DaveWayne

I stand on turn 3/4 at Owlerton so all the winners come past me and take the applause, it's only the home straight they are missing out. 😉

Tigers lost last night on the gate. None of the 3 heat leaders were getting out of the gate well, and also Flint was struggling compared to last year where his gating was key to his scoring. Not sure what has happened to Jack Holder, but his gating was poor last year for both Sheffield and in the GPs, and it looks to be continuing. Killeen could be a very good RS from what I have seen in the 2 home matches. Once he gets used to the track he could surprise a few. Battled in every race but just couldn't find the pass.

Sheffield won the KO Cup and topped the league table in 2024 with Edwards and Gilkes.

I think Belle Vue are out whatever happens due to their negative points difference. If Sheffield and Leicester each win their home legs and Leicester take the aggregate point, all 3 teams finish on 5 points but one of those 2 will end up with a positive points difference, so it's impossible for Belle Vue to finish top.

The irony of this being that Belle Vue did get the graveyard gate early doors but were only 6 points down. The damage was done in heats 7-11 when Sheffield had gate 3 for 4 consecutive races.

So it's exactly the same then. Tac subs allowed in the league phase, but not in the knockout phase.

Are tactical substitutes allowed in the playoffs ?

You missed all the excitement leaving that early. All the Aces fans suddenly woke up and chanted "Bewley, Bewley, Bewley" when you finally got a heat advantage in heat 12. Pity the match was already over by then. 😉

Belle Vue fans won't need to worry about what it's called soon anyway. By the end of the Easter weekend they will be concentrating on the league. 😉

Just out of interest, how would the two of you suggest that they run a knockout cup with 6 teams ? Assume 2 would be seeded into the semis, so would that be the 2 finalists from last season ? As Northampton would be one of the quarter finalists, that would delay the whole competition as they are not going to be ready to ride at home until the end of the month. Yes, we can all be cynical about it, but I would say the format chosen for this year is probably the best option in the current circumstances.

That's ok - they will be in the same league as at least one Nottinghamshire team next season, possibly two if County come up to join us. 😉

Scunny had stock cars last night and again on Saturday, so maybe logistically it made sense to not have speedway in between if they have to make any infrastructure changes.

Belle Vue to win on Monday, but then lose out on the aggregate point on Thursday.

So Leicester were called the Hunters at the same time as the Brafield Flying Foxes existed. 😉 Far from it being an 'attempted appropriation' or a 'lack of local knowledge', it is historically accurate in returning to the name of the original team that rode at the same stadium. Most 'older' stock car fans still refer to the stadium as Brafield rather than Northampton.

I'm not sure I understand all this stressing about the name. People are talking as if Foxes is synonymous with Leicester. If that is the case then why are the Speedway team called the Lions, and the Rugby team called the Tigers ?

The flaw in that plan is that Stock Car racing isn't a 'local sport' and is very much a 'travelling circus'. There are fans in all areas, but the bulk of the fans at Northampton on Saturday night would have been at Kings Lynn the previous Saturday, and will probably be at Scunthorpe next Saturday. I would hazard a guess that on average, only about 10% of the crowd at a stock car meeting live within 50 miles of the track. I do 35-40 meetings a season, but my nearest track is about 35 miles from my home, and most other tracks I visit are around 60-90 miles away, with others further still, such as Taunton at 220 miles, and St Day (Cornwall) and Cowdenbeath (Scotland) both just over 300 miles. F1 stockcars still have a strong following in the North West due to past history, despite there no longer being any tracks up that way, so many fans at their meetings are travelling from North and West Yorkshire, Manchester and Lancashire.

The tractor tyres are not the problem as they are easily moved. The issue is the grass you can see behind them as that is raised several feet above track level with a plate fence on the track side, and there is no inner kerb so the shale is right up to the plating.

How is that any different to the fence at Kings Lynn ? At least there is a grass banking to land on should a rider be unfortunate enough to clear the fence, unlike the concrete that Doyle landed on at Lynn a couple of years ago.

I'm not sure what stock car meetings you are referring to, but crowds are very variable depending on the formula and the event. Yes, the F1s get biggish crowds, especially for the more important meetings, but how many of them are locals? F1 stock cars is a 'travelling circus' with drivers and fans coming from all over the country. Many F1 fans will do most meetings in the season, irrespective of the location. Team sports such as speedway are very different and rely quite heavily on local support. How many speedway fans would travel from Lancashire or Yorkshire for a meeting at Kings Lynn ? Stock cars is my main hobby and I will generally watch 40ish meetings in a season from my Nottinghamshire base. My nearest track is an hour from home, and most are within 2 hours that I visit reguarly, but I will also visit Taunton once or twice a season at around 4 hours, and will usually do a St Day (Cornwall) or Cowdenbeath most years and these are around 6 hours away. Speedway fans won't travel like that generally, with the bulk of the crowd at most meetings being fans of the home team.

As I said in my response to IainB, once agreed the Local Plan can't just be changed overnight by new Councillors. The 'decisions' for the plan and the CPO will be recorded and the Council staff will persue the agreed action. As far as I am aware, talks have already taken place between the Council and the consortium, and as long as the Local Plan passes the consultation process it will definitely be happening. The difficulties will potentially come from Brandon Esatates, not from the Council.

Highly unlikely. Local plans are long term strategy documents for development including infrastructure and land use, that often cover a period of up to 15-20 years. They are reviewed on a 5 yearly basis. The local plan is currently out for a 6 week public consultation which started in late January. It will then be submitted to the Secretary of State, along with all the responses, for review and final approval. Even if it is not signed off before the May elections, a new administration at the council will not be able to make changes to the plan at that point.

Does it cause a problem at Kings Lynn and Scunthorpe ? What about in the past at Sheffield, Coventry, Mildenhall, Swindon, Long Eaton, and many others ? The 2 sports need to work together to keep stadiums open, not fall out with each other.

Personally, I think 2028 is ambitious. The local plan has to be agreed before any action can be taken, then there will be the long drawn out CPO process, which you know Brandon Estates will fight against. Then when all that is concluded there will be a lot of work to do on the site, particularly with regards to the grandstand which will have to be completely demolished, and that will be time consuming due to the asbestos contamination procedures. I would love to be proved wrong, but in all honesty I can't see the 'new Coventry' opening before the 2029 season.

The consortium looking to buy the stadium and bring it back is made up of 5 business men. 4 of them are very much stock car people, but the 5th - John Whalley - is a name I don't recognise from stock car circles. 2 of the stock car people are the partners involved in the Yorstox company, so I would imagine they would take on the stock car promotion if Coventry returned, but somebody would still be required to promote the speedway side of things.

The majority of the stadium is grass bankings for spectators, but there is a large uncovered all seater grandstand on the back straight. Capacity won't be an issue, the track is holding the F1 Stock Car World Final this year which will see an attendance far bigger than any British Speedway Premiership match will achieve.