HGould

Some people make their mind up before the event. I can only speak as i find, see and hear with my eyes and ears. Eastbourne v Birmingham Some dust but not excessive in hot sun. Track graded and watered every 3 heats. Had a walk on track after meeting, actually a lot of dirt on it as some stunning outside passes late in meeting indicated. Massive free car park, well marshalled and full to overflowing Crowd excellent, no complaints from anyone I heard about dust. Real buzz about the place and lots of children and families.Nice touch to have community team people outside turnstiles helping whittle queues down and point out which ones cash and card. Meeting Parade started no more than 10 past 3, first race went off at 3.15 Presentation excellent from the Cardiff GP guy, lots of crowd interaction and rider/management interviews etc, liked proper Parade, minutes silence for Colin Goody; home riders ride round stock car track after every race up close to fans.Excellent programme, good read and lots of quality articles and pictures. To say Officials and Riders not bothered is just a joke, some good competitive racing, Heat 14 re-run 3-4 times as neither Ashley or Wood would give an inch, some excellent from the back rides by Wood and Lawson for them and Shanes for us, Paco and Ulrich started well and passes almost every race. All Eastie pit crews in snazzy t-shirts and all Officials and track staff kitted out in team gear, hardly suggests "not bothered" attitude. Great viewing access in Pits after meeting.Good food and loads of outlets. Not seen Laurence so animated in a long time by Heat 14 and some Refs decisions debatable. Still a lot of folks in Pits and mingling round 30 mins after end of meeting. Complaints (if you can call them that) - young start marshall seemed to make a few mistakes, I missed my easter egg for grandchildren and late due to traffic (my fault), toilets a bit tired but clean.PA a bit loud but no excuse for not hearing results and times. Staying down in South for meeting at Kent on Monday - hope woofers not going may be a few specs of dust. We have to enjoy our speedway while with can with some many tracks closing or reporting difficulties, great to hear big crowds at Scunny and BV Colts too....

10 mins late with queues arriving late due to traffic is hardly a tardy start, what are Promoters to do, start with fans clearly waiting to get in, mind you not many know what a queue is. Anyone driving down 25 / 23 today will know how grid-locked it was.

Drove long way..., we got stuffed, a bit of dust and you moan??? Biggest crowd I have seen at Eastie I think, I sat in Grandstand, fans were really buzzing. Got talking to a chap next to me, first time he'd been in 3 years he told me and he was loving it. I was delayed on M40 and M25, got there 10 to 3 big queue, chap came out in a yellow top and apologised for queue and said they were delaying start by 10 mins, parade started at 10 past 3, first race at 3.15, hardly massive hold up. Some strange referreing didn't help. Thought the announcer was super, isn't he Speedway GP guy?? Heat 13 - despite the cone incident was worth admission alone? Alright saying run at night, who would go top speedway if they have been on beach or in the sun supping all day. Some folk don't deserve a speedway team with moaning attitude like that.....

Who do we fancy today?? Brummies had a feel for the track and that could be vital as most sides will only visit once! Can we do better than last time? I think we need 36 points to make Home Leg in a few weeks very interesting. Just setting off and very hopeful Brummies will keep it very competitive 50 - 40.....

It's a wolves/brummies love in (and I'm a brummie), the presentation is akin to a primary school play and content is dire. embarrassing nearly as bad as the NL Cup draw in a mug

Rules are CRYSTAL CLEAR...PL have priority Monday and Thursday and CL other days. When the Fixtures came out Birmingham were away at Eastbourne on Good Friday at 3pm. Poole decided to run an "off PL day" so face the consequences, well done for once to the BSPA for playing fair.

BSPA have stepped in and told Swindon that Brummies have priority as Friday is CL priority day.

Great meeting, good crowd, we lost, speedway won!

never really understood VAT and sport as not clear on sports tickets that you pay at gate. So if I go to Monmore Green and pay £28 for me and the missus to get in and £3.00 for a programme are you saying Wolves have to pay 20% the the VAT man (£6.20), christ that's a huge chunk, and if they pay VAT I assume no way of claiming back??... No wonder Speedway clubs are going bust....

Raised this the other day, Eastbourne match has priority as BSPA have confirmed PL only have priority on Monday's and Thursday's; absolutely cast iron CL takes priority on a Friday; so would think it's Swindon who will be needing Guests and not us. James is our asset too, bit trickier with Zac as he is a Swindon asset. Been in our Fixture list since they were issued so seems Poole or Swindon or both have not taken heed.

