Arch Stanton

I said earlier tonight would be the complete opposite of Thursday. Thursday was dry, slick and easy to ride. I’d heard a whisper that tonight was going to be a difficult track. Last year it was a difficult track against Sheffield in the cup due to weather and the Sheffield boys didn’t fancy it. The track conditions were then repeated a week later in the play offs to take the Holders out of the game. I’m afraid it’s a case of win at all costs this evening. Weather has been fine, and this is the most difficult the track has been all season long. That isn’t a coincidence.

as I expected. I don’t think this is an accident either..

From a fan point of view I agree, but it ain’t us paying for them Roger. Maybe they think we’ve already qualified so why pay a fortune for Lindgren? As I say I’m only guessing apart from Nicholls. Maybe we will have another top guest or two. Probably find out later this evening, they normally put a meeting preview up for a Thursday straight after a Monday review meeting.

He was corrected by someone there and he did admit on air that he was wrong and he did correct himself during the broadcast. I never said loads were leaving, I said there wasn’t a “mass exodus”. But there were definitely people leaving and not just one or two either, I saw them.

Ritchie had already said Scott had been booked for all the remaining Thursday meetings at Foxhall, so he’ll be riding at home to Birmingham in a few weeks also.

They might, I’m just guessing. But I think Nicholls has already been booked for Emil, so IMO it’s likely to be R/R for Doyle, and then a guest for Ellis. If Batch rides well enough tonight it might be enough to keep him on on Thursday. I could be totally wrong, we’ll see.

He is you’re right, but Doyley even more so. Averages over 11 at home. The pair of them are irreplaceable but let’s hope we get Emil back at least so we can have a go in the play offs. On the Holders, I’ll be interested in seeing the track conditions tonight. I’ve a feeling it’ll be a little different from last week..

Probably not Belle Vue Thursday, but I think we’ll have enough to beat Birmingham in the last fixture, possibly. Pretty sure it’ll be Nicholls, Batch and R/R for Doyle, Emil and Ellis against Belle Vue. That has defeat written all over it.

Ellis is a heavy hitter at Foxhall too Badge. Normally King would be the fourth strongest home rider in the team, but we go in to tonight’s meeting with him effectively the strongest home rider. That’s the task facing us this evening. And yes Bewley is wearing a Witches bib this evening, but as has been said, he really is terrible here.

Probably. Only Belle Vue not riding and Blodorn is guesting for Lynn. It’s for Ellis, not Emil or Doyle. Batch has ridden well for Worky this year and knows Foxhall well. If he has his gating gloves on he’ll contribute decent points.

If you don’t win tonight then you’ll never win at Foxhall. It’s a golden opportunity as you full well know.

Agree but they don’t have a choice it seems due to Ipswich not yet having a televised home fixture. If they switched this one to Leicester, they wouldn’t be able to fulfil their contractual obligations as none of the other two remaining home fixtures for Ipswich can be moved to a Monday.

Our home tv meeting was due to be Belle Vue on July 15th which was postponed. We have to have one as stated above.

That’s an old statement, but the contractual obligation thing there is interesting. They haven’t shown a meeting at Foxhall yet so I guess that clears this one up.

Maybe the websites haven’t been updated yet. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they switched the TV fixture elsewhere.

It happens all the time. How often do you see stands empty in football grounds when their team has conceded a third or fourth goal? Happens in every sport including Speedway. It doesn’t make those people more or less a fan than those that stay so we’ll agree to disagree. You could argue that those that leave care more than those that stay. Some people love their teams in whichever sport so much, that they can’t bear to sit and watch them get tore a new one. Everyone is different.

This a pretty extreme case though Steve. Of course teams have been hit by injuries in the past, but I can’t remember an occasion where anyone lost both of their top two on +9 averages. There was a short spell mid season where we were without Doyle King Ellis and Thompson. That’s three of the top four! It’s been a bonkers season for injuries and is a testament to the other members of the team that we’re still in the discussion around finishing top with a few weeks of the season to go. There’s still hope Sayfutdinov may return in time for the play offs, although I didn’t like what I heard on Thursday. Have to wait and see on that one.

Wrong. He confirmed his season was “100% over” on the 9th of August after visiting the specialist for his 9 week check up. It was always likely to be the case, but he clearly hadn’t totally given up on returning despite what was said back in May. https://www.fimspeedway.com/news/doyle-confirms-2024-season-over# On your second point, nobody is asking for any sympathy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s been 3 months or 3 weeks, the fact is no suitable rider has been interested in coming over. I know they’ve held extensive talks with several top tier riders and came extremely close on one occasion but couldn’t manage to persuade him to do the deal. Both your club and King’s Lynn have faced the same problem. You can’t just wave an imaginary wand and easily replace the leagues best rider. Sure, they could probably have signed Troy Batchelor to replace Doyle, but who in their right mind would do that? (With all due respect to Troy).

Ahh the old soooperfan stuff! Good for you.

The whole structure of the leagues is up in the air at the moment. Thursdays are going to be an issue here and problems need resolving.

He was at the King’s Lynn meeting a few weeks ago. He’s been having a lot of physio and treatment in Poland since his injury. On you saying people are “not supporters” for leaving early, I can understand them personally. When Ellis crashed out it was one kick in the nuts too many for some people. The meeting was dead from a result point of view, the track was slick and the racing dreadful. Everything stacks up sometimes and I personally don’t blame people for getting off early. It wasn’t a mass exodus by any means, but a few had seen enough.

I’ve already said I think we’ll finish fourth and some have said I was pessimistic. Do people not realise the absolute state we’re currently in? The guts have been ripped out of the side. We’ve had youngsters at the bottom end of the team that have all improved, they’ve been a big reason why we’ve topped the table all season long despite the injury problems further up. But it’s a different kettle of fish riding without any pressure when the top boys are scoring maximums, to suddenly being the important riders who HAVE to score points. You also lose that inspiration that having Doyle and Emil in the pits brings to the younger members of the side. They almost certainly pull them along. The whole atmosphere at Ipswich has changed in recent weeks even before Emil’s crash and when Ellis crashed out early against Leicester it killed the meeting stone dead. People were leaving before heat 8 which never happens. We have four meetings left, Sheffield Belle Vue and Birmingham at home and Birmingham away. I think we’ll win one of those, Birmingham at home on the final fixture.

Sheffield Belle Vue Leicester Ipswich