ouch

Gate’n’go tracks alway tough for the Aces. Only 10 from 5 from Brady’s rides (15+1 & unbeaten in last seasons meetings) was too much for The Aces to cover especially with the problems at reserve. Best result for speedway as a whole as Brummies needed a win in front of home fans and The Aces don’t need to win any more away meetings as their play off spot is a certainty. I always thought it was considered “bad form” to sucker a rider into the tapes but I’ve seen it a few times this season - is it ok now?

Bugger! The Aces injury curse strikes again. Last year in our quest for league glory we completed only half our meetings - including play offs with our permanent 1-7. Fingers crossed we don’t get a repeat this season. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/calendar/2024-belle-vue-aces-fixtures-and-results/

Jaimon is the one to watch. He gets overshadowed by Dan & Brady but when looking at opposing sides only Holder, Doyle & Max have better away averages. He’d be a number one at several tracks and fingers crossed he continues his fine form away and at home.

I think we’ll be ok as according to Andy during the SON, Phil was happy to take his advice on the track and trust his judgement. The only time I can remember the track work being taken over was for the 2016 WC semi which was fast but very gate’n’go. Since then they’ve left us to it.

I think we’ll be ok as according to Andy during the SON, Phil was happy to take his advice on the track and trust his judgement. The only time I can remember the track work being taken over was for the 2016 WC semi which was fast but very gate’n’go. Since then they’ve left us to it.

That’s right, not an RS. We have lost RS’s to broken bones, retirement or graduation but dropping one has been a no no so I see us sticking with Jake. It’s up to Mark though.

https://www.bellevue-speedway.com/blog/latest-news-2/breaking-aces-name-new-rising-star-121

Connor Bailey.

William isn’t beating all before him in the NL so to think he can slot in at RS and do better than Jake is an incorrect assumption imo. You have to invest a lot into an RS from a time, advice and machinery point of view and allow them to step away if needed, as we did with Connor. The Aces have yet to drop an RS since the scheme started a few years ago and I’d be very surprised if we dropped Jake.

Add Leicester to that too as all those three teams have had to pay out more in points money in all competitions this season. We’re above Oxford though.

I’m interested to know if fans would prefer a gate ‘n’ go meeting with a close score or a thrashing where the racing is like that at the British Final?

Shame Jaimon is not available again. Hawkins & Louis know a thing or two about team selection and only 8 away meetings ago made another good call when selecting him at number one where he put in a top scoring performance. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/24results/sheffield_02.09.24_res.pdf Jaimon is even better currently and when looking at the opposition only three riders (all number ones) have a higher away average. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2025-rider-statistics/ I’m sure the shrewd witches management will be monitoring his availability again.

Looking at results in the hunt for the league title in the last six meetings each at Foxhall, the lions have won once (not counting last night), the stars haven’t won at all, the tigers once and The Aces four times. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/team/ipswich-witches/

From experience, the type that followed speedway in 2021, 2022 & 2023 and weren’t from the North West?

Leicester are definitely the strongest gaters at Foxhall so far. Speak to any (R)Aces fans and they will agree. Gate ‘n’ go. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Shout out to Ellis & Tom in heat 3 & 14 though.

That’s the point I’m trying to make when people bring up advertising or “it’s the best kept secret” - it’s not. Enough people know about speedway at Belle Vue every meeting to fill it several times over but they choose not to come. It’s the product, not the knowledge that it exists. We can all do our own market research with regards to attendance. Why don’t we go to every meeting? Why don’t we visit away tracks. Why don’t all my friends, family and work colleagues not attend when they know we go and have regularly discussed it with them? Why don’t the BH crowds revisit regularly? We are speedway nuts as we take the time to come on here so it’s difficult for us to understand that speedway is just not popular.

I still think £28 for 2 adults to sit in the grandstand at Belle Vue with an unlimited number of 11’s or under in tow and 12-17’s at just £6 each offers good value. The Colts take half a second longer per lap so it’s hardly noticeable yet not only do newbies not attend, the local speedway fans that visit Belle Vue week after week and know full well it’s happening choose not to attend as they don’t want to.

I picked heat times to be representative of anything the officials put out on the tannoy. You can only take the official line at face value and I think any fan relaying that information should not be berated but encouraged. Fans quoting what officials have to say from trackside to those of us not there should not be labelled as attention seekers imo.

So when they announce the race times over the tannoy that’s to be considered hearsay? Relaying the official word at the stadium to fans back home is perfectly acceptable and should be encouraged. Reposting the opinion of Karen from Skegness is not. Fingers crossed for Jason one the true ambassadors of the sport and a supporter of UK speedway. Top bloke as well.

Not unexpected despite the good natured wind ups about The Aces away form. The fact is in their hunt for league glory they have won 5 out of their last ten away meetings. Ipswich could well match this on Monday with their trip to Birmingham but having said that if it wasn’t for the rain gods seeing our fixture there cancelled, we could have been looking at 6/10. More amazingly one of those loses was due to a narrow last heat defeat at Leicester. Happy away days as usual for The Aces, bring on the next one

Most UK tracks do all seem to be a very similar shape with similar shale, where making the gate and pinning it to the white line seems to be the order of the day and it doesn't matter how good a rider or engine or setup is behind, they will not get past.

I’ve brought a countless number of people to speedway over the decades with next to none showing any interest in returning with any regularity. I’ve helped run coaches to away tracks up until fairly recently but that was getting increasingly difficult and has now almost stopped altogether. There needs to be a hook of some kind to engage the public with and that takes a canny marketeer, a bit of luck in hitting the zeitgeist of the time and a not unsubstantial amount of money. We need hero’s and villains, fan rivalry (good natured) and most importantly a spectacle on track with delays that let the atmosphere evaporate kept to a minimum or filled with something to keep the fans hot with anticipation. It’s a better man than me who can find and exploit that hook, especially in this new social media age but it must be there, mustn’t it?

Running on a Monday night doesn’t help. The last time we ran on a Saturday we had thousands attend, conversely if Mildenhall had run their stock cars on a Monday night it would not have been well attended. Also The NSS run nearly twice the amount of fixtures as Mildenhall and familiarity breeds contempt. I’d imagine stock cars, like any other business, would play to their strengths. We saw our sports strength last night but do we collectively push for that or are we just happy ticking the heats and fixtures off to get through the season?

Sorry, no facts to back this up, just my opinion. Promoters don’t release attendances, much to the frustration to their fan base. I could no more prove the NSS plays out to more punters per season as I could prove it had more than Buxton in 2018. It’s just observation and opinion so I appreciate your point.

When Lakeside had a rammed stadium when admission was free, did all those people keep their experience to themselves when meeting friends and family and then did everyone have collective amnesia? The attendance the following meeting was back to a typical speedway event. Make no mistake people know about speedway, they choose not to attend. I’ve taken many many friends and family members to speedway over the years but they don’t return as they don’t like it, it’s not because they forgot.