JamesB

I heard the same.

You have to give Louis credit, he has done pretty much everything he can with the track within the constraints imposed to improve the racing spectacle.

Once the decision was taken to strengthen with Brennan, then one of the 2024 cohort had to move on. I have been told and I have no certainty whether it is true or not that the original plan was for one of the other riders to move on, however the situation with Rew changed the plan.

OK, it’s a cold and boring Friday morning so I’ll take the bait…. 1. Louis has decided to strengthen the team by bringing in Brennan. 2. Therefore, in the same way as Belle Vue ‘somebody has to go’ to accommodate that strengthening. 3. Two clubs offered Rew a significant uptick on his points money. He was ‘keen to stay’ but expected Louis to move towards his new offered points money. 4. Any business when hiring an individual weighs up cost v benefit i.e. value for money and it would appear that in this case Louis decided that did not stack up for him as the owner of the business. 5. I have no issue with Rew wanting to increase his earnings and another team being willing to pay accordingly, that’s called Capitalism. I wish Rew all the best and hope that we see him back as a Witch at some point in the future.

I believe that his head was turned by two clubs offering a substantial up tick on points money. No issue with him looking after number 1 financially, as speedway is a short career. Hopefully, we may see him back in the future.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Rew is part of the team.

I agree and it’s very difficult to see where they could have improved the final 1-7. Brennan is an important addition and should strengthen what was already a strong 2023 team. You can argue the respective merits of the King/Rew/Ellis combination but not sure that any of the three options would be significantly stronger. If what I have been told is correct, then the final composition may have been down to the omitted rider being offered a substantially better financial package which the Witches were not prepared to match.

If King does ride at 2 and he gets gate 1 in heat 1, then I would hope that he would have the beating of some of the opposition heat leaders coming off gate 4. Holder minor for one. 😀 I have been told by a source which I trust that it’s Doyle and Brennan, however let’s wait and see.

Was it a truly an open pick for the remaining four or did the promoters/riders reach an ‘agreement’ on who will ride where. we will never know.

Could anybody with experience of transforming a handful of loaves and fish into a hearty meal for 4000 people please contact Mr R Hawkins ahead of this evenings meeting to pass on helpful tips on performing miracles.

If they choose not to sign a replacement then it would seem logical to continue to use 6.16.

I took that from Bald Bloke’s post on the KL/Ipswich thread. You may be correct but if you are, why would you use Kerr as a guest when you could use a guest with an average up to 9.00?

Now that the 28 days has elapsed, any guest for Musielak can only have an average that is not in excess of 75% of Musielak’s. Hence, KL can only use a guest whose average is 6.16 or lower.

Musielak no longer has a contract with Kings Lynn and the 28 days has passed. They can sign who they want up to the points limit they have available. If they choose not to sign a new rider and wish to use guests then they continue with the 75% figure they have to use under the regulations as they stand.

Right, ridiculous or illogical - it just highlights how badly worded some of the regulations/rules are. How can you declare a rider in your team who is not contracted to ride for you? That’s the same as the mighty ITFC declaring Ronaldo in their squad and hoping that he might be kind enough to turn up for the odd match.

I suspect that the Discovery guys had a big influence on the decision. They must save a chunk of money by not setting up all their equipment at all. You have to feel sorry for the Promoters sometimes. The Met Office have had a yellow warning in place across Suffolk since first thing for heavy rain and potential localised flooding. What are they supposed to do? Louis does not have a reputation for calling off meetings early, if anything, he is sometimes guilty of being overly optimistic.

I believe that Doyle is undertaking some intensive rehabilitation in Poland. Is there a slim chance that he could make it back for the play offs? if not and if they can’t find a like for like replacement such as Zmarzlik then stick with r/r and try and persuade Lindgren to cover the play offs.

It’s been dry so far but with showers forecast which feels like Groundhog Day. If it’s anything like the last few meetings we will get a heavy shower after 6pm which forces a rain off.

I agree that it stopped raining at about 4pm followed by a little bit of sunshine but predominantly cloudy. How does this alone make the decision wrong as from the amount of rain that fell during the day, I would imagine that the track was pretty well flooded when the rain stopped. I can’t see how the track would have dried in the limited time available but the only way of knowing whether the decision was right or wrong would be to see a picture of the track after the rain stopped (KL posted a picture of their track and if Foxhall was in anyway similar to that there is no way it would have dried in 2 hours giving sufficient time for track preparations.

I was the Texter, so I’ll put my two penneth into the debate; The rain just prior to and during heat 7 was heavy. At the completion of heat 7, the rain then eased back, however it made the track difficult for the subsequent heats. The better/more experienced riders were generally speaking (apart from Klindt) able to cope better with the track but the less experienced struggled. In my view, it was touch and go whether the track was fit to ride, however racing on it was virtually impossible. I guess it depends on whether you want to watch 4 riders racing on a track or riding around it.

Still dry with high cloud.

I have also been told that it’s engine related issues.

I think that Leicester’s problem is more Kemp and maybe Becker rather than Thompson. Sure, you can replace Thompson but with the Rising Star’s that are available, what will you achieve - another point possibly 2 if you are lucky.

I know that we have started the season well but from what I have seen so far I am not convinced that this team is as strong as some are making out. Jenkins has been struggling probably through being in the main team, although his lower scoring has been compensated for by Thompson’s impressive start. Can he keep up this start now he is the main team? The greater concern has to be Rew. He was never intended to be in a reserve position which is forcing Jenkins and Thompson into the main team. Rew is the key to success particularly if we are going to be using r/r for a while.

I think it will probably be r/r for Thursday and Monday as the options look very limited, although maybe B Cook for Thursday. Generally, r/r should be OK for home meetings but more troublesome away.