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I’m sorry but does Hans have to have 4 rides? If not Carl Johnson needs to take some of the blame for the poor end to the meeting. Because if Summers was going to go in heat 14, which he did, why did Hans go out in heat 13, we knew before heat 13 that Summers was out in heat 14 yet had not ridden since heat 7. So the track was going to be completely different to then, surely common sense for a team manager is to replace a rider who is so obviously off the pace with a rider, who was going well in the beginning of the meeting, therefore giving them a better chance in heat 14 by having a run out in the heat before?

I agree, not an outstanding meeting by the standards of the NSS but still some decent racing. The crowd was better than I feared considering the United match and the very cold weather. It's one of those meetings that we never looked like losing. To me the highlight was to watch Dan Bewley showing that he is well on the way to being able to carry on where he left off after his serious injuries last season. He had three wins, good race times and didn't back out of a tight first bend. Lidsey showed enough in his first meeting at the NSS for us to see what a talent he is and Bradley Wilson Dean was impressive for Peterborough.

100% spot on there.

Just as well they didn’t last year - all those suits would have bankrupted them

Harris was probably shipped out by bluster to strengthen one of his other clubs ipswich. No conflict of intrests though.

All going well in Buster's Pantherland then? As Blackadder said " Well it started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle & the less said about the end the better ... "

My point is this team is not good enough..and Johnson was suggesting we are..which I disagree with.

What like they smashed Lynn tonight

You’ve been spouting the same rubbish for weeks now - time to take off those rose-tinted glasses!

It was 2008 when speedway began its current decline. Before that is was having something of a minor revival, with radio 5 even running a report on how Speedway had become "cool" at one point. Then, with crowds relatively healthy, the introduced low points limits and "cost cutting" measures time after time, and each time they did it the crowds dropped. So, each time the crowds dropped, they did it again. So they dropped again. It always amazes me when people say that the future is about cost cutting. That is what caused the trouble in the first place.

He might even have had a pay rise !

Looks like Hans may have more that 1 night to forget, possibly a season.....

Hope your internet goes down for a while

I very much doubt we will have any "extra" points to play with by the end of June so will have to exchange (if we wish) like for like. Anybody who is under 40 is going to be bottom of the table by a long way

Maybe the topic heading should be Leicester Track Best It's Ever Been!

i think your timeline is a little skewed it was well into the 2000’s before the top boys all upped and left. To illustrate here’s a list of a few riders that rode in the elite league in 2005: tony rickardsson, Chris Louis, hans Andersen, Leigh adams, Ryan Sullivan, Antonio Lindback, Pepe Protasiewicz, Billy Hamill, Greg Hancock, Jason crump, Nicki Pedersen, lee Richardson, Scott Nicholls, Sebastian ulamek, Greg Walasek, Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson, Michael max, ales & Lukas Dryml, Mark Loram, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Joe screen, David norris, Chris Harris, Kris kascperzak, many others that arguably worth a mention, Troy Batchelor, Matej Ferjan, Jason Lyons, Mads Korneliussen, Martin Smolinski my memories of the late 90’s as a witches fan is the team of 98 - gollob, rickardsson, Louis, Svab, nicholls & clouting!

Same thoughts struck me... I have a fairly decent salary but not sure I could afford (or justify) £100+ per month for four Speedway meetings out of my disposable income, with the inevitable teenage requests for food and drink on top! There are so many other costs these days that have to come first.. Kids aged 13 - 16 are conspicuous by their absence at a great many tracks, maybe charging for them to get in also dissuades parents to attend who otherwise might go if their teenagers got in for free? Use free admission for their teenage kids as a 'loss leader', as let's be honest you don't see many teenagers now at many tracks so hardly a huge income loss... Do those who let teenagers in for free now I wonder see a reasonable amount of them there? Someone needs to replace the ageing demographic over the next ten years or so..

Who next Ben Hopwood? Don't get me wrong Phillips has had far more time at this level than many riders ever get and still shows no signs of making the step up but if a change is going to be made i would at least suggest a rider who could become a real asset but the ship has sailed on the majority like Jason Edwards etc. Luke Harris is a fair shout although also still a little too early. Would think the best opportunity is Jordan Jenkins as suggested and as a wild card i would say Danyon Hume would be a better option than Simon Lambert. However at present the diamonds issues are far bigger than who fills the number 7 jacket.

