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As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track. It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio. My impression of the riders; Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One. Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said. Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw. Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front. Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart? Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats. Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers. Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen. Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen. Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress. Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify. Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three. Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio. Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN? Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing. Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen. Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

That was a very enjoyable meeting especially as I got to see speedway with my brother who is no longer the regular he used to be. He'd not been to Arlington since the Elite days there and was very impressed as was I with the whole show. Some decent racing on a well prepared track, plenty of passing with Kennett and Lawson especially impressive. Bukhave deserved more points for Diamonds and looks worth persevering with. The announcer and meeting presentation there is top notch and I was told by locals the Cardiff GP guy Kevin Coombes. Parade at 7.25 sharp and first race at 7.30, some over fussy referring and a few falls delayed things but no tractor races and they go on with it pretty well. A big crowd by modern standards it looked like as big if not bigger than their Elite days my brother reckoned; and on a par with crowds there when I've been with brummies this season especially after the rain and it was cold. Decent grub and the only minor quibble is the 1950's toilets but you can't have everything. The best thing there though is their Community work, looked like 100 + kids there tonight being shown round and then having pictures taken before the meeting, mascots. which I had not seen in earlier visits and the impression this is a Club that is grasping the Championship and trying to make speedway popular and accessible to new fans. Well done to the promotion there and lessons others could learn. "We'll be back"

Seems this is quite a common occurrence at speedway. The last time I was at Kings Lynn they announced a bank card had been found on the terracing. The owner was forming an orderly queue at the speedway office as we were leaving the stadium.

Well done Lambo, Cookie and NKI. I add him because of his loyalty to the Stars Always next year Holder

Kus is still riding I believe but it seems Czech only, he has other interests away from the track now.

Not sure I agree with that unless Jake is back 100% fit and back to pre injury form, KP steadily improving at Foxhall and haven’t been able to find a suitable guest for Jake yet....

We should’ve signed Grajczonek from Poole, he comes with ready made Ipswich kevlars

Thank you moomin man 76. A thoroughly illuminating report on a meeting of great interest to many fans. I wish I'd cancelled my other commitments and gone now. The nerdy analysis shows that there was no significant advantage to any of the gates and the race times were quite comparable to the track record. Despite the obvious speed of races generally, your report and others show that there was a goodly amount of overtaking. It sounds like Glasgow deserve a huge pat on the back. The importance of this meeting cannot be overstated in world championship terms. Riders career aspirations can hinge on track preparation alone. I'm sure the FIM won't have missed the quality of this presentation and will hopefully assign future meetings to the same promotion.

Congrats to Cook, Lambert and Harris on getting through, hopefully at least 1 will qualify from the challenge.

Shame not to see Holder get through imo ....

Great too to have Kevin Coombes back on the microphone tonight - missed him over the last few matches - the man is quality and the whole product and experience steps up a notch or three when he is presenting

To be fair to chunky, I'm sure we've all seen crashes look a lot worse where the riders just walk away. The fences also aren't as hard as they used to be. They now have to have more give in them. It would have been worse the a few years ago. It seemed to me like Laguta expected his team mate to let the bike run rather than continuing to turn to keep a low line off the corner, scrubbing a bit of speed in the process. A minor misjudgment and misunderstanding that obviously had terrible consequences, but Laguta wasn't doing anything that doesn't happen regularly in top level speedway.

Obvious, you'd miss out on the usual fixture pileup at the end of the season instead of running on what would hopefully be a nice June evening unlike today , can't have that.

just seen some Brummies supporters in Blackpool laying down big deals and living it up ..

But he is a tool?

Excellent well presented meeting Ran almost 100% smoothly and a decent PA system unlike many

Cheers AV got it the rider who rode it was derrol Keats's

Very entertaining meeting against a good Leicester side.Ryan Douglas was top drawer for Leicester but all the sheffield lads chipped in for a change.Good home debut from Josh McDonald a return to form for Ty and a top performance from Danny.Heat 14 was a cracker ,after 2 laps I feared the worse but Zaine got passed mountain then Broc rode a stormer to get the vital 3rd place.Heat 15 Danny did his job AGAIN and we won.Well done to all the riders for making it a good meeting.The track was better today so well done track staff .

Fair comment... My view is just that we are wasting too much average limit on our top end and don't have enough down at the bottom, which is putting a lot of pressure on people like Max and Jacob to go to Eastbourne and Somerset etc... and score big points, it's just not fair on them I agree Max is one of the best number 2s but so would be someone like Kasper Andersen, and then we'd have Max at reserve!! Meaning we'd have the best reserve too, not the weakest (In Danny) I'm focusing more on our reserve issues as we would still have one of the best riders in the league as our number 1 and Lasse and Matty in the team, two riders would I WOULDN'T split up... Meaning someone like Matej (Or Nike if he's finished falling in love on holiday) would slot in at 5, which I know isn't the strongest, but it's the price to pay to get Max and Jacob at reserve (Very strong) Another question I have, Does Jonas Jeppesen ride in Poland, he seems to be a talent and a half coming from Denmark!!

