1 valve

Loved watching Gollob at his peak. His strength was how he could race on big grippy tracks which was spectacular and could never be written off during a race. Unfortunately put him on small tight or slick tracks and he looked (for him) a totally different (worse) rider. Mike Lee on the other hand on big, small, tight, slick, grippy tracks at his peak was almost unbeatable. As a Lions fan I hated it! Given the strength of speedway rider talent on display in the UK almost every night at that time it really is a challenge to think of anybody ever being better than Mike the Bike was at his peak.There can be no "he could have been," he was World Champion and top of the strongest league averages by a country mile. Shame he found it so easy, got bored and became distracted/disenchanted with the sport

The 2018 season may turn out not to be as one sided as we all think it could be. In terms of delivering improved results on their opening averages the riders of Poole have still got to "do it" and this will be easier said than done. Taking the CMA for each rider and ranking the riders accordingly across each position and totally ignoring "ringers & personal opinion" then clearly Poole have a lot to do to improve and live up to expectations. as the ranking of teams based on 1v1 2v2 3v3 etc looks like this: 1. Wolves 2. Leicester 3. Rye House 4. Kings Lynn 5. Swindon 6. Poole 7. Somerset 8. Belle Vue. To be clear I am not saying this is how the league will finish but it does show the type of "swing" required (say) by Belle Vue and Poole to make the play offs whilst as an example, a team such as Rye House with a specialist track and experienced heads for away meetings could be tough to turn over. Personally in terms of Poole I am not convinced C Holder will come good as some think (I hope he does cuz I liked him when he was fully stoked and winning Gp's) and the Poles have to learn a few away tracks. There is plenty for the other teams to have a go at and give us the 2018 season we all want..great racing and hard to predict meetings with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. A dry sunny summer would be good too!

What a shame the Coventry Bees were not named the Coventry Newts as Brandon estates would have to have found the Newts a suitable new home before their plans for Brandon could be considered for approval. BTW my golf club had a similar challenge before being allowed to build a new hole. It took two years for the newts to be moved and development could start. (apparently you could not move them during the breeding season) Meanwhile, good luck to all of you involved in "Saving Brandon" - Finding Newts may help?

Basically a good clear out..Think we can all agree that was something well and truly overdue. Kudos to the Bates family for not only recognising what was required, but also for doing something about it. Pretty sure 2018 will be the best year for the Lions in the top flight by some distance.

On the basis that doubling up would not be allowed with the majority of Premier league riders also currently due to ride for Championship clubs there will for 2018 be approximately 85ish riders available to choose from. thefore if you had 7 man team this would provide 12 teams and if you had 6 man teams you would have 14 teams. whilst both fall short of the 17 you propose there are two other significant aspects to consider. 1. at any one time there are circa 10% of riders unavailable through one reason or another (mostly injury) so reality is there would be a lot of guest riders required. 2. Safety would also be a greater issue as there is a massive skill difference between say the top 25% of the Premier league riders and the lower 25% of the Championship riders. I recall Jason Doyle a few seasons back voicing his concerns in this regard and this point should not be readily ignored. That said. As riders do improve and the reliance of doubling up is reduced by the emergence of new additional riders (Hopefully) then maybe the road which the BSPA have currently chosen to take in creating two leagues "close to one another" may produce the opportunity to expand into a larger single top tier league. This is a case of evolution rather than revolution and requires time as measured by a calendar rather than a watch before it can successfully come to fruition.

C Holder?

IIt needs to be one big league with UK based riders only on sensible pay rates and £10 admission. If that is marketed properly it might attract new fans to "speedway racing" per se. Sell on track excitement and new stars emerge from the riders pack naturally. And hasn't the One Over Eight rule stopped the existing big names returning anyway? unfortunately there are not anywhere near enough quality riders around to provide competitive racing bearing in mind doubling up could not exist.

Vaculik is a 9

They could if the remaining three riders they signed had appropriately low averages. I think the bigger challenge would be how to afford the top four and that would be the reason to rule out such a line up.

Couldnt agree more. As I said "need to do so in a manner that is affordable to their club"

No restrictions on race night only number of meetings in a year - and that's a pretty high number, well above that required.

Blimey, A GP rider apparently heading for British racing next season and the only reactions posted are negative ones (and not only by you bald bloke). Whoever he does race for, the promoter deserves credit for not giving up on trying to attempt the best riders possible. That said, other promoters do need to follow suit and need to do so in a manner that is affordable to their club.

21000 actually not the biggest attendance for a GP but a lot better than most.

Just back from practice. Track looked like it held up well with riders testing out a different lines. Looked fast and Dude was on it. Jason equally smooth and baring some really bad luck he will bring it home who knows but maybe in heat 16 when he and Dude meet up.

27c today so hope her beer is well chilled

thanks. Think we will pop along to familiarise ourselves with the place.

Does anybody know what time practice will take place?

so long as he receives the correct lease payments why not?

I hope the Lions promoters have given up on thinking Saturday night is the right night for speedway in Leicester.

Hope Doyley brings it home with plenty to spare.

I recall that just prior to the first leg v Sheffield Kim stated that he would ride for the Lions in 2018 whichever league they were in. I'm not sure how these things work in terms of riders being an asset of one club or another but I recall Doyley also was happy to ride for the Lions despite Swindon wanting him back and only the issues of Saturday racing and (possibly) not being paid forced his hand to return to the Robins. Bottom line is that being an asset of Lakeside does not automatically mean Kim will ride for them if they do return to the top flight.

Radio Leicester reported this morning that Damien Bates has said he will be willing to listen to offers for the Lions. Could be due to the abuse sent his way on Monday but also because he will be putting the Tigers forward as a top flight team for 2018. Whatever the reason let's hope something can be sorted quickly to allow any new owner the chance to plan & build a competitive team for 2018.

The Bates family were on a hiding to nothing over this situation. As can be seen from the post made in this topic many "fans" have voiced their opinion on the "fixing" of the result and or the fact that Leicester would stand no chance in this play off. The worst thing that could have happened re this promotion/relegation decider is the two teams with the same owner were in fact the two teams involved. At the very best only one set of fans (most probably those of the winning team) would ever have been happy, whilst the neutrals adopt either a "told you so" or jump on the "lets kick British Speedway in the teeth again" brigade. The losers of course complain or find an excuse to justify the loss. But did anybody really expect a team based on a 50 point average to lose to a team based on 40?? The best that could come out of this "experiment" is: a. The concept of promotion & relegation is consigned to the waste bin. b. At least four teams are added to the top flight for 2018 c.Fixed race nights on days when the second/third tier do not race therefore allowing doubling up without clashing of fixtures. d. Somebody remembers to thank the Bates family for their support of British speedway and especially that of Sheffield & Leicester. e. The BSPA decide that two clubs cannot be owned by the same set of owners - or have directors/shareholders involved in more than one club f. The Bates family are able to offload one of their clubs to an equally supportive owner in time for the 2018 season.

Very sad & at 63 years old seems too young to leave us - RIP Ila and thanks for the memories.

v Wolves on Monday There was passing (including repassing) during the first lap on 11 occasions and 7 occasions on subsequent laps. Unfortunately for the Lions ultimately this meant Wolves came out on top by quite a bit.