waiheke1

That's a huge number of freebies if the numbers are anywhere near accurate, though pretty sure attendance has been estimated at closer to 32k earlier on this thread

Which is a real shame, as with the track not meeting international standards (due to being 4 handlebar widths wide in straights, narrower on the bends) this is odds on to happen. Good for Manchester farming industry though to have the land opened up to them.

Not any more........ . .......

Post something about counting sky dishes on the sides of buildings, the perils of Islam or the absence of seedings in the old world champs, and I'm sure we can get normal service to resume...

Thevkey thing u mention is "in the past." "In the past" people had different expectations, and were happy to turn up every week regardless of anything being at stake. Those days are long gone.

Janowski holder north Lambert Kurtz? Would be a tidy team, certainly good to watch.

Ok, so you are saying that from June onwards any meeting not involving poole or Coventry would have had rubbish crowds. Swindon would never have signed Darcy so their crowds would have been WAY lower. Do you know why they stopped running the ko cup? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't because the crowds were too big. Edit: my post was in response to wibble, not mikebv

What do you mean is it a last desperate attempt to keep speedway on sky? A deal is coming to the end if contract period hence up for negotiation again. I will be appalled if BBC or itv don't purchase the rights, given the cost of TV licences. Disappointing neither have issued a statement yet to disclose their intentions. Who is the minister of broadcasting?

Who are you going to get that is a better 2nd heat leader on a similar average? The only one I can think of is woffy, which is very unlikely. Id be very surprised if Ford dropped Holder

Would add that promotions should pretty much always decrease prices for sky meetings, aim to get a good crowd and treat it as marketing. Exceptions would be the play offs.

So you are saying people won't bother attending meetings where nothing is at stake? There are far less meetings where nothing is at stake under a play off system than under a league system. So you are actually presenting an argument in favour of the playoffs, as per bwitchers post immediately before yours.

Doyle killer batch Morris Thomsen? Just under 34 by my calcs. Batch/killer/Morris alternating in the 2nd string spot should produce big points while being genuine hl quality, Doyle solves the issue at 1 and Thomsen should easily put 2.5 points on his starting average.

Which is what I said? Greensheet averages are the official bspa ones

Not towards your greensheet average for team building, but most sources would include bp in CMA (or provide both with and without bp)

Not sure nieme or Simmons belong in that list. Mickhail starostin and kent noer instead?

Kurtz and Newman would be a pretty weak 2nd string pairing if current point limit is kept. You'd end up with well over 3 unused points (assuming Magic, Holder, North), or 2 (assuming you got a 3rd heat leader close to the max 6.99 average). tbh I'm fine with draft riders staying at reserve providing the "conventional" heat format is brought back, or just say minimum 3 brits per team, one of whom must be 21 or under and can remain at reserve all saeson. So the likes of Newmand, Garritty etc. could move between reserve and main body of the team. Starting average to be based on 2015 EL average times 50%, and be included in team building figures.

Should be an interesting season next year: Tai will obviously be a hot favourite to win it. The likes of Pedersen, Hancock, Holder, Puk, Hampel, Doyle (he must have thrown away at least 20 points this season by over riding or silly mistakes at critical times, he's be in the frame for the podium if not for that), and Zagar are all capable of a top 3 finish. Zmarzlik, Magic and Pawlicki are all amongst the top 10 riders in the wrold this season, taking into account pefromances across all competitions. Kildermand and an on form Lindback would be capable of a top 8 finish, as would Vaculik or a tuned in AJ. Which really just leaves Harris who you wouldn't expect to be battling for top 8 spot at the very least, he'll do his usual 5 points per meeting, which is no disgracr. Such a shame that the series appears certain to be missing both Darcy and Emil though.

hardly definitive, but my statistical ranking of riders this year has Thomsen at 53rd in the world (directly behind Dakota North and Mikkel Bech), wheras Kurtz is ranked 91st. Clearly a judgement call as to who has the most potential, but on results this season you'd have to say Thomsen's achievements comfortably surpass Kurtz's.

Agreed. On form Vaculik deserves a spot ahead of AJ, though I suspect the latter will get it.

you'd assume Magic, Holder and North are nailed on, with the remaining slots subject to points limit and rule on 7+ riders. Pawlicki would be excellent, but I assume he won't be signed for same reasons as this season. Think Thomsen would be an excellent signing, but with current rules would leave too many unused points. Magic, Holder, Pawlicki, North, Thomsen, with Newman at reserve would be a pretty tidy line up. Can't see any value in Watt on a 7+ average, and not sure Gomolski offers much value on 5.5, given he had ridden the whole season as 2nd string. Milik and Kurtz? Agree Bjerre would be a great signing on a sub 6 average, and know a lot of KL fans want rid, but surely KL would be made not to re-sign on this current average.

Pearson often gets rules wrong. And if scb had made a decision, why would they inform sky but not release an official statement?

Announced by who? Link?

Which is exactly why the scb should have announced a verdict before the final.

Surely you would need penhall and Carter. Plus s Moran and Emil.

but in football, teams that can't win the league have champions league places or europa league places to play for, or relegation to avoid, so there are very few meaningles fixtures. do you really believe if Sky pulled the plug the BSPA would stop the play offs? the argument that play offs are "unfair" is a reasonable one (note also this is argued against for the promorion play offs in football - but those are retained, guess what for commercial reasons) but fact is they make a lot of commercial sense, and that arguably makes them a neccesity if the sport is to survive. note also that champions league and world cup football all conclude with a series of knock out (or "play off") rounds.