Teromaafan

And these rumours are?

Yes, never quite gets to adding ‘…lenko’ at the end does he?

Swapping Batch back for Morris is not an option (regardless of the outcome of the hearing), because that would put the declared team over the points limit. Troy's average this season (admittedly after just three meetings) is 2.33 and I'd be surprised if the management are likely to give him much more time. The longer they persevere with him, the less time there is to bed a replacement in. There doesn't appear to be much choice out there and taking a punt on an untried 5.00 point Johnny Foreigner might be the way to go

Lions were were simply second best all night and fair play to the Witches who really seemed to want it. Whilst our play off spot is not in doubt, looking forward, I think that Batch is a worry. He needs to be delivering six points in home matches but his average is only going in one direction. Even when gating, he is surrendering points far too easy. Lions success in the play offs will depend on him upping his game, which I’m doubting he will.

Quite a bit of wet stuff predicted in the next 24 hours. Eurosport don’t like to be messed around, so will the Lions leave it to chance? Wouldn’t be surprised to hear this being called off in the morning.

….. And then we move on to the final. I’ve followed the sport for almost 50 years and cannot recall a better meeting than tonight. It had the lot (apart from a GB win, gutted for the lads), the four best teams in the world giving it everything, with more passes than a village idiot on Mastermind. Even when there was no passing, the racing was superb. If you didn’t enjoy that, Speedway isn’t for you.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, ideally, riders would only double up if they had been kicked in the b*lls, but it would appear that doubling up is here to stay due to a shortage of riders and what they can earn per meeting in the UK.

Out of interest, what was the 50/50 prize payout tonight? Last weeks prize ( £102) seemed poor to me although it was apparently a season record. Since attendance figures are never revealed, the 50/50 prize pot is probably the next best thing for an indication of crowd size.

Are guests an option though if a missing rider is fourth in his team's averages?

I first got into the sport about 1974 and the last 2 or 3 years are the best I can remember for the Lions.

There will be as many Lions as Wolves riders at the meeting even though Leicester aren’t involved! ……..Only in British Speedway! (as we say….at least every week…. for the last decade or more). It really is like picking footy teams at lunchtime in the school playground.

Klindt was the only one that slowed down. ‘Play to the whistle’, as they say in football. Lambert struggled early on but was still given 7 rides, which reflects poorly on Lynn’s second strings when it comes to R/R choices. The racing was good and there was some good team riding from both reams. Races can be entertaining without passing. Dread to think what the attendance would have been without the travelling Lions fans. I was shocked to hear the 50/50 prize amount announced as just over £100. I know that can’t be used to gauge crowd size, but the 50/50 payout at Leicester is always about £350.

Morris refused to comply with the test requirement. At that instant he took the matter into his own hands so I don’t see why other parties should be wasting their time investigating this further to assess whether the punishment should extend beyond the mandatory 30 day ban. Random testing is part and parcel of professional sport (even speedway falls into that category) and if you’re dumb enough to refuse a test it’s an admission that you have something to hide. I don’t see why the situation needs to be more complex than that. Serve him with the maximum ban/fine and move on.

Batch, Cook & Johnny Foreigner all a bit of a gamble I think. Barring a disaster, the Lions will be in the playoffs. If the playoff’s were next week, we would be stronger operating R/R instead, but R/R from now until the end of the season would be asking for trouble. I know there is a transfer deadline looming and I wonder if the management have been clever with the terms of Batchelor’s appointment. Dickson is very shrewd and proactive with contingencies no doubt in place before even approaching Batch. Troy is not on a guarantee but he has been offered a one off payment to call Morris and arrange to collect his Lion’s race suit!

I know it’s a serious subject but that did make me laugh!

Wonder if Buster will get the middle of Lynn’s track jet washed before their next visit from Eurosport.

A bit harsh, but you do actually live in the real world. Klindt and Laguta will have to deliver a bare minimum of 20 points between them if the Stars are to have a sniff. That would then require the other members of the team to average 5 points each. The fact that Eurosport aren’t covering this may suggest how likely an away win is.

You have a point. Edinburgh is famous for its comedy festival. Too many people laughing and smiling, not really Hawkins thing is it. Seen happier looking people than him on Smiths album covers.

Whilst everybody is trying to be diplomatic and trying not to judge until all the facts are known, the bottom line is he is guilty and its just the severity of the overall outcome that is to be decided. I have little sympathy for him whatever the outcome as its all his own undoing. The Lions have been swift to replace him and I just hope that Birmingham can come up with something because neither of his teams deserved this.

The club are perhaps already looking at alternatives with a view to binning Morris. Dickson is not renowned for his patience and operating R/R for several matches would take its toll on the team. The difficulty of course is finding another rider. Batch was mentioned in a previous post and he is probably the best of what is available, unless a gamble is taken with an untried foreigner.

Worth a punt.

We would be stronger at home if we could get Richie Worrall in. (Hopefully his last visit with Peterborough was a blip).

Miserable? I’ll say, makes Pete Adams look like a Court Jester. Don’t expect to see either of them down the pub if it’s Happy Hour.

Studies have apparently been carried out on this. On average, the ball is ‘in play’ between 60 and 70 minutes per match. This was with a view to consider the basketball approach where the clock stops when the ball is dead/out of play. On a speedway front, very few people would be making reference to the 15 minutes of racing if meetings could be consistently wrapped up (without frills) in 90 minutes.

The way it is going, I will want to be paid to go and watch.