Lakeside V Birmingham 11/4/14

[HenryW 1,178]

I just hope that Rosco was watching...That heat 10 win surely seals a SWC place for Eddie

[Agrotron 955]

I just hope that Rosco was watching...That heat 10 win surely seals a SWC place for Eddie

 

 

Oh god yes he must be nailed on now for that SWC Rosco would have definitely seen potential in ht10.

[Steve0 5,517]

Oh god yes he must be nailed on now for that SWC Rosco would have definitely seen potential in ht10.

Just as well it's not Middlo in charge anymore then

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

I think the criticism of the Birmingham promotion is a little harsh here. True, they put the side together and it was done on a (necessary) budget.

 

But surely they had a reasonable expectation that their riders would perform better than they are. Danny King, for example, was at the start of the season by average only just out of the top ten in the league.

 

To my way of thinking, the riders bear more responsibility for this dreadful result and the potentially disastrous future for the Brummies than the management.

[E I Addio 15,843]

I bet that meeting was cracking speedway.

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, it was a much better meeting than the rubbish we had last week. Jon Cook's forthright programme notes suggest that the penny has dropped and some shaking up has been going on behind the scenes. These were some of his comments in the programme ;-

 

".....we have been somewhat patchy with good starts followed by pretty poor form in the second half of meetings. That needs to be worked on as in both the home meetings so far its been the baby of the team, Adam that's had to come in and steady the ship. That's clearly not an ideal situation............One area in which we really need to pull our act together is the presentation and timings of meetings. I can only apologise and say we are making changes.........Watching a tractor go round is no entertaining... it doesn't need to come out as early as heat2.........we should all be heading off home between9.30 and 9.45 latest "

 

And things certainly were different. The track looked the best it has looked for a long time and stayed good for 15 heats. The tractor didn't come out until after heat 5 and was only out, as I recall, about 3 times in the whole meeting. The whole thing was done and dusted including the victory parade before 9.40 from an 8pm start. So in terms purely of presentation it really shows that the sport can be made quite entertaining if people get a grip on the organisational side of things, even in a one-sided match. Lets hope this continues and some others follow suit.

 

The Lakeside team were also more fired up than we have seen so far. Davey was absolutely in a class of his own with some fabulous sweeps around the first two bends, Bech showed he had a lot of courage as well as talent, and Lewis who has had an indifferent season so far was on fire (with no showboating despite a paid max) and I thought his pass on Danny King squeezing right against the fence was the ride of the night. But for me the highlight was Ben Morely. Its taken Ben a while to find his feet but he seems to have come on in leaps and bounds almost overnight. His defeat of Adam Skornicki was a really mature ride that really took a cool head.

 

I don't know what to say about Brum that's not already been said. I feel for the fans. It was a little unfortunate they came on the week that Jon Cook seems to have gone round like a new broom firing his own side up but apart from Adam Skornicki and Daniel Nermark one had the feeling their hearts weren't in it. Riders don't go to a meeting not to bother, they were obviously trying and they have riders who have scored well in past visits (Danny King for example had 3 wins last time he came) but it just seems they need someone like Wizzer who can pull all the threads together, keep their heads up when its tough and get the best from them, because its not happening at the moment. Kennett is a prime example. In heat 10 he got a flyer and was away and gone with a fast win over PK , looking just like the Eddie of 3 years ago when he was a pretty decent rider, but in the rest of his races when he didn't get the gate he just fell further behind . The lad clearly has reasonable talent but something is not bringing it out all the time these days.

Edited April 12, 2014 by E I Addio

[Steve0 5,517]

I think the criticism of the Birmingham promotion is a little harsh here. True, they put the side together and it was done on a (necessary) budget.

 

But surely they had a reasonable expectation that their riders would perform better than they are. Danny King, for example, was at the start of the season by average only just out of the top ten in the league.

 

To my way of thinking, the riders bear more responsibility for this dreadful result and the potentially disastrous future for the Brummies than the management.

Really?

 

Danny King - never a number 1 and lacks consistency to improve IMHO - must be his fault that he is the #1 in the team

Ben Barker - a second string riding as a heat leader - must be his fault that he is out if position

Edward Kennett - a second string riding as a heat leader. Been on the slide since drill gate - must be his fault that he is out of position

Adam Skornicki - a good signing IMHO but at this rate he will be riding as a heat leader and into the same camp as the above 3.

Daniel Nermark - nobody wanted him because he is so inconsistent and been on the slide longer than Mickey Mouse at Disneyland.

 

So - yes it's the riders fault and not the management!

[BluTiger 21,661]

Get a life.

 

As Jon Cook stated last season "The Elite League cannot be held to ransom by foreign mercenaries".

 

And, in my book, this pleb absolutely epitomises Jon's statement.

Just asking, what evidence do you have regarding MJJ and your claim ?

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

Really?