Biggest load of rubbish I have ever endured....and I am one of the few who understands the accents. Funny at first, just cringe-worthy now.

Counter that with Heats 2 + 8 + 14 where our strength in depth could be decisive as they have long tail with Kurtz, Atkins and Rowe

So Swindon will need Guests??

I'm off down to Arlington again on Good Friday for KOC match and be interesting to see if we get as close/closer than we did in Shield Fixture. I'm tempted by the free Easter Eggs they are promising to first 100 kids so grandchildren are coming in their Brummies gear as that'll save Grandad a few quid for ice creams later on. Just trying to work out how James and Zak can ride at Poole though and for Brummies at Arlington on same day. I thought PL had to ride Monday + Thursday so who will have priority there for their services??

Respect all riders, some more than others obviously. Some guys never a minutes trouble, others as in any sport, trouble seems to follow around. Always struck me as being potentially great rider but with a screw loose somewhere in his ability to think laterally in terms of career. Seems to have very few PL options left, seems to have burned bridges in Poland and Sweden and now all his eggs in a basket that openly admitted may be in their last season under current Owners. A shame but only himself to blame imho

I'm thinking same as you very tight, Covatti will be back but Paco likely to want to put his marker down. Brummies can still nick this group with 2 home wins especially after Eastie tanked Rebels last night

Clearly Somerset had an off night but may be some credit has to go to Eastbourne. They have signed 3 excellent Heat Leaders, Lawson will be strong everywhere, Kennett at home and Kerr I alsway felt on a good average. They refrained from signing unknown or journeymen foreigners and invested in British bottom end. Morley and Bowtell were 1-2 in NL Individual 2018 and have a bit of CL experience now, Wood for me is make of break this year, permamnet NL or 1/2 decent CL career (who knows) and Brennan I think is as good as Kemp and those 2 are next generation of "special talent". Be very interesting for the Group to see how Rebels recover at Brum as Eastie have a big points advantage at moment and anything could still happen in Group.

I went to Kent 3 times in last 2 seasons and normally quite good at guess a crowd, probably 600-700 tops both times, that's decent for NL but by no means a big crowd. I doubt he could on that basis go up to PL (Mondays) or CL (any other night).

You have a very good website and nice to see an independent (non AP Media) one.

Read somewhere that our Brummies Paco (Castagna) is riding in Italian Championships this weekend, would Covatti be in them as although Argentine born doesn't he ride on an Italian License and therefore mandated to fulfil Italian commitments??? - would weaken Rebels unless they get a top Guest.?

Always been impressed with Henry Atkins and he knows the track, I think possibly a year too soon for Anders Rowe based on NL form? Been told Covatti will miss most Saturday Fixtures Somerset have?, if true will be a big blow to them as he has an average that belies his form and won't be easy for them to get good Guests if Berwick; Leicester and Eastbourne have Saturday matches, will only leave a few Teams and a small number of riders to choose from.

Disappointing gate according to my mates who ventured down, they guessed about 600, they are usually pretty accurate don't know how???, they guessed 600 at our opening meeting and usually spot on there; and they guessed about 1000 at Eastbourne on Saturday was 1100 I believe? , must ask then what's going to win the Scottish National on Saturday

As a neutral I love it. It's technical but because of that you get lots of passing inside and out. It's usually very well prepared. It's a thinkers track and not just wind it on and ride the fence. Good riders can ride anywhere and usually do well there. Bomber i think will find lines round there no one else can and Schlein will do very well.

Damage limitation against Harris Schlein and Covatti Don't much rate Kurtz and the German is a complete unknown and I think our reserves will eat theirs, so mixed feelings. I'd be happy to get closer than we did at Eastbourne but doubt we will as think we caught Eastbourne on a night when Morley and Bowtell were learning the track and Wood looked very nervous and under-powered compared to his NL form 55 - 35 my prediction tonight.

I thought Lawson and Kennett looked untouchable v Brummies, Kerr and Brennan impressive as well. Yes Schlein and Harris are better than our Heat Leaders but may take a race or two to get the set up's worked out. I am in London for a family reunion Saturday, might even try to get there as a speedway fan any chance to see "Bomber Harris" is a treat. I can't make Somerset tonight due to work commitments. How Bomber rides Arlington will be worth the admission fee as there was plenty of passing on Saturday when Brummies were there and could be a great meeting for any neutral, place was buzzing last week, made Perry Barr seem very quiet.