Leicester Lion

I thought it was probably the most entertaining speedway I have seen at BP in one meeting. Often such meetings are dominated by one or two riders, but all of the semi-finalists and one or two others had a realistic chance of getting onto the rostrum or even winning. There were several exciting races as the riders pushed themselves to the limit and beyond in some cases, with some remarkable bike control on display at times. A few spills are inevitable in a meeting like this, but they obviously came from genuine attempts to try just a bit too hard. It all adds to the entertainment, provided everyone walks away of course.

It has everything to do with Leicester - it's taking place at Leicester and it's promoted and advertised by the Leicester promotion. It's not about whether it will be a good meeting or not (who knows, there might even be a genuine pass or two). It's about the promotion advertising a fixture filler as an inter-league challenge against Belle Vue when it is neither of these things. It falsely raises people's expectations. It devalues speedway, it devalues the name of Belle Vue. Non-regulars will see the name Belle Vue and expect a standard that is not being provided. Once again the Leicester promotion shoots itself in the foot.

That's it - you didn't shout then and you still made your point. Well done.

Ahhhh, the gullible people taken in by advertising campaigns with cute little meerkats! You could always try emphasising your points without resorting to shouting. I'd take you more seriously then.

While I don't disagree with the sentiment, which you've expressed ad nauseum, unfairness and immorality are matters of opinion - they can't be facts. And please stop using capitals, it's the discussion forum equivalent of shouting.

Even as we speak Matt Ford is looking into ways to force the other teams to do it!

Seems right to me. The BSPA are hardly going to give a play off place to a lower placed team. There's some desperate clutching at straws going on.

There'll always be something else to shout about.

Using that logic, every team's last match should be void. But even that wouldn't be equal as some teams' last matches are easier than others. As much as I hate the play-offs as a way to decide the winners of a league season, we all know the rules at the start. If we hadn't dropped so many home points we would have made the play-offs on our own merit rather than hoping for other teams' results to go our way and for matches to not fall victim to the weather.

I remember Leif Wahlmann's crash, his bike suddenly slowed going into turn 1 and he was hit from behind by another rider close to the inside line. I'm not so sure that an air fence caused his head injury, it may have been caused by the initial impact from the other rider or the resulting melee before reaching the fence. Without knowing exactly what the cause of his head injury was, it can only be speculation about whether an air fence would have made any difference. I expect the airfences probably are safer if the riders feel they are, but I think proper research should be carried out. Impact at various angles, different velocities, different materials behind the fence, etc should be scientifically tested to identify any areas for improvement. Even with detailed testing, it would be hard to draw any meaningful comparison with fences from the past as there have been some significant changes (for example, the machinery, the riding style and the racing line) since those days.

If you found it condescending, I think that gives you the right to flounce out.

Insightful.

That's intended to strengthen the team? If the management ever had the plot they've certainly lost it now!

Maybe you're taking his posts a bit too much to heart...

You may be happy with the club's flippant attitude towards mediocrity. I prefer to see a team I support take it a bit more seriously. Celebrate success, not defeat.

Volty matched my views in his earlier post. Heat 15 was another win from the gate, this time by Doolan and Karlsson, who inexplicably pulled wheelies and celebrated as if they had won us the match. Clearly the fans care more about the team's performance than the riders do. So, another three points dropped at home, and our playoff hopes have followed the sun over the horizon and out of sight. It's going to be a miserable end to the season at BP, both on the track and income-wise. The promotion have learned nothing since the survey of last season. We still have ridiculous delays. We were promised that the changes to the track would improve the racing considerably, but they have not. The fall out from Hemsley's 'Hitler rant' continues to affect team morale. I fear for the future at BP.

I had to read that twice to convince myself there isn't the sinister meaning that I first saw! I thought Saturday's meeting was mediocre. To be fair, there were a couple of genuine-looking passes, but there were numerous strung-out races, and a few unusual crashes on bends 3/4. Howe doesn't seem the sort of rider to fall off on his own, but he did on Saturday. Auty didn't deserve the moronic abuse he got from some idiots; it was a good, fair pass. I don't think he saw Magnus offer the lift back to the pits as he'd already walked several metres onto the centre green when Magnus rode up and stopped out of his field of view.Another point dropped at home, and our play-off chances are disappearing. Several fans are saying we can pick up points at Rye House and Redcar, but I think it's misplaced optimism.

It shouldn't be about "earning" respect. The promoters should automatically respect their customers and appreciate that they will express opinions. The method of expressing them isn't important, one is no better than another. It's what is said that should matter.

Another home point dropped, this time to a team below us. If we keep losing something like 20-25% of our home points we won't get anywhere near the play-offs.

Or maybe they will. I can't help feeling there's something sinister in the old "say it face to face" line. Even if the undertone is my own imagination, the "say it face to face" line only confirms that promoters don't take seriously the comments made by the paying public on forums such as this. Some of those comments may be purely vitriolic or ill-thought out, but many are made in good faith and arise from reasonably held opinions by people who care about the sport they pay good money to watch.

We lost our unbeaten home record to Somerset, but the reality is that we've dropped 6 points at home, a worse record than those above us in the table. Those points would place us 4th or even 3rd. Instead of congratulating ourselves on being strong at home, we need to look at why we are dropping points. Happiness isn't 46-44 any more.

Culminating in Pearson declaring: "Australia are two points behind Australia". What a broadcaster!

You seem remarkably and regularly interested in it, yet your posts always seem to be about stifling debate. I wonder why, what's your agenda?

It all seems rather fanciful to me. Grants for such things tend to be made to voluntary organisations and charities, rather than private companies set up to make profit. Perhaps there are 'creative' ways that businesses can use to get around those restrictions. The ever-rising land level is amusing. Maybe Mr Hemsley is trying to build his own mountain as a permanent monument to his fabulous achievements. It's stretching credibility to suggest it's all there to reduce the noise. I'm sure everything about the noise issue was covered in the original planning application, which didn't require tonnes of earth to be built up three years into the project.

According to public records, David Hemsley is the sole director of Leicester Speedway Limited. Whether he's learned from his error remains to be seen. It may be Mr Hemsley's business, and some will say he can run it how he likes. To some extent that's true, but running a speedway club is different to running other businesses. A speedway club needs, and encourages, an emotional buy-in from its customers. That attachment will inevitably lead the club's supporters to hold and express strongly held views about the way the club is run.