ouch

Brady did not miss Belle Vue fixtures whilst completing fixtures in foreign leagues. If you can show me a timeline that proves this to be incorrect then fine I’ll concede, otherwise please stop making this up as fans start believing it. Anticipating radio silence. AGAIN!!😡

Brady did not miss Belle Vue fixtures whilst completing fixtures in foreign leagues. If you can show me a timeline that proves this to be incorrect then fine I’ll concede, otherwise please stop making this up as fans start believing it. Anticipating radio silence. AGAIN!!😡

I think you’re being a bit harsh when describing the racing lines around the NSS. I’ve lifted the race reports from the last time we met when the lines used were mentioned. One race had simultaneous passing on the outside and inside. Fricke chasing and finally passes Blodorn up the inside bend 2 lap 4. Becker packed up on the run to the first turn. Masters gates, but Bewley is up the inside bend 3 lap 1. Masters repaid the pass bend 2 lap 2, before Bewley is back up the inside bend 1 lap 3, before pulling clear. Howarth up the inside of Zichke bend 2 lap 1 Masters gates, and leads for 3 laps with the Aces hunting him down. Lidsey and Cook go either side of Masters bend 1 lap 4 to turn it into a 5-1. Great ride from the Aces.

Should be a very entertaining meeting again with plenty of passing. Leicester imo are the best gaters in the league though they are closely matched by the top two, necessity is the mother of invention after all. But for the racing last time we would have drawn if calling the race early, not that you can do that at the NSS. Being back to full strength helps as a full Aces side has only been beaten once, without Brady falling that is. As always it’s great to see our Max back and I’m hoping he has a good night along with local lad Kyle who will no doubt be mad for it.

He’s been a true number 1 for years and it’s been great to see him grow from the 4.50 lad we signed back in the day. Irreplaceable to his team, as we found out in 2022, he is a true ace in every way.

I would relish a final or semi final against Ipswich and I think most fans would love it when watching on tv. As bad as we were yesterday we were four up on aggregate after heat 12 and with the prospect of heat 13 & 15 featuring Jason, Emil, Brady & Dan, it doesn’t get much better for UK fans imo. Will the old guard prevail or will the GP big boys pull through? Something for the publicity machine to get behind. Here’s hoping Mr Morris works his magic again when sorting out the semis.

Belle Vue do seem to run their annual final qualification in a particular way. At the start of the season they will win a few away meetings and keep others close to secure the bonus. After the league settles and qualification is all but certain they take their foot off the gas until the play offs themselves. I’ve always found it odd that a rider would try less as this obviously affects their income. Having said that, Zach admitted to testing stuff out against Lynn as the team score allowed him to. If the team ride at opponents destined for the playoffs and the table allowed it, I would absolutely have a play around re set ups. Not saying this is necessarily the case for last night. I do like a strategy, especially one that is so effective year on year.

I wouldn’t discount The Aces stepping up a gear come the play offs, as we have done for the previous four seasons. We missed out on four on the trot final appearances by a lap or two in that terrific final heat against the witches after we had lost Charles to injury (no unnecessary vulture snipes from me). Dans unbeaten 10 rides in last years final is a good indicator of how the whole team lift themselves for the big nights with previous performances at the various venues seemingly counting for nothing. There’s no team I’m not confident of beating over two legs when it means something.

I’ve said for decades now if home fans are happy with the racing then that’s job done as few fans travel away and the off button can be used for tv meetings. I like British final type races but have to concede that we’re not all the same and close follow the leader heats can be just as entertaining to some.

Thats the reality of the situation. We continuously get fans bigging up their following whilst simultaneously berating The Aces. We had it for years with Poole before they dropped down a league to negate losses. We then ask other clubs if they want the British Final and it’s turned down as their lack of support would make it a loss leader.

Sounds like a humdinger and unusual for updates to get it so wrong as from experience they are always bang on. Win or lose I’m always interested in the racing and have used updates when deciding to buy the dvd (re run are excellent btw). Can you give me your take on the action after bend three lap one as it does come across as a truly awful spectacle when reading updates. Well done Ipswich and especially Danny. I think this was his best meeting ever at Foxhall given the GP opposition, top bloke, please for him. For The Aces some might say it’s part of the master plan that went wrong but don’t look back in anger and just roll with it. Aces fans, stop crying your heart out and look forward to Monday when once again we will be supersonic, d’you know what I mean.

