wandersome

I agree, track curator producing crap track because he's turned up to work to find inadequate or no equipment ( and not for the first time lately).... Hilarious some of the things David Hemsley gets blamed for! my point is why all the staff, riders etc weren't in place to get going again the moment the sun wasn't a problem. If we are going to have enforced breaks at least make sure it all systems go when the break is over. watching from the sidelines it all had an 'in your own time' feel to it i'm afraid. Mick.

Tomicek sticks in my mind for either being far better at BP than his average would have suggested or he may have stuck in my mind as being one of the worst riders i have seen at BP. One or the other and i just can't place it.

I don't think you've been on BSF because we've also done the the reasonable suggestions of what needs to be done. We've been making reasonable suggestions since april 2011 if i remember rightly, much to the annoyance of the 'Hitler youth' and some friends oop north. Most suggestions involve shortening the straights by a decent amount and the apexs as well but by a smaller amount (whichi would guess would also allow the track to be prepared differently). General consenus is the cost of this is between 3k for altering one end (which would do the same job) and 6k-7k for both (or if you listen to David Hemsley, 1 million including the resiting of the stands!). Finances would not appear to have been a problem as offers have been made to the promotion previously to cover this cost (not the mil mind) though i think we've moved on too far for some since this was mentioned. Instransigence unfortunately appears to be the main stumbling block. The other option would be buying Nick Morris though i'm not sure that would be cheaper and it also doesn't have the long term benefits! Mick.

The saving grace of Leicester speedway are the gate staff and stadium staff. They are the best. Was third promoter Dave Darcy at the stadium tonight. When i walked past the stand he wasn't in his usual position. Was Flagrag right last week about the fall out?

Crowd looked pretty good tonight. Unfortunately they had to put up with a fairly inept gating display from the Lions on a track that absolutely needed gating on. They also had to put up with inexorable delays brought on by the sun, watering, grading, riders having two rides in a row, crashes and probably a couple of reasons i cant remember. Couldn't hang about for the final heat as i was already over half an hour late in meeting a friend down the pub but for the first time ever it didn't bother me as i'd watched one pass in fourteen heats and i'd ran out of speedway conversation having moaned the life out of the delays by heat 7. And as much as i like talking about how Kevin Doolan and James Sargeant nearly overtook someone nearly is not a pass is it.. To sum up the issues we had a 15 minute sun off. We had a rider sent out to check sun wasn't a problem about 5 minutes after the sun had completely disappeared from the track. Then after he returned with his verdict we had a 10 minute break while the the track staff returned to their positions. It's just wrong. That is not the correct order for these things to happen!. I'm not mentioning the tractors then going out about 2 heats later.. sorry, i just did. I noticed someone on the leicester facebook site a couple of weeks ago having a go at someone for moaning about the entertainment at BP as it was old news in a smug 'that shows the detractors were wrong after all' way. Hey, someone should tell him it's back on the agenda. Hopeless night out. Well done to Rye House though. Nelson looked great and i'd say Aspgren was the best reserve to ride BP since Morris i'd guess. Sad that it didn't happen as a Lion.

If Edberg is out for the season then i think we have 5.01 to replace him with which at least gives us options with some untapped foreign talent (i know, i know)... I did hear a rumour at one time that a young pole was touting for a spot in PL and he might be a decent shout. I'm sure he'd fit on a 5.00 due to a disastrous previous spell in the UK but if he brought something over a little more competitive then he might do a job similar to what aspgren is doing at Rye. Not sure how he'd be allowed to ride PL but Rempala did it a few seasons back so it's possible. Either way, Even at this late stage of the season, hopefully Glyn at least has a bit of scope this time to get someone in who might make turn our season around. Mick.

hoping so. Hopefully Sargeant will get a few points on the board as well. I think remember Mellgren looking very handy at BP before and Nelson and Bunyan have looked decent when they've gated (as most riders do at BP). Lyke also looked decent when he gated last year (i think it was his debut) but he appears not to gate at all any more so i can see him struggling. The key to to the Lions 3 points is how many Aspgren scores in his 7 rides. I think our top 5 may clean up today.

