Nickinho

I'm surprised Anders and Dan are still available

Giving a place to a female didn't help Nascar bring in extra fans although in Danica Patrick's case she was fully deserving of a place in that motorsport, this is just tokenism in this particular case. Interest will be garnered for a few weeks over the Comets new signing then everyone will see her trail in last and soon get over their excitement and realise that it was just a bad team signing.

Having seen her ride before i doubt she will get more than 0.71 in the Championship

Go be a white knight somewhere else

Most teams will probably sign one in future years simply because of their gender which doesn't help at all it's just tokenism and is happening in all walks of life but I was hopeful that it would pass speedway by but i was obviously fooling myself. I'm not surprised by all the celebrations about this but I doubt that any of the male NDL riders who have missed out on a Championship place are happy. I seem to remember all the Edinburgh fans complaining about Dayle Wood at the expense of younger riders because he wasn't very good yet I guarantee he isn't any worse than the Comets new rider. So much for encouraging young British riders...

He was banned for nine months (as of September 5th) so it should be June the 5th although I'm confused because he also picked up a 30 day ban a week later for a social media post he made so I don't know if that will run concurrently or consecutively. The BSPA along with their rule book and their arbitrary judgements are not exactly easy to understand at the best of times.

Good enough to ride in the premiership though.

I've seen a lot of teams being proposed on this thread but everyone seems to have given up on Bastian Borke. Seems like a wasted effort bringing him in last year to gain experience if he isn't going to be included in this year's team. Paring Paco with Kye this season won't help Kye at all but pairing him with a quality team rider like Vissing would help him a lot and would leave space for Borke to return as the number 2. Kye and Claus would be a far better 3 and 4 than Glasgow's pair Flint and Starke if Claus becomes a Monarch. Also, the second heat leader has to be Riss because Sedgman would be a really underwhelming signing imo (ask any Glasgow fan if you don't believe me) 1 Pickering 2) Borke 3) Kye 4) Claus 5) Erik 6) Coles 7) James

This would be a strong looking septet: 1) Josh Pickering 8.63 2) Bastian Borke 4.00 3) Kye Thomson 6.48 4) Claus Vissing 6.24 5) Erik Riss 7.35 6) Connor Coles 2.63 7) Max James 2.00 Total 37.33

You're assuming that Allen will be the number five for Scunny but with the average they currently have they could bring in Riss and still have 4.96 left over for their number 2. Schlein, Barker and Ben Cook are all better than Sedgman and when most teams roll into town they will line up with THREE riders who are better than Sedgman. Signing Sedgman at 5 would be a poor move imo especially with the poor form he exhibited at the end of last season (and no that wasn't him trying to bring down his average either)

It is a very good side but I don't agree that Zach Cook is a heat leader. He's a 24-year-old six pointer who has never impressed me around certain away tracks especially Ashfield where he has often looked like a reserve but Poole definitely look like potential title winners for 2024.

Thanks. That's a shame for the lad

Does anyone know if Jordan Palin has fully recovered and wants to return to speedway after sitting out 2022 due to a bad injury? I think he's still only 19 and had an average of around 5 points.

Hans Nielsen?

He didn't do too badly at Poole during 2023 and he knows Armadale well. I'm not a huge fan of Roynon's but Paco, Lasse and Borke are hardly world beaters at this level either and having Paco at number four next to Kye would be signalling defeatism before the season has even started imo. A top four of Pickering, Howarth, Riss and Thomson would offset any failings Roynon has and I can genuinely see him being able to attain a 4-point average at number 2 in a weakened league, which you have to remember has a lot of younger 2-pointers at reserve this coming season who will probably struggle initially.

I've had a couple of Morgan's Spiced rums tonight but how about this for a new look team for 2024? 1 Pickering - 8.63 2 Roynon - 3.42 3 Riss - 7.35 4 Thomson - 6.48 5 Howarth - 7.76 6 Hodder - 2.00 7 James - 2.00 Total points - 37.64 *I know Roynon isn't ideal in the main body of the side but he does know Armadale well after riding for the Academy side last year and he would free up room to allow for the possibility of four heat leaders in a weaker league and seeing as Poole are tracking a couple of 2-point riders I'd be prepared to see Hodder and James given a chance at 6 and 7. After last season what is there to lose?

I was really impressed with Connor in the u21 final, he finally added an often lacking component to his racing - toughness. I think he could take a really big leap this year if he is able to keep that kind of edge to his racing.

The "exciting news" is that the snack bar is keeping prices at 2023 levels next season.

Heat 13: Edinburgh 1 - 5 Glasgow -- Harris 3 Worrall 2* Riss 1 Sedgman 0 Heat 15 Edinburgh 1 - 5 Glasgow -- Worral 3 Harris 2* Sedgman 1 Riss 0 That's the reality if Sedgman and Riss are the two heat leaders next season.

Craig Cook comes in as Workington's number 1 I have to say that if I was the promotor I wouldn't have touched him with a bargepole but maybe this season he won't walk out on his club at an important time of the season, who knows.

Any opinions on the Tigers moving up into the top league next season? Birmingham and Oxford have done it this year and it's not like Edinburgh bring over enough fans for those 3 derby meetings per year to be missed from a financial perspective so I'd really like to see a change of setting next season especially with fewer of the better riders like Basso able to be accommodated in this league even if he wanted to thanks to the new lower points limit which has been set at a measly 38. Bit of a controversial opinion but I just wondered what other people's thoughts on this are. As we've seen from international meetings (especially the GP qualifier) the track would be very condusive to elite riders riding it so the racing would be even better than it already is.

That Plymouth teams looks like it will struggle as badly as it did last season.

I'm surprised no Polish teams have come in for him

If I was the Poole boss I'd bring back Joe Thompson on a 3.51 Towards the end of the season he was looking like a number 4 and his performance in the u21s around Ashfield was terrific. And speaking of Ashfield, in the first leg of the Championship final he beat Tarasenko fair and square and really impressed me. Bringing in a 4.00 foreign rider could have its disadvantages and being old fashioned I'd rather see places go to British riders.

I think this would be better if Kye could show a bit more of the form which led to that 15 point maximum against Berwick and the 11 points from 4 rides against Plymouth but i would understand if others don't agree with me because he was so inconsistent during 2023: 1 Pickering 8.63 2 Borke/Hook/Fredricksen/Joe Thompson 3 Thomson 6.48 4 Castagna 5.30 5 Riss 7.35 6 Coles 2.63 7 James 2.00 I wouldn't take Sedgman if i was the team manager as he's just not a heat leader imo. I wouldn't be confident putting him out in Heat 13 against the likes of Oxford who track Masters and Nicholls at 1 and 5.