stevebrum

That average was achieved whilst riding in the GP's last year so any scores below are well below an expected showing from a GP standard rider.

The Bees looked unconvincing on tonight's performance but have been red hot so far this season. As others have pointed out this is a huge test for our chances for the season ahead. Bees have riders who can be equally brilliant and average at Monmore so I hope more of the latter please! My instinct says a 4 pointer to the Bees with a sort of 40-50 type score. Now, prove me wrong boys!

Thanks VV. Had you down as unbeaten at home and potential PO's but Bech a huge disappointment. Doesn't see to be moving forward at all.

Only watched the updates so hard to know who was the better choices, however looking at the scorers for both sides nobody looked an automatic pick. Can't remember a meeting when nobody scored double figures from either side!

It's true one point Kenny is riding like the former Birmingham reserve at the moment!

Ellis was excellent at Monmore on Monday, out gated PK twice so is progressing well. Ellis did the right thing at this stage of his career and no doubt a PL team will snap him up quickly. He cannot afford to wait for a PL place to come up. Garrity was always likely to be snapped up sooner than. I agree on paper Lakeside look to have weaker reserves. Birks/Boxall/whoever are meant to be the better reserve anyway and it's hardly been a settled piston yet. WELL DONE to the mighty Wolves. Must write us off more often!

He was in the GP's last year so clearly he should still be.

Bjerre is a GP standard rider ,if he isn't scoring 7 or 8 points minimum then he isn't doing his job.

Lakeside will wipe the floor with us I'd imagine. 55-38 sort of score.

A good home win for the patched up Robins although I really expected more from the Stars who aren't quite the force they were last year. Iversen and Bjerre are starting slow. Iversen you kind of expect it from coming back from a bad injury but what is going on with one point Kenny?

This should be a test for the hammers if they are going to get any further chances of points on the road. Should be a home win 49-41.

I'd be surprised if the Bees don't get 50.

Should be a routine win for the stars.

Thought the racing was okay tbh. How can you tell how the atmosphere was over the telly? As for Peter York, he stands in for porkie not is in residence. I'm not sure I can cope with him every week.

Poole and the Bees are going to give lots of team's tonkings this year on the road. Along with the stars (who don't look as convincing as last year) are the 3 teams that look head and shoulders above everyone so far. Looks like another season of promises so much, delivers so little for the Aces tho already.

After the farce of the GP on Saturday thank god for some proper racing on a proper track. Gate 4 is becoming an issue for the 2nd match running, but at least the entertainment factor is back in the sport. Yet again our gating was dire from the off. Lakeside clearly came expecting points and it looked like that was going to happen. As expected however they fell well away and the travelling lakeside I expected turned up. For wolves FRED - his first 3 rides he looked woefully slow and gate 4 in heat 1 is proving a graveyard. 2.5/5 RICKY - so quick and fast thinking. 5/5 MOTM TOBBY - is learning quickly and looks so stylish on the bike. Definitely a grower. 3/5 PK - proving it was All about the silencers last year the real PK is back. The only blip was being out battled by Lawson in the only race he didn't win. 4.5/5 JACOB - after a 1st race stormer he seemed to lose confidence on the opening bends. 1.5/5 LEWIS - started slowly but showed why he was one of the best FTR's from last season in the 2nd half of the match. 4/5 JOSH - dreadful, however PA stated he shouldn't have ridden so we can forgive him. 0/5 Lakeside MOTM had to be Adam Ellis. So quick out the gate. Should have been a match winner if the 1-5 turned up for the 2nd half.

No surprises the Stars dominated proceedings. The Aces sadly are showing that they don't ride on paper and their usual inability to pick up points on the road is so far very much in evidence. Zagar getting GPitis a bit early isn't he?

Thanks OOD. It was certainly unexpected half way thru! Maybe less so before tapes up although the myth that the Aces are stronger on paper away is as yet to be proven on track.

I thought at first we were gifting the points on a plate to the Aces! Freddie was nowhere in Heat 1, then our reserves got outgated in Heat 2. THEN what a schoolboy error to send PK out in the wrong helmet colour and he rightly got excluded from Heat 4. All was not lost but that could have been a 5-1 instead of the 4-2 we got. Freddie looking ill at ease at Monmore is a rare sight. But to see him go from 1st to 4th in the space of a lap in Heat 7? And can any trivia fan tell me the last time Freddie opened with 2 duck eggs?? After 7 heats our top 2 had scored precisely nothing. The crowd were stunned into silence and I heard rumblings of leaving before things got any worse. However what was to follow showed the inner Wolf and hopefully the shape of more to come. No Belle Vue rider won a heat after Heat 7. The battle between Wells and Cook in Heat 9 proved an absorbing one. Cook giving up after nearly hitting the fence on lap 3. Then perhaps the biggest surprise saw Wolves outgate the Aces unbeaten number one in Heat 10. Musielak showing why he is scoring freely in Poland with some good speed although he needs to start mastering coming out of the tight bends. A lift on the 2nd lap with Jacob alongside him could have been disastrous for both but he got the wheel down but allowed Zagar to close in a little. Jacob riding a superb line for 2 laps to deny the GP star. Heat 13 we could have been sailing into 50+ territory with both Wolves leading Zagar. Again Jacob did everything right thwarting Zagar at every opportunity – right up until the last lap when he drifted a bit too wide out the 2nd bend which allowed Zagar to slip in and speed into the 3rd bend. Jacob down and a potential maximum turned into a drawn heat. Heat 15 had everything that a top race should have. Freddie had to battle to pass Scott who continued to push hard. PK defending hard against Zagar who was always looking to make a pass. NEGATIVES – We need to get out the traps from the off – there was some awful sluggish starts. PK admitted the boys were a bit nervous early on. POSITIVES – Every rider took at least one heat win. Reserves who can make a difference. WOLVES FREDDIE – started like he was on one of Woffy`s old Monmore bikes but then owned Monmore in the next 3. 3.5/5 RICKY – Looked quick all through the meeting. Got beaten up by Nicholls in his last race but was still chasing. Did his job well. 4/5 TOBBY – His race win proved he has ability but his ability to read the track yet is leaving him exposed. Was much more in the hunt in his last race although he finished last. 1/5 PK – His helmet colour faux pas in Heat 4 could have proved costly however topped the scorers again and looks like there is plenty of life in the old Swedish horse yet. 4/5 JACOB – Won his opener by a mile and can take anyone on at Monmore. Beat all the Aces top 3. 3.5/5 LEWIS – Started slowly and looked a little unhappy with track conditions and then showed his class in his last 2. Beat Craig Cook. 3.5/5 JOSH – What a home debut. Gave chase in Heat 2 and then made a blinding gate and excellent effort to deny Cookie in Heat 4. Only added a point after that but he had already done more than his job. His 5 points after Heat 8 one of the main reasons we were still in breathing distance of the Aces. Delighted with our choice of FTR at 7. MOTM ACES Zagar – did the opposite of what I expected. Was untouchable in the deep heavy shale but then struggled to beat our weaker heat leaders and second strings. 3/5 Fricke – a rather disappointing night for Max who I expect will be a match winner often for the Aces this year. 2.5/5 Nicholls – only got one win in 5 races but had plenty of speed and was the main consistent challenger to our dominance in the 2nd half. 4/5 Cook – I expected more from him in a second string role yet lost to both our reserves. 2/5 Stead – did little of any note worthy of a mention. 2/5 Worrall – as expected one of the better FTR`s scored the same as Lewis (although from one ride more) yet didn’t beat any of our top 5 riders. 3/5 Nielsen – CRM (cant ride Monmore) 0/5

Cant believe some are still moaning about the standard of racing. Its an early league fixture, weather conditions poor so this was never going to be a classic meeting. Coupled with poor opposition this was not a classic, and was never likely to be.

Lambert - proving why he is our best hope since Woffy. Total class. Lakeside were dreadful. Did Nigel really say Kennett was in form?? Totally awful.

Yet again pre season the Stars look the team to beat. Lakeside to me are real dark horses of the EL. Still reckon on a comfy home win 51-41

Just goes to show how important Blackbird is going to be ths season. He would have been good for double figures Friday night.That would have turned it into an unlikely victory. Keeping the faith.

Odd decision by the Bees to go with RR, tho the explanation is valid. Am hoping Tobby is fit as we need to see how he fairs against a strong top 5. (in saying that he is already ten times better than Jamrog!) No doubt the weather will play a part in this match and i hope we get this on. Looks like a close one with PK and Lewis getting about 12 each. 48-42 is my prediction.

I see there is the usual PL teams are hardly much weaker than the EL. Utter rubbish. Without EL riders the PL would struggle for riders just as much as the EL would without double uppers. Time the blinded PL fans got off their soapbox.