I don't think Charles Wright would have been able to guest for us. The reason for this i think is that although Charles Wright is a National League rider, because he has averaged over 4 points a match in the PL before, he cannot ride as a National League guest. He has to be a straighforward guest replacement and as such cannot guest at the same track twice in an 8 day period. I had Auty down as 3rd in my programme but I'm guessing 2nd could be explained by the fact that Karlsson had crossed the line before the ref stopped the race for the remaining riders and Auty was still ahead of his teammate at the time of that stoppage. That's the best i can come up with anyhows!

Whilst not wanting to get in an argument about who the best is and why anyone left, having seen Sargeant, Blackbird and Branford around BP then my money would be on Sargeant being the one to succeed as a Leicester rider riding BP on a regular basis. As far as Lewis Kerr is concerned, he seriously looked a rider in the making last year even when he was scoring zero as a PL guest and you would have needed to be blind not to recognise that he was a better prospect than either Blackbird or Nielsen. That is, i'm sure, why Glyn signed him. Unless you saw things through Dave Darcy's eyes and saw a top rider in the making before injury, then the only reason for keeping Nielsen over Kerr (or Blackbird) was loyalty. (That is IMO by the way, i don't need abusing for having a go at someone's favourite rider). The reason Kerr didn't end up a Leicester rider is open, i'm sure, to endless conjecture. Without wanting to ignore the pride of the midlands (some of us made the effort to go, not many, but some!), I'd have said one good meeting, one shocker and two OK meetings. I'd agree it's definately heading in the right direction, as any previous 4 meeting run would generally see 3 shockers and an ok meeting, but nearly 3 years down the line and most the fans have cleared off already so i'm not sure you could say well done Leicester for that..

Hasn't he got form with the Leicester medics when he rode for Sheffield.

that's exactly as i saw the incident with Ellis, Steve. Didn't see the offer from Karlsson though but certain elements of the crowd were booing Auty as he crossed the line clearly under power in heat 11. To compound these jokers Auty appeared to have hurt his arm as well (I'm guessing the chain whipped up at it?). Was Karlsson's offer after the Ellis race or Heat 13 when Auty went down. The unfortunate bit about heat 13 was there was a large element of the crowd cheering Auty as he went down, well before any offer of a lift back might have happened.

Too right Lionking. I was at a bit of a loss as to what the booing was for in the first place. What happened to Auty? He just looked like he locked it up on 3/4 and either spooked Ellis who was going for the big one to try and catch him up or else i think Ellis was in the process of a big off irrespective of Auty. It appeared to start in the stand, probably by the usual cliquey sets (that were back to getting call outs from the box and centre green last night) and then It became 'mob rules' pure and simple. Build up the part of these jokers week in, week out and that's what happens, you get what you deserve i'm afraid. Even people standing in front of me on bend 1/2 ended up booing by the time Auty hit the deck in heat 13. Mick.

Didn't see heat 15 coming tonight. Very disappointing as it looked for the world that we had all 3 points nailed on. Top six is looking out of reach with another dropped point. Although he only scored a point I thought Sargeant had a promising debut, he made mistakes with his lines to be passed but he appeared to learn from them and I thought he was unlucky not to re-pass Lewis Blackbird in one of the heats. Hopefully he'll soon be getting some gates and I can see him beating some decent riders around BP.

