Aces51

I think you will find that there is a coach travelling from Belle Vue and I shall also be there. I don't count my chickens and think the overall result could be closer than some expect. As for football, I wouldn't dream of missing speedway, even if it is England but accept that many casual fans will.

It doesn't matter what you do or how good the product is you simply won't get the crowd on a Monday that you would on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. People have a limited amount of money to spend on sport, entertainment or leisure activities and most of it is spent at the weekend. It's common sense that people are more likely to go out when they have no work or school for their children the next day.

Can Wolves claw back a 24 point defeat at the NSS? I don't think they can despite a significant home advantage but Cookie is still struggling, Rohan doesn't do well there and I don't expect Damian to do anything on his first visit. It may depend on Garrity. He can do well at Monmore but there are no guarantees with Jason. We have done well this year despite losing Steve Worrall and I can't see us failing to score at least the 34 point required.

Dan finished second in his World Under 21 qualifier after a three man run off for first place and is now through to the final. Another step forward in his remarkable progress.

Zach did very well though to score 10 and get in the run off for the final qualification place for the final.

Dan did well to finish second in his qualifier after a three man run off for first place. Zach did well to score 10 but was unfortunately third in a three man run off for the final qualification place. Robert Lambert currently unbeaten in his qualifier after three rides. Things are certainly looking up for the British youngsters.

It's 4. The will be three permanent wild cards in each of the rounds of the final plus one temporary wild card in each round.

There is something in what you say about when the leagues amalgamated but there are many and varied reasons why some of those clubs who moved up found themselves in difficulties. Berwick's problems were due mainly to the then owner. Somerset and King's Lynn seem to be content to stay in the PL and the problems at Rye House are down to having to change their race night because of the FNR. Yes, Ipswich, Redcar and Sheffield were asked to change their race night and refused but let's not forget that FNR wasn't just for the benefit of the PL. It was done mainly to resolve the problem of missing doubling up riders and the CL stood to gain as much from that at the PL. As it now stands the CL are, subject to the SCB rules, enjoying the benefits of having their doubling up riders available and paying none of the price, which falls entirely on the PL having to race on Wednesday's when Denmark has priority.

The problem at the SWC race off was that the track was too grippy. The result was that it was virtually impossible for riders to catch the rider in front and most races were from the gate. The following night it was much slicker, which is how it is normally prepared and the racing was brilliant. It was at the race off that Iversen set the current track record, which is about 3/4 seconds faster than usual race times.

FNR has largely resolved clashes for doubling up riders but as has been mentioned previously, the crowds at Belle Vue have dropped significantly since the change from Friday to Monday. Why the BSPA ever agreed to Monday is a mystery. There is only one PL team which operated on that night and previous experience at Belle Vue, when the then landlord forced a change to Monday, was that the club had no sustainable future. That is why we changed to Friday as soon as we moved into the NSS. If TV was the reason for Monday all clubs have shown they can race on that night when on TV and could have done so for their televised meetings. As it stands now those clubs that had to move to a Monday race night have also to compete with the TV meeting. Maybe our crowds will improve when the children are on holiday but that isn't going to compensate for the losses already suffered.

Jason has had good and bad meetings at the NSS. He is one of those riders who seemed to have the potential to be a good heat leader in the top league and maybe better than that but has never been able to achieve it. He was confident and rode very well on Monday. If that and his other good performances this year are an indication that he has matured as a rider he could be a very good signing. It is an opportunity to show what he can do. Jason is a Mancunian, was a Belle Vue mascot and signed for the club when he was 16 but things didn't work out. Whilst hoping that Steve would have been able to return I think most fans will be pleased to see a local lad back in Aces colours, albeit only temporary.

Belle Vue have signed Jason Garrity on a 28 day contract to cover for the injured Steve Worrall.

It's on at the moment on BT Sport 2, it started at 12.30 but like tonight it is the 2 hour condensed version.

Looking at the British Final thread it seems it recorded with a SkyQ box but it didn't on my HD box.

Hopefully, Steve Worrall will have a successful comeback from injury tonight. If he does it will be good to be able to field a full team next week. Something we have not yet been able to do in any league meeting.

