wandersome

That's interesting martin, It would be nice to hear the view from Long Eye.. I'm afraid i'm still of the opinion that irrespective, the main point is the track shape is not correct for consistent good meetings, or at least could be improved on significantly in order that the kind of meeting we witnessed last night become norm rather than the exception. The evidence would appear to point to the fact that in it's current shape with only a little variation in conditions the track becomes too hard to pass on. That's a view taken from watching the racing for the last 2 1/2 years.

Track shape may not end up being the issue after all, however as i saw it the preparation last night appeared to be of the very slick nature. Kind of goes against the grain of those who say more dirt solves everything and makes the dirt equation a difficult one. Interesting that you put 'weather conditions excepted' though, as the commonality within the good meetings at BP doesn't appear to be whether the track is running slick or with some dirt at all but does have a strong relationship to to weather conditions. The other track theory i've heard put forward, and the one that appears to currently hold more water so to speak than even the track shape one is this one. It's been said that before the grand opening, and in the race against time to get the base hard enough, and supposedly against almost everyones better judgement, someone insisted that huge amounts of quicklime were added to the base so it would firm up in time as we were having a problem with the track and the opening night had to happen. This unfortunately leaves the base hardening up like concrete on anything bar overcast, damp and wet days stopping anything gripping into it. Interestingly the meetings the track has worked fit this theory perfectly and make me wonder how things may have worked out with a bit more diplomacy from our dear leader (well, actually, a lot more diplomacy, well, any diplomacy at all would be a start!). Something like that anyway, i'm clearly no track building expert!... Anyone's thoughts on this? Mick.

Sorry Neb, letting the team down is not the point i'm making at all. So if your asking if i'm happy now, no. I know you are very protective of Magnus and i accept his history with us and people's opinion of him, such as your own. My opinion is that, as a rider, i rate Roynon a lot, lot higher than Magnus. I'm not having a go at him beyond the choices i feel we had. If Roynon was coming back from Injury and Karlsson was/is riding with injuries then even more so.

If true then it's amazing that our esteemed leader has turned a perfect opportunity to give a huge up yours to us track doubters into yet another absolutely hapless own goal. You couldn't make it up!

If racing was like that every week there wouldn't be any moaning but unfortunately racing isn't like that every week. Ipswich and Somerset meetings apart it's been fairly hopeless all year again. That should be the entertainment level we should be expecting as a norm, not once or twice a season. Can't fault tonight though, it was excellent. Other than the score!

All the best to Alex & Stefan. Writing was on the wall even when we looked to be cruising and 12 points up. Some good racing. If it was like that and the Ipswich meeting every week then there wouldn't be a need to moan about the track.. Unfortunately we see it only 3 or 4 times a year. Morris' performance was as good a performance as i've seen from anyone at BP. Morris, Doyle and Grajczonek were different class from our heat leaders. I know why it happened but I can't help but think that we will regret keeping Karlsson over Roynon come the end of the season. The engine problems that had hindered him for a season must be back as Karlsson looks back to the gater who hangs on again after his 2 week purple patch.. If Edberg has broken his ankle then i think we are in the do. His forceful style has been a breath of fresh air since signing. Looks like we are .01 away from being able to bring in a 5 pointer so slim pickings. Hopefully we don't have to resort to bringing back Makinen or Nielsen

Decent meeting if we ever get to the end of it! Morris pretty sensational so far

another rebel who has looked pretty good around BP. I thought we should have signed him after he rode in the NL/PL challenge for dudley in our initial season when he looked really smart. He appears to have stalled a little since then though he appears to have had a lot of niggly injuries such as the current headache issue. Wish him well, just not tonight! Mick.

