BarracudaAce

And with a 1st or 2nd placed finish will Belle Vue 'give up' home advantage of hosting the 2nd Leg of the semi-final and, if they get there, the Grand Final? Not sure we've ever had a 2nd Leg on a Thursday night at the NSS?

Two of the Aces top 3. Jason Doyle & Zach Cook required in Poland.

Well, thankfully it wasn't!! And I enjoyed the racing tonight and seeing some riders I'd not seen before. 51-39 was a closer result than I was expecting but, as has been mentioned, Wroclaw replaced all their original nominations for heats 14 & 15 with the two reserves and no.8. Wroclaw's top 4 had been pretty dominant, and only dropped points when Brady's was excluded and Artem Laguta had a third place. This was a 'bonus' match for me with it being the rearrangement of a postponement. When I booked my trip I'd just been planning to see Wroclaw v Grudziadz on Friday night. Then, when I saw the Gorzow match was going ahead on day I was flying out, I wasn't sure I'd get a ticket. Wroclaw, though, reimbursed ticket holders from the original date and then put tickets back on sale last Wednesday morning. The tickets for Friday night were put on sale last Friday afternoon, so I'm now looking forward to going to that before heading back home.

After being at Belle Vue v Ipswich last night, I'm at Wroclaw v Gorzow tonight. Maybe another 62-28?

Is there a reason, Dave, (for public consumption) as to why we're not getting a match this week?

To add a bit more context and comparison to another GP I'm attending this year. Block C Seats for the 2-night package at the NSS are £215. So, £107.50 for each GP. I was bought a ticket as a Christmas present for the Wroclaw GP on 30 August. It is Sektor V1 in the Main Grandstand at the Olympic Stadium. This is pretty much the equivalent position between the starting gate and the first bend. Face value of the Wroclaw ticket is 499PLN - almost exactly £100 depending on the exchange rate at the time of purchase. Their equivalent back straight tickets (and seated too) could be cheaper than those in the South Stand at the NSS, but from where my tickets are located at both venues it's not too much different.

Plymouth Argyle have just beaten Liverpool in the FA Cup today. Two of Argyle's mascots at the match were Ben Barker's sons Luke and Bradley. A day they'll never forget!!

And neither do we want a declared result after 10 heats (is that rule applicable to the Grand Final?) One of three forecasts I've just read has rain returning at 9.00pm, so we don't want any hanging about between races and a daft interval. Probably too much to hope for that though with Eurosport?

Absolutely. I started going over to Poland in 2008 to see Ekstraliga matches and went every year up to and including 2019. it was immediately obvious from our very first match at Zielona Gora that speedway was, as you say, just on a different planet there to the UK version. We've taken in several second-tier matches too through the years, and they've been excellent presentations too. As I posted a few posts back, I was at Wroclaw on Friday night after an unintended break away from Poland for 5 years, and, although I've seen just as good - and some better - racing at the NSS, the whole package of attending an Ekstraliga match is an experience to behold. Since getting home, I've watched the match back on TV and, unfortunately, you cannot really get a sense of what it's like to be there in the crowd and watch everything unfold in front of you. To anyone who hasn't been yet - and is physically and financially able to do so - I'd certainy urge them to give it a try.

After a hiatus of 5 years (due to first Covid and then a family illness) I have just returned from my first trip to Poland since 2019. Sat in the main stand of the Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw on Friday night, I realised just how much I had missed the ‘buzz’ of being at an Ekstraliga match!! It was a great experience, very tasty ‘kielbasa w bulce & piwo’ (sausage in a bun and beer) in the fan park pre-match, good racing to watch, a fabulous atmosphere and, overall, a superb way to spend my birthday night. I even had the pleasure of a chat with Dan Bewley whilst getting ready to board the outbound flight last Tuesday. Dan was heading for a practice session in Wroclaw on Wednesday, before heading back to the UK for the Aces match on Thursday, and then back again to Wroclaw for Friday. And, just to say thanks again to Racers and Royals for his advice on the Wroclaw ticketing arrangements when I messaged him a few months ago now. Now back to the NSS for the Aces v Oxford tomorrow night – hopefully some good racing to watch, but maybe not quite the same 13,675 noisy & partisan crowd!!

Max will come good, though he never really dominated at the NSS last season. He had a slow start to 2022 and, whilst he was at no. 1 early doors, we often saw a visitors 5-1 in heat 1.

Might be a bit late to let folks know, but I arrived at the South Stand Car Park and its full of caravans. There's no one here at the gate to let you know what to do, so I've come round to the St Peters School Car Park and been admitted here. Just a shame Belle Vue couldn't have emailed those of us that have bought South Stand parking to let us know in advance!!

As I mentioned a few posts earlier, Wolves are already coming to the NSS in the league on the Bank Holiday at the end of May. And Wolves' other league visit is in July, so maybe too late in the season for that to be swapped to a KO Cup match.

We've now got two consecutive home matches v. Wolves anyway - and both are Bank Holidays. Take your point re: the KO Cup match not being very attractive though. Have spoken to a chap today who bought 4 tickets for his family for Easter Monday. He's now not bothering with the KO Cup match but swapping those tickets for tickets for the league match on the next Bank Holiday.

Looking at the latest updates on a couple of other different weather apps, they now show light rain until 10.00am, turning to heavy rain from 10.00am onwards for the Gorton area of Manchester.