deanr1

Batch often goes well round Brandon, he's had some very good scores there including a 15pt max. That said I don't think he'd be keen to come to Coventry, and we don't really want a rider who's only with us due to a lack of opportunities elsewhere.

To some extent I agree, Garrity has been a star at reserve for the last 2 seasons but riding in the main team will be a lot more difficult. Riding against better opposition will mean he has to ride harder to score points,I can see even more exclusions this season! He will probably average mid 5's in the main team, i don't think we need to get too hysterical over whether he signs or not as there are other options available, maybe not as entertaining but just as capable of scoring 5 or 6 points a meeting. Don't get me wrong I love watching Jason and his enthusiasm is great, I hope he stays but if he wants to move on then it's not a disaster. I'm more interested in whether or not we get some decent heat leaders to support Bomber as we can no longer rely on the big reserve advantage to save the day.

After all the crap that goes on between these 2 teams, how refreshing to see a decent meeting between Coventry & Poole settled as it should be - on the track and no rule bending or dodgy refereeing in sight! Both teams gave it everything, well done to them both. You would have to think Poole will be the happier of the 2 clubs with that result but we have riders who go well at Wimborne Road and anything can happen in speedway, it's not over yet! I didn't think Lindgren would be a bad choice of guest but he was woeful, had we gone with RR we probably would have won it but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He used to be great round Brandon but has been rubbish every time I've seen him in the last couple of years, I don't know what's happened to him. Nice to see Sarj looking fast again after his recent dip in form, I think those injuries knocked him back a bit.

Definitely wouldn't rule out Belle Vue, very solid top 5 including a big hitter at number 1, they just lack a big scoring reserve really.

I remember watching Ward team riding Dennis Andersson round for an 8-1 at Brandon a few years ago, we had been well in control of the meeting and that race turned it on its head. Awesome ride, I think the Aussies in general are very good at team riding. Another memorable piece of team riding but for the wrong reasons was Kennett and Pawlicki at Brandon, I can't remember who it was against but they was on a 5-1 trying to team ride and I don't how they both didn't end up in the fence! There's a good image of it somewhere... Hans Nielsen was another great team rider back in the day.

I would have loved us to sign him as a second string, I don't think anyone was questioning that he is a good rider, more a case of on paper you would expect us to score more points from RR than Max would get as a heat leader against such a strong team. I'm pleased to say he rode very well tonight. There's no doubt the wet track worked in our favour, if it had been dry I think Swindon would have taken the win but sometimes these things go in your favour and sometimes they don't.

I thought Max would be a terrible choice riding as a heat leader against a strong side like Swindon, how wrong I was! He does seem to go well in the wet as he did last season for us, an inspired choice! I also would never have picked him and King for heat 15, so good job Havvy makes the decisions and not me! Now I'm off to enjoy some humble pie! :-)

Yeah fair point, they also might be thinking giving the rest of the top 5 extra rides puts them at more risk of injury when we really need to keep everyone fit. I think Fricke will struggle against such strong opposition though.

Rider replacement is clearly a stronger option than Fricke as a guest, not sure what goes through the minds of those running Coventry sometimes.

I've just heard from someone in the know that both King & Garrity are riding. If that turns out to be true then I don't understand why they aren't releasing the team news? This might not be correct so don't take it as gospel, just sharing what I've heard!

I've heard it all now!

Perfectly summed up really! I think he'll do slightly better than 6.5, probably low 7's but he's not a number 1 by any means.

He rode like a reserve for Coventry most of last season, can't see him cutting the mustard as a PL number 1 when you look at the top riders in that league.

You must be one of a very small minority who don't feel that guests and doubling up are bad news for speedway then and make a mockery of the sport. Last years play offs for example, we knocked out Swindon, then 2 of our riders ride for Kings Lynn in the other semi final. That's laughable in itself, but then 2 of the Swindon team we knocked out pop up again in the final riding for Poole. And we wonder why fans walk away from the sport never to be replaced. But you keep burying your head in the sand if you like.

Rory Schlein the professional guest! I don't know how many times I've seen him guesting against us in the last few years but it's too many. No doubt we will see him lining up against us for more teams who aren't Kings Lynn before the season is out. I notice there were 5 guests riding at Swindon tonight, the season has barely started and already all we see is guests guests and more guests.

I haven't been to a Stox meeting since I was a kid, I might take my kids along to a meeting as it sounds like a good night out and something a bit different.

Seems like a strange decision to me booking Doolan when Garrity goes so well round Monmore and we also have Joonas and Sarj who can take his rides. Obviously we could lose a rider but in the vast majority of meetings we finish with all 7 riders that we started with so it sounds like we have planned for the exception rather than the rule.

Should be one of the top reserves this year, he did well on Friday night, gave it 100% and was in the mix for a few more points. I expect he will score plenty of points against the other reserves and should pick up a few against the second strings too, having Auty is great news for Leicester as you need at least one good reserve to have any chance in this league.

Must have missed heat 13 then, and Auty was getting stuck in for most of his rides, same could be said for Robbo & Wozniak. Harris was having a good go at Walasek early in the meeting but he's a quick rider when he gates, it's not easy to pass him. I've been to all of the EL tracks apart from Lakeside, a few of the PL tracks, and a few more tracks that are no longer with us. I would love to know where these tracks are with great racing & passing in every heat because I've yet to find them.

Really enjoyed that meeting having fully expected us to get turned over tonight. The track looked great again, the holes and ruts from the last couple of seasons seem to have been sorted out and all of the riders looked in control. I'm sure it would have been very close had Leicester not lost Michelsen in heat 1, Doyle was as average as I thought he would be, never been impressed by him at Brandon. Jamrog was completely off the pace and needs shipping off to the premier league ASAP, Sarj looked great and seems to be a real success story of the fast track system, vastly improved from the rider he was 12 months ago and getting better all the time.

Can only see a home defeat for us tonight I'm afraid, Leicester look strong all the way through and I think they will win by 6 or more. Hope I'm wrong obviously! Anyone know if we can use season tickets tonight? I''m guessing not as it's not a league meeting but thought I would check...

Some nice ideas there mate, I'm not a fan of the north / south split though personally, I want to see more different teams and riders rather than less. One big league could work nowadays. Hopefully something better will be sorted out for next season as the EL has become a farce, I get fed up with all the guests and seeing Rory Schlein riding against us every week for a different team. It has now become about who can book the track specialist guests as Poole did on Monday with Dak North & Richard Lawson, whenever a team is visiting Eastbourne and they are missing a rider they book Bridger etc. I just want to see my 7 riders every week, I wasn't even interested when we beat Kings Lynn the other week as it was just a team of guests and RR, to me it wasn't the Bees, so much so that I didn't bother going.

I run a wholesale business in MK supplying to the construction industry, so as you can imagine I keep a close eye on any projects going on in the area including planning applications etc. We are based a stones throw from Elfield Park and I can't say I'm aware of this, hopefully it will become a reality though. Being up and running for next season sounds highly unlikely to me when they don't even have a track yet, I'm not trying to burst any bubbles but I can't help but think this doesn't sound quite right. If it is a reality then I would be happy to help out with some discounted goods for the new stadium and dish out some flyers on our busy trade counter when it's ready to open so if the promoters read this then please feel free to get in touch.

I don't think you're going to please PT Preece Chris, I get the impression he/she has it in for you! The speakers aren't great, they never have been and bearing in mind the stadium owner wants to knock the place down I doubt he gives a monkeys about fine tuning the sound system now. As Chris has already said, it's not his department to deal with it, he's hired to provide the presentation and has to work with the in-house equipment, I don't know what's so difficult to understand?