Statman

A plane????????

One presumes that if people watching on TV are new to speedway, then the fact there are guest riders wouldn't mean anything to them to affect their viewing of the match..........

No it wouldn't, but historically crowds have always tended to be lower when we have ridden on a Wednesday (or any other night) rather than the usual Friday night, so the use of a Wednesday is generally used only when the club have no other option.

Because it is true! Somerset's planning with Local Authority permit racing on a Friday night with a 10pm curfew, plus a very limited number of 'off' night's each season.

My understanding is that it was recently agreed that the 1st Round KO Cup matches would now count towards a riders' average on the basis that each of the 8 clubs will have ridden in the 1st Round.

Kim Nilsson has ridden twice competitively at the OTA scoring 5 & 12 points respectively when he was with Newport.

So perhaps they'd like to (move their) 'flock off' to the correct thread then............

Given the title of this thread, in reality, who cares???????

The rule used to be that a guest replacement for a reserve rider had to be another rider who was currently in a reserve position for his team, so even if your missing rider had, for example, a 5.02 average, you had to use a guest who was holding down a reserve position for his club with an average lower than that of the missing rider, even if there were riders in the main body of a team with an average lower than the injured rider for whom the guest was required. I recall that there were fans who used to moan comment back then that was unfair as should be able to use any rider as a guest for an injured reserve so long as their average was lower than that of the reserve rider he was to guest for......I think it was somewhere around 2009-ish that the rule was changed to how it still currently stands, obviously the majority of promoters back then were happy to change the rule, probably on the 'you win some, you lose some' basis on who might be eligible to come in as a guest. To get over the fact that a reserve might be perceived to have 'easier' rides, the 5% home uplift does not apply to a reserve's average when looking to use a guest replacement.

Willy Kennis (Belgium) 11/5/53 (so is aged 63) is still regularly riding (and winning!) in the meetings staged at Heusden-Zolder each year.

Except that; 16.3.4 No Team changes will be allowed after 28th August with the effective date being 31st August, except for riders returning to the Team after injury.

Looks like its going to be a loooooong weekend for the few of us who have made the trip up for Somerset's Northern Tour!

Up until his injury Zach had ridden 12 (7 home, 5 away) matches which count towards his CMA with an actual figure of 2.63 (without bonus points)

If you had bothered to listen, it was announced that the person doing the Centre Green had been delayed, and only got there just before the start. As for the music, again, if you had listened, it was said that someone had paid to choose the play-list tonight, so bringing additional money into the club. Of course if you could do better out on the Centre Green, I am sure that you would be given the opportunity to show us all your prowess on the mic.........

I was with the noisy crew on the back straight.....

As of today, Jake Allen is in the Somerset top 5 and not Bradley Wilson-Dean

I thought it was because he thought he'd won the £80 raffle draw....... Was nice to meet up with you again yesterday Shads

Too late Paul...he's already booked to ride for Somerset at Rye House on Sunday.....

What people also conveniently forget when trying the play the 'home track advantage card' regarding Somerset in the Pairs is that over the same period as the Pairs having been held at the Oaktree Arena, Somerset have almost an equally as good record in the Fours, only once in that period have the team not made the final four, which is not held at Somerset. 2007 - 2nd 2008 - 3rd 2009 - 2nd 2010 - 3rd 2011 - 4th 2012 - 3rd in group 2013 - 3rd 2014 - 1st 2015 - 2nd

I think you'll find that the NEG refers to their eligibility to guest in the PL for a 3.00 rider rather than the NL The first group as they are members of the PL 'fast track' scheme, the 2nd group as they have averaged over 4.00 in PL at some point in their career

Jake Turner at Belle Vue for New Zealand

Bradley Wilson-Dean at King's Lynn for New Zealand

I would just to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their kind messages and best wishes posted here (as well as the many received by way of text, email and those posted on the Somerset Facebook and Twitter pages) following my recent heart attack, they were all very much appreciated. It was a scary initial couple of days, but thankfully I am now well on road to recovery and look forward to meeting up with everyone again next season. Ian

No probs...that's main reason as to why Somerset do not have a meeting on that Friday. Whilst the U21 meeting in Lubin isn't until the Saturday evening, practice is at 11am on the Saturday morning.

Brady Kurtz will be in Poland for same U21 meeting which Stefan is riding in.