I'm not too sure how Beyer type speed figures fare here in Oz, as our racing is usually run off a slow early pace. (And it varies significantly from race to race). I've always thought that method was better suited to dirt track racing.

Personally i'm a fan of closing speed, and i'm working on a spreadsheet (work in progress) that converts the raw figures from sportscolour.com into readable rating figures.

More than willing to share it with anyone thats interested.