The track has produced most overtaking when it has been pretty slick, as it was for the Ipswich & Somerset meetings. Everytime Glyn leaves the dirt there in the corners no one can get around it as shown in the Sheffield meeting when he pulled it all back on at the interval and Bjerre and others just couldn't turn the bikes on bend 3/4. Then there is no overtaking whatsoever except when a rider ends up freewheeling it out to the fence. I like Branford but around BP he was really struggling, particularly around bend 3/4 where all the gap he would make up going around 1/2 was lost again. I think he will be one who will do better away from BP and really hope he gets fixed up somewhere else so he can put his struggles behind him. Blackbird did it and i see no reason why Rob can't do the same. I wish him all the best. Maybe they should remember when he won us the match guesting at 2 for Magnus in the Sheffield match. I like him, he looks a bit fragile sometimes and appears to go down a little too easily a lot of the time (as he did when 2nd in the reserves race last week) but when he stops up and gates he looks to me like he has something. From what i've seen of him he's young, he's definately seems to have improved a lot over the last year, I think he looks nice and stylish and he's seems pretty fast when he stops upright. I think the falls may be a confidence thing that will hopfully disappear with a few regular premier league races and a few decent points for the Lions.

If we don't make the play offs can we expect more meetings to be added to the fixture list? If we don't make the play offs then i make it 15 PL standard meetings (£15), The Pride (£15), a juniors meeting (was that £5?), a sub NL standard meeting (i'm guessing £10), The freestyle show (£20 if you gets granstand seats) and the midland fours (whatever that is but lets say £15). Thats what is currently left in the fixture list. Even taking the freestyle show as a £20 ticket and if the fours was a £15 premier standard meeting then thats £290 worth of entrances. Season tickets were £330, even with full discount they were £297. Mick

Branford appears to have the same kind of issues with the track that Blackbird does. He never looks too bad going around bend 1/2 but appears to get bend 3/4 all wrong on what seems like 3 laps out of every 4.

don't disagree with what you say Astill Lodge. If Roynon had been fit all year then i still think we'd have been in the box seat. I agree with you re: the team as well. It doesn't bother me if we win or lose as long the riders look like there giving it everything and Leicester is their focus. The point i was trying to make was that if we had serious aspirations to stay in the top 6 then, for whatever reasons, we have missed the opportunities that have been available to make changes. accepted that i probably didn't need to add the last bit about track but there you go, what's done is done, it's a hard habit to break! Mick.

I don't think Redcar are catchable personally. I think we are nailed on for 7th. Do they still have the crap team cup as well to go? Is that happening this year? I guess we are either one of the favourites for the crap cup or rank outsiders for the play offs. What's the best option? We've missed every conceivable opportunity to make a difference this season which i'm guessing mainly boils down to our parlous finances. Im sure if we'd made track changes mid winter and let speedway decisions overrule the heart we'd of had Blackbird and Kerr scoring big at reserve all season. I think we've missed opportunities to replace the likes of the missfiring (away from home at least) Graversen with someone like Pontus Asprgren for whatever reasons as well, be that finance or heart. We've had a number 1 whose heart hasn't really looked into doing it for the Lions at any point his year (probably for good reason if what i heard about his testimonial was correct) and after the 'team talk' a couple of weeks ago i guess we know have a whole team that probably now hold similar views. If the right decisions had been made at the right times we'd have also had a whole lot more people watching at BP. It's not long ago that a junior meeting between Dudley and Leicester was pulling a much bigger (maybe twice the) crowd than last weeks individual but even then the writing was on the wall if things didn't change, they were actually on the wall from the very first meeting ever put on at BP. Rather than reel off excuse after excuse as to why less than 500 people are turning up for a meeting on a beautiful summers sunday evening in July, it's time some people stood back and actually faced the facts as to why no one is going any more. When speedway returned to Leicester a couple of years back it was inconcievable that these type of crowd levels would be happening so little time into the future. It will be interesting to see what crowd our team get watching them in a cool, wet September evening, faced with mid table mediocrity. Mick.

As far as I can see Magnus and Sergei have very similar averages. Darkin's final average was 6.53 so less than half a point currently between them. I think you would need to drop Nieminen for Darkin to create some 'reserve points' so to speak. Something along the lines of what I mentioned in the pride thread. It's a little worrying that if Edberg is out for a while and needs replacing I can't see a decent replacement anywhere (Steve Boxhall being the lowest average rider that i think could do a job as best reserve and his average is so high it would actually put Graversen at reserve). Mick.

