gmuncie

4.35 ave at Armadale last season hardly poor fir a guy that was signed on a sub 3 average

Sure that happened the other year when the Monarchs brought Hook and Fredriksen back for a second season both were on a 4.00 having failed to achieve that the year before but the Monarchs were blocked from having Lasse start the season at reserve as he had had the higher average of the two (3.5 to 2.7 or something like that) the season before despite them starting the next season on the same average and there being nothing in the rule book to state this had to be the case.

Only time will tell but I think those taking glee at Poole’s lineup and predicting doom will be disappointed come season’s end as while there are some good looking teams I don’t see any better than the Pirates currently.

I still rate Poole as the team to beat, look at the team that starts this season compared to start of last Lawson, Z Cook, Thomsen back Kerr for B Cook at Championship level isn’t much different imo, yes Cook will kick on and have a great few years but at this level Kerr will be up there with the best 2nd heatleaders. Rowe for Brennan, not sure anyone expected Tom to have quite as good a year as he did last, I don’t think Anders will repeat that but I reckon he’ll be a 8 point rider. Starke for Hagon, Hagon a bit stronger but he was being carried by season end, Starke you’d expect to get back to 4 or 4.5 AN Other for Perry, whoever it is can’t really score less than Max did so let’s say it is a Cairns for Foord swap in reality, Cairns expectation might need tempered from those thinking he is the next Zmarzlik, Briggs, Rickardsson etc but with the backing and kit he has he’ll average 4.5/5 in the championship at a canter. if I was a Poole fan I’d have no reason to panic and fans of other teams predicting their demise I think is just wishful thinking.

Wood could surprise a few he was a lot faster and controlled last season, finished the season with a higher NDL average than the likes of Harrison, Pijper, Hodder, Spencer and Perry. Also scored 3+1 beating both Mulford and Trigger when guesting for Edinburgh at Redcar. Tike will tell if he can do it consistently at Championship level but I’d say he’s on a par with most of the two pointers signed so far.

Totally agree, let’s remember that speedway is an entertainment sport first and foremost and you want to see the better riders in meetings like this, with zero insult meant to Jack Smith or James Pearson would people rather see them in the meeting or Anders Rowe? I know I much prefer all teams to be as strong as possible…… albeit as a Monarchs fan that may change if Glasgow win this evening then I’ll be calling them all the cheats under the sun and saying how ridiculous the decision was to allow Anders to ride :-):-)

The averages are the other way round, you get a 5% uplift at home not away so it is 6.92 home and 6.59 away for Nicolai and 7.23 home and 6.89 away for Ben

Apart from rain offs the Monarchs have raced every Friday night bar one (when it was an academy fixture) since the 26th April so no long breaks in fixtures here

This can now be updated to Rowe, Rowe, Rowe yer boat gently down the stream

Did the ref not have any drone footage they could review ;-)

I wouldn’t say it strengthens the Monarchs, Sam is very capable but Lasse also is fond of racers tracks if you look at his scores at places like Redcar and Scunny in the past.

Where Brexit doesn’t help is in the added cost and time for European riders who now need a visa so while not directly ruling them out if it takes 4 weeks and £2k to sort then it certainly impacts mid season or short term changes

If you class the drone footage from Ashfield as absolute then I wish I had your xray vision, it certainly shows how close all 3 behind Worrall were going over the line but it in no way is it ‘absolute’ in showing who got it either way

Totally agree not sure why a super heat is needed after a first meeting yes if the bonus needs decided after the second off course have one. Theoretically you could have 2 teams race to a draw in both the home and away matches yet if 1 wins both super heats they get 5 points to the others 2 overall that doesn’t seem quite right. in saying that if they are off the drama and quality of that one tonight let’s have them on every match

One small addendum is Lee is suspended for 30 days pending his hearing where any further punishment may or may not be given. So the 30 day suspension is potentially not final punishment.