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Can't believe Leicester's reserves have scored to 5-1s against Brummies top 5. I've tried to be positive, but can't any longer, this Birmingham team is just pitiful.

Pre-season I may have thought the same thing, but Leicester's top 5 haven't gone as well as I'd expect. Not that Birmingham have done much either.

Maybe the plan was to shore up heat 8 with Joe T struggling. But surely Lawson at 3 does that too? Still can't find the logic of their change.

I've not seen much racing at Perry Barr to comment on the form of Douglas, Lawson & Masters, but don't forget in the last couple of years they've been racing against a very weak Brummies side, certainly at heat leader level, so any Champ heat leader should have been putting up good scores there. Has Becker ridden much at PB? Won't be so easy against Nicholls, Brennan & Pawlicki. Tough to call, as on paper I see no reason why Brummies can't win. But after their performance against Oxford (excluding Nicholls & Brennan) I find it hard to back them to beat anyone.

Dulpicated

Especially when the put so much effort into changing the guest rules for the play-offs. There's really no reason, for them to allow it, there's 6 clubs to choose from if you're not allowed a guest from your own group. At least in this case Zach is riding against Poole's main rivals, so not likely to hinder Poole.

Yeah, I wondered that too

With Nicholls & Pawlicki, plus a far stronger looking reserve pair, Birmingham really should win this one. If they can't, massive changes needed (if there's anyone out there).

While I don't like to see any rider injured, that is fantastic news for Birmingham. Perhaps with Nicholls & Pawlicki in the team they can finally win a match?

Yeah, once I started, just carried on rambling lol!

I've not seen the Pijper / Boughen or Pijper / Coles incidents so can't comment on who's at fault / were the reactions over the top. But I have noticed sone riders who can give it out but not take it, biggest example was Nicki Pedersen & Hans Andersen can't remember the year (must have been a GP) but they were throwing the bikes at each other for all four laps, personally thought it was one of the greatest races I've seen & fully expected them to shake hands afterwards (they were both as bad as each other) but they started pushing & shoving etc. Now look at Martin Vaculik, winning a GP and Freddie Lindgren completely wiped him out, Freddie goes up to Martin to apologise, which Vaculik accepts, total professional attitude by Vaculik.

Gonna query this statement, as I feel fans & riders / managers use the term "consistency" far too much in Speedway. If Castagna had run four 3rd places, that would have been consistent, but 2 wins & 2 thirds isn't consistent. Now if he scores 7,8,9 points every match, that'll be consistent. "Good to see Paco showing what he’s capable of" - now that makes complete sense. See it in GPs all the time, Max Fricke scores 4-6 points all year with one GP win, says he wants more consistency, well if you removed that one GP win = more consistency, but not sure he wants that lol!

It still means if a rider moves & messes himself up, so makes an awful start, he gets a second chance. As long as he doesn't move again, the warning means nothing. See no reason why a ref can't play "advantage" and let a race go. Either that or exclude riders for "delaying the start" if they move - no warnings issued. That would be the best way to ensure they keep still at the start.

That seems a very stupid rule change to me, giving someone a second chance because they broke the rules?

Good point. Can't expect Plymouth to change fixtures in that case. The rest of your suggestions are sensible, lets hope the promotion reads the page.

Having won away, Belle Vue only need to get to 46 points & I can't see them failing that.

Sam will be keen to impress, he'll be wanting a RS place sooner rather than later.

I think that's a different rule, if they had signed Rowe as a "28 day replacement" then Covatti couldn't come back early, but this is a different situation.

Based on early season form Sam Hagon could be the best choice if Joe isn't fit

Does it matter, if the track was available & riders wanted to practice, are you really gonna say no because you think Edinburgh are weak?

Possibly the best time to race this fixture, as opening meetings tend to get decent crowds with the fans having been starved of action over the winter. Plus they'll be the curiosity of how the new track will ride?

Don't forget there was 6 teams racing on Friday, but just 2 on Saturday, so Berwick had more riders to choose from (plus more points). Regardless I applaud Plymouth for not paying out what they can't afford & risking the future of the club if riders are asking for big fees to guest.

If that's not allowed, imagine he guested for the opposition against Plymouth lol!

I'm 99.99% sure that won't be the case, the facility is there if Plymouth need a guest / to use r/r but if Covatti came back or they found a replacement, would've need to wait till the 28 days is up. But being Speedway, you just never know!

What is the point of checking a helmet - to make sure it's safe I assume? So what if Harris fell & suffered a head injury, then his insurance found out it wasn't checked out pre-meeting, so refuse to pay out. Then the council finds out Glasgow allowed him to race without his helmet being checked & remove their license to host Speedway. Then Chris sues the promotion & referee for allowing him to race in that scenario? I know these are extreme examples & he didn't crash, just pointing out H&S rules are there for a reason.