Teromaafan

Wouldn’t disagree with that, I was just defending Stead not using Jack Holder in the race.

Stead was always going to use the Holders in heat 15. So putting one of them in heat 14 would mean riding in three consecutive races. Pickering was more than capable of winning heat 14 (but didn’t), so I can’t see how Stead could be criticised.

Totally agree. So if a league restructure results in GP level riders deserting the UK, crowd levels will be impacted? The sport in the UK is already on its arse and will continually be propped up (although for how much longer I don’t know) by a loyal aging population who will be there most weeks accepting whatever crap is served up. This last couple of seasons there has been a decent representation of GP (or similar level) racing in the UK. Crowds haven’t exactly been flocking back have they? The sport has to be targeting new people and the ‘ yeah, I used to go to speedway, do so and so still have a team?’ brigade. There are people out there that could be tempted to visit a track through decent marketing (yawn, here we go again) that couldn’t name a current GP rider and would be quite contempt if they saw decent racing with riders of similar ability. They would soon adopt their own rider favourites that represented their own team and probably wouldn’t care less about riders that they don’t get to see. Team sports generally have a tribal appeal to the working class. Speedway is (should be) a working class sport.

The Witches have narrowly lost out to local rivals in the semifinal of a Mickey Mouse sport. Please don’t call the Samaritans as they will probably tell you to f**k off. If Ipswich speedway have problems the sport is as good as done in this country. Move on and enjoy!

Brilliant performance from the Stars, did not see that coming without their number one! (Before anyone starts, yes he’s only a 6+ rider, but statistically the No.1). This is actually good for British speedway, a team that won’t make the playoffs offs having overcome the team (over two legs) that everyone assumed would sweep up all before them. Only going by the Updates site, but even when you have two of the best riders in the league delivering to expectation, the rest of the team still have to contribute to a certain level. The final will be a cracker between the two teams probably the the most evenly matched in the league.

By my reckoning, this is the last Lions fixture to affect rolling averages to take effect from the beginning of August. Lions are playing a very calculated but risky game regarding averages and R/R eligibility. Dougy and Masters are below Becker’s average by half a point at the most although one more match probably won’t affect team average positions. So far so good in covering for Becker but if Fricke cannot take an R/R ride, the covering team strength options change with a reserve needing to take one of Becker’s rides. (No disrespect to Kemp I should add, as I think he is performing admirably at No.6, but he isn’t Max Fricke). Which leads me on to a comment made by Dave Rowe on TNT (on his coverage of the BV meeting) when he mentioned that Becker could be back on a bike next month. Anyone care to expand on this? Unlikely, but if Luke could pick up where he left off, the Lions would be stronger than at present due to the pressure off others not having to take extra rides. Now on to Gilkes. Anyone know of his injury update (can’t remember what happened to him)? He’s easily the best rider we’ve had in the RS position. With Becker and Gilkes back on board, I’ll stick my neck out and would back the Lions against anyone at present over two legs.

One or two not quite at it tonight, but Fricke & Dougy were superb to cover any shortfalls. I’ve followed Joe T since he was a club mascot. I’m not going to compare him with his brother but I’m having my doubts about his progression in the sport. Yes he’s young but I’m struggling to see how he will step up from his current level. Even when Joe gates he is a soft touch for being passed and often seems to be riding mid track. When level with riders he seems to lack the necessary aggression/bottle to keep the throttle open that fraction longer than his opponent. This is a general observation and not based on tonight by the way. I hope Joe can pick up somehow because the sport needs him.

The major impact of a bigger league is the current reliance of riders on doubling up to make their money. Doing away with doubling up (which let’s face it has become an uncontrollable monster) will significantly diminish UK earning potential. Even in a bigger league with more teams, there will be fewer meetings overall than current double uppers rely onto earn a crust. Quite a few riders might then have to decide if they can make the sport pay and possibly consider calling it a day. The obvious rider shortage potentially then gets even worse!

Which then begs the question as to whether he never spotted the error!

To be honest I reckon he said it at least four maybe five times. As a ‘professional’ he shouldn’t make that mistake, but the TNT team overseeing this should have picked up on it the first time instead of letting Kelvin repeatedly embarrass himself. Says a lot for TNT’s coverage of the sport.

……….Or did his missus bring in a ‘guest’ on the night? 😉

He pulls out so frequently it makes you wonder how he became a Father 😄

There’s none as fat as Barker that’s for sure!

A rider that shows up is an improvement on Cookie 😉

Many people thought the Lions would rack up even more points. They would have if it wasn't for Lawson, he was superb.

My post refers to heat 14 (not heat 12) where he would have been up against Thomsen and Harrison (although Lynn did a switch and brought Cook in. Why?)

I was expecting Dickson to give Joe T a fourth ride in heat 14. With everything sewn up and under no pressure, it would have given Joe a boost to get some points as his confidence must be pretty low.

If ever there was a good reason to watch the stream (for half the price) rather travel to watch the meeting, this is it.

Good point. Where have Leicester got Lynn’s line up from? Hope I’m wrong but this points to both clubs attempting to cover up for a depleted Stars line up until the eleventh hour. But then again this British speedway and everything will be fine. The Stars will rock up with a full strength team to produce a close and entertaining contest where spectators will witness more passes than a village idiot on Mastermind.

What? Track preparation to favour the home team? Well I never 😉

Your attire is as good as promoting the sport gets in this country. Fair play. I’ll be wearing a black tee shirt emblazoned with RON MAIDEN on the front. I tell people that he’s the uncle of Steve Harris, but truth is, the letter ‘I’ recently came off on the transfer in the last wash.

Yeah, saw Ghost that day too. Bloody farce with the queuing because of the ban on phones. That said, I am partly to blame for the queues. Inserting the phone into a pouch wasn’t the main problem, it was getting the big red kiosk that the phone was attached to through the doors.

Drummer replacement, really? I’m going too (bound to bump in to you!). So each band member has a go with the sticks and when they sit on the stool their normal doesn’t get played? So when Bruce is drumming, that song becomes an instrumental? can see me going to ask for a refund during the sun break!

Just playing the game within the rules of a Mickey Mouse sport (which us sad posters love).

When the announcer starts reading out the crowd names and changes to the riders, you know it’s as low as it can get!