Super Blue

I think the most irritating thing about the weather forecast is the fact that our usual raceday (today) is beautiful and would have been perfect conditions!

Just done a scan around at weather forecasts for Ipswich and Peterborough, it's not changing much yet I'm afraid, the away meeting probably got the higher chance of happening at the moment by the look of it. I'm beginning to think all the speculation on the team's and guest choices might be a tad irrelevant.

At least any call offs are giving captain Ritchie time to return to fitness and increasing the likelihood of having a full team .

Rain during the day till early evening and pretty cold in Peterborough.

Not quite ready to start a Good Friday very Peterborough thread yet, maybe not much point if BBC, Accuweather and Google are anything to go by. All predicting rain at this stage, not very encouraging!

I dunno Shads, some wins against weakened teams and Masters guesting for you making you stronger and all of a sudden you're unbeatable, it's very early days as yet my friend!

You know what, we've managed to achieve 8 pages on meeting that didn't even happen, granted a hell of alot of weather talk and the rights or wrongs of the call off but it bodes well for some serious debate on future threads when we actually see some racing! I'm now just itching for Good Friday when weather permitting I finally get to see some Speedway.

Over my side of Town it's a bit cold and breezy with a totally clear sky but certainly not the worst conditions I've ever seen a Speedway meeting in . As I said earlier , the track must have been really bad or they wouldn't have called it off so early , would they ? Surely not ! Either that or someone is seriously regretting making the decision when they did .

Damn , I was really looking forward to tonight . Called off with over 5 hours to start time and no more rain predicted , its lovely weather now but cool and a breeze . The track must be really bad ! Oh well , I suppose they've been heavily panned in the past for last minute call offs and didn't want the same to occur again . Good Friday awaits us then .

According to forecast a mixture of broken clouds and diminishing percentage of chances of rain so hopefully will be all good to go later .

It's not massively heavy rain in Ipswich at the moment it's just steady and bloody cold and not likely to get much warmer to dry out.

Well the promised morning rain is definitely here , it's bleeding miserable out at the moment ! Will keep everyone updated as the day progresses as all I have on my agenda today is to unwrap presents , have a nice meal lunchtime and go to Speedway tonight .

You know I'd have done both myself but for the football.

Was thinking the same thing myself! A little forethought and the idea of losing potential customers to the much more popular football means common sense has prevailsed. I would have thought the crowd will now be around the usual kind of numbers for a bank holiday meeting. Looking forward to attending both!

Unless I've missed one elsewhere I'll get this one under way. First home meeting proper of the new season is almost upon us and having pushed Rye pretty close on their own patch I would like to think this one ought to be a home win big enough to deny them anything from the meeting. Having said that from what I'm told there wasn't much dirt on the track for the Billy Sanders meeting so passing may be difficult and gating may be of paramount importance. Having been out of the country last week it's my first taste of speedway this year and looking forward to it immensely. Here's hoping for some decent racing and a reasonably comfortable Witches win.

Stop talking about Cook on this thread .

Agree wholeheartedly , if in just over a week's time he's theoretically gonna be telling the riders what they need to be doing imo he ought to know them all by now well enough to be in the position to do so . Having said that most of the team should know exactly what's expected of them anyway . Would normally by now be desperately looking forward to the start of the season but alas will be out of the country for the Billy Sanders memorial and the away trip to Rye . Hopefully with the wonders of modern technology I will be able to keep in touch with what's occurring . Enjoy everybody , i'll be back at Foxhall on the 26th .

Ok , now all the speculation is done and dusted what do we reckon on the team ? It's been recognised for a long time that for a team to do well there needs to be potential for improvement in individual riders . Here's my opinion , for what it's worth . Danny , should at least maintain his average if not improve slightly . Ought to be a good solid No1. Rohan , probably reached his level but will hopefully up his game again and prove me wrong . Gino , definitely got potential to up his average a point or two , If he doesn't over ride like he did at the end of last season . Cam , again could well see a move in the right direction . Needs to deliver on the previously shown potential . Ritchie , would imagine he will stay about the same average wise . Likely to float between top 5 and reserve births . Nico , for me he has huge scoring potential on the right equipment and is a heat leader with a reserves average . Stefan , don't really know what direction he will go in , all depends if he can stay on his bike in enough rides . So , if everyone gets it right we could end up having a reasonable year. Silverware possibilities ? Now that's a completely different question , there are a few formidable looking teams in the Prem this year so I will leave my opinion on that till the season starts to take shape a little .

It all just goes to show that the speculation on here was unwarranted and a little bit more communication from the powers that be earlier would have stopped all the fretting and arguments about qualifying criteria in there tracks. But hey, since when has "keeping the fans informed" happened anywhere in speedway let alone at individual teams?

Perhaps their 3 year visa's they had have just been revalidated as they meet the current criteria? To be perfectly honest I have no idea on such matters but you're right it does seem a tad on the quick side to get new visa's.

At last the good news has arrived, both Gino and Rohan officially cleared to ride on current visa's from the start of the season! Published in today's paper. Phew!

One assumes that neither Gino or Rohan will be allowed to practice if their visa's are not in place by then.

Depends on your definition of eligibility , if you mean to race yet that would be a big no . Im told the visas can take up to several weeks to process which couldn't be applied for till the sponsors licence was confirmed . One would assume that the wheels have now been put into motion on this and it's just a matter of waiting .

We have Ricky Wells guesting in the evening for that one. I think they needed to get in early to book the cover. Hope he does well for us but having to book a 6pt+ to guest for an 8pt+ rider does show how frustrating the double up/down rules are going to be this season.

At least the licence is official now, direct tweet from Ipswich Speedway. Just hope there's enough time for the work permit visa's to come through for the start of the season. I'd still love to know how Gino qualifies though.