Humphrey Appleby Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 How about everyone gets an equal share of gates... seems perfectly reasonable to me.. then if 'the best' rider has a tougher gate he can show why he is 'the best' by overtaking those lesser souls in front of him. An equal share assumes the starting gates are equal throughout, when in fact certain riding positions can be (dis)advantaged by their gate sequences. I used to be favour of fixed gate positions, but I feel in league matches the choice should be a tactical one. If a heat leader is better placed to control the race off the best gate, then I don't see any problem with that. Team riding has nearly died out in the fixed gate era, and I do think there's an argument for giving the heat leaders an advantage to create an aura around them. Maybe this is something where old ideas were better. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted December 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 An equal share assumes the starting gates are equal throughout, when in fact certain riding positions can be (dis)advantaged by their gate sequences. I used to be favour of fixed gate positions, but I feel in league matches the choice should be a tactical one. If a heat leader is better placed to control the race off the best gate, then I don't see any problem with that. Team riding has nearly died out in the fixed gate era, and I do think there's an argument for giving the heat leaders an advantage to create an aura around them. Maybe this is something where old ideas were better. My thoughts exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted December 2, 2015 Report Share Posted December 2, 2015 So you prefer the best riders, to have the best gates all the time. Wow.. exciting racing that would provide! How about everyone gets an equal share of gates... seems perfectly reasonable to me.. then if 'the best' rider has a tougher gate he can show why he is 'the best' by overtaking those lesser souls in front of him. Glad to see Sidney after you arguing against this for page after page on thread after thread you've finally seen the light and agree with what folk like myself, SVB, Waihekeaces have been telling you. Yes I would much prefer to see free gates and the double points got rid of and is there such exciting racing now under the present form of starting as people are always asking for passing . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveallan81 Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 I've never been convinced by the 'fixed gates = lower averages' theory. I doubt that it could ever be proved conclusively either way, there are just too many variables. The old National League introduced fixed gates in 1989. It stands to reason that if riders were going to feel the effect of the new rule then they would experience it most during that season. Simply stacking up the averages against one another should tell some of the story, but in order to introduce a bit of depth I've taken figures from 87 and 90 (providing two years before and after) and to qualify riders must have ridden in at least 6 matches in each season. That left a list of 60 riders. I've broken the file down into four variations - a full list in alphabetical order, a list based on 1988 averages, and one plus and one minus list for the differences in riders' averages from 88 to 89. Here's the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6a8iwnje6eri5wc/AverageComparisonNL1987to90.pdf?dl=0 Draw your own conclusions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratton Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 I've never been convinced by the 'fixed gates = lower averages' theory. I doubt that it could ever be proved conclusively either way, there are just too many variables. The old National League introduced fixed gates in 1989. It stands to reason that if riders were going to feel the effect of the new rule then they would experience it most during that season. Simply stacking up the averages against one another should tell some of the story, but in order to introduce a bit of depth I've taken figures from 87 and 90 (providing two years before and after) and to qualify riders must have ridden in at least 6 matches in each season. That left a list of 60 riders. I've broken the file down into four variations - a full list in alphabetical order, a list based on 1988 averages, and one plus and one minus list for the differences in riders' averages from 88 to 89. Here's the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6a8iwnje6eri5wc/AverageComparisonNL1987to90.pdf?dl=0 Draw your own conclusions. Tell WItcher Dave, he thinks all yesteryear riders were overated stupid averages inflated averages the one thing he FORGOT teams then alot of them had three good heat leaders.Minimum most teams at home had at least three half decent heat leaders who often had a massive home advantage. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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