Hunters

I did not realise that Halder was back at reserve, He goes pretty well at Arlington for a reserve and Laurence has a lot of experience there. The biggest plus is r/r for Danny Phillips who cannot master the track with 12 points from last 13 rides. Horses for courses this Bees side is stronger than their declared 7 but should still have a mountain to climb (no pun intended).

We don't know the teams yet but if you are right it will make Coventry stronger not weaker. I'll take Stoneman over Armstrong any day of the week at Arlington where Armo really does struggle and the prospect of MacDonald even getting a point would be remote. If they have to go r/r for Armstrong it would not be a disaster with Mountain getting an extra ride and a couple of extra rides for Luke Harris who has plenty of experience at Arlington and looks better every time. I expect Luke to be in double figures on Wednesday. The way the Eagles are riding and with Charlie Brooks coming on leaps and bounds at No 7 they don't need to be plotting to get an advantage only to make sure that mechanically they are sound.

I think 14 to 16 loss will make for a thrilling heat 15 on Saturday but I fear they will do well to hold the Fen Tigers to 20 tonight.

What a farce and if Georgie Wood does not get his bike sorted the same will happen to Eastbourne..... Twice.

Weather forecast for Leicester good tomorrow with no rain. Presume Mildenhall will avoid picking Eastbourne in the semi's as their only loss this season was at Arlington in the Trophy and possibly in the league to come. Hope they take Kent as we already have them in the KO Cup and Coventry will be a change.

Have you any idea why? They are not very good at giving reasons to the supporters for their decisions. If they don't beat Mildenhall on Saturday or it is rained off then they could be out. Surely with Baseby and Powell plus anybody else missing they could use guests? It is unbelievable that they would be prepared to take that risk. Fixtures still have to be completed by end October so they could be second in the final table but out of the play off's. Makes us wonder if they are going to pull the plug in 2019.

I had a feeling that was a strategic decision, watching the weather forecast a few days ago there was a possibility of rain this weekend in which case they could stay over and run on the Sunday. Better to risk possible 4 points missed at Buxton than 6 at Arlington. I don't think Baseby and Powell missing at Buxton would have bothered them unduly but who knows what circumstances there are behind the scenes. If it means missing out on the Play offs that is just too bad after all there is not a hope in hell of beating Mildenhall on aggregate.

Except that it is the two away fixtures Stoke and Buxton last weekend being rained off which have caused the problem , not the home ones which should be finished in time. Please tell me which away meetings he had the power to cancel whilst " waiting for Spiller " as you put it. With just 9 days to go Buxton have 5 outstanding home matches so even with double headers somebody has to lose out and it has been Eastbourne. The fairest solution would be to put the Plymouth match which now has no bearing on the Play offs back to October freeing up a spot for the Eastbourne match. Nothing can be done about Stoke it seems because they both ride on Saturdays.

Dream On. I'll have some of what your on. Mildenhall will pick Kent and then clean up the winners of an interesting Brum / Eagles semi.

Huge problem for Kent now. Time to call up Jake Knight otherwise play offs out of reach? Don't see anyone but Jake available.

Here we go again! After all the information on here you still insist on being unpleasant. Just to refresh your memory. Born in England to British parents, Father's job takes him to Germany supporting B A O R and he takes his family with him ( under the wonderful EU freedom of movement?) Only chance to ride speedway is with German Licence which has absolutely nothing to do with nationality. Of course has British Passport and no doubt by now a British ACU racing licence. Fits the criteria completely to race NL. All this stuff was trawled through some years ago with Daniel. I can draw a parallel. My company sent me to Africa with my family when my children were 2 years 9 months and just 9 months old, I was there for 11 years before returning home. Your telling me that they do not have British credentials? Get real. As has been said the same situation applied to Adam Ellis who did so much to help Birmingham land the 2015 title. Nothing was objected to in Birmingham I wonder why? (No disrespect to Adam who did a great job for us in 2016

I think it goes back 2 or 3 years. Kelsey never seemed to come to terms with his step brother (soon to be?) Tom Brennan being so much better than him. I recall him saying something about he could have done more if he received the help Tom had. He has been given several opportunities but it would seem he couldn't lose the chip on his shoulder and things have come to a head. Shame really, back in 2015 he looked to have a lot of potential.

'Mum and Dad Spiller have got it right, education first. I expected Ethan this time last year in line with Daniel in 2015. as soon as education is completed I would anticipate both brothers to be back at Arlington for a season or so before moving up a league. It should be a year or two before Ethan becomes available again so they will not limit his League appearances to 3 this season but give him the full programme as they did with Daniel. Glad to hear they came over together last night as Daniel is a very popular young man with the fans and having him in the pits will give us an extra buzz. Now just maybe Mildenhall will have a fight on their hands which has got to give the season end a big boost.

