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Being a patriot and as GB are not racing tonight im going to be backing Russia, I think Emil would add to the final.

Just hope the riders show the event a bit of respect and actually turn up, a Saturday at Brandon will bring back the memories, as for being fed and watered the Royal Oak will be getting another visit,

Programme boards with a small square cut out and fitted with plastic so you could shield your face from flying shale whilst watching the racing on the bends.

Re the track lets not forget its a brand new build and needs to settle, I think anyone can see the potential that this track will offer in seasons to come. The WC will be interesting with the calibre of rider and machinery at a higher level than we see in the EL.

Well as a team we were second best tonight but in football parlance good sides find a way to win when not performing to their abilites. We dug in and nicked it but wolves were very good and must feel a bit aggrieved. Zagar is some arguement for enticing the world class GP riders isnt he? Hes been shocking this season, a woeful No1. Max Fricke is the future another great performance from him tonight. Howarth is a strange one, when he was riding in the Colts with Garrity he looked the better of the two, always more stylish and in control, whereas hes gone backwards Garrity has improved and is now a far better rider than Kyle. If Wolves had two firing reserves they would be very difficult to beat, their top five is solid and can all score important points when the team require it. Joe Jacobs has got a lot better at home and if he could transfer some of that form into his away meetings we wouldnt be far away, hopefully the extra meetings for the IOW and Ipswich will be beneficial. No team is going to be on it in every meeting and pulling out a win when riding below average is at least a positive sign.

All levels of speedway have their good and bad meetings, the sport always takes a hit from fans when a bad meeting is televised and people lament how it will affect the sport and its ability to attract new support. But lefts take F1 for example, two hours of watching paint dry where more passing takes place when the leader takes a pit stop, the prices dwarf speedway but at every GP look at the crowds, the follow my leader style dosent effect the popularity of the sport. I know a GP event offers more than a standard speedway meeting as in effect its like a little town set up with various other entertainments etc, but for on track action its a snooze fest. So by comparison are we overly hard on our sport?

I always enjoy my visits to Somerset but this is the first PL pairs I will have done its normally the Rebels in action when I get down there. Looking forward to it.

Weather appears to be dry all day so its another Journey down the M1 i enjoy my trips to BP i know the track gets some stick but it did appear better on our last visit and the fans down there are always a friendly bunch, i have a feeling they might just get something tonight to, Bomber should better than what Matej is doing at the moment but i cant see r/r covering adequately for Max at all.

I think the benefit of having bomber instead of zagar will be lost losing fricke, i cant see r/r being adequate cover for max on current form.

Fricke will no doubt be a miss and even though Zagar dosent get on with the track a rider of his ability should still be able to score decent points, if not that could cost us.

The amount of rain we had yesterday was unreal, the forecast for tomorrow isnt good at the moment, i was going to go to the track today to buy my ticket but have decided to hang fire until tomorrow to see how the weather pans out, thats the bonus of the print your own option you can buy at the last minute, unless its an event like the world cup.

Thats true in one sense in another we have two premier league teams, numerous lower league teams, county cricket, rugby league, the national cycling centre, boxing at the arena, etc, far more competetion than where most teams are situated.

Garrity rode superbly

I enjoyed the meeting, the track was well prepared and served up an entertaining meeting. We did well to get within three points as cookie, stevie, and scott wernt really firing and JJ was never at the races. Both teams suffered their share of bad luck and the Bees came on strong in the second half so fair play to them. Matej started well then tailed off somewhat, probably the stress of riding into the car park instead of the pits . