4BenMoran

Personally think we are a lot worse off in 2025, basically we are riding with 3 reserves. I can’t see Rowe scoring the points at number two that Howarth did, his 2024 average is blinkered by the fact he rode 99% of season at number 7. It needs Pickering to turn his good month of August into a full season to make this team set up work, can’t afford for him to be inconsistent home or away like he was in majority of 2024 or we’ll struggle

Based on the full team announcements 1 Ipswich - great all round 1-7, can’t see them losing many home or away 2 Belle Vue - dominant at NSS, hopefully SGP doesn’t impact Kurtz form 3 Leicester - solid, definitely room for improvement in engine room 4 Kings Lynn - Harris at reserve in March and April trump card, can’t see other adding same points when he moves out, will improve on last season 5 Sheffield - Bottom end weak and inconsistent, too reliant on Holder bros, Woffinden will need time to get back to speed 6 Birmingham - exciting team should get home wins on the board 7 Oxford - can’t see the strategy of the line up, long season ahead

Not enough volunteers in afraid for that to happen unless the club pays folk for doing the task rather than them doing it for free

Even as a Sheffield fan you can see the Emil one was due to him having to hit that dirt line that had built up next to the fence to get past Jack Holder, problem being there just wasn’t the room available to get man and machine through the gap as Jack had ridden (safely wasn’t fencing Emil) as wide as he could. Whereas the Ben Cook one was mid track on bend 2, he was nowhere near the high line when he crashed, that one was simply pilot error and with him being extremely lightweight he had no power to control yhe bike and it spat him off. Seen plenty of incidents where riders hit the dirt line on bend and it stops/slows them down due to the sheer volume, but again over last few seasons most accidents/falls have been pilot error. The Emil crash could have been stopped if as people say the dirt had been moved in from 3ft away from the fence to mid track but after a race or two it’s back there again and then fans whinge due to tractor being out again as you’d need possibly 4 track staff on each corner to rake that in with the size of Owlerton

Danyon Hume at the STAARS meeting this Thursday 16th Jan at New Barrack Tavern

Always good to get a bit of insider knowledge on rider locations 🤪

See that Dougy has been injured in Aussie whilst training on moto-x bike. He’s going to miss the Aussie Championships starting beginning of January and says he needs at least a month out to recover, hopefully he’s back to 100% fitness for the start of the season as wouldn’t want to be starting season with R/R, Guests or sourcing a replacement with slim pickings left out there

Can definitely see these 3 racing/returning for the combo team, Smith taking a full time role after replacing Ablitt early doors last season: Mickie Simpson Jack Smith Jamie Etherington Loosing both Pjiper’s and possibly Harrison and Ablitt (unless he wants to travel north for NDL only) as well means a few new faces. Could likes of Foord ride in NDL after taking a spot in NDT team? Hopefully the remaining 4 are a mix of experience and a few new young un’s getting their first experience of NDL racing

I was told 2 weeks ago that Thorsell was guaranteed, not heard anything since to change that, you’d think if there’s been back word from Jacob or Birmingham that one or the other would say ‘had talks but didn’t work out’ etc

Wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being Sunday 15th June or Sunday 17th August if he’s wanting to get a field with GP riders in there

Still say Klindt will end up as Plymouth number 1, just makes sense with no Polish contract to start the season and having kit over here with King’s Lynn

Interesting that Woffinden says he’s now 100% fit and elbow all healed up, wonder if he’ll have a spin whilst in Aussie? Still think it’s a massive risk having him in the team coming back from such a big injury

I believe that Schlein will start the season with Berwick to get them out of a team building hole, but they have a replacement lined up for mid season

Howarth will add a point to his average riding for Glasgow next season, had too many meeting for Scunthorpe having 6 rides (covering for MPT) which always makes it hard to maintain average. The track will suit him more than Scunthorpe which was hard on bikes with all the holes and bumps in it. Was told he cracked 3 frames in home meetings due to roughness of the track which shouldn’t be the case at Glasgow. I believe that they have got him on a bargain average

What about Klindt hasn’t got a Polish team spot for start of the season over there (has Warsaw contract so can ride later in season when window opens again), ridden previously in Championship and would be ideal number 1, just maybe a bit on the expensive side

So just Thorsell and Lampart left to be announced That weekly airfare bill is gonna be enormous! Good job the Rising Star has to be a Brit!! 😂

He never said that, believe it was Godfrey just making up a reason for the fans instead of saying he turned Scunthorpe down for 2024 Plus if he flys up rather than in van with mechanic (his mechanics are Manchester based from memory) it’ll be quicker than the van journey up to Scunny from his Wiltshire home

Pretty sure Jack Smith will be a number 1 in NDL team, so might end up with odd Championship guest booking and get a slot somewhere replacing an under performing 2-3 pointer when changes start being made

Birmingham S. Worrall, Kerr & Lampart Oxford Schlein & Gilkes

100% that, one 4-5 week period of heat leader form the rest pretty inconsistent. Up until August there was nothing average wise between Pickering and Howarth, so shows there was a massive increase in form just needs that to be the standard now

Agree that Howarth better Owlerton than Rowe. Will take Rowe quite a few meetings to get to grips with the different lines and see if he has what it takes to ride it up high especially coming off bend 2. Gilkes good if gates, awful if not continues to ride the one line he knows especially at home, no loss in my eyes. Flint is the one that has to turn up and finally show he’s not just another who talks the talk

The ‘it’s all about me’ from Woffinden, same pre and post injury. Difference is this season is he won’t be calling the captain of the team out with being good buddies with him

If throwing money around arcades might as well be Madsen with him not have SGP in 2025

League table: 1. Ipswich 2. Leicester 3. Belle Vue 4. King’s Lynn 5. Sheffield 6. Oxford 7. Birmingham

That’s the Oxford Championship team, he’s at King’s Lynn in 2025 as their Rising Star