So the Articles are unjust and wrong and should be changed, but of course the people who control them are the people who benefit from them. Same as no Assets for NL teams. NL Promoters like Buxton and Stoke are dedicated to keeping Speedway alive in their area all against the odds but have to operate with rules they have no control over . As so many have said on here they should have declared UDI for the NL 2 or 3 years ago. They just need to find a modern day Mike Parker. Hope it does not come too late, after they have thrown the towel in.

With last night and tonight to shake the cob webs out of the system I feel an Eagles win is most likely. Question is whether they can get all four points. Hope I have not put a jinx on them, which I have been known to do.

Great start to the much delayed campaign last night despite Kelsey obviously having mechanical problems and Charlie Brooks will need time to adapt from Long Track. Have they banned reserve switches this year? Edwards for Brooks in heat 12 was an obvious one but did not happen. I can imagine what was going through Mark Baseby's head prior to heat 15, determination not to lose. It looked to be a real captains performance. Blue sky and sunshine at last, should be a good home opener tonight. Hope Ben Wilson and Connor Coles are at their best because the Hit Man tail looks rather fragile.

Agree with your observations but after Shanes fell trying to power around the outside in heat three they rode rather than raced. Get adventurous and you get into trouble. Very disappointing after 4 or 5 days of good weather to see the track still looking heavy at the start as proven by the first two races when Clegg and Mountain produced times of 60 and 62+ very slow for them. Then it started to rain, very light but non stop through to heat 20 and times went as high as 68. I fear anyone new to Speedway will not come again after that. From an Eagles perspective Tom Brennan was slow at the gate which is so important in these conditions and even when presented with a simple heat 20 which if won would give him qualification he missed the gate and did a replica of the Shanes move with the same result. On the plus side Jason Edwards justified his status as a top 3.0 starter this season and adapted well to the conditions. He was also in that heat 20 wanting the win to qualify and with Brennan out of the way he got it. Difficult to assess Charlie Brooks, he looked a bit out of his class mostly but having his first meeting at this level as opposed to Long Track and with these track conditions it would be unfair to expect much else. He did however gate pretty well but lost any advantage going around bend one. That will be an advantage once he gets settled into normal conditions.

Really up for this tonight, weather good and an attractive list of riders. Heat 17 should be best with Mountain, Shanes and Clegg, poor old Charlie Brooks has to make the number up in this one. Tom Brennan has a good chance with his second ride being toughest against Mountain and Zach but he has gate 1. He gets compensation in his last ride and should win from gate 4. Fancy it will finish 1 Zach 2 Shanes 3 Clegg 4 Bailey 5 Mountain 6 Brennan 7 ?? anyone from about 6 particularly if they pick up a bonus point from a fall or E/F by one of the favourites.

Still don't understand why it was Kelsey who was switched to Newcastle venue having originally been drawn at home when others like Josh Bailey live a lot closer. He might have had a chance at Arlington of 7th place but no hope at Newcastle despite that being a much easier group.

J Smith 8.20 D Kemp 3.00 J Thomas 7.43 K Bickley 6.67 G Wood 7.61 L Flint 3.00 J Edwards 3.00 38.91

George Hunter is still free and looks a decent prospect. Hoped to have him at Arlington this year.

The changes to the under 21 Semis have made them very lopsided. Originally the Arlington venue had five riders (Shanes, Zach, Bailey, Clegg and Perks) all at 8+ average with Newcastle getting only four (JPB, Greaves, Mountain and Smith). If they all qualified as expected it left two spare places to be fought out at Arlington and three at Newcastle. Now JPB and Perks are out which was one from each venue but with Mountain joining Coventry they have had to switch him to Arlington but instead of moving one of the better riders up to Newcastle they made it Kelsey Dugard. This only leaves two at Newcastle which becomes easily the weakest line up. Kelsey must be a very unhappy bunny having to give up his home track and travel all that way. It is easier to qualify up there but he has probably never even seen the track before.

Could it not be that the curfew would not apply that early?

I don't think they would have brought him back unless they thought so too. I think there is much more to come from him and in any event must be a bargain on 3.50, if Edwards moves up Kelsey will clean up in the reserve spot. For me the jury is still out on Kinsley having only seen him at Arlington occasionally and he was pretty dire but that won't be a true reflection.

Time to be bold. Based on initial declarations I see very little challenge to the top four but can see some surprises thereafter. Plymouth will not be happy with me once again putting them bottom but this time I cannot see another 'Roynan' incident to save them. I fancy a long overdue improvement from Stoke but am very dubious about Coventry. 1. Mildenhall 2 Eastbourne 3 Birmingham 4 Kent 5 Stoke 6 B Vue 7 I.O.W. 8 Coventry 9 Buxton 10 Plymouth Now let the feathers fly !