Islander15

I think you've misunderstood the 'not eligible to guest rule'. It applies to PL teams who need a guest for their weaker reserve (say Heeps tomorrow) or when a rider is missing for a reason not being injury, internationals etc (eg. Gathercole had a longtrack meeting so missed Plymouth's home tie on Friday). I'm pretty sure those riders can still guest for other teams in the NL if they want to. PhilK where does Baseby fit in? Guest for Heeps & R/R for Jacobs. Good luck if he's in.

Hopefully no postponements then That's roughly 3 months yet the Islanders' new averages won't come into force until 27th July! Any idea if National Trophy meetings count towards official averages?

Cheers bob & greyhound. Not a bad meeting tbh, I will certainly be back. Warwick was simply superb & hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon. All the other Islanders contributed significantly with Stoneman filling Cottham's role impressively in the opening exchanges before he arrived. On that, anyone know where he was? Just stuck in traffic?? Hughes recovered well from an unimpressive start & I'll admit that I expected Hopwood in heat 15 but Kyle proved he was worth the spot. While Starkey visibly felt he was poor in his first race but looked a lot more on the pace afterwards. As to the Hitmen Branford may have suffered 2 punctures but had he have finished in those positions he would have only got 2 more points, and I would have expected more than 10 from him. Blacklock looked good value& was unlucky to fall 4 times. Whilst Deano had his gating boots on and like Ben was unlucky to not make heat 15, Priest seemed to lack desire when not in front. An important 4 points now hopefully we can push on this season.

There will be, texted by me. Check on www.speedwayupdates.proboards.com tomorrow. Weather forecast doesn't predict rain but it looks like it's going to be cold!

On Sunday the Islanders make the trip up to deepest darkest Derbyshire to tackle the Buxton Hitmen. Hopefully we can come away with at least 3 points on my first trip to Hi-Edge, anything less & I think I'll be a bit disappointed on the trip home. But above all please let there be no injuries!! As to the teams I'd like to see Baseby at #2 for us & for some reason Starke doesn't score as well at #5. Last year he averaged 6.22 at #1 then moved to #5 & his average fell to 5.89. And we have a secret weapon at reserve, not forgetting Danny in the best form of his Islanders' career! Good luck boys :D Hitmen 1. Robert Branford 2. Richard Andrews 3. Luke Priest 4. Dean Felton 5. Adam McKinna 6. Michael Neale 7. Ryan Blacklock Islanders 1. Kyle Hughes 2. Ben Hopwood 3. Danny Warwick 4. Aaron Baseby 5. Paul Starke 6. Danny Stoneman 7. Gary Cottham Any weather updates on Sunday morning would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. #RICO

Mildenhall certainly showed their potential last night! I still can't work out how it took Nathan Stoneman a rant on here & an article in the speedway star to get a club.

Hopefully it's not too bad for Marc who had started the season well, but you can't be too careful with head injuries. Good luck to Aaron, a decent young rider who has shown a liking to our track in the past. At least this year the management are proving to us that they are giving it their best shot at winning silverware.

Thanks for the reply ghostwalker, very comprehensive & early in the morning!

Couple of quick questions: 1. Do bonus points still count for the aggregate winner, adding to the league total? 2. What's the rule on tactical rides/joker? After 10 down & 1 per meeting? 3. And finally what's the ruling on when a rider can be replaced in a meeting and who by? 4. Just come up with another...I see Nicki P & Pavlic aren't at #1 but is 1st in the averages, so is the riding order completely the team's choice (bar the 2 reserves)? Thanks

How many qualified? Hopefully 7 so Tsukanov got in, and well done Newman

Well done to Pavlic. Tomaz why isn't Conda in the world cup team? Well done to Pavlic. Tomaz why isn't Conda in the world cup team? I remember watching Slovenia at Peterborough, it must be 3 years ago now & apart from Zagar the other 4 were abysmal but then Conda got a 2nd in his last heat, I think he passed the other 3 on the backstraight. I remember the guy next to me asking did I hear the announcement that Zagar replaced him lol. He doesn't seem to have shown that potential since, any idea why?

Interesting topic! After noticing this earlier I had to go read the article in the speedway star in my newsagents. I assume Tim spoke to more clubs than just Buxton this winter & can only assume that the Hitmen were the only club to offer him a deal. I wonder if after his decent performances for us Islanders he thought he might get the chance to replace Nick? I know we declared Hughes on the 16th but we haven't exactly publicised it. As to some of the names of riders mentioned, Allott is just doing short track this year, I think Evans has retired, Herne has stayed in Australia & Hargreaves has taken a year out. Maybe Benji Compton, Lee Smethills or James Brundle, or even Darren Mallett if he's fit yet?? I think it's a bit drastic to suggest the Hitmen might use another 3 pointer, even riders like Aaron Baseby may not be a heat leader but can certainly improve his average.

This Sunday at Herxheim, Germany, the hosts face Latvia, Finland & apparently France. Does anybody have any teams for this meeting? A link for live updates?

Should be a good meeting! USA must be favourites but Ivacic has started the season well and Zagar should push Hancock hard & Ukraine have a full team this year.

Are those times GMT? 13 past the hour seems strange. I think Indianerna will win the league, but hopefully Piraterna & Chris Holder can have a good year.

Firstly thanks for the very good & informative opening post, and keeping us updated ghostwalker. If a new foreign rider starts over here then they get an assessed average, I was wondering if that was the same in Sweden?

Glad you enjoyed NL racing Jef. I obviously wasn't there myself but hopefully we can challenge for honours this year. As to your 2 questions I don't know the second but I think heat 15 is for the top 3 average riders & top 3 scorers on the night. So for us the top 3 averages were Webster, Warwick & Hopwood, top 3 scorers Warwick, Webster & Starke. I can only assume that Owen was allowed in simply because it was a challenge fixture

Thanks for the reply Malcolm. That's fair enough, I was working on the basis that if Stoke weren't riding on uhe Saturday then the stadium wasn't being used. I just looked on the BSPA site which obviously doesn't mention stock cars. Have we got a new date then?

I understand why the under-21s should take precedence over a challenge, but why should a challenge take precedence over a league meeting? So if the u21s have been put back a week, then why not put Dudley & IOW back a week too? I see Stoke have no meeting on the 28th, it would make sense, or is that just it, far too simple!

As Sue says, we still need a texter people...

The National League's knock-out cup starts this Friday with the Islanders off to Hoddesden. So the teams are: Raiders 1. David Mason 2. Shane Hazelden 3. Ben Morley 4. Luke Chessell 5. James Sarjeant 6. Tom Braddock 7. Nick Lee Islanders 1. Tim Webster (G) 2. Marc Owen 3. Danny Warwick 4. Paul Starke 5. Ben Hopwood 6. Danny Stoneman 7. Gary Cottham Hopefully the Islanders can keep up last weeks form that saw them only lose by 2 points away to Stoke. If anybody is able to text results to the updates site could you please PM me here or on the updates site. Thankyou.

Texter sorted, updates will be available tonight

Another kick in the teeth for Danny must be that Rhys Naylor isn't even fit. Anyway here's to an injury free meeting on saturday

Max Clegg for me, and he's not completely new but near enough: Oliver Greenwood

Nice post devil, some good valid points. I'll take your main one that I totally agree with: whoever comes in has pretty much got to accept that Nick will return & if his average is that of a #1 then he knows he's going to lose his place, not much of an incentive to score.