Gresham78

Thanks for the update Lisa 👍

So Poole fans, what do you think the chances are of getting a meeting this evening? I use the BBC and Accuweather sites, one's talking about heavy downpours at 3 & 6pm and the other's saying thundershowers at similar times - what's the feeling locally? I have a 65 mile journey to Wimborne Rd & at the moment it looks too much of a gamble to go...

Cracking meeting last night and it was great to see the riders having confidence in the track to go out and really go for it, well done to all at the OTA. Swindon got lucky last night; had it not been for Josh and Starkey having engine failures the Rebels would have won it and they would have deserved it. However credit to the Budgies for staying in touch and being in a position to take advantage of the Rebels misfortune. For Rebels fans I'm sure Rohan will come good and Starkey too. It was a victory for British speedway last night; shows when things are right the sport can deliver top quality entertainment.

Personally I think the long term future for the sport in Swindon is not good. As has been well documented on this forum GI has a poor record in keeping promises when it comes to building new facilities. I don't know much about Greyhound racing but it seems to be going backwards in terms of popularity (much like speedway). How much of a return are they going to get on their investment? I can't imagine they make much money out of the Robins. As has been mentioned already GI has absolutely no obligation to the Speedway club, I would imagine in truth Terry Russell and Rosco know little more than the rest of us about the progress of the facility. The other thing is the location of the stadium; Blunsdon is now becoming a very built up residential area - give it a few years and there will be a residents committee lobbying the council about noise, parking and other issues linked to the stadium. I know this is pessimistic but building a new venue for speedway in this day and age is very challenging to say the least.

Congratulations to Freddie Lindgren on his victory last night and to the rest of the riders who made a go of it on a very average track surface which turned out to be a pretty uninspiring evening. The whole event seemed a bit flat to me and to be honest it seemed like a barometer for the Elite League in general. As I said in an earlier post the only hope for this meeting, I feel, is as a curtain raiser like it was last year. I think most of the riders would see it as an good opportunity to get race fit early in the season. Special mention to Freddie, NKI, Bomber and Ed Kennett who really got stuck in and gave the event some integrity. As already mentioned it was a decent crowd, something the BSPA hardly deserved.

I think the only future this meeting has is to run it at the start of the season like last year. At least it gives riders an opportunity for a good warm up for the coming season. There is a distinct sense of apathy tonight..

oops!

Wolves have got a major Job on tonight and if they wish to progress to the final they will need Messrs Lindgren and Woffinden to turn up and put in a performance. Both scored poorly in the first leg at Poole especially Tai considering he was in a second string position in the team. Paid 8 from 5 rides is a poor return from the World Champion and you have to question his commitment to the team. You can't help but suspect his involvement in Wolves final fixtures is competitive practice for the SGP in lieu of the lack of any remaining league matches with his continental teams. Anyway let's hope that those attending tonight are treated to some cracking racing free from any injuries.

To support Doyley I'd like to see Bomber, Killer Zengi and Charlie Wright. Bomber and PK are great to watch, Zengi is always enthusiastic and seems to really enjoy riding for the Robins and Charlie is gritty and ballsy. I'd like Hansi back too even though he's a bit of a diva at times and can be a bit precious, however he's a good skipper and Rosco seems to get the best out of him. Don't know how that lot could be accommodated though, probably not possible. Much as I like Nick, as Orlov says, I think he needs some time away from Swindon to develop his career....

Normally with a fine evening's weather you'd expect a decent attendance but the poor crowd bears out my point that it was a meanlingless event and if it was intended as a warm up for the Lakeside meeting then it was a dismal failure given Friday's poor result.

Congratulations to Lakeside, they deserve their place in the play offs. To win the league you need to be consistent and the only consistent thing about this Robins team was their inconsistency! Nick has really struggled this year simply through lack of rides. I wouldn't criticise him for leaving the PL; he was right to try Poland to further his career as was Craig Cook - if you want to improve you have to ride against the best and Poland is the place to be. Having said that I believe Nick would benefit from a change of track to revitalise his career. New stadium next year and a new team with Jason leading us into a new era - roll on 2017...

you say it looks like a good meeting Orlov but is it? In reality it's little more than just a practice match for Nick and Sedgie to give them a bit more track time. At full price I'm struggling to get any enthusiasm for this.

well done Orlov, glad to see somebody has posted a thread about this meeting in the NL section. Maybe it'll just be you and me who show up for the meeting!!

Can't see us losing this one again, there's too much at stake. I don't think Lakeside will win at Kings Lynn either. The Stars are coming off the back of a couple of poor results and will be keen to make amends at home plus Lakeside are dismal away from their patch

thanks Trees, I'll give the stadium a ring tomorrow.

First of all apologies to anyone who thinks I'm abusing the forum but I'm hoping somebody on here can give me some advice. I attended the abandoned Kings Lynn v Swindon meeting on 20th July and given that I was not going to be able to make the rearranged date ( I live in Chippenham which is 20 miles east of Swindon so Saddlebow Road is a once a year trip at best) I took up the club's offer of a refund of admission. This offer was confirmed by a member of staff at the track on the night and confirmed when I emailed Kings Lynn Speedway and the stadium manager advised me to send in 'a copy of the ticket and full postal address' and I would receive a cheque in the post. I did this at the beginning of August but so far have received nothing. I've emailed the Stadium Manager twice since but had no response. Should I now try and ring the stadium or write a letter addressed to Buster? Grateful for any advice from Lynn fans. Thanks

Agreed Orlov. A team that's been chasing top spot all season versus play off hopefuls and it hardly raises a murmur on here. This is the business end of the season and judging by the lack of activity on the on the EL forum a general air of apathy prevails. Chapman and co need to take note of this for the AGM as it doesn't bode well for the future of the sport in the UK. Anyway back to today, I agree, think the Budgies could nick something out of this especially with Rohan's form being what it is....

