Diamonds85

https://oxfordspeedway.club/2022/03/gutsy-jack-thomas-declares-himself-fit-for-season-opener-after-crash-scare/ Jack Thomas heatleader????? What the hell is the riding order

Gonna be another long old season I feel...

1. Sam Masters 2. Luke Becker 3. Nick Morris 4. Ryan Douglas 5. Steve Worrall 6. Drew Kemp 7. Leon Flint 8. Joe Thompson Seems a strange riding order to me, but good luck for 2022

Ahhh... Perspective... A wonderful thing They're all southern for me

Expecting a pretty comfortable win for the Bears tbh, but I'm just excited that the season is upon us. It may take the likes of Lee and George a few weeks to settle in and show us what they're capable of. Fingers crossed it will be a closer result than I'm expecting... I'm gonna say 55-35 to the Bears. Good luck to all riders.

Not disagreeing with you there, the championship clearly needs 'weakened' however, in the current state and the current team building rules, most of them riders would be way out of their depth, I saw that last year with Archie at Newcastle, he's probably done more lap of that track than anyone in the Championship and he rides it no problems, but he was just not ready at all. But if you weaken the league structure, fans will just complain and stop going. What really needs to happen is the top 3 or 4 teams from the Championship need to move up into a slightly watered down Premiership and the Championship needs to be 7 or 8 smaller clubs (Berwick, Newcastle, Scunthorpe etc...) who can bridge the gap between the NL and the PL. The whole sport needs a restructuring

Two of which dont ride anymore, most of which aren't ready for the championship.

Elliot Kelly steps down from Mildenhall, who will his replacement be at this late stage? Any good younguns from the area yet to be signed up? 4.46 to play with...

About bloody time

I'm sure in the unfortunate but likely chances of injuries occurring in the NL, he'll be snapped up. Real shame because he looked to have loads of potential, was he asking too much?

Only real name you could say is Jake Mulford, but then again, is he doing speedway at all next year? Being only King's Lynn's number 8 is a bit strange to me? Unless Armadale name him, he's not gonna be in the NL and Birmingham/Plymouth would be terrible if they signed him as their last rider...

I'll always consider Plymouth my second team, despite them being literally the opposite end of the country, their track and set up and the area in general are amazing. I would love to know who this name is, however I don't think we ever will if the appeal isn't accepted. I look forward to seeing who signs though, good look Plymouth for 2022, either way yous look pretty strong to me

Surely it's only a matter of time before one of the Russian rider effected teams sign him up? I'm sorry, as far as Palin is a brilliant prospect and really impressed a lot of people last year, Tom Brennan is on another level above imo... He's ready for the main 1-5 I believe, where Jordan needs more time at reserve

Had Norick got his visa sorted yet??? Or was there another reason for his no show. If I was a Belle Vue fan I'd be begging for Matej to come back, but hasn't he already got his maximum amount of clubs he can ride for? He'd be a steal and one of the league top riders. 1. Max Fricke 2. Jye Etheridge 3. Matej Zagar 4. Charles Wright 5. Brady Kurtz 6. Norick Blodorn? 7. Tom Brennan Looks like a pretty unbeatable team to me... Best rising star and 5 other amazing riders and Jye. Who should not be in the main 1-5 imo

Certainly not, I personally saw Matty as our strongest rider for next year... So putting him at 2 and not 5 was strange to me, but maybe that's not the case at all, sounds like we've got 7 top quality riders.

Thank you for your very details response Honestly I have been a bit pessimistic about our team, but having read this and hearing that Lee and George have taken a liking to the track etc... Maybe we're not so bad afterall... I just desperately hope we can be a team of BWD at number 1 with 7.5ish average and 6 other riders all between 5.5-7.0... Now that would be brilliant depth. Looking like Max is going to be the breakout star of this year I was delighted when he signed for us again. If Matty and James can carry on how they left last year too and Starkey can do what we know he can, I'm actually quietly optimistic now too... But I shall reserve judgement until the first couple home meetings are out the way... COME ON THE DIAMONDS!! Is there not any pictures of all the lads from the press and practice? Seems to be very little about, just a few videos on Facebook etc, or is there going to be a big press release at some point? I want to see what George and Brad look like etc... They seem to have avoided the cameras well. Also, the video from Lee is brilliant, something we need more of from speedway, 'vlog' type videos from the riders perspective, may reach a wider (younger too) audience on YouTube, anything to help the sport progress, I like Lee even more that I've seen his enthusiasm... He wants to do the majority of the scoring!! We'll see...

Sounds promising. Feel for Max though, on the eve of the season as well Hopefully George and Lee will be powerhouses at reserve!!

Yes I think my screenshot was taken before all 20 heats were complete. Anyone who was at the P&P got anything to share on the riders, who looked good, who looked bad. Is george Congreve and lee Complin ready for the league etc. BWD gonna be good at number 1? Hope James and Paul can improve from their scunthorpe performance, granted it was the first meeting back. Matty at 2 is strange to me but very strong, but is that granty realising that Brad isn't an out and out number 1??? Any info would be interesting to find out

Sneddon was a very strong reserve though? Brilliant rider and fox wasnt half bad either on occasions

Of course Jye and Kyle are better than all 3 pairs of reserves I quoted and they most certainly have not been 'forgotten about' not by me anyway, but that's not the point I'm trying to make, I'm not deciding the strongest reserve partnership in the league because that is obviously Jye Etheridge and Kyle Bickley Or James Pearson and Stefan Nielsen at Birmingham (If this Pearson lad is as good as everyone says he is). The point I was trying to make in my original post is who has the strongest reserves out of the teams likely to make the playoff finals ( which imo is) Leicester, Glasgow and Poole. And I think Leicester's reserves are just as good if not better than Glasgow and Poole. Because the poster I quoted said Leicester's reserves aren't strong enough to win the playoff finals... Which if they come up against Poole or Glasgow, they very well are. Also, Newcastle do look very weak, I have as much faith in the lads as possible and I shall support them all the way through this season, but if we're being realistic on this predictions thread, I don't see them above the bottom 2 at all, if we don't finish bottom, I'll be happy (given the circumstances over the winter, I'm not being a miserable speedway fan ) I shall think about and post my league predictions once every team names all their riders

I think the Worralls (Mainly Steve) was mutual, as I think their careers were getting a bit stale at Belle Vue and they needed a change (again mostly Steve)

Just as strong, if not stronger than Poole and Glasgow imo... Thompson twin(s)/Rowe Kemp/Ablitt Bailey/Hume All pretty like for like...

Plymouth last and Birmingham below Newcastle and Berwick in the playoffs... What you smokin?

Very sorry to everyone for having to post these all individually, but it keeps telling me about maximum file sizes if I try to post more than one together and there seems to be a time limit to what I can post as if I try to post one after another the same message appears, and I have no idea how to get around it. Anyway, here is the next one Hope George turns out to be a real find, or else we may struggle this year...

Not the best start for our 2 Diamonds tonight, hope this isn't a bad omen for the season