Aces51

King's Lynn are strong at home and if Fricke is still unfit we shall struggle for a good guest again as only Wolves not riding. They are also good at the NSS so could pick up points when we race them on Monday. They are the outsiders of the three contenders for the 4th place but I wouldn't rule them out.

Even Fricke not on fire was unlikely to fail to get double figures, which was more than enough for a win. However, no point in what might have been. The fans I spoke to before the meeting said a win was going to be difficult and that was before we knew that Bjerre was stuck in traffic. Wolves were determined to take advantage of the opportunity and fought hard for their win. We are still in the fight for the play offs but could now be a three way fight with Wolves and maybe King's Lynn.

We shall struggle without Fricke. I shall be very surprised if , Bewley, Worrall, Bjerre and either, Berge or one of the reserves can get anything like the points that Max would have achieved. If Wolves have serious aspirations to reach the play offs they are not likely to get a better opportunity to pick up away points at the NSS.

R/r now confirmed for Fricke,.

I thought it was his left leg and ankle. It was that leg that hit Dudek's bike as it turned into his path after Lindgren hit it.

King is the only realistic option. Ipswich are the only PL team not riding tonight.

No official news yet about whether Fricke is riding. They could be waiting to see how he is today before making a decision. R/r would make us much weaker and could even make Wolves favourites. Our team relies on a strong top two.

No. Looks like our best bet is Etheridge, if he is fit and available. Hopefully, Max will be ok to ride. If not, we could be in trouble with only Ipswich not racing. King could be an adequate replacement but he has had good and bad meetings at the NSS whereas a fit Fricke is virtually guaranteed to be unbeaten against Wolverhampton.

I think you've got it the wrong way round. Batchelor has been on fire most of the season. It was his relatively poor performance at BV that was the exception and tonight he was back to his best.

Last week I was behind someone who had been a regular are Hyde Road. He had visited the dog track once and decided it was poor entertainment and never been to speedway since. Having heard reports about the racing on offer at the NSS and seen an advert on the front page of the local paper he decided to have a look and brought a friend who had never been to speedway before. The racing was up to NSS standards, the main meeting was completed in a about 95 minutes and Chase the Ace kept everyone amused during the grading breaks. They both thoroughly enjoyed themselves, stayed to watch the second half Academy races and left promising to be back for the next meeting. The difficult part is to get people like those two to attend so that they can see what is on offer at the NSS. I am obviously biased but I think a good percentage would become regulars. Unfortunately, it isn't easy with so many other major sporting and other attractions in the Greater Manchester area competing for the leisure pound. Especially, with very limited resources to spend on advertising. The club is very active on social media and has advertised on local radio and print media. It also uses the Colts, with a £10 entrance fee and free for under 18's, to try to attract newcomers. Recent crowds have been better, so maybe it is beginning to work but it is always going be a slow process.

Swindon and King's Lynn are presently in a better position than Wolverhampton to get into the play offs. The more meaningful league table comparing points dropped at home against points gained away shows: Poole +12 Ipswich +12 Belle Vue +5 Swindon = King's Lynn = Wolves -2 Peterborough -10 To miss out Belle Vue need to drop points at home and two of those below them to pick up points away. Of course that might happen but they are not in danger at the moment.

The video certainly doesn't support the picture being painted by some of Cook travelling at speed, deliberately riding into the track marshall and then head butting him. What I see is Cook traveling slowly and the Marshall in the middle of track stepping in front of Cook. Cook didn't head butt him, he barged him with his shoulder. It makes those who weren't there but who have been prepared to believe the worst descriptions of the incident and call for Cook to be hung drawn and quartered, look foolish. The marshall should not have been on the track and should not have stepped in front of Cook, who should not have shoulder barged him. On this evidence it all seems a bit of a storm in a teacup compared to some of the original descriptions.

The track was better than I have seen it for some years and produced some good racing. Wolves deserved their victory. Howarth and Schlein were impressive and most of the Wolves put in solid performances. The Aces, Bjerre apart, were disappointing. Fricke rode better than his points suggest but it wasn't what is required from a number one. The second strings were very poor and although Bewley would probably have scored more than his replacement, we still wouldn't have been close to getting a point.

