marko

They were lucky most of the rain went West of them, and they were able to get heats on the board, a ten point lead is very respectable.

The clock is ticking, rain on its way, just for once they really need to stop sodding around and just get on with it.

They cant make up their minds, we have had 7pm starts, 8pm starts, 6pm starts, 2pm starts.

No chance I would say

My season ended with the last meeting at Lakeside, had it in mind to get to Rye House at least once or twice but I am glad I have not bothered, tonight will be no exception, its a big meeting but I would rather my lasting memory of the season would be of a happy night at Arena Essex than a long cold night at Rye probably watching very much from the gate racing. I can't think of what would happen if this meeting was to fall foul of the elements, there is no room for error now, despite the fact this is the best team we have had under the banner of the Hammers for many seasons, its largely been a ghastly season for the sport with endless weeks of having no meetings then when we do get one it takes what feels like a few weeks to get 15 heats completed.

Another thing is you could spend all season battering teams then encounter major problems at the end, win nothing but still have to decimate the side for the next season, ,meanwhile a team that scrapes 4th place and wins it, can go again the following season with pretty much the same side with just a minimal change to a reserve.

Like in the Speedway of Nations

Without Sky Tv we would never have had the play offs, it was a made for television idea because they wanted to keep the interest up for their television audience, they were more important than the fans that go in person or the sports legitimacy. But I have said it with the Elite League in the past, there is nothing to stop a bunch of Peterborough fans getting together to have a very nice trophy made that they could present to the club, they say in sports "the table doesn't lie" well Peterborough did finish top of the table and there is no law which says your not allowed to celebrate that.

Don't know where "you can't concede" came from but I am sure a season or two ago, Lakeside pulled out of a competition because of a lack of dates?

Yes im sure it probably didn't sit too well with Robins fans seeing the front cover of last weeks Star with their rider celebrating with Poole having won the league.

And I hope the Hammers are making this objection early enough to allow the Panthers to find a guest rider, as opposed to letting them turn up with Ulrich and then slapping a protest into the hands of the ref, like a certain club did with us earlier in the season even though they knew there was an error. Applying the rules doesn't mean it has to be done in an unsportsmanlike way.

Been mentioned on twitter there is a lot of talk about Ulrich riding after being sick on Sunday, Normally this would mean you can't ride for seven days but apparently this didn't count as the meeting was abandoned, however that rule did not apply to Richard Lawson earlier in the season when he missed a meeting which was also abandoned and was subsequently banned from riding for seven days. Where is the consistency?

This whole thing of only have 12 rider individuals started a few seasons ago and I have not attended an individual since, its a complete rip off what the promoters up and down this country have done.

Lakeside lost the advantage when they choose to go to Rye House, doesn't matter why a meeting never went the distance, either side is allowed to change the original line up subject to injuries and guest availability.

Glad to see this is going to be settled on the track like it should, doesn't matter why the previous meeting never went the distance, a full rerun is the order of the day, Hammers still go into it with a two point lead and if they are unable to finish the job against a "poor" Panthers team then there is no point facing Workington, no point scrapping into a final only to then be humiliated home and away.

It doesn't matter how many teams are in each league, if the stadiums are messy and unclean, the racing and atmosphere poor, then no one will want to come. The clubs in this country can't even get the basics right, (Belle Vue probably the exception, nice stadium, great track)

No wonder some have said the track was so slick, we had the same issue at Lakeside whenever the track was being used during the day.

If it wasn't for the outstanding league match at Workington, I would not have been surprised if Lakehouse had turned around and conceded the Shield competition, then ran the match vs Panthers during the week (Wednesday or Thursday) and then next weekend worky would face us or Peterborough, Worky on the Saturday, then Lakehouse or Peterborough on the Sunday.

I am a Hammers fan (wasn't there tonight, no intention of going to Rye House) but first and foremost I am someone who likes to see things done by the book, this meeting should be restaged, if Lakeside are unable to do it and Peterborough don't wish to forfeit the tie having lost the first leg (and why should they) then the tie should be awarded to Peterborough, likewise it seems there is only one date left "Lakehouse" have to use for the final, so what would happen IF they were/had made the final and it was rained off? The whole thing has just been a farce this season, only limited home meetings to stage, set race nights to avoid doubling issues and they still can't do it!

And what do you pay at Borough £16 plus a £1 for parking so £17, Good old KKS, the gift the keeps on giving.

H&S doesn’t exist in speedway like in the outside world it seems? The tunnel over the pits at Arena Essex should have been condemned years ago as it was never lit that I saw, and Old Bob of Herne Bay always used to joke the toilets were never lit. lack of lighting and tripping hazards I expect exist at more than a few tracks too.

yeah but we all know that can riders carry on riding when they are not properly fit, sometimes they are a little too tough for their own good when they should really step back and say, ok I am not doing myself or my team mates any good trying to ride in this condition, over the years seen riders try and ride whilst having flu or on the back of some stomach bug, when really riding a bike with no brakes is the last thing they should be doing, no doubt they are a brave bunch, but with respect not always the smartest.

I would rather have the old Rye track complete with adverse camber on the second bend, at least there was passing with that one, I remember guys like Mark Courtney used to score quite a few points from riding the white line, he would be lost at the back there today.

Arena Essex was a dump but it was our dump, how do you think we feel about having to ride at a dump that isn't even ours? life is too short to even consider that watching crap speedway rather than no speedway at all, is worth consideration, I would rather watch no speedway than be forced to only watch crap speedway.

Have not been to Rye yet with Lakeside there, was thinking about going Sunday but the fact that a change of location has not helped the clubs inability in getting meetings done in a timely fashion plus the fact I have heard nothing good about the racing means I will more than likely leave it for this season and see what happens during the winter, if we stay at Rye then some things will need to change. I was keeping an eye on twitter last night and even allowing for the crash to Ty, most heats were taking almost ten minutes to complete so it was no shock that the meeting took well over two hours to complete, all in all your not going to get fans going when its like that and the racing is crap.