BWitcher

I don't think that was a mistake at all. Zagar was their only race winner at that point, Cook had run a last. I don't buy at all that gate 1 was the worst gate either.. the gate 3 'advantage' is over-stated as well given the riders in each race. Heat 1, Worrall was of gate 1, he led PK.. no surprise that Zagar won of gate 3, its very hard of 4 in heat 1. Heat 2. Clegg was of gate 1... Howarth was on 3 and with Worrall 15 metres back that's an easy win. Heat 3. Cook actually led from gate 1 and was passed by Masters. Fricke was on gate three and nowhere. Heat 4: Woffinden was off gate three so again you'd expect him to win the race. Howarth was off gate one and 2nd. Heat 5 saw Howarth win again off three, maybe the first 'surprise' but he was flying. So coming into Heat 6 I don't see as Lemon had any other choice. Some folk say to wait and see.. but wait till where? Heat 7 was Lindgren and Masters.. Heat 8 Woffinden and Howarth (on a max at this point) against the Worralls.. Heat 9 maybe with Nicholls? but he'd run a woeful last to begin the night.. So essentially it was either Zagar, who was mighty impressive in Heat 1, or wait till heat 9. The other aspect of using a tac early is showing faith in your team. Use it while you can, if your team fights back the opportunity is gone. Delaying it is sending a message to your team you still expect to be losing later in the meeting. Also don't forget as I mentioned on the other thread, Cook didn't actually gate in that race, Thorssell did off two but focused on ensuring Zagar stayed at the back. Had Cook been on the TR, Thorssell would have been focused on him.

It was a decent post.. ruined by immediately attacking Shovlar in the opening line!

Pretty much what he said, he just gave examples. I said the exact same thing last night at Monmore to someone who thought it was in the bag.. I basically said if Fred and PK collided first race and broke collarbones then we'd suddenly be in a mess. NOBODY, Shovlar included wants that, but meetings can swing on such incidents.. Look at the GP as a perfect example.

Were they? PK passed Worrall in heat 1, not through Worrall 'messing up', but an excellently executed pass by PK. Richie Worrall passed Clegg in Heat 2. The pass by Clegg on Jacobs was a result of Jacobs messing up. Masters made a superb pass on Cook in 3 shoving him out wide, Cook hadn't 'messed up' he was just forced out. Heat 4 Howarth chased down and passed Richie Worral with as Kelvin called it a 'text book' overtake. Again, nothing to do with a mistake. Nicholls chasing down and passing Lindgren and Cook likewise in Heat 15 were also nothing to do with rider errors. The only rider who consistently messed up was Jacobs... and that's expected. Edited to add.. and Fricke who was woeful. Now, the tac decision by Lemon, easy to criticise after the fact.. Zagar had won Heat 1.. Cook had come last... for all of the talk about gate three, it should be noted, Cook didn't gate in that race, Thorssell did on two, but he was concentrating on ensuring Zagar was blocked off to nullify the tac. Had Cook been on the tac he wouldn't have been doing that. There were no easy races coming up where he could have used it, it didn't work last night, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Agreed, both equally to blame.

Didn't mention it earlier but despicable behaviour from a few Belle Vue fans at the end of tonight's meeting starting a fight because their team had lost. Absolutely NOT what we want at speedway meetings. Any Wolves fans provoking also out of line,

Who said it was?

Ah the advantage of gate three.... Wolves scored 14 of gate three in the first 14 heats, Belle Vue scored 15 and that included a ride from Jacobs. Off the other gates Wolves scored 36, Belle Vue 19 on the first 14 heats. So thank goodness for gate three keeping Belle Vue in the match eh? Of course Wolves gained three more in Heat 15 from gate three, but then Belle Vue gave up the option of picking gates.

Understandable, but you have to keep the faith. Belle Vue need to be on it and hit Wolves hard from the start, all 7 riders are capable of scoring. If Zagar and Worrall kick of with a 5-1, you could easily follow that up in Heat 2 and it's suddenly game on. Any Wolves fans thinking this is over are very wrong. A lot can happen in 15 heats. Really looking forward to my first visit to the stadium.

What a brilliant night from the perspective of a Wolves fan, not sure where Shovlar gets the no cheering from but there was an excellent atmosphere all night. It's certainly far from over as if the setups aren't quite right at the NSS the Aces can pull pts back quickly as unlike tonight they won't be carrying any riders. All seven can score big points. It may well be that we are the one carrying riders as Clegg will find it difficult to score there (to say the least) and Howarth hasn't impressed on previous visits. It's interesting to see the comments made, not by Belle Vue fans I must add, that Belle Vue were 'by far the best team' this season. The reality is Wolves and Belle Vue were pretty equal. Belle Vue finished top courtesy of their win at Wolves the night Kylmakorpi put in his zero performance. That's the only difference, so in reality nothing to choose between the teams. It's also nice to see a thread with no arguing and the majority of Belle Vue fans (ignoring the multi-aliased one doing his best to cause trouble) not resorting to sour grapes posts, simply acknowledging that tonight their team was out rode.. Wednesday night could see a reversal. Best of luck to both teams in the 2nd leg, again, I can't wait!

Just over a couple of hours to go, the weather is fine, track should be in good condition, two excellent teams and I'm sure a big crowd and fantastic atmosphere awaits. Getting nervous and excited at the same time.. this is what speedway is all about!!!

Excellent post.

Go on then.. say it.. You can begin it with, "A message to normal fans..." Just so everyone is clear.

What you meant to say is, "Congratulations Wolves, you were the best team over the two legs. Unlucky Poole, Newman and Ellis rode their hearts out and we couldn't ask anymore from them."

