Roger Jacobs

That wasn't as a replacement for Musielak, that was an attempt to bolster a struggling team. There was no guarantee Kvech would settle - although having KL as his home track probably helped. It would be interesting to know how long KL were talking to him and arranging a deal (fixture list & travel, machinery, mechanics, transport, sponsorship, work permit), before he was finally signed. Apart from what Louis has said about approaching some riders, and the difficulties of arranging things when their seasons are already organised, there hasn't been any information about the actual riders, e.g. would they have taken a risk on Huckenbeck or such like? As usual with speedway, fans are left with speculation and rumour.

Amazingly, they just about managed without Doyle, and (as we now know) the Witches thought they'd have Lindgren for the big matches. However, it was the injury to Sayfutdinov which kiboshed the season, with any chance of finding any replacement scuppered by the transfer window - which takes no account of riders missing the remaining fixtures due to injury. That is thanks to BV's use of poorly written Regulations, and the BSPA/L's and SCB's knee-jerk reaction to prevent changes from happening - even though they know it has a serious impact on the play-offs, and makes a mockery of Phil Morris's more recent involvement and the need for "commercially based decisions". How can Ipswich advertise the Play-offs as a worthwhile event?

And the biggest problem is that the BSPA/L and SCB have run away from developing any sensibly/clearly written Regs that would help teams affected at the business end of the season - precisely when there's the most chance of commercial interest.

I think Nicholls has dedicated himself to his Oxford meetings, so he was at Oxford last night and Redcar on Friday, which are far more important. Obviously King and Jenkins are in both of those matches too, but are obliged to turn out for Ipswich (unless injured 🤕).

That's the KL motto 😉

Back in the good old days (1976), Leicester once rode a match with 6 guests ...

Doubt they will, sadly.

King is not even beating riders on his home track that he should. He can't possibly replace either Doyle or Sayfutdinov - nobody has suggested that - but he hasn't even maintained his contribution when it was needed most.

That’s rather a broad brush. The funniest thing about Sheffield failing with this one is that it was brought in specifically after recent farces with riders guesting for and against the same team in cup and play-off matches. Mind you, a couple of years ago Stead whinged online about the Premier Pairs at Belle Vue - and the Supplementary Regs were in the Programme!

It's KOC-Up SFs and Final matches only, and the same wording is also applied to Play-Off SFs and Final.

But King on his HOME track should have the beating of Brennan, and definitely should never lose to Flint.

No team can be cup champions. Cup Winners 🙂

I think Belle Vue might want him back. Not sure that King went missing - it's more a case of counting the times he comes good ...

Oh dear Witches ... it's not easy to win without any leaders ...

BSN have announced that they are covering the KOC-Up Final 1st Leg free to air on Monday night, AFTER the Discovery+/Eurosport meeting has finished 🙂

Then you will see whatever stream Eurosport sends to Virgin ...

That's nothing to do with speedway. From what I've read, it was a freak accident - a wheel came off a car, and before they could take any action it was struck by another car and flew into the air, and over the catch fencing. A guy was hit on his head, and a woman on the arm - fortunately they escaped without very serious injury, although obviously very shaken.

Not at all clear is it! Maybe he was excluded for delaying the start ...

Perhaps not. If he earns that much per meeting, then missing one if he's not feeling 100% isn't the end of the world.

"Nearly two full weeks wages for most of us." ?! If you're on £6k a month, that's £72k a year - which is about twice the median annual salary, and would put you in the top 10% of earners ...

Apparently "They weren’t Poole riders last night were they arfwit." 😉

Do you subscribe to Eurosport? If so, they should have offered you a deal to switch to Discovery+ because it's taking over ...

King's Lynn Vs Leicester is the Discovery+ fixture on 2 September. BSN was originally showing the first leg, but they've had to cancel their coverage because Discovery+ takes precedence, even though it's a rearranged fixture (fulfilling contractual obligations).

The official notations are on page 122 of the SCB Regulations. "E" is definitely a starting offence. Failure to meet the 2 mins is shown as "N2" - it does not count as a ride. I believe that a starting offence is the 'ultimate' sanction, so if a rider has already been excluded, any subsequent movement results in a warning, which then carries on from that heat, e.g. a rider could be warned in their first ride, excluded in their second, warned in their third, excluded in their fourth.

New Green Sheets effective 01/09 sees Thompson return to #7, with Rew in the 1-5. Really do hope they’ve got a couple of guests booked for Doyle & Sayfutdinov in both legs of the KOC-Up Final.