arnieg

Given the importance of averages I'm also surprised we don't see more riders shutting off early and letting their team mates pass them, thus keeping their average down and making them more marketable for the following season.

To be fair most sports use 'minor' competitions to experiment with rule changes. One of speedway's problems is the inability of its administrators to manage the change process sensibly. In particular: I) proposed changes that are frankly bonkers don't get weeded out at the drawing board stage (often they are forced through by one strong personality with a chip on their shoulder) II) The failure to adequately consider the law of unintended consequences and consider the knock-on effects of proposed changes III) The lack of planning for change - too many times a new rule suddenly emerges or is 'discovered' in some unpublished memorandum.

Result decided by overtakes in last heat CHECK Multiple races with multiple passes CHECK Heroic match winning display by key rider CHECK Meeting run in a timely manner CHECK Engaging commentary CHECK One very pleased viewer CHECK

1995 Knockout Cup

I went to Swindon last Thursday. More overtaking in the first FIVE heats tonight than in the whole meeting at Swindon. So how rubbish does that make your track Rosco?

Three matches von tonight, and unless updates are behind this is the one closest to completion!

Musielak scored 8+1 from four in his only official BP appearance.

Also 3 Belle Vue riders (Nicholls last year, Cook and S Worrall this). It is a very small data set, but my instinctive guess is that riders with higher away averages are more likely to be found in stronger teams.

Curently: Schlein Cook Harris S Worrall Kerr Starke Ellis Ayres I would expect that list to be shorter by the end of the season From http://speedway-stats.co.uk/Averages/2017/1 Last year: Lindgen Nicholls Kylmakorpi Korneliussen Tungate http://speedway-stats.co.uk/Averages/2016/1

Harris got 10+2.

BWD is a talented rider, he wouldn't have been short of offers, so it is quite likely that he would have ended up elsewhere if Ged's offer had more onerous conditions attached to it.

And try telling Belle Vue fans that BWD is an 'e'

Not the most exciting of races. Looks to me as if this clip was chosen by someone with an agenda, otherwise why put up such an uneventful race?

Anyone can submit a planning application for any piece of land. For example I could submit an application to knock down your house and build a waste incinerator on the site.

Andrew Palmer is 18, and has ridden half a dozen SDL matches this year - mainly for Exeter

Matt Matson is a youngster from Perth, Western Australia. He has ridden on an Australian licence in the FIM Youth Gold Trophy. I have seen him ride in the Australian Under 16 Championship. Presumably has British ancestry and passport.

At the time of abandonment Liam Little (who had travelled a long way - Carlisle I believe) had only had one ride so it would have been completely impossible to have a meaningful called result.

Two wins out of two, one from the back over 'homeboy' Dan Thompson. It would have been a showdown between him and the also unbeaten Nathan Ablitt in the final had Dan Gilkes' unfortunate accident not caused the meeting the end prematurely

There was a crash in heat 26 that resulted in Daniel Gilkes requiring a trip to hospital. He initially stood up after the fall but was in some pain (lower back). The club was told that it could be up to two hour wait for the county ambulance so the track ambulance and paramedic had to head off to the Royal with Dan.

But most observers would have said the same thing about England in the mid-seventies, and look how that turned out.

A bit like England's superiority in the seventies. They were unstoppable on paper - now remind me what happened in 1976, 1978 and 1979.

I have the data for the PL: 81 absences (58 guests inc 5/6 "no facility" and 23 where r/r used) Injury - 36 (Charles Wright and Jason Garrity 5 absences head the list - Leicester (10) have the most and Belle Vue (1) the least.) riding abroad - 25 (13 FIM mtgs, 7 'domestic' and 5 'no facility' [3 SEC, 1 longtrack, 1 grasstrack] - Belle Vue head the list with 7 instances) Doubling Up - 18 (Erik Riss 3 times - Leicester 6 and Somerset 5 are most frequent users of facility for double-uppers) illness - 2 (Josh Bates and Dany Gappmaier) Note r/r was used in 18 of the 38 injury/illness absences vs 5 of 43 in cases of riding elsewhere For comparison in 2016 absences (no up to end of June in brackets) Injury 73 (21) [nb first half of last season was unusually low) riding abroad 58 (18) [inc one where no rider was used following an objection to Poole's choice of replacement for Adam Ellis) doubling-up 22 (7) illness 10 (3) suspend/withholding serv 8 (5) other 4 (1) [3 family reasons, 1 attending civic ceremony in Poland!] I would expect the number of facilities for riders riding elsewhere (both in the CL and abroad) to increase in the second half of the season as more fixtures are re-arranged ones nb There is an element of judgement. For example I have assumed Erik Riss was riding in an FIM meeting (TWO days later) when a guest was used for him on 3 June although this was not the reason publicly announced. Also there are a couple of examples of riders riding abroad who would have been absent anyway due to a doubling up commitment (e.g. Gappmaier on 15 June)

That's the ACU rule, the FIM one is different, which means Morris may ride if passed fit.

1) me neither 2) A correct assumption - Morris made that point in his interview.

Judging by his interview on the mike here Morris is planning to ride @ KL on Sat.