E I Addio

Roughly an hour later than normal. Around 10.40 ish . Normally finish around 9.35- 9.40

In fairness , I think both the incidents involving Gappmier were pure racing incidents. Emotions run high when a rider gets hurt, but as I saw it both Alfie and Dany were going hell for leather for the same piece of track, they may or may not have touched, I couldn't be sure , but Gappmier lost control and T-boned Kyle who was just ahead of them. Didn't look deliberate to me, but he have got carried away and been riding above himself.

To be fair , only the referee can dictate the pace of the meeting. All the team manager , pit Marshall and clerk of the course can do is make sure the riders are on notice when they are out for the next race. Almost all the delay can be accounted for by repairs to the air fence when Lawson went under it , and more significantly waiting for the track doctor to return after treating Kyle. Those are delays that are unavoidable in this sport. Persnally, I can't remember the last time a Lakeside meeting over ran by this amount or anything like it . It must be at least 10 years. It's not ans if it's happening every meeting.

That is a very fair post and IMO a very fair assessment. I grew up watching speedway at a big track and it took me some time to adjust to Arena but as you say its in the eye of the beholder. According to Stuart Robson, it was the most physically demanding track in what was then the Elite League, and according to Kelvin Tatum and Neil Middleditch it is a very mentally demanding track . Of course that gives it both plusses and minuses as a spectacle but unfortunately some want to dismiss it without looking for the finer points. However to see someone like Peter Karlsson performing his famous cut backs at Lakeside or Wolves is really a special aspect of the sport that you don't see at many tracks. One thing Kelvin said, is that many riders are beaten in their minds before the racing even starts. They convince themselves they cant ride certain tracks so don't overcome the mental challenge, especially if they know they have a track the next night that gives them a big payday. Of course there are the narrow minded armchair experts who never will get there minds round the fact that different tracks have different qualities, but personally I think we are very lucky in this country to have such a variety of tracks to enjoy. Its just a pity that most of them are in such dilapidated stadiums

Hash tagging words like naysayer and nonbeliever doesn't add to the validity of your argument. According to your assessment Cardiff at 285 metres is not a "proper " Speedwáy track . Poole , at 299.1 metres is not a proper Speedwáy track in your estimation but if they extended it by one metre it would be according to you. It may have escaped your notice but we don't have enough new or developing Speedwáy tracks in the pipeline to be fussy about size. There are many, many factors that create the spectacle of a Speedwáy meeting, one of the most important being a presentation that heightens the anticipation of the crowd. If the presentation is right and the right atmosphere created poor racing will seem good. To demonstrate that point you only have to look at some of the YouTube clips of the old World Finals. The racing in some of them was very ordinary yet people have fantastic memories of them because of the atmosphere and experience. I guarantee that if a state of the art stadium , like Belle Vue were built with a 260/270 metr track, properly prepared, with good quality material on it. you would see some very good racing, providing the riders were all of roughly the same standard. Of course , you don't often get riders of that standard all in the same meeting.

Do you seriously believe the comments in S/S came from people who were not there?

See Wolfie 456's post immediately above yours.

You have obvious ly never seen Jason Edwards , then, a product of Lakeside's Academy, still only 15 and raising more than a few eybrows in the NL .

Word of praise for two of Lakeside's lesser lights. Firstly, Congratuations to Kyle Newman on his first paid max for the Hammers. After a steady but solid start to the year he I'd starting to kick on now. With Kyle naturally on the inside line ans Adam on the outside they are becoming a formidable pairing. Secondly , Alfie Bowtell still finds it hard at this level , but I notice he is becoming a very good gater, particular off the inside two. Off the outside gate he seems to lose his way on bends 1&2 a bit but that will come with experience. Two points is better than 0 and if he can extend that to 3or 4 by the end of the season he will have done well. The crowd love him because he is a trier.

There was Olle Nygren who always had plenty to say for himself, the immaculate Ken McKinlay, who variously rode for both England and Scotland as well as Great Britain, Les "Atom Bomb " McGillivray, and while talking about hard men we must not forget Clive Featherby whole apparently had an extra long footrest so he could have people off. His catchphrase was "Speedwáy is for men, not mice ".

Morris and Lawson have shown hints of inconsistency lately. Alfie Bowtell is still on a learning curve, so Lakeside are to all intents and purposes a six man team. They have it in them to win but recent form suggests they could fall short.

In those days the British Final was one of the World Championship Qualifiers so Aussies and Kiwis had to ride in it to get to the next round. It was a World away from the meaningless Mickey Mouse thing it has now become.

Funny thing about riding styles. To my mind, nobody seems to have a more awkward style than Stuart Robson, yet for most of his career he has been a pretty reasona able top league second string. Then we have Lewi Kerr who could hardly complete four laps without falling off when he first came to Lakeside, now look at him, a very good CL second string , probably on the way to being a heatleader. I do agree though that an NL place will do Alfie's confidence a lot of good, and hopefully we will see him come into his own at the business end of the season. Can't fault his enthusiasm or determination, so it would be great to see him succeed. Well done to Ben also winning heat one on Saturday. Good to know there is a number two capable of winning heat one and getting us off to a good start when the heatleader gets blocked on the first bend. Ben is another one that has made slow but steady progress and is now beginning to establish himself solidly at CL level.

