arnieg

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.

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.

Doesn't feel like a race - more like a stroll. Hard to see any change in the top four (particularly if Swindon are without Doyle for a number of matches) unless something goes badly wrong for King's Lynn.

Oh I don't know: * the holes in the car park have got bigger * the temporary stands have moved * the bar got demolished * the referee's box has moved and is no longer in line with the start * there are some new temporary toilets * the holes in the car park have got even bigger still

I can only echo the last three comments - a superb meeting.

Both qualified, Lambert on 12 and Bewley on 11.

Think this is the relevant rule: 3.9 Procedure and Time Limits for Protests to the BSPA MC, limited to Team Notifications Art. 16.4.4. a) A Protest must be in writing, relate to a single issue only, be accompanied by the correct fee and signed by the person directly affected. b] A Protest against the legality of a Team Line-Up within the following timescale: i) For Team Line-Ups notified / changed at any time up to 28 hours before the Meeting Start Time, a Protest must be lodged at least 24 hours prior to the Meeting start Time. ii) For Team Line-Ups notified less than 28 hours before the Meeting Start Time, a Protest must be lodged within 4 hours of the notification being made, and in all cases, no later than 2 hours prior to the Meeting start Time And: 3.8.1 No Protest can be lodged against a Statement of Fact; these are specifically: a) A Referee’s ruling on a heat result (Art 15.10) b] A Referee’s ruling on a Technical matter (Article 10). c) A BSPA ruling on a rider’s (re) Grading/Assessed MA (Art 16.2.2) d) A BSPA / BSPA MC Member’s ruling on a Team Line-Up, prior to the start of a Meeting e) A Referee’s ruling on a Team Line-Up, prior to the start of a Meeting, if not ruled at Art 3.8.1 (d) So the protest must have been made before the meeting. It must therefore have been ruled on by MC/referee Once ruled on it was a non-appealable 'statement of fact' Looks like Panthers will struggle with this one to me. BTW what is the basis of the protest re Shanes eligibility?

It is not over sensitive. I am simply pointing out that it is unacceptable language. Unless we are talking about:- http://mrbrains.co.uk/products/

Cheap homophobic abuse is hardly a persuasive way to further an argument. If you can't contribute anything better than that to the debate I suggest that you find a stone to crawl back under.

According to: the BSPA site [@ http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.32440 ] "And with Erik Riss and Josh Bates on World Under-21 Team Cup duty, the hosts are also without Jason Garrity and Danny Ayres due to injuries." and the Leicester site [ @ http://www.leicesterlions.co/news.php?extend.30995.1 ] "This time, both teams will be without two regular faces with all four absences caused by the Under-21 Team Championship. Wolverhampton’s Kyle Howarth is eligible to take the place of Erik Riss at number four by virtue of the five per cent supplement for home guest bookings. Mark Riss replaces Josh Bates. For Poole, in-form Brady Kurtz is replaced by a third Wolves rider Rory Schlein while rider replacement operates for Jack Holder." This puzzles me because: 1) Erik Riss was not named in the German team 2) He did not ride in the meeting 3) He isn't even eligible - he is too OLD Which begs the question on what basis was a facility used for Riss?

It is now back up @ http://www.readingspeedway.com/

The press release cancelling Rye v Cov says Thur. Now all we need is the new GSAs and the rules for assessing riders without a 2017 average.

Terrible to hear of Luke's injuries, may I wish him a speedy recovery.

All the results are on sgb website

We bow to your superior knowledge. ROFL

I'm told they'll be out by Monday. But I am still not clear how averages will be worked out for those that have not ridden 4 home/4 away

Oh autocorrect! A nice shade of lilac with some plum coloured cushions perhaps? And obviously I agree with your/SCBs analysis on the averages. What's really shocking is we are less than 7 weeks away from the LAST date for changes and we still don't know what averages to apply to these riders

Plenty. Apparently he turned up but there was a difference of views with the IoW promotion, the upshot of which was that he did not ride.

That's Ben Re-run to you!

It should be remembered that in it's founding season (as BL3) the league included riders such as Kevin Teager, Glyn Taylor and Gary O'Hare. The mix of youngsters, veterans and riders with modest ability (who are vital to the functioning of the league) is much as it always was. What has changed is the number of ex-EL promotions that are now operating at this level. They have different cost bases and different operating philosophies. Not to say they are wrong, but they need to be understood and accommodated without jeopardizing the viability of the likes of Buxton and Mildenhall.