Aces51

We don't have anything like that sort of home advantage and that is why Swindon are firm favourites.

Nobody who has any knowledge of Phil Crump's career would describe him as a journeyman. At his best he was world class.

Good to see Craig back on track tonight at Berwick and doing what he does best. 9 from 3 rides so far.

Unless you've got a spade you can only dig that sort of hole if it's already there and been filled with loose dirt.

We missed out on the play offs because we took a chance on Steve and Dan recovering from their injuries and getting back to their pre injury form. It didn't work out, although Dan is now almost there. I doubt many fans would not have wanted us to include them in the original team selection and the management obviously thought likewise. We missed out on the play offs because we held on to Wells for far too long. He should have been replaced before his average dropped and that was a management mistake. However, as Superace has said and despite the above, we would have been in the play offs if Fricke had not been injured prior to the Wolverhampton meeting. There were no suitable guests available from Ipswich, the only team not riding that day and we lost to Wolverhampton by 4 points with r/r for Fricke scoring just 4. Nothing is certain in life or speedway but I am sure Fricke would have scored at least enough points to gives us the win. As for promoting the club , the management can always do more but it is far from easy with limited financial resources and to compete for media space against Manchester United and City and the other local league clubs, plus the local rugby and cricket clubs. They do try to maintain a high profile on social media, they tried the initiative of giving everyone who attended one of the meetings a voucher for £5 to be used at any other meeting and it seems to me that crowds are increasing.

People have no idea what Craig's problems are, what help he might or might not be receiving and how it might or might not affect his ability to race. I suggest it would be better in those circumstances not to comment on his situation or prognosis but instead to give him as much time and space as he needs to get himself back to a stage where he can return. That might just be days or much longer but when he does return it would be good to see more understanding and support. Many, many people suffer from different types of mental illness. It is no different than physical illness, it is not their fault and there should be no stigma attached to it. The body can only cope with certain degrees of stress and the mind is no different.

It is true that all tracks produce good and poor meetings but there is no comparison between the quality of racing at the dog track and either Hyde Road or the NSS. Both of the latter more often than not produce(d) good entertaining meetings with fast, close racing, with genuine passing after bends 1 and 2. The dog track more often than not produced slower, spread out, racing with much less passing after bends 1 and 2 and a significant percentage of that passing was due to rider mistakes rather than riders being able to use multiple racing lines.

48-42 when we met at the NSS less than a month ago so a 10 point lead is quite possible. Although Batchelor, who usually does well at Belle Vue, was poor by his usual standards and is unlikely to be as bad this time. In truth I think we need more than 10, maybe about 15, to have any chance of winning on aggregate. We are certainly the underdogs after our poor performances at the new Swindon track but results don't always go to previous form. Hopefully, we shall see two entertaining meetings.

If both finish on 42 league points then it goes to race points for and against. At the moment we are +4 and Ipswich are -31.

My recollection, I think from an article in the Speedway Star at the beginning of the season is that he committed his future to Scunthorpe, the implication being that he would be their asset. He could of course change his mind about his future and become an Aces asset and some of us might think that would be his best option.

My mistake then but my understanding, confirmed by his recent comments, is that Scunthorpe have offered him a team place next year and he intends to take up that offer. I shall be delighted if he changes his mind and commits his future to Belle Vue.

Palin is a Scunthorpe asset andsI assume that Bailey is a Glasgow asset as he signed for them first.

Scott's home average is 4.74 so I think Palm Toft will be capable of scoring at least that many but the absence of Wright will be difficult to cover with r/r. We need the points to have a chance of the play offs and must look to getting all 4.

I can fully endorse that. Brilliant to watch the youngsters develop and some fantastic racing. Excellent value and affordable at £10 with under 18's free.

Wolves will get a further 3 points at home but I can't see them picking up 5 points from away meetings at Peterborough and Poole. I think they will finish on 41 or 42 and that Belle Vue will likey finish on the same. However, if they do tie on league points Wolves will probably have the better race points difference. 42 league points could also bring Ipswich into the equation and their race points difference is likey to be worse than Wolves or BV. Still a lot to play for.

Richie's is not a 6 point plus rider. His average this year is 4.98, 6.67 at home and 3.20 away. I don't rate THJ but he should be able at least to match Richie's away scores and you can more easily cover for him if he doesn't do as well as Richie at home.

