stevethelion

Albin in for Edberg tonight

True, 4 other teams riding that night & doesn't look too much choice, perhaps Ricky Wells might be decent option.

Alot depends on what guest they use for Lasse at Rye, presume they will look for track specialist as it's a small tight track & Lasse will be at under 21 meeting.I assume we can use guest to cover Lasse's absense now he's at no.1.

Yes, sorry should have made clear, it was after heat 13 that Auty just completely ignored Karlsson's offer of a lift & continued walking the complete length of the green back to the pits.

I was standing on the 4th bend & Auty shed a chain just in front of Ellis, i think people booed the decision because some thought Auty caused Ellis to fall when he slowed because of his chain coming off, but Ellis was already out of control & was heading for the fence regardless of what Auty did.I think some booed Auty because of his reaction to an offer of a lift back to the pits from Karlsson.

Wondered why Lions didn't look to sign Simon Lambert before he signed for Somerset ( or maybe they did) when he was released by Rye House a few days ago. After releasing Branford they had 3.73 to play with after the new averages came into effect, Lambert was a bit of a bargain at 3.18 & although he has had injuries & his form has tailed off in the last couple of seasons i'm sure at reserve he could get 3 or 4 points a meeting which Sarjeant will probably struggle to get, also 2 of the tracks Lions have to visit are Scunthorpe & Rye House & he as had spells at both clubs so would have had good track knowledge of those tracks.Like i said maybe they did approach him & he chose Somerset instead which i suppose would be understandable as Lions have replaced him in the past. Having now used 3 points in signing Sargeant they now have 0 .73 to play with to take them up to the points limit, perhaps they intend to strengthen elsewhere in the team, but somehow doubt it.

There's a good arguement either way whoever rides at no.2/4.But i think the main problem this season as been the lack of a true no1,when the new averages begin on the 1st of August, Kauko will have lost not far short of a full point off his average 8.18 at the start of the season , down to 7.32 & Lasse will be the new no.1, all the sucessful teams have lots of riders who add points to their average during the season & for your no. 1 to lose that amount is always going to cause a problem.Obviously that & the big problems we've had at reserve all season, i feel is the reason we have under achieved.

I have to agree with you no.2 is probabaly the hardest position to ride & you get no easy rides apart from heat 8, but i think the reason Doolan is kept at no.4 is that it makes us stronger in heat 14 when you need a better experienced rider right at the death, if Graversen rode at no.4, it would be him & whichever reserve was at no.6, which would make it a pretty weak line-up at a crucial stage of the meeting. At the Newcastle match it was Doolan's heat 14 win over Lindgren that left us still in with a chance of victory in that last heat.

Looks like a great decision. 7.50pm & rain is bouncing of the pavements & just starting thundering & lightening.

Looking at the forecast it seems a pretty sensible decision really. Forecast, heavy thundery downpours from late afternoon & most of the night, at least early decision saves Sheffield fans a wasted journey.Whatever the promotion do it's not going to please everyone, but this seems like perfect common sense to me, just run it tomorrow when the forecast is better.

Meeting off due to severe weather warning for this evening. Re-scheduled for tomorrow 6.00pm

There was still a free weekend the following week with no meeting on the 7th july, so with better planning maybe the pride of the midlands could have been run then before the main holiday season started & would hopefully have drawn a bigger crowd.

According to Lions website Kauko is hoping to be back for home match against Scunthorpe, so providing he has no setbacks should be available for Rye House. It also says Edberg is 2 weeks away from returning so it's possible he maybe back too for Rye House trip.

Surely this meeting would have been better attended if they had run it on one of the 2 weekends we had no speedway( last week in june & 1st week in july) & moved the flat track meeting to last weekend when the holiday season had begun as i don't think there was much interest in that anyway.I wonder if the promotion will consider the future of indiviual meetings like this,there is always lots of withdrawals & last week must have been a nightmare for them as riders kept pulling out.

That's good news, Birks should at least match Kauko's scores of late. But according to Lions website its Steve Worrall to ride at reserve.

Anyone know why Kauko was withdrawn after having 2 rides in tonight's Coventry v Belle Vue meeting. Updates site didn't mention him crashing so suppose it could be illness? Will he be fit for Newcastle meeting & will we have much of a side at the 4's on sunday?

The stand at BP has, i would think about 500 seats so you should be able to easily get a seat, has for the walk up to the stadium it can be a bit of a drag for someone not too good on their legs as it's abit uphill ( easier on the way back down). I would guess it's about 300 yards from the stadium car park up to the stadium, but make sure you arrive at least 45-50 mins before start time, because the stadium car park is generally full after that time & you would then have to park on the shopping centre car park which will mean a longer walk.hope this helps , steve.

It's looking a bit worrying on the injury front for friday's visit to Edinburgh, already missing Bjerre on under 21 duty, so presume R/R for him.If Edberg & Karlsson are out guest's will be needed & looking at the fixture's for friday it doesn't leave much to pick from as 8 teams have fixtures that day plus Coventry Storm are riding which rules out James Sargeant to cover for Edberg.If Karlsson is ruled out maybe Micky Dyer would be a good bet on his old track.

The Rebels heat-leaders were different class ( 38 pts between the 3 of them which also included an e/f for Grajczonek), compare that to the Lions trio just 20 pts between them. Good meeting though & fair play to the Rebels never gave up & their extra class at the top end of the team saw them to victory.

1.Kauko Niemenin 2 Jan Graversen 3.Lasse Bjerre 4. Kevin Doolan 5. Magnus Karlsson 6.Alex Edberg 7.Robert Branford

I have to agree, he was obviously & understandably completely lacking in confidence & has you say, shutting of going into the corners, on that display it would a big gamble for someone to give him a place. Ideally it looked like he could do with a spell of national league racing to build his confidence back up.

I'd put Roynon in for Nieminen, this would give an extra 1.10 points to play with, & then use the extra points to replace Graversen, on the current averages, we would have 6.56 to play with. It may seem harsh on those pair but neither are on top form, Kauko hasn't exactly been banging in the double figure scores at home you expect from your no.1 & Graversen always poor away from home has now started to struggle at home too.I know this would leave Doolan as no.1 but i'm sure Roynan would soon replace him if he returns on anything like his form from last season.Don't know who we could get on a 6.56 average but someone like Claes Nedermark or Sanchez would be around that figure. I think this would give more overall strength.

I also like the look of Thorsell whenever i've seen him, & he's one who i would have liked to have seen at the beginning of the season, but unfortunately Wolves have there full quota of doubling up riders now, as you're only allowed 3 so that rules him out.

Leicester didn't drop him, if you read Glynn's programme notes last he said Lewis had concerns about his ability to score points on Leicester's track,& thought a move to a different track would benefit himself, so Lions reluctantly agreed to release him . Robert Branford was originally brought in to share the no.7 spot with Lewis not to replace him, but i suppose that decision was in Lewis's mind when he asked to leave.

Looking at the other fixtures on sunday, Newcastle, Scunthorpe & Mildenhall are all riding which rules out Kerr, Blackbird & Stefan Nielsen which doesn't leave much left in the way of 3 point reserves that could guest. But we are using Seargent at Berwick on saturday too, would have thought Kerr would have been a better bet.