lucifer sam

It's now easy: 1. Zagar (missed out on top 8 by a point) 2. Janowski (missed out on top 8 by a point) 3. Nicki P (missed out through injury) 4. Emil (it would be great to have him back!) All the best Rob

Never read such utter nonsense. If you hadn't noticed, the play-offs are an excellent money spinner, bringing in bumper crowds. Crowds are not "down" for the play-offs at all - quite the opposite. As for guests, they are part and parcel of the sport. For instance, Somerset won the regular fixture at Glasgow because of Bewley scoring a bundle at No 7. But suddenly you have a problem, because Sheffield use a couple of guests who didn't even score that much. Sheffield were weakened through guests, yet still won through, because of great performances from Sissis, Howarth and Bates - their own riders. All the best Rob

Ah bless... did you post this during your lunch hour at school? So bitter and so jealous.... oh dear. All the best Rob

Were Stuart Robson and Cameron Heeps Glasgow track specialists? It looks to me that Sissis, Howarth and Bates were the riders who raised their game and got Sheffield through. All the best Rob

To appeal to those with a sense of humour. All the best Rob

Remember, to be make a profit your outgoings need to be less than the money you've got coming in. So it's not necessarily the clubs with the biggest crowds that you should be looking at. And clubs who own their own track are certainly better off than those renting. Glasgow has openly spent nearly £2 million in the last couple of years, to transform the stadium. They certainly have not made a profit - not that the owners have said that they expect to see that money back. They just want decent crowds at Ashfield, and have been getting them. Fair play. I suspect many of the clubs who actually make a profit are actually operating at NL level, where certain outgoings, certainly rider wages, are smaller. I would be surprised if Cradley and Eastbourne, maybe Birmingham and Kent too, weren't making a profit. All the best Rob

Great news! Fingers crossed for the return of Carmarthen. Loved the viewing at both Carmarthen and Weymouth Mk 2, where you were looking down at the track. All the best Rob

I would disagree with that, I'd say Newcastle are narrow favourites, although I think it will be very close. As long as it's not a draw on aggregate, because the cup has a full replay rather than golden heats, and not sure if there's enough time before the end of October for that. (EDIT: Just checked, and it is golden heats, not a replay. Phew!!) All the best Rob

I reckon today becoming the first leg could favour the Scottish version of the Tigers - allows them to concentrate building up a lead without any nerves. A decent performance from Summers is key. When the going gets tough, he seems to go missing. All the best Rob

How's it going? All the best Rob

Whereas Peterborough's performance in the play-offs has been.... wait a minute, where are they? I hope the Massif and the rest of the Ippo faithful aren't too downhearted by the result. Somerset are the best team in the league, and there's no shame losing to them. I didn't think you ever had a chance of pulling 16 points back on them (the nature of the Somerset team makes them extremely difficult to beat by that much), although I'm surprised that Somerset won the second leg. All the best Rob

Ah, for No 7 read No 6 But the guest regs are a minefield. They did try to almost do away with guests in 1991/92, ended up with too many lopsided meetings and soon went back to widespread use of guests. As much as I'd like to see guests at reserve abolished, the reality is that doing that could ruin meetings as a spectacle. All the best Rob

Gaz: one question. How does Josh Bates have a fight with himself? Surely you should mention the Glasgow rider in question as well? Or was Rene Bach a complete angel who didn't have words with Bates after the race? All the best Rob

Cyclone, I largely agree with this, although I would point it is open to manipulation. For example, a team - let's called them Team E for the sake of argument - sign a rider, let's call him Kalle, again for the sake of the argument. He thrives at reserve and pushes his average up to nearly 7.00. In the meantime, team E continually replace a succession of useless riders on a 7.00 assessed average to keep Kalle at reserve. When Kalle is missing through injury/unavailability, that's when Team E are realty laughing, because they can being in heat leaders from other teams and line them up at No 7. So maybe there should be an average limit on riders who can guest at reserve? Maybe 6.00? All the best Rob

Agreed, a bit of fisticuffs/handbags between riders should be almost encouraged - because the fans love it. Buy any mechanics involved should be banned from the pits for future meetings. It's nothing to do with them and they turn a bit of harmless entertainment into thuggery. All the best Rob

That'll be Somerset in the final then. All the best Rob

The ELRC has been £25 for several seasons. All the best Rob

Not good news. But fingers crossed, and good luck Devils! All the best Rob

Teams for Friday (Somerset always put them in average order): Teams: Somerset Rebels: Rohan Tungate (9.03), Josh Grajczonek [c] (8.90), Paul Starke (6.62), Charles Wright (6.59), Jake Allen (5.96), Robert Branford [g] (5.02), Tom Bacon [g] (3.00); Team manager: Garry May Ipswich Witches: Danny King [c] (9.57), Ben Barker (7.91), Nico Covatti (7.49), Morten Risager (7.13), James Sarjeant (5.80), Joe Jacobs (5.36), tbc [g] (3.00) ; Team manager: Ritchie Hawkins

Hieroglyphics? Can anyone else see any hieroglyphics? All the best Rob

Personally, I expect Somerset to come back strong. They've been the best team for the majority of the season and will be smarting after exiting the KO Cup. It'll be close, but I think Somerset will win on aggregate. All the best Rob

Or even Sheffield on 13th and Glasgow on 16th. All the best Rob

I see that argument. At the end of the day, though, I'm a fan, not a rider. And as a fan, I want to see the strongest and most exciting line-up possible for the Grand Prix series. And such a series would have Emil Sayfutdinov in it. All the best Rob

Yes, although Puk and NKI are the same man. I assume one of those is supposed to be Zagar. Al the best Rob PS R&R, there's room for them all, plus Emil, as long as Lindgren finishes outside the top 8.

I think it's any of the six teams who qualified for the play-offs. Rob Branford looks, by far, the best guest option for Rebels. All the best Rob