20 years ago there were many more clubs, league fixtures and at least 50% more regular paying supporters on the UK terraces, so I am not quite sure what the better shape is. Thinner? It isn't better quality racing, not from where I have been standing anyway. As for a Barry Hearne type figure, I can't think anyone would appear as there is no way to make promoting UK speedway profitable again. Is it Buster Chapman, when he increases his ownership to 8 - 10 clubs? Do you know, although I do not like his operating methods, he could be the saviour by cutting down costs and increasing the likelihood of semi-pro racing here if he did increase his holdings? No-one else is likely to do anything like that unless some 70 year old diehard fan wins £100 million on the Euro lottery and wants to blow it on wine, women ( or men ), song and speedway. Instead of doing something useful with it!

When the fixture mattered, in what was the biggest match of the Stars long history, we still succumbed to 4 consecutive 5-1 's and later trailed by 18 points . Now, in a match of little importance , and already 10 points adrift, this has to be the most uninspiring match possible... If you could think of reasons why this sport is in such low interest , this match highlights them all. I will be most surprised it the Pirates don't rattle up 60 points, at least....

I'd assume the licence that Horton held is no more which means one less hurdle to cross if we ever get a track to ride on.

After reading season preview in speedway star, Mr cammy knickers wants Tigger's to have more luck this year !! Think last year you were beat by a better team !! Now thinking Berwick side this year resembles that better team from last year, good luck bandits in Tigger land. By the way just over 1 week to cookies testimonial any riders known yet ? Got my h18tory tee shirt to wear next week !!

Andersen is done at the top level. He won’t win the big races when you need him. Solid 3rd heatleader these days. Tungate performed better than he will elsewhere as a number 1 given the track he was on tonight. I’d keep summers, let Barker go and get a proper number 1. Then becomes a much better team.

I think this is the best race I've seen for a while (I know it's off topic for this thread) Partly because it's a hell of a race, partly because it's a match winning race and mostly because Chris Holder finished at the back ...Oh, how I would love to live in Poland...

our riders stayed on the inside all night no chance from there. lambert superb after his first ride his three heat wins he was as far as he could go on the outside . anyway well done kings lynn for there win tonight

So I called it smack on at heat 10. The writing was on the wall that early. As Lynn struggled at hom in their first meeting, so did Pirates tonight. But a pretty awful meeting in all honesty. The first thing was just before parade Tony Steele said a section of air fence needed replacing as it had a small hole and was not fully inflated. I noticed this yesterday at P&P. Why leave it until tapes up to do something about it? On a cold night the start was delayed until 8 pm due to this. Amateur hour. Then the scoreboard malfunctioned. Amateur hour two. Poor. The racing was poor. Mostly gate and go bar two heats. One where Proctor got on it and passed mobile chicane Holder and then Josh G. And in another with Poole on a 5-1 and Palm Toft snuck up the inside of Klindt, who was going to slow. The other heats were mostly from the gate. In heat 13 Kurtz knew he had to make the start but touched the tapes. In heat 15 he knew he had to make the start but Riss slammed the door and that was that. A deserved win for Lynn. Luckily it was won in the first leg.

As I said on the other thread, as long as Lambert performs like a No1 Kings Lynn are ok. Poole need to get used to whomever is at No 1 for them is going to struggle.

Don't think the problem is to blame, or try to replace the lower order riders. The main fault is our top not scoring well in every meeting. None of them have been consistant with us, or their Premier clubs. It will obviously affect them, and they obviously don't enjoy scoring what they are scoring, but I don't think we can or need to replace them as I think they will get on top of their problems in the very near future. Could be we have also played and underrated both Redcar and Berwick, who both look like they could be in for better seasons than in the recent past. Anyway, Sunday will show if we have improved and against another well fancied side in Sheffield. I think we will win.

If the lads don't start pulling tha fingers oot, we will be below 40 and might fall off the bottom of the list.

What if Peterborough beat Wolves H&A Wolves beat Belle Vue H&A everyone has same points, but in reality wont happen.

Under 23 Polish or foreign- cannot replace the Polish U21 riders( 6 and 7) only the riders in 1 - 5

Speedway here should be semi-professional already. The fact that it isn’t is part of what’s preventing it from starting from scratch and building from grassroots up to perhaps be a well followed sport again.

Ryan MacDonald will do a job for Leicester especially when if/when Dan or Joe move up into the main body. Experience at Leicester too which will help. That's 3 of the Cov NL side now, good to see.

Hope so.... leaving Wolves in 30 mins !!!

