Teromaafan

Chuffed to be off the mark with league points tonight. Doyle aside, I really don't think that Swindon are any better than Leicester and would not expect them to be play off contenders. Highlight of the night was Wozniak beating Doyle. All well and good if Doyle had overlooked on a bend lost significant ground, but he didn't and was always close to Wozniak and to keep a top GP rider at bay for 4 laps was mighty impressive.

Although the season has only just started, as a measure of the strength of our top five compared with teams in years gone by, has any team previously (in any league) on any occasion, ever nominated their reserve pair for Heat 15? I think that Norrie was making a massive (but obvious) statement in the recent Lakeside meeting. Whilst everyone is expecting heads to roll shortly, as has been highlighted in previous posts, who is available/willing/better to bring in?

I actually toyed with the idea of venturing to Lakeside tonight! Great decision to sit on my *rse instead it would seem. Two away meetings running and the reserves embarrass the others, one of which is a guest who comes out for Heat 15! Our heat leaders have managed two heat wins between them in these two meetings, in which we have fallen apart in the latter halves. It's early doors I know but we've been here many times before and I would like to hear any comments that club representatives may wish to make. Another tricky away track with four bends and two straights it would seem.

Weather watcher - 10 first bend crashes per meeting? That's a bit of an exaggeration isn't it? That's a bit like saying there are 10 rider passes per season! Looking forward to seeing the outcome of the track changes which is what everyone wants to see. Now that the track length will effectively be shorter, will DH be looking to pay riders less as they will now not have travel so far? Just a thought!

Even on good days we've rarely had meetings in the bag by heat 13 at home. The likely lack of clout in heats 13 & 15 is a concern. Away meetings? Let's not go there. A lot has been said about our apparent strength at reserve. This is okay when there are middle order wobbles but will not compensate for top end fire power shortfalls. As averages develop we could see heat leader and second string berths changing regularly without recognised heat leaders. As with the sport these days however, it is unlikely that the starting 7 will all still be in place by May so at least we will have different riders to moan about by then! Keeps it fresh!

Popped in to Sainsburys today only to find that there was sod all left in the vegetable aisles. Bumped into DH who said that the heat leader aisle was pretty much the same!

Oi! You may jest but DH could do worse than wheel him out of retirement in view of the diminishing options left with! Actually when I last spoke to Ray Wilson he said that he still had his leathers? (Leathers = kevlars, when life was in black and white).

Whilst Beckettlions 1 to 7 doesn't instill a great deal of confidence, it is nevertheless a very realistic team within the circumstances. Lions rarely win matches comfortably and the lack of big guns to compete in Heats 13 & 15 would be a real concern.

Here here, an average of 9.44 excluding bonus points (unlike the good old days!) is highly commendable. Doyle has been a rock and the ultimate professional for two years in a struggling EL team.

The Lions promotion are saying the right things with regard to hanging on to Doyle. Just how far they are prepared to go remains to be seen. If that means a change of race night, it is a big call for Hemsley who clearly sees a shift from Saturday as risk on crowd numbers. If he were to take the plunge (which most people doubt), I just hope he does not lose sight of the bigger picture regarding the team. For two seasons JD has surpassed all our expectations and is probably the best Lions rider I have seen (I go back as far as the early 70s), yet our Elite league performances have been dismal. Keeping Doyle would be a start but not job done. I would therefore prefer to see more effort put into general team building rather than revolve everything around one rider, as brilliant as he is. As we know, it's no fun having a GP superstar when you're an Elite basement team.

Enough has been said regarding Mr Hemsley being adamant about his track shape. Earlier in the year I chatted briefly to Gino Manzares (he was outside the LCFC stadium before a game with his bike wearing Lions kevlars?) and I asked for his opinion on our track as he had been practicing there earlier that day. He said the track was fine and laughed when I mentioned people's comments on this forum. On reflection, what was he expected to say on that afternoon. With all the criticism flying around, and I find it hard to believe that DH is not aware of comments on this forum and I suspect that IF he was looking for an opinion on the track he would only consult certain riders whose job it is to win races as opposed to entertain. The bottom line is that DH will not lower himself to seek a second opinon on the track despite the opinion of the masses, whose decision it is to attend meetings (or not), will ultimately dictate the future of Leicester Speedway.

Another toothless away performance from the Lions. I know Poles are not supposed to favour the smaller tracks, but come on? We can use the excuse that circumstances have resulted in the over use of the guest facility, but the truth is our guests have generally more than punched their weight when called upon. We cannot even consider being a mid table team until we can take away matches to the last few heats for the result to be decided. As one of the better supported clubs in the league, I'm sure we could guarantee a pretty decent away following to most places if we thought our boys were up for it and could at least sniff out the odd bonus point, yet alone a win. This would seem to be some way off though. Rant over.

Good job it's not boxing then as the referee would need to intervene well before then!

Think this will be tight, with either team winning by no more than 8 points, but hoping for a first Lions Elite away win on the road.