Gresham78

Anyone got any weather updates please?

very grateful for this Bryn as i'm planning to travel up from deepest darkest Wiltshire for this meeting. Will look out for your next bulletin!

Hard luck to the Lions last night they had a real go and on another night would have won it. Hougard, Klindt Auty & Lindgren all shone. Robins dug deep with Jason leading the way abley supported by Josh & Sedgie. Think the ref got it right with Summers exclusion & agree with Grachan about Doyle's reaction. Without condoning it the sport needs some incident & a riders displaying a bit of temperament is no bad thing from time to time. When i used to watch the Bulldogs Steve Gresham was always in the thick of the of the action on track and off it and it used to add a bit of spice to the meeting. Leicester maybe the basement team but credit to their riders fighting spirit.

Personally I think David and Yulia Hemsley have done a fine job in bring speedway back to Leicester. The stadium is very good and shows what can be done when building a facility for the sport from scratch ( albeit with a slightly less than perfect track). Unlike some other people here who think David lacks business acumen or is just plain stupid I think the club is well run. The only thing I think you can accuse him of is a bit of over ambition and a maybe being a little stubborn. As is patently clear you cannot run a successful EL speedway team with a Saturday race night (Eastbourne). However David has said that switching to a mid-week slot doesn't work as there is a significant drop off in attendance. Surely the best option then is a return to the Premier League where he can retain the Saturday night slot and with better rider availability in that league he can build a competitive team again and present a better racing experience. I'd never criticise him for wanting to compete in the EL as I imagine it was always his ultimate aim when resurecting the club but it hasn't worked out so cut your losses and return to a model that works and most importantly the sport is retained in the city and the track continues to operate. I'm a Swindon fan and intend going to Beaumont Park next Saturday and I wish the Lions all the best for the rest of the season.

On paper this had the makings of decent meeting; Puk - one of the world's top riders, the return of Batch to the Abbey, Robert Lambert an emerging talent and former Robins favorite Mads. Unfortunately cold and breezy weather, an inconsistent track surface and a paltry crowd put paid to any chance of an entertaining evening's racing. Credit to Sedgie he got on with the job and returned a fine score but in fairness the riders deserve a better surface than they're getting at the moment. Come on Ronnie you can do better than this....

Well done to Rosco's Roobins - another solid team performance tonight with Rohan excelling at reserve. Also very pleased to see Stefan not giving up and being rewarded with a paid 3 in the second reserves race. And Charlie Wright produced another 'never say die' storming ride in heat 10 to hold off Bomber. Don't know if this is the Doyle affect but the team really seem to be pulling together as one which is great to see. The Bees do look out of sorts but I think they've got under performing riders at the moment. Danny King is a much better rider than his current performances suggest and I think if went back into the middle order his scores would pick up. And whilst I admire and respect Jason Garrity's ambition to move out of the Fast Track Draft and improve his skills his decision seems to have unbalanced the Coventry team. As others have said if he could return to reserve and King slot into the middle order and a genuine third heat leader is brought in I think the Bees would be punching their weight again. I thought Kasprzak took too long to get going tonight and I think it had a negative impact on the team. Sad to think this will be one of my last visits to Brandon - I've enjoyed watching speedway there as the facilities and view of the track are very good.

Congratulations to the Robins on a fine all round team performance - Rosco certainly had them pumped up and the Aces were blown away in the early heats. Craig Cook again disappointed at the Abbey Stadium - he really doesn't go well round Blunsdon. I thought all the Robins put in a shift, Charlie Wright deserved more from his efforts at number 3 and Stefan Nielsen did his best. A very positive attitude seemed to emanate from the Swindon pits last night with Jason leading the team from the front.

I think the revised rider positions will benefit Rohan and Josh but its a big step for Charles to go from reserve to heat leader however one thing is for sure Charlie boy will give it his all and won't give up - he was outstanding against Wolves last week. Think this could be a draw...

Congratulations to Wolves on their victory at the Abbey Stadium last night, they adapted to the track better than the home team and deserved their win with a solid team performance. As for the Robins, personally, I feel the new riders just need some time to bed in and should be given tge chance to do so. Josh is a good rider and has performed very well at Blunsdon in the past and I'm sure his form will pick up soon. As we know Rohan came in as late replacement for Dak North and needs to be given the chance to dial into his new tack, similarly the same applies with Justin. I was at Leicester on Wednesday and both these two put in decent performances in their roles as middle order riders. Personally, seeing riders develop and improve is really satisfying and I hope both these two go on to do so while they remain at Swindon but they do need to be given time. I know we've got off to a poor start but its still early days yet. I'm sure Rosco can be trusted to make a change if and when required - let's remember he's never failed to get us into the play offs since he came back to manage the team in 2012. Hopefully as we go further into the year and the weather improves and the track becomes more consistent the team will kick on.

Many congratulations to all at Plymouth Speedway at the success of keeping the club running! Track closures are always bad news for sport and its a relief that the Devils can continue to ride in 2016. Fantastic effort by the fans and those organising the fund raising efforts.