I agree with you Tina, I guess we would all be losers. But it wouldnt be the fault of those that have been and think it's crap so don't go anymore. That's the point Nobblytriers is trying to make, that if people don't go it will be their fault when it doesn't exist anymore.. Unless the racing improves to something along the lines of what i watched at the last meeting between now and the end of the season then i won't be buying season tickets next year. I already know i definately will not be sponsoring Leicester next year. That's over a grand they won't be getting next year. The loss of that revenue to the owners is due to one thing and one thing only. If that affects the sustainability of Leicester Speedway then there is nothing i can do about it. There is something others could have done about it but not me. If things don't change and if i've lost interest in the fare on offer then using it or losing it makes no difference does it? I'll leave the extra financing required to keep the speedway going to the people who are seem happy watching what's on offer, people like you and Mrcts. I would guess the point that puts most potential customers off visiting Leicester to watch the speedway is they've likely tried it already and it's generally not up to much, see Bornagainlion or Nightshift and a whole host of others. It's a point Jim the Whipper quite eloquently made re: parallels between Newport and Leicester. Thats the single biggest issue with getting people to BP of a night now, not whether someone is moaning about it on the internet or elsewhere.

Whilst i agree to a point with this, if it goes and we end up with nothing, then it's likely to be the fault of people who have had the ability to do something about it. If it does goes then it will be because of the intransigence of the people in charge, nothing more, nothing less. It will have been their choice and their choice alone. IMO, If god forbid it was to happen then you would do a dissersive to the actual reasons were you to blame people on internet forums as a cause.

as good as it may have been, it lost it's way at the point where it tried to make out people have stayed away from Leicester on the basis of the what Robert72 or Jim the Whipper say! that crazy talk, so to speak.. Irrespective of the reasons for 3 years of dismal racing the facts are that but for odd occasion, such as last week, that's exactly what the entertainment has been... dismal. We've all willed it to be different but that's how it is. The amount of people who don't go because they've been and the racing is crap far outweighs the amount of people who haven't even been because Jim The Whipper and Robert72 say it's crap. Probably to a factor of 100% (or whatever the factor of everyone to nobody is). Sounds good when you read it, a rallying cry so to speak, but on reflection It's an awful, awful argument.

Eh! what's this about? what are the conspiracy theorists saying Tina? best shot at what? Personally, i dont think there is anything more to it. Karlsson is injured, Nieminen appears to have lost his edge and they, along with Bjerre and Doolan, appear to struggle to take points off the opposition big guns on a regular basis. Not sure i think anyone needs do one if they don't agree with me though.

I guess swapping nieminen and graversen out would allow a 9+ er and a 4 pointer but I think the issue is probably the lack of any decent replacements around the 4 point mark irrespective. As mentioned I think it probably needs a leap of faith at reserve if we were to make a change at the top now, especially now rye have signed up the one value rider below 5.5 that appeared to be available.

Pasted this across from the Workington v Leicester thread - The team was built around us starting the season with a 9.50-10 point man on a 7 point average. Losing him after 1 match and having to replace him with a true 7.00 rider has unfortunately mapped our season out (that and losing Lewis Kerr, a rider who common sense would say would have shared his reserve spot with Lewis Blackbird for all of 1 or 2 meetings before replacing Simon Nielsen). We are similar to Ipswich last year in that we have no-one to compete with the best the other teams have to offer. The only way out of mid table fizzle is to drop Graversen and one of the top four and use the 13 points we would have to replace them with a true No1 and someone that fits with what's left in the averages. Not sure anyone who could do the job and is available though although I think Edberg could hold his own in the main body of the team if need be. Lewis Bridger & James Sargeant for Karlsson & Graversen maybe but that would maybe leave us a bit vulnerable at reserve but maybe worth the gamble with how the season looks like working out? I suppose with that you would have two good young brits in and it would be nice to see Sargeant get the chance to kick on as he's looked close to making the step up all year without the opportunity to do it.