so what do we talk about Tina. You always do these posts yet i'm at a loss to the different things we could be talking about. I make a concerted effort to talk about the issues as i see them at Leicester, as do many on here. True that there are only so many issues that can happen at a Speedway... Track, Team, Stadium, Management (and it seems weather!). Should you choose to actually ignore the drivel that comes from the usual 2 or 3 and rather concentrate on the people actually making an effort to engage in meaningful debate then the Leicester threads, and this one in particular, has some decent debate going on, that's why it's still going on. I have to say, even has a bit of well placed, well thought out humour as well (see Jim the Whippers beans analogy). Just off the top of my head i can think of 40-38, Lionsden, Leicesterlion, hazzman, lionstigers, glennylion, nobblytriers, nigtshift, halifaxtiger, nobrakes, fanmale, oneandtwohalfs, flagrag, vulcan62, roy, speedflash and on and on all making decent contributions to the ongoing debates (though accepted they may not be what you appear to want to read). Maybe you might tell us what we should be talking about or leading the threads in the direction you feel we should be heading in.. maybe it's which Leicester rider has the nicest hair or best kevlars or how superfine it is to be on a 7 match winning streak. Personally though, i feel the likes of Facebook cover that aspect of fandom well enough and that's why i'm here rather than there. As an example, the last home meeting, Leicester lost all the track equipment and we appeared to have a very last minute, totally inappropriately sized replacement tractor, incapable of the doing the job required, and ended up with a track with big holes in it that was dangerous. The reasons for this situation occuring looks like something that need commenting and debating on to me. Maybe not to mrcts, long eye, tsunami, jenga or yourself but it does to me Mick.

It will be interesting to see what the track is like. Anyone know whether we are getting the big tractor in for the day again? I guess If anyone has been using the track for practice for the last two weeks then it could make for some interesting racing again if we've been tractorless over that period. It's asking a lot of Glyn to try and make it a decent track if we are still in that same position. I guess we might get some passing again though as the inside liners negotiate the holes. Mick.

Going by past perfrmances at BP i think Leicester will do well to keep the unbeaton record going. I'd say that only Craig Cook has looked better than Doyle at BP and Davies looked excellent for Australia last year. Morris has also looked sensational at times around BP as well. I think we'll have to be on it to get any points.

For fear of repeating myself, there is the crux. If David Hemsley had been up front with his plans and reasons for it with regards to promised changes before the season started then he would have had more of my respect, maybe £60 of my hard earned over the course of the season but i'd have understood the reasons for not making changes and wouldn't have felt the need to moan about Leicester Speedway on here. And I'd have still offered help if he'd wanted to solve the issues as i see them. Unfortunately he didn't, for the second consecutive season he's had at least £1100 of my money through what is basically false pretences of promising me something that hasn't been enacted on. Mick.

This has also been answered in the post that follows by Jim The Whipper. i don't think this is an option as Mr Hemsley doesn't want to change the track. Had he thought this was an avenue he wanted to go down he could have changed the track by now, and at no financial outlay to himself. That i'm fairly certain of so to speak. The issues we currently have, as many mentioned on the Glasgow meeting thread, was that it would appear that the tractors, bowser and all the track equipment had disappeared during the week of that meeting and only a last ditch rental of a monster tractor allowed some last minute preparation. Not enough though as the track had huge holes in it was, frankly, dangerous.

don't disagree Vince. I guess one strange phenomonen that does exist as the fanbase contracts is that the support for the promoter actually increases as there is a percentage increase in people left still enjoying their night out. I suppose a point you could make as a comparison with Newport is it's probably better as a promoter, rather than listening to all the happy customers, if he can realise that this phenomenen is happening before you end up at a point where you have a fanbase of 300 fans of the fayre and 100 who just can't give it up in regular crowds of 400. At that point there almost no way back, as shown by the situation at Newport. Leicester are halfway there and train appears to be still rolling on dropping a few off at every junction.

I've missed what's happened here. It appeared it was Glasgow but now not. Where's Roynon going now?

The second time i've seen you use this simile as an argument Vince. Interestingly you could use a whole host of promoter pairings to fit any argument you're trying to make about the situation at Leicester. Doesn't take someone which a huge knowledge of speedway to make very similar posts with regards to David Hemsley and Phil Bartlett, David Hemsley and Mike Bowden Or even David Hemsley and Tony Mole should you so wish. I'm sure you could see that with a few selective points all could easily be made to fit an argument someone might wish to make, but all would be equally just as pointless for obvious reasons, which is why i've never felt the need to make such a post. It's interesting that why I admit i do tend to stick to making posts about the things that cause me concern about Leicester Speedway at present, rather than our on track success, it's surely important that rumours on the terraces of non payments to contractors, repossessions of important equipment, the strange situation with regards to Nemo's testimonial, open to all public arguments between main sponsors & our promoter, dangerous tracks, lower than expected average crowds and so on and on are not just ignored because we don't feel we can say anything for fear we will be blamed for harming the current promotion. As someone who wants to see Leicester Speedway a success i genuinely feel these are worrying times. Is that so wrong? Mick.

