marko

Checked AA site and it appears the road is closed from the Arena roundabout to the next two roundabouts along the arterial road, I can't see why we would not be able to access the stadium in the normal manner as you can still get to the retail park at Lakeside off that same roundabout, its just that if you like me normally come from the A13 direction via the A1012 you will need to stay on the A13 to the next junction effectively going back on yourself. If Police are stopping movement on the Arena roundabout (U turning the traffic prior to the roundabout itself, we are in big trouble, as there is no other way to access the stadium, the back entrance is slap bang in the middle of the closed section.

Yeah it’s not a huge thing by any means but why advertise parade at 19:45 tapes up at 20:00 and then make no real attempt to keep to that, people are standing around having got there in plenty of time thinking, well is this going to start or not. as you say there is a real sense of getting meetings through so far with the new rules concerning keeping the action flowing, nothing ruins a meeting more than long breaks in the action.

I have my second division specs on but I think we can match if not beat Elite crowds with good results and racing.

Also forgot to mention the sound system was much clearer last night, and having Andy back on the mic was good too, no disrespect meant to the other guy who is new and will take time to grow into the part, Andy just adds a little something to proceedings, he sounds confident and tries to get the crowd involved.

Track still lacking a bit of grip, race times were pretty slow, but to be fair there was still some good racing, the track appeared nice and smooth and you could attack it but it was hard to generate much around the outside, probably overall better than the Peterborough match although that isn't saying much I know. Danny King and Rory Schlein proved their liking for the track and the former had some very good battles and literally never gave up, For Hammers Adam and Richard were really flying and Alfie will have gained a lot of confidence from tonight, he rode well and didn't panic when in points scoring positions. Think the crowd was a little up on last week but still not what I have known down there, maybe with next weeks meeting being a league encounter, it might tempt a few more? I think Jon said something about Ulrich Ostergaard guesting next week, I believe it might be for Adam Ellis but I could be wrong?

I was a little shocked to read in the Star that Zach had hurt his shoulder, after his crash the first thing I did was ask myself, is he holding his shoulder? because that was something that normally takes the hit in falls like that, the fact he didn't appear to be meant I thought he got away with it but to an extent he didn't, although at least no last damage was done. There was a problem with bend two last week and that will hopefully been addressed ahead of tomorrows clash, we have had issues before with bend two and it needs to be kept in check.

So this is the rearranged meeting from Good Friday, assume both teams will be at full strength, should be a decent meeting as both Danny King and Rory Schlien have shown their liking for our circuit in the past. Expecting a home win and hopefully this week Alfie will have a more mature head on his shoulders and not ride himself into a frenzy, I hope they will have made some attempt to sort out the sound system because last week it was awful, and a bit more grip on the track to facilitate better racing would not go amiss either. Early indications are weather will not be an issue. For Witches fans making the journey, its probably been a long time since you have had to travel to Arena and whilst the M25 has behaved itself in the first two meetings (as far as I know) you would be worth coming off the A12 at Brentwood and using the A128 and A13 just in case, its slower but a very safe route, you know you will get there on time.

Yeah the track certainly lacked grip, didn't help that there seemed to be only one tractor driver so they could not grade and water the track at the same time, We clearly have a decent team but the club needs to improve on one or two minor things, sort the track and sound system out, perfectly doable. Next week should be interesting and I am sure there will be a decent contingent of Witches fans there.

Lambert has never rode well at Arena, its not his type of track, he will have good meetings at home and on others I am sure but I think when you have been riding for as long as that, your level is what your level is. Peterborough are a decent team, I think they have something there with Grondal, Lunna and Palm Toft in the engine room.

