Super Blue

Go on then I will kick this one off as I'm guessing everyone else thinks it's a formality. I don't think the overall result is really in doubt it's more of a case of how this one will pan out. It's one win a piece for both teams so far at Plymouth so this time around I think it will be close. Here's hoping that the Witches keep that winning mentality going to give them the confidence to win some silverware.

Decent win in the end , will it be enough ? Time will tell . My biggest annoyance of this evening was the ref , so inconsistent on pulling races back it was unbelievable ! Both teams were pulling rollers virtually every race , the worst one being Klindt in ht7 which the ref let go . Hope he's OK after he binned it under pressure from Worrall . I would also like to add my disappointment about some fans cheering when he went down , bang out of order in my opinion ! Also hope Gino is OK , not sure if he hurt himself when falling in ht5 ? Pretty unlucky evening for him , packing up in his first ride while leading as well . So , overall a satisfying home win , could have been more had the unfortunate Gino had a better night but could just as easily been less but for Scunny's bad luck . Now looking forward to next week against The Rebels , more of the same please !

Crowds will always look small at Foxhall as it holds 20,000 people and they are always well spread out , although to be fair numbers have been dwindling for some while now .

Smart arse ! Im enquiring for your benefit as much as mine .

Anyone know how the Scorpions are actually going to line up with the changes ?

Think you'll find every team would want him on a 4.21 average, just checked latest green sheets and hasn't dropped to that yet although I'm sure you've done your homework and it will come down dramatically. And as you rightly said he would be an absolute bargain on that!

Always sympathetic to anybodys injury woes after the Witches had horrific injury problems at this stage last year , however as other teams took advantage over us then we need to do the same to them now . Although he will now probably have a blinder as I've said this Mark Lemon is usually cack round Foxhall , so initially quite pleased with him coming as a guest (bound to prove me wrong though)

A battering for the probably depleted Tigers is seriously on the cards here !

If the Witches recent home form continues I reckon they will hit 55pts if it doesn't anything is possible.

2 pts and finishing last is hardly great preparation for confidence or the playoffs though !

Just had a scan through how the league results went for the teams involved in this playoff group and it makes interesting reading . If the results were duplicated the table would read like this - Somerset top 7pts +24 race pts Ipswich 2nd 6pts -8 race pts Scunthorpe 3rd 5pts -16 race pts That includes 2 comfortable home wins each for Ipswich and Somerset with Scunthorpe only having one 3 pt home win and a close 2 pt win against the Rebels . I believe this group will be decided on the meetings at Scunthorpe rather than those at Ipswich or Somerset. Somehow I feel that the come the end of the mini league the positions could well be replicated to the ones above . Im definitely going for every result in the group being home wins starting with this meeting , its all going to come down to the race points ! Well he won't be in Poland this Thursday that's for sure !

If Rohans ok I'm not bothered about the others but it would be interesting to know what circumstances are or are not acceptable to the BSPA. Having only just become the Witches no1 could have something to do with it as we have no idea how early he would have needed to commit to riding in Poland.

Surely in 2014 they wouldn't ban riders from most or all of the British playoff teams and effectively ruining the competition just for withdrawing from a one off individual event , would they ???

As far as the title of this thread goes , Does anyone actually care ???

Bit early for this one but I will chip in and say a decent size home win is on the cards. Whether it will be enough to make a difference in the grand scheme of things is another matter. I'm sure The Rebels will rack up a couple of huge home wins in this group which will probably make all other results irrelevant. However, we can always live in hope!

So both of our first two original reserved playoff dates are now blank? Bloody ridiculous scenario to be in!

So Worky in with them then .

Anyone know when the picking of the groups is happening by any chance ?

So with the final 6 decided who are the form teams to be avoided ? Apart from one slightly iffy performance at Plymouth recently and a pretty much expected battering at Somerset , Ipswich seem to have hit some highs . Scunthorpe also have a good recent record ( again apart from the odd one here and there ) and probably won't be anyones first choice . Workington have had a good away record earlier in the season but of late seem to be struggling a bit and are not the force they once were at home . And Berwick have quietly gone about their business and comfortably made the top 6 . I predict that Workington will be first choice for whoever finishes top followed by Berwick , Scunthorpe and Ipswich in that order . One things for sure , it's all got to be sorted pretty quick as Ipswich have their first playoff meeting scheduled for this coming Thursday .

Does anyone know how Gino is after withdrawing with an injury from the Plymouth/ Peterborough match on Fri 12th ?

Wasn't the most exciting of meetings but was exactly what needed to be done in the first leg of a cup semi ! Only a couple of decent races and not much passing going on really . My only real gripe about tonight was Richie W getting excluded when he was clearly taken down by Franc in ht 13 but I don't think it made much difference in the grand scheme of things . Bizarrely an identical score to the Somerset one in the previous round , let's hope for a third one in the final whoever we may face ( probably Edinburgh ) and some proper silverware to show for it ! Hang on , I think I'm getting a tad ahead of myself there . Let's just enjoy the win and hope for a comfortable and injury free passage to the final in the return leg .

Good point , well presented and done , thankyou ( I was just testing you really , not )

Even though the BSPA has this down as PL it's the cup semi on Thursday with the Witches hoping to build up a good lead to make the 2nd leg manageable . Having recently lost by 11 away to the Devils I believe the Witches will need a good 20 to 25 pt advantage to be comfortable in the return at the end of the month . The Devils have drafted in Lasse Bjerre to cover for the injured Ben Barker and I think he will probably score just as many at Foxhall as Ben wasn't exactly consistent as our No1 last year . The Witches should be at full strength with Gino hopefully returning fighting fit from a couple of recent knocks . My prediction , somewhere in the region of 57-35 . ( Maybe not as I forgot no tacticals so 58-32 is my revised prediction )

Must admit I think the top six is pretty much decided now unless there is a monumental amount of rain offs in the next week or so . With Edinburgh and Somerset almost nailed on as the top 2 ( order yet to be finalised ) who's gonna pick who though in the final shakeup , that's the question we should be asking now ? Are any of Scunthorpe , Workington , Berwick and Ipswich easy meat in the playoffs or will the pickers want to avoid any of them like the plague ? I don't know too much about the Northern teams likes or dislikes of the others tracks ( im sure someone will advise ) but from a southern point of view Somerset and Ipswich both seem to hate each others track with a passion , so im not sure the Witches will be on the Rebels wanted list ! Any further thoughts ?

Now back in Blighty as they say, hoping for a nice little win to finish off the league fixtures and have as many points as possible in the bag to set a target for the others to catch. Traditionally we seem to do pretty well there so more of the same guy's! I'm going for a close one with possibly the Witches just edging it.