Noelinho

Overall, it was a good meeting. I counted 15 passes, including the first staging of heat 9. Chris Harris doing exactly what's expected of him, and riding a fantastic line through turn four. He definitely moved the boards out more than once tonight. Ben's not quite firing yet but a good enough start and I'm sure it'll come. Claus looks exactly like I remember from 2019. Cami seems to think we shouldn't expect the 2019 Vissing this year, so maybe he'll raise his expectations a bit having seen him this weekend. 17+3 over the two legs left him with more points than Tom and Ben. Marcin is definitely missing a bit of speed but he won heat 8 both times, so that's a good foundation. His partnership with Harris is looking strong (Harris was brilliant in heat 10), as is Vissing + Basso. Complin is entertaining, although quite untidy, and Ace just needs time, I think. I think Edinburgh will be good at home, but I think the combination of Bickley and Fredriksen is too weak. I think they could carry one of them (as every team will need to at reserve), but I'm not sure they'll get away with both, and I'm not sure I'm seeing much room for improvement. Jacob Hook, on the other hand, I think is a good one for them. 8 rides, 10+2, only two last places. The best reserve of the four on show. Unfortunately, my guess is he'll end up at 2 and struggle. The Tigers had issues at 2 all year last season - one thing that our team for this year will probably resolve.

Not saying you can't be angry at the move, just a bit less of the ad hominem, that's all.

I was on the terracing at turn four and yeah, some of the comments were pretty bad. Some were coming from a Berwick fan, so maybe they still hold a grudge from heat 15 a couple of years ago at Shielfield?! Craig nearly started a riot taking someone (Jye Etheridge?) into the fence.

Just to clarify, it was on the exit of turn two, and Ben was on the outside. What Craig is saying bears no resemblance to what happened. It was a tough move, he deserved to get excluded, although Ben surely knew that was what Craig would do. I'm guessing they weren't the best of friends last year, having seen that. Of course, because it's Craig, it naturally created a lot of aggro, and because it was on Ben, I think that particularly made it worse. He's such a fabulous rider, but he really is his own worst enemy. The tweet makes it sound like he planned to put him in the fence though, which whether he did or not, it'd be a bad look if he didn't get a ban. Not what I want to see, but you just can't let people say things like that. It's a dangerous enough sport as it is. Lost in all of that was Kyle Bickley crashing straight into Ben's bike and going for a horrible tumble. I was glad to see him walk away from that, because he was just collateral.

Josh Pickering is such a class rider.

Race two was five laps!

Three passes in heat one...

30% chance of rain at 3pm, then clear until 9pm. We’ve had a few days’ good weather - it’ll be fine.

No, Glasgow don’t stream Tigers fixtures.

I think Ace will be fine. He had great style in his first ride, but he was always going to be up against it. Jacob Hook can be handy around Armadale, not sure why he’s getting shade. Ace, Lee and Marcin will be fine around Ashfield, I’m sure. And that why they’re in the team. Away points will help, but they’re there to help us win big at home, and the other four should help us keep things close away. If that happens, Glasgow should look good at the end of the season, and hopefully less walking wounded going into the playoffs. Return leg tomorrow should be good though. It’ll give us a fairer idea of the two teams overall.

No numbers, but strong crowd.

Complin passed Hook for third in heat 12 too.

Kye and Paco looked a good pairing tonight. Hook decent too. Chris Harris was great to watch, and Vissing was on it too. Marcin was a bit all over the place. One good ride, three duds. Till better than his first time, I guess. Wish Edinburgh would find a new track soon though, so they can have one with a bit more passing.

Yeah, that was strange. Claus or Ben were better choices. I’d have taken Claus, after his heat 14 with Harris. They seemed to work well together, and covered the track well… which didn’t happen in heat 15 and Pickering picked off both of them through the middle. That’s was half the evening’s passing, right there.

I’m going to say a 12-point home win, but it’s hard to predict at Armadale.

Best action of the night after heat 14!

The home riders are doing so well, BSN have them averaging more than 3 points a ride

I'd take Glasgow's team all day long - but not round Armadale. Home win. Different story come the Sunday meet. Hopefully that's a bigger home win!

Tom does need to - really got outshone by Ben last year, albeit he did do a good job at 5. He was landed in it a bit. Marcin’s away average will determine where he is - if he can take care of that, I fully expect him to become the third heat leader, which is mad, given the two second strings we’d be left with are bona fide heat leaders themselves.

Yeah, the 1-5 is looking fantastic. I don’t see Ace or Lee escaping the reserve berths for very long, if at all. Nothing against them, just the fact of what they’re up against. I’m interested to see who does best out of Marcin, Claus and Tom - I think Ben and Chris are a step ahead. Although Marcin’s home record on his brief spell in 2021was as good as anyone (bar Craig, but even that, not by much).

Yeah, last year's suits weren't great. I loved the 2021 suits though.

I cancelled my subscription mid season last year when they had repeated issues. They gave me a free month, things got a lot better, and I was happy to resubscribe after that. The product was much, much better second half of the season.

Just wondering, are Eurosport covering British Speedway this season, or is it all via BSN? I’ve seen Eurosport post about Speedway GP, but haven’t found anything at all about the domestic league.

I think you missed the humour in my post.

It would make sense to move one other team to the Premiership. My vote is for Plymouth. Too far away and I don’t like the track.