SomersetBlue Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Looking at each team individually: Belle Vue look weaker in the top 5 but the reserves are stronger so i would say look equal to last season. King's Lynn tbh do look stronger than the end of last season with Puk at no. 1 and Kerr/ Andersen at reserve. Leicester look stronger enough said really. Poole same as Leicester. Rye House if Kasprzak is the last rider then equal to last season with Kennett equal to Wells. Somerset look stronger with Doyle coming in at no. 1 Swindon look weaker imo with losing Doyle and BWD at reserve. Wolverhampton look weaker with no Lindgren. So all in all 2 teams have weakened but 4 teams have strengthened with 2 teams looking equal so imo the team looks stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve0 Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 20 minutes ago, rebelwonderkid said: Looking at each team individually: Belle Vue look weaker in the top 5 but the reserves are stronger so i would say look equal to last season. King's Lynn tbh do look stronger than the end of last season with Puk at no. 1 and Kerr/ Andersen at reserve. Leicester look stronger enough said really. Poole same as Leicester. Rye House if Kasprzak is the last rider then equal to last season with Kennett equal to Wells. Somerset look stronger with Doyle coming in at no. 1 Swindon look weaker imo with losing Doyle and BWD at reserve. Wolverhampton look weaker with no Lindgren. So all in all 2 teams have weakened but 4 teams have strengthened with 2 teams looking equal so imo the team looks stronger. Of course Wolves and Swindon look weaker because they had the highest averaged teams at the end of last season and were forced to lose one of their top 2 - as have BV. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghosty Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 To answer the question "Is the league stronger in 2018?"well mathematically an average team any year would be 42 point average, with this years points average limit set @ 42.5 I think this year puts teams pretty much the same as last year! However allowing for E/Fs, exclusions & DNF in 2017 on balance then 2018 would be stronger teams overall. Also with the 1 over 8 rule in place more balanced teams in theory. Just may be the BSPA where not so pi__ed after all @ the AGM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Averages will actually tend to a little under 42 due to the impact of heat 15. But agree, a points limit of 42.5 should make this years league a little stronger. Esoecially when poole have a couple of poles on bargain averages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Not wishing to insult the posters or person who opened this thread, but looking at averages to equate a team's strength is not compelling enough to access its strength. Individually averages goes up and down and are dependant on the competition of which he races. So to answer the thread title, asking is this the league stronger the answer is a definite NO. To evaluate the strength we need to look at the quality of the riders, and like the years before, this year we have seen a decline of the very top stars that grace our sport. In a sport, governed by personal gain rather than common sense, our league will continue to weaken until the people in charge, starts puts the sport first... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grachan Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 1 hour ago, g13webb said: To evaluate the strength we need to look at the quality of the riders, and like the years before, this year we have seen a decline of the very top stars that grace our sport. Have we? Lindgren and Bjerre out. Vaculik and Iversen in. Plus Holder and Batchelor back. I'd say the top end is stronger over all, although Lindgren is a big loss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Stronger? Who knows. Nebulous concept anyway. But probably more stable. A relatively calm winter, for a change. Remember last year's turmoil? This time it's the same 8 clubs, line-ups all more or less sorted by end of January. Relatively low level of wholesale changes being made by clubs and in some cases "former favourites" returning and a small crop of newcomers to add interest. When Leicester moved into the upper league, there were three seasons of wholesale changes from year to year. Looks like that's finally at an end. I see that Rye House and Somerset are being widely tipped to occupy the lower places in the league, but it's only their second season, and there is a lot of rider continuity unlike with Leicester when they stepped up. Then you have the clamping down on doubling up clashes, the fast track lottery is gone for good, and so there's a lot of what supporters have been wanting for a long time. Foreign riders have always come and gone, so this time it's Lindgren and Bjerre but chances are they'll be back sooner or later. The biggest travesty is the continued absence of Woffinden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 But the averages are based on last season, using the sane format? If you set a limit of 42 or higher, and all teams build to that limit, the league should be stronger. Top end we've lost lindgren and bjerre and gsined puk and Vaculik. Not sure you can say thatvis weaker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytsejam Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Overall quality is weaker but I think it will be more competitive this season with less gaps between the top and bottom teams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 If the quality of riders was higher then the averages would become lower as the points would be more difficult to attain... 1 hour ago, ytsejam said: Overall quality is weaker but I think it will be more competitive this season with less gaps between the top and bottom teams. I agree most teams appear to be more closely matched, but the difference between the top and bottom are still too far apart.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therefused Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 7 hours ago, g13webb said: If the quality of riders was higher then the averages would become lower as the points would be more difficult to attain... No they wouldn’t, there are still 6 points in a race no matter what the quality of riders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g13webb Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Agree, they're are 6 points per race but the better riders would score more of them and the lesser rider would lose out, So you cant look at the CMA to evaluate a stronger or weaker league... