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Do Riders 'manipulate' Their Averages To Get A Ride?


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Not sure whether this has been discussed before, but has it been known for riders to do this in recent years? I'm presuming so...

 

Was listening to a rider recently who wants a ride in the Championship as well as the Prem. To double up.

 

When asked if he had one lined up, he said he'd had a few phone calls, but that it's a 'numbers game'.

 

Knowing that...and wanting to get signed up, surely it's too tempting not to drop a few points to earn more in the long run?

 

 

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Not sure whether this has been discussed before, but has it been known for riders to do this in recent years? I'm presuming so...

 

Was listening to a rider recently who wants a ride in the Championship as well as the Prem. To double up.

 

When asked if he had one lined up, he said he'd had a few phone calls, but that it's a 'numbers game'.

 

Knowing that...and wanting to get signed up, surely it's too tempting not to drop a few points to earn more in the long run?

 

Yip!
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Why would riders care if the team wins or loses? They'll all be off to ride for a different one the next day anyway.

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Why would riders care if the team wins or loses? They'll all be off to ride for a different one the next day anyway.

 

 

That is what finally did me in.

 

Do you know, I think this uncertainty of whether teams/riders were trying to drop points on purpose made me start questioning if even the best races are staged-managed. When we had that Crump v Pedersen slow-race in the World Cup about 10 years back, because one of the countries was trying to fall enough points behind to be able to use a tac-sub, and then we had the other rider purposely slowing so the one trying intentionally to finish behind him didn't (if you know where I'm at) and so to be unable to use double-point tac-sub. It was pathetic. I thought they were both going to get off their machines and try and body push each other over.. even wrestle each other over.

 

One bad apple and all that can tarnish your belief a bit more.

Edited by moxey63
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Why would riders care if the team wins or loses? They'll all be off to ride for a different one the next day anyway.

You have a point.

 

Which is why I must stop myself getting too involved in looking at averages and team set ups.

 

Note to self...just enjoy the racing. ;-)

 

Which is hard to do, if you think a rider in particular is not riding to his potential, so as to manipulate his average.

 

The same can be said when discussing the pro's and con's of a riders ability and what he scored on the night.

 

We all know how good a rider is when his engine is at it's best...so how can fans discuss the probability of a meeting result, or how a rider performed on the night, if we don't know how his engines were, or whether he was tinkering or trying new things etc.

 

Tungate comes to mind of late...As did Craig Cook last night only scoring 6 trying out a new engine.

 

It's hard to get your head around, even after so many years following the sport.

 

It's between a rock and hard place tbh.

 

Last night I witnessed Richard Lawson on a slower engine to that of Nichols and Harris...but he gated and used superb track craft to block the moves of those riders when he faced them.

 

On other occasions, you see talented riders purely beaten by another's engine and not their skill on a bike.

 

For me, because of that, it's hard to take Team Speedway seriously. As it's all down to averages, which can be manipulated at a cost of losing, and whether you have fast engines or not.

 

I love the spectacle and good honest racing...but sometimes when you have these thoughts lingering in your head it takes the gloss off the sport.

 

I know it's been done to death, but I can only dream of standardised Club engines.

 

You can't blame the engines then, just the riders skill or not.

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That is what finally did me in.

 

Do you know, I think this uncertainty of whether teams/riders were trying to drop points on purpose made me start questioning if even the best races are staged-managed. When we had that Crump v Pedersen slow-race in the World Cup about 10 years back, because one of the countries was trying to fall enough points behind to be able to use a tac-sub, and then we had the other rider purposely slowing so the one trying intentionally to finish behind him didn't (if you know where I'm at) and so to be unable to use double-point tac-sub. It was pathetic. I thought they were both going to get off their machines and try and body push each other over.. even wrestle each other over.

 

One bad apple and all that can tarnish your belief a bit more.

Oh dear! The double-point T/S...one of the daftest rules in my view.

Not sure whether this has been discussed before, but has it been known for riders to do this in recent years? I'm presuming so...

 

Was listening to a rider recently who wants a ride in the Championship as well as the Prem. To double up.

 

When asked if he had one lined up, he said he'd had a few phone calls, but that it's a 'numbers game'.

 

Knowing that...and wanting to get signed up, surely it's too tempting not to drop a few points to earn more in the long run?

 

 

It's been reported in the past that some riders were ordered to drop points so as to manipulate the overall team average.

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For me I have no doubt that riders ( and promoters ) do manipulate the averages and -

 

"You can't blame the engines then, just the riders skill or not"

 

add to that skill their motivation

 

 

or that it's not worth a light trying to see if they can get past or not!

 

Only "young guns" truly Go For It ( when they are young and hate being beaten )

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That is what finally did me in.

 

Do you know, I think this uncertainty of whether teams/riders were trying to drop points on purpose made me start questioning if even the best races are staged-managed. When we had that Crump v Pedersen slow-race in the World Cup about 10 years back, because one of the countries was trying to fall enough points behind to be able to use a tac-sub, and then we had the other rider purposely slowing so the one trying intentionally to finish behind him didn't (if you know where I'm at) and so to be unable to use double-point tac-sub. It was pathetic. I thought they were both going to get off their machines and try and body push each other over.. even wrestle each other over.

 

One bad apple and all that can tarnish your belief a bit more.

 

Jesus.

 

How many times now have you said 'This is what did me in'. You were done in before any of these things you keep latching on to.

 

Staggers me though that someone continues to frequent a forum regarding something they consistently tell us they have no interest in.

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Jesus.

 

How many times now have you said 'This is what did me in'. You were done in before any of these things you keep latching on to.

 

Staggers me though that someone continues to frequent a forum regarding something they consistently tell us they have no interest in.

Well said. It's the old story, some people go through life looking for the positives and others go through looking for the negatives. We all know where Moxey fits in.

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Riders not putting it all in to drop their average (Kevin Wolbert , Glasgow 2014 ) , much the same as footballers not putting it all in to get rid of a manager .

Suppose these sorts of things happen in team sports , not just speedway .

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Not sure whether this has been discussed before, but has it been known for riders to do this in recent years? I'm presuming so...

 

Was listening to a rider recently who wants a ride in the Championship as well as the Prem. To double up.

 

When asked if he had one lined up, he said he'd had a few phone calls, but that it's a 'numbers game'.

 

Knowing that...and wanting to get signed up, surely it's too tempting not to drop a few points to earn more in the long run?

 

 

 

Yes, which leads to my question. We did have rolling averages that were worked out by the riders last 28 meetings, I think I am right in saying. Do we still have that, if not how are averages worked out now, please don't tell me we have gone back to monthly, as (back to thread ) that was easy and open to abuse, average fiddling, cheating.

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Yes, which leads to my question. We did have rolling averages that were worked out by the riders last 28 meetings, I think I am right in saying. Do we still have that, if not how are averages worked out now, please don't tell me we have gone back to monthly, as (back to thread ) that was easy and open to abuse, average fiddling, cheating.

Afraid so , the rolling averages are gone

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Afraid so , the rolling averages are gone

 

Good grief, wait till we get to September/October when the riders who know they wont be back at their present teams start playing a wonky old hand, maybe it could be argued they`ve started already at Berwick. :blink:

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