bellevueace

Expected result with Wolves comfy winners, the start Morris has made must be a big bonus for the Wolves fans. Hes scoring some good points fair play to him.

Well done Dan a brilliant performance and what a race with KK in heat 15 coming through from the back to complete a paid max. We were asked where was the boy wonder after the PC meeting, think people are starting to realise where he is now, a great natural talent and lets not forget still at the novice stage. The best prospect we have had since PC and Mort. It takes two teams to make a good race meeting Kasprzak really being the only one to fit the bill, he rode really well. I thought Rye looked a bit iffy pre srason, Bomber and Scotty are past their best, can see a lot of heavy away defeats unless there are changes. Tungate was better and Etheridge did his job, we will be able to judge their progression better against stronger opposition.

At Least a 10 point win for the Wolves I would imagine, Thorssell and Howarth have started the season really well and solid back up should see them home easily enough.

No guarantee Hougaard would hit the ground running as Stevie had done either, add to the fact Stevie has always been much better away from home and Paddy does not fit the bill, Steve has far more potencial, Hougaard has stood still the past few seasons.

No doubt like the 3 Kurtz scored at home against Swindon shows where he is?

Well that put to bed the nonsense that r/r for Stevie hadn,t weakened us, Stevie would have been in double figures considering how he was going, Tungate as I expected was a passenger, and Gappmaier did nothing. If I was a Poole fan id be gutted, should have taken us to the cleaners, I'm just happy to have won the meeting with a vastly under strength team.

A great rider who brought professionalism to speedway, he was way ahead of his time, I feel so lucky to be able to say I saw him in his prime, a true legend. If the GP system had been about in Ivans day he would have had numerous more world titles as his consistency was unbelievable. Rip Ivan and condolences to the family.

Tungate has had some stinkers at the NSS too mate, he does not convince me at all. I dont think his home form on the occasions he does go well compensate for his dire away showings.

I travelled down overnight and came through some very heavy rain. As i got closer to where im staying in Bournemouth it was drying out pretty well. Bit cloudy but plenty of blue in the sky, so its the train to poole to sample some of the good real ale watering holes then at last speedway. Immeterial to the score lets hope for some good racing. Seems we brought that Manchester sun with us

Glad to hear the weather is showing signs of improvement, looking forward to travelling down and hopefully seeing some racing.

You now are realistically looking at Woffinden, Cook, Lambert I think

Im coming down for this one so hope the forecast remains good. Last season i was confident whenever we were on our travels, the named team this season leaves me less confident. The GP could have a negative impact on cookies league form if he struggles, similarly with his form in Poland, hes started the season slowly. Tungate i must admit to not being a big fan of, he really needs to step up his away form. Losing Stevie is a huge blow hes started in tremendous form replacing him on his current average will not be easy. Fricke has not shown his best round Wimborne Road so far, he could be about to. Bewley is no doubt a potentially superb prospect but is still little more than a novice, certainly cant heap too much on to his shoulders just yet. Starke will certainly be better than Drozdz and id be suprised if Etheridge did a great deal more than Smith. So for me a comfy home win. I just hope for some good racing. And that depends on winning the tactical battle with Highways England on circumnavigating the multitude of road works/closures. Lol

Agree with this, my worry is how a poor GP and struggling in the Polish league could affect his BV form, i thought his signing to be more of a gamble this season.

Another brilliant publication, the only areas that don't really interest me are the international and grass track reviews, but that is only my preferences and its good they cover these for those that find them interesting, something for everyone. Always look forward to my Star being delivered on a Thursday.

Agreed Doyle has shown what can be done upping his game considerably, he is certainly an inspiration to riders aiming to follow the same path.

Well when Craig had a bad Cardiff and WTC last season there were signs of it having a negative affect, missed meetings etc, Cant really make a comparison with Harris as he does not have the same issues as Craig.

Ive been thinking along those line too, if the GP,s become a struggle it could have a negative impact on his league form, he got into the GP on merit but it is a big step up, lets hope he can make a success of it, if he can the opposite could happen and his league form improves considerably, only time will tell.

I think the Robins will win this fairly comfortably. Drozdz is going to need time to settle in, i also think Tungate is going to have to improve his away form this season as he wasnt that convincing last season. Cook does seem to struggle a bit at Blunsdon, it will be interesting to see how Etheridge goes too. Davey rode well at our place so im interested to see how he goes tonight, both sides need a few meetings to get up to speed, thats why im giving this a miss and coming down for the league match in May. Hope its a good meeting for you all tonight and you dont freeze too much

I agree with you, that the vision of Gordon and Morton has put the club in such a position, but whilst I had no doubt the new stadium would be delivered unlike many, I also questioned if Gordon and Morton were the right people to actually manage it. As we know things went wrong and I still feel many things have not been revealed about exactly what went on. We went bust and the promotion were thrown out of the stadium, so that foresight they had could ultimately have put the club out of exsistance. The current owners have more business acumen and appointed Mark Lemon to oversee the speedway side of things, they were also in with Gordon and Morton at the very outset of the new stadium plans, they are now trying to take the club to the next level, if they succeed only time will tell, without their input we could possibly not have a season to look forward to come Monday.

Spot on Sid, the Dent Oliver era produced a production line of talent, trying to establish a basis for bringing on young riders is a vital aspect. Other clubs also have a commitment to youth, which we need. You only have to look at top level football nowadays where buying ready made foreign players impides the development of young home grown players. And our record in football is even worse that thei Speedway compatriots.

At the recent fans forum we were told about the tie up with the Polish club and the advantages to both teams youngsters. What was also said was the owners are aware that Poland is the most successful speedway nation in the world, that their business model is obviously working, and that it is something we can learn from. This is looking ahead to also improve Belle Vue as a club and the way its run seeing how they do things and if we could implement certain ideas.No doubt if a certain southern based club were doing this some would be telling us how innovative this is instead of trying to diss it. The sport in this country needs this kind of forward thinking instead of treading the same old path that obviously isnt working.

The tie up can only help the youngsters of both clubs, how often do we hear of young British riders not getting the chance to race on the continent? This will allow both teams kids to experience riding abroad, some people don't appear to be able to see the bigger picture, just wanting to sign ready made riders with no vision for the future.

Poor processional meetings in the 60,s and 70,s were the exception today they are the rule.

I was sat in G block at the meeting where Wilkie was injured, it appeared a simple fall considering what you can witness at speedway, I remember saying Wilkie will soon be up from that considering he was as hard as nails. I couldn't believe the extent of his injuries, it just goes to show its not always the force of an accident but how you fall. Wilkie for me epitomises what a captain should be, he carried the team along. A true Belle Vue hero, and lets not forget Jean who has stood by him all these years, a great lady. I was at Kings Lynn the day Wilkie raced up to the referee,s box to dispute a decision, who could forget that? Along with many other such stories, look at the old photo of him being held back during heat 13 of the home meeting against Leicester when a free for all occurred, the passion jumps out at you. That Wilkie is still spoken about fondly around the tracks after so many years speaks volumes about him. I would like to have seen Nikki Pedersen try his moves on Alan