Aces51

According to Jack Smith on Facebook Dan has "pulled his groin and couldn't move his leg" I said previously, we will struggle if Dan isn't fit to ride tomorrow against Rye House, nobody on a similar average to adequately replace him and whoever it is or, Smith, would also have to take one of Fricke's rides. I bet Poole fans will be hoping Dan will be ok.

I don't think it had anything to do with Bewley's injury but there were problems with bends 3 and 4 in the earlier part of the meeting. Masters and Riss amongst others had problems getting round.

Yes he was. He got injured in heat 8 passing Greaves when he almost fell. He was seen by the medics and was limping heavily in the pits, it looked like a groin or leg injury. He missed his next two rides but then came out to replace Smith in heat 14. He passed Riss to get a point in that race but was obviously in pain after the race and withdrew from the Colts meeting against Cradley. We just have to hope he will be OK for Wednesday, he is irreplaceable at the NSS. Wolves deserved their win but we probably would have got a point if Bewley had been able to take all of his rides. Lindgren was outstanding although Cook was right with him throughout heat 15. Bjerre apart, who was struggling on borrowed equipment, this was an encouraging performance from the Aces top 4 and Bewley. Some are writing us off but if Fricke returns and Bjerre's recent poor performance is down to machinery we might not win the final but we certainly won't be a pushover for anyone.

Not really, he did try to get it called off when there was no reason to do so within the rules but at that point the referee was in control and he had no authority. The referee, rightly, would not agree to act contrary to the rules. It is a slippery slope once referees, or anyone with authority agree to do so. We might all agree that it would have been common sense to call it off but who is responsible for the rules as currently drafted, those same people who wanted them to be ignored. Perhaps if another broken promise had been kept, to completely redraft the rule book last winter, somebody might just have thought it would be necessary to include a rule to cover the minimum number of riders needed to enable a meeting to start. I doubt it but you never know. The idea of drafting rules is that you consider all possibilities and then design the rules to deal with them.

We could struggle if Bjerre is still having problems with his borrowed engine. We can't afford for any of our top four to have an off night when using r/r. I hope the trip from Poole isn't too problematic. I thought they might have rushed that meeting through but obviously not.

Congratulations to Poole. Bjerre not having his own engines and only scoring 3 and getting only 3 from Fricke's rides certainly cost us. Lahti at reserve may just have come in time to save Poole from losing out on the play offs.

It was Mark Lemon who said it at one of the post meeting press conferences. He said that it was ridiculous but we had to accept it. He also said that the fixtures generally were a mess this year but that the present promotion had no say having only taken control 6 weeks before the season started. He said things have to change and that they will certainly have their say this year.

Not being able to get off the bike would make life difficult for those riders who are on the short side. Bjerre, Tungate and Bewley would find their bikes weighed down with spiders they wouldn't be able to stamp on.

I don't get this choked. If Poole lose, which I don't think they will if Lahti does well at reserve, why can't they just have lost to the better team on the day like everyone else. As for favourites to finish 4th. At the moment Rye House are +3 and Poole +1 when you look at points lost at home versus points gained away so arguably Rye are favourites but realistically not much in it.

Except that Bewley and Smith are making the same journey.

We couldn't take the chance that we might have needed the points to qualify, unlikely though that looked or, if Swindon had slipped up, to finish top. At least with an 11am start Poole won't have chance for one of their pre meeting practice sessions that Peter Adams complained about.

They didn't have any option, Ford said it was the only date he could offer before the cut off date. Cook and Worrall are riding tonight for their Championship teams at Workington and Newcastle respectively and presumably Bewley is on his way home from Latvia, goodness knows what time they will arrive at Poole. I can't see them getting much quality sleep and then to have to race and set off for the Bank Holiday drive to Wolverhampton is ridiculous. Fortunately, nothing rests for us on the results, although I am sure they will all give 100%.

I don't think you're necessarily supposed to have home advantage, it's not a requirement but teams invariably do because they become familiar with the racing lines and where you are more likely to get grip. The point here is that even taking into account the strength of the teams Wolves seem to have a significantly greater home advantage than others. We had it at the dog track, although it was less obvious because we so often had poor teams.

If you want further analysis then on average teams win at home by the following number of points. Wolves 13, Swindon 7.5, Belle Vue 7.27, Rye 5.22, Poole 1.5, Somerset 4.08, King's Lynn 1.2 and Leicester 0. Can you tell I'm bored waiting for F1 to start. 😂

True but looking at the home points for and against in this week's Speedway Star Wolves are +143, Swindon +75, Belle Vue +80, Rye +47, Poole +18, Somerset +49, King's Lynn +12 and Leicester +0. Not all teams have ridden the same number of matches and the points difference is affected by team strengths but those figures undoubtedly show that Wolves have a much bigger home advantage than any other team.

Fundin, Craven, Briggs, Moore and to a lesser degree, Knutsson, were head and shoulders above other riders from the mid 1950's to the early 1960's. They were so good that they introduced handicap racing for league matches and they were the back markers. It was difficult to choose who was the better of them, each had periods when they were the best. Fundin and Briggs won more World titles but people forget that Craven was only 29 when he died in 1963.

Congratulations to Lambert, this win and his win in the European U19 show he has the potential to get to the top, I hope he does. Bewley had a tough time but the experience will serve him well and help him progress.

Tickets now on sale http://www.bellevueaces.co and click on the Meeting Tickets box in the left column. It's back to the traditional Saturday night that always drew massive crowds for the British League Riders Final at Hyde Road. Let's hope for a full house and no riders failing to appear without good reason. Should be some brilliant racing.

I agree, I think Newman would have scored about 6 although some of those points may have come at the expense of points your other riders scored. With Cook and Bjerre struggling I think it would have been close even if we had a full team.

I remember a Sunday afternoon in March, 1977 when I won 3 consecutive games of snap. That aura of invincibility was something special. I spoke to Ivan Mauger about it and he said he had experienced something similar although obviously at a lesser level.

Leicester deserved their win, they were faster from the gate and baby Bjerre was superb. They showed a determination to win. I was right in that their reserves scored 12 to our 3 and Bjerre and to a lesser extent Worrall and Cook had poor nights. Tungate was excellent. Our team was built on a strong 1-5. We have done well because Bewley has improved so much but without him and using r/r we couldn't afford for anyone to have a bad night. Congratulations to the Lions.

I agree, it is a shame for Kyle, I'm sure he would have scored at least 6 or 7 points. That could swing the balance more in our favour, depending on his replacement.

It won't just be the reserve races they win, Our reserves will pick up far fewer points than theirs in their other rides. We could be in trouble if any of our top 4 have an off night, they are going to have to score about 42 points between them. I think they will but it's not going to be easy.

It depends if we have Fricke back. If so and now with Tungate, who will have his Polish bikes for the play offs, I don't think there will be easy pickings for anyone at the NSS. The problem for all of our opponents is that we can do well anywhere away, as our record shows.

Leicester should score well at reserve with Dan unavailable but I think our top 4 should be good enough to get us the win. It might take us a few races to adapt to a dry home track, it seems a while since it hasn't been affected by heavy rain.🏄😂