waiheke1

wolves weren't forced to sign howarth as a 2nd brit. They may still go with two brits at reserve.

Swindon wouldn't need to worry about the wooden spoon if that's the team...

Id actually class both morris and Doyle as better signings. But agree Ellis is a good one.

But you shouldn't expect howarth to average 7. The hope would be that he can achieve 85% of his average - so around 6. I think he'll be closer to 5, which I guess reinforces what many gave said that he is not good value on that average. But not going to criticise wolves for showing loyalty. I'd also add tnt that it hadn't been confirmed, as far as I know, what average new riders come in on after the points limit gets adjusted. I'd assume at that stage something like 1.25 is more appropriate, which would make joonas a sub 9 pointer.

Edited for accuracy

Tbf Steve as soon as the 50 point limit was announced I said that they should say any re declaration must be within the newpoints limit I. E. Remove the like for like replacement rule Take it as a compliment that a poole rider is being used as an example as it means 1. He is an excellent signing (many pointed out as soon as the averages were announced that Klindt was the stand out bargain) 2. Ford is one of the few astute enough to make such changes. where is it confirmed what a foreign rider comes in on? It was assumed by many Andersen should be a 7 but he's at Swindon on a 5?

Two ways you can look at it. One you could take scbs weighted averages and multiply by around 1.25. Or you could take their starting average and deduct 15%. I tjink for example if Adam can average between 6 and 7 from the main body of the team he has done his job.

Should have been a published conversion rate for foreign averages, along with a defined minimum. Would have taken 10 minutes to work out and draft, and been totally transparent.

I'm probably at the young end of the target market for speedway books (late 30s ). I have a plethora of books on the stars of when I was a kid (Carter, Lee, mort, Moran, Simmons etc). But I can think of only 3 modern stars whose books I'd buy: nicki, tai and I'd read a bio on Darcy along the lines of the Kelly moran one. Not sure it is an indictment on the state of speedway, but more that we know so much about the stars today there isn't the same mystique. And nothing compares to your childhood heroes. Tmc- is it likely the dave Morton and John louis books will come out on Kindle?

cheap pints in the uk, you'd get two speedway stars for the price of a pint here!

but surely that should have been a 4 converted to 5.6? otherwise its like a 2.8 converted to a 4.

Doyle should average a shade more than that. Ellis and Belelgo could both be a point less. Morris should average at least that. The other three cold be about right, or could all be a point lower. I'd say Poole, wolves and Rye are looking like the play off favourites. Dont think this Swindon team is as good as Coventry either.

i agree fully. just pointing out that Swindon aren't really gaining here (sorry Grachan!). What should have happened, as many of us said at the time, was a clear statement from BSPA as to what methodology would be used for foreign riders, and a list of every rider and what average they would have come in on.

yeah sorry. he is the Dane that Matt Ford was disapointed to miss out on. And Ford was thinking he was a bargain on a 7 converted to a 9.8, I imagine both he and Doyle will be dualling it out for top of the Robins averages come end of the season.

that was my intial thought to. But i looked at Dolgin's rankings, which have him 210th in the world. That's lower than Sarjeant and Clegg, though higher than Jacobs and Rose. My own rankngs had him 205th, below JAcobs, Sarjeant, Nielsen but above Clegg. So I'd say probably a 4 point assessed EL average (converted to 5.6) would have been about fair. But given we should be encouraging use of Brits, I understand the argument it should have been a 5 converted to 7. Either way, his average is too low, BUT I also doubt he will achieve his average.

Wolves, assuming Mastern re signs, will have retained the 5 available members of their title winning team, and have arguably the 2nd strongest team in the league. I'd say they should be commended for that, even if they could potentially have made stronger signings e.g. I'd have targeted joonas/nicholls and Klindt as 4/5 rather than howarth and ? But loyalty is a trait to be admired imo

Hope not! With fricke not at Coventry surely he will be at belle vue?

I agree with Phil that a lot of the criticism has been unwarranted, but at the same time there are instances where I feel it has been deserved - the Greg Hancock issue stands out, the Lindback on a 7 as examples. But overall, for a minority sport, I think the Star is an excellent publication. Certainly I find it hard that anyone can argue it is poor value for money, when it is half the price of a pint! I also disagree with anyone suggesting it should go to a lower paper/print quality. So - why then don't I but the Star? Firstly, living in NZ the postage doubles the cost of buying it. Still decent value, but the cost adds up. I tried a couple of online subsctipions, but prefer a pper copy, and with 70+ hour work weeks and a young family, I struggled to find the time to read it. I used to love the Star primarily for the statistics, the results/match reports and the heat by heat details of major meetings. Now you can get the stats on line (in more detail), live match reports, and major meetings anywhere in the world you can watch. So if I was to subscribe again to the Star, it would be for in depth articles. But, on current contentions topics (like Hancock for example), I found far more critical discussion on the BSF than what has been reported as covered in the Star. Similarly, when the new heat format for EDR was introduced, to my knowledge the Star didn't print anything querying how the obvious impact on averages was going to be addressed, wheras on here the potential issue was identified and sebated. Obviously the form has some numpties, but there can also be informed and rigorous intelligent debate on here. What actually triggered me to subcribe last time was an article on my favourite rider of all time, Larry Ross. So, I'm going to disagree again with TWK, and suggest more features (especially in the off season) on prior years would be a good thing.

Palm Toft instead of tungate works. Would be happy with that.

4.00

Need to swap tungate out for a sub 7 pointer. Which averages on the forum did you use? As at least some are wrong!Cook and fricke are both around 10, Worrall and Hougaard around 8.5, tungate around 9, Bewley 4 and Smith 2 (I think)

Cost control is clearly necxesart to sny business. But it's not a long term solution for a struggling industry. BFM is correct that not enough attention has been paid to ways to grow revenue. If the sport is to thrive, then revenue streams need to increase, that means improving the product ANDmarketing it correctly.Clearly ensuring costs are less than revenue remains fundamentAl.

"Thinks" may be pushing it!

fair enough. If it's not financially viable, then clearly it's a no go.

tbf, i did suggest that it might be the neccesary incentive to get the Leicester track sorted. or perhaps they could tack share at Perry Barr or Monmore? Obviously its not an ideal situation - and I understand Coventry fans being angry/gutted, and having no interest in watching at BP. and fully agree on your comments re: Horton. i think there is a lot he should have done differently. All I'm saying is that if I had the choice between watching my club race on a poor track an extra 40 minutes away, i'd rather that than have no speedway. totally understand that others feel differently