Officials have been ignoring the holes in the Poole track for years. The Poole riders probably just accept it as something they have to put up with. SS is no doubt frantically trying to come up with something to discredit the clear video evidence after his insistence that the track was smooth.

Neither of them has lost their bottle. They are not backing out of tight first bends and are chasing close to other riders when behind. I tend to agree that Steve may have reached his standard in the top league, a good second string but wouldn't yet count out further improvement. Dan is coming back from a more recent and more serious injury. He returned to racing much earlier than expected and it is unrealistic to expect him to already be back to where he was. I think he is also suffering from a lack of meetings. The Premier to Championship average formula makes it very difficult for him to get a place in that league and his Polish team seem not to be prepared to allow him time to settle back into racing there.

It was agreed but was that because Belle Vue were led to believe that there was a curfew? Poole were looking vulnerable in heats 13 and 15 and would have had to use Starke in heat 14.

Congratulations to Poole on a deserved win. I have never seen Grajczonek ride as well as he did last night. I must admit that I was surprised that our late rally ended up with us only losing by 2. It was an entertaining meeting. I don't think we need worry too much if both Poole and ourselves get to and meet in the play offs. We lost by 2 at Poole and I would be confident that Worrall, Bewley and our second reserve will score more than they did last night. R/r and the guests for Poole achieved what their regular team members would have done.

Lidsey is currently 17th in the averages for the Polish third division, just below Berge. Inexperienced riders who come straight into the top league in the UK and score 6/7 home and away are very few and far between. Also, thinking that every track is the same if you get out of the gate first overlooks the need to know where the grip is, the fastest lines, having the right set up, not just at the start of the meeting but also as the track changes. That all comes with experience of racing on those tracks. My assessment is that Lidsey will develop into a good rider and possibly much better than that. It's all about opinions but some are expecting too much from him at this stage of his development.

Lidsey is an obvious talent. We should remember it's his first season in the UK. He will gain from the experience and then we shall gain the benefit in the long term.

Stop digging. I said I gave you the benefit of the doubt about Wells, even though he was impressive on Thursday.. Just admit you got it wrong when you said that Schlein was the only Premiership quality rider. It won't hurt and may even give you a bit of credibility.

That's not what you said. You said that only Schlein was of Premiership quality, which is not true. You could also include Wells but I gave you the benefit of the doubt there.

Bewley and Heeps? Richie usually does well at Edinburgh. One of his better tracks.

A sensible rule book, properly policed and fairly applied would be a start and would give the sport credibility. For those who don't remember it was one of Chapman's promises when he took office. Many might think it is an easily achievable objective that wouldn't cost very much, if anything. For reasons I can't fathom, we are still waiting.

If you normally buy a programme the season ticket deal at Belle Vue saves you over £40 plus a small saving on the entrance fee. I worked it out when I bought my season ticket but have forgotten now just exactly what the savings were. If I remember correctly, it equates to being able to miss about 3 meetings without being out of pocket. Plus, you get an organised visit to the pits and an opportunity to watch racing from the centre green. I can't see that saving £6/£8 on the entrance fee is going to influence many additional fans to travel to away meetings. The biggest financial factor for those considering whether to go is the total cost including the travel cost and the saving on the entrance fee may only represent a fraction of that total cost. However, it may entice a few extra to go and therefore, any loss in revenue to the home club wood be minimal, so it it's worth a try. Belle Vue have tried reduced admission in the past and it resulted in a greater financial loss. However, the debate shouldn't end there. There is the argument that a tv audience, seeing a big crowd, are more likely to think that this might be a sport worth going to see live. I would like to believe that to be true but unfortunately, I have seen no evidence of that at theNSS. We had packed stadiums at the World Team Cup Final and at the SON meetings but I saw no increase in numbers attending subsequent meetings at Belle Vue. Fans come out in greater numbers at bank holidays and during the summer holidays when the schools have finished. I think that might just be telling us that, teams that can, should be running at times when families can attend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It would not only increase crowd numbers but provide the opportunity to attract the younger fans we so desperately need. One big league using only riders who will commit to racing in the UK.

For a minute I thought that Starman had hacked your account.