JonHWeiner

How many pages will there be on this thread by 2016 play-offs?!!!

Not mentioned by Nigel and Kelvin but Max Fricke was a great guest for us several times last season and he did it again last night. Not everyone on here approved of him as a guest for this match but well done Max! Also great respect to all 14 riders in tricky conditions.

This is a difficult call. Locals will always prefer a later decision but people travelling any distance would rather avoid a wasted journey. We were due to travel over from Kent for the day but I decided to go into work instead, once I saw the weather!

3 comments: We went to the £5 match at Lakeside a fortnight ago and then to Brandon on the Friday, with full price admission. The crowd was bigger at Brandon and almost reminded me of the old days (when they did wear black leathers - or blue in the case of Booey!). I can't remember the Golden Helmet, but the Bronze Helmet in the National League seems popular (eg last month the Coventry Storm lost away to the Kent Kings. Then Dan Greenwood beat Ben Morley in heat 15a to win the bronze helmet. Most fans stayed to watch it enthusiastically.) I have really enjoyed watching the fast track reserves (though being a Bees fan, I may be biased). The reserves have produced some great races, often beating the top heat leaders when used as tactical substitutes. In the reserve races, we have seen some great battles between eg Jason Garrity and Kyle Newman or Jason Garrity and Lewis Kerr (glad he's on the mend). The big question is what happens to the likes of Garrity next season?

After spending 2 1/2 hours on the M25, it was well worth the hassle to see a crowd like the "old days" and a terrific match. Having seen Jason Garrity's heroics on Monday (nearer to home), it was unbelievable that he did the same last night. I hope James returns to form soon as he is also a great lad. The team spirit in 2014 and 2015 has been amazing. A great team is one where if one or two riders have an off night, others will make up for it. Well done, a great win.

I saw quite a lot of Bees supporters. Certainly more than last time I was there on a Monday evening for a Lakeside/Coventry Sky match. How full did the stadium look on TV? So many times recently the TV matches had very small crowds.

Great match, probably a fair result and a good crowd. Best £15 I've spent in a long time (2 adults, 1 child and a programme). Garrity is an absolute star. Looking forward to Friday.

According to the website he scored a 15 point maximum in Poland yesterday!

As a Bees supporter living in Kent, I have been to the Arena Essex and Central Park, Sittingbourne on several occasions and the Sittingbourne stadium is vastly superior - there is a grandstand for a start. There are other examples of 2 teams in one stadium - Brandon, Monmore Green and Norfolk Arena.

He obviously didn't fall off his bike that night!

King and Garrity were amazing tonight. Lawson was unlucky in heat 14 but Kylmakorpi had been leading before the race was stopped when Mikkel Bech crashed. The Bees success this season is that if one rider has an off night, there are 2 others to pick up big scores.

We need to hope Hans pretends he's at Wimborne Road (as in 2 weeks ago) :-)

Thanks for clarifying that, much appreciated, looking forward to a good match tomorrow.

would someone confirm that this starts at 8pm? Also, what time do the gates open? Thanks

Living in Kent, I have seen Ben Morley ride a few times (including against the Storm) and he is very good at NL level. He also rode for Lakeside last season so either he or Nielsen could do the job.

I totally agree. It is a great opportunity for him to show what he can do.

And he replies to tweets from supporters and he is great with the younger fans (or at least he was when he was at Brandon!) I think he comes over very well as a pundit/summariser on Eurosport and is a great ambassador for speedway.

Had the Swindon v Coventry match been on last night, the Bees would have had 3 guests again. Fair play to Lewis Bridger coming in at the last minute for MJJ, all for nothing (except for a very nice selfie with my granddaughter in the local pub after the match was called off!) I personally don't like the idea of guests. Coventry Storm recently had 4 guests at Sittingbourne. Dan Greenwood at number 4 plus the 2 reserves were the only Storm riders! Could you imagine Wayne Rooney guesting for Suarez at Liverpool?

Good match yesterday in wet conditions. Nice to see Steve Boxall - he is fast! As a Coventry Bees fan living in Kent, my granddaughter and I have "adopted" the Kent Kings as our local team. We enjoy the National League racing and think the setup in Sittingbourne is great. The facilities are far better than the nearest Elite League stadium. Next week will give us a bit of a dilemma - Kent hat or Coventry hat? My granddaughter has literally got both! Finally, great respect to the fans yesterday for the minute's silence. My granddaughter bought an old programme from the track shop, for the 1975 British final at Coventry, with a picture of Malcolm Simmonds - I think he scored 14 points!

Surely, whatever the rights and wrongs of the system, if the rules say that Bomber is in the GP's next year, if we call ourselves British speedway supporters, we should get behind him 100%. When was the last time we had 2 British GP riders?

My problem is that I live in Kent so I want to know when the Storm will be at Sittingbourne. I am already going to miss the Bees away matches at Lakeside and Eastbourne because they are both while I am away on holiday

Does anyone know when the NL fixtures are gooing to be announced?

Does anyone know whey there were no reserves this year? I can't see any logical reason for it. For example, Gollob came off in heat 1 yesterday evening. If he had been injured, the rest of the meeting would have been a farce. That is the only thing I would change.

My colleague has just reminded me of the comment on Sky after the referee excluded Chris Holder - "Now you know why they don't need goal-line technology in speedway!"

If anyone watched speedway on Sky for the first time last night they would be totally hooked. That must have been one of the most exciting meetings ever. Even my wife, who dutifully goes to matches but is not a mega-fan, was shouting and screaming at the TV. Apart from one bike failure, Bomber rode out of his skin. A pity that GB didn't make the final last night but bring on Thursday.