Teromaafan

I wasn’t prepared to pay for the delayed stream on principle…….So I got in the car, on to the motorway and drove to Perry Barr. Ha, they won’t get the better of me! The meeting was bang average with little passing on a track that looked pretty slick. Hard to see where Brum’s first win will come from with this cloud seemingly hanging over Zagar. The definition of a team effort from the Lions, with all riders managing a race win away from home.

Their knowledge of the sport is fuelled by their passion for it, they genuinely care.

I would be very disappointed if the Lions didn’t come away with the points with those line ups 😟.

I see that the stream of the meeting is not available until 10.00pm, but can be bought for the usual full price. Bit of a cheek that 😟.

For me, the top three are nailed on. The bottom two are sadly also nailed on. The most exciting battle appears to be between the Lions and Lynn for the play offs. The big guns have two GP level riders who can step up in heats 13 &15. The Lions have an out and out No.1, weak reserves and a balanced main team body in between. Lynn however have gone for the ultimate balance with six riders on 6+ averages. Neither team has the obvious fire power in the latter heats of matches, but I’m interested to see which team structure of the two is the most successful.

Bet he’s regretting that now 😂

Yeah, got that, not sure what your summary offers in response, but move on.

Why has this escalated into a Foxhall v NSS debate on a Leicester thread? 😟

Hats off to all Witches fans that can be motivated to attend this meeting and part with their cash.

So Zagar has visa issues? Tell him to switch to Mastercard for goodness sake 😤

Kerr & Sedgy will turn up though!

......And then explain that Bomber is likely to have ridden for everyone at some point before the season is out!

I get the point you are making, but until the sport can address the number of inevitable rain offs ( don’t know what the answer is to that one, well at least one that is financially viable), that proposal is doomed from the outset.

‘A shame more meetings don't get called off when either of the teams cannot have all their riders available...’ Have you actually thought about that statement? Throw in the weather situation and we’d be lucky to get the season completed by December, with only Bomber and Santa interested in guest bookings by then. !

Howarth was solid too!

I was impressed with Gilles today and am looking forward to watching him at Leicester. He looks like a proper racer. Can’t get too carried away though as Oxford is the track he’s most likely used to and was racing against a team that looks like it will struggle all season. Was shocked at how poor Tungate was.

There’s a real incentive for the Lions reserve pair on Monday. This lad Gusts (whom I’ve yet to see) sounds exciting. So if he gets out in front and stays there, you wouldn’t want Dickson in your ear saying you couldn’t pass wind 😂

Unfortunately I’ve never seen Hagon pass anyone in Lion’s colours! It’s definitely the right call for Leicester (what’s to lose?). Whilst I’ve been critical of Hagon, he comes across as a very likeable and upbeat person. I really hope that this hasn’t deterred him and that he continues to race and reach whatever level he can reach. The sport needs him!

Ah, my bad, thanks for that!

I have a lot of respect for Magic who is very professional and ‘polish golden helmet’ is a perfectly good reason for being unavailable. It’s the riders that ‘polish purple helmet’ rather than show up for their team that annoy me 😠

The progression of the likes of Brennan and Dan Thompson is down to their ability and not down to the RS system. The system doesn’t even have an age restriction? We’re talking about the top flight of the sport in this country and we’re throwing riders into the lion’s den and then coming up with race formulas in matches to ‘protect’ them. It’s a professional sport with paying customers and the participants have to be good enough. That’s the real world. You can’t say the RS riders need to be given a chance because they are all riding in the second tier. As/when/if they are ready, they can step up.

The result and winning margin was as most of us predicted. As Lions fan, what frustrates me is that we prevented the Witches from a heat advantage in heats 13 & 15 (which I doubt Ipswich will experience again this season) but couldn’t capitalise on this elsewhere. Fair play to the Witches as they are proving that they do not have to rely on their top two hitting double figures to win matches. Whilst I’am not a believer that a team’s riding order influences the outcome of a result, I think that Dickson has to move Becker perhaps to No.4 to provide a better balance to pairings…….And so to the reserves, which is where the Lions appear to be at sixes and sevens. Kemp is unreliable but poor Sam Hagon is simply out of his depth at this level. I’m not judging Sam on this season alone. His confidence and Dickson’s patience can only be going in one direction. For those of you that have plenty of time, perhaps you could research how many points Sam has scored when four riders have finished a race?

The result went the way many of us expected. Lynn might argue that the margin should have been greater, but that’s down to their rider’s errors, which is not bad luck. I still think that a decent (8 point plus) second heat leader is required for the Lions to make the play offs. Points from reserve continue to be a problem. We can’t read anything into Hagon’s 3 paid 6 return as all his points were from races where only three riders finished. Kemp will have better nights but what Hagon does to justify his chance at this level is beyond me. I would expect Dickson will be looking imminently for a replacement. Who’s better? Don’t know, but who’s worse and doesn’t deserve a chance?

Looking at the line ups, Lions have the best and worst rider in the two teams. Looks pretty even over all. I think the Stars will win narrowly and expect the Lions to claim the bonus point in the return fixture.

His average is even smaller still!