King's Lynn V Lakeside Tues 31st Sky 7.30

[Sings4Speedway 3,247]

The fact that the riders say how good Lynn's track is, for me, says the track is good. I don't want to see riders bashing through ruts and holes and looking as if they might crash and injury themselves. BUT, last night was a factor of 2 things for me...

 

1. Lakeside were useless! AJ could only manage 1 decent race when he made a start and he's meant to be their star number 1 rider. Buster and the track staff can do NOTHING about that. If you don't have the bike set up right, or haven't got your head on it properly, then you'll never over take someone who has got the right set up i.e Mr Lambert.

 

2. Today's bikes are just about speed! I've started to notice this over the past year or so, but everyone just seems to be intrested in getting their bikes to go as fast as they can. Its great for the riders, because they score more points and pick up more coin. But for the paying spectators, it becomes so dull watching follow the leader. To me, thats what F1 is all about now, If you've got the fastest car you win more often than not. Even when the best riders in the country are in town (Rooboys testominal and the world cup being 2 at lynn) there seemed a lot of FTG wins.

 

So what can be done? Slow the bikes down? Is that possible?

 

All i know, I'll always watch speedway as I love and enjoy watching any form of it. But there certainly seems less passing now than ever before, and the excitement of that is what gets spectators through the door!

 

 

Still can't let Eastbourne go. Not in the Elite League any more but can't resist twisting the knife one more time.

 

Join the revolution.

 

The National League is where speedway is in the UK

 

Sorry but the two posts above are on the money. For excitement, passing and over taking you need to look down the leagues.

 

For any spectators that haven't watched the NL recently it is well worth a trip out on a different day......you might just be surprised!

[pointsmeanplayoffs 417]

Great debate although there are some pretty sensationalist statements. I guess it depends on peoples interpretation of what makes a 'good track'.

 

Buster was asked at a team presentation evening a few years back about the track. It was suggested that Lynn don't dominate their home meetings as much as other teams do because we don't have much of a track advantage. Most teams are full of riders who are openly fans of the track and therefore over perform there compared to other 'away tracks'. It was even suggested by a fan that Buster should dig a few holes in it which only the Lynn riders know about to give us more of an unfair advantage! Buster to his credit dismissed this ludicrous idea and explained the great pride he takes in preparing a quality race track. Yes, he owns the place so has unlimited access, and yes he own loads of machinery so can do whatever preparation he likes but the fact remains the track at Norfolk Arena has won the best prepared track in the Elite League for a few seasons on the trot now and it still remains popular with riders like Chris Holder and Troy Batchelor. Good enough for me.

 

No track is perfect all the time though, no one is saying that. At Lynn we feel that our track is better prepared than most. Sometimes this is to our disadvantage like in the play-offs semis last year when somehow Buster got the track ready so that the meeting could go on despite knowing that the conditions would level out any home advantage we might have against a mighty strong Poole team. And so it turned out, we took no real advantage to Wimbourne Road and just fell short of making the final.

 

This season is still so early, the conditions for speedway are frankly still a little ludicrous with rain and freezing's conditions prevalent which cannot help track conditions. Some of the racing seen at Lynn this year has been a bit processional but to start rubbishing the track is pathetic. I'm not going to throw stones at other peoples tracks, my opinion is only my opinion after all.

 

It might be worth considering that maybe the riders are still not fully up to speed and are making a few mistakes which isn't helping the racing.

 

Hopefully this is coming across as a balanced and reasoned opinion from someone who visits all tracks in the EL each season.

Edited April 1, 2015 by pointsmeanplayoffs

[stevehone 3,430]

there were also showers forecast at 7 & 9 last night so I'm guessing things were done to make sure everything went ahead for Sky

[AJK86 180]

Watched this meeting and what a performance by Lambert, he has a great future for sure.

Kings Lynn were always going to run out easy winners in this meeting and Sky Sports need to choose better meetings, big track v small track only going to go one way and it ended up being a poor meeting to watch.

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

[quote name="whoswinnin86" post="2592851" timestamp="1427902260"

Kings Lynn were always going to run out easy winners in this meeting and Sky Sports need to choose better meetings, big track v small track only going to go one way and it ended up being a poor meeting to watch.

 

I agree, Lakeside are probably one of the worst travellers.

 

Trouble is any visit to Arena is also a guaranteed borefest.

[jammag 25]

As someone said earlier the riders enjoy it there as they know they will get a better surface there than anywhere else. Does that mean it's going to be the best race track...no it doesn't. A good race track requires more than just a steady surface, it requires a good shape and flow to the track. Just look at Leicester, wonderful little stadium, well prepared track but the shape of it causes all sorts of problems which stops overtaking which means usually once you get to bend 3 lap 1 you can fill your scorecard in. Look at Wimborne road, a few potholes causes riders to become off balance which then then allows riders to come through and get a closer race. From a fans point of view it may be great to see lots of this to see an overtake but do the riders enjoy it, I hardly think so.

