Roger Jacobs

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 ...

I had quite an e-mail exchange with the BSPL Office about this. The reply I received was: "You have quoted the rule yourself and it does not mention 'assessed', it says 'have an established MA' and Robert Lambert DOES have an established average, from 2019, he just hasn't done enough meetings to update that for this season. Without appearing to be too long winded, that rule is with regards riders who have never had an established MA, hence it does not mention 'assessed'. I believe other riders in a similar position have guested this season, but nobody has queried that? I don't want to drone on but what if a rider is riding on his converted CL MA and has that * by his name, have they ever not been able to guest? Next season that box will be changed as it is obviously misleading when it suits!" This was my reply: "Having taken some time to digest your reply on 22 September, I have looked more closely at the SCB Regs and they prove how poorly written and open to interpretation they are: You said: That being said, I wondered why Lambert’s scores from 2019 haven’t been carried forward as part of a Rolling Average to contribute towards an updated Green Sheet, which seems the most logical approach. I then realised the Regs say only scores from the last two seasons can count towards an Established MA. If that’s the case, why is an average with scores from as long ago as 2019 considered to be an Established MA? There is nothing in the Regulations which states that an average from more than two seasons ago can be used - I guess the argument is that there’s nothing in the Regs which state that old MAs can’t be used? Of course, the Regs also say: "A Premiership Assessed League rider will establish an MA after completing 3 home and 3 away qualifying fixtures." Robert Lambert is shown in the current Green Sheets as having an Assessed MA (there is no disputing that, whatever spin is put on the * next to his name and the Key at the top right), and has not completed 3 home and 3 away qualifying fixtures, so he has not got an Established MA. Please note: as far as I’m concerned, this has nothing to do with the specific rider and/or teams involved - as stated above, it highlights that the SCB Regulations are poorly written and open to interpretation, and also how the BPSL/SCB do not make their decisions transparent to the fans. The Regulations must not be tweaked, because when one area is updated, it can often cause problems elsewhere - as seen in 2022 when Belle Vue were able to use (ironically) Robert Lambert. I think it has been said many times in the past that the Regs are being reviewed - wording regarding averages and guests, in particular, must be rewritten, proofread, wargamed and checked again to iron out all this uncertainty." Hey Ho!

For your information: you didn't say all of that did you ... how was anyone reading your message expected to know your situation? It wasn't a sarky post, it was genuine - there are still fans who don't know about Live Updates. Even so - when you'd got your phone charged, you still came here for the result?