The Cheese

Would be good but I think the likes of Zagar and Vaculik could be ahead of him on the reserve list if they also miss out. If Lambert doesn't get picked I'm sure he will be also.

Disappointing for Cook, don't think he's had much luck in the series this year. Clearly not going to get a pick for next year but hopefully gets the chance to do the qualifiers again. Good advert for this at half-time in the Manchester United game last night, unfortunately most watching would have been asleep and missed it

Think King's Lynn will keep it reasonably close at Poole, I know they've been comfortably beaten both times this season but Palm-Toft wasn't at reserve then and Woryna won't be now. Poole will need a double figure lead to have a chance in the 2nd leg.

Another classic Chris Harris moment, he's always had his critics but he is a legend of British speedway and hopefully has many years ahead of him still. Think Somerset would have won with Holder but unfortunately these things happen. Should always have a number 8 available when using R/R, they could have given him the ride in heat 10 against Harris and Grajczonek and had either Allen or Covatti in heat 13 or saved Covatti for 15. Congrats to Poole, hope they win in the final

With the other semi-final pretty much done hopefully this one can go right to heat 15 and keep things interesting but I see Poole winning this comfortably. Somerset will need Doyle to go unbeaten, Holder to have a very good meeting which he hasn't on the last 2 visits and everyone else to chip in with 5 or 6 each. They can't afford for one of those 4 to have a bad night.

Great meeting, heat 13 was amazing. Show that race to any non-speedway fan and there's no way they wouldn't be entertained by it. If only we could have the majority if not all tracks capable of producing that. Not that it made any difference but was surprised heat 15 was awarded. Holder was almost level with Cook/Fricke (can't remember which!) anything could have happened in another lap on that track!

Best wishes to Dan, hope he has a quick and full recovery

It's not that complicated though is it? If it helps keep meetings interesting and competitive until the end where's the problem in that.. don't really want to go down this route again but plenty of other sports have a points system that involves more than just a basic 3/1/0.

The points system ridiculous? I would say it's one of the BSPA's better ideas in recent years

If those assessed riders are taking part in 1 main league what's the solution for them missing plenty of fixtures because they're racing in Poland?

Even had a case of doubling-up this week with Josh Poysden joining Yorkshire on loan for championship games but still part of Birmingham's squad for T20

Was in Tesco's yesterday and noticed these on the end of the aisle.. Maybe the BSPA could see if they are interested in sponsoring the league?

Great to see Pedersen back on top again.. long may it continue

Whilst I would agree that failing/refusing a test is worthy of a life ban I think in Boxall's case his history and reputation means it probably is anyway.

On the subject of play-offs not deciding league winners in football.. it does happen in countries such as Australia and the USA.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44981501

5 man teams would be ridiculous but if they went down that route you'd hope they at least have the sense to get rid of R/R.

A short clip of Heat 4 from Monday

That car park in Wales is going to get very busy..

Firstly, good to see that Doyle appears to be ok. Well done to Zmarzlik on the win but Woffinden looks guarenteed for the title now as long as he stays fit. Lambert obviously didn't have a great night but was just one of those meetings where everything goes wrong, just a shame it happened to be the GP. Thought that he came across very well when interviewed on BT, to be able to stay calm in situations like that and put it behind you before the next race is a good sign. Sounds stupid given his score but I think he enhanced his reputation. Great to see Cook doing well, he's proved he can beat riders of this quality in pressure meetings in the qualifiers so pleased to see him do it here and hopefully he can have a few more like that in the remaining GPs. Had good pace and who knows what could have happened if he hadn't crashed in his last ride, was making some excellent starts so had every chance of at least making the final. Unlucky in his first race as well, looked like the perfect start to me. As for the ref, I can only assume he had been sampling Cardiff's pubs all morning

Exactly. Sky's coverage gave the sport the ideal opportunity to invest that money wisely and grow the sport. They can't be blamed for the failure to do so.

Just to be clear - I agree with you and certainly wouldn't want to see a league like that myself. It was just basically an example of what they could look like if the BSPA went down the route of having 1 big league.

On the idea of having 1 combined league, I think there are probably just enough riders to have a 6 man 16 team league but the problems then come when injuries occur or riders are missing for another reason. Of course, if you include Rye House this would also involve 3 teams from the current top 2 leagues not being involved. Haven't bothered with averages and who knows whether these sides would still be too expensive but possibly something like; Team 1: Dan Bewley, Jason Garrity, Dimitri Berge, Jye Etheridge, Josh Pickering, Kyle Bickley 2: Steve Worrall, Thomas Jorgensen, Lewis Rose, Kasper Andersen, Mason Campton, Connor Mountain 3: Ricky Wells, Lasse Bjerre, Todd Kurtz, Simon Lambert, Max Ruml, Ben Morley 4: Nicolai Klindt, Rene Bach, Kyle Newman, Paul Starke, Ellis Perks, Leon Flint 5: Rohan Tungate, Aaron Summers, Bradley Wilson-Dean, Rasmus Jensen, James Shanes, Danyon Hume 6: Rory Schlein, Ty Proctor, Cameron Heeps, Nicolaj Busk Jakobsen, Max Clegg, Danny Ayres 7: Nick Morris, Adam Ellis, Stefan Nielsen, Dany Gappmaier, Zach Wajtknecht, Anders Rowe 8: Erik Riss, David Bellego, David Howe, Victor Palovaara, Mark Riss, Alfie Bowtell 9: Chris Harris, Claus Vissing, Jaimon Lindsey, Jonas Jeppesen, James Sarjeant, Jack Thomas 10: Danny King, Michael Palm-Toft, Nico Covatti, Michael Hartel, Nathan Greaves, Drew Kemp 11: Eddie Kennett, Lewis Kerr, Kevin Doolan, Luke Becker, Jordan Stewart, Tom Brennan 12: Richie Worrall, Stuart Robson, Ludvig Lindgren, Ashley Morris, Carl Wilkinson, Danny Phillips 13: Scott Nicholls, Ulrich Ostergaard, Matej Kus, Emil Grondal, Nike Lunna, Tom Bacon 14: Richard Lawson, Ben Barker, Jonas B Andersen, Mikkel B Andersen, Tobias Busch, Josh Bailey 15: Craig Cook, Josh Auty, Jake Allen, Gino Manzares, Tero Aarnio, Jack Smith 16: Kyle Howarth, Charles Wright, Josh Bates, Broc Nicol, Jan Graversen, Georgie Wood You don't want to completely exclude the likes of Doyle, Iversen, Lambert, Fricke, Holder, Andersen etc so those clubs who can afford them can also take part in a Super League where you can bring in 2 or 3 of them in place of your lowest averaged riders from the main league. This would have a maximum of 8 teams, and ride each other once home and away, ideally in the June-August period, play-offs included. BT could hopefully show this whilst a number of meetings in the 16 team league would be streamed live.

Fixed pay rates will never work, we're talking about a group of people who it seems are happy to do anything to get an advantage over everybody else, there will always be one who's prepared to pay more to get the best. On making the AGM public, I do like the idea of a group of old ladies furiously waving their programme boards at Matt Ford when he somehow manages to get a vote passed which allows Janowski and Dudek to come in on 3 point averages.

Can't see why there should be a problem with allowing Rye House to finish the season with meetings on Saturday's if that is what's required to keep them going. Only Berwick race regularly then in the Championship and there are very few GP riders here so it shouldn't be hard to schedule the remaining fixtures so that full teams are riding.