InTheDeepStuff

Tye two Sheffield riders under threat have the be Howarth and Gilles. Howarth needs to be looking at his engines, looked the slowest of the 14 riders out there tonight, know he uses family to do tuning etc but whew everyone else uses PJR, Ashtec, Kowalski, BVM etc so maybe time to drop the loyalty and try elsewhere as always going to struggle keeping up if not. As for Gilkes he’s gone backwards, consistently rides the wrong lines at wrong times in meetings (wide in 3 and 4 in ht2 I mean what the hell!) and the bullied by the riders when it comes down to the right moments, the crashes and injuries definitely playing on his mind, question is who is out there to replace the two of them? The Rising Star list gets smaller by the season, what’s left now Pijper, Killeen, Atkins and the J Thompson?? and then a load of inexperienced NDL riders. As for Howarth if you convert his 5.62 from Prem (x 1.5 isn’t it?) to Championship that’s someone with c.8.4 average like Allen, Sedgmen will that make them stronger. A lot for Bates’ and Stead to think about over next few days

Forecast for Wednesday and Thursday not great at moment, hopefully weather doesn’t cause an issue like the other week! if there’s a chance of it being postponed Chapman should post the forecast he’s got to back any decision up Sheffield might need a guest for Edwards if he’s still feeling second hand

Massive home win, 57-33, Aces top three far too powerful for the Oxford equivalent. For Oxford to have any chance of a decent score Cook needs to be on the ‘special’ engine he rode Sheffield the other week if not even 33 might be a push

I honestly think Ipswich have a massive chance on the back of having Douglas in for King. Ipswich’s reserves should get the upper hand when they meet up especially Rew as Edwards and Gilkes not scored too many at home over the three meetings but team built so not reliant on them, Doyle and Sayfutdinov v J Holder and Woffinden should even itself out throughout the meeting, so all pressure on middle order Thompson, Ellis and Douglas against C Holder, Pickering and Howarth. Only C Holder been consistent at home between those three, with Howarth particularly disappointing not getting more than 5 at home yet (only score more than that once all season!). Can see Ellis wanting to prove a point after being dropped last season and Douglas was generally Wolves best rider at Owlerton season upon season. Not many will push Sheffield at home but can see this being an away win 43-47. ** Killeen in for the injured Edwards edging this even further towards an Ipswich win **

Something desperately needs to be done at Owlerton with gate 3 (and possibly 2), so unfair on the riders who have that no matter what stage of the meeting (unless you get away with a roller!), it’s the same week in week out. Either the trackmam isn’t listening to the riders asking for the star line to be dug up completely as like packed concrete now so no chance of getting a rut to use to get off the start, or he just hasn’t the tools/knowledge to do so. Such as shame as you can write off whoever is in the gate which spoils the racing

They could do worse than bring in the likes of Schlein, Sedgman, Barker or Etheridge and as a starter the miss firing Pawlicki, Milik or Lampart, whilst trying to get a proper 8-9 point rider as number 1. They know the UK track and not paying to fly then in and out of UK

Just back from this meeting, Scunthorpe got the upper hand in Ht1 and never looked back or in trouble after that. For Redcar Wright did what was expected, Riss untouched all night, Edwards battled for every point, Knudsen didn’t threaten at all, Bailey so inconsistent you’d think ones be looking over then shoulder at the axe if carry’s on that form, both Mulford and Trigger only picked up a couple of points between them which isn’t what you expect at home. For Scunthorpe the Howarth and Mountain pairing were excelllent, Palm-Toft loooed fast all night, Allen backed io his other heat leaders, Boughen really exciting liked the high wide line all the way around the track (even if he went backwards a few times with the lack of dirt), Lambert his by bike gremlins it seemed and Harrison you can say just getting the experience needed. The big disappointment was the track, dirt line disappeared after 5/6 races, track man kept grading so close to the fence but failed to make tye high line a fast racing one. Stood on entry to bend 3 and was sections of the track crumbling, from outside looking in the track man needs some help from the likes of Steve Lawson, Chris Meredith etc. before it gets any worse and ruins the good reputation the track has built up over the years

Wright looked very slow at Sheffield last night on both his bikes used, so Redcar will be hoping he’s found what was wrong with his kit last night or uses a different engine at home, whereas Riss looked pretty quick and was up there challenging so great timing ti o bring him in as a guest. The Scunthorpe heatleaders of Howarth, Palm-Toft and Allen will all need a performance if they’re re go get anything out of the meeting, Howarth looked a more settled last night, gating was better and unlucky not to score a few more points

