Aces51

I've attended many meetings at Wolves over many years. It can provide good racing. Passing on the outside does happen but the overwhelming number of passes occur on the inside coming out of bends 2 and 4. The track is prepared to provide extra grip coming out of those bends. Understandably, the home riders become more familiar with the track and can often be seen taking advantage of those lines, whereas away riders can often be seen taking too wide a line or drifting too wide. Obviously, there are track specialists who don't ride for Wolves, who know exactly how to ride the track and top riders who can quickly adapt to most tracks. However, many riders today have relatively little consistent experience of racing on tight technical tracks and 2 or 3 visits to Wolves each year doesn't give them sufficient opportunity to master it. Time and time again I have watched decent riders lose out to Wolves riders taking advantage of the grip coming out of the bends but seemingly unable to adapt to take advantage of it themselves. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with the track or the way it is prepared. Every team tries to create a track that gives home advantage but it is less apparent and advantageous for those tracks that are within the more usual parameters for size and shape. Wolverhampton has always been a track I enjoy visiting because of the racing but I concur with others, that it is no longer prepared as it was in the Doc Bridgett days and that the level of entertainment has suffered as a consequence.

I wouldn't read too much into Richie's performance. He has never impressed at the NSS, that's why he isn't in the team, despite being an asset.

Definitely a meeting of two halves. Brilliant fightback by Poole when many teams would have given up and a well deserved draw for their efforts. There was some good close racing but it is right to say that the wide outside line does seem to have disappeared. You could see in a number of races that Fricke and Bewley in particular weren't making any ground up when using it. Fricke gave it everything in heat 15 but couldn't get past Holder who was using the inside. In fact it was Bewley who made up the most ground after a poor start to catch up with Holder and that was by also using the inside. I agree that a Worrall, Wells switch round would give a better balance but I would persevere with Wells and Berge a bit longer. There doesn't seem to be that many options for Wells at the moment. Garrity maybe, if the averages fit, but you never know what you're going to get with Jason.

Josh doesn't usually shine at the NSS when he is 100%. It could depend on which Wells turns up, the one we saw against Wolves or the one who performed so poorly in both Peterborough meetings and whether our reserves can pick up some points against the strong Poole pairing. Kurtz can do well at the NSS as can Klindt when he is wearing his best gating boots. However, I think we have enough to win if Wells and the reserves can get about 12-15 between them. Our heat leaders and Worrall will significantly improve their scores in the away meeting.

We're not going to be at full strength until Bewley gets back to his best when away from the from the NSS. He has done remarkably well to be back racing so soon and fortunately we can afford a few away losses at this stage of the season.

I saw passing in about 50% of the races and the speedway updates confirms it.

Maybe because Ben Rathbone was riding in the Academy races?

It's funny the impressions we sometimes get of a meeting. I would have put this down as an average meeting for the NSS, perhaps at the top end of average because of heat 15. However, looking back there were 7 or 8 races where there was passing after the opening bends and heat 13, which was exciting to watch despite there being no passes but very close racing, with quite a few occasions where a pass looked likely. I suspect that fans of many teams would be delighted to see passing in about 50% of races. Tungate did what we know he can do at the NSS but was the only Peterborough rider to impress. Andersen was solid but far from the Hans of even a few years ago and the rest were poor compared to some of their previous performances at the NSS. Only 4 heat winners tells the story. It's difficult to win if your heat leaders can't win more heats than that. Bewley was superb, particularly once the dirt moved out, Fricke and Bjerre, not at their unbeatable best but gave true heat leader performances. Worrall and Lidsey did what was expected. Berge saved his night with his heat 14 win but should be doing better at home and Wells went back to his early season form after winning his opening race. Like in the cup meeting the Aces never looked in danger of losing.

I think he was talking about his own performance, 8 from his last 3 rides but you could also argue that it ended well for Peterborough considering they were 8 points down after heat 6.

Who is in charge? The riders or the owner/ promoters. Both the riders and the promoters need to think of the fans. I know that's a novel idea but at the end of the day it's the promoter who has the responsibility to consider all of the relevant issues and to make the decision.

Lovely weather, a well prepared track with no dust, a good crowd and a few decent races but not as many as we often see at the NSS. However, for me the real enjoyment at this level is watching the young riders develop. All of the Colts did well today. Flint looks a real talent, as does Palin. Bickley seemed more aggressive and he and Woodhull showed that they are continuing to make good progress. Rathbone was a real surprise, doing much better than I expected and showing that he is more than ready to race at this level. As has been said, Phillips probably produced his best performance at the NSS. We need to see how they perform away and at home against stronger opposition but the early signs are that this team is going to be enjoyable to watch and will do well. For Stoke, Perry battled hard and Joe Alcock looks like one to watch for the future.

