1 valve

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.

Yes the racing is definitely improving with riders finding lines inside and outside to make passes. The track did look like it had more shale on it than previous weeks but not sure if that is a true statement or not as clearly the rain may have helped to give it that look. The surface seemed to be more consistent with even levels of grip throughout so good job done by track staff considering the amount of rain that had fallen during the day. shame the team were well beaten by the wolves who deserved their victory, lets hope all concerned at the Lions have a plan on how to up their game although wolves are arguably the strongest (form) team in the league right now

1. As a dependent (child) of a man (his Dad) who had the appropriate visa. 2. As a professional sportsman with the appropriate visa

I think it would be safe to presume that had the Lions had Gomolski & Batesavailable instead of Verge & Hall then the final score would have been at least close enough for the Lions to have gained an away point. Lasse was a surprisingly low scorer - but King is the one not performing at the moment and he needs to be a more reliable top end contributor for the team.

Has the Lions line up been confirmed yet?

The 4,3,2,0 format would not promote the concept of the leader controlling the race from the front it would however make even more essential the need not to come last. This is because if the red rider gates and gets in front of white and yellow whilst his partner is at the back and red decides to help his partner by holding back then the likely outcome is that the two v one scenario will result in either the white or yellow helmet passing him turning a 4 - 5 heat loss into a greater 3 - 6 heat loss. Actually in this scenario what is more likely is that the white & yellow riders will team ride to prevent blue getting third. However, this would not be a bad thing because lets face it, on many occasion currently after two laps the rider at the back sees no purpose in "racing" if his team mate has the points secured at the front and a shared heat looks likely whereas under 4,3,2,0 he has the chance to turn a 4-5 disadvantage into a 6-3 advantage by moving up one place. so maybe we would not necessarily see more battles up front but the minor places would take on more significance.

At first glance this looks a good idea and most probably does deserve some further attention. However, out of interest using the 4,3,2,0 format I have just rescored the recent meeting between Wolves and Leicester which the wolves one by one point. The odd score being influenced by a 5 - 0 to the Wolves in heat 10 (and this fixture was chosen because the programme was close by) The outcome? A win for Wolves 68 - 65. And if the Lions had provided a finisher in heat 10? A win for the Wolves 68 - 67 whereas If they had done so in the actual meeting under the current scoring system the Lions would have earned a draw No doubt other circumstances could prevail that influence the score but overall the message is still the same - don't come last as in the case of this fixture where the Lions provided 8 last places and 8 race winners

Well, to name a few. Over this past month I have watched: Two Moto GP's with all the practice sessions available too (which I recorded and skipped through as required) Live speedway (Pairs) Five Live football matches Live snooker The Masters Golf live - in small sessions and then the full last four hours. Now, I'm not sure how much money it would have cost me in travel and admission costs to see these events in person, but I do know my subscriptions are a fraction of what ever it would be and the quality of the TV coverage was (is) far superior to that on terrestrial channels. There is no doubt that the arrival of Sky upped the anti in terms of TV coverage and now with so much live sport coverage being available I would never want to go back to the days of pre recorded sport and limited choice of events.

Do we think there are any riders already in the "last chance saloon" who David could replace ? I like the idea of having him as a replacement for a double up rider and his knowledge of away tracks would be an advantage especially after he has shook off any race rustiness he may have. However, I only see Gomolski as a candidate - perhaps Auty too although I would stick with Josh as I think he will alternate with Bates between reserve and number two...although Josh Bates may well stay in the main body of the team on his current form. Unfortunately this would not solve the problem of losing riders under double up.....More radical maybe to drop King if his form does not improve with the thought that either Howe or Bates could fill the void? Tough call as I would like to see Danny recapture the form we know he is capable of and needs to be given a few more weeks to see if that is possible.

No. Not all of them. And BTW neither do all Australians get the above in either the UK or back home.

No they are not all world class, and neither are they all treated as if they were. Similarly I have not heard of one compliant from Brits who go down under that they feel in some way prejudiced against.

Just putting the arguments aside (he broke the rule and he was correctly punished) and recognizing that Bates replaced Riss and picked up two points as the facts. we will never know what would have happened if Riss had made it to the start in the actual race and indeed the meeting itself. What is frustrating is the actual rule itself and how a lack of allowing the referee to use common sense (discretion) makes no sense because as has been said elsewhere, Riss did not ride across the center green he rode around the track in a clockwise direction. He then rode on the outside of the start post and thus broke the rule. alternatively to avoid being excluded he could have. 1. Got off and pushed the bike under power on exactly the same line as he actually rode around. 2. He could have turned around and made his way back around the whole track for one lap to get to the start line. 3. Asked the start marshal to help him across the tapes 4. Asked the referee to put the tapes up (some chance there) 5. (not totally sure on this one) he could have rode through the tapes? and then waited for them to be repaired - I guess there is some penalty for doing that. But if not we can all imagine what sort of response he would have got from everybody...but not be disqualified as the riders were not under the green light. BTW - in my opinion the main reason the Lions failed to gain anything other than one point was that both riders fell off in heat 10 so the 5-0 gave the 1 extra point to Wolves and more contentious Bates was not used in as a Reserve replacement in heat 14 instead of Danny Ayres who came last and it is more probable that Bates would have made third at the expense of Clegg. Anyway, it was a thoroughly entertaining meeting (not the best ever) and its great the season has at last started. Lets at least be grateful for that