Oxford definitely have riders who know the fastest way around Owlerton on their day like Wright and Harris, plus Riss and Cook both won ELRC’s there. Not sure how Janowski will take to it, we’ve seen Poles like Musielak take to it like a duck to water then others Kasperzak, Wodylo, Ulamek etc ride round at half throttle. Tungate is hit and miss for sure around Owlerton and young Boughen only ridden there one when guested for Sheffield last year for his first ever Premiership match and when gated in Ht8 looked fast out front. You’d think for Sheffield Jack Holder will be riding the crest of a wave after the weekends SGP win, plus Woffinden be out to show his result was a fluke and get some race wins under his belt to boost his confidence, both Chris Holder and Pickering rode well in their only home meeting of the year so not to much to say about what they can produce, main concern is the bottom three of the team, Howarth’s form away has been OK just riding to his average, home v Kings Lynn he struggled for speed bar one race last time out which is a common theme (does he need a change of tuner or some tweaks to his riding style??) we all know he can get around Owlerton as good as most of the riders averaging 2-3 points more than him, plus his scores in Championship have been really poor for Scunthorpe in a watered down league, Edwards has been better away than at home so far with Gilles the polar opposite as away been in droppable form yet bagged big points in last three rides v a weak Kings Lynn team. I think this could be quite close, not last heat close but something like a 8-10 home win

He’s seemed to have crumbled in the Premiership over the last few years no matter which team he’s ridden for. Looks like he’s used to winning races in the Championship for fun, but when it comes to Premiership he struggles against both the riders he beats week in week out in Championship and also the top boys in the Premiership which seems to play with his head a bit and that’s when you see the throttling off/bottling first beds and then the axe comes around and he gets into that vicious circle of moving between clubs after only a month or two as we’ve seen over last few seasons.

51-39 home win, Ipswich reserves will outscore Sheffield reserves by at least 6 points, we know both Holder’s aren’t keen on Foxhall, Pickering and Howarth very hit and miss around here also, Woffinden the only Sheffield rider to hit double digits.

Hopefully Morris and co get hold of this early doors and set a standard, ridiculous call off, Sheffield should be awarded the away win, home season ticket holders given free meeting I.e KO Cup, the penalty for Buster being one less meetings income might make him not try cheat the system again

If the track is grippy then that won’t favour Tobiasz as well as both Holders, both he and Jack always wanted Owlerton on the slick side like the Polish tracks. Woffinden can usually ride most surfaces thrown at him and Pickering g and Howarth don’t mind it deep. Can only see Sheffield continuing their winning streak against Kings Lynn but maybe not as comprehensive as the 2023 scores

Hopefully Kyle Howarth not feeling two second hand today after his awkward off last night, he counted them and we’re still there but imagine he’ll be sore today

Did the Gladiators manage to get a practice in this week? Be interesting how the track holds up with all the dodgy weather whilst the changes were being completed

Weather for this one keeps changing, gone from a dry day to showers late afternoon onwards, hopefully it survives this time around! Most probably the best time to visit Owlerton as an away team with the Sheffield team not having a lap around there to date in 2024 (Howarth, C Holder, Pickering & Edwards last rode in early October, Woffinden & Gilkes mid August, J Holder mid July) so might take a few races to get set ups dialled in. Think Sheffield will still have the upper hand even if there are some riders in the Kings Lynn side that can go well around Owlerton , we all know how good Tobi is first hand! Sheffield to win 50-40

The Doyle/Sayfutdinov show will bring it home for Ipswich, 48-42 with it being decided in the last race

Narrow home win for Leicester 46-44

According to Sportowefakty NKI had an off in Denmark, they are reporting a concussion, but not sure if that’s been confirmed as will be out for set period if so, well in UK anyway they let them ride in Poland

Yes the promotion we’re aware of the football clash

Think they are running on Tues even if clashes with football to get some funds into the club, could get to end of April and ridden away 6 times and only 2 at home if no other rain offs before end of the month

I attended yesterday and even thought it took an age to get the announcement out that the meeting was off it was the correct decision, especially as it started to shower with rain again that point. I’m just hoping that Scunthorpe honour their admission ticket, as popped into the pits from bend 4 entrance when that was opened by the club to speak to a couple of friends who were due to ride and mechanic and left via the pit exit/entry without getting ticket stamped, if not that’s the last £20 that will leave my wallet and go into Scunny’s coffers

Do they need more time to prep the track for stock cars than they do for speedway and with dogs being on 6 days a week they just can’t do it in time for Monday? Forecast looks to be improving with only showers now around mid day on Weds and Thurs and not the usual 95% probability!!

If this one beats the weather I’ll hopefully be off to this one, can only see an away win for Sheffield, unlike the Oxford visit all the Sheffield riders have prior experience of Perry Barr, even though Birmingham should have upper hand at reserve the top 5 of Sheffield should see them through, so going for a 40-50 away win

Belle Vue fallen lucky with no Doyle for Ipswich (no disrespect to Scott Nicholls) for their visit to Foxhall, they can’t be as bad as their last visit there, can see this now being very close with a 2 point win for Belle Vue