38.85 - an on-going debate

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It's my veiw that it doesn't matter what points limit you introduce, or however ridiculous that points limit is. There is always going to be strong teams & weak teams & average teams, 38.85 may prove that the EL is closer in terms of the difference between top & bottom in regards to match points accumalated, but at the end of the day that fact remains & their will always be some promoter belly-aching about it & looking for change. There's no point changing anything this season now, including the aggregate point,the promoters have made their bed & now they must lie in it.

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It's so early in the season to be having this debate surely? The only team as far as I can see who have a claim, legitimate or otherwise are Peterborough, and I wonder if this is because Swidders has started the season with a flyer . At the end of the day ALL promoters had the same chances when signing riders etc.

At the end of the day something needed to be done, and it's ongoing certainly, because I think this asset business needs addressing PDQ as well, to get British speedway off it's knees and heading back up, rather than floundering around with 4 top clubs and the rest making up the numbers.

History shows that those top 4 clubs change due to lots of reasons, however in recent years the £££'s of certain promoters have muddied the waters.

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It should be remembered also that certain Promoters have traditionally largely ignored any loyalty to a rider already signed up, if it no longer suits the Promoter to use that rider, therefore I think we can safely assume that riders signed on longer term contracts would have been dumped in fairly short order had their promoters seem using them as a problem.

At the moment at least, it seems that those who had the foresight to think what the limit would mean to them, and built their teams accordingly, are quite rightly going to get the best of it. I'd be the first to admit that I was not 100% happy with the inclusion of Johnno in our side - no offence to him, he's a nice chap, I was just unsure about his inclusion, but having heard what Chris & Simmo had to say on the subject at the Press Conference pre-season, and also listened to the attitude of Johnno himself, I would have to say that I can now entirely understand why he was signed, and would go as far as to say that my view on that signing has now changed, I think he'll be good for the team.

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I think we have seen a couple of items reported that can be added to this now. Firstly, the scrapping of the bonus point, was meant to encourage teams to build for away tracks, according to Eastbourne article, SS 5th April. I can see the logic, say you win 4 away, lose 4 home, you are better off by 4pts....

However, the 38.85 average tied the hands of the promoters. With the big riders signed, little attempt has been made to strengthen tail ends who are being dreadfully exposed on away tracks. The 38.85 got rid of 1 or 2 top class riders; unemployed plenty of middle order riders...

The net effect has been big away wins, and pointless last few heats of meetings. Only 10% of meetings have resulted in away wins out of 30 in CS, KOC and EL. This is well down on the average. I see that people are now being discouraged to travel to away fixtures....eg. Peterboro' fans are averaging 4.67 of worthless heats when they travel.

However, accidentally, promoters may have worked something out, a home defeat affects crowds FAR more than a team visiting without a chance of an away win. So maybe, just maybe, it will work out financially for the best for promoters. Unfortunately, we are getting too many 'dead rubber' heats.

[admin]

But I suspect not as many "dead rubber" heats as last season.
However, I don't think things have settled in the Elite League yet and that we'll see a fair few away victories over the course of the season.
After a bright start Ipswich look as if they could fall away and be vulnerable, especially if their current scoring machine Piotr Swiderski starts to falter. Belle Vue have looked quite vulnerable in their opening couple of Elite League meetings at Kirkmanshulme Lane and that's with Crump, Screen and Gjedde doing the business. And Peterborough look a complete mess, at the minute.
I'm impressed with Swindon, it has to be said. Team building is a dark art, with mostly a mix of cunning and luck going into it. Having decided to go with Leigh Adams, Swindon then built a side that was quite "compact" beneath him and they're doing well enough.