It's a bit of a quandary. We must win at Peterborough to have a chance of getting into the play offs. Berge does well at two tracks, the NSS and Peterborough. When we won there in July Berge got 9 paid 12 from 6 rides. Do we keep him to gives us our best chance of making the play offs or, do we replace him now but risk the win at Peterborough on the basis that if we do win without him we hopefully have a better rider for the play offs? I can't come up with anyone who would fit who makes me think that sacking him now is our best option.

The explanation given by Halifaxtiger of his conversation with Andrew Meredith is not only straight from the horses mouth but the most credible. It was overcast until about 10.45-11.00 and when I arrived in the car park it was 18c. When the sun came out it was 25c. If it had been out from about 9am the track would have dried more quickly and we would have had a more typical surface. It would have been a high risk strategy to deliberately prepare a grippy track for a visiting team used to riding that type of track at home. The racing was poor for the NSS but for me still an enjoyable meeting, not just for the vital win but to see Bewley more confident and riding like his pre injury self and Lidsey showing great riding skill and maturity.

Could certainly be very close. Lambert, if fit, Cook, Palm-Toft and Riss can all score well, Kerr is in good form and Aarnio has had some good races at the NSS. Cook will probably feel he has a point to prove and will be able to pass on his knowledge of the best set ups. At least KL won't have the advantage of having MPT at reserve but we are going to have to be at our best and will need good performances from Worrall and Bewley. I an ready looking forward to it and think we will have enough to get the 3 points.

Every team has it's share of idiot fans. There were only one or two fans making those comments and they were quickly put right by others. Congratulations to Max on qualifying. It's a shame that meetings like this are not held on tracks that give riders better opportunities to race.

It's not a question of guesting generally but specifically for a team which is directly in contention with your own club for a place in the play offs. Wolves and BV are both currently on +2, when comparing points dropped at home against points gained away and their race points scored difference was identical. It was therefore vital for Wolves that not only did BV not gain any league points but also that they lost by as many race points as possible. I doubt that any Wolves rider would not be aware that any advantage to BV could deny them the opportunity of certainly 2 and possibly 4 meetings for their own team and if they were unaware, I am sure that Pete Adams would have pointed it out to them. I think in these particular circumstances it would be naive of BV to think that Masters or any other Wolves rider would accept the booking or, if they did, that they would give 100%. I doubt the Wolves management and fans would be best pleased if the points they scored got BV into the play offs at Wolves expense.

We're not out of it yet. We will lose tonight but if Fricke is back on Monday we can beat KL at home and win or pick up points at Peterborough. To get into the play offs Wolverhampton would then have to do the same by winning their remaining home meetings, picking up at least as many away points as we do and if we are still then tied, improving their points for v points against gap to better than ours. However, the result tonight at KL might help them with the points for and against gap. I can't see the team we are putting out keeping the scores close.

I'm sure he'll try to ride in the Challenge whether fit or not. He's proved this year that he is worth a place in the GP's and he won't want to lose his opportunity to qualify unless he really has to. They need to look at fixed nights for a number of reasons but only having a choice of guests from a team vying with you for the play offs makes it very difficult to be competitive when you are missing a genuine number 1. Even if Wolves, or any other team in a similar position, had a rider of comparable ability available and willing to ride, it is ridiculous to expect him to score points that could seal the fate of his own club.

They are probably waiting to see how Max is today before making a decision. There isn't really a suitable guest with only Wolverhampton not riding.

I also think he is talking rubbish about Lemon but he seems to have a bee in his bonnet about him. I also had a high regard for Joe Screen as a rider but that doesn't necessarily translate into being a good team manager. Joe had a year at Sheffield as team manager. How did that go, didn't he decide he didn't want to continue? This year we signed Steve and Dan in the hope that both would overcome the affects of their injuries. Neither has progressed as we hoped but to me it was a risk worth taking. We would be much stronger if just one of them had done well. If both had not been signed and done well elsewhere fans would be criticising Lemon for letting them go. Unless one of them suddenly finds form we shan't win anything this year but I don't blame Lemon for that for the reasons explained above. When the team was originally announced I agreed with taking taking risks on Steve and Dan. My reservation was about signing Wells. However, looking at the riders available I doubt we would be in much of a different position now whoever we had signed on that average, with the exception of Jensen, who nobody thought worth signing at that time.