Olga

Cookie back is superb ... and he will wear the No. 1 race jacket all season there are no challengers to his skills in this team. Happy with Cookie and Adam, TJ is OK and like some posters are saying if Proctor gets dialled in quickly he'll be a great signing. Best I can do about the positives ... but no matter what any of us think it's now what happens on track

Just want to say that I am a fan (yeah I was at the first ever Comets match) and at no point have I said or implied we need to "spend more" on other riders. My question is whether Mason warrants a place in the Comets team on merit/performance that he's shown to date. There may be "cheaper" riders out there on a similar average there may be "more expensive" riders out there on the same average ... who knows? There may even be more cost effective riders out there who are way better than Mason ... again who knows. Just because I challenge his capability does not mean I've said spend more .... nor should that be deduced. Working to a budget is essential ... I would never question that and I would never advocate spending for the sake of it to get a "big" team together. If the Comets Mgt believe Mason is good value ... fair play to them ... time will tell whether he's successful in the team by way of scoring points.

I agree ... it's now up to Mason to show he's a 6.00+ rider (which imo is where he should already be ... now). The evidence so far (average of 4.67) after the number of matches he's worn a Comets race jacket does not suggest he'll be "ripping trees up" but this is speedway and it's up to him. Once again to prove the doubters wrong (and I am definetley one of those) he needs broadly to achieve the following on average in his meetings:- 3rd, 3rd ,3rd ,3rd ... so assuming 50% of the time the rider finishing 2nd is a Comet then his scores become:- 1, 1+1, 1, 1+1 = 4+2(4) Campton should be achieving that imo. OK I know he'll more than likely score 8's at home and 4's away IF (BIG IF) he is to get to 6.00. If he can do this then he is a "relative" success ... any less than that then we should be looking elsewhere very quickly. I don't believe this measurement is too high for him as he's seen all Premier league tracks (or whatever we're calling it now) ... he is not a new/young rider starting out ... he is experienced/23yrs old. Should we organise the team where he is a reserve then he needs to be banging in big scores home AND away

All I can say is dear me. Is he really improving? ... not sure his averages back it up. On 24/03/16 he was assessed as a 5.00 rider by 08/11/16 he had an actual average of 4.67. If he's at reserve he'll do OK but then he'll move into the team and more than likely repeat last seasons woeful scores especially away from home (see my previous post). I'm all for "wait and see how he does" ... but haven't we been doing that long enough now? OK he perked up around Derwent Park at the end of the season ...but why does it take a season before he starts looking quick on his home track? His away form is one of the reasons we ended up mid table ... sheesh. In my view this is a poor poor signing ... The other 4 signings need to be very good to avoid a distinctly mediocre team for 2017

I wouldn't re-sign Campton for the following reasons (Redcar 19/5 aside) :- Format: dd/m points+bonus (rides) Berwick: 27/8 6(5) 27/6 6(5) Edinburgh: 22/4 3+1(4) Glasgow: 18/9 4(5) 07/8 3(4) Ipswich: 18/8 1(5) Newcastle: 12/9 2+1(3) Peterboro: 09/9 3+1(4) Redcar: 11/8 1(4) 19/5 6+2(4) Scunny: 21/8 2(4) Sheffield: 2/6 1+1(4) A team with a rider scoring these points in the 2 or 4 race jacket will struggle away from home imo and Comets points tally last year away from home reflects this. The problem worsens especially if another rider is on RR (and we had a lot of that in 2016) where Campton should be taking one of the RR rides

I wouldn't go back to Andre ... last time he was with us he was inconsistent and poor ... yes occasional big home scores and yes the occasional superb race ... but more often than not he never showed up. He reduced his average and went back to Sheffield ... he'll do the same again. I watched him away on numerous occasions the worst was as our Captain and number 5 (PLRC winner etc etc) tootling around behind Rye House make shift Nat League reserves. He has no loyalty to us and will use us to get what he wants elsewhere .... so not for me. Rosen perhaps .... point to prove etc but never Andre

Don't mind who Comets bring in next year Mgt are good in my view. Having said that lose Ricky Wells for goodness sake. Start of season 7.81 now he's 6.46 and he's ridden a lot of the year as second string. It's not like he's seeing tracks for the first time either - so no excuses there. He scores more for Wolves than Comets and has ridden in a World Cup. I've seen him after a lap and a half check he's good where he is and coast in ... if he gates great if he doesn't he might as well pull off the track. Poor signing and Sheffield fans saw all this last season ... let him go asap. Why reward a guy with another season when he's "blown us out" this year?