Crowd wise I thought it was a little dissapointing for our first team event, maybe people are waiting for the league proper to start? The meeting sort of started on time but they didn’t start the junior races until late so the notion of parade at 19:45 was completely off, the meeting had a few re runs but was still completed in a reasonable time. Racing wise the track lacked any grip on the outside of the bends which made for some processional racing although heat thirteen was a belter and what you could certainly call “proper speedway”. One thing which needs improving though is the sound system, its very rough and has too much base, it’s hard to hear what is being said in some interviews and the music is affected by it too but that is nothing that can’t be fixed, the overall presentation is a bit tired too and the music within is same old same old, I thought they were making waves about changing it up a bit? Will give the meeting a score of 6.5 / 10 it wasn’t a bad meeting but there is room for improvement (not the riders)

Looking at the radar it was totally the right decision, it will be raining in Ipswich by 2 and so the meeting would never have started.

Well done to Lakeside for making an early call, its so important to gain the trust of the fan base early on the season, if you take a chance and have to call it off after everyone has travelled you will struggle to get that trust back every time the weather looks iffy. The Ipswich leg is a little different as the weather isn't supposed to hit until start time, its a promoters worst nightmare, if it does go ahead they will need to race this meeting through in record time.

When was the last time we met on a Good Friday? Probably is longer than it feels, but from memory the A12 is normally a right female dog and it will only worse now with more cars on the roads than ever, and the afternoon meeting tends to drags on and on, meaning a mad rush South for all concerned, I even recall one season they closed one or two of the exits to fans to allow the riders to get out first, I will do the home meeting definitely but the Ipswich leg? Very unlikely.

I noticed at Arena on Friday they only had a single piece of tape on the starting gate, and that was not exactly very taught, is this something new for the 2018 season or was this a one off where maybe they forgot to order some tape and only had one bit to hand? Starting gate tape has always been two lengths of tape joined by droppers at various points.

Regardless of what ever happens I won't be drawing too many conclusions just yet but I am hoping that we can maybe edge it or least get 42 points, our top four should be ok, just down to what Ben, Zach and Alfie can pick up, Zach could be the dark horse.

I certainly think this team will do a lot better away than what historically Hammers teams have done in the past.

Adam Ellis absolutely flew tonight, if he keeps that sort of form up Hammers will be contenders, he along with Kyle, Richard and Nick really do provide us with a very strong top four, I also think Ben and Zach will do exceptionally well at home, it will take a very good team to turn us over at Arena this year. It was a very well run meeting tonight, the action was kept moving swiftly, the ref Chris Gay only pulled heats back where a rider got a advantage from any slight movement, which wasn't very often and we had 16 heats all done in just under 90 mins.

But its not even 15 heats as normally you have 12 qualifying races, a semi final for riders 3-6 and a final, 14 heats in all.

Would have been happy seeing the likes of Jason Edwards in this meeting, having a variety of riders at different levels helps those boys, only one rider can win the meeting after all. Just think having these 12 rider individuals is such a cop out, if your going to do something, do it properly, especially when your honouring the memory of a rider.

Considering how popular the guy was, I find it hard to believe more riders did not make themselves openly available to ride in this meeting, I would like to think at least some of the money would go towards the Richardson family but that's not our business. Will it be a good meeting? no one can say until after the event, its a 12 or 13 rider individual, its a competitive meeting but no one will be doing anything silly, the track will be very slick as most are early on whilst riders regain there fitness and blow away the cobwebs, four riders doing four laps, cue polite applause. However, the real action will commence the following week against the Witches, that's when business picks up, that's when it's count, that's where honour is at stake and you will have a proper atmosphere.

Fans won’t support individuals if they keep watering them down into little more than unofficial practice sessions. it doesn’t have to be 16 amazing riders, just a mix of 16 riders with ideally a few from other clubs, it’s not as much fun just watching your riders race each other, we want to see our riders race other teams riders, full competitive racing.

It’s a shame the modern trend of having only 12 rider individuals is continuing in this meeting.

When Christian was riding for Arena Essex he done quite well and was a very popular rider, his maximum at Oxford back in the day lives long in the memory, he obviously liked Sandy Lane.

No problems with Zoo's but I think £10 is too much for such an event.

Don't know if its been mentioned on here but the Lakeside Hammers will have a stall at this years celebration of speedway at Paradise Park, I think this is the first time that they have been represented at such an event and its nice to see it finally happen. Hopefully the weather will be warmer than it is at present come the 18th