Islander15

Ostergaard doesn’t feel like the usual high calibre relationship of Glasgow signing to me. Debatably neither does Sedgmen. I expected a 2.00 rider and a strong second heat leader.

Easier said than done though. A low NL points limit could push out the likes of Morley, Wood & Bowtell who would be prime candidates to take over Ledwith’s position. Without an NL team, they’d be coming in from the cold midseason in a higher league.

What points are left?

Barker, Bates and Stoneman in the same team? Expect some air fence panels to be burst

Ben Morley must be wondering what he’s done wrong to not be in the team on 3.91 but Ledwith is in on 4.00. Btw it’s a crazy assessment giving him a 4.00. He clearly should be a 2.00 by coming up through up the NL, where he was barely a heat leader in reality. How he can have a higher assessed average for a higher league is just ridiculous!

So Len Silver says the suggestion is 7 NL teams... 1. Kent 2. Isle of Wight 3. Mildenhall 4. Plymouth 5. Leicester 6. Belle Vue 7. Rye House?

Wasn’t Nick Morris relatively your worst rider this season? I’m surprised he’s back.

I think this is the most detached and disappointed I’ve ever felt in regards to the National League. It really does seem like we’ve lost our third tier

Tbf now it’s Birmingham fans giving support to their team. Some neutrals are still skeptics. He’s really declined from a few years ago hence why he’s not employed in Poland and he’s never been the most reliable guy around. Having said that you still wouldn’t expect his average to go any lower.

Wow shaping up to be an excellent team to watch. The management team are pulling out the stops to make it feel like a genuine top division team.

But then you don’t struggle to find a club in any country last year like THJ did. I’m sure he didnt even start the season in Sweden because nobody signed him up.

Tbf to Heeps he spent the wholeness of last season at number 5 at a new home track and still upped his average. He may well be 3rd in the starting averages but if not I doubt he’d be the poorest second heat leader.

That just shows that he wasn’t at a track suited to him last season compared to his rolling average. But he’s hit good scores at Kent in the past and his average will go up.

Could’ve saved some money and ran R/R for a handful of meetings. I thought the point would be for him to get to know the club and track etc ready for a full season.

Nice to see 2 British juniors at reserve but overall it’s a poor team. I’m not even sure if it’ll hold it’s own at home. What was the point in signing THJ at the end of last season if he didn’t cone back for 2020?

I was clearly on about when he signed! He rode at the start of the season and was 4th behind Kennett, Lawson & Kerr and ahead of Bowtell, Wood & Brennan.

He was 4th in the averages at Arlington, so not necessarily.

I hope Morley gets a shot. He’ll be excellent at home and knows enough away tracks now to be useful and on 3.71 he could be the senior reserved alongside Ledwith. I’m sure he’d score more than at Eastbourne last season seeing as he’d be at a track he knows inside out and be lower down the order so less pressure on him.

Report your own post to the mods and put a comment saying can the topic be pinned. That’s how I got the NL one pinned.

I didn’t expect Ledwith to step up. But of the riders from last year it was hard to see who might return as Rowe was always going back to Somerset, Kemp was highly likely to leave, Jenkins didn’t really ever get going last season and Gilkes struggled with the midweek track because he signed on the premise that they were moving to Saturday’s. Still I thought Ledwith would leave his comeback at NL only and it looks a big ask for him to ride a lot of new tracks consistently and stay fit.

I thought that initially but then there’s the Len link, a nice commute for him, he’s international and you need a number 5 from somewhere.

Wonder if the international rider is Mikkel Bech? Or Jack Thomas to return??

If it turns out to be Ellis/Covatti and Lawlor next then it’s a much better balanced team by the Mason’s. Decent top end strength with Harris & Ellis able to handle most heats 13 & 15 and Garrity comes up with the odd meeting where he’s unbeatable too. Hopefully they aren’t relying on away wins in Scotland! Paco should score well at reserve and with Shanes or Morris at second string they’ll always have a decent reserve this coming year without any foreigners who don’t know the tracks and are struggling to compete.

Having stayed loyal to Nielsen for a few years now, I think Rob has missed a trick by not getting him back on such a low average when he’s proved what he can do round the EWR. Rob also talks about the 1-7 all knowing the EWR, which is true, but on an even track without a power packed team the odd home defeat is inevitable (even Glasgow lost at home this year ) but it looks like away points are going to be very hard to come by! No new names to excite and intrigue the fans unfortunately. Yes I know that Palin is new but he’s there for development and a star of the future rather than immediate points scoring. At least Auty & Ayers offer bags of entertainment.

Worrall as a number 3?! That’s going to be some top 2 that are better than him! Makes you wonder if they’re using too many points at the top end though when Steve could easily handle being number 5.