No prob with that, all adds to the atmosphere!

You were cheating last night, Ellis throwing himself on the floor to try and get a re-run for example

Polish engines he said at the track.. "Break out the Polish engines which are perfect for a big track" I don't believe so.

I'm not entirely sure the track was prepared all that well for home advantage last night.. our top boys were simply far too good. Newman and Ellis both showed the track could be ridden quite easily. The key was, we were making starts, which is not normally the case against Poole.

He wouldn't have raced Clegg. He would have been against... Harris and Masters in Heat 3, Harris and Woffinden in Heat 6, Lindgren and Karlsson in Heat 11 (Tungate came 2nd in that race anyway), then Lindgren and Masters in 13. He wouldn't have scored more than Tungate. In his appearance a few weeks ago, Bjarne beat the Wolves reserves in Heat 2, beat PK once (as Tungate did) but was then later last in Heat 12 against Howarth and Clegg. He'd have been blown away as a heat leader.

I'll agree to an extent regarding Lindback... but let's be serious regarding Bjarne... who would he have beaten?

Really looking forward to my first visit to the NSS and what better occasion than a Play Off Final. These teams are so equally matched. Remember, the only difference between them in the table is the Belle Vue away win at Wolves. A Wolves in in that meeting and they would have been top... that was the night Kylmakorpi scored 0 0 0 in his last match. Belle Vue riders can all ride the Wolves track very well, they haven't got several riders like Poole who struggle. As has been mentioned above, the Aces are more dialled in on their home track now, I think the three home meetings in the space of a week or so helped greatly with that. Whatever happens, let's hope for some great racing, big crowds and fantastic atmosphere.

No it isn't called home advantage at all. You're showing your complete ignorance here. The line at Poole pretty much all year long has been around the outside, particularly on turns 1 and 2. Wolves knew this and early on were getting out wide and using it to their advantage. The track however began to change and the first evidence of that was when Lindback stormed inside Woffinden. He then stormed inside Thorssell before Thorssell got him back on bends 3 and 4. Entering the last lap, as Lindback had passed him on the inside of turn 1 the previous lap, Thorsselll clamped it right on the white line entering the corner blocking Lindback. Race won. That is LEARNING. Following that race numerous times Wolves riders got in front and didn't learn from that race, or each successive race. When you are continually passed entering a corner, in the same spot,, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out you need to block that line. The rider behind you then has to find another way to pass, as Newman did in Heat 12, but he had to work damn hard for it. Just watch Heat 15, Lindgren gates and pins it on the inside into turn 1 on the first two laps and Holder is kept at bay with ease. Into lap three, he suddenly decides to enter turn 1 way out wide, meaning Holder could just ride by up the inside. That's dumb racing and easily prevented... if a fan has sussed the correct line then a rider, or more particularly the team manager should and pass that information on to his riders. Anyway, that's the last I will say on the subject, you've already shown me to be correct with your earlier admission that if you ride the right line you will win most of the time.. hence it's a bit dumb to ride the wrong one... continuously.

Although you are wrong in this assertion, you're basically agreeing with me.. It's pretty dumb to ride the wrong line over and over.. particularly when you've rode the correct line for the first half of the race and are winning. So you essentially find it 'odd' that I was critical of Wolves riders riding the wrong line even though you state that if a rider rode the right line you'd never see an overtake... Each to their own! Perhaps if you were at the meeting looking directly down the track from turn 1 and seeing the same mistake over and over you might have a different view, as I did, the Wolves fans I was standing with and even the Poole fans in that location too. Also, you might want to have a chat with some of the Wolves riders, who admitted they had messed up when I spoke to them, I think they would know best! Anyway, who cares, the job was done tonight. Bring on the FInal!

No it isn't in the slightest. You can gift opponents a pass by moving over and allowing them to ride under you, completely unchallenged.. as Wolves did on six occasions at Poole.. or you learn from the first couple of times it happens and block that move meaning the rider behind has to try something different. Case in point, Heat 12 at Poole where Kyle Howarth did enter turn 1 on the inside each time forcing Newman to work hard and try something different. Eventually he got him with a cutback out of two on the last lap but he had to work damn hard for it. Don't feed Fred, he's just making his usual trolling post.. unfortunately for him, everybody knows his script now and pretty much ignores.

There's always one isn't there. You should take a leaf out of Mr Shovlar's book who was very gracious in defeat tonight. Had the pleasure of talking with him and Shaleshifter at various intervals throughout the night. The PK/Ellis situation could have gone either way. I did think PK was going to be the one to go and I wouldn't have objected if he had. Heat 15 however was the right call. Neither Wolves rider were anywhere near, it was the Poole riders getting themselves in a mess, not a case of bunching. Simply Holder chopping Tungate's nose off. I think they've got confused and miscounted Wolfsbane! I must admit I hardly thought about the headache till after the meeting when it returned with a vengeance. It wouldn't be right if I let the night pass without a comment about our esteemed manager, who did his best to throw a spanner in the works. Not putting Howarth in Heat 9 in place of Clegg was a ridiculous decision. It's a play off semi final, every single point counts and his non action there could have proved costly. I must admit I thought we'd blown it after Heat 11 as I was fully expecting a Poole 5-1 in Heat 12 and then Holder to pop out the start in one of 13 or 15. As it was, absolutely brilliant from Kyle Howarth. I've been a critic of his in the past but tonight he stepped up and delivered. I've been amused to read comments of how 'poor' Tai was on this thread.. dropping 1pt from 5, I'll take that. Onto the final, let's hope the weather plays ball and we have two cracking meetings and two complete 7 man teams.