marko

Just what is the obsession of pointing out the lack of crowds at Sky meetings? This is nothing new, it's been par for the course for years apart from of the play offs etc.

Sargent hits the tapes, well what would you know.

Aces 51 yeah I think it's just you, I've got the type of mind and didn't spot it until you highlighted it. Day tripper, I think there are those that will never be pleased with the fare offered from Lakeside, there were some good races and a reasonable amount of passing on Monday, in fact when I watched it back it came over better than I had expected it to, but alas if people want to judge our track on the fact overtakes happen in the 35-50 mph range instead of the 50 and up range then they are wasting their time watching because its simply not possible, and I dare say Jon Cook does not care because why should he worry about people who have no intention of visiting because what they want, we can't sell, they are not our target demographic. Lakeside won't be around for ever but it won't be because crowds have turned their backs because racing on our track happens to be slower than on other tracks.

There is no scientific proof that a big track will always produce better racing than a small one, it is purely down to personal opinions and preferences, for example for me it's not about the size but about the shape and how it rides, Somerset and Peterborough for example ride much faster than their actual size, tons of speed generated and a fair amount of room to manoeuvre, that is more important, if I could change Lakesides track to a copy of any other than Somerset and Peterboroughs would be up their, but also the German track Gustrow which I think is a cracker but not what you would class as a traditionally big. What I will say though whilst a faster track will produce overtaking at higher speeds those higher speeds could also lead to races being more strung out because of the increased differential between the riders/bikes where as on a small track everything is scaled down meaning it's closer but also slower.

To answer your question they don't keep it going on crowds like that, Lakesides crowds have actually been pretty good so far bar last night and that was only because Sky were filming it and with Lakesides location attracting support from a wide area most did not want to travel if they could save themselves a little time and money, does it make it look good on telly when it's like that? nope but that's another argument.

I did not see Big Ron there and certainly Gerald was, but what you also have to factor in is the weather was quite warm yesterday and it's not always the case that the club has full access to the track in the day leading up to the meeting, (Friday's I think they do?) also there was a stock car/banger meeting on Monday so that might have affected the process, was the track normal? No but I can't remember the last time sky were in town and it was, not watched it back on telly but being their I personally enjoyed the meeting but then I did have the advantage of the sound and the smell, as well as an investment in seeing my team win, for the neutral sitting at home? maybe it wasn't that good? maybe it was even boring? but I can't imagine what was seen last night was any worse than the fare we got from Leicester recently, not that it was the sort of benchmark we should be aiming to beat.

Kelvin will be with sky but I wouldn't worry, with all the ad breaks etc plenty of chance for him to pop down to the pits.

Yeah I don't want big Ron anywhere near our track thank you very much, weather will be nice today so that is one favorable thing, a few Lakeside riders notably Lewis Bridger has probably not raced for a couple of weeks, at least Robert had a grass track meet on Monday to keep his eye sort of it.

Should Davey take some time out and be replaced by R/R or a temporary signing? What is happening to him reminds of what happened to his mate Adam Shields and he ended up retiring never to be seen or heard from again.

Track covers are all well and good when rain comes late morning or afternoon but when everything points to rain during a match itself they serve no purpose, I back the clubs decision 100% saves a lot of wasted journeys and more importantly does not cost the club so much money although it will still cost them some, these decisions I am sure are not taken lightly for that very reason and as it says on the official site every forecast was looked at and consultation with the met office only reinforced their belief. It is frustrating, that there is no doubt especially when it comes between two blank weeks meaning it will be close to four weeks between home meetings, but it's only April so plenty of time to rearrange the meeting in hopefully in much more favourable weather.

Just as well no meeting tonight, it would have fallen victim to the weather anyway, that there is no doubt.

No love lost between Tungate and Auty, I think Karma had a helping hand in that.

If it spaces the fixtures out a bit so no huge gaps later on I don't mind plus like many others if a meeting can be staged with full teams all the better, it's what we have been telling promoters for some time, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Severe delays on Kent side of the tunnel anti clockwise due to accident (two lanes closed) you have been warned.

Gresham the off track issues will only get you down if you let them, if you go to a meeting and purely for the sake of wanting to watch four riders blast around an oval track, enjoying the noise and the smell you might find you actually enjoy it. I try to stay off the bsf because it's so very negative and if you keep having people tell you this is rubbish, this is not fair, this is not right it will cloud your way of thinking, if you go to speedway convinced you probably won't enjoy it, you won't.

Whilst DH should be commended for bringing the sport back to the City of Leicester part of me wonders if his attitude is holding both himself and his club back, first he refused to change the track despite everyone telling him it needed doing, he relented and hopefully racing will improve, however his pride then turned to only wanting to race Saturday nights, leading to them struggling to complete a team yet alone a competitive one, hopefully he will have a change of heart again, a team like that does no one no favours least of all the Leicester fans themselves who without which DH does not have a business.

I noticed at Lakeside last night notices at the pay booths about live streaming is not allowed, my take on it is that I think there could be a place for such a service but only if it can be charged for and clubs recieve some recompence for it, if crowds drop because people want to stay at home rather than attend it will force tracks to close which will only hurt those who do make the effort to attend.

Pretend I've been living on the moon, when was the 8 day rule for guest riders abolished?

Can't understand why Adam would take a guest booking at a track he was so desperate to get away from, after all it was not the club he had an issue with just the track itself, so we are told. I agree with Liam, I think we will be pushing the sixty point mark, just hope the crowd does not suffer too much as its not an attractive fixture with the team Leicester has, but to be fair, home fans probably same the same when Lakeside travel away.

After yesterday's rain waking up to see the sun positively beaming is a joy to behold.

Giving up whilst last is not something confined to Lewis although he has been guilty of that, there seems to be a growing trend both in league and individual speedway where riders will pull onto the center green then ride under power back to the pits once the race is over or simply coast around until they are sure a gift point is not up for grabs then pull off the track at the end without passing the flag, whether the ref marks them as Retired from race or 0 I have no idea, I always mark them as having finished the race so when you look back at a program and see R R R you know the guy had an unlucky night and not just gave up three races on the trot like KK in the grand prixs.

I too have heard or read tales that sawdust does not do a track much good in the long term, maybe it's a good soaker upper but then reverts to a lump of wet mess which is tricky to work back out of the track? Trouble is though when a track gets so bad that you need that stuff your probably at best going to make the track rideable rather than race able so then it becomes a question of is it really worth it? It's akin to having a wet football pitch and deciding rather than play 90 mins on it to just have a penalty shoot out and decide the winner that way, it's a lottery.

Every British speedway fan should be glad Lewis is back because it's one more half decent Britsh .rider who could turn into something more substantial later on for Team GB. And also Lewis will encourage a younger element of support to come to Lakeside because he is a showman and younger people want to see characters as indeed do a few of us oldies.

In all the years I have followed the sport I have seen changes to my own club so I understand the mood of the Rye fans, in 1991 Arena Essex suddenly had an air fence and new shaped track, completely new management (the first of many) also almost a new team, over a decade later we had a name change to Lakeside and our colours changed also but it's still the Hammers. Hopefully Rye House will keep their name and it won't be called Lea Valley something, not that there is anything wrong with the Lea Valley, it's just not associated with Motorsport.

Really surprised more supporters have not come forward with someone similar story's of disappointment, if you consider all those that got there before me would have stayed at least a couple of hours it would mean unless you got there well into the afternoon you would have have got in the place. As per my first post, it's a great venue but seriously lacks parking for such a popular attraction.