Hackett

Positive outlook The Eagles achilles heel is at reserve and having to cover most of r/r #2 rides. Eagles will be prone to a team with a heavy hitting reserve If Jack Parkinson Blackburn takes to Arlington as he did Buxton the Eagles will be in trouble. Could be about who makes the least mistakes at reserve who wins if Brummies and Eagles meet as the top 5 will be a match for each other. Kent will be without Danny Ayres, who is riding for his Premier League club, Glasgow. Ben Hopwood, a member of last year’s treble-winning Eagles’ team, comes in as a guest replacement. Solid guest for the Kings ...

Hoping the Eagles make it through the Play-offs ... Working in London + finishing work at 17.30 ; not a hope in hell of making it home to Surrey and then drive to the meeting. So no Play-Off SF for me the kids + missus will have to go alone.

Still going to need the Eagles top 4 to score well on Friday. Will be up against it vs Brummies as they have a solid look about them but Eagles run them close at Perry Barr and won at home ... so will still fell confident if they can make the final.

Eagles have Tommy Brennan at 2 and Jordan Jenkins at reserve. Luke Harris was injured in junior meeting on Sat night after one of his better performances for the Eagles. Going to need Adam Ellis, Jake Knight, Ellis Perks and Georgie Wood all to bang in decent scores.

Main body of the team scores 37 - Reserves only manage 1 point. Unfortunately that is the Eagles Achilles heel at the moment. Although being a dead rubber - imagine that the Eagles will be thinking more of the KOC Semi-final at Cradley.

Good result for the Eagles on their travels ... Play-Off bound !!

"He admits there have been issues behind the scenes which have contributed to his decision but doesn’t want to discuss them in public." Us as supporters can guess that he isn't happy with the situation and his intention of giving 2017 a miss shows he is not happy with the BSPA and questions will be asked by media and fans alike but personally I believe he should come out and state the reasons. That way everybody will know and the BSPA will have to answer the situation.

Tai needs to makes a full statement and slam the BSPA if need be and give the true reasons for his decision. He has continually gone on record and stated his 5 year plan - I seem to remember that Rob Lyons had a similar plan and was banging his head against an air fence and quit !! The BSPA probably thinks they are doing enough in supplying riders with kevlars. Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson (RIP RICO!) have said there needs to be more help training,development and preparation for the riders. Guess the BSPA will say it is about money !!! Premier League 4's riders were going to quit because of pay, the Elite League hasn't had a "true" sponsor for years. All clubs look after themselves rather than the future of the sport. Lets remember BSI / IMG pay little in comparison to other motor sports in terms of winnings - Russia riders had to pay their own way to SWC events and threatened with an international ban if they failed to do so. Australia have to resort to sponsorship pages on websites in trying to help the funding of riders etc - Team USA has had issues financially continually. Would be interesting to see what Sweden / Denmark provide their riders with in terms of support and help on logistics.

Schlein will know far more about the situation that we ever will - unless Tai makes a complete statement. As for his Lynn form he is going to take time to get 100% after his injuries

Buxton were pretty poor and fortunate to have a guest as good as Danny Ayres. He has got better every visit around Arlington and certainly showed the Eagles the fastest way round the track. He deserved a full maximum but blew it on the last bend. Fair play to Ayres as although a guest was helping out and helping the injured Buxton rider. With Adam Ellis out for a few weeks I would think that Ayres would certainly be considered as a guest for the Eagles. Plus Baseby was good value for the Eagles too. Good to see Georgie Wood looking a lot more competitive too ....

Bridger was excellent last night. You just wish he can get his head right and knuckle down. Hopefully with Pro-revolution team dealing with the bikes all will be good + he can continue to score well at Lakeside and improve his away form.

Great result for Kent ... imagine most would of anticipated the much touted Brummies blowing them away. Kings are in the mix.,

Was the track that bad or was it just slicker than a stripper's bikini line.

A one armed Adam Ellis will score more than the Eagles reserves ..

