Aces51

It was madness. Even if Cook had a doctor's note for 7 days it obviously didn't cover the meeting, which would mean we couldn't replace him. So why limit your chances by sacking Cook and leaving us with a 2 man team when Lambert as a reserve can be used at any time. You do have to wonder about Rosco.

Cook did well for Rybnik and in winning the GP qualifier so they are obviously getting somewhere with his engines. Cook said nothing wrong on social media. He was letting fans know what had happened and was very magnanimous about it. It did but Rossiter got the wrong end of the stick and then without clarifying the situation sacked Cook by text. As I said, you don't do that because you are under an impression you make sure you have the facts.

Roscoe's needs to get his act together. He was under the impression that Cook had a doctor's note for 7 days which ruled him out until Monday, so we concerned about Tuesday. You don't sack someone by text because your under the impression and concerned, you find out exactly what the position is before making yourself look foolish. At least Craig dealt with the text in a professional manner, wishing whatever was best for GB.

I think most tracks have a rostrum or could easily knock one up as for the rest your mentioned items surely BSI could run to two sets, might be cheaper than transporting them. However, I bow to your greater knowledge of the logistics involved in these matters. As far as the rain off problem is concerned, if the first meeting is rained off the second meeting could be postponed to its rain off date, just as might happen if the Friday meeting in the SWC or SON is rained off.

There are other car parks which fans use but are not supposed to, like the huge cinema car park very close to the stadium. However, unless there is a last minute surge for tickets, I'm not expecting there to be a big crowd so I don't think the Speedway car parks will be full. If you want to be sure I would get there at least an hour before start time. I'm not sure what equipment needs to be transferred but I suspect that most of the personnel could travel if it was held on the following day. It is low key. Belle Vue keep plugging it on social media but I've seen little else to publicise it. As I mentioned before, nobody outside of speedway regulars would know from the name that it is a World Championship event. I shall be there and I am expecting some brilliant racing but it seems to have caused very little excitement even locally and 7pm on a Tuesday is hardly the best time to be holding it. Some are complaining about the ticket costs for the grandstand which are relatively expensive but the cheapest standing is £19 which is similar to the normal entrance fee.

I agree. Speedway of Nations means nothing unless you are a speedway follower and even then only if you've read an article which explains what it is. To attract non speedway fans and those who don't attend regularly it would have been far more likely to get people interested if the title made clear that this is a World Championship competition. Nothing at all wrong with reverting to Speedway World Best Pairs. Why it is then being run on a Tuesday in the UK is another mystery. I understand that TV coverage is important but why not have both semi finals on a Saturday, one early afternoon and the other in the evening or, one Saturday and the other on Sunday.

And there wasn't a hint of sarcasm or criticism in your "Oh poor thing" comment about Cook?

So where are the similarities. Cook didn't take a break he made extraordinary efforts to get back to ride for his club, managed to do so and took his first ride but was then taken ill due to the efforts he had made.

Remind me of the circumstances in 2014.

Have a look on Google Maps for the NSS. There is parking at Saint Peter's School, which is on Kirkmanshulme Lane just beyond the junction with Pink Bank Lane and another car park in Pink Bank Lane, which is close to the entrance to the South Stand. Both cost £3.

So far as I know, he had left his van at Stansted when he flew out after the meeting at Somerset. His flight from Prague was delayed so he had to drive into Germany to catch a flight which landed at Stansted in the early hours of the morning and then drive to Manchester for the meeting at 12 noon. He had no sleep and after taking his first ride felt ill and was apparently exhausted and dehydrated. He would probably have had time to recover and been ok if it has been an evening meeting.

That's good news. It just shows that with the right preparation the track can still produce good entertainment.

An enjoyable meeting despite the scoreline. Good racing, good atmosphere, an excellent guest performance from Riss and promising performances from our reserves. It was also good to see a few Leicester fans had made the trip and at least one Wolves fan who had obviously decided to see some proper speedway.

Kenneth Bjerre can certainly help Leicester with set ups and racing lines, he was brilliant for us last year. However, if Riss can score at least 6 or 7 we should be ok. I think 50-40.

