Arch Stanton

If that is the Sheffield team I think it’s there to be got at. I don’t think anybody expected Chris Holder to do quite as well as he has. He was undoubtedly on a downward curve in his career but seems to have had an Indian summer and sparked back in to life. For that reason I personally think he’s more than maxed out his average and it looks a tad expensive to me. To a lesser extent, I think Woffinden also done a little better than expected. I think both their averages will drop off slightly, add that to a long tail and I don’t think it’s quite there to be winning anything.

There’s an awful lot of myths written on here regarding Guy and it’s frustrating to read. Despite popular belief, he hasn’t a clue who Louis is signing or who he intends to chase (if he did I’d know the full line up every year before it was announced!), he doesn’t “do the deals” contact riders or stump up extra cash if Louis asks him to help get a superstar over. He pays his sponsorship money every winter, and that’s his involvement over lock stock and barrel. Chris Louis does everything at the club, everything.

Bit of an eye opener that!

They have to knock this ridiculous “draft system” on the head. You shouldn’t be getting any favours due to a previous years poor performance in any case, but riders HAVE to decide where they want to ride.

I can’t speak for Sheffield, but you seem keen on spouting this b0llocks along with @ouch “Moneybags” this, “chequebook” that. A complete myth where Ipswich are concerned. The main sponsor doesn’t pay anywhere near what people think he does, in fact, he pays less than the previous main sponsor before him. Yes, the club are fortunate to have a couple of local, very loyal “partner” sponsors also which helps, but they don’t pump in vast sums either.

Allowances have clearly been made especially in the Jenkins/Ipswich case. They’ve put their argument forward (local sponsorships etc) and been given allowance to “retain” him even though he wasn’t a rising star this year.

Yeah, I’m sorry but I don’t believe it for a second.

Neither did Louis or Hawkins it seems. On Flint. He was Birminghams rising star this year. From todays press release.. ”Clubs who completed the 2024 season with a rising star who is also eligible for 2025 were given the option of “protecting” that rider and automatically declaring the same rising star for next season”. So from that, are we to assume Birmingham didn’t want Flint and wanted someone else?

https://ipswichwitches.co/2025-signing-jordan-jenkins/ This kind of confirms that the “draft pick” doesn’t really work. They didn’t know if he was going to be eligible for some time so people questioning whether he’d be allowed back on the list are justified. Reading between the lines here and I could be wrong, but Jenkins is hinting here that Birmingham possibly wanted him as they had first pick, but he dug his heels in and in the end got the move he wanted. The draft pick is a nonsense that doesn’t work. Have a rising star list if you must, but let clubs go for whom they want, and let riders ride where they want.

Well Jenkins as rising star then. That’s a massive boost.

Lots goes on behind the scenes. Birmingham struggled to be competitive, last thing they need is someone pinching one of their leading lights from a season that provided very little. We’ve just read there’s been meetings as recently as yesterday, wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there wasn’t a gentleman’s agreement not to pinch the riders they wanted to keep to help them be competitive next year. All guesswork though, he might still end up at Ipswich we’ll have to wait and see.

Excellent news.

Depends if a deal was done whilst there was uncertainty at Birmingham. I’d heard Brennan definitely agreed to return to Birmingham before the uncertainty so we’ll have to wait and see. Birmingham hoping to announce first signing this week, wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s Brennan.

That’s a fair point. Looking at the 2024 stats there’s been very little between them. You also have to factor in that King was riding the last third of the season injured so that will have affected his scoring. Not sure about his position in the team though. I think I’d prefer Rew at 2 with Doyley, King in the engine room with Brennan.

There’s still weeks to go until the AGM so anything can still happen. If the worst happens and Birmingham don’t come to tapes, they may decide to drop the points limit to help another club come up and be competitive.

TBF to King, he was riding injured. He still had/has issues with his broken hand right up until the final meeting. Not sure whether he’s going under the knife again this winter to correct it, but it’s an issue that needs sorting. He can’t grip the handlebars properly and is restricted in the movement of his hand. “Why ride then”? It’s his living, no riding no money. Let’s have it right, the team Blue Witch has named above is an excellent one.

So much more to come from Rew. Huge talent. You have to include him if he’s open to a return.

Probably very close if it’s 40.

Not quite. Some riders can/will be signed in any eventuality of rules and points limit. Nobody though, will be signing the majority of their riders until the rules and points limit has been confirmed at the AGM. as I’ve said before, some things have been loosely agreed prior to the AGM in the past, only for them to change at the AGM itself. I still to this day, don’t understand why they leave the AGM so late. It should be done as soon as the last competitive fixture has been ridden IMO and I haven’t heard one decent argument why that isn’t the case.

I’ve also seen some good racing at Ipswich too this year believe it or not. The majority of tracks are much of a muchness, mostly processional with a few highlights thrown in here and there. The NSS is the only track in my experience that provides good racing more often than not.

Every track in the Premiership is predominantly “gate and go” except for the NSS. That wasn’t my point though. My point was there’ll be very few if any, that would choose Lindgren over Emil Sayfutdinov.

Absolutely fine, you’ll be alone with that opinion though 😉

Lindgren over Emil? Nah you’re alright thanks 😜

Not sure that’s the case with Ellis Mike. Even if his 8+ season was an anomaly, his GSA’s since around 2018 have been close to the 7 point mark bar the last couple of season’s. I take Pinny’s point about injuries, they do seem to have crept in recently, but the ex British champ is surely good value on 5 and a half particularly the way he rides Ipswich. Unlike the likes of Bomber and King with all due respect to them, he’s still the right side of 30 so has plenty left in the tank. He won’t be short of offers. I don’t see many of those similar “3 and 4” riders who look the same value. I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t return.

You’re not the only one who has said this and I don’t get this argument at all. Neither rider you mentioned is capable of “stepping up” to cater for the loss of two world class riders because they’re simply not at that level. It’s unfair to expect either to do so. Take your point about the injuries, and that’s clearly a factor in his average being what it currently is. But it’s only three season’s ago he finished with an 8+ average for Sheffield, and he’s still only 28 years of age. He’s still for me a bargain on 5 and a half and worth the risk on that figure. If you have a rider who would be 5th in your averages who’s averaging 9.42 at home then nobody is beating that team at Foxhall regardless of who they stick in their teams.