Aces51

1972, Belle Vue, played 34, won 31, drawn 1, lost 2. I've no idea how many consecutive wins but I think that record beats 14 consecutive wins, never mind there being no comparison in the quality of the teams. I have a recollection that someone also bettered Belle Vue's record but I can't remember who or when it was.

What is a fours discretion? You could use your discretion about discussing an alleged indiscretion. Innocent until proven guilty in my book particularly when you look at the parties allegedly involved.

But none of those clubs riding this week have a Monday race night and it is entirely different for riders when they are only coming back for an occasional Monday meeting. Belle Vue at the dog track and Wolves have both said that having a Monday race night makes it more difficult to attract riders and there are also the commercial considerations. Belle Vue decided that they could attract more fans by moving away from Monday and if that wasn't the case I suspect they would be changing back. I understand that Sky wanted Monday for televised meetings but did BT simply inherit that race night? Maybe they will be agreeable to considering other options but if not, then, as now, non Monday teams can race on that night for the couple of times they are on TV.

Correct Rob, my mistake, I just assumed they would use it straight away in heat 11.

Having gone 10 behind in heat 10 it was puzzling that Somerset didn't use a tactical in heat 11, the last opportunity to do so. They had nothing to lose and it was that as much as anything that lost Somerset the bonus point.

I've just watched this. The racing was poor but the heavy rain overnight wouldn't have helped. King's Lynn were determined and never gave up and I can see why their fans are happy with this team despite the loss of Holder and Batchelor. Swindon are going to be hard to beat in the play offs but tonight showed it's not going to be impossible. It was good to see a big crowd although 3000 at£5 probably equates to less cash than a normal Swindon crowd and if you always charged £5 for how long would it stay at 3000?

Met office currently has heavy rain between 5 and 7pm followed by light rain clearing by 8pm. Hopefully, the drainage might be able to cope but obviously it depends on the amount that falls. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I thought when you said an attractive team you were meaning a quality side but as it's going to attract sponcers maybe you meant young and good looking.😂

Obviously not much interest. Fricke still absent but Tungate is back and Cookie probably jet lagged but should get a good reception. Somerset turned us over last time but think we shall win this time.

A very grippy track will produce fast times but the facts are that a number of riders didn't come to the tapes and remedial work was done so that destroys any argument that the track was ok. As I said in my original post none of this absolves Holder from blame, Batchelor,I don't know, like many I have my suspicions but he withdrew on medical ground and you cannot get beyond that. I find this trend of calling those who happen to criticise an individual or team haters a bit childish. I see it often now, particularly against those who criticise Woffinden. It's an attempt to diminish their argument by branding them as people who only say what they do because they hate the individual or team rather than debating their criticism like an adult.

I'm not sure that the number of laps done by the tractor necessarily bears any relationship to the quality of the preparation. I would expect a competent track curator to check and to know whether new shale has bound properly with the existing shale and if not, to know what to do to resolve the problem. The remedial work after the complaints from the riders at the very least greatly improved the track, so it seems plain that the solution was simple and relatively quick to carry out. I wonder what Chapman would have said if the track has been prepared by someone else. I suspect we may have been subjected to one of his usual outbursts.

Sorry, I should have made myself clear. My point was that John Louis had more experience of Motocross than Bewley when they switched to Speedway. I used to love to watch John, he certainly deserved his "Tiger" nickname.

I think John was 29 when he took up speedway.

Bewley won't have completed two seasons until mid way into next season and I wouldn't be surprised if he was a Championship heat leader by then. If not he won't be far away and he hasn't got the experience John Louis had in other motor cycle disciplines when he took up speedway. As you say not many achieve it.

According to reports on here the track preparation has been much improved since the Poole meeting resulting in better racing. The question is why it has been so poor for the last couple of years? By getting it right now the promotion have shown that it can be done, so why wasn't it? It's not as if it's a different track curator.

It could just as easily be what Poole did! It is ridiculous for anyone to be claiming with certainty that they will be back at the top when, as Beowulf says, you have no idea of the format of the league or the strength of the opposition.

Brilliant performance from Cookie showing he can deal with the pressure and do well outside the UK. It looks as if Dudek will stay in the top 8 and that all Craig's hard work will be rewarded, I certainly hope so.

R/R for Cook, Nicholls for Fricke and Starke for Tungate.

Surely it has to be right and realistic to bring in riders on a current average, that is fair. Any rider currently riding in the UK has an average and a proper conversion rate between the leagues can be calculated. Any rider not riding in the UK can use his current average in Sweden, Poland of Denmark multiplied by a realistic conversion rate which can easily be calculated. That way we have a system which is fair and transparent, no assessed averages, no using anything but current averages. That works not only for riders who have improved since they last rode in the UK but also those who have suffered a loss of form.

When he signs a rider who does better than his average, better than he looks on paper, Ford takes the credit. It follows that you accept the blame if you sign riders who perform worse than they appear on paper. If you are in charge the buck stops with you and you accept the responsibility and publicly you accept the blame.

Funny isn't it how all of the success is down to Ford and the current problems entirely the fault of the riders but he's certainly not the only promoter who fails to see their own shortcomings.

KK moves into the 1-5 from 21st and Robson to reserve.

Belle Vue said on more than one occasion that it was difficult to sign riders who raced in Poland and Sweden because they were reluctant to ride in the UK on a Monday and I recall Peter Adams saying the same thing. There will always be some riders willing to do so but it is easy to understand why it doesn't appeal to many.

Rye are much more solid with KK and it is expecting a lot for us to go into a meeting missing Fricke and Tungate and come away with any points. Our team was built on the basis of a solid top five and two inexperienced reserves so we are affected more than some other teams by absences in the top five.

We need to rebuild British speedway, I have my doubts about fixed race nights, I wouldn't want to see any club forced to ride regularly on a night which was less commercially viable for that club or, worse, a club forced out because they couldn't race on the chosen night(s). However, if we do go down that road we need to choose nights which will be attractive to the top riders when hopefully, British speedway has recovered and is able to attract them.