Personally I think Leicester are better off returning to the Premier League. David Hemsley has said on more than one occasion that Leicester fans want to watch their speedway on a Saturday night and switching to an alternative night leads to significantly reduced attendances. Unfortunately as we all know its very difficult putting a competitive EL team together for that night of the week. Unless Leicester fans are prepared to put up with a switch in race night then I think a return to the PL would suit them better. They can put a competitive team together and retain their preferred race night. That way I'm sure their attendances will remain healthy and most importantly the track remains in business. Surely most people would rather see competitive close racing whatever league its in? That fact seems to be proved by the success stories at Birmingham and Eastbourne. Whilst I applaud David Hemsley's ambition and desire to bring top flight speedway back to Leicester surely it would be better for the business to return to the second tier?

I can understand some Coventry fans being slightly 'underwhelmed' at Hans guessting for them tomorrow night but he's claimed publicly that he likes the Blunsdon track and to be fair he performed very well last season when he appeared as guest at the Abbey, which I recall was on several occasions. The thing is with Hans he is a bit of diva and needs to feel loved - Rosco was always good at making him feel wanted when he was with the Robins. I've always felt with him that if something's not quite right he's prone to sulking and if he thinks people aren't behind him he'll just do what suits himself which I think may have been the case at Brandon last year. Anyway, back to tomorrow night - I think he'll rack up a decent score for the Bees - I think its more of a question of how the other Coventry riders perform.

I spoke with Terry Russell at the Press and Practice day back in March and other than saying the track would be about 300 metres and based on the Cardiff shape he didn't seem to know an awful lot else about the stadium when I quizzed him on the facilities and the capacity. At the end of the day the speedway club remain the tenants at the new stadium and the only people who really know what's going on are Stadia UK (unfotunately) I don't think the Robins promotion has ever really been in a position to announce with any certainty when the new stadium wll be ready. I think 'in time for the beginning of the 2016 season' was always just wishful thinking.

Farewell to the Abbey! Enjoyed seeing the ex-riders and Briggo signed my programme which was a fitting end to the meeting for me. Also enjoyed Sam Ermolenko's prototype Jawas which could prove to be a way forward for the sport in these environment concious times. Disappointed in Batch with his comments which I think were ill judged given the occasion - his thoughts on the play off meeting against Belle Vue have been well documented elsewhere and I really think he's 'cooked his goose' with Swindon now and will be very surprised if he's a Robin next year. Loved seeing Rosco doing a couple of laps at the end - whether people like him or not he's a showman and the sport needs more like him.

Congratulations to the Aces - they were the better team in both legs of the semi final and deservedly go through to the final.Best of luck against the Pirates. Batch has come for a lot stick after his performance last night and given he's club captain its hard to defend. IMO he's looked out of sorts all season, the injury he sustained in the opening league fixture at Blunsden against Poole seemed to dent his confidence and he's never really recovered it. Personally, much as i like the guy, I think it would be in the best interests of both rider and club if he moved on elsewhere next season. I think he's got stale at Swindon and needs a new challenge to get back to his best. Best thing from last night was seeing the lovely Sophie Blake in the Pits!

As a Swindon fan I'm obviously pleased that they won last night but it was a hollow victory. This result was always on the cards seeing that Andersen and Robson were never going to be there and King and Garrity were going to be severely restricted if they rode given their respective injuries. I witnessed Danny's crash at Somerset on Tuesday and it was a really big impact and as he couldn't complete his rides on Wednesday and didn't ride on Thursday was it any surprise he only managed a point last night? Similarly with Garrity once he was kept in hospital overnight how could anyone expect him to be in a position to ride competitively if he'd appeared last night? Given the importance of this meeting to Coventry surely action should have been taken earlier to replace both riders? Finally, its obvious from the postings on this thread many fans (including myself) were annoyed at the lack of any announcement on the website despite being told there would be 'full team news to follow on Friday'. Any announcement would have been better than none even if it was just to say' Garrity and King have failed fitness tests and the management are trying to draft in replacements'. I think that simple act would have alleviated a lot of the frustration from last night as at least people could have made an informed choice as to whether they would attend or not. What the Bees management ended up with was a lot of disgruntled supporters feeling they'd been cheated out of witnessing a competitive night's racing. Its called having respect for your paying public. Honourable mention for Bomber; sounds like he rode his socks off and despite what some have said, seems like Walasek put up a decent show for Hansi who I understand has been well below par recently.

