MattK

True, but if your Premiership team is not doing well, or people feel it simply isn't value for money, they could forego Premiership speedway altogether and get their fix with the NL team. This is disastrous financially and exactly what happened at Oxford.

Has any Premiership (Elite League) ever successfully run an NL team, without a clever marketing angle (calling your NL team Cradley Heathens for example)? An NL team won't attract any new fans, so you're just cannibalising your main team's customer base.

There would still be a logistical limit. Can you imagine a team of 6 riders all doubling-up. We'd never see our 1-7!

Could it be that Bellego is happy to not double-up? There must be either a rule or a logistical limit to the number Premiership teams can have?

The issue I have is that you sign a 2-pointer and the team building limit is dropped to 42-ish, if that rider doesn't pan out then you'll spend all season trying out different NL riders trying to find one who's competitive. This has happened to us before with draft riders and it is easy to say they only need to take three rides, but you'd be surprised at the dent an uncompetitive #7 makes in a side.

Happy with Bellego. I think it is interesting that all teams seem to be building top down. The first team to blink and actually sign a 2-pointer will open the floodgates.

We could have: Morris Bellego Nielsen Ayres and 3.05 left for the second reserve. Bit of a gamble at the bottom end with two riders who are likely to have no top flight experience, but unless we sacrifice Morris I'm not sure what else we can do.

Which is my interpretation of the press release when it says "a minimum of 2".

My point is, who says they'll be 2-pointers? Last year the lowest assessed average for NL riders new to the PL was 3.00. Is the assumption that any NL rider without a PL average will start on an average of 2.00?

Who are these 2-pointers? I think we'd be better off sacrificing a rider in the main body in order to allow us two stronger reserves. The new (old) heat format favours strength in depth, so we can't afford to give away too much at reserve.

Have you considered changing the name of your cakes and hoping no one notices the drop in quality?

It wasn't right then and it isn't right now. The league is weaker than last year and heat leaders have easier rides, so it should be a minimum of 8.

If Hampel is reassessed it should be a minimum of 8, which would make him 11.20

The simple fact is we've spent three points too many on our number 1, compared to what is needed to be competitive. We'll either lack mid-team strength or have to gamble on very weak reserves.

8.29

Isn't it a 60 year lease?

Isn't the deal with the council more similar to a lease agreement? A new tenant is not liable for unpaid rent from previous occupants, however the period of the lease will simply be extended.

At least we are building top down. I can see some very poor riders making up the numbers next year's league, so it isn't a huge problem bring top heavy.

Assuming the rules haven't changed (and I know that is a huge assumption) will Ellis receive a 2.5% reduction having ridden in the NL?

Yes, maybe, yes, yes.

Or better still, keep the 50 point limit and multiply every rider's Match Average by 1.4 for the purposes of team building. This has the added benefit of any Championship rider who does not have a Premiership average, can move up without any conversion. The other option is to drop the limit to 42-ish, but the problem with this is you are potentially basing all riders averages on 4H and 4A meetings, you then need to determine a Championship to Premiership conversion rate, plus you will still potentially have riders who are not in a current Premiership team on false averages.

Dawid Lampart was part of our Elite League winning team!

It's OK, Rosco still has Jurica Pavlic, Dawid Lampart and Renat Gafurov's numbers on his old Nokia he keeps in the loft.

We can only dream of signing Kurtz and Klindt and MPTs average is 6.98. Nice team though. Would certainly challenge in the new league.

That looks a good, well balanced team. Klindt should be a steal, but I imagine whoever has the biggest chequebook will get his signing. Kurtz, Nielsen and Ayres all have potential to improve. Not for me thanks How about: Jason Doyle (13.41) Nick Morris (8.97) Davey Watt (7.56) Demitri Berge (6.91) Stefan Nielsen (5.53) Max Clegg (4.04) Danny Ayres (3.56) 49.98