BackInTheDHSS

While I do agree to some degree, at the last count, there were 27 riders in the Premiership that are not racing in the Championship this season. Not all superstars perhaps, but there’s certainly more than a couple and the rest probably consider themselves too good for Championship perhaps.

I think you’re just used to an inferior product at Poole. There’s a big difference between the quality of opposition racing against the Cheetahs and the Spires at Oxford. You’re never going to get the wow factor of watching Richard Lawson compared to Emil Sayfutdinov.

Well said. Oxford were also beaten by Tarasenko and Glasgow over two legs, which meant they didn't make the playoff final. In fact, the aggregate score was closer than the final against Poole. However, I didn't see one Oxford fan complaining like some Poole fans - they simply congratulated the Tigers and moved on. It seems some (not all, to be fair) Poole fans love to gloat when they win, but simply can't take it when the lose.

Why not? Don't Glasgow stream meetings? Shame there's no fishing emoji.

While I do get what you're saying, and it's a good idea to stop it happening long term..... Oxford literally only used a guest in one match, no? A guest for Kerr at home against King's Lynn and then Cook was in for the Sheffield fixture. If they did all of this just to use Nicholls in one match out of a 24-match long season, it's a bit short sighted from the promotion. I wouldn't put anything past Peter Shroeck, but surely even he's not capable of being that incompetent.

But why should Oxford HAVE to replace a rider who is temporarily injured and will return to the team? Kerr was literally only out of action for the 28 days that Oxford signed Cook for, and then he came back into the team as planned. That's what the 28-day replacement rule was introduced for, and it worked exactly as it should. If Oxford had permanently replaced Kerr with Riss, Kerr may never have been able to come back into the team.

You can have all the theories you want, but Riss was signed to replace Klindt, and Cook was signed to replace Kerr. Oxford never dropped someone and didn't replace them. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/rowe-motor-oil-premiership/spires-move-for-riss/ https://britishspeedway.co.uk/rowe-motor-oil-premiership/spires-are-cooking/

Nope. They dropped Nicolai Klindt and signed Erik Riss. It was a direct replacement. Craig Cook was signed as an injury replacement for Lewis Kerr, who then returned once the 28 days were up.

Who have Oxford dropped?

And Gary Havelock.

Thought they'd banned you? Did you tell them how much you love Peter Schroeck and they let you back in?

Oxford are surely Poole's only rivals for the title - not that I expect most Poole fans will (rightly) be unduly worried about us.

A lot of Berwick fans moaning about their team’s performance after saying they would get hammered anyway. You did better than you thought. In fact, you did better at Sandy Lane than every other team (bar Poole, obviously) that’s visited in the league. And with a far from fully-fit Lewis Kerr. Give yourselves a break, the Bandits showed far more fighting spirit than most of the other teams I’ve seen.

Exactly. There’s a world of difference between Heeps and Killeen.

I just went over the Oxford Speedway Facebook page and 99% of the comments are positive about the team changes. It's more censored than the Russian media!

They will have to get maximums for Berwick to have any chance. Big Cheetahs win. 56-34.

Sorry. I couldn't resist!

Big clash between the Championship title winners and the team that were well beaten. Corrected it for you.

Is there any point Oxford having a team manager? Where's the tac sub Peter? Heat 9 was surely the time to use it. Edit: Guess heat 12 was better than nothing. Still shocked he didn't wait until heat 14.

That's probably down to the amount of BullSh!+ on this forum!

You've changed your tune.

Amazing how many people confuse a bad track with a badly-prepared track. There’s a world of difference, and this was very much the latter.

Yeah, the track is different. It’s wider….so technically there’s a shorter way around now. Not that anybody has got close to Nielsen’s old record still.

If you got rid of those two, would the club even exist at all? Speedway club owners sadly don't grow on trees.

Title favourites? How do you work that out? The maximum amount of points Belle Vue can get is 16.... Leicester already have 13 with four matches left. If the Lion Cubs can't pick up three points from those matches, it'll be a miracle.