E I Addio

Can't see any way Lakeside can cover the loss of Dave Watt. Lewis has won 8 of his last 9 races at Lakeside and had a puncture in the other one so can't see Barker performing on that level. Barker has had some good meetings in the past but has't done much the las couple of seasons and I think scored about 2 last time he came, so KL must be in the driving seat now.

Not sure where Bjerre is riding but Lewis has to be in Poland and I am pretty sure practice at 12 noon so not much chance of making it if he rides at Lakeside, Friday. On the basis of Lewis and Davey's home form of the last two weeks they will be virtually irreplaceable.

According to Rory Schlein on twitter the cause was a certain rider ".going down the Nicki route ". Plenty of fans will be furious if that turns out to be true when we know a bit more.

Good post. I totally agree action needs to be taken to avoid a precedent being set. If it is acceptable for a rider to try to enhance his own gate then equally one might say it is just as acceptable to interfere with someone else's gate. What if Tai went out and scraped dirt off the other gates or poured water on them ? Nothing in the rules to say he can't do that before the riders come under starters orders. The referee should have taken control of the situation but he didn't so we can't blame Tai for weak refereeing but there has to be at least some kind of guideline set for what a rider can or cannot do to the gate.

If Lambert ever finds himself on the same piece of track that N. Pedersen Esq wants to be on he might well find the word "ruthless" means a lot more than he thinks it means. If Lambert finds himself wanting the same piece of track that Tai is on he might well find that having a racing brain is of a bit more use than calling yourself ruthless. Like most on this thread, I am not Tai's biggest fan but can't take anything away from what he has done in the last couple of seasons. For a while last year I just thought he was very lucky with the gaps opening for him at the right time but when it goes on this long then obviously its not all luck, and he is undoubtedly an intelligent racer. The only down side IMO is that for his age he has already suffered quite a lot of injuries around the collar-bone and arms and if he takes many more bad knocks in that area its quite possible injuries will catch up and curtail his career at the very top.

Good Post, It is a speedway race and you don't win anything in this sport by backing off. I like Scott and I like Bomber, but don't favour one more than the other, but I do think Dan Holt has a reputation for poor decisions. Having said all that I couldn't really fault the decision to put Scott out. I thought it was close and on balance I thought Scott should go but I wouldn't have said it was wrong to but Bomber out if the ref saw it differently because it could have gone either way. So it was one of the very rare occasions that Dan Holt made the right call IMO. I presume none of those saying Bomber took a dive, have actually experienced coming off a motorcycle at 60 mph, if indeed they have experienced it at any speed but I doubt that it is the sort of thing that a rider would decide upon in a split second with all the risks of injury that are involved , plus the fact that if done deliberately there would be no point unless Bomber was pretty certain that it would be Scott not Bomber to go . As to Scotts post on twitter, he does himself no credit by that sort of childish comment after the event.. One thing about Scott, going back over the years is that he doesn't mind dishing it out but he doesn't like it when he is on the rough end of the pineapple. He knows by now you win some and you lose some, but silly comments don't change anything.

In other words do what Dugard does every week at Eastbourne.

SS wannabe ? I 'm really insulted now. P.S. Don't go round telling people no one hates Poole or he might come back !

True but the Bomber haters don't see it that way.

TBF Stuart Robson used to say that Lakeside was the most physically demanding track in the EL, although Ben has good throttle control which makes it seem easier. I did get the impression that Josh Bates was one of the open the throttle and hang on types and that led to his close inspection of the air fence.

