Roger Jacobs

Just had a very quick glance, and race-winning times don't look any different from other meetings this season - perhaps the surface was more unpredictable? PS: Owlerton isn't fast?!?! 😂

Simon?

There are always people late at football matches, because you see the empty seats gradually filling (and at the start of the second half too). Although, to be fair, a couple of Prem matches were delayed this season because of problems on the roads, which prevented access to the stadium. Plus, speedway is nothing to do with football - or any other sport. It's British speedway tradition for the parade to be part of the meeting, i.e. Ipswich speedway has always advertised the start time as the time of the parade, i.e. 7:30pm and first race at 7:45pm. I really don't see what the problem is - in the list of British speedway's problems, this must be rate in the bottom half a percent.

The new Ipswich promotion couldn't find a #1 ... by the time they took over, all the riders had already planned their schedules for the season - the Foxes had no chance. As of now, it'll be tough for BV to find a replacement for Bewley ...

Kevin Brice.

Thanks - I must have misremembered or misunderstood. Maybe the Witches misunderstood too, and went for a 25% guest 😅

Just wondering: Hellström-Bängs’ ban ended on Friday, 15th, so … maybe the Witches didn’t have a facility, and had to use a non-contracted rider, which Lambert could be classed as?

Indeed, the Deadbeets must have been full of confidence after that excellent performance at home to Belle Vue.

I would have thought bottom of the barrel, rather than crumbs ... Or was he the addition to the Witches armoury that finally tipped Bluster's decision to call it off?

Paul Hurry (from Ipswich website): “We had let the crowd in, and we tried to the end to get the meeting on. They tried to scrape the material off, but it was too wet. As soon as (track curator) Bob (Ellis) put the blade down, the sludge came out either side. There was no hope of getting it off the track.” So there was a blade ... ?

He turned left off bend 4 ... while chasing another rider. He didn't look round because he wasn't being chased by an opponent ... but, as you say, you can interpret it whichever way you want.

Some people don't appreciate a bit of fun 🙄

They interviewed Simon Humphrey-Kennett on BSN and he said that, unlike a clay surface which is hard, the heavy shower had got into the track surface and it was too slippery. All the riders were in agreement to abandon the meeting.

"philwhitewasmad" and "in the fence" doesn't sound like someone who shies away from discussing hard riding ...

A couple of things here: a) how are we to know who you are? 2) fans discuss incidents, it's part and parcel of the sport. I don't think it was done deliberately, but this is an occasion when a lot of people (including Jan Staechmann) think the rider ahead should have been declared as the cause of the stoppage. Obviously we all feel for the injured riders. That shouldn't prevent fans from discussing what happened.

Oh, so that's what caused the defeat. I wonder what was to blame at Compost Corner last night?

To be fair, Foxhall has changed a bit since he rode it regularly. Ironically, I wonder if it's a confidence thing? He's settled into Championship racing, but is feeling a bit stressed in the Prem - not just the expectation of the fans but putting pressure on himself, because the current Witches line-up needs all seven riders to be on it ... Hopefully, he will get off to a good start in Heat 3 - he definitely needs to beat Cook and Kerr.

Remarkably, still in the higher percentile of their overall finishing places since the early 70s. The Witches used to have a #1 curse - but in recent seasons it’s affected the Deadbeets … Fricke couldn’t raise his game when needed last night. Even so, I thought it would come down to the “engine room”, and so it did.

It's on BSN ...

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=hellstrom-bangs+ban 😉

They will be able to replace Nicholls with Jeppesen ...

You are joking! As Jan Staechmann pointed out, there aren't any brakes. You can see Harrison trying to pull back/away, but he was accelerating out of the bend taking a natural line, while Rushen (who took one long look, and then a second glance), had moved across from the natural line. I doubt any rider would have expected him to be there. Harrison had no chance - neither did Scott - or do you think he should have navigated his way past?!

Difficult to make a judgement when you're not there to see it. On Live Updates, Squall, who is a very respected texter, certainly thought King was at fault, and I'm not going to question his view. PS: there's a big difference between a dangerous track and dangerous riding.

BSN said that the Ref didn't look at the replays. Jan Staechmann said he was astonished by the Ref's decision not to exclude Rushen, because it was clear he had turned left, and Harrison had little to no chance of avoiding him. I appreciate Rushen has got to learn, but in the first meeting at Foxhall I saw him take an odd line on the second bend and he was within the veritable whisker of wiping out Scott Nicholls. Rushen is very talented, no doubt, but needs to reign in the "enthusiasm". Harrison was very impressive when speaking, and his riding so far has been very measured. As for your comment "maybe not have patchy grip when the younger kids are out" - how on earth would you manage that?!

Yes. Last night was one of the rare occasions where a rider and their team was deprived of at least one point because the rider could not compete in the rerun through no fault of their own. I think there's a case for the Regs to enable the third rider and their team to have a point awarded, e.g. last night Scott would be given third place behind Thomson and Rushen, meaning a 4-2 to the Foxes. In the extreme example of two riders missing, then they and their team(s) could be awarded 1.5 points each.