Bagpuss

Eight out of twenty is 40% not half. Four of those have dropped down to the Championship to double up/down because one assumes there is reasonable money on offer and their foreign league spots have dried up. Whether that’s good for speedway or not is debatable.

MONDAY PREVIEW Sunday June 02, 2019 PETER Schroeck is confident the new signings will make a good impact on King’s Lynn as they take on Wolverhampton at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday (7.30). The Poultec Stars unveiled the signing of British duo Craig Cook and Simon Lambert on Tuesday in place of Erik Riss and Kasper Andersen. And it is hoped the Lynn supporters will turn out in good numbers for their first home league fixture. Wolves travel to Norfolk with an injury concern over former British Under-21 Champion Kyle Howarth – who crashed out of the British Semi-Final at Redcar. They will use rider replacement in place of the 25-year-old. Stars’ boss Schroeck said: “Erik is going to be out for about four weeks so, we knew we had to make a change, and I think bringing in a replacement like Craig Cook is exciting! He is looking forward to it, as am I and the rest of the boys so, it should be good. “I hope the fans are excited as it is important that the fans support the team at home. Last year the club had an exceptional season and this time around it is a little bit harder. The fixtures are coming to our advantage now because we have quite a few home matches in the league, and I am sure we can turn it around from there. “We are no different to any other club, you look through the league and most of them aren’t running away with it when on the road. We haven’t really had the chance to show what we can do at home and this is where I am going to judge how our season is going to go. “Wolverhampton have got some riders in there who can cause a threat with Rory Schlein, Jacob Thorssell and Nick Morris which is why I felt we needed to strengthen our side because we have been struggling in heats 13 and 15. “Having Craig is there now means that Thomas Jorgensen and Ty Proctor can just get on with their jobs and I am quietly confident going into Monday.” KING’S LYNN: Robert Lambert, Michael Palm Toft, Ty Proctor, Thomas Jorgensen, Craig Cook, Lewis Kerr, Simon Lambert. WOLVERHAMPTON: Sam Masters, Kyle Howarth R/R, Jacob Thorssell, Nick Morris, Rory Schlein, Ashley Morris, Luke Becker.

Lambert had as much speed as anyone else when in front and looked no worse than anyone other than the winner when behind. Not sure why you are singling him out. Changing lines for most last night resulted in losing ground, and don’t forget he was out after every track grade and watering. Two semis out of two is pretty decent going for him, all he lacks really is the experience and a bit of nous at times round the first two bends. For me parts of the GP series are a bit tired and need freshening up, Krsko and Prague are of little interest due to the racing and there are too many riders knocking around who have been in and out for years but will never win it ie Lindback, Iversen, Kolodziej, Zagar, Sayfutdinov etc and it’s all a bit samey.

Poor, poor meeting.

I wonder if Riss might replace Kerr. Not my preference, Riss and Starke for Proctor and Lambert would be better.

You’ve been knocking around this forum long enough now to understand how some threads naturally go off in various directions. If you really need to see why I’d suggest reading back through the thread carefully.

He obviously means it’s pitiful to only have seven teams in the league.

Seeing as it’s his money paying for it I suspect you are right. Any strengthening of any of his teams will be riders who are already riding over here, can’t see him flying a Swede in and out. Josh Pickering would be a good shout to end up somewhere. EDIT just seen he is out with a broken shoulder

The rules and regs change every year, wouldn’t be surprised if that one has changed or even disappeared.

If he was genuinely struggling for fitness for whatever reason (previous crash?) then having the night off rather than riding a minefield track was probably sensible.

Hey, I’m no fan of the situation but it was that or no top division. My point was at the irony of all three potentially getting to the last four when almost everybody predicted they would finish 5th, 6th & 7th. Which of course they may do!

What price all three Buster tracks in the Play Offs

Well done P’boro, starting to look like a decent side with further strengthening potentially to come.

Bit harsh on Zach W. Every rider has been through a crisis of confidence at some point. Needs support not being slagged off.

My like was for the first two parts of your post and not the last bit Phil

I think the heavy nature of the dirt spraying from the wheel of the bloke in front, smacking you on the chest and arms and slowing you down doesn’t help either. When I’ve been recently there hasn’t seemed to be loads of dirt on but there doesn’t need to be for the stuff Buster uses to be grippy. Riders just get spread out far too quickly in races and usually that’s that. The best meeting I can remember seeing in recent years was one at the end of the season against Coventry, the track was almost bare and riders didn’t have a clue where to ride to get grip. There was passing galore.

Nice theory but the lack of a home league match is probably more to do with having to fit in three cup matches, a Premiership shield fixture and three bank holiday Monday stock car meetings before any Premiership matches. Apart from that I don’t believe Cook would be part of something like that which deliberately shafted a set of fans, to me he seems more principled than that.

Call me naive (somebody will I expect) but I don’t buy the Cook conspiracy theory at all. I think Buster would have been happier had Cook started the season with P’boro and if Lambert & Proctor had started this year as they finished last Lynn wouldn’t have fitted him in anyway. Buster is a businessman, teams losing at home are no good to him.

Can’t ever see it happening while stock cars are king at the AFA. It’s essentially a stock car stadium which holds occasional speedway meetings and the track and the material used on it reflects that. D

Just wondering if the numbers would allow Riss to come back in for Kerr leaving Lambert in the team for the year but a strong top six and always a high scoring reserve? Might be the plan.

On the face of it Poole really ought to have taken all four points.

So what are the likely moves after new averages come into force? Will there be scope to replace either Proctor or Jorgensen with Riss and bring in a stronger number seven? Presumably the team average will drop a fair bit.

A match which is on TV is a different matter but the point about away fans was a general one.....season after season we get fixtures moved and messed around for all sorts of reasons and away fans suffer. It’s not just the hotel thing, but making plans, booking time off work, arranging other commitments and hobbies around these fixtures etc etc. People will eventually get brassed off and not bother. Maybe there just aren’t enough travelling fans any more for it to matter. Just to reiterate I don’t disagree with what Eastbourne have done here but it’s a sad reflection of how far down the pecking order British Speedway is nowadays.

Sensible and shows the knife edge that speedway is on currently....anything which might affect a normal crowd like poor weather, a big football match on TV or rider unavailability is just too much of a risk for s promotion to take. Could be the difference between running and going under. That said you have to feel for Sheffield fans who had booked their away trip. While sympathising with speedway promoters they can’t have any room to moan when away fans eventually stop bothering.

Bellego for Riss? Nothing would surprise me this year