Arch Stanton

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.

Agree to disagree on this one.

That’s one scenario where it wouldn’t have bothered me if Lynn were granted “special dispensation”. They had Kildermand in their declared 1-7. If the rider changed his mind and refused to come then that’s not the fault of Lynn and they should be granted a facility or enabled a replacement. That’s what the “special dispensation” rule is there for. It’s when that gets clearly abused that rankles.

Can only see an away win to be honest, with only Etheridge and Blowhorn possible weak links. Starke back at reserve is a big plus though and we wait to see if Barker’s move is ratified. If it is, then you’d fancy him to contribute more than Heeps has been so it could be a good competitive meeting.

Perfectly summed up really and I agree with your last point. Any changes still have to fall within the points limit anyway as always so not sure why they’ve brought this rule in in the first place.

He’s good as well though

Shame if that was what we tried. Would have been a game changer for sure.

I read it the same way although I’m not 100% convinced either way. We’ll never know will we? We’re only the supporters after all. IF the rule is no changes once the season is underway, then just because Belle Vue have made one then we shouldn’t be using that as a reason to make one too. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

One thing I will say about Chris Louis, in the years he’s been promoter, he’s never been slow in making changes. Tiger was incredibly frustrating on this front when he was promoting and would rather persevere with struggling riders for the season than make a change. Chris Louis has been the polar opposite and I’m pretty sure he’s made team changes in every season he’s been a promoter. https://ipswichwitches.co/barker-back-at-ipswich/ “It is no secret that with the doubling-up, other than dipping into the international transfer market, which in fairness we tried, there was one option that the club simply could not afford and when we looked at what was available here, Ben was the obvious choice really. He knows Ipswich, he knows the club, he knows the track because he has been with us a couple of times before. Wonder who the international rider was? Can’t be Klindt as the one change wouldn’t have fitted.

“We built a team knowing that the nucleus of it in Erik (Riss), Cam and Troy (Batchelor) are coming off of bad seasons, that’s why were able to build this team really. We had no right to expect them to be back to their top form just because they put on a Witches suit, so we knew we would have to give them time. Unfortunately, with the way the way the Premiership works with just six teams, it’s a short season and it has a transfer window, that opens after 25% and closes at 75%, so you are forced into making moves quickly if you need them, so it hasn’t enabled us any time with Cam.” That seems to confirm that changes CAN be made before the league fixtures start, meaning Belle Vue haven’t broke/bent any rule. Unless of course this is just more bluster from Louis who has now demanded to make a change because Belle Vue have

He hopes..

Iversen has been a big disappointment.

Absolutely. It’s entertainment isn’t it, so let him ride whenever he likes..

I’ve seen some really good meetings here over the years to be honest. Granted, this isn’t one of them but Monmore is no better or worse than 90% of the tracks in the UK with a mixture of poor meetings, mostly mediocre and a sprinkling of excellent ones. There are a very few select tracks that produce excellent meetings more often than not and we all know which ones they are.

Massive loss just isn’t the same is it? As someone else just said, Tatum, Louis and Crump all very similar and any of them are fine as a sidekick analyser, but the coverage desperately needs a lead specialist commentator.

Have to agree he either states the obvious, or says something that makes little sense whatsoever. Just rambles away he’s terrible.