Star Fever

Well my definition of action must be different to yours then I guess. As i said I can't recall anything happening after the first lap UNLESS a rider made an error which was induced by the shape/speed of the track. Pedersen was noticeably faster than Doyle in the last heat - on a lot of tracks he'd have been able to cut back or manouevre his way past. That's called RACING. F1 is as boring as hell lets be honest - hopefully speedway never ends up like that (tho' Beaumont Pk seems to be encouraging it) but the shape of the F1 circuit isn't to blame for the driver errors. Similarly, tho' it was strangely entertaining to see Germany put 7 past Brazil last week due to the latter's defending errors, it wasn't the shape of the pitch that caused that was it! This is what ppl are moaning about - Beaumont Pk simply isn't a good place to watch speedway. The gates are staying up probably because new ppl have been attracted by a new attraction but supporters from the past are giving up on it according to their posts in here. It just simply isn't speedway AS THEY KNEW IT (more than likely they've been going to Cov Wolves P'boro or Lynn and are disappointed that what they've now got isn't as good). I'm sure Chris Louis knows what he's talking about too with his experience (Ipswich wasn't too dissimilar shape-wise after all and was notorious as being a gater's track) - not to mention Doyle, Blackbird and Stead who all gave negative track comments.

Yep - they gated.

Actually it looked like the supporting/ wire fence projected above the air fence - surely that isn't a good idea? If Mikkelsen's flight hadn't been checked he'd have hit that face on.

Well if I'm out in the sun too long my face will certainly be the right colour!

Well if you like action in the first lap it was ok I guess cos theres no way any racing can happen once they get up to speed, unless ofc you think that riders making errors and getting passed is also entertainment! I can't bring to mind ANY passing after the first lap unless someone made an error and that was down to the track too - far too long straights and too tight corners - it reminded me of that awful GP/track in Tampere. As long as riders gate and get past the 2nd bend in the lead there's no way a rider will pass, unless he's much faster - nothing to do with racing skill. And yes its dangerous too - so much speed going into too tight bends is asking for trouble, Mikkelsen was very lucky to walk away from his prang. Stead, Blackbird and Doyle all gave negative comments on the track in interviews and Chris Louis was also uncomplimentary. How many more ppl is Hemsley going to ignore before he susses that his track isn't fit for purpose?

This will be hard - Leicester have a good top 5 and they'll be able to race for a full 4 laps at Lynn. As our lead at top of league has been reduced to a mere 15pts now due to B'ham's sad demise we need to get another 3pts so hopefully everyone will be on top form

Hopefully Rob has made tentative enquiries as to the lad's EL intentions too

Weather looks a bit iffy for tomorrow....

Can't see more than maybe 5 or 6 teams still with a chance TBH. B'Ham & Leicester are out of it / Eastbourne look like they'll never win away - same with BVue but at least they've got a few away points & Wolves are now losing points at home. I'd say its between Swindon and Poole to join Coventry & Lakeside with Lynn.

TBH Simon Lambert will probably do as good a job as Ellis anyway but Cook obviously regards this as a throwaway match due to yet another fixture cock-up (PK's absence) so once again its the good ol' supporters of both teams who miss out on seeing what could've been a tight match. Of course it still could be but it certainly shouldn't be. Edit : just seen that NKI and KB only got 7pts between them for Indianerna tonight so it might be closer than I thought!

The point is not the existence of the play-offs - its the total lack of reward and prestige the league (table) winning team gets! That is the main objection.

You omitted NKI - he was definitely used right at the end of the season... maybe replacing RonniP? Otherwise thx for the memory jog

Don't know what year it was but I'll always remember RonniP for his amazing ride where he fell and remounted all in one action and still managed to overtake a rider for 3rd after! Classic

Don't worry lol - i was wrong it was Nahlin, and what I meant was that dropping Shane seemed to take the spirit out of the team. Five Aussies that year and one was kicked out

Plus Screen pulled a fast one and the ref (Chris Gay?) fell for it.... Oh right yes! The only good thing about that was having John Cook as a Star - awesome rider

Was it in 2000 that Lynn were doing pretty good and Waggy dropped Shane Parker and replaced with Niklas klingberg? That was a disaster

Fixture planning is a failure every season - the sooner some sort of squad system is instigated the better. At least supporters could then identify replacement riders as 'theirs'.

