Ben91

Have to disagree with the first paragraph. The rules are all too wordy and using percentages of fixtures completed is an attempt at sounding more intelligent than they are (not very). Second paragraph, I appreciate your point completely. But it is again something open to interpretation. It completely contradicts my point I know but If Emil Sayfutdinov gets concussed in the first leg of the play off final for example, that’s a season ender due to the length of time he has to spend out but not a “long term” injury. So should Ipswich be allowed to sign Bartosz Zmarzlik for one meeting?

Rulemakers trying to be too smart for their own good here. “Team changes can only be made between X date and Y date. The only exception to this is the case of proven long term injury.” Simple really.

Adams is always the one that springs to mind for me. Probably the last rider to retire who should have won one but didn’t unless I’m missing someone glaringly obvious. Hans Andersen is another. Was the best in the world in 2006 but only got the second half of the GP series when Rickardsson packed it in. A massive digression from the thread there, apologies.

Will go down as one of the best to never win the world title. No shame in that, the club is full of exceptional talent. There will always be a big what if over his earlier hiatus from the series when he was arguably at the peak of his powers. Now it is Zmarzlik’s world and everyone else just lives in it. I think there’s an awful lot wrong with British Speedway but having Emil here has been a breath of fresh air. I’d love to see him back in the GP series but can’t see Russian riders getting a wild card even though Emil and Artem Laguta should absolutely be in the series. The clock is ticking time wise for Emil on that score but hopefully we see him in the UK again next season.

Bewley’s not been as dominant as could have been expected this season, but I don’t think he’s been phoning it it. For one of the best in the world on tracks he has seen plenty of in the past his away form has been bad. His form around Foxhall is truly awful (relative to his ability) though. Three visits this season and he has averaged 5.24.

Makes a lot of sense. You put him in with a strong chance of coming away with three points. Three points he’s less likely to pick up against King or Harris.

The first point isn’t true. About a third of League Two football grounds are bigger than Dean Court. Speedway is a minority sport. Of course there being a match at the local Premier League ground on the same night would hit the speedway attendance.

Beggars belief. May as well just make the entire league a big knock out cup. They might get the fixtures completed in time that way too.

These things, while they seem insignificant, aren’t to the sponsor who has shelled out to have their name on the race suits. That said, fans have been short changed in terms of seeing the best rider in the world tonight and it also potentially impacts the integrity of the final outcome of the series. Hope Doyley is ok, that was a nasty off.

This is where the simple answer is that assessed averages should be different for each league in the first place.

Glasgow are the new Poole these days.

I’d say it’s an ambiguity, it’s certainly an inadequacy, therefore a loophole. By the dictionary definition at least. Either way, done is done, and it’s given us all something to debate on here… I agree. Glasgow have done nothing wrong. The opportunity for them to do that shouldn’t have been there in the first place though.

Loophole: an ambiguity or inadequacy in the law or a set of rules. It is a loophole. Fair play to Glasgow for exploiting it. It’s legal, but it is a loophole. I’d assume the promoters in both leagues agreed that assessed riders should come in on a five without checking with the other league to see where they stood on the matter.

Yes. Because it’s nothing to do with the rider, it’s all to do with the ridiculousness of the rule. And of course people would also moan because Poole would have been involved.

The issue with Tarasenko’s assessed average is that it was the same in both leagues. Glasgow just managed to take advantage of that loophole.

Have you got a link to where I can buy some of these rose tinted glasses please? The four riders on the track has never been in doubt. That’s always been the draw. It’s the rest that has been, and still is, failing massively.

GP riders swear if they get a camera shoved in their face after something happens that they’re not happy with. No speedway rider needs PR lessons, not enough people care.

Rocked the boat in the name of winning and didn’t even make the play-offs. Lol.

If I was in Ashton’s shoes the person I’d want to be around as much as possible is Scott Nicholls for sure. He’s been there, done it, got the T-shirt and will know the pitfalls someone can fall into. There’s always more than meets the eye in terms of points scored solely. Judging by how he’s been going Ashton is doing great. Comparison is the biggest thief of joy as they say. He’s not Tai Woffinden, Lewis Bridger, Dan Bewley, Danny King or Drew Kemp etc. he’s his own person and will find his own path. Hopefully that will lead him to the top of the sport. It’s why I’m adamant that this place (or speedway socials) is the worst place for a rider or their inner circle to be. One negative comment will be more resounding that a hundred positive ones.

Hopefully the lad and his family/support system are as far away from this place and speedway social media as possible. That’s the first piece of advice for any rider in fairness. Judging solely on updates comments his five points last night were more impressive than his seven the meeting previous.

That’s the tribal aspect of sport I suppose. I don’t really get it with Speedway, but then Rye House never had huge local rivals so the option of popping down the road to see some speedway at a rival track isn’t there for me. That said, if my football team closed down I would absolutely not be going to support our rivals even if they did happen to be the next closest team to watch.

Things are always best when kept simple. There’s nothing wrong with three points for a win, one for a draw and nothing for losing, whether you are home or away. It places an emphasis on winning every match. An aggregate bonus point being up for grabs isn’t too complicated to grasp either. Superheats aren’t needed in any event. If the aggregate scores are level then there’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned run off.

I think it’s important to remember that Speedway is firstly a sport, secondly a form of entertainment. That comes in the form of the racing and potentially if the league campaign contains an interesting title race. I enjoyed Rye House’s 2005 title infinitely more than the 2007 title because we finished top of the table in 2005. We snuck into the play-offs in 2007 and then Sheffield (who were awful around Rye House) did us a massive favour by beating Kings Lynn over two legs in their semi. And I said I’d never become one of those people who hark back to seasons from almost two decades ago…

It is if you don’t have BSN (can’t justify the cost) but do have a TV subscription that includes Eurosport. It’s sadly a quite half-assed approach if so. Not showing any meetings until a couple of months into the season and then reaching the allotted number and clocking off until the play-offs by the sounds of it. In direct conflict to what I said above, if the TV deal was to be cancelled and BSN took all of the meetings (thus also building a comprehensive library of archive footage over the years) it would then be well worth it to subscribe, particularly if they offered a full video on demand service of past meetings.

That is true. But if there are no play-offs then the regular league meetings become more meaningful and more attractive propositions to attend. A couple of good crowds a season for a cluster of clubs isn’t a good enough reason to render the majority of the rest of the season pointless. If anything it probably hurts the integrity of the sport more. Especially with the convoluted play-off format we currently have.