Absolutely

Leicester’s track will get better every week ,Stewart comes down a few days before and along with a few dedicated helpers are making improvements every week and he stays on till after the practice day on the Sunday to get it ready for the following week there are a few areas he has been working on to try and get it right for good racing

Always been impressed with Henry Atkins and he knows the track, I think possibly a year too soon for Anders Rowe based on NL form? Been told Covatti will miss most Saturday Fixtures Somerset have?, if true will be a big blow to them as he has an average that belies his form and won't be easy for them to get good Guests if Berwick; Leicester and Eastbourne have Saturday matches, will only leave a few Teams and a small number of riders to choose from.

You mean the top five from Poole go off 15 metres? Cracking meeting giving the Stars half a chance and making it all much more entertaining.

THJ,,, 6.64 for a Brit and, 6.48 for a foreign rider ???,,, Ludde is on 6.47, that would be a snug fit and, there was rumours on the terraces on Sunday

First visit to Somerset since 2008 with Reading. Forgot how cold it can get there and a 30 minute delay to start proceedings after a lady needed medical help didn't help, but these things can't be helped. and to be fair, that kept the meeting going well once started. Some good racing without it ever being really great though Chris Harris heat 15 was sublime. Apart from Harris who will be a real force round the OTA, I was very impressed by Henry Atkins for the home side, very good potential that lad. Kurtz and Covatti also did well whilst the new German lad will definitely be an asset. Rory S was good, but expected that from him on a well prepared track in clear weather (rain and bumops who knows)! As I mentioned earlier Rowe was on the pace and with Atkins looking good, hopefully he'll be given a long run to prove himself without too much pressure. For the Brummies, Ashley Morris and Zach W both performed well and good to see they are continuing to develop. Ulrich showed some glimpses that he can still mix it with the top guys, Paco produced 2 good heat wins, so certainly doing his job at reserve. Shanes was competitive and brave. Kyle Newman flattered to deceive in the tough number 5 jacket whilst Tobias Thomsen was off the pace apart from heat 8. Crowd wasn't great, about 500 at a guess. Thought it might have been higher with nice day and kids off school. Not over impressed with the presentation, all a bit bland - don't do much to get crowd going or get kids involved. Reasonably priced Chicken Nuggets though :-) Enjoy evening overall.

Agreed although to be fair its closer than several teams are likely to get. As for gates whilst its really disappointing that there was such bias towards gate 1 it can't be used as an excuse as only Rowe & Thomsen failed to score from gate 1 (or at all) with everyone else from each side registering wins or seconds. The Oaktree used to be a little more favoured to outside passing so i hope that returns but Rory isn't famed for liking lots of dirt.

Thomsen was a long way back in his firsttwo, bit closer in his third - was t/s in final ride Rowe broke tapes in heat 2 but wasn't far off the pace thereafter. Very impressed by Atkins.

When the individual qualifying times are known it might take forever for some riders to decide which riding number they prefer. They have trouble picking gates for heat one in a league match and very often have to consult with others before they can decide.

If rumours are to be believed Louie is more than capable with his fists

Just to add the only way I can see panthers getting a rider in is when wolves release Nicholls We'll hear tried to sign him got in touch with him I could be a 100 percent wrong tho

Whats the point of banning a. winning riders and b. any riders at all since there’s not enoughof them anyway. This had to be a joke?

A 2pt win for the Stars he says.. "Not really an improvement" That's a new one to me. I'd always considered a 2pt win better than a 10pt loss but hey ho, I live and learn.

Just to qualify one of your points......Swindon speedway do not own the Abbey, Stadia UK do. The ''pre-built grandstand'' you mentioned is owned by Stadia UK, not Swindon, they are the ones who have stated that the prebuilt grandstand is in storage in Wales. The Speedway club (and even the local media) can only provide information which is given to them by Stadia UK. This is also the reason the track reshape hasn't started until a few weeks back, the landlord has to grant permission. I hope this clears a few of your points up.

For those of you who are interested here is a list originally put together by the Swedish Public Service channel SVT with the average attendance for the 2018 season. https://www.elitspeedway.com/artikel/sjxsaju0w-21mi1/publikstodet-okar-i-ess-se-hela-listan-har. The orginal list you can find here: https://www.svt.se/sport/artikel/publikbarometern With an average of 4841 Smederna has the 21st highest average attendance in Sweden amongts all professional leagues and the highest average outside Allsvenskan (football) and SHL (icehockey).

I was never planning to go to the Press and Practice at Poole yesterday. As it happened track action was postponed. I decided to go the IOW p/p. So glad I did! Despite the puddles, scraping the top surface off and intermittent showers, the lads over there just got on with it. Track in great condition with many of the ripples bladed out. The funniest moment of the day was the early evening local sports news report. Two minutes of IOW coverage and only one minute about Poole. I can assure you it raised a big cheer in the clubhouse! Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of the Ford household!