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Witches will be weaker without Doyle & King, so Brummies have a chance (on paper). But at the same time I wouldn't be surprised to see Birmingham lose by 20. They have a habit of performing poorly when they have a chance of a result.

Couldn't have put it any better

With a high points limit, 40+RS (43/44) when the average should be 42, riders / teams should drop their averages. Any rider with a higher 2024 figure compared to their rolling ave has done very well. For Leicester: Joe Thompson 2.17 / 1.51 (+0.66) Richard Lawson 7.39 / 6.76 (+0.63) Ryan Douglas 7.78 / 7.58 (+0.2) Sam Masters 6.79 / 6.61 (+0.18) Drew Kemp 4.12 / 4.49 (-0.37) Max Fricke 7.78 / 8.32 (-0.54) Luke Becker 5.58 / 6.30 (-0.72) Lawson having a great season, Douglas improved too. Perhaps surprisingly both Masters & Joe T's 2024 averages above their rolling aves. Kemp down a bit, with Fricke & Becker being the biggest disappointments imo.

I think Poole have shown they can carry "passengers". Look the strongest team so far with 6 riders going well. Also racing Plymouth (with their strong reserves) isn't the best time to judge Max Perry.

Think Plymouth will do well today. Poole 48-42 Plymouth

Could actually help BSN's business with locals choosing to stay at home & not risk a rain-off. But I do agree their posts could have been worded better, many a time I've seen matches on despite poor weather leading up to start time.

If any of Leicester's top 5 did get dropped, they wouldn't be out of a job for long (guaranteed spot with Birmingham available). So that might make it easier for Dickson to drop someone?

I agree that was a poor performance, but as he's a 4 point rider can expect that from time to time. Had he been at Ipswich instead of Jenkins, I'm sure he'd be under no pressure & had Jenkins been at Leicester, he'd be under threat of being dropped. I would drop Kemp to strengthen at reserve, but I wouldn't be desperate to get rid of him.

Kemp was a 4 point rider signed on a 3 point average, so was a very shrewd signing imo. He's actually averaging 4.27 this year, so has put a point on his starting average. As the team isn't working out, he'd be the one I'd drop to strengthen up the bottom end. But don't feel he's been as bad as some make out.

If Kerr doesn't go back to Oxford, how about Schlein & Kerr in place of Becker & Kemp. Would mean having a strong reserve in Kerr. If Kerr is kept at Oxford, sign the rider they drop?

Same here. I really thought their top 5 would be strong enough to carry the reserves. With Sheffield missing riders, lost a chance of away points that other play-off rivals wouldn't be expecting to get.

I'm pretty sure they'd use Mountain's Prem average (4.54), but Lambert's Champ average (converted to 4.07) as he doesn't have a current Prem ave? Mind you Cook (4.39) has a lower ave than Kemp (4.54) so something doesn't add up?

An away win here, would certainly be a massive boost to their play-off hopes

Sheffield 43-47 Leicester

King's Lynn 43-47 Ipswich

Oxford 52-38 Belle Vue

With Harris not having been in great form for Oxford recently, would you move him away from number 5? Who would go there instead, Janowski?

They always go by averages these days. Mountain & Howarth's are above Dan's. Even if he wasn't in a SGP2 qualifier, he wouldn't have made it. Shows the flaws in not having qualifiers for the British Final. Dan has done well this year, but misses out because of last year's scores.

If Knudsen was knocked out, does that mean he sits out 9 days under the concussion protocols? Does the fact it didn't happen in Britain make a difference? Possible guests for Glasgow could be Danyon Hume or Dan Thompson?

After Edinburgh's last home defeat. The group is wide open again. Previously found it hard to imagine Glasgow winning at Armadale, but that changed when Plymouth managed it.

Getting away from the Oxford thread here. But I'm curious, what would happen if you were an Oxford fan & Hans Nielsen was your all time favourite rider, but Oxford closed. So you'd go to watch Swindon but not become a Swindon fan right? What if Hans signed for Swindon would that have changed anything? If his arch rival Erik Gundersen rode for Swindon's opponents, would you cheer against Erik as a Hans fan & want Swindon to win?

Wayne Hutt is an unattached 3 point rider.

I'd disagree with that. If they think they can find a reserve who will score more why is that a "major error"? If you said, the reserves are slowly improving, the early worries may prove unfounded, I hope they're given longer & prove it was right to keep them - then that'd make sense.

The problem with Lynn calling off matches in good weather, is they'll end up having to race then in bad weather to fit them all in

Fantastic effort by Lynn to score 42 points. There reserves doing what they should be capable of. But surprised by the heat 15 selection, picking Wojdylo means he was the second best rider in the team - so why wasn't he given any extra rides on the night? Maybe just sharing the rides out once the match was lost? Certainly a positive performance for Lynn ahead of the rest of the season.