Arch Stanton

Got lucky with Douglas missing but we’ll take it.

Thought it was Peter Panters lol. Comedy gold

Probably not too far off with that.

Different day different score. I’ve highlighted Batchelor as generally going well here, but there’s a couple of 5 point scores in there as well. Do we see the 5 point Batch tonight or the 14 point Batch? Who knows. Same with Jorgensen. All sorts of things can happen on any given day.

I’ve tried to quickly forget about that meeting it was so bad

No.

Doesn’t really matter does it? You can be ill today and feel better tomorrow. No need to pull a fast one here as the club can replace Rowe with Hume at any time they wish without giving a reason.

ill is the official line from the press release.

Jorgensen on the other hand has a pretty poor Monmore record so that weakens Wolves. Witches got to be targeting at least a point here. Hume replaces Rowe for Witches.

Since 2018, his scores at Monmore have been 5, 14+1, 14, 9, 5+2, 11+1 and 12+1. For a visiting rider who has never had Monmore as a home track, I’d say that was pretty impressive personally for a rider of his standing.

Probably Batchelor’s favourite track? Or one of them certainly. Nearly always goes very well here as does Doyle.

Was this on Thursday? What was the score? Can only see an away win here.

Yes, that should have been done.

Just on the Belle Vue point thing, I was also a bit disappointed we didn’t stop them taking anything from the meeting. But to be honest it matters very little as they’re guaranteed a top 4 spot anyway along with Sheffield. It’s Wolves, Lynn and Peterborough we’re competing with for the other two spots so it’s those three we need to prevent taking any points away from Foxhall.

That surely isn’t even up for debate. World class riders that have been as loyal to British speedway as he has over the years are as rare as rocking horse sh!t.

It’s become popular to jump on the bandwagon and stick the boot in on Hawkins at every given opportunity these days unfortunately and it’s getting a bit tiresome. “It was an amazing effort by Doyley to do four rides given that he has a perforated eardrum and is really under the weather. To put four rides in and get three wins was an amazing effort, it was a leader’s performance” There simply HAD to be an explanation and I’d have thought it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t because the manager tactically thought he had two better options. I certainly don’t agree with every decision he makes and I still don’t like the riding order seeing Riss at 2. But hearing him give his reasons for the riding order before the meeting it was hard to argue. King and Barker go back a long way and have ridden together many times in their Birmingham days and enjoy riding together, so after speaking to the riders he paired them up. Fair enough. Just then leaves one decision, Riss and Batch at 2 or 5.

Quite enjoyable meeting I thought with some decent racing at times. Good job there’s a Mickey Mouse cup thingy to get warmed up before the proper stuff starts

You’re completely wasting your time I’d just give it up if I were you.

Agree King hasn’t had the best of starts. Had his best year for a long time last year and was as consistent as I’ve ever seen him, both home and away. Hope he doesn’t undo all that good work this year.

I’m 50/50 on this point and I used to be of the same opinion. Puts more emphasis on getting your team building right from the get go, and also stops a team strengthening up to make a late surge to pip another team to the title who got their team building spot on during the winter. This has happened numerous times and can be so frustrating for the team that gets done late on. But on the other hand from a business point of view, this is a lot of the promoters sole income and is their livelihood. We all know that a poorly performing team can have a big impact on gate receipts. Shouldn’t a promoter be allowed to try and improve a poorly performing team to try and get a few more punters back through the gate? It’s a difficult one.

Wouldn’t have moved King from 5 either personally. Once Riss has been moved to 2 he probably thought Barker and Batchelor as a pair at 3 and 4 looked a bit iffy so moved King in there. I prefer keeping things simple, Barker at 2, Riss and Batchelor 3 and 4 and King at 5. Although certainly an argument for Riss at 5 on current form. Only one man’s opinion matters though at the end of the day. Perhaps Hawkins is far more of a tactical genius than any of us gave him credit for

Definitely this. I’ve always been of the opinion that your weakest rider in the top 5 should be at two, even more so when you have a top tier number 1 like we have this year. It’s a complete waste having Riss at 2 and I don’t understand the reasoning at all.

Track was definitely an improvement though Baldy. Nearly impossible to be any worse from the Peterborough meeting! That outside run wouldn’t have worked in the first meeting. Also thought the young lad was really impressive.