Roger Jacobs

Of course they are, and that's the saddest part - they react so rapidly to different surfaces, which makes them much more difficult to turn and control on the bends. The Holders will be fine now that it's drying out. Sheffield should go on to win ...

Exactly. Back in the day, Foxhall track prep sometimes resembled a ploughed field, and the riders loved it.

Shame that riders just expect a motorway - so many seem to have forgotten how to attack a difficult track.

Second of three home matches in 8 days, two of which on TV - several people of the Witches Facebook page said they wouldn't go to all three (couldn't afford to).

Bewley is enjoying it! The Witches know that the Holders can't cope with this sort of surface, so they might as well build up a lead ... When Tatum did the track walk, it looked much harder on the outside - perhaps they ripped it up after he had been out there!?

Tatum thinks Harrison could go off 15m after being excluded for a fall!

As expected, track looking drier and maybe a bit slicker than usual - could be much better for the Tigers gruesome twosome, who normally don't enjoy Foxhall that much.

Without Ellis, R/R is even more of a risk, so they should be looking at three guests. Whether Lindgren is available, or even willing to guest, is another question. Brennan has to be an option, or a Leicester rider (or two?).

He just is one 🤪

Any predictions of who will guest for the Witches on Thursday night? And, with three home matches in 8 days, can they book sufficient, effective guests? With R/R for Doyle and Sayfutdinov, the Witches could just about manage - but I can't see how R/R plus a guest would match Sayfutdinov's presence ...

But it's pathetic. No argument will convince me otherwise.

How can the Danish Final outing be irrelevant, when he had provided a sick note for getting out of GB commitments the day before?! I can understand riders having a try out before they come back, but trying to ride again a day after is simply extracting the Michael - it seems more likely that he didn't fancy returning to GB in advance of the Danish Final, irrespective of his injury.

The point is that the bike took off because of the heavy build-up of shale - that's how the current rocket-ships respond to changes in grip. It was an accident waiting to happen. Earlier in the meeting C.Holder managed to control his fall when he realised he was going too close to the edge. Sayfutdinov gave it everything, because that's what he does, just like Harris, and other fearless/bonkers riders. The simple point is that there's absolutely no need to let the shale build up like that.

That's not what has been said! There's no attempt during the match to recover the build-up of shale on the outside, producing a line which in theory provides an exciting spectacle, but in reality makes an already fast track much more dangerous for rocket ship instant-reaction bikes.

The Owlerton track prep should not allow the shale to build up so deep on the widest line. I've always thought it was a nasty accident waiting to happen on such a fast and relatively narrow circuit. We all know that the modern rocket ship bikes respond very rapidly to changes in surface - no matter how skilful these riders are, it can't always be "exciting".

It would be an absolute shock if they did. Deducted 2 points, riding without a #1, injured #2 & #3, mostly awful guests … Even if the postponements have been strategic, the bad luck hasn’t rewarded them - even Ipswich fans have sympathy for their plight …

Indeed, "Assets" have no capital value whatsoever. I guess the main benefit is not having to pay out loan fees.

It's proving difficult for teams to find riders of a suitable "like-for-like" standard. No idea about Baek, never heard of him, but I don't follow Danish or Swedish speedway like I used to. He could be hidden treasure, he could be another Goret ...

They had more points to play with back then. Even so, it shows how tough it is to find riders who actually want to ride ...

Ironically, Ben Cook can't guest at #1 for KL because the Stars are limited to 75% of Musielak's 8.21 green sheet, but he could replace Klindt ...

How? A rider has to be signed-out as injured by the Medical Officer.

Belle Vue website still has Kemp at #2. It also says "OXOFRD" https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/blog/latest-news-2/meeting-preview-belle-vue-v-oxford-307

A good age, although still sad news. Alongside John Earrey (the greatest), Edwin Overland was a top speedway announcer and always splendidly biased against the Witches when we visited Compost Corner. RIP.

That wasn't the query, and that Reg is about stopping a race. The Regulations are different for tape touching, unsatisfactory starts (whatever they're called). The Regs can be downloaded from scbgb.co.uk

In the Regulations, there's no such thing as first bend bunching or all 4 back ...