bellevueace

I said the deficit would be wiped out in six races, track conditions are tricky but we took the better gates winning the toss, surprised at Dan there these type of conditions dont usually faze him, goodnight Vienna now, Brady would be stupid to risk anything here with Saturday in mind.

I wouldnt worry about that i cant see us getting close going off our away form in general this season. Too many passengers.

I know people who were going to attend then found the price increase and stayed at home to watch on tv, i wonder how many others did? It appears the increase in price actually cost them money.

I agree with that, supporters dont have that bond with their clubs that they used to have. When clubs had riders that were their riders that had an affinity with the club it was different, Belle Vue had Wilkie, PC, and Mort, Ipswich J Louis, Sanders, Davey, Kings Lynn Betts, Lee, Leicester Wilson, Coventry Boocock for example, fans and riders had that loyalty to their particular club. Today the riders are hired hands in comparison, but you could say the same about football too, times change and loyalty today is to Poland and the big money. Cant blame the riders considering the risks in the sport.

Talk of Ipswich roughing up the track, i dont think theres any need for them to do that to pull back six points against us, given our performances at Foxhall this season and our weakness at No2 and 6 and 7.

Good points, but it should be a comfortable win for you.

I can see the lead being overturned within six heats, home 4-2 in heat 1 and a 5-1 in heat two and its going to be a long night for us.

Sir Jim would make a good promoter 😉

Taking their line up this season it wasnt beyond the realms of possibility without the injuries and long layoff for Cook, many were saying pre season they were the dark horses, we still only finished a couple of wins above them, it could have been another Peterborough, i dont think they would have won the play off but when you look how they started to get their form together towards the end of the season especially at home and their performance at our place just losing out in heat 15 it could easily have been a close call. Its hypothetical and just about opinions anyway.

Going off our performances at your place i wouldnt have been confident with a 14-16 point advantage tbh.

Sir Jim reference about saving money and increasing prices at Old Trafford

The Sir Jim Ratcliffe of speedway 😲

Double post

They were only qualifiers and the four who qualified were known from the start, but we were never going to trouble the other three over two legs, i was surprised some Witches fans were actually worried about last night.

Agree with your points but if we pull this back it will more to do with Ipswich having a choke of massive proportions more than write Belle Vue off at your peril.

I didnt think Ipswich would win but would keep it within 10 at worst, Blodorn and the reserves have been poor all season and with Dan and Brady in heats 13 and 15 we always had a get out of jail card as we saw against Kings Lynn at the NSS who overall were the better side going into heat 15 only two points down. Ipswich didnt ride well last night, Emil was off it King wasnt good, and Thompson didnt do as well as i thought but it was still only a 6 point advantage, for a team who are supposed to have such a large home advantage it wasnt good from our point of view, we were always the weakest of the four in the play offs and we paid the price for not changing things around. Ipswich are just a better all round side as will be underlined on Thursday. Its going to be interesting between Ipswich, Sheffield and Leicester though.

At one stage it looked as if they could push us and they were unlucky to lose at the NSS being the better side over the whole meeting, 2 points down going into heat 15 our top two got us out of jail, if they did have a bonafide No1 it would have been even more interesting.

No surprise at all ive been saying all season carrying Blodorn and with the two reserves we have we wouldnt get past the semi finals and also think if Ben Cook had,nt been injured Kings Lynn could have got the play off place instead of us. I was surprised at the Witches fans who were worried about this meeting, we were never going to be a threat we were easily the weakest of the four teams, Lemon made no changes went with what he had and it was always going to bite him like this. Im going for a Witches v Tigers final although i would like to see Lions win it.

Wrong thread oops

Sounds bad i wish you a speedy recovery mate.

I still wouldnt be confident at your place even with that, and the big ifs are Blodorn, Cook especially away and the reserves, i know weve done well in previous play offs after not shining during regular season matches but i think this season we have too much baggage in the engine room and at reserve. I think Witches will be a different proposition next week than they were last night.

Im not arguing the fact but it was taken seriously by the mainstream media during the golden eras, becoming the number two spectator sport, nowadays it has become a big issue with the fanbase, i agree its not ideal, perhaps your suggestion would be better. Wasnt it last season when a play off meeting was getting pelters in Poland for a woefully understrength side being put out do to injuries? I dont really follow the sport over there but im sure there was some mention of it.

The guest rider rule has always been part of speedway, yes its not an ideal system when riders turn up in in opposing colours and its a difficult one to explain to newbies, but really without it how would a club be able to replace their number one rider especially through injury? Theres really only R/R would that really be an adequate cover scoring the points of the top man? Sometimes it does work out. I think the only realistic way is to have a squad system which the sport cant afford, years ago we would see say Ivan Mauger missing a meeting to be replaced by Ronnie Moore, it does seem to be more an issue with fans today, if Jack Holder for whatever reason misses the play off matches and didnt bring a guest in tigers fans surely wouldnt be happy? I think its just a necessary evil in the sport.

Zmarslik has always looked a lot faster than most, and today the weight is the main issue.