Noelinho

Nowhere better for racing in the UK. Consistently at least the second-best team in the Championship. Constantly improving the stadium and attracting FIM events. Some people talk a lot of bitter rubbish.

He’s put half a point on his average. He’s had a couple of rough meetings recently, but overall he’s been fantastic.

Not much picking and choosing this year. Barely enough meetings to remember what the sport’s like some months.

Cabbageman for TM.

The Glasgow promotion were very clear, they didn't want Danyon to leave, and they would love to have him back again. But he didn't fit with the averages. Not sure if Connor was exactly the same situation, but I personally think it was a good move for him to race somewhere else. Good experience for someone still young in the sport.

Also, maybe they could allow guests who have been attached to (and ridden for) a team in the current and previous season?

Winning the league is really not a big deal for me, as long as we're generally at the sharp end and entertained. And we are. I think the majority of the fans here would take the racing over trophies too, as long as we're generally doing well.

We have some mad rules, that's for sure. I didn't know that one either!

My main objection to the current system is that only league fixtures count. All competitive fixtures should count, for me. I would set an upper limit to riders’ averages - 9, perhaps. Prevents the top riders from managing their averages to remain employable. I would be tempted to reduce a team’s building average slightly every time they make a change. But that could reward mediocrity… maybe it would be counter-productive. Maybe you could get rid of R/R and that would give some of these riders more opportunities?

Yeah, he was chatting next to me after the meeting and didn't seem too bothered about it.

There were four heats with no passes.

Good meeting so far. 12 passes in 10 heats. Redcar are well in it, I'd say it feels quite even overall. Marcin Nowak has been a bit off at Ashfield recently though, and he needs to start scoring a couple more points each meeting really.

Shots fired.

Fun fact for you: Lee’s best heat statistically at home this season? Heat 2. It’s not even close. 13+3 from 8 rides in heat two (6.50). 14+5 off his other 22 rides (2.54). If we’re going to slate the guy let’s at least get our facts right!

This only really helps a team if they don’t want to keep the rider finishing in front. Although it helps to suppress the average of the rider getting the bonus points (which will definitely help him), it doesn’t materially change the points average for the team… unless they want to let the lead rider go.

Maybe I should point out, tonight is Redcar and this is the Pirates thread. There’s still two weeks before the handbags on this one!

Ashton Boughen wasn't an option for this week, so that's a pointless suggestion.

I would hope for more, but it shows he wasn't the weakest link.

Well done Poole. I only saw heats 2-4 but doesn't take a rocket scientist to read between the lines. You have to ride what's in front of you and at Poole, that means gating. I don't understand why people would rather watch gating than racing, but they make it work and people pay, so that's how it rolls. Surely experienced riders can learn to set their bikes up to gate there, at least after they've had a ride? Anyway, on to Friday. Might not be a trophy, but plenty of passing, and that's what I like to see.

On that logic you just get 5x6-pointers and 2x5-pointers. Now you've got 7 "scorers" (whatever that is, but why isn't a guy scoring 3.43 on a 2 point average considered a scorer? It's more than twice Ablitt's average last year!), so one more than Poole last year. Sure fire winners! Also, even if there are "other riders available", we don't always get to choose them. They're allowed to choose to ride elsewhere too. You can't just assume you can pick 7 riders and leave the other clubs to what you might think of as the scraps.

Absolutely. But if you have an extra meeting per week here, you might drop one other country where you ride. And if overall you ride in fewer places, it would help with scheduling a little.

Our Redcar rematch was a Tuesday, so it might make sense to do it again. Not sure which nights are better for the gate.

They're not normally hard. I think the issue with 14 July is the track is already in use on the Saturday and Sunday, so it's a lot to ask of volunteers. The following week it's rider availability - would've been a good date for the Oxford rematch. Not sure who is not available and why for that date.

From what I've seen, it's unlikely to be a Friday. 14th and 21st July are both free for both clubs, but sounds like they're not logistically easy for the Tigers. So it might end up being a Sunday or Tuesday. I never know which of those days is preferred. We seem to fluctuate between the two when racing on off-nights.

Maybe if there were more fixtures in the league, riders wouldn't feel the need to ride in quite so many different places? That's part of the issue. You can't make a living on one meeting a week, and let's be honest, it's barely that over a season right now.