As I've said elsewhere - we could lose all our remaining matches and still make the stupid playoffs! We have +23 atm [home points lost (-2) v. away points gained (+25)] so losing our remaining 6 home matches we'd still be +5 (-20 v. +25). Last year Poole were 4th in league with +4 so I think its highly unlikely we wouldn't make it. As its even more unlikely that we'll lose 6 home matches on the trot I'd say our place is already secured! For info, current league table based on points gained v. points lost: Lynn +23 Lakeside +3 Coventry +3 Poole +2 BelleVue 0 Swindon -1 Eastbourne -2 Wolves -4 Birmingham -9 Leicester -11

Yeah I know - great shame.

I have a feeling your tongue is firmly in your cheek but yes it'd be great if just for once the powers that be had a bit of imagination. So 3 runners-up in the league wouldn't be interested in another chance of glory? And league winners wouldn't want a chance of doing 'the double'? In the good old days the prestige of winning the KOCup was only slightly behind winning the league - trouble was it was presented very poorly and went out of favour because of it, so a well-presented Sky competition at the end of the season could revive interest imo. Fans after all want to see as many matches before the season ends -currently it just fizzles out for all but 4 clubs.

I'd imagine they'd be saying "Tonight Kelvin one of these two teams must win to ensure 4th place to qualify for the 'Play-Off Cup' (or whatever) and a chance to redeem their season" and the reply "Yes Nigel I have to say this new competition is a great addition as it gives those teams who didn't quite achieve what they hoped for in the league another chance to finish the season in style"

As I've already said I'm not totally anti-playoffs - its the lack of recognition that the League winners get that irks me. After six months of 36 matches and finishing top of the league that team should be 'League Champions' in my book. By all means then have the top 4 contest an additional knock-out competition, and call it 'The Play-Offs ' if so wished - then you'd have a 'Play-Off Champion' and indeed a team could do the double. So my 'improvement' would maybe satisfy 2 teams instead of one, and wouldn't denigrate any relevance imo. My comparison with the GPs I think is relevant - its a season long contest that would be ridiculous to end in one 'race-off' - hopefully no-one will ever consider it. World Cup football is a one-off competition over 4 weeks run on a traditional 32>16>8>4>2>1 knock-out format. I know the first round are mini-leagues but its a fair way (and only way imo) to do it in that competition. I know nothing about rugby - does the League-winning team get a trophy? Obviously the play-off final is well supported but I don't think the changes I'm thinking of would (or shouldn't) affect that aspect.

Sorry but any true speedway fan would have the same opinion as Trees. Fans of any team want to see a good speedway spectacle where both sets of riders win or lose through their racing talents - not their ability to suss out the pitfalls of a trick track. The very shape and size of Eastbourne gives the home team plenty of advantage anyway without further booby traps. Its ridiculous to suggest 'that its the same for both teams' at Eastbourne. The track on Monday for the Sky match was far too dusty and patchy and as bumpy as hell. Poole would've won easily on a proper track, and so would Lynn more than likely if they'd gone there to ride an obstacle course instead of racing! Lets face it the only reason Eagles have a good home record is because of the track - the team's failings are easy to see from their away form. Its not as if Dugard has never been accused of fiddling his prep to suit home riders before is it lol - it should be prepared so BOTH teams can do their best RACING - not have to contend with the condition of the track that the home team are well aware of! One or two rides to acclimitise yes on most other away tracks - but they'd have to be there every week to get the hang of Eastbourne. Trees' outburst has nothing to do with team allegiance - just the anger of a speedway supporter frustrated by a track that isn't fit for purpose, but if you want to hate KL now thats up to you I guess. If Dugard's aim is to attract fans by ensuring successful home performances then he has apparently failed. Maybe he should try to prepare a speedway track?

TBH even if we lost all our remaining home matches we'd possibly still finish top as we've gained +25pts away so far and only lost 2pts at home so with 6 home matches remaining could 'lose' 18pts thus the worst it could be is +5 come the end. Hopefully KB can regain some confidence by the time of the stupid playoffs, and keep away from more injuries (that goes for the rest of the team as well ofc!!). It'd be great to finish the season and hopefully win the league with the same seven we started with

Would've been happy with a point which we'd have probably got but for all the falls we had - not to mention the strange exclusion for Kerr. Far too much un-luck methinks. Nothing gained but nothing lost either, so nothing much to get worried about.