Teromaafan

Hope your not a betting man! Mind you I think you would get decent odds on Lynn if you fancied a flutter. Pretty sure Dickson will have the home track sorted on Thursday to snuff out any possible Lynn fight back. A bit of grip on the start line and then nice and slick every where else. This is now the Lions to lose.

Sorry StarBoy, just read your post again, which takes the TS matter into consideration, my bad.

TS rides are not permitted in the KO Cup!

Fricke’s R/R contribution was restricted to heat 8, against the opposition’s No.2 & No.7. Whilst it meant a nailed on heat win, its most likely that any of the main body of the team would win that race. Although Max is on fire at the moment, him taking one less ride is unlikely to have an impact on the outcome of the tie.

Looking at the league table they need a few snookers🤨

Yes I remember that. If he can get half of that on Monday though I’d be staggered. His average is what it is for a reason. As a Lions fan I see Lynn’s biggest threat as Klindt. It would not surprise me if he were to be given 12 or more rides over the two legs. He rides the Leicester track as well anyone on his day. Thing is with Lynn, they’re all six pointers and you never know what to expect on the night. Anyway, I’m expecting a good final between two teams who are not top heavy (one nine pointer) and similarly built. I see BSN are covering both legs which is great, as I’m not confident about TNT even getting the tricky captains coin toss right.

…….Is that speaking as a Kings Lynn supporter? As a Lions fan I’m quite happy for Kerr to be guesting for the Stars!

Thanks Fromafar! His uncle Tony could run a country and I wonder if he could be roped in to offer guidance to the BSPA to save the sport in the UK?

If that’s the case, I’d love to know what options are out there! Nowt on EBay from what I’ve seen. Did hear on BSN that Reg Wilson was at the track tonight. Riders have made come backs before! Enjoyed the BSN coverage tonight. More professional than TNT and still humorous. Really warming to the Scottish guy (forget his name). When talking to the team captains at the coin toss, Pickering asked him if he was a good tosser, to which he replied along the lines that he had a reputation for it. Probably went over some viewers heads, but it made me laugh. .

Gilkes would come back to replace Thompson. My eyes and averages would suggest that Gilkes is an upgrade on Thompson. (Should add however that Joe was great tonight, showing a bit more muscle to pick up some valuable points).

Wishful thinking, but if we could get Becker and Gilkes back in the saddle come the play offs, I’d back the Lions over two legs over anyone (yes, that includes Ipswich). Injuries and form between now and then of course could play a major part in that, but that’s speedway.

That’s the risk with R/R when it’s adopted as permanent rather than temporary cover for an absent rider. Becker is rumoured to be having a go back on a bike next month. Just getting back in the saddle though is not the same as being competitive for racing. To be fair, the rest of the team has generally stepped up to cover for Becker (Howarth has been great). As proved last night though, there is little room for an off night when your reserves don’t deliver, especially at home. Kemp has generally been on it, but struggled last night. Joe T is a concern though. I’ve defended him to the hilt so far but he remains way out of his depth at this level. The RS berth will continue to be a problem unless they can get Gilkes back. Anyone know about Gilkes injury progress?

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!