I normally go to this fixture as I enjoy watching speedway at Brandon and this meeting in particular was building up to be a real clash and I was looking forward to it. However with the news that there were major doubts about King and Garrity's fitness and that Andersen was unavailable and Robson was ruled out too it seemed likely that the Bees were going to have to field a cobbled together team. That being the case I didn't want a 200 mile round trip to see a non representative Coventry team. But having read the article on the Bees website last night which said " full team news to follow on Friday" I thought I would wait until the team was confirmed before deciding whether to travel. So I've spent most of today hanging on for the team news that of course has never materialized. So like 'Had' I've not gone tonight because I didn't want to take a gamble on what team the Bees were going to field. Its very frustrating as the management must have known by lunch time who was going to ride. If not a news update should have been issued to keep fans informed. I feel the Coventry management have been very thoughtless over this and shown a disregard to the supporters (yet again).

I was going to go to this but if King and Garrity don't ride, with Andersen and Robson already out, its going to make it a bit of a farce. So, Bees fans, given that there's still no news confirming Coventry's line up for tonight is it fair to assume that King and Garrity aren't fit and Mick Horton is frantically trying to book guests? I'm not blaming anybody; unavailability and injuries can't be helped but if I'm traveling up from the west country, like most people, I'd rather watch a meeting where both teams are as close to full strength as possible.

Great night's entertainment. This is the 6th or 7th time I've been to the Oaktree Arena and this was by far the best meeting. Both teams gave it a real go with Tungate and King outstanding for the Witches. It was great to see the riders having confidence in the track and really going for it. Congratulations to all concerned for a great night's speedway. PS Glad to see Danny get up and walk away from what looked an awful crash..

Congratulations to the Aces on their victory which they thoroughly deserved, A good all round team performance with a special mention for Stefan Nielsen who was outstanding. They needed to win this and it showed; Darcy was brilliant and supported by Batch but it was in reserve where the Aces out-gunned the Robins. With some 'unconventional' refereeing there was always plenty of incident (Nigel and Kelvin would have loved it!) All in all it was a good night's entertainment and as on previous trips to Kirky Lane I enjoyed the banter and chat with the Aces faithful .

Really looking forward to this one. Frustrating for Aces fans; your team on paper is so well balanced and strong throughout you should be right up there with Poole and the Bees but for some reason the team doesn't come together on the night often enough. You did when you last visited Blunsdon and you were too hot to handle. The arrival of Darcy has revitalised the Robins season but there have been other pluses too with the form of Zengi, Morra and Charlie Wright. Batch has struggled this year but has picked up with the arrival of DW and with the signing of another Aussie in Summers I'm sure it will only enhance team spirit further, something Rosco seems to value a lot. Yes tough to call tonight but if the Aces ride to ability with home advantage can see them doing it by 7 or 8.

Pleased for Leicester last night, big crowd on a fine summers evening just proves if the weather's good and the admission fee is right the fans will come. Thought the Robins were disappointing and the Miedzinski appearance was just out of convenience so that Rosco can re-declare, AM just wasn't interested and pulled up very early in each race, Praise for Zengi and Charlie Wright who both gave their all and scored decent points. It is becoming a trait with Batch that if he misses the gate he loses interest - unlike Nick Morris who always sticks at it.Troy hasn't been right this season, maybe the accident he had against Poole at the beginning of the season has knocked his confidence? I'm a fan of Kyle Howarth but he is struggling at the moment and seems short of power. Work for Rosco to do if the Robins are going to make the top 4 this year.

Totally agree with this Dean. The sport in this country will continue to decline while the promoters run the show. For its long term future speedway needs to be run by an independent body. The noises coming out of the pre-AGM meeting were not good as it seems those concerned are not pulling in the same direction - what a surprise. I suspect this years AGM will probably flunk the big issues again and produce little more than a bit more tinkering. Expect another year of dwindling attendances and possible further track closures.....

Many congratulations to all involved with putting on yesterday's grand prix. I thought the presentation was excellent; light show, rider introductions and centre green announcements and the slickness of getting through the heats was first class. I also acknowledge all the work done on the track this year after last year's fiasco to make it the best surface possible. All this led to a great atmosphere with everybody enjoying themselves. Given the excellence of the presentation it was always going to be a challenge for the racing to match it and I have to say i thought it fairly average but there's only so much you can do with a temporary track. For pure racing the bench mark, I feel, this year has to be Malilla which served up terrific racing and was a great advert for the sport . Many congratulations to Greg - to win an event of this nature at 44 is some achievement. However I have to agree with those who aren't totally enamored with his riding style. Whilst acknowledging his technical excellence from the gate and ability at picking and defending a line, he's dull to watch and I can't really recall him passing too often when ever I've seen him. At the end of the day the sport needs people who can come from the back as well as trap so well done Tai, Darcy and anyone else capable of passing; they are the entertainers of our sport. Its a bit like the late 80s and early 90s in Formula 1; Alain Prost " the little professor" versus the late great Ayrton Senna. Anyway all in all I enjoyed the day and hope that the Cardiff experience continues to be the showpiece in the GP calendar for many years to come. Oh yes one more comment: didn't think the fanzone worked in its new location, far too cramped plus same old format.

Sad to hear of the passing of 'Super Simmo' one of the speedway greats of the 70s/80s. A great stylist to watch and a top bloke too. RIP Malcolm.