E I Addio

The in an ideal world an FTDR scheme in the PL could be a good idea, but the problem is the PL promoters wouldn't have it.

Yep, she should have replaced Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight.

I am not being hard on PK or in anyway critical of him . In fact he would be in my team of all time favourite riders, but the unfortunate fact is that 2014 proved to be a season too far for him. This had a knock on effect on Davey because although neither is a full,out No1 but as a joint spearhead they were doing a pretty decent job but when PK's form faltered there was too much weight on Davey's shoulders with no one else quite ready to step up. I know what you mean about Davey going awol. at times but almost every 6/7 point rider is the same. Adam Shields was like it , Bomber has some complete howlers, Rory , Kenny Bjerre, Hans, Bjarne Pdersen, and plenty of other quality riders have meetings where it just doesn't work for them. On the other hand you have to remember that on the credit side Davey has been a good captain when you look at the way he has worked to bring on riders like Richard Lawson, Ben Moreley and Adam Ellis. A lot of captains don't bother with things like that. So all in all I think with Davey the pros outweigh the cons as second heatleader/captain, but having said that, it could be that after 3 years with Lakeside a change of club for him and some new faces in the Hammers squad might be a positive move.,I have some great memories of some Heat 15s with Davey and PK at their best though.

Zagar, Worrall, Woodward, Kymakorpi, and Lahti then ?

I am an fan of Davey. He gets. Bad press because he has some howlers at away tracks, but when he was riding in conjunction with Peter Karlsson he did a decent job IMO and in 2013 especaially Davey and PK went out plenty of times in heats 13 and 15 to secure the full 3 points when the rest of the team had wavered. The problem is that Davey is a decent second heatleader but he is not really a genuine No 1 so when PK went off the boil this year it was too much for Davey to carry it off on his own, without consistent support from the others in the big heats. Personally Iwouldn't mind seeing Davey back in a second heatleader role but as the clubs priority is for a full No 1 I think it will be, difficult to fit Davey in if the points limit stays at 32, but who knows.

What a great idea. All we need now is a bank that will lend several million pounds and to find a few plots of land to build these Polish-style stadiums, local councils to give planning permission, local residents who are not going to complain about the noise and extra traffic, and all the sports problems are solved. I don't think so. Its amazing that people who come up with these bright ideas never tell us where the money is coming from.

No, Gem, nothing you don't know already. A load of moans that we can't do anything about, and simply looking for quick fix answers without looking at the sports wider and deeper problems.mfor example moaning about the facilities and toilets at some clubs (he mentioned Coventry by name), but completely missing the point that most clubs don't own their own stadiums so there is not much they can do about that, but at the same time, as sponsor of a foreign rider he mentioned nothing about the problem of excess foreign riders in the league at the expense of investment into development of young Brits. He just basically articulated the problems people have been going on about on here for a long time, but offered no constructive suggestions beyond what has already been canvassed on here many times. We are all getting fed up with it especially things like the cheating and inconsistent application of the rules, but things like cleaning up the toilets at Coventry and giving Swindons stadium a lick of paint (another bright idea he came up with) is just tickling the edge of the problem, which is hardly going to get people flooding back unless something is done to make the racing better and especially keep the momentum of the meetings going, instead of stop start tractor racing. If some of these fundamentals can be sorted people will be more inclined to put up with crappy stadiums which the speedway promoters can't do much about anyway.

Edit

They wouldn't fit on a 32 point limit, which seems likely to continue. Even if they knocked 2 points off Richards average to off-set the fact that he spent most of the season as a second string, they still wouldn't fit. Therein lies the problem. Everyone would like to see Bech back but there is no point if he is going to be missing lots of meetings again. He was on a bargain average when he came in on a five-point average last season but on a 7.24 his average is not quite such a bargain. If AJ comes back I doubt if you will see another continental rider in the side, apart from Kim who seems more committed to British speedway than most.

How do you know he is over it? Amazing how people who are not doctors and have never met the bloke know what's wrong with him. Anyway back to the point of the thread. By this stage Jon Cook usually has a pretty clear idea of who the team will be. We know that Richard Lawson is nailed on and Kim Nilsson is 99 % , so it seems to hinge on how many points are left to play with depending on whether they get AJ. As Lewis talking about a year out he obviously hasn't been given the nod on a team place as yet, either at Lakeside or anywhere else. Lakeside now have first call on Danny King. who is not as prolific or entertaining as Lewis round Lakeside, but he is generally better at other tracks, and he has indicated he would like to come, plus he is more of a team player than Lewis,so he must be in the running. In addition, if KL release Rory, Lakeside seems to be his natural home. He likes the track, most of the fans like him and he, like Danny is a good team player, which seems to count a lot with Jon Cook. But if AJ doesn't come the club would still need an all out No1.

If ever a rider was massively popular with a set of fans it is AJ at Lakeside :- http://www.lakesidehammers.co/content/?p=8649

Yeah, like we all believe it is a genuine first timer. No prizes for guessing whose grubby fingerprints are all over this one.

