marko

Ouch, yeah think your spot on there Steve, this looks dead in the water

yeah track looks very wet, but at least this track normally has dirt on it, a lot of them would be knackered because the rain on the slick surface would make it impossible.

FTG though could be the end result but that doesn't give a true picture as you can have FTG races where all four are very close but all riding the same line like they do in the early stages of the grand prixs hoping the guy in front makes a mistake but still not really threatening to pass, you can have FTG where the back two are strung out but the leader is under constant pressure from the guy in 2nd but can't nail it, and you can have FTG where all four are strung out. But you can also have close races where the guy behind is trying to pass but you can tell he is not going to be able to do that because the track has nothing, we saw a lot of this at Arena under Ronnie Russell and still do occasionally today where riders bust a gut around the outside but there is nothing for them, which isn't the riders fault, at best its miss judged track preparation and at worst its incompetent track preparation.

Maybe we have lost priority because we changed leagues? wonder then how that will affect the clubs who have had to move their race night this season due to the FRN, do they lose their race night priority because they had to move it through no choice of their own? Whatever it is, its a mess. When I first started going to Speedway, clubs like Arena Essex would run close to 23-25 home meetings a season, I don't recall them having problems fitting them all in, it was every Saturday at 7pm unless it was rained off.

I don't think Lakeside has had Saturday as their designated race since maybe 2003? and I am not even sure if it was Saturday that season. In my mind we have been a Friday night race track for a very long time, with a few Wednesday's thrown in a few years back when we had AJ for the first spell.

I think its time History started to take speech lessons, then it wouldn't need to keep repeating itself! I know this isn't a laughing matter, but in all seriousness how bad does it have to get before the BSPA actually say "now hang on guys, we need to start waking up and smelling the coffee here"?

I don’t know why Terry is having a go at Lakeside, I am pretty sure part of the agreement of Hammers selling Swindon Adam Ells would be to get Nick Morris on loan? Maybe Swindon even got Adam at a bargain price through that deal? And why is he complaining about Swindon not being able to race Friday’s when they had already been given a extra day (Thursdays) which is one more day than the other Prem clubs got?

There is a weather warning for tomorrow, wouldn't it just be typical after not having a home meeting for two weeks and not having another meeting for two more weeks after tomorrow.

I always thought the money Sky gave to the clubs was merely to offset the fact that whenever they showed a meeting, rather than attracting more support, the fans or at least a reasonable percentage of them, decided to stay at home and watch it on television instead. It did probably attract an audience from outside but they are the type who watch sport on the TV rather than go to and watch it live. Some sports just do not come across as well on the TV as they do live, I think this is possibly Speedway's biggest problem, The camera angles make it look so much slower sometimes, at Lakeside in particular it makes it look like they are only going about 20 mph, I know Arena isn't a fast track but it looks a damn sight quicker when I watch there in person with just one visual aspect.

Well done Maciej, that was an awesome Grand Prix, at no point was I even tempted to turn over and watch the football which I will do now its over.

You cant beat Clive Fisher "away they drive from the start"

Can we have every Grand Prix from here please

I am loving this track, its certainly not the biggest, but its quick and has a lot of racing lines. Is the league racing from here of similar standard?

I read that Cook made a fool of himself at Poole earlier in the week, if his head is not right, he wont get anywhere.

The London Lions thing was disaster, the view of the track was terrible, the stand on the back straight was meant to be ready for the start of the season, it never did open. Meetings were plagued with problems, I can't remember all of them but the one that does come to mind was a meeting postponed after X amount of heats because of a power cut, the lighting or amount of light was fine but health and safety stated the main stand could not be used by the public in such circumstances, it was constantly stupid things like that.

Yes and it’s a big difference to just having the raiders as opposed to having the Raiders supplement the Rockets in double headers and the odd solo meeting.

They give the football as the reason but what else is happening on Saturday evening that could lure speedway fans away from coming? oh the Swedish Grand Prix is live on BT Sport, that is probably just as big a reason, but if England get through people might want to watch who our opponents might be? You also possible have to factor in that the only way to get to Arena is by car and if someone has been in the pub all afternoon they are not going to want to risk getting in their car and drive.

I wasn't there, just going from the video evidence, not saying the track was crap, I am saying that there is a blue groove going into the first bend and it looked dry and dusty although that gets a pass because of the heat wave. In the interests of being unbiased, my own track hasn't been perfect this season either in that respect.

Just like i commented on the decline of speedway thread, yet another track with hardly any shale, at least on the inside, these tracks where they are bare on the inside and grippy on the outside are more dangerous than tracks that are bare all over. Almost every video shown on youtube now via speedway great Britain shows tracks with massive blue grooves where the track is down to the base and its just rubber from the tyres, and as soon as someone spits on that its turns to an ice rink.

Someone mentioned have the crowds they gained from Lakeside two years ago gone back to Arena now they are in div 2? well simply put absolutely not, Lakeside have had poor crowds this season, I am talking almost as bad as crowds used to be on a Sky night, if it doesn't improve Lakeside could well follow Rye House.

If they done hot laps as some tracks there would be no shale left by the time the main meeting comes around, not mentioning any names (cough kent cough Birmingham)

You only need look at some of the races posted on youtube to see one of the reasons the sport is in decline, even some of the better races featured are not that great and raced on what are dry, dusty and often a racing line almost devoid of shale.

Well done to Peterborough, they also look good for a play off place but I still fancy Hammers chances against any team over two legs if we are fully fit.

yeah and if it was Somerset on the Friday they would be without Richard Lawson which I don't think they would want either.

I think all prem clubs should be allowed to have whatever race day they want for the rest of the season but with the caveat that any clashes with CH clubs result in the CH clubs getting priority over riders, its not ideal but its a compromise to get everyone to the end of 2018, not just Rye but all Prem clubs that maybe suffering. Next season will be a different story but that's a topic for 5 months time.