Noelinho

Vissing still R/R tonight. Think he is still going to be present though.

I was hoping it would look better. It's not raining at the moment. I took a detour past the track on the way to work and the pavements are still damp. A few puddles in places. No idea what's been done to the track though.

Ace is young. Sometimes he panics and overlocks. Hopefully he grows out of it, but it’s part of the growing pains. He can be very fast. Easier to coach a fast rider to stop crashing than to coach a slow rider to be fast. I wish he had grown a little more over the year, but he’s still got a higher average in meetings this year than Ablitt, Hagon and Killeen, none of whom get the stick Ace does. He was always expected to be firmly at number 7. He was never going to get any higher. The bigger question for Ace is probably why his National League form hasn’t been better.

The work on the drainage system is pretty impressive. That's no small amount of rain we've had since I got back yesterday.

Not looking any more promising. Thursday is the first day looking a bit better, but would be a weird day for us.

I very much doubt it. Track hasn't been dry for a couple of weeks. Our track staff are not very positive about track covers. Although we do have them, there aren't many situations when they are effective for us.

Any news on a re-staging date for this?

He occasionally posts on the Facebook page/group if he gets a lot of stick.Maybe once a season. He did it last year when he got stick for heat 15 choices against Poole. The response was basically "I had no choice". That's the usual response!

No protected heats in Championship (I think), but taking a #8 will probably cost because he's likely not getting a ride so won't want to pay out of his own pocket.

If replaced, no.

I believe they can come in at any point, like a reserve switch. No protected heats in this league. The only difference is 6 and 7 must have 3 rides, 8 can have 0. There's probably nothing to stop them coming in heat 15 if you send someone through the tapes and replace them rather than go off 15 metres...

I think in a normal meeting, you would be correct. But as there was a number 8 present, he could have taken the rides meaning Ace only needed the three rides to satisfy the regulations.

He'll be there.

It's 27C where I am. I'm coming in an Eskimo outfit on Sunday.

My understanding was protected heats are a Premiership/Rising Star thing, and not applicable in the Championship.

Rain is forecast, but not loads by Glasgow standards. The banking helps with drainage too. Of course the ground gets much colder at this time of year, which doesn't make it a lot harder. We'll see.

Great, that’s what I thought. You are ever-reliable with the nuance of the rules.

Really? Can’t they (theoretically) give 3 to Lee and 1 to Tom?

I don't know about the general track prep, but as far as I know, the starting gates were prepared according to the riders' wishes. Although it seemed to be news to Vadim, from how his bike responded.

Only two quality riders, but got all the bonus points in the league.

He's fast, but he needs to learn racing and positioning around others. When you're the big fish in the small pond like he was until now, you don't need those skills. If he's the real deal, they will come.

They got to pick Edinburgh instead of Redcar and Oxford. I'd call that a benefit.

And another one...

I've heard it will be Sunday. Which is great for me!

If Oxford had won, wouldn't people be saying the opposite? I think it's more a case of two teams with little between them.