wandersome

Looks like it could be time for a major reworking of the team. We have far too many riders who can only gate and are found out time and time again away from home. They might be fine at home where if you can drop in front of the opposition you can generally stay there but it doesn't work away. We are hapless. The team was built around a 7.00 rider we expected to be a 9-9.50 point rider (Roynon) and he's been replaced by a 7.00 rider who to all intents and prurposes has been a 6.00 rider for the last two seasons (Karlsson). As much as i like him he's still not living up to his average. Same with Graversen. He's a good rider to have in the team and would be a good 4.00-4.50 point reserve but his average is 5.00. Same to a lesser extent with Nielsen. You probably hate me for bringing it around to this again but it really is time to take away our ridiculous home track advantage and make a fairer track that gives our riders averages that actually reflect their ability. Either that or we need to make sure we lose all the riders who end up with false averages each year. It's like County Ground syndrome all over but without the excitement. When most of the team have averages far in excess of what they would be capable of in any other team what chance have we of building a team to a standard that will have us competing home and away. Mick.

jinx

It's a track most the Lions look like they usually ride well, i think we would have been in wiith a shout with Bjerre and Branford in the team. If no ill effects for Nieminen then i'd say Doolan top scorer and 8 point win for Berwick with Kennett winning all his races by half the length of the straight at least. If Nieiminen is feeling his way then Berwick by 14.

I think you and a few others are trying to make this into something it isn't. At the end of the day it was a surprise that someone like Eddie Kennett has signed for you when we have the current pay scales in place. I'm surprised, fans of other teams are surprised, i think most of Berwicks fans are surprised in much the same way as Glyn was surprised. i'd be amazed if you weren't surprised as well. I like Glyn (and others like the Swindon promoter) having an opinion and letting us on BSF know it, personally it would be refreshing if more managers and promoters were equally open. The problem is when people then try and turn the little things into big things and that's when people with genuine insight into the sport all stop passing it on to us fans on BSF.

It appears quite a few Lions fans are currently questioning Bjerre's dedication to the cause but it's always hard to stay annoyed if he's scoring well. It wouldn't upset me to see some overtaking at all, in fact i will be willing myself to look the fool on here just as i do every home meeting. I'd love to see Bjerre overtake some witches riders, it's just the odds on it happening are not that great (though better than some!). On the evidence of the just over two seasons they are practically nil around bend 1 & 2, though luckily for us excitement merchants you have replaced the one rider (Jari Makinen according to Long Eye) who has achieved the feat with the other (Ritchie Hawkins according to my ropey memory). looking forward to seeing some more of the same.

After a two week break it's back to home track (lack of) action when the Ipswich Witches visit on Sunday. I think it may be close. I think Ben Barker will probably overtake a Leicester second string rider / struggling heat leader and offer certain posters a chance to justify why proposed track changes weren't made as proof that clearly riders can overtake if they actually try. My big prediction for this week is there will be a large contingent of Leicester supporters who made the visit to Somerset and witnessed what speedway should be like who may not be as impressed with this level of excitement as they may previously have been. We've got James Seargent riding in place Robert Branford. James has looked pretty decent as a NL guest around BP before although i'm not sure he's scored anything. Another NL rider who could probably step up with regular PL action. I'm going for 47-43 to the Lions with Lasse Bjerre pissing off a large contingent of Lions fans by top scoring. Anyways if the rain comes and the fans don't at least this post has delivered this weeks alternative excuse to the promotion. Mick.

it's not confidential. He is pointing out the most money a rider is allowed to be paid for riding for a PL side and his surprise that a rider that has previously refused to ride for those amounts has just signed for a club the other end of the country from his home. It does look a little odd. I also don't think he was dismissed for comments made on a public forum, this may have been what you were told (much like you will be told Kennett is on £55 a point) but isn't the actual reason. The reason he was dismissed was because other people offered our promoter a cheaper solution to track issues we had and his comments on a public forum offered the promotion an easy excuse for getting rid.

to be honest i'm not sure you needed to go that far to get a win over the Lions.

what if Branford originally came in because Blackbird wanted away. The start marshall has alluded to that being the reason on facebook and i've heard it off a few others as well. Blackbird can't gate well enough for BP as no-one can overtake around BP.

cheers for the advice. what if we've done that though? what do we do then? I'm seeing Jenga's answer already.. Mick.

I actually thought Branford looked half decent last year around BP and i hope he steps up. I may regret saying that he'll be better than Blackbird though, especially now Lewis is at a track he can both ride and seems to like . I definately think it's in Lewis's best interests to be riding at Scunthorpe rather than Leicester as he never really seemed to adapt to BP. I really wish him well as he seemed to put more effort into riding for the Lions than quite a few who are still here. Pre-season we had Glyn signing up Lewis Kerr and Lewis Blackbird and boldly stating they would boast 4-6pt averages this season. He was mocked by quite a few people on here but fair dues to him, he looks to have got it spot on. Pity neither will be doing it for Glyn or Leicester.

What does this mean fanmale?

I was told a couple of Scunthorpe riders were also in that meeting and had no problems making the Edinburgh meeting that was called off. Clearly Bjerre just didn't fancy it.

