league match first, then this wouldn't be acceptable to the Brummies.

That's already happend, both Pawlicki & Milik signed on higher assessed averages this year.

After only just beating Birmingham, Sheffield have to be the favourites here. But expect Oxford to have the advantage at reserve. Personally I would have moved Harris to 5.

While it's a very good turn out, it's disappointing after it was announced EVERY rider would be there. Perhaps they should have announced beforehand that every team would have a rider present, then shock us all when at least 5 from every team turned up?

My initial thought was damaged limitation, keeping the score close for an aggregate win. But with Lawson in heat 8, Iversen isn't guaranteed a win there anyway. I would have put MPT at 2.

I must have missed those swaps then.

I'd have Sayfutdinov & Doyle at 1 & 5 (depending who's higher at the time). King at 3 or 4. Rew & Ellis at 2,3 or 4. Jenkins when he moves into the top 5 at number 2. Don't see why they can't swap riders around based on the opposition. Not that you see many managers do that.

Why not race it the Sunday of the Polish Final (there's 3 of them to choose from). Don't think there'll be any Polish League fixtures these days, so apart from the top Poles, everyone else should be available. Should run the British Final the same day as one of the Polish finals for the same reason.

I was probably expecting Cook to come into heat 14 after he won heat 12. But as Flint won his last race (8) I can understand why he was left in. Some team managers are more ruthless than others.

So how many people are going to admit to being wrong about Birmingham's team tonight I wonder?

This Berwick team is one that could do very well. Good top 2. Etheridge capable of maximums at home (helps with aggregate wins) two improving Brits at second string & Borke at reserve who should do better at Shielfield than he did at Armadale. If everything goes to plan, they're good enough to challenge for the title.

If Etheridge rides as well as he talks about in the interview, then Berwick could be favourites for the league. Personally I felt he was being too ambitious.

Leicester 49 - 41 Belle Vue

If that's the case, seems a great choice.

It does give riders something to aim for. I'm sure Max Perry, Luke Harrison & Ben Trigger will be chasing the number one spot & Ben Rathbone, Luke Crang & William Hocaniuk will be wanting to move out of the reserve berth for example.

Nicholls isn't guesting for Birmingham, he's a temporary signing. This situation will happen fairly often this year when Harris, Wright & Kerr race for their Championship teams & when Masters, Nicholls & Jenkins race for their Premiership teams.

Using your comparison No.1s: 6 Thompson (L) 5 Ablitt (S) 4 Hagon (B) 3 Killeen (O) 2 Coles (E) 1 Phillips (M) No.2s: 6 Perry (E) 5 Harrison (S) 4 Hodder (B) 3 Trigger (M) 2 Scott (O) 1 Spencer (L) No.3s: 6 Pijper (S) 5 Marson (B) 4 McGurk (E) 3 Spooner (O) 2 James (L) 1 Freeman (M) No.4s: 6 Butcher (L) 5 Clouting (O) 4 Muff (B) 3 Halder (M) 2 Wood (E) 1 Simpson (S) No.5s: 6 Garrad (O) 5 Wirtzfeld (B) 4 Kelly (M) 3 Foord (L) 2 Watson (E) 1 Davies (S) No.6s: 6 Crang (L) 5 Rathbone (M) 4 McGurk (B) 3 Lyden (E) 2 Vale (O) 1 Dicken (S) No.7s: 6 Summers (O) 5 Parker (E) 4 Shimelt (B) 3 Springer (L) 2 Hocaniuk (M) 1 Pijper (S) Totals: Belle Vue 30 Leicester 27 Oxford 27 Edinburgh 24 Scu She 20 Middlesbrough 19

I bet he'll be at reserve till June 17th lol! With big gaps in the fixture list, will take a while for all clubs to get new averages.

Even if Birmingham sign Rory Schlein as a temporary replacement for Pawlicki, I don't think they'll get thrashed. They've not got any "duffers" in the team, 5 points each = 35 points, which I think is doable.

I don't know what the rulebook says, just basing my answer on Plymouth using a (75%) guest for Dan T when he got injured before riding for them. Same thing happened when Poole didn't sign Smetana was it in 2021? When a team has "no facility" that no longer means a 3.00 rider, it means 75% of the missing riders average. Thanks to Diamonds85 for the correction.

Based on previous seasons, they should be allowed to use a guest up to 5.63 (75% of Pawlicki's average). But I'm sure they'll find someone willing to race for a few weeks.

Some had announced they want team places, others haven't announced their retirement, so can only assume they want to ride.