My reflections looking back on the meeting :- Leicester ran the Hammers to a last heat decider in the A fixture but the big difference this time was the inexplicably low score from Doyley who is clearly the major force in the Lions side, coupled with PK seeming to return to form and the phenomenal performance by Lewis Bridger, For Lakeside : WATTY - Led from the front with a captains innings,. The way he snatched the Heat 1 win from Doyle as they crossed the line was top drawer stuff. LAWSON - not as awesome as in recent weeks but did his job BECH - Messed up by trying too hard early on but settled down to take two classy wins. LBR- Stunning. Totally focussed, totally committed, utterly determined, no excessive wheelies, no showboating. It was clear from his first half lap that his paid max was a foregone conclusion. In his last two home meetings he has had 8 wins (including paid wins) and a last place (due to a puncture) Is this the new Lewis Bridger ? PK- A master class in intelligent riding. Missed the gate in his first 4 races, waited for the rest to drift wide then cut back down the Karlsson Corridor to pass the opposition. He has been doing the same trick for years and still nobody knows how to stop him. An absolute joy to watch. MORELY- Steady as ever. No complaint. ELLIS- Looked a little bit subdued to me , Not sure why. Possibly bike losing power.. Did a reasonable job though. For Leicester:- DOYLEY - After Davey Watt tonked him on the line in Heat1 he just seemed to slip off the radar . Normally much better than this. STEADY _ Basically the same Steady we all know. On the pace but on a track that doesn't suit his style and not able to land a blow when it mattered. MADS_ 100% effort as always but erratic. Good T/R win , although shepherded home by Rory, but otherwise not really able to make his presence felt. as with Steady its just not Mads type of track. BJERRE THE YOUNGER - The talent is obviously there but not developed enough yet for EL racing. Ineffective . ROO-BOY- What more could anyone ask of a guest ? By far the most effective of the visitors, although unlike Mads and Steady, Rory loves the track and is a track specialist. Did a great job shepherding Mads home for an 8-1 which took some doing against a very determined Dave Watt. I'll never forgive him for spoiling PK's Paid Max in Heat15 though. CLEGG- Very Good. Very determined. Rode with fire in his belly and impressed a lot of people. Look like a good future prospect if he carries on like this. BATES- More or less the opposite of Clegg. Couldn't really get to grips with the track and was replaced by Clegg in his last ride.

Norrie Allen when I forget his name ! O.

Looks like that churlish comment came back to bite you. LAKESIDE 59 LEICESTER 36 (despite two tacticals). Cookie looked like the cat that got the cream, Norrie White had face like a wet Monday when he left. EDIT---Norrie Allen-Sorry Steve O.!

Good post . In the A fixture Lakeside were 10 points up after heat 9 and still only 10 points up at the finish. If Leicester get their skates on a bit earlier they will be in with a shout if the usual Lakeside fade occurs in the last 5 heats. Lovely summers evening at a speedway meeting. No better place to be on a Friday night whatever the track, whatever the League. The couch potatoes are can keep their night indoors with the footy, this weather is what speedway was designed for.

Good post. Davey always had a gap of around 2+ points between his home and away averages, even back in his Poole days, and as you say, many others do. In one sense averages are unimportant. What is more important is that everyone fires together on the away matches where there is a chance of taking something from the meeting. Lakesides problem this year is that there have been occasions where they could have got something from the meeting but someone has flopped very badly, not necessarily Davey. Even Mikkel Bech admitted that at the last Poole away meeting his head was in the wrong place. That will always happen at times when riders are riding almost every night of the week for 5 or 6 months.

Davey had some personal problems last year which are fairly well known but for underperforming in crucial matches you have to look at PK , 2 points at home to Swindon, Lewis 0 away to Wolves and Beck only scored about 2 or 3 away to Poole so Davey is not the only one. Looking further afield there have been some poor performances at times by Bomber, Hans, Batch, Holder, to name a few and didn't even the World Champion only scored about 4 or 5 a week or so back, so howlers are hardly something uncommon amongst riders. Davy has his moments but still nobody can point to where he has done any worse than most other riders in various teams. if you want consistency you have to build a team around at least an 8.5 point rider and then it doesn't always work , but an 8.5 point rider at No 1 restricts your options lower down the order and that leads to other problems. The fact that PK is finding it hard to sort his bikes out and has dropped his average has put more weight on Davey's shoulders, and Lewis erratic form hasn't helped either, although he seems to be starting to get that sorted.. The plain fact is that what you get from Davey is what you will get from most 7 point riders. If they were more consistent they would be 8 point riders. Its just that a witch hunt has been started and people are jumping on the anti-Watt band wagon.

