40-38

If only BV were of similar mind in the play off final, eh? 😉 Nice to know we won't get a repeat though.

But the super duper NSS can stand all weathers can't it? We know Leicester is like The Poseidon Adventure after a bit of drizzle.

I think that last question is a fair one, I'd be interested to hear an answer but I know we won't get one from the club. The only thing I can think of is Cook pulling out; perhaps they were willing to accept the low scores and building experience but now the situation has changed and Kemp can't replicate the scores Cook could have achieved at times. I'd say that Hagon looked a bit better against BV the other week, although still largely gifted most of his points, but the other day against Ipswich he really did look miles off it, and it's been the latter more often that not in Lions colours.

Ultimately it probably was the right decision, I just hope that he's given the time and backing.

Pretty much what we expected on bend 3/4. Douglas is poor this season so far, not helping, that was lost at reserve though.

The very same Ms Turnbull! Perhaps she was trying to redress the balance 😉

Christina Turnbull. I think the Becker one was 50/50 maybe. Kurtz dropping it on his own bend 1 and all 4 back, and then the inordinate amount of time for the 2 mins to go on, was ridiculous.

Bends 3/4 were like a sandstorm towards the end, so bad I couldn't fill my program out!

I agree, but that's what happened to JT as well last year, his confidence was shot and he was well adrift. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think it's either of them.

Who else is left on the RS list? I don't remember Joe Thompson being particularly better than Hagon in his last spell so not sure that swap would be any better.

I think it unlikely Cook would be back at Leicester again even if he was suddenly OK. It's a shame, on his day he can still be a good rider, but those days are getting fewer and fewer.

Sam Masters confirmed.

It probably should be something along the lines of having to use your no.7 plus AN Other rider. If you don't want to restrict to not using riders from Heat 15 then at least because the scoring system for the superheat is meant to encourage team riding, it's better with a heat leader trying to protect their no.7.

Howarth got 7 for Sheffield at Leicester whilst riding at no.2 which is the sort of score you'd expect a no.2 to get. Fricke is also a good team rider as shown by how well he rode with both Lawson last year and Sedgman the year before. Of course it's a downgrade of sorts and Lawson was by far the best Lions rider last year, but ultimately what cost us last year was 3-5 being so inconsistent. Masters and Douglas might be at their level now but Becker will be the key. If he can become the rider everyone thinks is there that could be a trump card. Also there's no guarantee that this years big improvers for other teams will continue to improve, so any team, even Ipswich, might not have it all their own way.

If that's the case then we need Becker to ride to his potential, if he does then that might be the difference.

I certainly wouldn't be excited if it's true. At No.6 I might be a bit happier with it, but I've seen nothing in his latest visits to make me think he's going to recapture great form. Having said that, if it means we get a good No.5 in for a weaker engine room? I could take that.

Think I'd sooner have Sedgman at 6, especially around BP.

I'd refuse to go if that utter arse Worrall ended up anywhere near a Lions jacket.

I'd be more inclined to thinking that we'll be getting a rider already in the UK but forced out due to points.

Is the laydown engine of today massively different to that of say 1995 when they were fairly new? Was the difference so great that it made the upright obsolete quite quickly?

As an under 40 (just) latecomer to Speedway I never saw the old 2 valves, nor indeed the upright engines. I have wondered though whether the narrow band of power put out by a laydown engine really is suitable for some of the smaller, narrower tracks in the UK. I'd have assumed at around a track like Wolves used to be, or say Edinburgh, then an upright engine with a better balance of throttle control would work better. I've noticed that a lot of riders tend to ride a diamond shape on a track as opposed to an oval, narrow into the corner and clattering the fence mid straight to enter the corner tight again, is that down to the engine or just the rider style? I've seen so many riders hanging on for grim death that you wonder if that's really not a terrible accident waiting to happen.

Who's available otherwise? Of the riders not theoretically signed up I mean.

You'd have to say that if we keep the same nucleus you'd need Becker to have the season of his life for us to repeat getting to a final.

Fricke and Becker going off the boil ruined any chance we had of winning on the night. Our purple patch only really happened when 1-6 were all firing at the same time, but we don't have the top end power to pull it out of the bag if they don't. I still think with the form of Bewley and Kurtz in the last few meetings it would have been close run even so.

It often works a it better than it did last night on B1/2, but it's not really an outside, as if you go too wide you end up in the fence as you come to the straight. That's why Bewley doesn't always go that well at BP, but his gating has got much better which makes a huge difference and I think his track craft has improved as well. I'd be interested to hear what BTFC Lion would suggest being the track man, because there is quite a large gap between the fence and the maximum width on B3/4 which is nigh on useless for the reasons suggested above. The banking on B1/2 hasn't seemed as effective as it did last year either.