Teromaafan

I visited Perry Barr earlier in the season to watch the Lions and paid by card for me and the missus at the entrance. I say ‘paid’, but to this day no money has left my account. This could be a blip, but may have happened to others (who are hardly going to shout up are they?…..although they can now!). Whilst this isn’t the straw that breaks the camel’s back, it does imply sloppiness of a club needing to seemingly count every penny.

A six pointer at reserve, quite something, puts the Witches right up there with King’s Lynn 🤣🤣🤣

Only went once with my mate and his dad, pretty sure it was 1975. I was blown away (still a school kid at the time) at the size of the crowd, the biggest I ever saw at a speedway meeting. Remember buying a Belle Vue race jacket (body colour) from the track shop, as Peter Collins was my favourite rider then (could only dream of him riding for the Lions). I think PC won the meeting with a 15 point maximum.

The only trouble with fans these days is getting them through the turnstile! (…..and I don’t mean because they are too fat).

I recall my Dad taking me to the 1975 final. We had to walk around the track (there was viewing all round then) twice to find a suitable gap in the crowd for viewing. Nigel Boocock was in attendance for photo opportunities to sit on his bike next to him. Ah, nostalgia is just not what it was!

Agreed. Easily the best two teams away from home and do not rely on throttle jockeys.

Think you are reading too much into that. Riding at No.2 is the obvious position to slot him into after his injury.

The biggest plus for the Brummies this season is that it seems like they will fulfill their fixtures. Not the best way to round off their final season, with the bare minimum level of dignity. Hard to believe that the two biggest cities in the country don’t have a team between them.

Top teams are expected to win at home, which the top four do regularly. Personally, I think that Ipswich v Leicester would make the best final as they are better on the road than Belle Vue and Sheffield, having more depth in their teams to cope with technical tracks where pure speed isn’t the answer.

Take your point, it shouldn’t take six rides to the decide that the injury is still an issue. At this point if I were the team manager (which I’m not), I’d be gearing up for the continued use of R/R in the play offs. In the meantime, I would look to use guests to see out the regular season to avoid unnecessary pressure on other riders having to take extra rides.

If he is back, Lions will need him to pick up where he left off ready for the playoffs. Let’s see what happens in Poland.

He was great for the Lions. Now though he couldn’t give a toss…… literally…..Which is why he got the Belle Vue & Ipswich captains to do rock/paper/scissors for gate positions on Monday’s TNT meeting!

Yes he does seem to be showing a little more mettle of late. Beating the opposition RS has to be the bottom line at home, taking points off them away will be seen as a bonus. Joe does seem to be trapping quite well recently, but has the habit of being passed easily on the first lap. From what I saw of Gilkes, I was impressed. With taking time to recover from his injury, he will hopefully pick up from where he left off next season. I’d love to see him in Lions colours next year.

I seem to recall that teams had the option to play a joker and score double points in the next race/event! How could you possibly bring that idea into a professional sport like speedway 😄 (Just like they did a few seasons ago 😟).

Two points for a win. One point for a draw. One point for the aggregate win. No super heats. If scores are level on aggregate, adopt a count back approach, fewest last places over the two legs. Super heats are ultimately about not finishing last to put the emphasis on league racing being a team sport. The outcome of a single race would therefore replaced with teams performances over two meetings, thus reflecting what the aggregate point is supposedly about.

How do the Polish TS rules differ to ours out of interest?

Don't see how you can plan for heat 15 with a super heat in mind. Whether you are in front or behind you will surely be targeting maximum points from heat 15.

You’ve nailed it there, yet some KL fans still think things would have been different if Cook hadn’t got injured.

Whilst I enjoy watching the Lions away, it’s probably as well that TNT or BSN didn’t cover this. The Updates site suggests this was a s*it show from Lynn and wouldn’t have been worth paying to watch. Some might question The Star’s timing and choice of a T/S, but in all honesty it was always going to mean diddly squat on the meeting outcome. Although Dickson was probably quite surprised how easily Lynn rolled over, he will be keeping a close eye on their riders from here on with a view to potential guest options for the play offs. At this stage though, none of them would be worth approaching as an alternative to the continued use of R/R for Becker.

Cook is a six point rider (check his average if you don’t believe me). His recent scores in Poland would suggest that his injury isn’t so bad. Whilst I have a degree of sympathy regarding his attitude to British speedway, Lynn do have previous with this scenario do they not? The Stars were hardly ripping up trees before he got injured were they?. To say that it is glaringly obvious that Lynn would have made the play offs is therefore deluded. Out of interest, care to inform us as to which of the current top four teams you think Lynn would have finished above?

Rain from mid morning until tea time predicted for tomorrow. I’m sure Buster will be able to deal with that though 🤨

Totally agree. All this crap about Lynn’s strength in having a strong No.6 (whoever’s turn it is) has come to nothing. Not sure about the outcome of this meeting, but expecting it to be close with a maximum of a six point win either way.

Yes, I’ve looked at this again. I think I got my wires crossed. The wording of the SCB rules regarding guests relates to riders in a teams top five allowance for an additional 5% on averages for guests standing in for a rider in a home meeting (which I was aware of). An additional clarifying sentence along the lines of ‘guests outside of a teams top five are permitted but the extra 5% is not applicable’ could perhaps be included. Anyway, trivial, move on!

I must have looked at an old ruling then, my bad 😞

Guest riders are limited to a team’s top five. Cook is down to a reserve berth for August.