Noelinho

Track staff have made the dirt look great. Light rain has started though.

So Glasgow are at home to Edinburgh on Thursday? I've not seen this at all on social media/website.

Covers in use for Test match. Not sure who they belong to. Can’t find the Facebook post/comment where I saw it originally.

It’s not daft. The 42 heats are to get you to the knockout. If you top score, you get a bye to the final, but it’s not handed to you on a plate. Keeps people interested for longer, means you don’t end up with dead rubbers at the end of the event. A well established principle in many sports, including other speedway competitions…

Held it together when Magic didn’t. Mental side is just as important as the mechanics of riding. No shame in it. It’s not like anyone punted him off.

Which makes sense if the rule is consistent - but it wasn’t. Hellstrom-Bangs replaced Aspgren in the Re-run of heat 6. How did that happen? I didn’t understand that at all, especially given the other riders couldn’t be replaced later. Did anyone else notice that?

Which teams? They all put in a good account yesterday, apart from Sweden who had pretty compelling mitigating circumstances (and Hellstrom-Bangs certainly did better than many expected).

I believe they expected Laguta and Emil to essentially work for free, and were giving them next to no support, so they declined to participate. The replacements just weren't good enough to qualify.

They will certainly do everything they can to get the meeting on, but I got the impression from a comment from one of the track staff on Facebook that they don't think covers will make any real difference (but yes, they are using them).

Banning them would definitely not help given the number of clubs that have been lost already. But there’s a question about the product. My experience of the product last night made me think £18.50 was bad value for money, so I’m not planning to go back. But then again, home support is more important for speedway teams, so I guess as long as the home fans are happy with the product, that’s what matters most. The track did seem well suited to the Wildcats meeting afterwards though, which was an interesting watch.

Clubs would soon put clocks in place if the ref keeps excluding the home riders for exceeding the time limits!

Yeah, I was surprised at the home crowd on turns 3/4 booing before anything had started. I've never seen that at any other track. I don't plan to go tomorrow. Nothing to do with tonight's performance. It just didn't seem like a great racetrack. Maybe I'm weird, but I can't get massively tribal. I'm just a hedonist who wants to be entertained. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Ashfield.

Heat 13 was interesting. First heat advantage in heat 14 for the Tigers. Level on aggregate going into heat 15. The tie is tense, but the on track speedway is a dirge.

Are the tapes wonky on purpose? And is the racing at Edinburgh usually more entertaining than this?

Marcin will definitely get round the corner, the only question is how many people he runs over doing i! I’m quite content with Flint in for Brennan. I don’t think it changes much. Tom is used to Belle Vue and Ashfield after all, which are quite different. What’s parking like at Armadale? I’ve never been but I’m tempted to make the trip or or both days.

Craig’s certainly not been as good coming through when he’s missed the start at Ashfield this year. More often than not, he’s struggled to make the places back. He’s not been bad, just not the Craig Cook we’re used to. Just missing that 5% that makes him special to watch, rather than just another really good rider.

He’s a monster into the bends, but he can’t gate. Not consistently anyway. I don’t think he’s what you’d be looking for from a Grand Final. You need someone who’s a bit more polished than he is right now.

That was an epic meeting. Nearly passed out from excitement multiple times!

I liked it, though perhaps it’s better suited to replay material.

Yes, it happened far too often. I think the starting marshal needs to invite riders to the start earlier too. Refs should warn both teams before the start and once the first rider is excluded, it won’t happen again.

53-37 to the Tigers. Would have taken that earlier today. We'll need Sam Jensen to be more consistent if we want to win something for the cabinet though, I think.

Yeah, and a real shame for Broc as he was in great form tonight. Hoping he can bounce back quickly.

There's a delay after Broc Nicol and Drew Kemp tangled in heat 8. Drew went wide into 3, they met through 4 as Broc came underneath. All a bit of a blur as to how they ended up together. I think Drew might have locked up a bit, and it was a reasonably aggressive move. Broc excluded. Ambulance on track but Broc is awake and talking. Taking an early interval now but we only have one ambulance...

He was walking and talking, so hopefully just precautionary. They're taking their time though.

I suspect the weather will be a bigger factor than the number of meetings, in October. And the timing of the Test match is a bit of a moot point. When else would it run? There’s no way it runs any other time this season. The Test match will also bring in a wider audience than our normal meetings. The biggest problem for Glasgow the last two weeks hasn’t been getting meetings on due to weather or available race days. It’s been having an opponent to race. Thankfully we’ve got the Monarchs tonight. Maybe we’ll get them next weekend too.