More importantly, what do the fans think about the quality of racing this year? My impression, from some of the comments, is that it has improved but does it compare favourably to the days when King's Lynn was regarded as one of the best tracks in the UK? I hope it does or that it is getting close to that standard.

Is that right? Perhaps there has been an amendment to the regulations that I haven't seen but Sundstrom and the two Poles completed their 4H and 4A on the 23 May and their new average should therefore come into affect 7 days later, on the 30th. 16.2.1.6 A SGB Premiership or Championship assessed League rider will establish an MA after 4 Home and 4 Away fixtures, becoming effective 7 days after the last qualifying Meeting. Should an Established MA not be achieved to be effective from 1st May, then the MC may issue a revised MA, based upon actual rides if the Team re-declares.

No need for panic at Poole yet. If you look at the points won v points lost, Poole, Leicester and Belle Vue are the poorest teams at the moment and not much between them. We have suffered significantly because of the loss of Steve Worrall and having to ride with 3 guests at home last Monday but we are where we are. Plenty of time for things to change for all teams.

Maybe because that was his first sight of the track at Somerset whereas the NSS is similar to the Polish tracks he is used to riding, it wasn't his first meeting at the NSS and he made the gate in heat 1 when he beat Doyle and Cook was behind him helping to keep Doyle in third.

Any suggestion that Garrity fell on purpose so that IRR could be used is ridiculous. If any team were intending to cheat in that way a rider wouldn't risk colliding with another rider during the charge to the first bend. Far easier and much less risky to slide off when at the back and claim back pain or whatever.

Hopefully, a close and enjoyable meeting. Somerset not as strong because of the absence of the reserves but Drozdz has never seen the track and I'm not sure that Etheridge has either. I will be surprised if we can gain an advantage from Somerset's weakness but Tungate will have a point to prove and Cook, Fricke and Bewley could do well. A point is certainly possible.

Belle Vue did average 1500 last year but significantly below it this year with Monday night racing. However, I wouldn't have expected a good crowd last night when your top 3 are missing and you're using 3 guests. Many fans will no longer support select teams.

Jason has put on Facebook this morning that he is just waiting for an operation.

The point I was making was that we missed the total points Cook, Fricke and Worrall would have scored. Kurtz rode well and may have got what Cook would have scored but overall we lost out significantly. But as I said, all if's and maybes. The problem choosing guests was that only 2 PL teams not racing last night so we didn't have a great choice. Kurtz was a gamble based on his last NSS appearance and current form and Garrity deserved a chance after his recent good form in the British semi final and for Scunthorpe but was not impressive before his unfortunate injury.

King's Lynn deserved the win with an overall solid performance. It was good to see Iversen doing better, not yet anything like his best but hopefully, he's getting there. It was good to see that one or two Stars fans have made the long journey. We certainly missed Cook, Fricke and Worral with the guests not matching their likely scores but that's what if's and maybes. We'll just have to put this one behind us and hope that we don't have another fixture where we have to use so many guests. Bewley was unlucky that Kurtz blocked his move down the outside of the back straight in heat 6 but by recent standards this wasn't one of his outstanding nights. Lambert wasn't dominant either but had some good races where he showed determination. Assuming that Cook's recent performances indicate a return to form I would give him the SON team slot and If you were judging on tonight alone you would probably give Lambert the nod for the reserve slot although Bewley has been far better at the NSS than either of them managed tonight.

You might want to ask yourself why only Wolves had a Monday race night when teams we free to choose. You might want to ask yourself why the entertainment industry regards Monday as the worst night of the week to get people to attend. You might want to ask yourself why crowds dropped at the dog track when we had to move from Friday to Monday. You might want to consider that attitudes to keeping children out late on school nights has changed since clubs like Wimbledon were operating. You might want to ask yourself why our previous promotion said there was no future for the Aces unless we could build a new stadium and change our race night to Friday You might want to ask yourself why crowds have dropped so significantly at the NSS this year when the only change is the race night. You might want to ask yourself if you want to put at risk the future of the NSS.