All they need now is a new stadium !

Can see the lack of fixtures costing The Aces ... Hammers by 10 !

Live in Wallington, Surrey - So 75 min drive to Arlington each fortnight weather permitting. Lakeside is probably closest but Fri night on M25 and working in Central London that is never going to happen.

Any news on Adam Ellis took a serious soil sample at Monmore Green last night from all accounts !!

Masters has started the season in good form. I would wait to make any comment on Wolves once they have ridden against Poole and Belle Vue Aces at Monmore those two teams are stronger than Hammers who are notoriously poor travellers. But they look pretty solid throughout with Masters, Lindgren, JK, Thorsell, Bech and Howarth at reserve. Certainly wont be winning the wooden spoon this season.

Backed Swindon to win - Just couldn't gate until too late in the meeting .... Certainly think reason that Rosco let riders know the situation in the pits was that 4 points dropped by Swindon. Lions look like a team of 2nd strings and two decent reserves.

If I can find a bookie taking bets on speedway - Swindon to win - Doyle to score double figures and Auty and Starke at reserve to outscore Robins reserves. SkyBet doesn't even have EL speedway ....

It is Woffy's choice. I wonder if the situation would be different if he was seeded straight to the Final ??? If he feels it would be more beneficial to him not to ride the British Final then so be it. The British Final is a grand title in prestige and history but little more. It is not as if the British Final comes with huge sponsorship and financial gain. Not riding in the UK it is logistically expensive. As for the SWC ; Rosco and Chapman have no option but to adhere to his requests as Woffinden is the only British World Class rider - without him there is no chance of Gold. With him comes every likelyhood of a full-house at Belle Vue.

Totally agree ... cam in at short notice last season and was excellent support for BWD ... hope that he gets fixed up to a club close to home and scores plenty of points. Most likely a game of numbers - how many #1's have the Eagles tried and been knocked back from - 6 riders they stated on twitter. Imagine that the Dugards have had little or no option. As for the Spillers they have school and undoubtedly will be considered later in the year if that can improve the chances of the team.

No fully understand that Go Speed and TRussell have the rights to the sport on VT unfortunately unless his pockets are lined he isn't willing to allow any footage. Cant remember which rider it was but they wanted footage of them racing to put on DVDs or presentations to wannabe sponsors and they were refused permission. #PATHETIC from Go Speed.

My two children are 6 and 9 and they love the sport but then I guess there is a fair part of "peer pressure" from the parents. Currently the cost isn't an issue as at Eastbourne kids go FREE - !!! They enjoy the chance to go into the pits and see the riders and look and sit on the bikes. Cameron Woodward was excellent advertisement for the sport and my daughter would draw him pictures for his pitwall. Hans Andersen was another that was good with photo opportunities with kids in the pits. The IT Eagles riders last year offered photo opportunities all the time. The moment Tai Woffinden took time to have his photo with my children at Arlington they were his fans for life ... Teams need to do more. Attracting new kids has to be all about marketing , visiting schools showing them the bikes , montages of racing, overtakes crashes with music. Better merchandise - track shops are generally an embarrassment. Proper merchandise kids size shirts and not at £45+ or looking like somebody has used a job lot of cheap tshirts or caps. The sport needs to be more pro-active - Get the Elite League or clubs to be allowed to put footage out on You Tube. Each club be pro-active and be allowed to put VT out there - Cleancut , Re-Run GRT Media all film meetings sure they could do some great editing to music and put it out on a clubs official You Tube page. SpeedwayGP, Greg Hancock, Tai Woffinden and SEC do a decent job - British Speedway needs to do the same ... It is not about lining an individual or a couple of peoples pockets it is about pushing the sport forward and promoting ... Kids will follow the races avidly when the bikes are on track or riding to the tapes BUT if the meeting is drawn out they are easily soon bored especially if a meeting takes 2.5hrs plus with limited entertainment in between races. Add on 80 minutes travelling time to and from the stadium it can be a long afternoon or evening.