With regards the Ipswich RS saga. If a team is allowed to chop & change that position and another team isn’t, that is just wrong. Using your opinion of the people involved to alter this logic is daft. The implementation of rules should be consistent and not subject to how much you like or dislike an individual or team.

I don’t see Friday or Saturday working for Belle Vue now. The competition for the leisure dollar is intense in Manchester and more so on those days. I think we’d miss out. I don’t agree with the comments about the top stars. Pretty much all them in our league started out, like Dan as rookies and we have had the pleasure of seeing them grow into top stars. If they still want to ride here then dumping them or creating rules that precludes them is a backward step. History has shown that any backward step by the powers that be has been badly implemented and has only served to alienate more fans. I’ll watch whatever they put on at the NSS, many won’t.

Post Covid, Foxhall has been one of our better away circuits so I’m hoping the cup was just a blip. The witches form in the league against us there reads W 5 D 1 L 4 with one of their wins being a last heat decider. I’m interested to see Brady & Dan away in their current stella form, both are gating well and along with our regular gater Jaimon we could do some damage from the tapes. In the league, since Norick got his debt out of the way he has scored (newest to oldest) 7+1, 5+1, 3, 6+2, 5+2, 3+2, 6+3 at Foxhall. I’m afraid I do not see RR covering that. I really hope the track changes kick in for this meeting, if you don’t get excitement on the track with Jason, Emil, Brady & Dan then there’s something up. Interestingly looking at the stats we could drop one of Brady or Dan and add in Jaimon and we would still have a better spearhead statistically than the witches, he is actually averaging more than Emil when looking at 2025 stats but his magnificent form is greatly overshadowed by our two GP hero’s.

I never rated the view from the centre green, not for a full meeting anyway, much preferring the terraces and the chance that offers to chat with folk. I and many other volunteers still pay (a lot, like me have season tickets) at the NSS but I can understand the free entry offer just to bulk up the necessary volunteer numbers. Like all clubs if it wasn’t for volunteers the sport would struggle to continue if not fold completely.

Excellent post and if it is a true reflection of the facts then why not say this in the press release? Making up nonsense about a rain off is insulting to his paying customers.

Clubs, plural?

I think a reason for the improvement is the fact most of the top five have ridden five or more seasons with us. As young as he is, Norick is in his fourth year leaving only our number four slot as the points limit revolving door slot. Having said that though their away performances have also improved over this time. I wondered how other top league teams compared with longevity of riders and only Kings Lynn have been about in our league any amount of time to compare and they only moved back up recently (recent to an old fart like me who thinks the 80’s where yesterday). Crazy to see how are opponents have changed in just the time Dan has been an Ace. It really illustrates the precarious nature of the top league and how often we go begging for participants. Hoping we can get to 100 years of operation having always been in the top league, when there was one.

The reason we do well at home is because we consistently put together strong sides and not due to this perceived home advantage. Since before the NSS came to be in 2016 we were a play off side and have maintained that for a remarkable run over the last decade. In 2016 we were the 4th best home team & the 1st best away side. 2016 4 & 1 2017 4 & 2 2018 j4 & j2 2019 j3 & j2 2021 4 & 3 2022 1 & 3 2023 2 & 1 2024 1 & 4 The play off participants win at home, but they are also successful away due to the strength of their squad. If we were always the best home side and consistently poor away then the home advantage theory would stand up but a cursory look at the records tells a different story. One thing that can be levelled at the NSS is that it is becoming increasingly insular in providing a race track with many different lines. We tend to have racers in the squad and recently this has had a detrimental effect on our away performances, sadly.