 

Danny King - never a number 1 and lacks consistency to improve IMHO - must be his fault that he is the #1 in the team

Ben Barker - a second string riding as a heat leader - must be his fault that he is out if position

Edward Kennett - a second string riding as a heat leader. Been on the slide since drill gate - must be his fault that he is out of position

Adam Skornicki - a good signing IMHO but at this rate he will be riding as a heat leader and into the same camp as the above 3.

Daniel Nermark - nobody wanted him because he is so inconsistent and been on the slide longer than Mickey Mouse at Disneyland.

 

So - yes it's the riders fault and not the management!

 

Yes, really.

 

The point I am making is not about the make up of the side but how the riders are performing.

 

Only three clubs have third heat leaders with starting averages higher than Kennett's.

 

According to the Brummies website and based upon the GS averages for the start of the season and those for matches completed, King has dropped 2 points off his average, Barker almost 2.5 and Kennett almost 3.5.

 

Is that the managements fault or the riders ?

Edited April 12, 2014 by Halifaxtiger

[Steve0 5,517]

Yes, really.

 

The point I am making is not about the make up of the side but how the riders are performing.

 

According to the Brummies website and based upon the GS averages for the start of the season and those for matches completed, King has dropped 2 points off his average, Barker almost 2.5 and Kennett almost 3.5.

 

Is that the managements fault or the riders ?

The point I am making is that they are all riding out of position so no surprise that they dropping points off their average. The good news is that with that drop in average they can sign an 8th rider who would be their number 1. They might win some matches with an extra rider

[Halifaxtiger 5,318]

The point I am making is that they are all riding out of position so no surprise that they dropping points off their average. The good news is that with that drop in average they can sign an 8th rider who would be their number 1. They might win some matches with an extra rider

 

In terms of starting averages and in comparison with other clubs, Kennett certainly isn't out of position.

 

Barker has had a clear dip in form - I bet Plymouth fans can't remember when he was last on the end of a 5-1 at SBA as he was last night and his performance at Ipswich was described as 'mince' by one poster.

 

King should at least occasionally be beating third heat leaders and second strings away from home. He isn't.

 

As to a new rider, I think there are reasonable grounds for a genuine concern that the Brummies will last out the season. SCB makes fair point about winning home matches, but hidings on the road do affect home gates to a degree.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Halifaxtiger

[marko 956]

Shame work commitments meant i had to miss this one as it would beat my previous record of biggest win seen live which was way back in 1991 when Arena Essex beat Exeter Falcons 68-22, 11 heats finishing 5-1 to Hammers vs Brummies also beats the 10 heats finishing 5-1 to Hammers vs the Falcons so another record gone.

Glad to read that the whole presentation of meetings is being improved upon, does not affect everyone but if your a shift worker who sometimes has to be up in the ealy hours of a Saturday morning every little helps when it comes to grabbing a bit of sleep.

[Steve0 5,517]

In terms of starting averages and in comparison with other clubs, Kennett certainly isn't out of position.

 

Barker has had a clear dip in form - I bet Plymouth fans can't remember when he was last on the end of a 5-1 at SBA as he was last night and his performance at Ipswich was described as 'mince' by one poster.

 

King should at least occasionally be beating third heat leaders and second strings away from home. He isn't.

 

As to a new rider, I think there are reasonable grounds for a genuine concern that the Brummies will last out the season. SCB makes fair point about winning home matches, but hidings on the road do affect home gates to a degree.

 

You have some good points but having watched Kennett for most of last year I would say he definitely is riding out of position regardless of what his average says!

 

Is anyone really surprised by this thrashing? When this team was announced it had wooden spoon written all over it. Somehow they managed a home win against a team many fancy for the playoffs - so there is some hope for them but it would take a miracle for them to finish higher than 10th

[P T Preece 262]

As one of the few who travelled to Lakeside, that was a woeful performance by my team, the amout of times we gated and leading to be picked off by the Hammers was amazing, the only bright spot was Eddies win against Pk that even surprised us.

It was a well run meeting and they got on with it, apart from a couple of stupid refereeing mistakes we could have got 25.

Lakeside looked good and I cant see anybody beating you at home, best of luck for the rest of the season, the Brummies deep in the muck and looking like theres no way out of it.

It was a long journey home last night and I feel we will have a lot of them this season, Poole and Swindon being the next two away meetings.

Keep smiling, it can only get better, lets face it cant get worse.

UP THE BRUMMIES.

[Steve Shovlar 10,439]

Many clubs have been to Lakeside over the years and got smashed out of sight. Been there twice myself with 62-30 and 60-32 score lines. Not much fun when a reserve easily defeats your heat leaders.

 

Poole are up at Brum in a couple of weeks on a Wednesday night. Think I willl pop up for that. See if we can do better than Coventry.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Steve Shovlar

[Kester 3,001]

 

 

It's being made out to be a disaster but someone has to finish bottom every season - we don't have the woodenspoon team go bust every year!

 

No, but bearing in mind that we couldn't pay our riders properly last year, half the promotion team bailed and the commercial manager's gone then it's not exactly rosy. The reality is that we can't afford a competitive EL team and don't have a benefactor-style promoter willing to cover vast losses.