I hope that the SON doesn't replace the SWC but that both competitions continue by being held in alternate years. The SWC, minus the Joker, is fine as it is but the SON format needs to be changed so that the nation scoring the most points wins. That could be either by taking the scores at the end of the normal heats or adding the scores from a final race . A solution also needs to be found to make the race off events more entertaining by ensuring those taking part are of more equal ability. Perhaps the lesser speedway nations could be involved in a quarter final and the top 2 progress to a semi final with all of the top nations apart from the nation hosting the final, who would continue to be seeded or, my preference, that only the lesser nations are involved in a semi final with only the winner going into the final. And I forgot to add, change the name to reflect it is a World Championship as I and others have previously said.

You are in danger of falling into the same trap as SteveBrum. Records don't tell you anything like the whole story. Just to give a few examples, Peter Collins has far more World Championship medals than either Craven or Woffinden but you have to take into account that England were the best in the world during much of his era. As a result he was advantaged by being a member of World Cup and Pairs winning teams. There was no World Cup or Pairs to win during Craven's career and Woffinden hasn't had the quality of team mates that Collins had. The British Championship was first held in 1961 so Peter Craven didn't have an opportunity to win it during most of his career. He did win it in 1962 and 63, the year he died and remember that at that time Australian and New Zealand riders, like Briggs and Moore, also took part so it was more difficult to win than in recent times. I also previously touched on the better quality of riders during the Craven and Collins eras as compared to now, which made it more difficult to win a title.

Those of us who have witnessed speedway from that era to the present day are better able to make a judgement. Peter Craven raced in an era when there was the big 5, Craven, Fundin, Moore, Briggs and Knutsson, who were all capable of winning the World Title and did so. Peter was unfortunately killed when only 29 and I have no doubt would have added to his achievements had he lived longer. Tai is without doubt an outstanding rider as he proved again this weekend. Where he will eventually stand in the overall ratings has yet to be seen but at the moment the quality of opposition at the highest level is not where it was in the the Craven or Collins eras or indeed, in the days of Rickardsson and Crump. At the moment I rate both PC's more highly but that could change.

I always thought that was the ultimate challenge of human intelligence. If you can achieve perfection the world is your oyster and your pronouncements are to be listened to with reverence. Many an announcer has felt the lash of my tongue when they've wrongly announced the line up or result of a race causing me to make an amendment.

That was his first meeting in Poland. Not the strongest opposition but everybody dropped points apart from Batchelor and Bewley. In his first and last races he came from last to second to finish behind his partner. Apparently, he was using one of Craig Cook's Polish bikes.

It was 1984. Peter Collins and Chris Morton. It was held at Lonigo. Morton took the inside gates in all of their race so a similar strategy to last night.

Some brilliant racing which shows that the format can work but it would still be better with 4,3,2,0 scoring and the team with the highest point score wins. Lambert showed just how much he has matured this year and his improved gating skills enabled him to to control the white line whilst Woffinden came round the outside. Woffinden, what can you say. The way in which he protected and shepherded Lambert as much as he could whilst also controlling the race was incredible. To do that and to go through the meeting unbeaten despite giving Lambert the inside gates was something to be long remembered. We need a similar track tomorrow. Team riding will be more difficult if the track develops more racing lines on the outside.

Many of the Poole assets are foreign riders who became assets simply by riding for the team, so not really any financial investment involved. As it's working out any financial investment would have been far better used to maintain the track rather than allowing it to deteriorate to such a state where it may not now be affordable to do the work necessary. The track is the most important asset for any team yet so many seem prepared to skimp and save on it. For Matt Ford to complain about not being able to use his assets currently riding in the UK is just plain ridiculous. He agreed to loan them out so can't now complain simply because his situation has changed. Whilst understanding the potential difficulties of the legal position I think that teams should be able to retain the registration of riders they have bought and riders they have developed but the registration of riders gained simply because they ride for the team should be time limited if they are not used. It is ridiculous that Belle Vue still hold the registrations of Tomasz Jedraszek and Patrick Hougaard but right that they have Steve and Richie Worrall and Max Fricke because they bought them and Dan Bewley and Kyle Bickley because they have helped them develop from novice to where they are today.

Cook is riding, he has said he is ready to race. It was ridiculous of Rossiter to drop him. Even if you accept that Rossiter mistakenly thought Cook had a medical certificate for 7 days, rather than the automatic 7 day suspension he did have, it would have expired before the race day so mean we couldn't have brought in a replacement for him for illness or injury. There were only disadvantages to dropping Cook because if he doesn't do well he can be replaced by Lambert in any race but if he was dropped and Woffinden or Lambert weren't scoring or, were injured, we would have no reserve to put in. Fortunately, those now in charge of GB saw the stupidity of what had been done and quickly reversed the decision.