Aces51

We couldn't take the chance that we might have needed the points to qualify, unlikely though that looked or, if Swindon had slipped up, to finish top. At least with an 11am start Poole won't have chance for one of their pre meeting practice sessions that Peter Adams complained about.

They didn't have any option, Ford said it was the only date he could offer before the cut off date. Cook and Worrall are riding tonight for their Championship teams at Workington and Newcastle respectively and presumably Bewley is on his way home from Latvia, goodness knows what time they will arrive at Poole. I can't see them getting much quality sleep and then to have to race and set off for the Bank Holiday drive to Wolverhampton is ridiculous. Fortunately, nothing rests for us on the results, although I am sure they will all give 100%.

I don't think you're necessarily supposed to have home advantage, it's not a requirement but teams invariably do because they become familiar with the racing lines and where you are more likely to get grip. The point here is that even taking into account the strength of the teams Wolves seem to have a significantly greater home advantage than others. We had it at the dog track, although it was less obvious because we so often had poor teams.

If you want further analysis then on average teams win at home by the following number of points. Wolves 13, Swindon 7.5, Belle Vue 7.27, Rye 5.22, Poole 1.5, Somerset 4.08, King's Lynn 1.2 and Leicester 0. Can you tell I'm bored waiting for F1 to start. 😂

True but looking at the home points for and against in this week's Speedway Star Wolves are +143, Swindon +75, Belle Vue +80, Rye +47, Poole +18, Somerset +49, King's Lynn +12 and Leicester +0. Not all teams have ridden the same number of matches and the points difference is affected by team strengths but those figures undoubtedly show that Wolves have a much bigger home advantage than any other team.

Fundin, Craven, Briggs, Moore and to a lesser degree, Knutsson, were head and shoulders above other riders from the mid 1950's to the early 1960's. They were so good that they introduced handicap racing for league matches and they were the back markers. It was difficult to choose who was the better of them, each had periods when they were the best. Fundin and Briggs won more World titles but people forget that Craven was only 29 when he died in 1963.

Congratulations to Lambert, this win and his win in the European U19 show he has the potential to get to the top, I hope he does. Bewley had a tough time but the experience will serve him well and help him progress.

I agree, I think Newman would have scored about 6 although some of those points may have come at the expense of points your other riders scored. With Cook and Bjerre struggling I think it would have been close even if we had a full team.

I remember a Sunday afternoon in March, 1977 when I won 3 consecutive games of snap. That aura of invincibility was something special. I spoke to Ivan Mauger about it and he said he had experienced something similar although obviously at a lesser level.

Leicester deserved their win, they were faster from the gate and baby Bjerre was superb. They showed a determination to win. I was right in that their reserves scored 12 to our 3 and Bjerre and to a lesser extent Worrall and Cook had poor nights. Tungate was excellent. Our team was built on a strong 1-5. We have done well because Bewley has improved so much but without him and using r/r we couldn't afford for anyone to have a bad night. Congratulations to the Lions.

I agree, it is a shame for Kyle, I'm sure he would have scored at least 6 or 7 points. That could swing the balance more in our favour, depending on his replacement.

It won't just be the reserve races they win, Our reserves will pick up far fewer points than theirs in their other rides. We could be in trouble if any of our top 4 have an off night, they are going to have to score about 42 points between them. I think they will but it's not going to be easy.

It depends if we have Fricke back. If so and now with Tungate, who will have his Polish bikes for the play offs, I don't think there will be easy pickings for anyone at the NSS. The problem for all of our opponents is that we can do well anywhere away, as our record shows.

Leicester should score well at reserve with Dan unavailable but I think our top 4 should be good enough to get us the win. It might take us a few races to adapt to a dry home track, it seems a while since it hasn't been affected by heavy rain.🏄😂

1972, Belle Vue, played 34, won 31, drawn 1, lost 2. I've no idea how many consecutive wins but I think that record beats 14 consecutive wins, never mind there being no comparison in the quality of the teams. I have a recollection that someone also bettered Belle Vue's record but I can't remember who or when it was.

What is a fours discretion? You could use your discretion about discussing an alleged indiscretion. Innocent until proven guilty in my book particularly when you look at the parties allegedly involved.

But none of those clubs riding this week have a Monday race night and it is entirely different for riders when they are only coming back for an occasional Monday meeting. Belle Vue at the dog track and Wolves have both said that having a Monday race night makes it more difficult to attract riders and there are also the commercial considerations. Belle Vue decided that they could attract more fans by moving away from Monday and if that wasn't the case I suspect they would be changing back. I understand that Sky wanted Monday for televised meetings but did BT simply inherit that race night? Maybe they will be agreeable to considering other options but if not, then, as now, non Monday teams can race on that night for the couple of times they are on TV.

Correct Rob, my mistake, I just assumed they would use it straight away in heat 11.

Having gone 10 behind in heat 10 it was puzzling that Somerset didn't use a tactical in heat 11, the last opportunity to do so. They had nothing to lose and it was that as much as anything that lost Somerset the bonus point.

I've just watched this. The racing was poor but the heavy rain overnight wouldn't have helped. King's Lynn were determined and never gave up and I can see why their fans are happy with this team despite the loss of Holder and Batchelor. Swindon are going to be hard to beat in the play offs but tonight showed it's not going to be impossible. It was good to see a big crowd although 3000 at£5 probably equates to less cash than a normal Swindon crowd and if you always charged £5 for how long would it stay at 3000?

Met office currently has heavy rain between 5 and 7pm followed by light rain clearing by 8pm. Hopefully, the drainage might be able to cope but obviously it depends on the amount that falls. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I thought when you said an attractive team you were meaning a quality side but as it's going to attract sponcers maybe you meant young and good looking.😂

Obviously not much interest. Fricke still absent but Tungate is back and Cookie probably jet lagged but should get a good reception. Somerset turned us over last time but think we shall win this time.

A very grippy track will produce fast times but the facts are that a number of riders didn't come to the tapes and remedial work was done so that destroys any argument that the track was ok. As I said in my original post none of this absolves Holder from blame, Batchelor,I don't know, like many I have my suspicions but he withdrew on medical ground and you cannot get beyond that. I find this trend of calling those who happen to criticise an individual or team haters a bit childish. I see it often now, particularly against those who criticise Woffinden. It's an attempt to diminish their argument by branding them as people who only say what they do because they hate the individual or team rather than debating their criticism like an adult.

I'm not sure that the number of laps done by the tractor necessarily bears any relationship to the quality of the preparation. I would expect a competent track curator to check and to know whether new shale has bound properly with the existing shale and if not, to know what to do to resolve the problem. The remedial work after the complaints from the riders at the very least greatly improved the track, so it seems plain that the solution was simple and relatively quick to carry out. I wonder what Chapman would have said if the track has been prepared by someone else. I suspect we may have been subjected to one of his usual outbursts.