Without wishing to get into the pointless discussion of what constitutes entertainment ( and let's not get into the silly argument Speedwáy only being 15 min racing) surely the point is that if 50,000+ are regularly paying an arm and a leg to watch a football match, it demonstrates that Speedwáy is not over priced , and that if people find someting enjoyable and entertaining they will find the funds to pay for it. Reducing Speedwáy admission to £10 won't bring more through the gate ( well not significantly anyway ) , good entertainment well presented will make a difference. There will never be football sized crowds at Speedwáy meetings but if Speedwáy tracks could put even another 200 on the gate each meeting of the season it would make a huge difference to the finances of most clubs, and to the future of the sport. Instead those in charge act as if lowering the standard is the way forward.

Unfortunately mate, you are not the forum administrator , neither are you the arbiter of who is right or wrong. I don't like people stirring things up either but I have to follow forum rules like everybody else. There must be loads like me that don't know SCB and are not Poole fans but just enjoy reading opinions on the sport and match reports. It annoys me when attention seekers jump in with their stupid attempts to dominate and the best way to deal with them is to ignore them if people take the bait they'll carry on . I have had my fallings out with Bwitcher, Steve Shovlar and others but we don't take ourselves too seriously, don't need anyone else to stand up for us, put it behind us and don't have any hard feelings. If you want to out anybody publish your own name and address. I don't want to make this into a sermon but there is a way of going about things and wading in with your own rules is not it. If you carry on down this road you'll finish up looking a complete jerk like Pinny. End of rant lads, keep calm and carry on hating Poole everybody

Ithink Ipswich are a better side than many of their own fans give them credit for. Every team in this league has its weak links and Ippo has been up against some strong sides in Lakeside and Peterboro so far this year. If the Witches can hit form, which they haven't done as a team so far they can still have decent run in the league.

Doesnt matter how many times you mention it, your opinion is no more valid than anybody else's , especially the fans that turn up every week and enjoy it. Each to his own. Personally I can't stand football but I'm not so presumptuous as to think my judgment is any better than those who do enjoy it. If you don't like it don't go, it's that simple. Bleating on a forum is not going to change anything. Of course when teams like Ipswich turn up with only one rider that can gate consistently, and who can keep up, it's hardly a formula for the best nights racing ever.

The rules actually say if the rider is sick or carrying a non - Speedwáy injury, they say nothing about serious illness or emergencies involving a close family member, thus Richards situation is not covered by the rules, and there is therefore no entitlement to apply an automatic suspension. Obviously the rules cannot cover every conceivable situation, but it's fair and reasonable that in a domestic crisis the MC should make a judgement call, taking into account the clubs position. In any event it's daft to blame Lakeside for not giving more details in what was essentially a private matter, but it still comes back to people not properly reading what is written in the Lakeside statement and the rules. Of course, there are occasions when there is manipulation of the rules and mis-statements, usually when a club on the South Coast is involved but some fans are no better when they jump to conclusions then blame a statement or rule they haven't read properly.

It's also a bit stupid to read something into a statement that isn't there.

I agree. It's just that stailnlesssteeride was saying it was Lakeside's fault for not giving a proper statement. Whether a rider should be given a facility for a family members illness, I suppose depends on who the family member is and what the illness is.

No , without the paying public there would be less clubs. The paying public and keyboard warriors are not necessarily one and the same, especially as several of those poking their noses into this issue wouldn't be going through the turnstiles in this match if Richard was riding.

They did put out an accurate statement. They said Richard was unavailable due to illness , which was true. They didn't say it was his illness. The problem arises because half wits like you start reading things that aren't there and start stirring it. Riders are human like everybody else. In all honesty if a family member of a speedway rider or anyone else is taken I'll suddenly would you seriously expect a statement giving any more than the most basic information? The bloke has enough on his plate without the gossip mangers casting aspersions .

The way Lawson has been flying from the gate recently Bomber definitely weakens the Hammers. I remember Jon Cooks famous comment when Chris guested once before “Come on Bomber we know you can’t get out the starting gate but you’re hardly getting out of the pit gate tonight!”

According to Jon Cook the smaller crowds on mid week race nights was the sole reason for not going back into the top league. Personally , I miss the old Elite League as it used to be but the most of the top riders are not back in the. PL this year so there doesn't seem to be a great deal of difference between the PL and CL now. I've been reasonably happy with the standard of racing so far so overall I think the decision to go CL has been a good one, especially as we keep the Friday race night.

Well done to the team that are no good on away tracks. Comiserations to Ippo. Nobody likes losing at home. The Witches seem like a bit of a two man team at the moment.