Steve Irving

Until contracts are actually signed, either party can change their minds. Deals can be agreed in principle, but it means nothing until they’ve put pen to paper and even then sometimes things change. I can remember Louis changing his team at the 11th hour a few years back, the evening before the seven were due to be named. Can’t remember one of the swaps, but one involved Stefan Nielsen and Joe Jacobs.

I see the Lynn fans are using the old Shovlar tactic of claiming a miracle if their team wins against all odds because their replacement reserve isn’t as strong as their usual reserve. Behave. You’re facing a side using R/R for Riss who have their number 8 in the rising star role and their rising star who nobody has seen or heard for months taking up a spot in the 1-5!!

Or Belle Vue or Sheffield? Two tracks you’d expect him to go well on. He’s replacing Erik Riss, not Jason Doyle.

From what I gather they no longer exist, just a courtesy call needed. Not 100% on that though.

See what you’re saying, but he’s still an Ipswich asset although not sure how much sway that has these days. You’d think at the very least if Peterborough wanted to sign him then they’d have to contact Ipswich. Maybe then Ipswich nipped in themselves with two vacancies?

Why?

wROng.

Foxhall is a decent track that produces good racing when prepared well, just like most others really. Track prep isn’t an exact science though and can be extremely difficult to get right. A lot comes down to luck as well in my opinion. You can prepare it the exactly same way two weeks running and yet have it seemingly perform completely differently both times. I don’t think Louis gets enough credit either for the effort that went in to changing the shape. That first winter involved an incredible amount of work in awful wintry conditions that at one stage, didn’t look like being completed in time. The following few years involved further alterations bringing the inside in, but On a smaller scale. It’s resulted in an excellent shape for racing. Saw a split aerial picture a few weeks back on social media of the old shape and new side by side and the difference was incredible. From long straights and incredibly tight bends to a far more circular and much wider shape. I’ll see if I can find it.

Which of the top 4 do you think you can overhaul? Looks absolutely certain to me that Lynn and Peterborough are the two that miss out

We’re going around in circles here. Of course a draw is a close result, you can’t get closer can you? There isn’t a winner, it’s a draw, level. 49-41 is a clear win for the home side, 41-49 is a clear win for the away side. close? Well sort of I suppose but where would you draw the line? There’s no need for an extra heat in those circumstances because there’s a clear winner on the night. That’s the top and bottom of it, they’ve introduced a new rule to make sure there’s a winner on the night. No mutual pats on the back or gentleman’s handshake on a “fair” well earned draw, there’s going to be a winner, and there’s going to be a loser. You’re going to win some, and you’re going to lose some, swings and roundabouts. What can’t be denied is that it’s a hugely exciting end to a meeting that a draw simply can’t match. I respect your opinion on this and you’re not in favour and you’re clearly not alone. I have a different opinion and think it’s good for the sport.

That really doesn’t make much sense to me. If a team win away from home 41-49 then of course there shouldn’t be an extra heat, the away team quite rightly take home the points. You may think an extra heat after a draw is absurd, but your suggestion really would be. The rules are clear and designed to award the points for a win on the night. The same if it was 44-46 or 46-44, you already have your winner so obviously no need for the extra heat. If it ends up a draw, then go to the super heat to decide the points! To me it’s quite clear they’ve tried to add something a little extra and it remains to be seen if they stick with it next season and beyond. Obviously it’s far too quirky for some and that’s fine, we all will have an opinion on it. But I’d say Speedway so often gets criticised for being stuck in the dark ages and having the stigma of having an old pensioners following, is it the older traditionalists who don’t like change that mainly have a problem with this? The same one’s that hated the green helmet colour and hankered for the return of the old yellow/black combo? It’s a tense and exciting climax for those watching and is in my opinion a great addition.

Ipswich deserved the 3 points because they managed to do what was needed to secure them. Instead of all the hard done by stories and whinging, if you want the 3 points then just win the damn meeting! It’s pretty simple. Ipswich go to Sheffield on Monday knowing full well if it’s a draw after 15 heats then they’ll have to win a super heat to earn the 3 points. If they don’t then they’ll go home with one. Not one club is being hard done by here and not one club has an advantage over anyone else. The rules are set at the start of the season and every club has an equal amount of home and away meetings to secure as many points as they can within the current rules. If you draw an away meeting but then lose the super heat, tough! Take your point and on to the next.

It’s been a long running joke on here that Lynn have been fortunate this season in the fact that they always seemed to be facing sides who happen to be under strength, but not a peep from Trees about that. But as soon as something pops up that goes against her beloved Lynn she doesn’t stop bleating about it!! Give it a rest woman you lost, again.

But the difference is they’re already top, WITH him having a stinker of a season, others aren’t.

Harsh. Ipswich we’re also missing Starke and Riss at Belle Vue with Sedgman contributing a single point as a guest. Harris was a good guest for Lynn last night, 9+1 is par for the course for Iversen this year. “Fortune” isn’t a word I’d associate with Ipswich this season personally. They’re pretty much had a rider(S) missing in every fixture. Considering a fair few had them bottom, they current sit top and deservedly so. If King gets his act together, they’ll be in serious contention for the trophy.

That’s a bit rich! Nobody’s had more luck than your lot this season picking up points against sides who nearly always seemed to be missing riders! Not to mention the extraordinary luck over “lightbulbgate” perfectly timed when you were struggling with illness and injury!!

I’d hazard a guess that nobody on this forum has the phone numbers to all the riders across Europe to ascertain their availability. It isn’t their job anyway, it’s the job of those who run their speedway clubs. Surely a more proactive signing would be a talented youngster with an eye on the future? The fans would have supported that move I’d have thought even if he initially struggled whilst visiting tracks for the first time. Barker is in his 30’s and will never be more than a 4-5 pointer.

You should delete this and add a link instead Bagpuss. Revenue can be generated through clicks and clubs need all the help financially they can get.

No, it was just crap pure and simple.

Kin ell what is wrong with some of you people? So now your criticism has shifted from the manager to the rider? Firstly, I’d say his effort last night was very commendable no? Unless for some warped reason you’re saying he hasn’t got a perforated eardrum and someone is lying?

I just don’t like seeing riders lock up so much on bend two that they’ve almost come to a complete stop before they get their wheels back in line and get going again up the back straight. Will never look particularly appealing to me. You also had riders taking the wide line on bend 2 who for a split second looked like they were about to pass, who then lost so much ground to the rider nailing the white line that by the time the rider on the inside got to the 3rd bend the bloke behind him was nearly half a straight behind! That can’t be right can it?

When you look at that still it’s incredible how much the track has changed and how much wider it is. This clip from the early 90’s for comparison, night and day!

I’ll answer it. Once again you’re talking absolute bollo(ks and plucking completely wrong statements out of your ar$e to suit your agenda. There was no 25% rule in previous seasons, evidenced by Lynn booting Craig Cook this time last year after 2 meetings.

Exactly, he scored 3, that was his score, nobody is guessing are they? If you’re talking about a different meeting then sure, his score will certainly be different on a different day. So this “if” doesn’t apply to both teams does it? Because only one team were missing their riders and it wasn’t Lynn who were at full strength. Nobody knows for certain that Starke and Rowe would have scored more than the two points from eight rides that their replacements managed, but an educated guess tells you it’s more than likely!