SJA

You may want to give you head a wobble. Hagon has spent the majority of his season in the main body of the Poole team and achieved 4.85, Thompson has only left the reserve berth in the last six weeks for his 5.77 average. Allowing that JT was unbeaten at home in Heat 2 all season it shows that one has basically stalled their progress while the other Hagon has developed as a rider.

Will be attending both legs. I just hope Oxford don't do their normal trick of calling it off when they have people in the stadium.

Its not a moan. Its an observation. With 15 home meetings, and the sport is supposedly a summer sport their is an opportunity to benefit from having a small league and condense the season over 5 months. Focus on the time of year with better weather. Phil Morris and the Club Owners have to opportunity to improve the sport to make it more attract to potential new fans and it will cost them nothing. It could also benefit more regular fans who get into the habit of attending a weekly home fixture.

I enjoyed the meeting last night as a neutral more so than my £240 hotel room. Credit for the Belle Vue track staff for getting the meeting on. I suspect it may be just out of reach for Leicester in the second leg but I do feel based on who I spoke to leaving the stadium the its not all done and dusted as many fans think. However the one thing I would say is that the track could have been better if the meeting was held in August as Speedway is a summer sport. So allowing that you need two reserve dates, the August Bank Holiday was Monday 26th, allow a week for the SON and if you raced at home the season could have started on the 22nd April. (based on the programme saying that it was Issue 15). So why not run mid September until the end of August & let the final take place on a dry track so it is s showpiece. By all means then have some other competition if clubs think their is demand for meeting on cold, damp nights in September and October

And IMHO the least talented SGP World Champion by some distance.

David Lowe at Leicester who has a page in the programme for each Lions meeting allowing him to update the fans on the regular zoom meetings they have with Phil.

Surely this means more clubs moving to Monday nights.

If my understanding is correct he got a new engine from an unnamed tuner that is well suited to British tracks.

Commercial Considerations could mean WBD wanted certainty on where they needed outside broadcast trucks in the UK. It appears more than coincidental that the announcement was made within a day of the original end of season date.

Absolutely, I do. It is hard for clubs that don't have 24/7 access to their stadium to run an additional NDL team as the hire cost for the Premiership meeting will be the same as for an NDL meeting but without the same revenue stream. However that does not excuse clubs like Kings Lynn from running an NDL team.

Yes of course they should because ultimately you are hindering the progress of the rider if you do not allow it.

I wouldn't be so sure on that. By my maths if Leicester win at home against Kings Lynn and pick up a bonus point against them they finish second.

Fancy a home win by about ten points. I think the Oxford team will click for the final home meeting of the season.

Who's the Weasel?

I think the issue with a clubs commitment is finance based. Clubs like Leicester have long leases on their stadium for exclusive use. Therefore no additional hire charge for an NDL team, where as clubs who are tenants would have to pay an additional hire charge for an NDL fixture. That does not excuse teams like Kings Lynn from not running an NDL team. Also the competitive nature of an NDL meeting is often more entertaining that some of the Championship & Premiership meetings I have watched recently.

Surely with the 2nd v 3rd play off featuring two very closely matched teams the key would be to have the second leg at home incase its 90 all and a Golden Heat is needed.

I'm interested to see Tom Spencer be given more opportunities at this level. He is one of the best NDL riders not racing in a regular basis in the Championship so fingers crossed for him for 2025. I hope he has more nights like the one at Glasgow where he got a paid win but is a honest and safe rider at this level.

Thats a shame as I remember there being some good racing there the year they had Doyle and Barker in the team.

I like Paco as a rider and always find him good value for money but I suspect he may be viewed as inconsistent. How does his away average stack up against his home average?

With the weather forecast being dry and hot all day why not try to get more water into the track during the day? I thought the track prep was poor. Is it always to that standard at Birmingham?

I thought all Lions meetings were on WBD or streamed on Lions TV?

I have attended 32 meetings in the UK so far this season. The racing has been mixed as you would expect. One thing I have noticed is the amount of meetings that start later than advertised. Often it appears for no reason. As someone who attends meeting on public transport this is an important factor to me. However whenever I attend a Leicester meeting, 3 times so far, 2 x Lions and a Cubs meeting they start on time. That is the first race at the publicised start time, the parade, minutes applause etc. happens before this. I don't know who is responsible for the timing, but they should be congratulated for their professionalism & doing a good job.

I went last night and it was shambolic. The track looked soft from Heat 1 and only got worse. Its the third time I've been burnt. As a retired single woman I am over £100 down on last night and will not give Oxford the benefit of my money on anything else but dry days. Leicester's promotion should be congratulated for making an early tough decision. I expect both clubs had access to the same forecast providers but Leicester made a professional decision for the good of their riders, supporters and bank balance. Oxford come across as a bunch of chancers who I suspect are already running out of date for fixtures for their three teams.

Another wasted trip to Oxford. When will I learn, What with the train ticket and taxi over £100 wasted tonight. When will I learn that the Oxford promoter will not make tough decisions regarding postponing meetings. Some times us fans do not help. I noticed the Leicester promotion who called off their meeting yesterday getting slated by some of their fans yesterday for calling off the meeting in the morning. The Leicester promotion should be applauded for making an early call. The outcome of yesterday is that I will only return to Oxford when its a dry forecast but I'm likely to give the Leicester promotion the benefit of the doubt based on their forecasting skills over the last two seasons.

Putting off buying train & stadium tickets for this until the last minute, the forecast looks bad.