marko

Chris Cobby a rider for Arena Essex back in the 80s used to be called Banana Man because he wore all yellow leathers.

Working this evening so will have to record this, interestly the tv guide says 19:30 to 21:30 hmmm i dont think sky are going to be able to fit 30 heats plus all the reruns from jumping the start in two hours. Predictions: Poole to win by 14-16 points, Hammers vs Aces a draw or 2 point win for Aces, Next Monday will be a mere formality on both counts, semi finals tend to be one sided affairs, the money match is Poole vs Belle Vue and will be a cracker, scores to settle and what not.

I am sure their were fiddles and what not going on back before the internet, i heard rumours of things long since forgotten, but today nothing stays secret, someone will talk or drop something in a text or whatever they shouldnt. But here is the thing, all those on here who don't go anymore are potential fans of the future if British Speedway changes to where the whole show is appealing and a can't miss product, a lapsed fan can always return, the fans who don't go and no longer follow the sport in any way shape or form are gone forever, you will never get them back.

After the GP whether he will be fit on the Monday i have no idea but i bet you he will be stiff as a board on Sunday and probably on pain killers too.

It's not just the rider replacement rides you have to cover though and on a good day I can only see us getting about 75% of what AJ would from his programmed rides, but who do you go with in heat 15? Kim and who else? Six rides for them, that's another problem of rider replacement and if God forbid one of the others was to get injured your really in a mess.

Yep based on the known facts I thought the weather would win but that area got lucky, never had any doubt Arena would win on the night if it went ahead, just a case of how much. Hammers may well scrape a win on Wednesday but trying to match AJ's points scoring is almost impossible, I think Aces will take it based on Nicholls form last week, and the fact that they will have one of the Worrals at reserve.

They said they had a plan Tony, clearly they didn't, the choice of guests were limited I admit but running R/R puts a massive strain on man and machine of the other six, they can't afford to have a single rider off form now.

Exactly as I thought it would go Steve, all they cared about was making the play offs and cashing in on it, R/R saves on another riders travelling expenses etc. Sorry Poole, Wolves fans and neutrals alike, this tie will be all over as a contest very quickly.

Ive been going to Arena Essex (never accepted the name Lakeside) since 1988, and there was a lot of ups and downs and plenty of the latter in the mid 2000's but it was'nt until the last three or four years that my interest has become very fragile, In 2014 i lasted about halfway then decided nah i can't be bothered with this, in 2015 i went to only one meeting which was the final one, this season i have actually been to 12 meetings at Arena (not been to away tracks since Arena went Elite) but then suddenly I have hit a rock again even though Arena are in the play offs I'm not really that bothered (I cant go anyway because of work) I think this sort of thing is always going to potentially happen to those who have been watching the sport for a long period of time and then to see the early days through rose tinted specs, maybe its just me but my most enjoyable seasons following the Hammers have always been when they were in the 2nd tier (1988-1991 & (1997-2003) but even when I don't actively go to watch the sport I still follow it on the TV or via the speedway star, so I never truly walk away, I just don't put any time or money into it.

BCD is spot on, every year we hear the same thing "this is the biggest AGM blah blah blah) nout ever is really done, some minor tinkering that is all, the rest of the time they are too busy trying to find a way to change a rule which will allow them to field a team they have in their minds, always for the good of their own clubs and not what is in the best interest of the sport, stick another plaster on it and it will be ok, the patient though needs a major operation!

You mean like how Poole used Tungate as a guest at Belle Vue two days before he was due to ride the place with his own club

Any other time of the season this would have been off already

Dont be fooled, every promoter in the land has a win at all costs mentality just that some of in a better position to take advantage of the rules than others. Even Jon Cook who seems to have adopted a hollier than though attitude since leaving Eastbourne (where he was part of a promotion that tried every trick in the book to win) has had odd moments of playing politics, an example being forcing Poole to visit with a heavily weakend side, althought that came back to bite him. Why do you think hardly anything gets done at AGM's? its because they are too busy trying to feather their own nests whilst in the process of trying to find new loop holes to stop the others from having an advantage.

Trying to look at this as neutrally as I can, the argument is all about averages in a league where by through sheer incompetence of those who run the sport the averages of most if not all the riders are heavily skewed in the first place because of an ill conceived heat format, at this stage I couldn't care less if Antonio comes in on a three point average.

Speedwaycrazy this is Lakeside we are talking about so whilst we can all have the intrigue, be prepared for an anti climax, its what the club does all too often.

Jon seems very confident in the speedway star and is trying to sell us on the idea we should not fear anyone, I'm not buying it though. I am curious who this mystery rider is they have as a plan should we get through though.

Says on the Hammers site plans are in place to negate the weather during the day, whether that is covers of some sort or simply they will pack the track I don't know, this sort of weather is unpredictable, a storm could spring from out of nowhere and monsoon the track or heavy rain could fall within a couple of miles missing the track and leaving it unscathed.

I doubt that is an option, the stadium is used most weekends for four wheeled motorsports, drifting and other events, speedway is just a fraction of what goes on their.

Wooden spoon you are 100% correct, Aces should pick the team they feel gives them the best chance of making the final, I think that they will be secretly hoping Lakeside make it then pick them off in the semi finals, Nicholls helping Hammers to get there and getting in some vital practice ahead of the semi final, however Swindon won't be wanting to go off that particular script and Lakeside will have to beat the weather before they worry about beating Swindon, either way I doubt even if it goes ahead the track will be how it normally is which will be advantage Swindon.

Swindon will be embarrassed in the play offs? Not anywhere near as much if Lakeside make it.

No point, the deadline for the semi final qualification is Friday, if rain intervenes the table as it stands will be used.

I would think should Fridays meeting not go ahead then Swindon would get the last play off place by default, its not the Robins fault that Lakeside have not raced all their home fixtures by that date, we have had umpteen weeks during the season with no speedway to fit all the meetings in and we have only had two rain offs during that time, the last of those being in June, a month where we only raced at home once on the 1st and we didn't race again until the 1st of the following month. Another interesting stat is both rain offs were against Swindon so not exactly a good omen. However I think Swindon will get a point tonight rendering Friday as meaningless anyway.

I dont know about Belle Vue tonight but i would suggest that tonights result will have a massive impact on what sort of gate Lakeside get on Friday, if it turns out to be a play off decider then i would expect it to be the biggest crowd of the season, conversely if Robins get a point tonight, Friday could be one of the worst although being the last meeting of the season people might turn up for one last hurrah so to speak.

Cheers it had completely slipped my memory they used to have a points handicap, maybe the points was too excessive but I think the idea was right because there should be some advantage for finishing higher up but I would do it as follows: first placed team vs 3/4th 3 point advantage over the 30 heats second placed team vs 3/4th 1 point advantage over 30 meaning a tie on agg before adjustment, second place team wins and for the final itself again the first placed team has 1 point advantage over 30 heats, that one point could be crucial but without weighting the tie to be too once sided.

A question for the stattos out there, how many years have we had play offs in the top flight? how many times has a team who has finished top of the league standings has subsequently not gone on to win the play offs? and finally how many times has a team that has finished third or fourth in the regular league gone on to at least make the play off final? (I suspect in the latter case its extremely few) And final final question, when was the last time we have witnessed a semi final 2nd leg where the tie was realistically still in the balance and not a case of going through the motions (for my memory its very rare for semi final to have any interest as a contest after the first leg)