Alan_Jones

Fair enough. You're clearly not a fan of playing by the rules then.

I'd call being able to sign 10 riders for a 7 man team a squad system, what would you call it?

There are at least 8 other youth riders in with a chance of beating him to it.

Several things of note: Start procedure now limits gardening to within the 2 minute allowance. Front wheel spindles must be over a grid line 430mm back from the start line, presumably to make it easier for the ref to spot jump starts. He'll still only be able to see the rider off gate 4 clearly though, and having seen some slapdash marking out of start areas I'm sure there'll be some arguing about the new grid line. EL Averages confirmed as being fortnightly, calculated to include Monday, issued Thursday to take effect the following Monday. 3 double up riders allowed with 2 sharing one position and 3 EDRs with the team building average being the higher of the 2 shared in both cases. The no.8 can replace the 1-5 but the restriction on guests to the no.1 only has been extended to the 1-3. PL The 5pt assessed average minimum is confirmed with averages still being issued monthly. The heat format stays the same, but the no.7 is "protected" in heat 4 and can't be replaced unless signed off by the medics. NL Eligibility confirmed as being for British passport and ACU licence holders only. I'm sure there's more but that'll do for now.

February 27th 2017

There may be no need to release Klindt now that most Sunday PL fixtures take precedence after the Polish fixture shake-up.

Only 8 days since the original was released and we're already on the 4th draft. The shake up in the Polish fixtures means that, for the first time I can recall, most of our Sunday & Bank Holiday fixtures are taking precedence over the Polish league.

Now we've got a formal thread on the subject, here's the full regulation from 1971; "210. Foul or Dangerous Riding. - The Referee shall exclude immediately a rider who, in his opinion, indulges in foul, unfair or dangerous conduct including any rider who steers or drifts from his course in such a manner as to impede any rider who may be attempting to pass. When in the Referee's opinion, such conduct has given an advantage to the team of which the offender is a member, or, in the case of a non-team event, jeopardised the fair chance of one or more of the other riders, the Referee shall stop the race and order a re-run. A rider turning his head to look backwards may be warned and for a repetition of the offence may be excluded. There shall be no protest or appeal against a Referee's decision as to foul riding." By 1978 it had been trimmed down to read; "210. Foul or Dangerous Riding. - The Referee shall exclude immediately a rider who, in his opinion, indulges in foul, unfair or dangerous conduct including any rider who steers or drifts from his course in such a manner as to impede any rider who may be attempting to pass. When, in the Referee's opinion, such conduct has jeopardised the fair chance of one or more of the other riders, the Referee shall stop the race and order a re-run. There shall be no protest or appeal against a Referee's decision as to foul riding."

Yes you are. Macca was pointing out that Covatti and Sarjeant are both missing.

In the 1971 regs, the Foul or Dangerous Riding rule (210) includes the following; "A rider turning his head to look backwards may be warned and for a repetition of the offence may be excluded."

A rule that still existed in the early 70s.

The problem this year, hopefully a one off, was that it was agreed to hold the AGM a month earlier while forgetting that the constitution only allowed them to vote at the traditional time, hence the extra meeting at the beginning of November to tie up the loose ends.

The first draft of this year's ISLC, which governs the precedence of domestic league racing between countries, has been published. http://www.fim-live.com/en/library/download/57616/no_cache/1/

Pedersen is this week's guest columnist in Speedway Star. He says he was surprised to get the call from Jon Cook on Monday telling him he was dropped. He says they'd been talking for a few weeks about the fixture clashes and he'd got it down from 7 to about 3 or 4 and Cook told him that if it stayed at that it wouldn't be a problem. He says he doesn't think the fixture clashes was the real problem and cites the interest in Lewis Bridger as a factor.

...and not just computers...allegedly...

Whatever else happens, at least you've got the NLRC to look forward to. http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.30082

The NLRC moves to Leicester. http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.30082

If only your promoter had the open, inclusive, social media savvy attitude of the new BSPA chairman...

The @SpeedwayGB Twitter feed is promising "reaction to the forum and coverage of the event in the media over the next few days".

That's pure speculation on CVS's behalf. They're still tying up the loose ends of this year's rules only a month before the season. There'll be lots of talking and voting before anything is finalised for 2017.

I'm assuming that if the tier 1 reserve makes it into the 2-5 then his actual position takes priority and he would be replaced by the no.8.

Riders always assume the position of the rider they are replacing, irrespective of actual average. As for the rest, I wouldn't like to guess. All will be revealed by October...

He put in a transfer request, so nothing's changed.

He's been appointed as Commercial Manager.

They've been discussing it for a few weeks and the final decision was due to have been made on Tuesday and, presumably, that was a yes vote. It was intended that the no.8 could replace the 2-5 with a guest still being used for the no.1. A decision was also due to be made on teams being able to name a rider (no.9?) as a back up tier 2 reserve. No doubt all will be revealed tonight with the BSPA backing it up with a statement sometime in the next 6 months.