Aces51

Sorry, I should have made myself clear. My point was that John Louis had more experience of Motocross than Bewley when they switched to Speedway. I used to love to watch John, he certainly deserved his "Tiger" nickname.

I think John was 29 when he took up speedway.

Bewley won't have completed two seasons until mid way into next season and I wouldn't be surprised if he was a Championship heat leader by then. If not he won't be far away and he hasn't got the experience John Louis had in other motor cycle disciplines when he took up speedway. As you say not many achieve it.

According to reports on here the track preparation has been much improved since the Poole meeting resulting in better racing. The question is why it has been so poor for the last couple of years? By getting it right now the promotion have shown that it can be done, so why wasn't it? It's not as if it's a different track curator.

It could just as easily be what Poole did! It is ridiculous for anyone to be claiming with certainty that they will be back at the top when, as Beowulf says, you have no idea of the format of the league or the strength of the opposition.

Brilliant performance from Cookie showing he can deal with the pressure and do well outside the UK. It looks as if Dudek will stay in the top 8 and that all Craig's hard work will be rewarded, I certainly hope so.

R/R for Cook, Nicholls for Fricke and Starke for Tungate.

Surely it has to be right and realistic to bring in riders on a current average, that is fair. Any rider currently riding in the UK has an average and a proper conversion rate between the leagues can be calculated. Any rider not riding in the UK can use his current average in Sweden, Poland of Denmark multiplied by a realistic conversion rate which can easily be calculated. That way we have a system which is fair and transparent, no assessed averages, no using anything but current averages. That works not only for riders who have improved since they last rode in the UK but also those who have suffered a loss of form.

When he signs a rider who does better than his average, better than he looks on paper, Ford takes the credit. It follows that you accept the blame if you sign riders who perform worse than they appear on paper. If you are in charge the buck stops with you and you accept the responsibility and publicly you accept the blame.

Funny isn't it how all of the success is down to Ford and the current problems entirely the fault of the riders but he's certainly not the only promoter who fails to see their own shortcomings.

KK moves into the 1-5 from 21st and Robson to reserve.

Belle Vue said on more than one occasion that it was difficult to sign riders who raced in Poland and Sweden because they were reluctant to ride in the UK on a Monday and I recall Peter Adams saying the same thing. There will always be some riders willing to do so but it is easy to understand why it doesn't appeal to many.

Rye are much more solid with KK and it is expecting a lot for us to go into a meeting missing Fricke and Tungate and come away with any points. Our team was built on the basis of a solid top five and two inexperienced reserves so we are affected more than some other teams by absences in the top five.

We need to rebuild British speedway, I have my doubts about fixed race nights, I wouldn't want to see any club forced to ride regularly on a night which was less commercially viable for that club or, worse, a club forced out because they couldn't race on the chosen night(s). However, if we do go down that road we need to choose nights which will be attractive to the top riders when hopefully, British speedway has recovered and is able to attract them.

Adam Ellis for Tungate. I think it's going to be difficult to replicate our last 44-46 win. We are weaker without Max and Rohan and the Rockets with KK at reserve must be be favourites. I think we are safe for the play offs but hopefully we can pick up at least one point.

I wasn't at Kings Lynn but I doubt you can compare the two. The NSS is exceptional because of the excellent drainage, the shape and size of the track, which allows riders to take different lines and not necessarily get filled in by flying wet shale and importantly the level of preparation, which produces a very smooth and even racing surface. Personally, I doubt that any rider would have refused to race in the conditions at the NSS. Racing was close and relatively fast and after the first few races riders were using most of the usual racing lines. The overall standard of racing wasn't up to usual standards, although the last few races surprisingly, when it was raining again, were the best.

Yes we do have a great stadium and stable promotion but that is no reason why people should forget and move on from what was done to the the two people who had the vision, determination and ability to get that stadium built and to plan and produce the brilliant race track. Some of us acknowledge the huge debt of gratitude we owe to David Gordon and Chris Morton and will not forget what we owe them and how they were treated.

It's this attitude that cheating is acceptable that has done much to destroy the credibility of the sport. Now it is even more important than ever that everyone involved in running speedway realises they must take action that is in the best interests of the sport as a whole, not just individual clubs.

I agree with all the comments, all of the riders and the track and track staff deserve huge credit. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's rare to be able to say that after a match in such difficult conditions. We might be weaker at the moment without Fricke and Tungate but that shouldn't detract from the fighting spirit shown by Kings Lynn. I was particularly impressed by Jorgensen and Huckenbeck but all of the Stars did their bit. Similarly, the Aces gave 100% and nobody was backing off. Everybody involved deserves a huge pat on the back.

I think you're right about the possibility of it being tight. King could do well and missing Fricke and Tungate is a tall order of any of the others have a poor night.

The Met Office forecast has changed a bit, now it's an 80% chance of heavy rain at 16.00 followed by a 60% chance of light rain until 21.00. Still might be able to cope with that if the heavy rain isn't prolonged but hoping the forecast is wrong.

According to the Met Office there's a 50% chance of light rain from 16.00-22.00 so it depends, there's just as much chance it will miss the track. With no rain forecast until then the track will be able to cope with a fair amount providing it doesn't affect rider's vision too much.

Cook and Fricke will be missing for the Aces. Both in the GP challenge if Fricke is fit enough.

I suspect that mark 1's point is that Wolves v Belle Vue isn't a rearranged fixture so both would ride for the Aces. That effectively means they can't ride at Scunthorpe so will be at Poole. That's maybe common sense so who knows what will happen but I would be surprised if Belle Vue would have agreed the date at Poole if Cook and Worrall were going to be missing and r/r for Fricke.

There are no certainties, we've seen too many riders with potential fall by the wayside but everything about Bewley makes me think he can be the real deal, albeit there is still a very long way to go.