Bech is a massive talent but as last night showed he is not a No 1 yet. Several Lakeside home matches this year and many more last year have gone down to last heat deciders for all 3 points and invariably it has been Watt that pulled the chestnuts out of the fire. The most important thing is to have riders that can perform well on their home track because that is where most league points are accrued. Sundstroms record at Lakeside when he was with Peterboro was very poor. Larsen is a good rider but not a big hitter in a heat-leader position, I don';t see what Sundstrom or Larsen would give over and above Davey. All the Lakeside top 5 have had howlers this year except Richard Lawson, so have plenty of riders in other clubs, not just Davey, and I cant see a single meeting where Sundstrom or Larsen would have made any difference to the result Plus Watty is a very influential captain and seem to has a positive input in various things behind the scenes. The whole team seem to get on very well and Watts input is very important in that respect, even if he is a bit too volatile at times. Davey is not a full out No1 but in a team built for strength in depth he covers his job more often than not. Its easy to throw up names for possible replacements when you don't have to carry the responsibilty if they turn out to be no good, but when you narrow it down there are very few riders on a 7 point average that you could say beyond doubt would do a better job than Watty overall in a team built the way Lakeside has been built. Its very frustrating that Watt , Bridger, PK and Bech have not always fired as well as they should but last Friday shows what can happen when they do all get it together at the same time, but in the meantime 8 points collected on the road so far is better than most. I can't think of a single match so far where you could say that that without doubt if we had Larsen or Sundstrom it would have definitely made a difference. Getting PK's engines running properly is a much more serious issue IMO.

Sundstrom or Larsen riding at No1 ? Lol.

BV fans might have expected their team to lose without Cook but Lakeside fans are more familiar with the Hammers problem with fading in the second half of the match. Even Niel Vatcher mentioned it, so I would certainly have taken a point before the start. Two is a bonus. If Cook had been there he would still have to go off the poor gates 2and 3, plus face the same slick track, which,as with Watt can mean working hard for not much. It really all comes under the heading of "what if". Shame the audience didn't get to see the best of Mikkel Bech, but considering Lakeside had three riders who were riding track for the first time, they will be relieved to take a couple of points from a track where not many visitors take much this year. We'll said . As long as we have dodgy weather in this country we will have tracks that are less than perfect. It's made worse by the fact that speedway is a sport that depends on noise and atmosphere so watching on TV always makes it seem worse than actually being there. Those posters who come on here week after week moaning about the racing, instead of changing channels if they don't like it are just making fools of themselves.

The Lakeside pits are open to the public until around 30 min before the start then have to be cleared for safety reasons.

Toby Kroner and Daniel Gapmair. They both been suddenly taken "ill "and are unable to ride . Let's wish them all,the best for a speedy recovery by..er..tomorrow (!)

The big difference is that Richard can gate and Robbo can't. Everyone at Lakeside loves Robbo and he has been a great servant of the club but Richard is the man on form right now and, it's difficult to think of anyone on his sort of average that could do an equivalent job.

I have seen Eddie at Rye House once or twice and at that level he seems pretty good. No reason why she shouldn't do a decent second string job based on what I saw at Rye House.

A former Lakeside rider who do longer competes in th UK once told me that it is very difficult to concentrate properly on 3 leagues in 3 countries at the same time and having the GP's on top of that it is even harder. Hence we have now seen Freddie Lindgrens become the latest in a long line of Gp riders to ditch the UK to concentrate their efforts more fully elsewhere. I don't think the average fan appreciates that riders like Leigh Adams are the exceptions and the majority can only give their full efforts to a certain number of meetings a year before their form dips. Maybe that is Matej's problem, too much riding. In terms of actual skill on the motor bike he really is quite exceptional, better than most but as you say, something is not quite happening for him this year in the UK but his GP form confirms his class. But IMO the suggestion elsewhere that it is down to testing set-ups beggars belief.

Do you know for a fact that they were testing set-ups ? The reason I ask is that I can't see how testing set-ups at a track like Lakeside is going to help them on any other track ? Scotty , Zagar and Worrall have done enough laps at Lakeside to know what's needed and to hit the ground running. I have seen Richie Worrall three times this year, twice at PL tracks and then at Lakeside. In those three meetings he hasn't passed a single rider and made it stick but about 4or5 times he has been passed by others almost every time by drifting too wide on the bends and letting the opponent through .That doesn't seem to me like arider testing set-ups, more like someone stuck in a bit of a rut perhaps. My take on it (andI am not saying I know more than anyone else ) is that BV is not a well managed club. When the team manager himself says they should have had an away win by now and they haven't had one,the fans are entitled to ask what the management are doing about it. The riders are not testing set-ups at every away meeting, but if anything like that is going on its down to the TM to get it sorted.