Good post. We have seen it all before over the years. Some riders are good at 16 but level off in their twenties, others struggle in the early years but come on in leaps and bounds in their twenties. Lambert is far better than Ivam Mauger was at Sixteen but whether he will be as good as Mauger was at 28 is probably unlikely. Lambert did himself no favours by mouthing off in Speedway Star earlier this year and has set himself a standard to,live up to.

Good post. We have seen it all before over the years. Some riders are good at 16 but level off in their twenties, others struggle in the early years but come on in leaps and bounds in their twenties. Lambert is far better than Ivam Mauger was at Sixteen but whether he will be as good as Mauger was at 28 is probably unlikely. Lambert did himself no favours by mouthing off in Speedway Star earlier this year and has set himself a standard to,live up to.

Good post. Too early to get over excited about Lambert. Over the years we have seen riders like Lambert who were good at sixteen but by their early twenties others had caught them up and passed them. Others have struggled in the early years then come on in leaps and bounds. There is no telling which riders are going to hit the high spots.its a tough sport and raw talent is not enough. Lambert didn't do himself any favours by mouthing off in Speedway Star earlier in the year, instead of letting his riding do the talking.

So why fuel speculation by saying such an move MUST be on the cards when them truth is you don't know. If ANY of the remaining clubs joined the PL it would put the Sky contract at risk and it is highly likely that some sort of rescue package would, be attempted. However, your own magazine has often stated that Lakeside run a tight ship,financially and quoted Jon Cook a few weeks ago as saying the club usually make a small profit so on that basis there is no obvious reason to drop to the PL, and if you are going to argue t.he geographical position you might as well suggest Belle Vue might go,PL. Stuart's re-location has nothing to do with it. few weeks ago your own magazine, which it seems you don't bother to read yourself, published a long interview with Jon Cook who said that despite Stuart's absence he is still very much involved with key decisions and they speak by telephone 3or 4 times a week. This is why people have complained about some of your posts in the past. When you make these bald statements people think that as a journalist you have certain information and unless you say specifically it is merely an opinion not based on fact it just starts the rumour mill going. The sport has enough problems with journalists fuelling speculation and gossip. It's bad enough with all the drivel we get from Gustix, another towering example to his journalistic trade.

Why MUST it be SURELY be on the cards that Lakeside will go PL? We haven't even had the AGM yet so we don't even know what form the leagues will take, so what is your basis for saying that Lakeside are on the cards to go PL? If Lakeside were to go PL then with Eastbourne gone there would only be seven EL clubs left which would put the Sky contract at risk, which in turn would put the whole EL at risk, so that is a serious claim to make unless you have anything factual to back it up. So can you enlighten us as to why you are saying this?

So you reckon that if teams only met once home and away nobody would get injured, and we wouldn't need guests ? Even if teams only met once home and away Poole and Kings Lynn would still need guests or R/R in place of their top two etc. So by your reckoning Princess Diana's Funeral must be the most exciting event ever as it had the biggest audience.

You said in your previous post "I have given my theory of why I think the opposite " . I was simply picking up on that. Its surely not that difficult to follow. I will spell it out again as succinctly as I can.: 1. You have put forward something that in your own words is a theory. 2. A theory is something that cannot be proven. If it could be proven it wouldn't be a theory . It would be a fact. 3. Therefore you have put forward a point of view i.e a theory which is fair comment but if people are not persuaded that doesn't make them stupid or sycophants. 4. I am not saying you are wrong. I am saying that if you are right, then then not only the Elite League but also the Premier League, the Polish League, the Swedish League, and a whole range of other sports have got it wrong. That doesn't mean that you are wrong. you might be right, but the balance of opinion amongst many people who run different sports in different countries is against you.. As far as theory is concerned I don't think anything can usefully be added to what has already been said without going round in circles again. time to move on and let Kings Lynn Stars have their thread back. You may wish to re-visit the topic when someone starts a Belle Vue 2015 thread.

So now we are back to saying it is a theory. Well yes it is a theory but theory and fact are not the same thing. All we know for a fact is that the PO's generally bring in bigger crowds than normal matches and give the top clubs the chance of more income, but they are also an important carrot to the Sky contract, and whether we like it or not the Sky money is crucial to the sport in its present form. The other point we can say as a fact is that Sweden and Poland have a play-off system , so do a number of other sports, so if you are right all the TV companies and marketing men in those sports must be wrong. Whether people like the play-offs or not, it is impossible to compare like with like. The difference in attendances between now and the days of the straight league vary for a whole range of reasons and attempt to compare the two systems is, for the average person , nothing more than guesswork . Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages, and whichever way you go someone will not like it, but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. You demean your own position by constantly referring to those who favour the play-offs as stupid and sycophants but your own theories are no more persuasive, and, as I said , are contrary to the thinking of the speedway authorities on the continent and those of the marketing men in other sports who presumably have some statistical information to work with.

