1 valve

Lions have the wrong reserves. They should go back to Newman & Sarjeant (assuming fit and available) i.e. the original reserve pairing intended for start of the year Stats show that Lions would have heats with more race wins and fewer last places than current with these two. Many changing 1-5 's into 3-3's which is as good as a heat advantage by comparison.

Nothing should come as a surprise where UK speedway is concerned. In any case it looks like only the Bates family affected, so only Sheffield/Leicester would need sorting.

Not sure if you are just having a laugh - and happy to laugh with you at some of the rules currently in situ within speedawy But just in case there is a serious side to your post: How long would it be before a promoter who had an interest in two clubs was accused of showing favouritism to one of his clubs over the other or using both clubs to manipulate an outcome to the detriment of another club? So in the best interest of the sport, circumstances which could give rise to the above should be avoided.

Current rule is that a promoter cannot have an interest in two or more clubs in the same league.

Assuming that promoters would only be allowed to have an interest in one club in the "Big League" how many clubs are likely to be affected by a promoter having to give up his rights at one or more clubs AKA the Bates family at Sheffield & Leicester?

Riders retiring/none returnees are for the majority replaced by lower class riders or expensive/untried imports. Whilst neither are totally bad it does represent a higher attrition rate of 2 riders per club per year so dividing the 150 by 10 means we could at a stretch field 15 teams in one league. Assuming the current top riders are included

Good point. However, start with what we currently have as the first assumption and if that does not look right/won’t work then explore other options.

Can somebody provide an accurate figure illustrating the actual number of riders who have/are racing in the top two uk divisions so far during 2018. Then if you take this number and divide it by 9 (to allow for riders retired/injured/racing abroad/other reasons for not being available etc) then we would have fairly accurate idea of how many teams we could have in one league. This approach assumes we would still have those top riders like Doyley but there clearly would be a massive gulf in class between a teams number 1 and it’s number 7. If you want to remove the current top guys then you need to subtract 10 from the number of riders currently riding (the first number I referred to)

yes plenty.

Last season the improvements to the circuit produced a noticeable improvement to the racing. This year it appears not to be the case which could be down to the track being used on Sunday and then on Monday, after it has also been used on Saturday for practice sessions. This level of condensed activity must be a contributing factor to the slickness of the track and lack of grip hence limited race lines. The track doesn't need to be dug up a more suitable base needs to be created which instead of turning into a black rubber line (aka moto GP) on the entry to the corner will actually continue to provide grip. Bottom line is that somebody has got to spend time and money laying down the right level of fresh material. the shape whilst not being perfect is fine.

Changing the shape of the track even inside the current boundaries would be an enormous task with drains, lights and power all having to be relocated. this would also come at a big cost. This being the case, not sure the promoters would foot the bill especially since they are only tenants and may not get a return on their money during the time they are involved with Leicester. Much better to focus on the surface of the current track and focus on getting it back to where it was last year in terms of grip and consistency with racing lines available around both the inside and wide out.

Leicester away form pretty poor so looks like a Poole win without too much bother and the final straw for 1 or more of the Lions riders

Well done Lions. Guests contributed well so big thanks to Richie & Ricky for their efforts, Ricky’s burst down the home straight and inside bends 1&2 to go from 3rd to first turning a 1-5 into a shared score for the heat especially good. Wolves battled hard and deserved their point. Rory very quiet (as too K Bjerre) in front of what loooked like biggest crowd of the season.

The fixed race nights also deals as adequately with Guests & RR.

Pulled out of the meeting after 4 races - aggravated the injury? more rest required? (and ignoring "pulled out of the meeting after 4 races having qualified for the final")

Same thing. Freemasonry or Masonry originated from local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons. This coincidently was at around the same time the BSPA last made a sensible decision on how speedway should be run in the UK.

The Lions usual race night is Monday and Bjerre and Anderson appear not to have any problems with this. Interestingly, there is no fixture on Monday at Leicester (British Semi Final on Tuesday) so it would have been possible to run the return leg at KL on Monday with full strength teams with plenty of time to prepare the track after any weekend stock car meeting. Difficult to understand why this option wasn't thought of from the outset.

As I said, don't want to turn this into a travel forum, but if the reason he did not make the UK to Sweden flight was because the inbound flight was delayed which made it pointless to come to the UK (as in missing his appointment/meeting at Leicester) in the first place then airlines will refund in full the flight from UK to Sweden or will put the value towards another flight - if it involves the same airline. This has happened to me on more times than I care to remember one way or another. The latest being yesterday and I received a mixture of refund and rebooked flights. Yes it did involve Ryanair and took all of 30 minutes to sort out via their on line chat service. Just a point though...If Lambert did actually come to the UK last night then no compensation would be available over and above the small "late flight" variety.

I agree. And under normal circumstances Lambert did. the right thing. Not his fault the flight was cancelled just like my own flight to Italy today. We know hindsight is 20/20 vision but unfortunately that's not an available option to book at the time of making the reservation. As for cost. Given that the flight was delayed as long as it was then he would be refunded the cost of both flights or been able to rebook - assuming all flights concerned were with same airline. Not that I want to turn this speedway forum into a travel forum...So happy to move on and say the tie is still very much in the balance and it will be interesting to see how the Lions go at KL - think it will be close if Hans A and Kenneth B lead from the front and get suitable backup....

Hope Bates has to prove his form before being considered to replace Todd who has done well so far and will continue to improve with more meetings.

K Bjerre & Todd Kurtz in. Vaculik & Palm Toft out Bjerre permanent replacement and Kurtz temporary pending bates return?

Could be Anders Michanek but more likely to be Peter Kildemand?

Meeting dominated by Lions riders from start to finish in terms of individual races and the meeting overall. Hans on top top form and big mention to guest Rob Lambert who was superb in shepherding kyle home with great team riding for a 5-1then coming from third to first to turn a 1-5 into a 3-3. I dare say the return will be different on Wednesday but for now we’ll done the Lions

Score after 10 heats Lions 39 Rebels 21

It was a good meeting with both teams establishing good leads on more than one occasion only for the other to fight back. Interestingly after 13 heats the score was 40-38 and yes, we did say “happiness etc” A strange thing (though not related to the racing) during the meeting was the regular reference to the presence of promo girls from Spearmint Rhino. Whilst I am not a prude re such things, I do question if speedway is a sport that should be associated with this type of enterprise