DaveWayne

Camping is not an option at Foxhall. It is tradition to have camping at weekend stock car meetings, but it has never been allowed at the July weekend at Ipswich. Trust me, if it was an option, the Spedeworth promoter would be cashing in.

No because I don't live in the north of the country !! The post was from my personal point of view. I live 2 miles from the M1, so yes it is all motorway and dual carriageway for me. I do that journey for stock cars at Foxhall so yes it's a 3 hour run. The only poor roads between Manchester and Ipswich are the ones I would have to drive on to get to the NSS. Personally, I don't care about the bars, restaurants and hotels. I will stop at a nice cafe I know on the way down and come home the same night. Works for me.

2 hours to Manchester on poor roads and limited car parking available, or 3 hours to Ipswich on motorways and dual carriageways and a massive car park. Yes it might take a while to get out of the car park post meeting, but I know which journey home I would prefer at night. Added bonus is it won't be full of Aces fans. 😉

Yes it is my words and it was posted as a bit of tongue in cheek banter, the clue being the emojis. Sadly, as is the norm, you go on the attack like a 10 year old arguing in a playground. 😘

Unfortunately, the guest rules don't allow for that, and with the added rule of only being allowed to ride for one team in the playoffs, Sheffield had no choice but to bring in somebody who had already 'failed' this season. We have struggled through the season unable to find a suitable replacement for one of the best riders in the world, and Fricke was our only option within the existing rules to have any chance of winning the playoffs. As I said in another thread, had Bewley and Holder's injuries happened in reverse order then the shoe could quite easily have been on the other foot.

Not made anything up. You have twisted my words to suit your narrative. I never mentioned Fricke either. Just said that some BV fans were on this thread mentioning the 'tin pot' rules.

Not by name, I'll give you that, but both mikebv and Phannan have made digs about the guest rules.

Quite simple, the dates have been announced and Belle Vue get the choice. They can either race on their usual night or have the second leg.

Nice deflection. 😉

Maybe the Aces fans are getting a bit nervous with their poor record at Owlerton ? They are just covering their bases and pointing out how 'tin pot' the rules are so that they can undermine our title win if we are succesful. Just a pity they spent most of the last few days bigging it up on the other thread and insisting that any win is worth celebrating. 😉 * Disclaimer - we are still capable of throwing this away at Leicester next week. 😂

Yes, we were lucky that Etheridge stepped up last week, as Holder was poor by his usual standards.

Or maybe he was alluding to the fact that those 2 teams were in the same qualifying group ? Fact is, it wasn't a one horse race back then as Sheffield still had their full 1-7 available, and that was why you failed to make the final. The loss of Holder is what has killed the season. I know somebody will comment about Kurtz being ill for the Owlerton leg, but the fact that you were smashed that day shows what happens when your number 1 rider is unavailable. Now try riding 2/3rds of the season like that !!

It doesn't matter how much money you have if the riders aren't available. How many GP standard riders were available in mid June that would have any interest in riding in the UK, let alone riders of Holder's quality ? You know as well as everyone does that you landed lucky to get Doyle in to replace Bewley, and without that your season could have looked a lot different.

Didn't act or couldn't act ? Were Belle Vue just lucky that Bewley got injured before Holder ? If it had been the other way round and Sheffield had already snapped up Doyle, how would Belle Vue have dealt with that ? Who are you suggesting that Sheffield should have replaced Holder with ?

Holder has to be the first choice for a wildcard as we was right up there till his injury. 2nd choice is between Bewley and Lindgren, who would also both probably be in the top 7 without injuries, but surely one of them has to go to whoever finishes 8th ? With 4 riders separated by 1 point chasing 3 places, it would be very harsh to not give another shot to the one that misses out. So which way do you go ? The 41 year old with a fantastic record but never been Champion and unlikely to be now, or the 27 year old potential future champion who would probably have been in the title fight this year ?

There were no bangers or hot rods last weekend. 😉

3 day meetings are few and far between, especially on shale, but this was a major championship weekend for 2 formulas, with 2 other formulas in support, and many drivers from overseas. It was programmed a year ago (I booked my accommodation in October) so it's not like it was a surprise. Last night's meeting was supposed to run on 27th August, but was postponed and with the Foxes already having matches programmed on 3rd and 10th September, last night was the only option to run before the cut off. Good job they didn't qualify for the play offs as there is another 3-dayer at the end of the month, due to another promotion hiring the track for their major event.

To be fair to the stock cars, there wouldn't even be a speedway track without them. 😉 What you have to bear in mind is that the 3 day meeting was planned before speedway was even confirmed for this season, and was a major championship meeting for 2 different formulas with many competitors from overseas. It couldn't just be rearranged to accommodate a speedway event a few days later. The stock car promoter worked very hard on the track over the weekend. After the Saturday event finished at around 7.30pm he was working on the track until the early hours of Sunday morning. The rain on Sunday certainly didn't help matters. Funnily enough, several people commented to me over the weekend about the 'speedway dip' on the home straight, so the damage works both ways.

I see. So neither of the Holders have said it publicly then ? Just promoter waffle telling the fans what they want to hear. 😉

Recently ? I can imagine this being said when they still had an affiliation, but after 6 seasons at Owlerton I can't see Jack going anywhere else in a hurry (unless Sheffield fold).

The statement on the website said rain between 4pm and 8pm. Surely better to judge at the end of that time period rather than at the start of it ?

Always best to know what you are talking about before clicking the submit button. 😉 No driver in any stock car or banger formula is allowed to exit their car either on track or on the infield without the permission of the steward, unless the car is on fire. The circumstances you mention may have happened in the past, but not in recent years due to a driver being killed due to being hit after exiting his car.

Even if Sheffield ran without guests for their remaining 4 meetings they would most likely finish in front of Lynn. The best you can possibly end the season on is 25 points. To do that you have got to beat Leicester home and away, having already lost both legs of the R1 fixtures, and win away at Northampton which you failed to do in R1. Sheffield are on 20 points and more than likely going to take 3 from the Northampton home fixture, and would probably beat Belle Vue at home even if they ran with R/R for Holder. Having missed the 2022 playoffs through injury, Fricke has obviously decided that he may as well get settled in with his 2026 play off team early to give himself a good chance of a medal. 😉

Sorry but I don't understand how you are going to make that work. Are you basically saying you want to make 12 riders 'unemployed' just so they can be called on as and when needed ? If not a squad system where riders are aligned to a particular team even if not riding, then would that be a central pool of riders that anyone could call on ? How is that different to the current guesting rules ?

The model would have to change massively for a squad system to be used. A wage/retainer would have to be paid to all squad members as they wouldn't accept points payments if they weren't getting the chance to score them. Would this really be sustainable with teams already losing money ?