Steve Shovlar

Well just got back. 540 miles in a day with some good and some dreadful racing. The two tracks are relatively new, Belle Vue got it spot on. Leicester got it seriously wrong. This lunchtime meeting at Belle Vue was the perfect advert for the sport. A big crowd, perfect weather and some brilliant racing. The meeting had all a speedway fan would want, well nearly everything except if you are a Poole fan. Belle Vue with their home track knowledge got themselves into an eight point lead but Poole started to get their setups right and in the second half of the meeting were the better team imo, but just kept losing heat advantages. We deserved a point but it was not to be. Anyone who was there must have left thinking this is one of the best sports in the world. The two Newman wins were spectacular as was Holders last three rides. Our problem arose with Holder withdrawing from tonights meeting at Leicester. One rule Matt Ford usually sticks to is not to use riders from clubs that are your closest rivals in the league. However on this occassion he was left with no choice. Unfortunately Fricke was worse than useless, and on top of that lifted, then piled into Hans Andersen who was hurt bad enough to have to withdraw from the meeting. With no Holder and Andersen we were stuffed in a meeting which was chalk and cheese to the meeting served up earlier. There was one pass in this meeting after the second bend, when Buckowski made a wall of death ride around bends three and four to move into second, only to fall on the next bend because he couldn't get back on line. It was a meeting of the worst kind possible. Where Belle Vues meeting had passing in virtually every heat, in this meeting you could fill your program in going down the back straight of lap one, so dire was the non existent 'racing'. Poole riders lifted out of the gate, Leicesters didn't and it was all over by the second bend. Bjarne had a field day as he gated and just sat there, mid track, picking up the points. There was no way anyone would pass. The whole Leicester setup is diabolical. Where Belle Vue have got it right, Leicester have got it wrong. They wonder why Sky don't show racing from here? Because its crap. Simple as that. I don't care that we lost at Leicester, the result is almost meaningless as we needed to win at Belle Vue. Failing to do that meant that whatever the result at Leicester or any other meeting in the regular season, it means we probably can't finish top. I hope Leicester find a buyer and take them down out of the Elite League to the PL. A track like this should not be gracing top flight speedway. Harsh but true. And I hope they can be replaced by a club with a decent race track. I feel I have been mugged paying to watch that garbage after the great meeting on a proper race track earlier on. As for Agent Fricke, if people didn't realise it was meant tongue in cheek then they really are that stupid.

We are all filling our progams in on the back straight of the first lap. Really dire stuff. Without our one and two this meeting is over for us. Of course Fricke didn't mean it. There really are some imbeciles on this forum.

Andersen out of meeting. Agent Fricke ....mission successful.......

He just smashed into Andersen, dirty or not he poleaxed him. And they are meant to be on the same side tonight.

are you here?

Well done agent Fricke poleaxing Andersen. Andersen in medical centre.

Tried to stick a 20 in the turnsyle there but it just beeped. A security guard then came over and wanted to look in my bag and confiscated a prawn sandwich and bottle of chablis. Told me you couldnt pay at the turnsyles so I left in disgust. Must be a northen thing......

None. Came down to just two heats, 2 and 7 in the first half of the meeting. Better team in second half but damage done. Bv better team first half while poole getting used to track. Poole threw away quite a few places due to no track knowledge. Fair play to them.

Not going to get a point out of this. No complaints being passed left right and centre. Some good racing if you are a bv fan. Newman has been spectacular in two heats. Track now unsuprisingly extremely slick and dusty.

Some good racing. Downside is its the bv riders doing the passing! And they say there is no home advantage?

Agree bv the better team holder not fast enough. Bjarne kurtz and buck should have stayed in bed.

Poole riders got their throttles wide open and its not fast enough. From a rider. Need more horse power than we have got. In for a thumping at this rate.

Poole being beaten up on speed. Not at the races.

Poole at full strength if we get through the lunchtime meeting unscathed. If not a BV guest!

We have arrived and in the car park. Only car in here at present no one on the gates. All security sitting in the grandstand having a meeting. Took us 3 hours 20 mins a record time. Overcast at the mo. Track looks grippy. No one about.

No more Poles would be preferable. Three is enough. Having half a dozen Poles out of 16 would stifle the competition. Variety is the spice and the more different nations the better Imo. Poland produces good riders that seem to lack that killer edge and consistency on the world stage. One race a world beater, then next at the back. Of course its my opinion and many will completely disagree with me. A top three next week of Dudek, KK and god forbid Jedrzejak would not be good for the series.

Where's the best place to park? The school or the stadium itself? Getting there around 10.30 if we have a clear trip up.

Peoplevsaid the same about Woofinden. In his first year he struggled but it was a learning experience. Because even though speedwy in Britain is struggling at this time, we are still one of the major nations. One rider out of 16 is not enough. What would be the point loading the GP with 5-6 or more Poles, who are all good but rarely outstanding on the world stage? There has to be a variety of nations and Britain deserves more than one berth IMO.

Sorry can anyone decypher this post? So you are saying Leicester have a good race track, or they travel well, or both?

Lol! Do you think he would have won had The guys at the top of the gp had bothered to race instead of going through the motions?

Aarrgghh!! Now where is a link? The dr one switched to football just before the final. Used another link to see Pieczczek cross the line. Not a good meeting with some riders, ie the GP top men, not bothering with it too much.

Britain should have two riders in the comp minimum, so give Lambert a wild card in place of Harris if he fails to qualify.

They have changed the advert now exchanging the V with a +.

Sound is to do with codec. Flash based so no sound with apple products unless you use a flash browser like Photon browser from app store. Recommended.

Terrible crowd. I know the Poles like league racing but with a lineup like this you would have thought a decent crowd would have turned up instead of deserted stands.