Middlo just drops Eddie and he'd be admitting his original selection mistake. He drops Cook and Eddie and it's "we're strengtheneneneneneening up for the play-offs". Yeah right. I agree completely with GRW123 ... Should have been Worrall and Cook at KL. After all, with these rules, you only need 2 top riders effectively when the oppo isn't strong as your strongest 2 can go for 18 and 21 points each. So we were reasonably assured of not being last. Having picked Kennett he was dumped after 1 ride (was it necessary to go all jokered up that early?) ... On his last ride his confidence was so blown he just slid off. Cookie aquitted himself quite well (despite not gating which surprised me). Having dumped Cookie ... god forbid we pick up an injury ... who would Middlo bring in if we make the final ... "Micky Dyer" (I'm joking here everyone .... I know he's an Aussie) Fingers crossed for Thursday anyway ... up the Brits

Let's not forget that Cook was 4th in the GB final this year ay? I hope we beat the Aussies on Thurs and make the final. But what happens then? Did Middlo tell Cook he's still on stand-by (or Kennet or King?) in case one of our boys fails or picks up an injury in the play-offs? It just feels like "seat of the pants" stuff.

So we "pip" the Aussies and pick up a Bronze medal due to the Czechs being there - hurray for us. Is that the limit of our ambitions stealing a 3rd when the Swedes and Aussies are devastated with injury? And next year when the Swedes and Aussies are back to full strength what happens then? Oh yeah we start scratching our heads again wondering why we don't have a team to compete at the highest level. How many World Cups has Bomber got left? Why not admit we can't win it this year and take Tai and any 3 of Auty Barker Cook Worrall Howarth Birks? King / Bridger / Kennett have all been tried before. Where's the long term strategy ...we don't have one. Middlo has destroyed Kennett's confidence and now really teed off Cook. Cook wasn't brilliant last night but he was fast and still learning and oh yeah ... he outscored 2 US riders 2 Swedes and 1 Brit. Put the GB manager job up for grabs again to be voted in by Promotions but applicants state what their strategy is going to be. Interview them and appoint them. Bring back Rob Lyon who had this vision for us years ago ... and got booed off. If Rob has had his fill ... then surely Screeny / Havvy / Loram would at least inspire some new direction. Why oh why do we build teams in the Elite for other countries youth? Peterboro (mini Denmark at the start of the year) and Poole (mini Australia). Shame on Middlo and Co for dumping Howarth and replacing him with all his Aussies mates, mates. Sheesh

Crikey give Cookie a break. Lawson and Cookie go way back (both Whitehaven born, both local lads, both highly competitive) ... it's banter / box office / personality. What do we want? ... every rider to be the same / give boring interviews etc etc Cookie like Stoney has an X factor that people want to see. Riders get pumped up ... Sheesh

Couldn't agree more. Not good choices imo. Which combo wins (if fit) :- Howarth / Ingalls / Roynon versus Davey / Hawkins and Guest/RR - it's a no brainer. Better to go with a team full of guests and RR than Davey and Hawkins

Rusty has been a top class act for the Comets for many years. His kit has always been top notch, he has never let anyone down, and has been a complete professional in his approach so far as I can see. He scores well on all Premier League tracks and his 7.2 average stacks up (even when holding a 5 race jacket). I can understand health, family and other work commitments of course. I can also see frustration at lack of grip for him. On Sat he tried the outside blasts and no grip there. Based on absolutely no facts / information ... maybe he didn't get the nod for the 4's at Peterboro? Mmmm?

It's a shame CL can't find a place for at least one Brit at Ippo in 2012 :-(

Here we go again ... aother World Cup and another set of slick tracks. Plesae Kings Lynn fans come on here after Monday night and tell me the track was "as usual" and not as slick as Bryan Ferry's quif. Didn't you just feel for the Russians looking for some grip out at the fence? we know the Dames love slick tracks (especially B Pederson, N Pederson <I know he wasn't riding today> , Bjerre and Anderson) and Ole always does his best to oblige. I can sort of accept a bit of home advantage but would the Poles have preapared such a slick track if it was down to them? OK so we go to Kings Lynn. In my opion our riders prefer the following:- Bomber - Grip Scotty - Grip Stead - Grip Lee - Slick Woofy - Slick/Grip If we prepare the track ... I know how I'd preapre it .... Grrrhhh