mikebv Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Now that no 'out and out' No1's are out there, and the heat leader to reserve differential has been as narrow as it has ever been (ex RS).. Is it now the perfect time to dispense with that credibility and integrity destroying guest system? I personally wont follow a team anymore, and therefore treat the sport as a proper team sport, when, for example, Brady Kurtz can top score for any other team in the league on an adhoc basis and, as a result, prevent his own team from reaching the play offs.. What is the point of following the Aces, and investing that so important emotional attachment that all team sports should inspire, when your 'talisman' can be the 'talisman' for any other team too whenever it suits? So.. Maybe use a fit for purpose rider replacement facility instead? No Number 1? Then the next two riders can take all his rides up to seven apiece per night. Meaning all his rides covered between them (if that is what the manager wants to do), and they can still do Ht 15 together.. No 2nd heat leader? Then the No1 rider can take two rides and the third heat leader the same. Again if the managers wants to do it, he may want to give a rider from lower in the team who is doing well that night more rides.. Utilise the same system going down the team for riders 3 to 6, ie the riders above and below can take two rides each to cover the gap.. If a 'Seven' is missing then another unattached U21 NL rider can come in, (a list of these riders could be circulated and if used, that rider then must only ride for that team going forward).. If a 'Seven' is missing then the replacement must have a minimum of two rides with the 'No6' taking the two others... It would mean a credible League taking place, and create 'proper teams', as well as providing riders from that team more earning potential when one of their own is missing.. Could it work? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmuncie Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 And if 2 riders are missing? For me guests are a necessary evil, what I would like reintroduced is the rule where you only get a guest up to a riders home average for home meetings and away average for away meetings that way there is no benefit to a team when a home track specialist is missing when they ride away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 15 minutes ago, gmuncie said: And if 2 riders are missing? For me guests are a necessary evil, what I would like reintroduced is the rule where you only get a guest up to a riders home average for home meetings and away average for away meetings that way there is no benefit to a team when a home track specialist is missing when they ride away. If 2 riders are missing then simply dont run the meeting... Give the side time to sign someone else or when they get one rider back.. Dont "contrive" League Speedway anymore.. As for using away averages for away meetings? There will always be track specialists who perform well at a certain track and run a much lower overall away average than the rider getting replaced.. I remember Matej Zagar at Lakeside always seeming to be 'elsewhere' when the Aces rode against them, (an 'oversight' in fixture planning from both teams that I am sure), and he ran a strong average home and away.. He got replaced by a rider of lesser ability but invariably one much better than him at Lakeside.. I seem also to remember having three inferior 'ringers' one night with RR, and "winning".... Maybe using the average at that individual track only could work, however not having guests at all would work so much better for me.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner85 Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 By the nature of the Sport , guests are a necessary evil. Losing your no 1 with no facility is unthinkable.. a recipe for disaster. R/R for one missing rider is acceptable for the top 3 A guest when 2 out of the top 5 missing is necessary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldyman Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Since Poland is seen as the top/best league,,, what do they do when a number 1 or whoever is missing? maybe we should do the same,, as Poland doesn't seem to have any credibility problems, as far as I'm aware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 18 minutes ago, Baldyman said: Since Poland is seen as the top/best league,,, what do they do when a number 1 or whoever is missing? maybe we should do the same,, as Poland doesn't seem to have any credibility problems, as far as I'm aware. Rider replacement. They also use riders who are referred to as 'guests' but they are really riders doubling up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Baldyman said: Since Poland is seen as the top/best league,,, what do they do when a number 1 or whoever is missing? maybe we should do the same,, as Poland doesn't seem to have any credibility problems, as far as I'm aware. A wise old store manager about 35 years ago walked his new night manager around the store early in the morning.. The new night manager was 'quite pleased with himself' at what he had achieved that night, only leaving 5 cages of stock out of 120 he and his team received... The wise old store manager asked me (I mean 'him' obviously!), why hadn't the other five been done? The answer of "no time boss" was met with a simple question.. Which was. "If I had said last evening that I will walk in this morning and give you 1000 pounds in your hand if you had completed 120 cages, would you have completed them?" The answer was an obvious "Yes", therefore he quite rightly answered.. "So it was just down to a lack of will, self pride and desire then?".. No answer did that young man have, but it did focus his mind for the rest of his career.. Now... If every promoter was guaranteed £10,000 in their hand for every meeting they ran without guests, I am pretty sure they would find the 'will and desire' to find a way to do it, and subsequently have the 'self pride' of running the sport properly.. Poland dont use guests in the UK sense but do D/U and call them guests, however the D/U riders only ride for that team, and it has only been allowed for Covid.. Betard would never plough the hundreds of thousands of euro they do into the sport if Woffy or Majic were allowed to help out their opponents to ultimately see Wroclaw fail through their actions, and the teams they help out then be successful.. If the UK wants "big sponsors" for teams then you cant really have guest riders, so why not try and find a way to do it now.. Next year should be a 'free hit' given the uncertainty going on, so when better to see what could work? Edited January 27, 2021 by mikebv 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 valve Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 16 minutes ago, mikebv said: If the UK wants "big sponsors" for teams then you cant really have guest riders, so why not try and find a way to do it now.. Next year should be a 'free hit' given the uncertainty going on, so when better to see what could work? Where there is a will there is always a way to be found. The question is do British speedway promoters have the “will” to find the answer? sadly, it looks like they prefer to continue to adopt a short term solution as the easy route around the issue. Unfortunately this choice is at the expense of a continued accumulation of a long term loss of support for the sport. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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