Bagpuss

From kingslynnstars.co KING’S LYNN team manager Dale Allitt is considering his options for his side when they travel to the Abbey Stadium to take on Swindon on Thursday (7.30).The Tru Plant Stars are awaiting a fitness update on Ty Proctor who missed their previous two fixtures because of a shoulder injury.While Danish duo Kasper Andersen and Michael Palm miss the trip to Wiltshire after Andersen crashed out of the Stars’ home win against Rye House, and Palm Toft is in Championship action for Peterborough.British Champion Robert Lambert will lead the Stars’ challenge after he backed up his paid maximum against the Rockets by scoring a 15-point maximum for Rospiggarna in Sweden on Tuesday.Swindon go into the fixture at full-strength after Sheffield released Jack Smith which means he can take his place at reserve. Allitt said: “Swindon is going to be hard because they’re a fantastic team on their home track. Tofty (Michael Palm Toft) is a big miss because he got paid-10 before but all you can do is beat what’s out in front of you. We’ll try and regroup, and we will try to get the best people in if we have to. “Kevin Doolan comes in for Tofty and we all know a lot about Kevin, he’s been a hero here for a long time.“All we want is a full team. We have proved at full-strength or missing one rider how dominate we can be. Fixed race-nights are making it really hard because it’s not what we thought it was going to be.”SWINDON: Nick Morris, Adam Ellis, Tobiasz Musielak, David Bellego, Troy Batchelor, Zach Wajtknecht, Jack Smith.KING’S LYNN: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Lewis Kerr, Ty Proctor or R/R, Thomas Jorgensen, Robert Lambert, Guest TBC, Kevin Doolan.

Carrying an injury I believe.

Depends what 'making it' means, if he ends up being a 5-6 point rider like MPT or THJ then he'll have been worth persevering with. The only way anyone can tell that at this stage is if they have a crystal ball up the loft.

The Swindon website has our top five present and Doolan as the guest for MPT with an unnamed guest for Kasper for some reason. No team news on either Glasgow or Sheffield sites to confirm Kerr's absence from their meeting.

One presumes that Newman wasn't the pain in the arse that Wright has been claimed to have been?

Absolutely typical that Palm Toft scores paid 18 and is then unavailable. Hopefully Proctor will be back, if so then a point like last time should be possible if everybody chips in.

I thought that. I expect the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, I'm sure there were less people than there would have been with no Engand game but probably not dramatically so, not from what I've heard anyway. As for Kasper, I'm never a fan of dropping riders but if an opportunity arose to strengthen the number seven position then it must be seriously considered. After a reasonable start he is now really struggling and its becoming likely that he's not quite ready for Premiership racing.

I think if you are being replaced by the World Champion as a tac sub you just have to suck it up. However being sacked by text is pretty poor.

Unless anybody knows exactly what Wright did or said then how can they say that the club have done the wrong thing? As good as he has been on track there is always a line which an employee / contractor cannot cross and IF he has done that people can't complain.

Will Covatti be at reserve? Decent signing if so for me.

Did the club ever say that it would be on the big screen or was it the usual Chinese whispers? Personally I don't see how it ever could have been on the scoreboard screen, not particularly safe if it catches the eye of people who should be concentrating on the racing and maybe some people at speedway would record the football and watch it later. At least in the bar people have the choice, although personally I would decide on one or the other and not mix and match.

Edinburgh have a long old tail.

49-41

No excuses here, we were sh!te. But that doesn't mean we can't comment on a track being bumpy or not. And it did look it on the video.

I don't think the surface or the width of Lakeside is what makes it a marmite track for many people, but how tight riders have to turn to get round the bends. It makes tracks like Arena, Edinburgh, Wolves etc more challenging for away riders as they are more unique, and if as an away fan you see your riders struggling to get round efficiently it can cloud your judgement. Personally I like the variety that smaller tracks provide and I've seen more good meetings than bad at Lakeside. That said I think good racing on a big, fast track will always trump good racing on a little one. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder at the end of the day.

Putting crowds aside for one moment it's no mystery why they went for Mondays and what should have been Thursdays as they are the nights that leagues in other countries don't run; Mondays are also clear of Championship fixtures and Thursdays could / should have been made so too to avoid all clashes. Weekends are always going to attract better crowds but with Poland riding on all three nights and World championship rounds / GP's / U21 rounds etc regularly on Saturday nights it's difficult to see how we can run a top league to a decent standard on those nights without riders being missing for virtually every fixture. The aim of FRN's is to prevent fixture clashes and while Wednesdays are proving a disaster for those teams with Danes Mondays are perfect. One of things which has put people off British speedway in recent years is the endless guests and R/R's, the sacrifice for putting that right is to run on nights when riders are available. It's difficult to please everybody of course, Belle Vue and Rye seem to have had smaller crowds so far if you believe what you read on here and having been traditionally weekend tracks it's perhaps no surprise. It's a really difficult to get the balance right.

I'm sure if NKI ever refused to ride in a home meeting he'd be heavily criticised too. This week is the first time Neils' UK form hasn't mirrored what he has been doing abroad....apart from a good score in Sweden he was pretty average everywhere before his op. Despite one or two unfounded claims on this thread he always gives it 100% in my eyes.....in contrast Holder never looked interested last year.

If he did get big offers thrown at him it would be based on his potential.....at twenty years old he beat seven current or recent GP riders last week and he will only get better. He may not have scored hatfuls of points but those he did score were mainly unexpected given his lack of experience. You are absolutely right about keeping his feet on the ground, and from what I have seen this season his and his family's feet are firmly grounded.

I think Lynn being half an hour down the road and having good sponsorship locally means that riding for the Stars works perfectly for Robert.....it was said that he would have to leave to move his career on but this season has blown that theory out of the water completely. Unless somebody comes up with a megabucks deal (and I don't believe that money exists in British Speedway any more) I think he will only stop riding for the Stars if and when he cuts out the UK altogether. He absolutely does need more support though, if he has an off night which he surely will at some point we will be screwed unless others step up to the plate.

There are good points made in both the above posts, although I think the general feeling of doom and gloom is a little OTT. We have had four home meetings and six away in all competitions and last night was the first time we've not scored 41 points. We have had a home defeat and an away win plus a bonus point on the road so we are just above break even. We need a run of home matches with a full team to really see how strong this team is, let's hope we get it. Still too early to start replacing riders IMO but at some point if one or two don't start showing signs of improvement then it needs to be thought about, especially if there are spare points to play with. Andersen is very raw but no wobbler, just needs to start getting out of the gate better and a run of home meetings will benefit him no end rather than a different track every week that he's not seen before. Not beyond the realms of possibility though that it's a year or two too early for him.

Assuming three go through then in the interests of variety it would be nice to see three of Milik, Lambert, Holder and Fricke qualify. Lots of old hat in there who wouldn't really add much to the series.

The rise and fall if Heeps over the last twelve months or so is really puzzling.

He did but scored quite well in Poland and Sweden this week. We need him to start pulling his finger out sharpish over here, starting on Monday hopefully. Hadn't realised that to be fair, but as Haza says we have a couple of matches in hand. The key is going to be getting a full side out going forward.

Behave! That's the first hiding we've had.

Just worked out that heats 13 & 15 were Robert's 34th and 35th heats in the past six days.....no wonder he ran out if steam. As for the rest.....embarrassing.