Steve Irving

Not sure why anyone would worry to be honest. They’re winning it at a canter. Absolutely zero chance they throw in a performance like they did at home to Sheffield a few weeks ago when it really matters in a play off final. Everyone knew before a wheel was turned that it would take an injury or two to important riders for anyone else to have a chance. That may still happen of course! SON coming up. But if it doesn’t, there’s only one winner. More than happy to be vaulted in a few weeks time.

“These fixtures are only qualifiers we’ll be there when it really matters” ”Let’s wait until September” Well Belle Vue stank in the “qualifiers”, and then they stank in the play offs too. Who’d have thunk it! Where is Acebelle and Ouch by the way? They seemed to have disappeared..

You’re making absolutely no sense here whatsoever. “Still couldn’t beat them”? Well neither Sheffield or Leicester have beaten Belle Vue there either have they? And yet according to you, because of tonight’s result they’ll now fancy their chances? You seem very confused and to be honest, a bit bitter. Neither Sheffield OR Leicester will be fancying their chances. They’ll be second favourites in the final and they’ll know that full well.

No?

I’ve pulled you up on this before and it’s been a while since you’ve regurgitated this nonsense. Right from the start of the season you seemed to take offence at every man and his dog tipping Ipswich to win comfortably and you wrongly labelled Ipswich supporters on here “arrogant”. You haven’t specifically said Ipswich fans this time in your post, but it’s obvious who you meant. The Ipswich supporters actually were the ones who were much more reserved about their chances because of the way they’ve been burned the past couple of years, it was supporters of other clubs that basically wrote the season off as Ipswich were going to clean house. When you argued against this, I asked you to quote these “arrogant Ipswich fans” posts, and surprise surprise you disappeared because said posts didn’t exist. Others joined you in sticking the boot in and it all became a bit bizarre. The usual suspects from Belle Vue joined the party, as did one or two of your fellow Leicester supporters, and unsurprisingly, one vociferous King’s Lynn supporter. None of them could back up the cr@p they were coming out with by actually pulling up the quotes they were all whinging about. The only ones that didn’t seem to pile in were anyone from Sheffield so for that reason, if Ipswich don’t manage to pull it off, I hope they do. One poster, @szkocjasid , was the one who asked the question, “can they win every meeting” after Ipswich were blowing everyone away early doors. He didn’t say they would to be fair to him, but he asked the question. I personally hope Ipswich win this and I hope others who don’t have a horse in the race do too. I’ve an awful lot of respect for the way Chris Louis runs his club. A proper speedway man and as it turns out, a very good and professional business man too. If others in the sport ran their clubs as professionally as Louis does his, we wouldn’t be in half the bloody mess we currently find ourselves in.

If that happens I’ll give you the money meself.

It still doesn’t sit well with me that the top team doesn’t win it. Imagine finishing top of the premier league and yet not winning the title, but instead having to enter a play off system with five other teams who made up the top 6. Yes you get play offs in lower divisions, but that’s for promotion. The top team are still champions! Ipswich will finish top, they’ve taken every single aggregate bonus point in both rounds of fixtures against every club (unless Sheffield manage to be the first next week) and yet could end up empty handed by having an off night in the semi’s or final. Yes, those are the “rules” and everyone knows them before a wheel is turned, but it’s a nonsense. They’re the best team in the league (not Leicester as some comically have been claiming in recent weeks), and deserve to be champions. Why not have the team that finished top are champions, but there’s still a top four race to prolong meaningful fixtures, by having the top four then enter the KOC, two semis and a final? That also does away with the farcical situation of having odd teams enter, and one club getting a “bye”.

Everything I said was true, you just don’t like it because your team were the ones that pinched it. Just admit you took advantage of another teams terrible misfortune and got away with one that you didn’t deserve 🙄

Bit harsh that. If Ipswich didn’t have bad luck in recent years they’d have no luck at all. They’ve had the best team on paper three years running now and had the gods go against them last two years. A country mile ahead at the top of the table before losing Sayfoootinov on top of Doyle last year, and the year before the weather gods were against them. 18 points up from the home leg and in the return, the heavens opened and made it a complete farce. Riders were being wheeled out for races before the riders from the previous race had even left the track. It was a lottery which Sheffield eventually won. If the rain hadn’t arrived there’s no doubt in my mind Ipswich would have held on. People may disagree but that season on three previous visits there, Ipswich lost by 6, and 12 on two occasions. Ipswich again have the best team on paper and if they don’t win it this time, then they can rightly be labelled failures. If they go in to to the play off with a full 1-7, then there will be nowhere to hide and no excuses. Nothing against any of the four teams involved, but I personally hope Ipswich win it because Louis deserves it for consistently putting the best team together in recent years. Anyone else without a horse in the race should be rooting for them too. (Except for Lynn fans probably 😉)

Why is that exactly? The team that finishes top “deserve it” and that won’t be Leicester.

