mikebv

A bit strange Brady did Ht15 on Monday if injured.. Dan could have done it instead surely? Anyhow, a great chance for the Stars to win given Brady's consistency and capability nowadays.. Just a shame for the KL crowd they wont get to see him ride as he is becoming a real entertainer... A bit of an old fashioned throwback to when Captains rode hard and led from the front...

Cue seven positive Covid tests...

Hope your'e not doing the "team talk" GUAB?

Heat 15 with four Aussies was good... Mayne they should hold an Australian Championship round at the NSS as they all seem to fly around there...

Some cracking racing... Track staff did a great job given the dry, slightly windy conditions.. Track had both an inside and outside line which allowed passing.. Not seen Doyle so down on power before, even when leading the Aces riders he was blocking them more than moving further away from them.. Lidsey, Rew, Kurtz, Bewley and Emil absolutely top class entertainment... And Charles Wright did a "special" in Ht 14 to block pass Rew brilliantly.. Proper "hard riding" as Emil had done to Kurtz earlier.. One gripe is the No7's.. No disrespect but why are these lads riding in the top league? Can't be good for them.. They need ring fenced positions in Div 2 as they often dont bring much to the meetings other than racing against themselves.. Run in the topl flight with six man teams and share out the money not spent on the 7th roder on the six that do.. No other sport makes it compulsory to include "youth team" level competitors to go up against world class level opponents, so in such a technical, specialised sport as Speedway it makes it even more of a poor idea.. Norick once again continues to impress and is developing nicely, and Ben Barker rode his whatsits off as usual for minimal rewards.. You would certainly not feel £24 is too much to watch entertainment like this.. Roll on next week to watch Artem...

Hopefully many will still rock up and attend.. Luckily I pick and choose who to watch so dont fork out for each meeting.. Been to the PCMM and the opening Sheffield match which were both good meetings.. More of the same tonight would mean a decent evening out... Laguta next week too so someone else worth paying to see..

Still plenty of seats left in AB front of the tapes and all sections behind.. A surprising number given the riders in attendance... A nice evening ahead though so a good "walk up" crowd I would expect..

Doyle and Sayfutdinov could have three races together, which, if they ended 15-3 to the Witches, no one would give a second glance to.. 11 races with a TS for one of those two would bring around 30 points so Ipswich will be in the mix... And if they only have 10 races, so no TS needed, then Ipswich will definitely be in the mix, and Ht13 and 15 could easily go their way... Looking forward to some cracking racing, let's hope the warm, windy weather doesnt dry the track too much..

Booked my tickets earlier.. A bit surprised so many available given the weather forecast and Emil and Doyle in town.. Hopefully a big crowd will turn up though as there should be some cracking racing given the level of talent on show.. Looking forward to watching Bewley and Kurtz against Sayfutdinov and Doyle in particular around the NSS... And Wright and King are always VFM around there..

That didnt look good.... Hit the fence at some speed...

And Jacobsen seems to remember how to ride a Speedway bike in Poland...

Nicki showing how to stop Bartek.. Ride narrow down the back straight and make him scrub off speed as he has to take evasive action as he gets cut across... Simples...

If that had been a GP in Poland, Max would have gone...

For what it is worth, for me.. The top league should be six man teams, with a 4pt minimum level, (no bunnies)... The 2nd tier then runs 7 man teams with numbers 6 and 7 ring fenced as U21 UK or Parental qualification riders... The 3rd tier then running 8 man teams.. With 4 "decent" riders, 2 "ok" riders, and 2 "newbies" per team.. (use averages to determine the demarcation).. With the bottom two riders pretty much "pay to play" given it is simply an outlet for them to develop from scratch.. Doubling up and down should be organic, ie lower end of Div 1 riding in Div 2, lower end of Div 2 riding in Div 3.. Any rider with a team place overseas cannot DU, meaning that no meeting should ever not take place over here because of another league somewhere else, or be a guestfest because of them.. Riders DU ing over here would then have to commit to the UK, meaning guests not needed and credibility... And young lads have an organic development pathway to whatever level their individual talents reach... No matter how many times BV win their league, or Poole win theirs, it wont generate anywhere near the publicity that a constantly successful national team will.. And the more the awareness, the better the crowds, but, and even more importantly, the more the young lads become aware of the sport and will see what they can earn, and what publicity they can get, and therefore, want to give it a go.. A virtuous circle.. (or oval maybe?).. Poland keep a conveyor belt of talent going for a reason.. Staying at the top brings coverage, sponsors, and fans.. And plenty of lads then to aspire to be part of it...

Watched hm many times race with and against Dan Bewley when in their very early years... Never looked off Dan's pace and, a fair few times, was actually quicker... Dan, as we know, is a "generational talent" so the ability must be in there for Bickley... I hope Dan's subsequent success hasn't in some way impacted his own ambitions... Plenty of riders make a good living by not being World Class... Very, very few, in the grand scheme of things ever get there as, by definition, it is a small percentage that do... Best of luck to the lad...

Let's hope as he develops that he (and all the other young riders coming through), get looked after with ring fenced team places in the middle tier.. Which should be their key development ground as they organically bridge the gap between 3rd Div and the top league...

Dan getting passed up the inside shocker...

Different tyres? Gate and Go seems to be the mantra at KL, so maybe its down to the changes of tyre over the years?

Obviously I know nothing about KL so the points you make about the club I will take at face value, especially given the knowledge you have shown in the past around KL and its past history, and opportunities that it seldom seems to take.. However the two points I really picked up on were the one about Jonathan Chapman and the one about "learning from the wrong people"... Chapman was one of those "fresh ideas" promoters that, it appears, dont ever seem in favour. I presume due to the "We 'can't (don't want to), do it that way" knock back from the majority.. And as for "learning from the wrong people". That is a clear issue with the sport as there is rarely a "gold standard" to look at and aspire to be.. It is noticeable that Poole seem to be doing "very well" even after their change of promoter.. Delivering a business model to suit their needs.. "Learning from the right person" in this instance maybe?.

Crackerjack with a beautiful theft there...

"It's too noisy".... "An' them young 'uns blowin' them bloody things are stood where I always stand"... "I used to love watching Bettsy from there"... "I'm not comin' again."...

Great news for the sport... The lineal World Champ... Five tracks have GP level riders now so should mean decent crowds when they visit, and hopefully, decent hone crowds too, to help justify the outlay.. The Ipswich/KL matches in particular should be brilliant to watch and generate fantastic crowds.. Let's just hope they dont get arranged for a Thursday that Poland take up their option on, meaning any of the 3 are missing... Me and my lad will definitely go to the NSS to watch him, so that is around fifty quid they wouldnt have got normally, and I am sure plenty more will go that night specifically too.. Well Done KL... All we need know is Peterborough to sign Bartek, Magic, or Woffy...

Just follow the way Poland does it.. Riders all ready as soon as the previous race finishes.. They then get authorised to enter the track and know that in two minutes the tapes are going up.. Not really sure why it seems so difficult over here given so many are exactly the same riders who follow the Polish system every week with no issues.. I see Phil Morris has introduced having riders ready into TG meetings, presume that is when the 2 mins are put on ie as they leave the pits? Riders also start in a straight line in Poland, rather than "at all angles" as often happens over here.. Maybe that also helps with less first bend incidents which we seem to get more of over here too, as riders clash..

I've changed the channel to BBC1, and it's much more watchable...

Memo to the Aces... Ride the inside.... Not the outside... The inside... Have you never rode there before? Have you never seen racing from there before?