Arch Stanton

I used to find the BBC forecast as accurate as any, but that was when they got their readings from the Met Office. Since they changed their source of meteorologist , they’ve been as useful as a chocolate fire guard IMO.

I’ve been delighted with the standard of racing this season it’s been fantastic. Monday wasn’t as good and I wasn’t expecting it to be, day meetings are very rarely as entertaining. But, like you, I thought the racing was pretty decent and I’ve seen far worse. Whilst not loads over overtaking, there was plenty of good close battles with Bellego particularly getting stuck in.

I did say on here yesterday Taps when I first entered the stadium, I posted that the track looked overly watered, heavy and grippy and I thought it would catch a few riders out early doors. Slick with no dirt, was certainly not what entered my mind whatsoever

Track looked in great shape to me pre-meeting

He’s unfit. His previous scores before injury proves the point.

And so does he!

That’s down to Chris Louis. Harris isn’t fit we know that..

Mind you starting to dry out a tad already!

Track looks well watered and grippy. Expect it to be tricky early on..

I don’t think that confidence is misplaced in all fairness. We’ve already battered Lynn once, seen one of the more fancied sides in Belle Vue off very comfortably, and most people’s tip for the title in Swindon managed to just about scrape a point. Lynn are nowhere near as good as those two sides so it’s a fixture we SHOULD win. Doesn’t mean we will of course! Day meetings can often throw up surprise results as track conditions are often not what home riders are used to, and since those home wins we now have the ongoing issue/problem of Harris riding when not at full fitness so that throws up question marks over the result. We’ll see.

Looks like an overcast and chilly day tomorrow which should help keep the track in decent condition for a day meeting. Like the others I don’t expect Lynn to be anywhere near as bad particularly Lambert, but I’m still expecting a comfortable home win.

I think the point he’s making is that when you have a reserve pairing that is consistently scoring close to 20 points a meeting, you should be winning meetings regardless of how under strength the top 5 looks and he has a point imo. An average of 5 points each from the top 5 shouldn’t be too much to ask but it was on Monday which is disappointing. From that interview you can tell Harris really shouldn’t be riding and although he didn’t admit it, reading between the lines you can tell that Chris isn’t too happy with the situation. That’s the impression I got anyway. Isn’t Harris normally good for double figures around Monmore? That alone cost us getting something on Monday along with Bellego’s inabilities to ride smaller tracks. I think there is just a few frustrations there that Wolves have a few issues themselves and are not at full strength so it was an early opportunity to pick up away points which we blew.

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/louis-and-heeps-chat-to-mike-bacon-1-6027137 Interview with Chris Louis and Cam on the season so far. Chris seems pretty frustrated with a “missed opportunity” at Wolves where we should have won.

https://ipswichwitches.co/ipswich-v-kings-lynn-raceday-preview-2/ Can we hit 60 this time?

Garrity would be my preferred choice from that list, closely followed by Douglas who has started the season in fine form. You really can’t carry passengers in this league and when you have a rider scoring next to nothing on most tracks then you’re in trouble to start with. Particularly when that rider is a second string! If Bellego swaps places with Allen or Heeps in the near future and is still struggling with most tracks which is likely, then we lose the one thing that would have kept this team competitive and that’s strong reserves. As I said yesterday, need to bite the bullet and make a change IMO.

Problem with Bellego is he’s a 6 pointer, and that average was majorly inflated by scoring heavily around Swindon last season, a track which itself has ironically been made smaller. He’s dire on small tracks and that’s a huge problem. I know it’s early, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and admit a mistake was made and correct it.

Under Ged you just knew he’d take full advantage of being 3 points under the limit and strengthen before the averages changed. Buster? Could end up eating humble pie, but I highly doubt it’s even being looked in to.

Can’t see his confidence being boosted enough to do well tomorrow at Wolves. Just looked at his scores there for Swindon the last 2 years, they were 3, 4, 5 from 5 rides and his last visit last August was a big fat Zero from 3 rides. Clearly another of the small tracks he hates! Lets hope he bucks the trend and surprises us tomorrow with a good score..

What a cracking race

Stopped raining in Ipswich where I am over an hour ago. No more rain forecast. Should be no problems.

Fair point and it’s difficult to disagree with your last point in particular. Thats why every man and his dog knew that both King and Heeps were certain starters in whatever division we found ourselves in. As it’s turned out retaining Heeps was a good call (so far), but he was a lucky boy to be given another chance

Well that’s not a good sign. He should understand that underperforming second strings get replaced by in form reserves, that’s the way it works. He can make sure he’s not replaced in future by doing much better and scoring more points! We seem to have a good team spirit this year from the outside looking in, would be a shame if there’s one bad apple in there throwing a strop every time he gets replaced. IF there is any truth in it, maybe Baldy's suggestion isn’t a bad one, early season or not.

Case in point

What happened last Thursday Badge?