Released today .Mon 19th June - British Final - Belle Vue Mon 26th June - Poole v Belle Vue Mon 10th July - Wolverhampton v Rye House Mon 17th July - Leicester v Swindon Mon 24th July - Belle Vue v Wolverhampton Mon 31st July - Reserved Mon 7th August - King's Lynn v Somerset Mon 14th August - Somerset v Leicester Mon 21st August - Swindon v King's Lynn Mon 28th August - Rye House v Poole Mon 4th September - TBC Mon 11th September - Premiership Semi Final 1 Leg 1 Mon 18th September - Premiership Semi Final 2 Leg 1 Mon 25th September - Premiership Semi Finals 1 AND 2 Leg 2 Mon 2nd October - Playoff Leg 1 (Promotion/Relegation Playoff) Wed 4th October - Playoff Leg 2 (Promotion/Relegation Playoff) Mon 9th October - Premiership Grand Final Leg 1 Wed 11th October - Premiership Grand Final Leg 2

Well...yes they would. or to be precise, if they were good enough they would get similar treatment to the Australians who incidentally back home do not get the same rewards as in Europe (even the UK) because the racing infrastructure is not comparable. In the good old days, many a Brit would winter down there and live comfortably off their earnings etc. But now? well who are the world class Brits we could send there this winter?

Correct and this means that if Riss had stayed on track, turned up at the gate facing the wrong way (for the benefit of those not there he rode clockwise around the track and went outside of the starting post, not across the center green) then A) the referee could have let the tapes up for him to avoid going on the center green (unlikely) or the start marshal could have helped him across by pushing the tapes down (possible) or Riss could have turned around and rode around on the track to the start even though by the time he eventually arrived at the gate the 2 minutes would have expired (waste of time v the two prior options) but not be excluded. Just had another thought. Riss could have got off his bike and pushed it around to the correct side of the starting gate as then he would not have been riding it...even though the engine was running.

Frankly it doesn't matter if Aussies or the Poles or any other nationality of rider is the choice of promoters over British riders as in the vast majority of cases they are doing so because they represent good value and are competitive at the level they are chosen to ride at. That said, For British speedway to succeed in the eyes of the public& media the UK needs to produce British talent capable of not only competing but winning at the highest level. And there lies the crux of the problem. British speedway needs top class British riders yet we do not produce the very best as once we use to do. so rather than denying foreign riders the right to come here and compete for jobs, The promoters of the sport here need to create the circumstance for Brits to be discovered, nurtured and developed to become the very best. And to be clear, this will be no easy passage for those riders involved, they need to have the dedication and resolve to become the best not expect it to be given them on a plate just because they are British. Aussies have left friends and Family behind on the other side of the world to try and make it in UK/Europe. Is it no wonder that Antipodeans are always in the tope echelons of Speedway whilst the UK struggles to find a GP qualifier? (Tai being the exception and we know where his roots belong)

I appreciate that the answer to this question will differ from rider to rider and club to club but in general terms besides being paid to start a race and then the appropriate points money what other items of cost are met by the club? I am thinking of: Travel expenses? Tyres? Fuel? Bikes? Engines? Race suits? and in terms of sponsorship, other than straight cash, what are the most beneficial items a rider could be sponsored with?

The Saturday night race night appears still to be presenting problems to the club in terms of securing the availability of riders, not just because of Poland but also because of doubling up. This Saturday we are missing two of the team for the second home match in succession. The club needs to field a team the home fans can relate to on a consistent basis in order to grow the support. Having 5 from 7 available is not the answer and it seems the best way to see the full team is to go to away matches i.e. like last night v Wolves. Is it time for the promotion to consider a switch to Fridays - now that Coventry are not running? -

Because according to the referee Auty was "not still" and thus given a warning. In the original start Masters was well away when the lights came on and in the re-run only managed a second as the Lions scored a 4-2. Maybe refs should see how the race develops and then put the red lights on if a clear advantage has been gained by the offending rider. that said, What is considered an advantage? maybe not leading but in second or third? as in the case of heat 11 Masters was well away but Clegg was stone cold last coming out of the second turn in the first start. (which he was in the rerun too) Riss made a mistake and paid the price...rules are rules and he had plenty of time to make it to the start in the proper way. Talking of Rules, team managers are allowed to swap reserves in heat 14..which as we all know Lynch did not do and on paper the Lions paid the price for poor tactical management.... I think Riss will learn from his mistake...I am not so sure Lynch will!

Looks like a game of two halves - top half v bottom half of each team...wolves shade the top but Lions stronger 4 - 7. with a few surprises thrown in Weather Forecast is good so hopefully a good crowd to see what looks like a tight fixture - Wolves getting the win due to home advantage is most probably the likely outcome, but have to say Lions were gating well on Saturday so all to play for.

His UK clubs will take priority if they so wish.

Erik Riss looked very smooth and considering the company he was racing against on Saturday - fast. On his Facebook page there is a video of him nipping around a tight track equally well. all bodes well for the Lions having a rider who can and will improve his average during the season.