 

Riders perception is wonderful, look at last night, jonsson said after heat 1 it's s lot more grippier than I thought it would be, Niels came out a few heats later saying in heat 1 it was slicker than he thought so struggled. So even they find it hard to judge a track and have different opinions.

 

A meeting like last night doesn't help fans view of a track because it was so one sided, you were almost begging lambert or Niels to not gate to see some competitive racing. Unfortunately it didn't happen, not because the track was badly prepared, but purely down to one team not being at the races, this could be the reverse at lakeside on Friday. Will that make it a bad track, I doubt it. The best meetings to watch are the close scoring ones, there may not be much racing but a close score brings extra pressures and reliefs when you finally get that win or what could have been.

 

To say the track is bad all the time now is a ridiculous statement it doesn't win awards for nothing and doesn't hold the World Cup meetings for no good reason either. Every track has bad days, even the show ground, remember how bad that track was when Kenneth broke h is leg it was awful. That doesn't mean it's a bad track it just had a tough night where t didn't go right. Every track has had good meetings and bad meetings where there's no overtaking, it's often because a team doesn't turn up.

[SPEEDY69 1,260]

As I said on another thread, faster does not mean better and I think the modern high-revving engines have a big impact, alongside electronic gadgetry around ignition settings etc. I don't really have an answer though - what's F2 speedway like, any better?

[semion 2,192]

Interesting reading about Young Lambert and him winning races from the gate. Last season is gating was the main thing letting him down. Anyone know why the change over the winter ?

[AJK86 180]

As I said on another thread, faster does not mean better and I think the modern high-revving engines have a big impact, alongside electronic gadgetry around ignition settings etc. I don't really have an answer though - what's F2 speedway like, any better?

We saw a bit of F2 Speedway on Ricky's Big Day and it was not a great advert, whether if that was bikes or riders i don't know but it was poor !

[E I Addio 15,845]

Trouble is any visit to Arena is also a guaranteed borefest.

Here we go again. After making a complete fool of yourself on the Coventry thread with mudslinging against Mick Horton that you couldn't back up when challenged we now move on to your familiar theme of mudslinging against. Lakeside. Some Lakeside meetings are bore feasts some aren't, just like any other track. Plenty of independent posters on here have confirmed that.

 

Arena get sufficient crowds to sustain EL racing so they must be doing something right. If you don't like Arena nobody forces you to go, but saying any meeting there is a guaranteed bore fest is as blatently untrue as your claim that nobody wanted to ride for Mick Horton. Before indulging in any more mudslinging it might be a good idea to get some help for those repressed emotions that translate into such a negative outlook and desire to snipe constantly, making a fool of yourself in the process.

Edited April 1, 2015 by E I Addio

[Panthers89 1,922]

Dull meeting, and cant remember the last time was wowed by a Lynn meeting, a track that good, should showcase better racing than what it does. Lynn done a job on a poor Lakeside performance, you can guarantee that Kennett and Mikkkel Bech wont score that bad again around Lynn though IMO.

[TonyE 822]

I agree, Lakeside are probably one of the worst travellers.

 

Trouble is any visit to Arena is also a guaranteed borefest.

Much like your repeated 'dislike of Lakeside' posts. Everyone knows your opinion by now so repeats are unnecessary.

[foreverblue 6,096]

Here we go again. After making a complete fool of yourself on the Coventry thread with mudslinging against Mick Horton that you couldn't back up when challenged we now move on to your familiar theme of mudslinging against. Lakeside. Some Lakeside meetings are bore feasts some aren't, just like any other track. Plenty of independent posters on here have confirmed that.

 

Arena get sufficient crowds to sustain EL racing so they must be doing something right. If you don't like Arena nobody forces you to go, but saying any meeting there is a guaranteed bore fest is as blatently untrue as your claim that nobody wanted to ride for Mick Horton. Before indulging in any more mudslinging it might be a good idea to get some help for those repressed emotions that translate into such a negative outlook and desire to snipe constantly, making a fool of yourself in the process.

I agree with you, it may be a tight track but i've seen meetings there when there have been passing in almost every race and usually an enjoyable evenings entertainment.

[marko 956]

I actually don't blame the track for last night, i think merely Stars had their bikes nailed and Hammers riders did not and struggled most of the night to get them going although a couple did look more on the pace towards the end but could still not drive off the start line quick enough.

Granted it was a massive come down after the best pairs on Saturday, sky's coverage does feel very dated now, the Elite League has actually turned from being a fan more interested in team racing to a fan more interested in individuals such as the Grand Prix's and the SEC as it provides better racing with every rider giving 100 percent , no guests, no R/R and no one going through the motions.

[New Science 1,059]

Genuinely fed up of hearing how great Lynn is only to see a crap meeting. It's not 2000 any more and Lynn's track is pants. And by pants I mean little in the way of racing and riders once again all over the place.

I think that if fans were to rate the Elite league tracks from 1 being the best to 8 being the worst most would still have Kings Lynn at one. .Doesn't say much for the rest ! maybe the reason the sport is struggling so badly.