Are you incapable of making any sort of point or counter argument without being a sly sarcastic pr!ck? The point Gavan makes is a fair one. The passing at the NSS is a regular occurrence and I’m sorry, but you CAN get a bit blase with it. “Oh there’s another one” It’s such a big wide open track that a lot of the passes there are unimpressive. You can have an away rider going in to the bends mid track, and can get comfortably passed inside and out by both home riders without even getting close to each other. You don’t get anywhere near the amount of passing at some of the smaller technical tracks, like Eastbourne, Mildenhall etc, but when they do come , you can certainly get more of a wow moment and “how the hell did he manage that?” Ive seen riders make passes at those tracks that took huge skill, and huge b0llocks to squeeze around riders through gaps that didn’t even look possible to get through. Those moments when they come can produce more excitement than any routine pass in every heat at an NSS meeting. To just dismiss that as being inferior shows an elitist attitude and pure snobbery on your behalf. the NSS is also capable of wow moments of course. The British final wasn’t just one of the best races I’ve seen in recent years, it has to go down as one of the best races I’ve ever seen, period. But I wouldn’t want to watch my speedway exclusively from Belle Vue. I prefer a variety of Speedway on different tracks of different shapes and sizes.

Just a club shill who doesn’t want to risk upsetting anyone and losing his freebies.

When Chapman called off a meeting against Ipswich with one of the most pathetic excuses you’ll ever see because a couple of his riders were on Danish duty, then you can fully understand the suspicion. That was the pinnacle of many many stunts this man has pulled over the years. The “heart attack” was another corker.

Looking forward to this one. My first look at young Cairns so will be interesting to see what all the fuss is about. Narrow home win for me.

Oh they’ll make changes alright. When the Belle Vue vultures run out of hope that their rivals will have the guts ripped out of them through injury, they’ll press the panic button and resort to plan B or even C, whether that includes sacking riders and gambling on others, or getting lawyers involved to help them bend the rules to get ringers in. Anything goes in a desperate win at all costs attitude.

What a strange heat that was! First couple of laps Fricke didn’t seem to be making up any ground and had absolutely no chance. Then out of the blue it clicked on lap 3!

Sometimes it actually pays to read the previews the OP put up at the start of this thread.. “We got back to winning ways last time out with an all-round solid performance but just because we got the victory it hasn’t made all the injury problems go away. We are still well short of being anywhere near a fully fit side”

Best wishes to Leon on a speedy recovery. Was riding well too, shame for the lad.

I’d like to know this too..

Broken shoulder for Leon flint. Sheffield in the brown stuff. There’s another huge stiffy for you Phil! The Belle Vultures licking their lips preparing to feast on the dead carcasses yet again. And I’m not an Ipswich fan. I no longer have a horse in the race.

“Bloody Doyle”?? You make it sound as if he wiped him out with a dirty move. Yes, he was rightly excluded, but it was quite clearly unintentional as you full well know.

I bet you have. The Belle Vue vultures are circling once again..

That really isn’t the flex you think it is. In fact, it’s embarrassing. You won last year for one reason and one reason only, the best team in the league by a country mile had their team ripped to shreds through injury. You simply became the Belle Vue vultures and picked over a dead carcass. That really isn’t anything to be proud of, Phil. If you’re a win at all costs type of person, don’t care how it’s done or how hollow a victory it is as long as you get your name on the trophy, then that’s up to you. I’m sure all you Belle Vue fans sat there getting a big stiffy with news of injuries once again filtering through from Ipswich way, dreaming of a repeat. The Belle Vue vultures once again circling their prey..

That’s exactly what I said Kelv and none of it matters does it. My point was a response to “Ipswich wouldn’t have won even with a fully fit team” when there is every chance they MAY have and the reasons I’ve given are more than valid. Not sure 7+1 from four rides from Cook’s RR was much of a handicap either the way he’d been riding this season over here.

Not as fanciful as you’d think. The heat 15 5-1 made the score look worse than it was, it was an 8 point deficit going in to heat 15 but you’d think a fit Doyle and Emil would have at the very least shared the final heat. Mountain scored a solitary point, so there is where your 8 point deficit is made. A modest five point return from Thompson which he’s more than capable of, would mean a superheat. All ifs buts and maybes of course and at the end of the day, nobody from Lynn will care a jot, but it’s not completely fanciful to suggest a fully fit Ipswich side could have gotten a result.