Roger Jacobs

Friday afternoon here in Aus, and we've just watched the coverage. I would say that Ellis was caught out by the patchy track in his first ride ... hardly kamikaze. Is he expected to hold back in a Grand Final? No doubt if he had settled for the inside line, there'd be criticism that he didn't try the outside 🙄 To others calling for a rerun: the ref didn't put the lights on until the leader had started the third lap, and the Regs allow a race to be awarded from that point ...

Absolutely - athough I thought the Witches might have gone with Brennan at #5, because he's good a Leicester, while Ellis seems more inspired when paired with Doyle. Whatever the score over the two legs, the result won't be life-changing. In a week or so, it will be forgotten*, and everyone will be talking about 2026 ... * except for Gavan and Salty Sheffield 🤣

The Ouch post says "Louis wouldn't put up with this", yet it's not obvious what Ouch assumes JL wouldn't put up with. Gavan is correct, JL is adored throughout the Witches fan base. He was a thoroughly professional rider and promoter, - traits which his son picked up and continues, and expects from everyone associated with the club. After the fiddling by Morris in 2024, the Regulations have been followed correctly this season. Sheffield fans are remarkably salty - why can't they accept that the cut-off was reached before the fixtures were completed? They didn't complain about finishing third a couple of years ago, when their team then went on to win the Grand Final. The reason the Tigers aren't in the Final this season is because they lost against Leicester - that's really quite easy to understand.

There was definitely a difference between the way they rode and attacked the track that night. Kurtz didn't bother.

That would make sense, because Brennan seems to enjoy Leicester.

You speak with such authority, yet without any knowledge: https://ipswichwitches.co/raceday-guide-sheffield-a-4/

Thompson returns to reserve for the Grand Final.

“Par for the course” 👍

Hawkins may come across as a valve short of a cylinder, but his summaries tend to be honest and balanced.

#SHEIPS League match scheduled for 25 Sept ...

https://britishspeedway.co.uk/rowe-motor-oil-premiership/premiership-play-offs-update-3/ Plenty of time to get the souvenir programmes ready - maybe even stage the missing league fixtures 😜

After the complaints about Kurtz and Bewley on Thursday night, it was good to see Fricke and Holder on Saturday prioritising their Prem SF commitments 😉

As a result of Thursday night, I am absolutely delighted that Zmarzlik is the World Champ.

Only one season for the depression to set in 😂

Very bitter. Thompson ha# been excellent at reserve all season. One ride/point (0.04) separating Ellis and Thompson in the September green sheets, and it upset the balance of the Ipswich team. Having riders who can adapt to conditions is important. Throttle-jockeys can't win everything 😉

Much better result for the Witches than feared after last Thursday's non-performance. Lemon's obsession with Zischke is fascinating - always seeming to favour him over Mulford, even though the young Brit is just as likely to produce at least one good ride per meeting (and has a higher average).

Oh my goodness! Very best wishes for a full recovery - once they get you moving, make sure you follow all the physio 👍

But the point is … the weather. Criticise the BSPA/L and/or TNT Sports as much as you want, but if the weather intervenes there’s not much to be done - except criticise them for forcing the match to go ahead in poor conditions, as happened with Sky and BT Sport (and Sky walked away from their contract, while BT, after rescuing the coverage, weren’t interested in renewing).

It's got to be TNT Sports that won't move the dates they've got fixed in their schedules. The only thing would be to push the first semi-final back a week, stage the missing fixtures, and run both semis on the same nights (as Sky tried - but I guess that's expensive in terms of doubling-up OB kit and teams). Then, of course, it rains ...

Agree - it was a repeat of the KL KOC-Up, when they didn’t look like a team. Regarding your final comment - it’s worth pointing out that Sayfutdinov, Doyle, and Brennan conceded heat advantages …

Will it really make a huge difference? Which is Leicester’s preferred race night? Both teams should get a decent attendance at home …

I think they’ve mucked-up the balance of the team - it must have been an error to allow Thompson’s average to creep above Ellis’s by 0.04 … no excuses.

Hi made it in time for heat 3. There was a mysterious electrical fault affecting the ref’s controls, which held things up for another five minutes. This should have been held at KL, then it wouldn’t have started until 8:15 … although, thinking about it, if it were at KL the match would have been called off yesterday …

But the play-offs used to be in late September, and even ran into October - they've been brought forward to earlier in September. It's obvious they need to complete the league fixtures, but for whatever reason they haven't used some dates - and it can rain any time ...

People used to complain that the season dragged on to October - even in "the good old days" some seasons ended with cancelled league fixtures. Indeed, when Ipswich won the British League in 1984, Belle Vue vs Swindon wasn't raced (they obviously didn't have drainage as good as the NSS 🤣) - thankfully the Aces were 3 points short of the Witches.