DC2

Sadly, you're probably right. But it's practically the same as last year & won't win the title. Nick Morris is too expensive on his average & Batch always goes missing in the big meetings.

Perversely, I agree. What's the point in pretending it's been anything but cheque-book speedway for the last ten years with Poole always paying more to get the best? Why should the draft be any different????

Charles Wright isn't a bad choice. He looked fitter, faster & a better gater than Steve Worrall & can ride more than one line. And Rose looks like a grass track rider & should be excellent out wide on our track.

By PL average.

OK, I can see now that the grade A riders were ranked by PL average, which at least is objective, if not accurate. Vatcher may have wanted to temper the PL averages by the actual 2014 EL draft averages but was probably prevented from making any sort of fair assessment!

A picking order by league position alone is fair only if there are no protected riders. Once you introduce a protection racket it is necessary to grade the first tier riders & then have second tier picks in reverse order of that rather than league position. Quite how the second tier picks started with Wolves, then Poole is a complete farce!

Paul Starke, the top rank by PL average, goes to Poole???? Are all the other promoters totally thick??????

How on earth do Poole get second pick in Tier 2 ?????? Fix AGAIN

So the grade A choice is league positions reversed & so is the grade B choice?

Why should Poole have the last grade B choice if Newman isn't the best grade A rider?

Presumably they could retain first pick of grade A only if Bates were eighth or lower on the B list? If Bates were say fourth (unlikely) Leicester should have fifth pick of grade A, not first.

Will there be an open, transparent & objective grading using last year's EL/PL/NL averages (with conversions) or will Neil Vatcher choose??? My subjective Grade A order would be: Auty Newman Blackbird Kerr Garrity Worrall Roynon Wright Birks Boxall

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By PL average the grade A riders are likely to range from Kerr (7.54) to Roynon (4.78), although save for injuries Roynon, Boxall (5.36) & Birks (5,68) would be as good as the others (who average over 6). Grade B is likely to have a similar range from Starke (4.79) to those NL riders without a PL average (including Sarjeant, Clegg, Halsey & Morley). Rose is likely to be the fifth best (4.15).

I take your point but you're arguing emotionally rather than logically. Kings Lynn should be allowed to accommodate their FT riders but they should not have a team-building points advantage! That's contrary to the principle of equalisation. In addition in any event they would have the added advantage of two FT riders who know their track well, compared to Swindon, for example, who will have two novices.

The draft riders should be allowed to ride where they are most comfortable & where it is most cost-effective for them so if KL are allowed Kerr (7.54 PL average) & Rose (4.15 PL average) they would have the best grade A rider (by PL average) & the fifth best grade B rider rather than the eighth best (Bates 3.53). They should therefore lose .62 from there 34 point team building allowance.

Errr ... from looking at the present! EL solely on Mon, Weds & Thurs would make it easier for continental riders & ensure no clashes for D/U riders riding in the PL on Fri, Sat, Sun. Fewer fixture clashes would give better rider availability, more foreign stars & fewer r/r & guests.

There's no point harping on about the past or having some utopia vision for speedway that can never pay for itself; you just have to get on with it. If the promoters cannot persuade each other & their landlords to agree certain race nights for EL & others for PL we're always going to have problems attracting the big stars & having to face up to doubling up, r/r & guests. Getting the race nights right will be the first step to recovery.

I take you point, especially because he is injury-prone, but Ollie he has been a top PL rider for years, he was better than Nick Morris in the PL last year, he would come in on 5.19 rather than Nick's 6.31 & in a semi-protected second string role he should up his average by a point (Nick won't). He is the bargain this coming year that Grajczonek was last year. With Nick & Ollie it's the difficult choice between a future prospect or the pragmatic bargain who might win you the league.

You think that team is better than: Doyle Allen P Pawlicki Mads Kildemand Auty Sarjeant ???? I'd taken Allen on 5.19 rather than Morris on 6.31. Pawlicki is better than Schlein, especially in the big meetings, Mads is a proven EL heatleader compared to Musielak & Sarjeant is much better than Ritchings. I might have taken Blackbird pre-broken leg rather than Auty but his "quality" is based on one season whereas Auty has been a heatleader for a number of years in the PL. Maybe less hasty next time, SteveO!

C'mon SteveO, you can do it!

And yours is?

With 2014 second strings having inflated averages it might be best to look at 2013 riders like Ollie Allen (5.19), Rohan Tungate (4,59) & Aaron Summers (4.79). If Ollie carries on my team: Doyle Allen P Pawlicki Mads Kildemand Auty Sarjeant

Good point. The answer is "no". But how did three rides a meeting rather than four benefit the lesser fast track riders??? And how detrimental to other teams was it when they faced a team with a protected red hot reserve who could take seven rides throughout the season??? Tom Perry was Leicester's best reserve on 4.09 while Garrity was 7.29 & Newman 7.19. There has to be a better balance between track-time, protection & fair competition.

I disagree. A month as a heatleader would have done Newman, Kerr & Garrity no harm at all, Apart from Kings Lynn, the third heatleader of most teams was no better than their second strings & a month as heatleader would have been less of a distortion in teams' strengths than having a protected reserve rack up double figure scores from six or seven rides. It may have been less pronounced had the reserves have been allotted only their four programmed rides & no more. I say this with the benefit of hindsight, but if next year is again to be rigged in some way we should at least be trying to make a best guess at proper averages & equalisation rather than let some teams benefit from riders on a steal average.