Dandes i think Max is up there as the current number 2s in this league go . Far to good to be at reserve . If Clegg is your reserve you wont have enough bit hitters imo. The problem is obvious you have the worst 2.00 pointer in the league .

Sorry yes it was dandelion my apologises . But yes they do .

http://www.maniak.tv/kanal-7

Yes I don't disagree. Always room for improvement in everything in life but I go back to the fact that if you drop Harris who replaces him?. Seems a real good team spirit at Ipswich at the moment and that counts for hell of a lot. Team spirit got us over the line at home to Wolves when everything looked like we we were going to drop points. Give the boys a chance as this is definitely one of the best teams in the league. Ok we don't have top end power in heats 13 and 15 but over two legs of a play of I fancy us every time

Scored 9 from 4 rides so should be back thurs for this meeting.

Our player Siergiej Łogaczew, who has been seriously injured in the first race of the match with the Gdańsk Coast, is still awake, but remains in the local clinic under the care of doctors. Currently, Sergey is in the Intensive Care Unit, but the state of immediate danger to life has already passed. - Sergei has trouble breathing, so he was intubated. He is conscious now. Most importantly, the doctors ruled out back injury. For now, he will stay in the hospital. We saw him, he is aware, he met us. We all squeeze our fingers for him and we believe that he will come back to us soon - says Krzysztof Mrozek, president of PGG ROW Rybnik.

If robinson told me it was raining I would go outside to check.

Easy to say. But with that comment who do you replace him with? Some people never happy.ipswich doing a lot better than most, but not me, expected and still you moan!

Some really unique items up for auction on Thursday! Lot 12 is Tommy's No 5 racejacket from 1979. He would have worn this on October 13, when Coventry Bees beat Hull Vikings by 42-36 to clinch the British League championship in front of 20,000 spectators. Tommy beat World Champion Ivan Mauger in Heat 9 on that huge evening.

Lofty will get wet first and titch last that is a huge disadvantage .

Just ride on that wave man, all the way in.....woohooooo!!!

Lofty, Chunk, Gripper, Basher..........Oh the joys of getting old and not understanding what the hell is going on.

Good luck Connor on your Colts debut tomorrow. How exciting is this young Colts side......top 3 averages are 15, 16 and 17 year olds ,,,,,,,

Interesting however after probably 25 years or longer of cost cutting there cannot be much left to cut? I am always amazed the one area never looked at is rider equipment. Surely if we go down the one big league route and Doyle and Lambert do quit the league then that's the time to introduce standard equipment? To save on the one major cost that has never been looked at. Not cost cutting but something else that massively affected my decision to stop attending is the wonderful guest rule. That along with the transfer system really needs a massive overhaul. The two combined saw Scott Nicholls ride 3 weeks running at Ipswich for 3 different teams....... But hey this is speedway as the phrase goes.

You've lost me there, sorry.

We are very friendly. But do not forget your coat. And only £10 next Saturday.

Superb effort tonight to get the track sorted for the GP Qualifier. The less experienced riders took time to get things sorted but Nicol, Moi and Smetana were good value after their first few heats. Cook was imperious on his home track but Berge, Thorsell and Tungate were pretty awful, puts the alleged Premiership into perspective. The only downside being Harris made it through the French qualifier apparently. #wtf

As soon as it becomes obvious, just don’t respond at all. These freaks thrive on wound up response - but hate the silence. Don’t respond. ‘There’s nowt so queer as folk’.

Wasn't the old Swindon forum fun, different name every week

I'm pretty sure telephone bids would be accepted, This may help you get more information

Britain sets its own rules on immigration from Australia and all non EU countries. It's nothing to do with the EU whether Australians can come here or not.

I also enjoying watching R Lambert race, and British speedway will be all he poorer as a spectacle without him.

looking at me and the crowd around me in the old grandstand it would be almost impossible not to be "younger and prettier" !!

As I say, not always the case. Some guests want a guarantee, for a start.

Trying to appeal to a younger, prettier audience??

How can extensive work be done the track needs completely relaying its a joke, how many times have they come out with this plop extensive work don't make us all laugh!

But what a location. A stunning beach situated a stones throw from the track. No venue could replicate that.

Please please don’t bother ya fkn reptile

I watched Peter Collins, Chris Morton etc riding for Belle Vue in the 70s and 80s. I also attended Ellesmere Port during the same period. Despite being a lower standard, I never yearned to see the superstars when I watched the second division lads. I just loved speedway.

The tradition for speedway clubs is to look after their own business and not realise that a strong league is vastly more important than becoming the last man standing and having no one to race against. Poole, after all the trophies they have won the last 15 years, and scoffing a lot of calories in riding talent to serve their purpose, are perhaps realising that winning isn't the be all and end all and can leave fans feeling bloated.