Well done Robins,Rosco had them pumped Monday night and they wanted it more than Poole. Have to say though that this is not the strongest front end that Poole have had in recent years. It was of course Darcy and Holder for a few years, then Magic and Holder with solid support from Davey Watt. I think this is why they've not done especially well away from home this year. Holder's had an average year in the EL by his standards and Andersen is on the wane (more interested in posing in his Kevlars and his shiny bikes) Buzz is very unpredictable. Poole have become a regular fixture in the final and you take it for granted that they'll be one of the finalists however I wonder if they'll get past the semis this year? Incidentally don't agree with the critcism of Kurtz; the kid's a talent and people forget he's still a teenager, he's bound to be a bit inconsistent. He's done well enough this year.

I'm assuming Shale Searcher you've worked on tracks yourself judging by your comments in which case I accept what you're saying.However it doesn't excuse the lack of communication by the club. If they'd just announced something on the lines of ' despite heavy rain the club are confident of the meeting going ahead'That announcement could have been proceeded by a track inspection and followed up with a further inspection when the rain stopped. Everybody in speedway knows rain and racing don't go together very well so you've got to keep people informed when a meeting is likely to be affected by the weather & the track condition needs to be monitored regularly. It's no good just relying on the drains,letting people in and then saying 'oh darn it we forgot to tyre pack it'. If this sport wants to be taken seriously again its got to act more professionally and that includes the National Speedway Stadium as it should be setting an example to the rest of the sport.

You say it was reasonable to think the drains could cope with the rainfall but as I understand it Manchester had significant rainfall on Thursday night followed by 8 hours worth on Friday. With that kind of precipitation the best drainage system in the world isn't going to cope. The fact is there comes a point when the shale is saturated as it was on Friday and once that happens it has to dry out and it just wasn't going to do it in 3 hours. The worst thing is they let people through the turnstiles not knowing for certain that they were going to be able to put on a meeting. There should have been a track inspection at lunch time taking into account the weather forecast - an update posted on the website and social media followed by another inspection when the rain stopped and a decision taken then. You have to take into account not only the travelling supporters like myself who spent 6 hours getting to Manchester but also the home fans some of whom probably don't live that close to the stadium. and have to travel as well. Just taking a punt on it like they did last night and assuming it would be ok as it had been in the past is unprofessional and shows a contempt for the paying public. After the fiasco of the opening night messrs Gordon and Morton need to get their act together and act a bit more responsibly and professionally otherwise as Bellevueace said the fine facilty that is the NSS is not going to be exploited to the full. How the Belle Vue Promotion didn't learn from the farce of the opening night is beyond me; to have the paying public in the stadium only to call it off because of an unfit track is careless if it has hapens once but to do it again is just incomptent.

Total shambles - unprofessional and amateurish. People at the track said it didn't stop raining till around 4-4.30.Should have been a track inspection there and then and should have been called off. With the amount of rain they've had how did they possibly think it could go ahead & how can you let people through the turnstiles if you're not sure you're going to run the meeting? At least at Kings Lynn the rain came just before the start so people were already in the stadium. Chapman & co need to get hold of this type situation and lay down some clear guidance about calling off meetings.

thanks Phil.

Was thinking of going to this but the weather forecast is rain pretty much all day until late afternoon. I know the NSS has already got a good reputation with dealing with wet conditions but there are limits. Aces fans how confident are you that this meeting will go ahead?

Whilst I agree that Rohan's struggled at Blunsdon for most of the season and that has cost us I think the lack of support for Jason at the top end has been a major problem. I really expected (as I'm sure Rosco did) that Nick and Josh would have pushed on this season and both been on 7 point averages. Nick has clearly suffered through lack of time on the bike as his move into racing in Poland doesn't seem to have worked (but I wouldn't criticise him for that - he's trying to further his career) and Josh has been very inconsistent and I feel we have haven't seen the best of him. Surprisingly I think the 'Team Australia' spirit hasn't really happened and I really thought that would be a big feature of the team this year. And I agree with Orion about Rosco; I think his enthusiasm has waned a bit. As was said I'm sure he's become frustrated like the rest of us with the lack of prrogress with the new stadium. I think there needs to be a rethink about the make up of the team for next season and much as I like him I think it might benefit Nick if he moved to a diffrent team next year - a change of scene could be the boost his career needs.

A well deserved victory last night for the Bees with an excellent all round team performance - all Coventry riders contributed and the Robins were outgunned in every department. Unfortunately Nick and Josh failed again to support Doyley which has been a disappointing feature of the season. Sedgie looks very short on confidence. Although on paper its still in Swindons hands to qualify for the play offs it looks like Rosco has a major job on his hands to give them the belief they're capable of doing so.