They had to lose about 2.5 points from last year's team. Fricke, Bewley and Worrall are assets and Bjerre is likely to do at least as well as Craig but on a lower starting average. Keeping Craig would have meant no Bjerre and weaker second string/reserves.

You're right it is 5 but plans will change towards the end of the qualifying rounds.

Isn't it a Poole x4 , the same as Wolverhampton? I'm not complaining about the Aces only getting 3 appearances in the qualifying rounds. We'll make up for it in the semi and final rounds.

I agree, not an outstanding meeting by the standards of the NSS but still some decent racing. The crowd was better than I feared considering the United match and the very cold weather. It's one of those meetings that we never looked like losing. To me the highlight was to watch Dan Bewley showing that he is well on the way to being able to carry on where he left off after his serious injuries last season. He had three wins, good race times and didn't back out of a tight first bend. Lidsey showed enough in his first meeting at the NSS for us to see what a talent he is and Bradley Wilson Dean was impressive for Peterborough.

After successful testing Gordon and Morton believed that the problem had been solved. As explained, it was the drop in temperature on the Saturday that caused the moisture to rise and caused the problem to reappear. If the temperature hadn't dropped the meeting would have gone ahead and the problem would not have reappeared until the next time the weather changed in that specific way. The undisputable fact is that the SCB passed the track fit for racing and the referee was happy for the meeting to go ahead on the night. If Reeve rushed to Manchester because of the rumours he had heard I very much doubt that his inspection would have been anything other than extremely thorough. It would be illogical for him to do anything less having made a special journey to investigate the matter. The truth is that the problem caused by the contractors, which had supposedly been repaired, was hidden until the weather changed. I have said more than I intended because of the comments made by others but this issue has been discussed at great length a number of times. There is nothing new to add to the arguments and those who choose to believe that Gordon and Morton were at fault are not going to be convinced and vice versa for those on the other side. It is pointless to continue unless there is something new to add. To get back on topic, Swindon are doing the right thing in cancelling the meeting if they believe that the track they are themselves constructing is not going to be ready for tomorrow.

I would say that you are still trotting out your rubbish about the NSS but that would only result in you replying and my having to repeat at length the true facts. You obviously didn't believe them the first time so there is no point. I agree with your second paragraph.

It was the Belle Vue meeting this week that was cancelled so I would expect their fans to have more interest than others in what has happened. In truth I don't see many fans from anywhere expressing a view about this and I don't really see any of the comments saying anything that many Swindon fans haven't already said about the construction of the new stadium and track. However, there is no criticism from me. I am just pleased that that the track work is being done and that Swindon will be running for at least one more season and hopefully, for much longer.

Monday was our race night in the latter years at the dog track but not by choice, simply because that was what we were offered by our landlord. Crowds were always poor on Monday's and it was why we changed to Friday as soon as we moved to the NSS and before the introduction of FRN's.

I wouldn't take too much from Tungate's performance on Monday, which certainly want bad. He is not as good as Fricke or Bjerre but neither is Harris. Tungate was one of the most exciting riders to watch at the NSS. Give him a well prepared track with various racing lines and I'm sure he will soon win the fans round. He can sometimes struggle on small tracks, particularly Wolverhampton but my bet is that this season he will average about the same or better than Bomber.

Was the problem with the track that Chapman had done what he does at Kings Lynn and made it too grippy? We know from experience at the NSS that with the current bikes a grippy track produces fast but processional racing. That is why the NSS is not prepared that way and why it produces the excellent racing we are privileged to witness.

That's right, only one rider for each team although the Tweet from each team referred respectively to choosing your Aces and Panthers.

Unfortunately, neither of those are number 1's although both are clearly better than Summers or Barker. Cook could be a genuine number 1. He had problems last season but I think he could add at least half a point and maybe a full point to average.

Much will depend on how Dan copes with his first competitive racing since his serious injuries. There's no pressure on him in these early season meetings, far better that he eases himself in if that is what he needs. I don't know how Wells usually performs at the EOS and Lidsey is not only facing his first UK meeting but against a very strong reserve pairing. If they all do well a good away win but hopefully an exciting meeting whatever the result.

You can add Belle Vue to that list.