Happy Hunter

No. Bournmouth is still full of old people!

I see that in this week's Speedway Start there is a report (Scunthorpe news item) that Josh Auty has had an operation on his injured hand and will be out for 8 weeks. If this takes us up to the end of July Lions only have 7 matches after that.

Seems that everyone agrees that, if this match had not been televised, it would have been called off early doors like the ones at Wolverhampton & Manchester. Last night's saga can only harm speedway and the credibility of Sky Sports. Speedway is not the only televised sport that can be badly affected by the weather e.g. cricket, tennis & golf. The television companies involved seem to cope so why can't speedway & Sky? It seems to me that the BSPA & Sky have got to sit down and devise a strategy for dealing with rained off meetings. This could involve showing a previously televised meeting (Sky must have quite a library of interesting meetings) or something similar. It would probably result in a reduced fee from Sky but that would be a small price to pay if the BSPA & Sky do not want to damage their reputations any more or that of the sport itself and possibly prevent serious injury to a rider.

If it is bring a book or do the Times Crossword!

The sun is due to set at 21.32 hours on 29th June. It should be setting somewhere at the back of Walkers Crisps by then so it should not be so much of a problem. Something does need to be done about the sun at this time of the year and late August/September - not sure what but no doubt the brains on here will come up with some cheap, practical suggestions.

All this speculation & rumour could be stopped dead in its tracks if the promotion put something out on Facebook or their website - no chance though is there? I am sat at home debating whether or not to turn out on a cold, miserable evening to see less than half a Lion's side.

According to the Leicester Mercury the line ups are:- Lions - Doyle, Zengota, Bridger, Wozniak, R/R, Guest Reserve & Lambert. Poole - Watt, Gomolski, North, Holder, Janowski, Starke & Newman.

Perhaps better see what Nigel Pearson is doing this summer!

Come on then! After last night who is for the chop and who is going to replace them!

Anyone know who the guest will be on Monday?

The meeting did run smoother than normal. Given that the rain delay cancelled out the lack of interval it just shows what can be achieved presentation wise - not sure if had anything to do with Popple's absence more like the threat of heavy rain!

Which is free or course. You could also think about having a dip in the Leisure Centre swimming pool or a spin on the roller skates while you wait although I am not sure what time it closes.

I'm a member of the 'not so young anymore' brigade. I park up at the shopping centre car park just before 7.00 p.m. It takes about 10 minutes to walk up to the track and possibly about 5 minutes to queue up to get in and buy a 20:20 ticket or two. So I am in position at about 7.20p.m. at the latest which is in plenty of time as you are lucky if the first race starts before 7.40/7.45 p.m.. So, even on a bad night, I am away from the car park well before the four hours are up. Its different of course if you want to have a drink with your mates either before or after the meeting but that's a choice you have to make.

It would be nice to know why its going round! Us old stagers know that if the tractor comes out unexpectedly its usually because the riders have asked for the track to be graded but new comers don't know that's why. It really is all about communication and not guess work!

Problem is that Max now rides for Edinburgh so I guess that there would be a lot of meetings that he would have to miss if he signed for the Lions. I don’t think any Lions fans will find anything positive to say about the result on Saturday. Doyle did well to get up from the deck and win heat 13 but he will know that 10 points from 5 rides by a number 1 at home is not good enough. Schlein probably scored more points than Michelsen so the score might have been worse if the latter had ridden. Walasek is o.k. when he makes the gate so 8 at home was probably about what we can expect from him. Woznak was right off the pace. Pedersen did not show up. He has won 2 EL races now, 1 home and 1 away and has not scored in his other rides. Sorry – not good enough. Auty does all that is expected of him and a good job too when you look at Lambert’s performance. He was just like he was when he rode for the Lions in the Premier League – reasonable gate and then picked off on bend 3 or 4. Cannot understand for the life of me why they signed him. On this performance I cannot see anything but a basement battle again.

This all boils down to a continued lack of communication between the promotion & crowd. Why did the match presenter not mention why the start was delayed and why the tractor went out after heat 2? Most fans would have understood. There was only one delay due to a crash but the meeting took 2 hours to complete (from a 7.45 p.m. start). If you allow 5 minutes per race and 15 minutes for an interval that gives a meeting time of 90 minutes add another 15 for crashes and that means a meeting started at 7.30 p.m. should be over by 9.15 p.m. How many times has that happened at Beaumont Park since 2011? I don’t think any Lions fans will find anything positive to say about this result. Doyle did well to get up from the deck and win heat 13 but he will know that 10 points from 5 rides by a number 1 at home is not good enough. Schlein probably scored more points than Michelsen so the score might have been worse if the latter had ridden. Walasek is o.k. when he makes the gate so 8 at home was probably about what we can expect from him. Woznak was right off the pace. Pedersen did not show up. He has won 2 EL races now, 1 home and 1 away and has not scored in his other rides. Sorry – not good enough. Auty does all that is expected of him and a good job too when you look at Lambert’s performance. He was just like he was when he rode for the Lions in the Premier League – reasonable gate and then picked off on bend 3 or 4. Cannot understand for the life of me why they signed him. On this performance I cannot see anything but a basement battle again.

I liked Fricke when I saw him at Leicester last season - he is one for the future! Schlein was a bit hit & miss at Beaumont Park last season.

To get back on track - any ideas about who will ride at No. 2 on Friday & Saturday?

Can't find any official averages (nothing on BSPA web site) so was just going on what happened on Friday.

As usual nothing on the Lion's web site about this. I hope that the management have learned their lesson from last season and get a replacement quickly rather than rely on RR, especially as three of his rides will have to be taken by the reserves.

They have got to hurry up unless they want more egg on their faces at Press and Practice Day three weeks tomorrow!

No doubt the loss of sponsorship is the reason for the non building of the changing rooms & showers.

The rule is that the top three riders in the averages must ride at either 1,3 or 5. The fourth and fifth in the averages must ride at either 2 or 4.

2015 Regulations due out tomorrow. Will include new heat formula.

The Leicester promotion gets a fair bit of stick on this forum so I think we should give them a pat on the back for having the names of two worthy charities on the team kevlars, at least for the start of the season!