Buxton V Lakeside Sun 17th Sept

[teaboy279 1,038]

Lakeside had George Hunter. .. .

[Sings4Speedway 3,232]

The tail end all boils down to how in touch the club is with lower league speedway & youth rounds. lakeside clearly were not and have struggled all year based upon recommendations from old mates etc.

Had they bothered to enter an MDL/SDL team they would have had 8 riders at the track all looking to prove they could do a better job than the current tail enders and in all fairness if Nick Laurence and co were the top performers they had earned the right to stay in the team but if more promising riders turned up changes could have been tried/made.

[waco 1,026]

George Hunter was a victim of the averages,when they were looking to bring in Paul Hurry..He has blossomed at Kent and good luck to him,,...Hindsight is a wonderful thing ''''''''

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,727]

George Hunter was a victim of the averages,when they were looking to bring in Paul Hurry..He has blossomed at Kent and good luck to him,,...Hindsight is a wonderful thing ''''''''

and right there in the first half of that post is everything that is wrong with the national league and why Jon cook shouldn't be let anywhere near it , I don't have a problem with Paul hurry riding in the national league but not at the expense of a young rider and definatly not for his £500 a meeting

[East End Fan 426]

How do you know he gets £500 a meeting ? Sounds like a lot of money to me and very unlikely.

If you had the choice way back in Maytime and had to choose whether to have George Hunter or Paul Hurry...it was a no brainer

at the time and I didn't hear anyone complaining. Now that George has improved beyond all recognition since joining Kent, all the

clever Dicks are shouting the odds about what a stupid move it was....well, it was not.

[marko 955]

Hunter and Mason made way for Hurry and Locke/Spooner, would the former been any stronger or weaker? Imo it would be about the same except of course Hunter would have no chance of dropping to reserve.

I was though in favour of the move so not going to say dropping Hunter was wrong, they simply had no other choice.

Lakesides biggest mistake was sticking with three poor riders (one of which should stick to unpaid amateur racing) and not giving anyone else a chance

[East End Fan 426]

Yes, I'd agree with Claret3...there seems to have been a lack of ambition to uncover any new talent. I know that finding them is

far from easy, and in the long run only a very few actually make decent riders. But around Lakeside has been Martin Hagon who trains

young kids, so I would have thought that he might have come up with a possible. I feel that if my club had found one young teenager

who looked promising, instead of keep using no-hopers, the public may well have got behind that and supported N.L. in bigger numbers.

[E I Addio 15,837]

Hunter and Mason made way for Hurry and Locke/Spooner, would the former been any stronger or weaker? Imo it would be about the same except of course Hunter would have no chance of dropping to reserve.

I was though in favour of the move so not going to say dropping Hunter was wrong, they simply had no other choice.

Lakesides biggest mistake was sticking with three poor riders (one of which should stick to unpaid amateur racing) and not giving anyone else a chance

They did make a change in bringing in Jamie Couzins to replace the original number 7 whose name escapes me but he has proved to be little or no better, and they have given Alex Spooner a few goes but he is no better either. Problem is there don't seem to be any three point riders around capable of holding down a team spot

Yes, I'd agree with Claret3...there seems to have been a lack of ambition to uncover any new talent. I know that finding them is

far from easy, and in the long run only a very few actually make decent riders. But around Lakeside has been Martin Hagon who trains

young kids, so I would have thought that he might have come up with a possible.

There is some talent in the Hagon Shocks Academy but they are either not yet old enough or not yet available for leaguer racing.

[tocha 306]

They did make a change in bringing in Jamie Couzins to replace the original number 7 whose name escapes me but he has proved to be little or no better, and they have given Alex Spooner a few goes but he is no better either. Problem is there don't seem to be any three point riders around capable of holding down a team spot

 

There is some talent in the Hagon Shocks Academy but they are either not yet old enough or not yet available for leaguer racing.

..and that is exactly the problem as far as Lakeside are concerned. Joining the NL very late in the day meant that promising youngsters had already been lined up by established clubs, David Mason was signed because there was no-one else who could hold down a third heat leader position at that time and had we retained George Hunter he might still be 'entertaining' us now. Also,at that time, George was scoring very little anyway. In fact, we were lucky that Alfie came good although it has been to our detriment that he has missed so many meetings through fixture clashes with Newcastle. From the Hagon Academy Jason Edwards will be fifteen on 14th October and lives locally. Nathan Ablitt is a year and a half younger but, based in Sussex, is likely to end up at Eastbourne.

Edited September 20, 2017 by tocha

[Sings4Speedway 3,232]

They did make a change in bringing in Jamie Couzins to replace the original number 7 whose name escapes me but he has proved to be little or no better, and they have given Alex Spooner a few goes but he is no better either. Problem is there don't seem to be any three point riders around capable of holding down a team spot

 

There is some talent in the Hagon Shocks Academy but they are either not yet old enough or not yet available for leaguer racing.

 

The problems were clear from the start. The number 7 wasn't selected from the countries offerings but from who was prepared to turn up to press & practice try out day & then face an immediate start with matches the next day. Fair play to Ryan Mac for making the journey down & it was a big ask to perform on a track he had barely ridden.

 

There are still riders who could have held down a team place with better scores than those included but most would have needed to be in the side early and learnt the track, been race sharp etc the continual process of chucking a rider into one or two meetings halfway through the year and expecting them to be on the pace immediately is laughable and 90% of the time dents the riders confidence & chances of getting a place elsewhere.

 

Having a 2nd half side, 2nd half match races or practice days would have offered the opportunity for 3 pointers to come & learn their way around the track before potentially moving into the side. By ignoring this Lakeside have failed & by scraping into the play offs has flattered their season.

[East End Fan 426]

While it's true that we have a very long tail, we are not alone in that respect. We deserve our Play Off place because our top 4 are among

the best in the league. Just wonder who we'll get ?

[Islander15 1,062]

While it's true that we have a very long tail, we are not alone in that respect. We deserve our Play Off place because our top 4 are among

the best in the league. Just wonder who we'll get ?

It should be amongst the best when they signed a number 1 on a third heat leader's average.