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebrum Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Just now, g13webb said: Agree, they're are 6 points per race but the better riders would score more of them and the lesser rider would lose out, So you cant look at the CMA to evaluate a stronger or weaker league... I'd agree with that. The strength of the league isn't about the averages at all. It's about the strength of the top end riders. Iversen and Vaculik in place of Lindgren and Bjerre is like for like. Leicester have swapped a promising Pole from 2017 with a different one in 2018. Like for like. The 1 over 8 rule has scuppered any chance of making the league stronger in 2018. You could argue that Woryna and Drodz make the top flight stronger but as yet are totally unproven over here. At best same as last year which I didn't expect to be saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 2 hours ago, g13webb said: Agree, they're are 6 points per race but the better riders would score more of them and the lesser rider would lose out, So you cant look at the CMA to evaluate a stronger or weaker league... I agree you cant look at averages in isolation to determine the strength of the league, as in anyvleague, regardless of strength, averages will tend towards a team average of 42. But when you have averages obtained in the same league, you certsinly can. So the PL setting a limit of 42.5 makes it stronger thsn if they set a lower limit. In fsct, based on averages the league this season is slightlycweaker than that which ended last season, but stronger than that which started it. Id disagree that top riders scoring more points indicates a stronger league. Id ecpect Puk, Holder etc to average more in the PL than in Poland, but clearly the polish top flight is a lot stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INCOGNITO Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 On 29 January 2018 at 4:54 PM, Call me wolfie said: Not all tracks have increased their prices, Wolves remains at £18 Does it say ALL tracks ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INCOGNITO Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 On 30 January 2018 at 11:12 PM, Ghosty said: To answer the question "Is the league stronger in 2018?"well mathematically an average team any year would be 42 point average, with this years points average limit set @ 42.5 I think this year puts teams pretty much the same as last year! However allowing for E/Fs, exclusions & DNF in 2017 on balance then 2018 would be stronger teams overall. Also with the 1 over 8 rule in place more balanced teams in theory. Just may be the BSPA where not so pi__ed after all @ the AGM. On 31 January 2018 at 9:20 AM, Grachan said: Have we? Lindgren and Bjerre out. Vaculik and Iversen in. Plus Holder and Batchelor back. I'd say the top end is stronger over all, although Lindgren is a big loss. You can't account for falls, exclusions or engine failures as they happen every year but while Vaculik and Iversen replace Lindgren and Bjerre, we have also lost the likes of Nilsson, Przedpelski, Wells, Starke, Huckenbeck etc. The riders not returning have a combined average of just under 91 where as the new riders coming in are at 72 and we now have six new riders under a four average compared to two of last years finishers. Stronger or Weaker, the main issue of doubling up has been addressed with the set race nights but honestly feel the way forward would have been for all teams to be in one Championship level league to give more variety of fixtures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWitcher Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 On 1/31/2018 at 1:45 PM, g13webb said: I agree most teams appear to be more closely matched, but the difference between the top and bottom are still too far apart.... The difference is as close as it has ever been. It was far further apart in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWitcher Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 On 2/4/2018 at 1:41 PM, INCOGNITO said: You can't account for falls, exclusions or engine failures as they happen every year but while Vaculik and Iversen replace Lindgren and Bjerre, we have also lost the likes of Nilsson, Przedpelski, Wells, Starke, Huckenbeck etc. The riders not returning have a combined average of just under 91 where as the new riders coming in are at 72 and we now have six new riders under a four average compared to two of last years finishers. Stronger or Weaker, the main issue of doubling up has been addressed with the set race nights but honestly feel the way forward would have been for all teams to be in one Championship level league to give more variety of fixtures. The league in 2018 is stronger that at the start of 2017. Comparing to the end of a season is foolish as teams who get off to a poor start strengthen during the season. Compare how Swindon would have looked without the Musielak change as an example. Or even how Wolves would have looked if they had stuck with Skornicki and he had continued to struggle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytsejam Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 On 29/01/2018 at 4:54 PM, Call me wolfie said: Not all tracks have increased their prices, Wolves remains at £18 I would hope so too!!!!....£18 for just 15 mins action is already more than enough!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.V 72 Posted February 6, 2018 Report Share Posted February 6, 2018 26 minutes ago, ytsejam said: I would hope so too!!!!....£18 for just 15 mins action is already more than enough!!! Its not just about the 15 mins of speedway though is it.Its a night out where you can enjoy the racing but also if you are like me I meet up with my speedway friends(some I only see at speedway).Talk about all things speedway and all other thing ands have a good laugth etc and if I like I can have a drink. I went to the pub the other night spent about £15 on a few pints but that's all they gave me for my money other than a bit of background music.The enjoyment of the night was chatting and having a laugth with my friends etc= a good night out.If it was just about the booze i could have stayed in and drank the same on my own for a fraction of the cost.So what I am saying its not just the speedway its everything put together that gives me a really good night out at every speedway meeting I go to. 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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