INCOGNITO

It's not great for a rider to be let down like Ty has been at Somerset. He will have spent considerable money to be able to ride in both leagues and to be dropped without even turning a wheel is disgraceful. Think Pete Adams is wise enough to realise that you can't put your top rider at number one and at number three Tai will certainly be more effective and Piotr Pawlick looks confident enough to cope with the number five race jacket and beat a few big names.

Darcy could win it but he is on the limit too much. Think Jarek will be the one to beat this season

Surprised to hear that Wolverhampton are keeping Tai Woffinden at number one which means Pawlicki or Proctor will be at the tough number five position

If the draft system stays in place next year then there will be a regulation as to which riders can be used in the draft. These will be riders with a Premier League average not over six points a meeting. Should there be a rider slightly over six then they can ask to be included but the team that selects these riders will most likely get the final picks in the second round. The rider at#3 for the away team will be the rider most likely to gain a tactical ride.

Ty Proctor has certainly grown up in the last few seasons and is now more steady on the bike and more consistent with the points but the season ahead is going to be a tough one for him and many other heat leaders with every race containing strong riders. Wolverhampton have stayed loyal to four riders and then got a promising top rider to fill the gap. It may be a bit of a gamble but they have the ability to surprise and have a very young team that will hold nothing back in trying to get every point on offer. Could be a good outside bet or way of the pace ?

Draft riders can only be replaced by draft riders not signed up and the replacing rider must be ranked lower than the rider they are replacing. It will be interesting if a high ranked draft pick is struggling and replaced by a lower ranked rider who is going well.

Shame that Joe Jacobs wasn't snapped up by Wolverhampton rather than a team he doesn't ride for.

Apart from Billy Hamill in his final year's, when was the last time Wolverhampton had a Bees or Heathans rider in the team ?

Yet another rider that signs up but is not revealed till a month later. Can't understand the reasoning behind this attitude in speedway to keep things hush hush

Wimbledon AFC will be there within a few years and their plan to redevelop will see the end of any oval sport for sure. Can't see there being any alternative when you are dealing with a football club which generates millions

Well Done to Tai Woffinden on winning the Motor Cycle News Man of the Year award with double the amount of votes than any other person. In a ceremony that is highly dominated by road racing and moto x this is an amazing achievement and credit yet again to Tai on highlighting the sport even more.

In theory this is a good idea but it needs a few things putting in place first. If a rider is ruled out of the meeting in his first ride through no fault of his own then r/r should be used. However if he has taken a ride then the rider above should not be able to take a ride.

It's a shame they didn't ask TNT as he has seemed to be able to get a format done in days rather than months

I think the details of the new heat format don't really need to be known by everyone until the press release and there has been a few different types of formats they have been looking at so you can't say much about something that hasn't been decided on yet. The rough outlines of the format have been knowledge for some time with reserves not having to face top riders but will face decent second strings like Adam Skornicki, Peter Ljung and Richie Worrall. This will mean top riders will not have such easier races and will face each other more times during a meeting. All we really need to know now is who is in which heat and when but the basics are already out there for everyone to get a decent idea of what to expect.

There is some serious money involved in some tracks in Poland and Torun are top of the list. They are like Man City by buying who they want and will never see the financial rewards by just meetings. Where the money comes from is another subject but you would not see the likes of that in this country.

Second strings will face the best and worst during a meeting so riders like Adam Skornicki or Ryan Fisher could easily finish his programmed rides with two heat wins and two lasts while a good reserve like Jason Garrity or Lewis Kerr could have two wins and two paid seconds just by beating reserves. The toughest position looks to be the number one who won't have an easy race all night and could face the opposing top two in each of his races so they could easily not get a heat win all night especially away from home.

Jonas Davidson ?

N E R M A R K

There is a way as explained in another thread

Paul Starke will get points at reserve and should be capable of 6-8 points at home without breaking sweat

The problem with changes is it's hard to please everyone and certain issues are to be agreed but the principle is about the same and suggested heat formats are pretty much correct and matches will be a game of two halves. The top end and the bottom end !

No doubt that the final signing will determine how well the Brummies do in 2014. Each team will have a weak link but I doubt it will be this rider. Remarkably they have a team yet again where any of the top five could be#1 during the season. Matches will be close but a solid line up could benefit them in matches. All last year it looked like Birmingham were one of the best teams and they didn't have a true number one then. Results may have gone their way at times but they also threw away points towards the end and could have finished well ahead of the rest. Knowing how the season ahead will turn out is guess work really and everyone needs a bit of luck at times but Brummies should be formidable at home and the final rider is sure to be a key part of the team and his identity is easy to find !!!

No. They have never ridden for Poole

It's not rocket science to work out roughly what each rider will have to face in the forthcoming season. RESERVES will have races against each other and also against second strings. SECOND STRINGS will have one ride with each reserve leaving two rides where they will be out with a heat leader HEAT LEADERS will have all their rides against heat leaders or second strings and as the second strings only have two rides with heat leaders then the teams #1 will have all his rides with fellow heat leaders. This could mean top riders like Woffinden and Iversen may have nights where they only score six or seven while second strings like Ljung and Gustafsson could be scoring eight or nine and reserves about the same. It may even come down to tactical riding in order to get heat leaders down to second strings by picking up bonus points more often. This will benefit a team when they operate rider replacement as Peter Ljung or Ryan Fisher could move up the order and when they are not available then the old heat leaders like Doyle and Andersen will get extra rides.

Just in case maths isn't people's favourite subject, Birmingham have 5.54 left for the last place and THJ is 5.61 However there could be a connection to the last rider to THJ !