I was was stood on bend 2 facing Karlsson and Nielsen head on and Stefan Nielsen definately took Karlsson's line. He ran straight into him. Agree both Graversen incidents could have been called differently. Also surprised Stefan Nielsen wasn't excluded in heat 2 when he got out of shape and Branford ran into him. Looked close to crossing the white line to me at worst.

See post above and you,ll see I covered both rubbish track and promoters. We got a tonking. 62-32. Nieminen took a very nasty fall before the first bend of a rerun heat 1, appearing to land on his head and although he took his place in the 3rd rerun of the heat, retired and was then withdrawn by the doctor with mild concussion. Bjerre withdrew so he could psyche himself up for the u-21s meeting in the comfort of his own home or something like that. Branford looked ok, he was probably a little unlucky to score only 1 and looks a better rider to me than Lewis Blackbird.

We got an absolutely spanking but really , really enjoyed the racing. No lie to say more entertainment in one night at the oak tree than a season at BP. Good to see all our promoters were there to see what proper speedway racing on a proper speedway track actually should look like.

there i was reading your comments and thinking the same Tsunami. That was the reason for the slightly tongue in cheek and patronising tone of my reply. Particularly the bit where you point out you're right and we are all wrong. But there you go. Mick.

Another point worth making. It's been alluded to by others and was one of the specific points David Hemsley made in the questionairre last season. He made a point of asking if the track had improved with the Scunthorpe shale but as others have pointed out it now appears to be back to the hopeless Breedon stuff again. I thought the point he was making was that the Scunthorpe shale had improved matters and yet i'm guessing it's now mixed in with the rest to the point that it makes no odds. We know this improved the racing a little but finances don't even appear to be able to stretch to the cheap solution. Much like our remedies I'd say your remedy doesn't seem wanted / deliverable either.

and back to type. it was good while it lasted! Taking a neutral view i would point out that the inside line isn't the problem... that's the one everyone is riding. Here's the thing Tsunami, you appear to have a opinion you've formed about the track based on your irrefutable experience and what appears to be one visit to watch a bunch of kids and Joe Screen. Has it occured to you some of the people on here who have a different opinion on what needs doing to the track have had that opinion formed by also talking to other people who have equal if not more insight in track work than you and may and have been seeing the issues on a regular basis over many more meetings than you have seen. And yet you are stating your certainty we have not got it right and you have. How can you say you have neutrality and then straight away argue that any other opinion someone may have on the track is 'bile'. Do you see why you wind people up so. Or is that your intent? I don't think either has bends as sharp and tight as BP though, certainly not Wembley. i don't agree with you at all, sorry. There are no options with line that i have seen at BP . You cannot crawl around the inside as you would need to slow up too much to enter the bend. Your idea may work, i don't see it myself but i'm not foolish enough to dismiss anything without it having been tried. The riders are already currently backing their way around the corners on the line they are all riding now. It looks to me like both the inside and outside line in one. I know you've been here on since the beginning. I remember your spats with speedibee, though I'm not so sure what makes you think he has ever left the thread.I mean't you've been following the 'track changes' threads for 3 months

blooming eck Tsunami. Why don't you attempt typing something of substance more often when you're on the Leicester threads. You've been following the Leicester threads for 3 months and yet here you are finally making a point about the track that doesn't come accross as just trying to be clever with it. I'd love you to be right and something could be done. All i want is to be entertained. Welcome to the debate. I'm afraid as someone pointed out earlier, you have to be sceptical of anyone claiming neutrality, but i won't hold that against you this time! I would make a point that whilst you are correct in the number of tight tracks out there such as Belle Vue and Newcastle, can you , or anyone else, name the ones where the riders are carrying anything like the speed they do when entering the bends at BP. Not to be seen as a leading question in any way but how many times have you been to BP? cheers, Mick

For fear that Somerset vs Nobody would get more interest than us i'm going to start a thread. I think a reasonably routine win for Somerset though Bjerre, Nieminen & Karlsson usually seem to go ok. Doolan's previous scores look a bit and miss around the oak tree though and Graversen appears to struggle even though i have a dvd of our first trip to Somerset in 2011 and he looks pretty handy in that. Hopefully Branford will hit the ground running and Nielsen will remember that he's turned the corner (it was a couple of weeks ago now). Whilst I'm really looking forward to this meeting, It should be noted i will be taking my whole family as a human shield in case the Lions lynching mob are there for me. Haven Holidays here we come!

I'm not saying this is correct but the gist of what understood was going to happen was that the straights we're getting shortened by 6 metres, the apex's by a couple and the entrances opened up a bit. I personally think something like that might have worked.

edited

i do still go Neb. The main reason being that for the second year running i've bought two season tickets on the back of promises that track changes were going to be made.

having mastered the art of multi-quote i was going to respond to with this but maybe you'd be better served reading this this and this to understand what's currently going on and why. same goes for elephantman. actually the same goes for David Hemsley. Roy, I'm also only a year older than David, actually went to the same school as he did and i fell in love with the sport over the last 4 years of Blackbird Road. Much like you, I also don't hide behind the keyboard so we do have a few things in common! I think you are spot on with what you've written here. Let's get it going forward for everyone's sake. all the best, Mick.