waiheke1

Tbh, there is clearly a large fixed cost base to be covered before variabled such ss rider wages are added.Ideally speedway would be ten quid, but to do this the sport needs to find a way to treble attendances, so thst tracks can run at a profit and still retsin/attract top riders. I do find it bizarre that pl fans label the el a rip off, particularly this year with the Draft, but seemingly have no issue with the pl charging basically the same price.

Sky didn't bring in double points, the promoters did to save money.The play offs are the most financially successful part of the el season, can you see any rational independent body getting rid of them? Or the promoters agreeing if they tried to? I reckon the standard of racing in gps is generally better than the old world finals. How many world finals had racing as good as the first two gps this season? There have always been good and bad meetings, even at hyde rd where I watched most of my speedway in the uk. The main issue in the uk imho is that presentation of meetings has barely evolved in the last 30 years. People have more than ever limited time and a vast array of entertainment options - a league meeting needs to be condensed into an hour and a half of entertainment, 15-20 mins of which will be the racing itself.

Yes agreed thanks. Id been calculating the difference from the low end of the rsnge for my under performers (e.g. I had hsmpel -400 bejng 8 less than 10). Understood thanks.

Racers can u check my figures. I think I should have an extra 250 quid.

Surely hampel ranks behind gollob as second best pole of all time?

I agree with you re the prague gp - any poster on here will tell u it is processional racing every year. It is a terrible advertisement for the gp, except that it is an amazing city and therefore probably a brilliant gp to go - but as a tv spectacle rubbish. My point was dont judge the gp series on its worst event - so far this season there have been two excellent ones and two rubbush ones. I agree as an event nothing will probably ever beat the wembley one off final. However, imho, the standard of field and quality of racing is generally better in the gps. But there are rubbish gps as well, just as there were the one off finals (83 and 84 spring instantly to mind).

Tbf, plech was one of the msin reasons I put "maybe."I only saw him live twice, when he was well past his best, once at the 83 world finsl and the other a league match at htde rd in the early 80s and he was poor on both occasions. I know he was genuine wotld class in tge 70s but havent seen enough footage ti know whether he was a racer in the gollob mould or a gater like hampel

Tbf, prague is the worst gp every year! Watch either of the first two gps this year on youtube for a better represent ation of how good the gps can be.

I think u have entirely missed the point being made.

But its hardly going to help fisher's confidence if they say "we wanted to ditch rysn for kenni, but we couldnt because of x...?" Is it? I csn understand the absence of comment if they couldnt make a deal happen

Id swsp him for larsen as well. But... I assume he drops back to second string agsin in June so should start scoring again. But definitely sn issue in this format building s team with only two hl.

Is tomorrow the deadline if coventry were to get larsen in for fisher, ss hansens average will increase on the first?

How exactly are the statistics open to debate? Surely thatd the points sbout FACTS - they prove or disprove an argument.

Of course the fact that the team that won had the highest scoring reserves does not necessarily mean that they won BECAUSE of those reserves. Anyway, I checked and out of 62 matches this season, in only 14 would the winner have been different had both teams reserves scored the same amount of points. So your claim that most meetings are being decided by the reserves is frankly bollocks.I'll have a look at previous seasons, but id imagine that ratio will if anything be higher in previous seasons. And yes, the likes of birks and auty have possibly missed out on el spots due to the draft, but there arr clearly more british riders in the el this year than last.

Care to substantiate that claim? In only 2 of the first nine away victories were the reserve scores the deciding factor. I presume you must have the stats for home victories, or did you just make that clsim up with no factual basis?

Tbf gater1 posted immediately after the crash to say he hoped the riders were okAnd then posted to say live feed likely to stop - he didn't whinge jyst stated the fact. Unless there is some background I'm not aware of re this poster, I dont think there was any ill intent in his postings? (Other than the subsequent c word rant)

Kerr is averaging 8 ftom reserve. If he was at second string I think he'd be aversging around 4.5 which would make him one of the weakest second strings in the comp. I cant think of sny team in the league that would give Kerr 7 rides if they hsd him st reseve (maybe bv replacing pslm toft).Agree, with hindsight auty and birks should have been included in the draft. The draft was probsbly hslf a dozen riders short in terms of quality - if u added thise two, plus the likes of bates and wright it would be a definite improvement imho - maybe next year.

And When will u realize that as soon as milik gains an official average (end of this month I belueve) then thj will fit as a straight swap?

Yes despite his absence, you still manage to mention steve every second post? Obsessed much?As for poole, they are still one of the two teams that look capable of winning the pkayoffs. Much as u diss magic, he has the highest aversge this season of any 3rd heatleader. Josh g is averaging close to 7, a couple more than last year, which is doing his job - though obviously he and milik both underperformed in this match. Poole will no doubt strengthen the 2nd strings at some point, simply because this format allows it. Leaving really only a weakness at 7.

interesting article in today's speedway star. Manchester Paul will be pleased to see a list of the averages for each draft rider. a couple of minor gripes for me: - labelling this an "exclusive statisctical survey" is overhyping somewhat providing averages, by individual and team, for the draft riders - saying that in 9 of the 11 away victories this season the resserves have had a "major impact on the result" is mis-leading. In only two of those victories would the result have been different if the reseves on each side had scored equal points (obviously the KL in this morning would be another one). But still a good read

Surely no more of a mockery than michelsen, who ive seen barely a moan about...In fact every second string in the comp is msking a mockery of their starting average... Thj averaged over 6 last year, 2nd strings this year are on average improving by 1-1.5 pts on last year, so youd expect him to average close to 7.5 - a point and a half more than milik is doing, or half a point more than josh.

Good in sweden, mediocre tonight... inconsistent springd to mind.... Surely his point is that if josh g hsd performed as expected, poole would have won. Pooles second strings are averaging 2-3 points a meeting more than kings lynns, if they had done that tonight poole would have won.

Kks is right here tbf. The averages dont fit in terms of ditching pawlicki or magic for a holder/kk. However josh and milik could both be replaced by stronger riders, who in turn could be replaced by stronger riders later on. The same option is available to all teams, as all have second strings with inflated averages, but poole are far more likely than other s to take advantage of it. Thats not a criticism. Milik is averaging close to six, thj is almost ccertainly an improvement, but he wont get close to averaging 12!

Youtube has tons of meetings. The first two gps this season were excellent and msybe a decent place to start.

What was thjs final greensheet average? Ive no doubt both josh g and milik will gain higher averages, and hence swapping them for thj will become anoption. Edit: thj is 5.69. Milik will be higher thsn this as soon as he gains an average. Josh is averaging 6.9 this season, so wont be too long untik his rolling aversge climbs above that also