beckettlion

Were you there? There was a fair bit of passing. I actually don't think the lions boys gated that well, it was about even in terms of which team got to the first bend.. Wasn't just lions passing the Tigers either, howarth pulled off a brilliant move to get round ulamek (on the newly laid 3&4)

Believe it's shaved 15 metres off the track length. Was 317 now 302 (I think!)

Can understand why you don't like challenges. Think I'd have been frustrated had I been a tigers fan. Steady should be back on Thursday for the return leg. I would absolutely love him to get a maximum and show our management what we could have had!

Surely listing some of the more severe injuries that happened when racing in poor conditions, justifies the riders reasons behind wanting well prepared tracks...

Thanks. Doubt it'll amount to anything, but I'd be happy to help

Thought the crowd was bigger than I was expecting to be honest. Fully agree though, should be far more active online for example. I'd happily run the lions Twitter account for example. I wouldn't just tweet on there once every blue moon! Wouldn't know who to contact about it though

Thought your boys looked good today. Garrity was brilliant, howarth mixed well with our heat leaders. Bates looked quick and seemed to have more control than previous years, hall was impressively quick at reserve. Special mention to Greaves. Bit out of his depth but gated as well as anyone on show today. Showed great instincts to lay the Nike down and avoid what could have been a serious injury to Richard hall. Looked to have a good style and never dropped too far back. Hope anyone that Mae the effort to come down enjoyed the meeting. Good luck for the season

Didn't see this post til just now. Went there expecting to pay 18 quid, delighted to have only had to pay 7.50! Enjoyable meeting despite the gap between the two teams! Ulamek dialled in quickly, looks a shrewd acquisition. Hope walasek was just trying a few things. Didn't look like he. Picked up the quickest way round the new bends 3/4 like the others, need him firing at Brandon on Friday as it's usually a favourite of his

Apologies for anyone I may offend, but I'm actually going to be positive about the meeting! Firstly, I was expecting to have to pay full price. But this year they've introduced a student ticket, so I saved 11.50 and was very pleasantly surprised! Been a long time coming, but they've done it. Secondly, the track changes are very apparent. Think they did make a change to the racing, a couple of cut backs and moves round the outside showing a few racing lines. Thought houggard was impressive and ulamek got dialled in quickly. Garrity very impressive for the Tigers. Don't think it was gate and go (but it is popular to accuse Leicester of that). Greaves was a little bit out of his depth but I was impressed. He gated well. Wasn't ever ridiculously far behind the rest, especially impressed with him laying the bike down in a split second to avoid hall after a fall. The track shop at Leicester has more variety and better value for money following the new management. The crowd was actually a fair size, for a pre season challenge and considering the more lucrative option of the belle vue opening meeting!

Holder has tweeted an apology to his polish side, saying he's not well enough to travel alone, let alone race

Brady Kurtz just tweeted to say he enjoyed the track. Hans has apologised to josh bates. Whoever was doing the updates on proboards was so biased to Coventry it was laughable

'Gogglegate' as it keeps being referred to wasn't blatant cheating though. It was against the rules (in a spur of the moment move and probably a rule Newman wasn't even aware of), yes, but cheating is gaining an unfair advantage. If anything, he put himself at a disadvantage. The Referee should have excluded Newman before the race began, but that's not Pooles fault.

Just out of interest, could that coincide with the increase in ticket costs? Maybe that extra couple of quid used to buy raffle tickets is now being used for the ever increasing admission costs. Certainly gone up in price a few quid, and no student price

Saw a video on Facebook of Szymon Wozniak taking a few laps around Beaumont Park, looks in good nick. Nice to see he's as keen as ever, over here early putting the graft in. Lets hope we reap the rewards of his efforts.

We'll do you a swap, we'll have Doyley back and you can have Ulamek..?

personally, id prefer klindt. guested well for us last year, performed well for us in 2014, knows his way around the track and we at least know he's loyal to the club. not saying summers wouldnt have been, but I am quite happy with Nicolai, its Houggard that needs to prove himself to lions fans IMO

Just out of interest, do we know when the sponsor will be announced?

I'm not for one second saying Leicester will achieve anything or even be a threat this year, but we're not the complete cannon fodder everyone seems to have us as. The whole league is a lot weaker, and people saying they can't see where a race win will be coming from are being a tad ridiculous! Wozniak is ever improving and a tidy rider, Walasek will always win races, Ulamek was still going well in Poland last year, Houggard and Klindt can be hit and miss (at least they might hit sometimes!) and we have one of the best reserve pairings in the league. We won't win the league, we won't make the play offs, but we're not weaker than premier league teams and we're not going to go the season winless.

One that doesn't put us at much risk of the team being anywhere near the points limits!

Poole Belle Vue Swindon Wolves Kings Lynn Lakeside Leicester Coventry

Could Huckenbeck be the untried, foreign number 8 though? Imagine he'd be a very good shout for that role

Makes a change, Bjarne getting let down by a team, and not the other way around!

Wajknecht would be an interesting one should you get him. Brilliant prospect for the future, but could be throwing him in at the deepend if he had to replace someone at 2-5 in the team, as he's still probably weaker than all the draft riders. If you could get Drabnik, I'd have thought he'd probably have been in the original team!

Talk of the new foreign number 8... Which young foreign rider would we like to see? Potentially a second tier 2 fast track rider as well... Who's best of what's left?

I think a big problem speedway has that other sports dont, is the lack of people participating. People are interested in watching something that they do themselves... If you go down to a football stadium on a saturday afternoon, a large percentage of the crowd either plays for their own football team or has done at some point. If you go down to a speedway stadium, only a small percentage (of an already small number) will have even sat on a speedway bike, let alone raced one competitively. I wonder if a grass roots scheme made more accessible to the public, especially the younger population, might make people have a go and appreciate just how good our sport is