He's probably took the opportunity to go on holiday whilst he's waiting for some new equipment to turn up! There must be a reason why he hasn't been on to give his version of why the track was allowed to be like that last saturday. He's clearly (and rightly) a very proud man when it comes to his tracks and his reputation for making a safe racing track for the riders and i do find it strange that he hasn't been on to tell us why it was like it was. As many have alluded to, it doesn't take Morse to work out what happened and why the track was like it was but i'm sure there are still a few who aren't seeing the forest for the trees. Something clearly amiss last week. Can i just finish by saying, loads of wins in a row though, good times!

You might be right Neb, after all It's all swings and roundabouts. Without cardiff Nemo would probably have lost 150 travelling fans but for all i know gained 250 Leicester fans who chose Cardiff over BP. A big name or 2 may also have added a few but the point i'm trying to make is that IMO there would be a lot more Lions fans there for Nemo's gig if the track issue had been addressed before this season or last season. Why else have so many fans disappeared from Leicester. Everything else about the stadium is first rate. The staff are the best you could meet. It's a nice environment once you're in there. And yet large amounts of proper Lions 'hat, scarf and coat wearing' fans have turned their back on the Lions over the last year (take a look at the fan pictures from meetings over the last 3 years in the LSSC facebook site). Someone else also pointed out that we now almost never see fans from other tracks like we did the first season and a half, what haoppened to all the fans in the Bees, Brummies and Wolves coats that used to make it over for meetings and i agree. That's not to say i'm wrong. it is just my opinion. Mick.

i dont disagree with what you say. i would say 800-1000 as a figure but i'd say 900-1100 could equally be about the mark. I would have put Karlsson's testimonial at well over 2000. The stands were full and it was pretty much two lines of fans all around the stadium. By the time i arrived I remember not being about to get a space on the back fence and certainly no holes on the track fence . The seats hold 400 as far as i'm aware and during a particularly mind numbingly boring meeting lately i did a head count on the stands and it had about 280 in there (admittedly on a night that wasn't the biggest of crowds). So my guess is that generally there are between 280-340 in the stands. Either way, whilst admittedly still more than most clubs get, there aren't a huge number of people going anymore and either way scarily big numbers have stopped going over the last two years. My point is even this time last year and Nemo's testimonial on a lovely sunny sunday i would have expected a crowd nearer 2000.

With all due respect you probably don't need to count the spectators to know, for example, that Nemo's testimonial had way less than half the crowd that Magnus got for his last year. That's in little over a year and Nemo and Karlsson are equally popular riders for the Lions. That was with busloads of Belle Vue and Workington supporters returning from Cardiff on a beautiful sunny day. Did DH attend Nemo's testimonial last week?

you're right but did they take any notice?

True, Graversen and Branford were up against Hall, who neither was going to beat, and Koppe, who other than his first heat had looked hopeless. It's worth pointing out that the tactics that work generally don't get noticed in the same way. I expected Sergeant to be replace in heat 8 even though in his first race he looked as good as either reserve had. Glyn kept him in and he won the race and looked the part as well. With that confidence he was then able to deliver in his last race as well. My opinion is If he'd been replaced in heat 8 there would be every chance he'd have not had the confidence to do what he did in his last race. It was great to see how proud James, and all his pit crew for that matter, looked with his efforts. I was made up for them. That was down to Glyn and we ended with 5 points instead of maybe 2 or 3. So these decisions are all swings and roundabouts. Personally i'd have put Edberg in heat 14 though

Great win. With the on track excitement not far off BP levels for most of the meeting Glyn was at least kind enough to keep the interest going to the last by not replacing Branford with the impressive Edberg (Good call by lionking) in heat 14. Great last heat by Nieminen at the second attempt. Brilliant performance by Seargent and he looked tidy all night, even in heat 1 he wasn't far off the pace against Allen. Anyone got any news on magnus karlsson? I heard he had a big crash in Sweden tonight.

That is what i meant Lionking. I think they are running a NL guest so they still have the option to use Karlsson in the team. As you say, If they replace him for the Sheffield meeting then we cant then redeclare with him in the team for 28 days. I heard that Roynon has been out practicing at BP and looking good BTW.

If it ain't the track and it ain't the promotion, which Hemsley is quite clear it ain't, then everyone buggering off to do something else on a saturday night has to be someone's fault. And his conclusion is that it still appears to be us and the recession.