Gate A is on the inside of the track, whilst Gate D is on the outside. A rider touching the tapes must restart the heat with one hand on their helmet until the starting gate is released. A rider committing any other starting infringement is excluded from the heat and may be replaced by a reserve. Each reserve may have a maximum of six rides that can be taken at any time. They may not however, replace riders excluded for exceeding the two minute time allowance .
All exclusions count as rides.
No rider is required to take a minimum number of rides. Each rider however, may only be used as a tactical substitute once. A substitute rider takes the helmet colour and starting gate position of the replaced rider. Both riders in a heat may be substituted in this manner, provided the Referee is clearly notified which substitute replaces which rider. After Heat 15, teams are ranked in scoring order to determine the lineups for the Super Final Round.