Disagree. Lakesides biggest crowd of the season is always the Good Friday local derby with Eastbourne, and I daresay most local Derbys bring in the biggest crowd irrespective of position in the league.. The second biggest crowd of the season at Lakeside is usually Coventry because they come on a Saturday rather than the usual Friday fixture , which seems to be a more attractive night for many fans especially those with long journeys,. Nothing to do with league position. Jon Cook wrote about attendance patterns in the Lakeside programme a year or two back. They tend to be reasonably good in the first few meetings of the season then slowly drop off until the start of the school holidays (which obviously co-incides with better weather) when they pick up again. Other tracks may be the same, or they may not but I would think that general pattern applies most places to a degree. You are putting forward a puerile argument.. There are so many factors that influence attendances, and not always the same factors at each track that it is impossible to sustain your argument unless you have carried out a detailed survey of attendance patterns at every track every track. The weather seems to affect the size of the crowd far more than league tables. I think you are mistaken about the excitement of top teams chasing the title. Sometimes it was close other times one team had a clear lead by halfway through the season. I can also remember occasions when the League title wasn't decided by a match involving the eventual winners. Quite often a match between two other teams would mean one of them could no longer take the title. FWIW I would prefer a straight league in a perfect world because I think it is fairer but I wouldn't say that one system is necessarily a bigger crowd puller than the other taking all teams into account. You said in an earlier post that it was your opinion. If it seems that way to you as an opinion that's fair enough but there I no way of proving factually that the plays-offs are responsible for crowds being smaller over a season than would have been the case anyway.

Speaking purely as a neutral I really enjoyed it. Pity about Kyle Howarth getting hurt and I wish him well but realistically I doubt that his continued presence would have changed the result. To my mind it was a classic example of how a class performance by one rider (Magic ) can raise the whole team. Good show by North and Lawson, who seemed destined for no score but both got stuck in and scored vital points when it mattered. Hansen was the Bees weak link but I am astonished Hans didn't do much better. It's a lot easier to warm to Poole now we don't have to endure Shovlar's constant bilge but they are an attractive and entertaining side even though the TM is an horrendous character. it was probably the best Coventry track I have seen for almost as far back as I can remember.. For the first time in several years everything is up for grabs on the PO's. I have felt all season that Swindon could pull it off if they get their acts together, which they are now doing. Coventry can't be written off just yet. They are abetter side than last nights effort although Hansen may well be the let-down but now that Magic is leading from the front (in every sense of the word, Poole will always be a formidable side. Unfortunately it's all unravelling for KL at the wrong time with injuries to their top two. Pearson is going from bad to worse though

He is in Sweden.. He would be available on Lynns normal race night but by switching the meeting to a Tuesday they have deprived Lakeside of Nilsson who is very good around the NA, far better than any 5-pointer Lakeside can get to replace him. Not that Lakeside would be in the play-offs anyway but Lynn taking no chances of dropping any points to make sure they finish top and get first pick of opponents, even if it means switching race nights.

It doesn't. It shows how strong Poole and Kings Lyne are. On the last issue of GSA;'s the Poole and Kings Lynn sides have combined averages of over 36. Everybody else has combined averages of around 31/32. Lakesides combined team average is less than half a point lower than Swindon and well over a point higher than Coventry, both of whom have been touted as possible PO winners. Interestingly Leicester's combined average is higher than any of them, If Lakeside had not replaced Bech with Danny King their combined average would be the third highest in the league, although it still probably wouldn't put them in the P.O.'s. looking at Poole and KL more closely it seems that KL's average of 36 is a reflection of all round team performances home and away but doesn't reflect the fact they now seem to be running out of steam, but Poole's high combined average seems to be due to the massive improvement of Millik Grajonek , and on their home track, rather than KL's all round performances. Bottom line is that you can't read much into averages as Covenrty's late surges in 2010 and this year have shown. Some people say that is why the Play-off, system is unfair, others say that's what makes it exciting.

I don't agree. Many of them say they have learned a lot be being with top riders. Many of the young one were absolutely clueless on the technicalities of things like set-ups when they came up to the Eite league. Take Ben Morley for example. In the early part of the season they set his bike up like Dave Watts and he wasn't fast enough, so they set it up like Lewis Bridgers and he started flying, so he has learned that what works for one rider doesn't work for another and learned how to work out set-ups. He then took that knowledge back to Kent where he went up to number 1 so slowly the standard is being raised by the trickle down effect. There are many similar examples. The FTDR is not perfect and needs some fine tuning, but IMO it should be viewed as work in progress rather than something to be scrapped. Personally I think there have been some good races where FTDR riders have beaten quite good second strings, and to my mind its no worse than the old system where one side could have Martin Smolinski at reserve coming out 6 or 7 races and banging in 15 or 16 points that swung the match, and another side having a reserve like Ales Dryml plodding round at the back, being lucky to score 1 or 2.