Ace no.5

My ironometer has just gone in to overdrive.

Aces51... I am led to believe that they have been dealt with by Adrian Smith.

There was plenty of bad behaviour from a small section of BV fans last night as well as a couple of Wolves fans giving gestures to KB on the drive round after the meeting. There was boo's all night for the Wolves riders. However, I can categorically state that I didn't hear 1 cheer (from either side) when that crash happened. Just a sharp intake of breath from everyone in that stadium. It was a nasty one. Could have been (and is in 1 case) serious injuries for both Bjerre and Lindgren, not to mention that Cook was inches from being collected on the outside run. There were no cheers when that happened at all. The booing of Lindgren when he walked back to the pits, in hindsight, was very untasteful. However, at the time, I think people would have thought he was ok as he was walking back to the pits, but had just got our rider excluded for something that was Freddies fault. Personally I will always clap a rider that's got up and walked away from a crash like that because as frustrating as it is to lose that meeting on that decision, some things (ie a riders life!) are bigger than the result. It was a seriously nasty and high speed collision, the video doesn't really justify how fast it all happened.

Bjerre was ahead on the back straight but Lindgren got the drop in to the turn.

Oh I honestly think if BT could have shown it from multiple angles (like they should have!) there would have been no question who was at fault. I'm hoping that some video somewhere surfaces.

Funny how we see an incident so differently. I was on the back straight opposites tapes so was right behind the riders as they entered the turn. Coming down the back straight bjerre was just ahead of Lindgren. Certainly not the "width of a fag paper between them". Bjerre was inside line, Lindgren outside. Probably at least 6 feet gap. Lindgren just got the drop as they entered bend 3 and Lindgren literally turned left on bjerre and there was absolutely no way he could avoid him. I hope Freddie is ok, I really do. But I struggle to feel too bad for him as it was his own doing. You can't do what he did right there. And Bjerre was bang on in his press conference. Quite diplomatic if you ask me. It could easily have been bjerre who's season was ended through no fault of his own. And please usual suspects don't mention Thorssell, that was a 50/50 coming together.

Once Lindgren withdrew from the meeting I was absolutely confident that Cook could win heat 13 and cook/bjerre would get a 5-1 in 15. My only concern was Schlein in heat 14. He's looked really fast in his first 2 races and I knew if he popped out of the gate in 14 we could be in trouble. The rest is history.

Ok so positives and negatives as a BV fan from the meeting... Positives - the reserves - absolutely fantastic the pair of them. Dan has been a sensation all season but heat 12 tonight... Wow. Jack has shown massive improvement in the second half of the season and scored in all 3 rides tonight. Team spirit - excellent. Heads never dropped. All riders did a decent to good job tonight. Negatives - very nasty accident. Lindgren season could be over. Bjerre and cook were both lucky it wasn't worse for them. Bad luck - Tungates ef in heat 9 and/or the referees incompetence has cost us a place in the final (Disgraceful decision to exclude KB). Our slow start. That, combined with the 13 point deficit killed us. Had to be "at it" from heat 1 and we weren't till about heat 5 or 6. Bottle and can thrown at wolves riders after heats 14 and 15. Came from the same area of South stand. Disgraceful behaviour to be honest from at least 1 BV "fan". Must be a pretty weird feeling for a wolves fan tonight. Through to the final but without Freddie can't see them getting close to Swindon... Certainly taken the gloss off. Hoping Freddie isn't too badly injured. Signing out...

The odds were in Wolves' favour to get to the Final before the 1st leg but now they're even firmer favourites.

He's doing the old Shovlar "we are the underdog" trick, which the bookies quite clearly disagree with massively.

The way the forecast is this isn't gonna happen tomorrow. Not quite sure where we will go from there...

So you'd be ok with a very young rider who is perhaps mentally exhausted and mentally unfit to ride in a meeting when there is a fine line between great racing and a serious accident? I get what youre saying but the problem with a rider doesn't always have to be physical. I've no idea what's wrong with Dan, we may be close to the mark or a million miles away. But I'm sure if Glasgow were still in the tie the decision wouldn't have been taken lightly. As it is, they're as good as out already.

I can see RR scoring appx the same as what Thorssell would round our place, he's been hit and miss in the past. Lindgren will be able to have 6 rides. Can't see how that, combined with Wolves having a 13 point lead, makes BV "big favourites". And with regards the weather forecast, a big band of rain is going to sweep in from the west. Currently set to hit us at 1900. Forecast not going to change massively, maybe by a couple of hours either way. Hopefully it's late...

Looking ahead to the 2nd leg, once again the weather looks to potentially play a part. A band of rain moving in tomorrow evening, currently predicted to hit Manchester at appx 1900. Hopefully it's later rather than earlier!

I agree with that logic. But hardly enough to say that the tie is over in favour of BV!

Right, ok. Making excuses early are you, just in case you manage to throw this away?

No it isn't. Get down to the NSS on Wednesday to see for yourself!

And is "trying too hard" such a crime in a playoff semi final?!

What pathetic calling of Tungate. And people saying BV riders "setting out" to take out wolves riders. Seriously?! The track is a joke. And why all the Wolves fans saying they have no chance without Thorssell on Wednesday if he's out?! Lindgren, Schlein, Masters and Howarth could all take a ride which on past form would provide very similar scores. Having said that I hope he's fit to participate but I'm guessing he probably won't. As it stands I would say advantage Wolves but we are certainly not out of it...

There's pointers to say that both teams should be labelled the "favourites". That then says to me that this tie is pretty much 50/50 And will be decided by small margins.

Thanks for that. Changed date and changed to 2nd leg...

Not sure how to do that but I did set up a new "1st leg at Monmore" topic the other day...

Hmm... :-D

Which would be a great shame. Hoping Vetlanda finish the job tonight.

So how do people see this going? In the League fixtures Wolves have won 48-42 and more recently 49-41. A result similar to one of those would set the tie up perfectly for the second leg in my mind. I think a 6 point Wolves win and BV would be the happier team. An 8 point Wolves win would probably suit Wolves a touch more.