MattK

http://speedwaygb.co/files/downloads/p17_issue_16.pdf

New averages, effective on Monday, are out. Gappo moves back down to reserve and Adam into the 1-5. Team total is now 41.49, so only 0.51 to play with.

Race Off Aus Doyle and Holder Lat Lebedevs and Bogdanovs Rus Sayfudinov and Laguta USA Wells and Manzares

Was I the only person not to pick Lebedevs

Correct, they are averages. Will be interesting to see the SWC figures. It looks as if the viewers are growing steadily, which suggests speedway fans are slowly subscribing to BT Sport. Given that BT are getting SGB rights for free, there must be a business case for a dedicated subscription-based speedway channel, even if it is online rather than broadcast.

These are the BARB figures. The are published a few weeks after the event, so w/c 19 June is the latest available. No BT Sport data for 24 - 30 April Sat 13 May - SGP (Warsaw): 10k - ironically the repeat on Sunday got 13k Sat 27 May - SGP (Latvia): 17k Sat 10 June - SGP (Prague): 47k Monday 19 June - Speedway GB (British Final): 31k Sat 24 June - SGP (Horsens): 29k For comparison, MotoGP seems to get between 180k and 210k viewers. http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-10/ I've noticed that the British SGP is currently being advertised on BT Sport during the MotoGP coverage.

I’m not sure a transfer window would achieve anything, other than teams being forced to stick with underperforming riders. In my opinion, the reason teams change their line-ups more today than in the past it due to the play-offs. If you look at the current Premiership table, Swindon in 6th still have an outside chance of making the play-offs, being six points behind fourth place King’s Lynn. However, take the play-offs out of the equation and Swindon’s season is effectively over, being 18 points behind first place Belle Vue. Therefore, without the play-offs Swindon would simply be seeing out the rest of the season, whereas the play-offs give them something to race for and therefore an incentive to try and improve their team.

I think next year to make it a bit more competitive, the Poles should be allowed to enter three teams.

Are Australia not allowed to declare a #5 because Fricke has moved up into the main team?

On balance, I think this is a good move for Rye House. They are suffering a similar problem as several teams, too many reserve-standard riders, so losing Perks, albeit a harsh choice, allows everyone to move down a spot. In terms of Kennett, overall I think he has underperformed and by bringing in Barker and Sedgmen it gives Rye House a much better balance across the whole team.

Zengota is 7.79 according to the latest averages, which was his average from 2015. Kildemand's average from 2016 is 7.1 - and given his form, I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't be tempted back. As any rider actually been stopped from signing by this "rule" or is it simply an excuse used by certain riders to avoid riding in the UK?

Seems an odd signing given the 6 and 7-point assets we already have and don't use. Would you pick Bellego ahead of Kildemand or Zengota for example?

"until they see a 'comprehensive' plan of the new stadium which GI have promised to build" Unfortunately, GI are very good at plans. Not so good at delivering them though.

I quite fancy Mikkel Bech Jensen on 6.26 and Tobiasz Musielak on 4.53 However, since winning last night we are now title favourites and no longer need to make any changes.

Zengota and Watt have both been assigned their averages from 2015 and 2016 respectively, so I don't think the 1.4 conversion is being used any longer.

Wow. Just wow.

Who diagnosed that he was suffering from concussion?

There isn't exactly an option which jumps out, so I think it makes sense to wait - especially if Jason is going to be missed for a while. It will also be interesting to see how Gappmaier goes in the team, as for me he has the most potential out of our bottom four.

Someone should arrange a meeting, maybe on an annual basis, where promoters can come together and agree the rules for the upcoming season. That would surely stop individuals feeling as if they are being victimised by unfavourable rules.

He's being sarcastic. I don't want to be an unappreciative d**k, but does anyone know when the next set of averages come out?

Event 1 Czech Rep Matej Kus Vaclav Milik USA Ricky Wells Gino Manzares Australia Jason Doyle Max Fricke GB Robert Lambert Craig Cook Event 2 Sweden Fredrik Lindgren Linus Sundstrom Latvia Kasts Puodzuks Maksims Bogdanovs Denmark Leon Madsen Niels-Kristian Iversen Russia Emil Sayfutdinov Grigori Laguta

Ironically that six out of eight teams will be in some kind of play-offs, but we look likely to miss out!

No. Teams can now built up to 42, but if you are already over you can still make like-for-like changes, so the rider coming in has to be the same or lower average than the rider they are replacing.

Just had a quick scan through the fixtures and can't see any clashes!

The problem is, we've got three riders on relatively high averages, four riders on very low averages and not much in the bank to bring in replacements. None of our top three deserve to be dropped and there aren't any standout replacements available for our bottom four with the points we have available. Tungate was a good bet, as he has the potential to be a seven point rider and is on a five point average, but I can't see a great deal of value elsewhere.