Decent win from The Aces in a meeting that didn’t really spark until heat 8. Before that there was plenty of incident before B3 L1, if that floats your boat. Brady. My god he is good atm, amazing to watch given the right canvas. Norick. Averages over 6 at home and before last week 3 was his worst score v Wolves in 2022. 6 point swing in favour of the witches. Jaimon. Superb again as part of the toughest trio whether at home, away or combined (using BSPL 2025 figures). Zach. Quiet night but that what happens with number 4’s - consistent at being inconsistent. Dan is Dan - beautiful to watch. Tate. God loves a trier and he is definitely that but we don’t want an injury (legacy or current) denying us another title. 4.00’er or Antti. Jake. Probably the loveliest bloke in speedway. Great to see him mix it and scoring. Emil. Great to watch and frustrating for him to be up again the worlds 2 & 4. Danny. Seems his old self again and his heat 8 win was exceptional. Nice guys don’t always finish last. Adam. Solid score. Not a man to set the pulse racing, imo. Tom. What’s happening there - genuine question. His average has dropped from his excellent stint as a Brummie number 1. Love the guy and hope he gets his mojo back. Jason. Come back too soon but the pressure from a large section of UK fans to ride injured can be deafening, as we have experienced. Rest up Jason and go for it when fully fit. Dan. Expected more after his double figure return with Glasgow and at Foxhall where apart from Howarth in one heat, he was only beaten by the Lions top two. Jordan. RS away performance with a concerning spill. Hope he’s ok. Nicely poised for the bonus at a track we general go well at in the league, though with the set up this year we could loose 75-15 and still qualify for the play offs. I think we all feel like we’re treading water until September - not good.

At the time you posted this only two Aces fans had said that. Why the need to always stir the pot. It’s tiresome.

That’s something all of us can easily do already if we haven’t yet and feed this back to the promotion. Whether they listen or not is another thing. We have all asked friends, family or colleagues to attend speedway. Some say no, some do attend but don’t return. The reasons I’ve had are dirty, boring, expensive, wrong demographic. In the main they view it as they would monster trucks being a bank holiday thrill treat rather than a weekly or bi weekly commitment for six months of the year. Thing is they forget to return even on bank holidays or they have something else they would rather do.

Neil plays hardly any 70’s stuff (not that there’s anything wrong in that), if fact on more than one occasion his has had his knuckles wrapped as he often will play tunes taking the Micky out of the opposition or the ref following a heat. I’m more than happy with the none racing entertainment but maybe I’m easily pleased. The pre meeting interviews with managers and captains, Chases antics, the rider interviews during grading, Chases white line challenge and the 50/50 (over £8000 paid out each season) during the interval, the replays on the bend 2 big screen and the post meeting press conference where I can meet and chat with the riders is all great. Add in the warm up & cool down lap(s) where heat wins are celebrated are all part of it for me. I’m also sad enough to read the programme if there is any kind of lull in proceedings. The MX sounds great, have you got the Manchester fixture list as I’ll give it a go in the next fortnight, even if it is twice the cost of watching The Aces?

I’m not buying the 15 minutes of entertainment thing as there is plenty going on to keep me happy. Don’t let guests or RR keep you from Belle Vue. We’ve not used them at home this year and hardly used them last year. Usage is on a par with the last five decades. One off events alway generate more interest and cannot to compared to weekly or bi weekly events when comparing attendance. With regards Birmingham’s attendance, enough people know when the speedway is on, it’s just they choose not to attend because they don’t like it. This year has seen a decline in attendance at the NSS due to the high profile events pulling focus and the mentioned squeeze on people’s leisure dollar. With the changes mooted I can see this continuing. People will attend, PCMT, Dan’s testimonial, British Final, GP & play offs plus most BH fixtures. The rest will have a few hundred diehards. Aside from junior or amateur stuff I see the sport becoming a BH thrill treat in the not too distant future. IMO it’s gone too far to turn round. It might over many many years build back up but my own thoughts are it’s done in terms of being the sport we all remember.

One thing missed with all the chatter on here was the excellent team riding from Harris & Cook over Jaimon. It’s not easy to do that at the NSS even if the track is more difficult to pass on like last night. Don’t know if it’s out there or if Lynn can get hold of it but it’s worth a watch. Best I’ve seen at home.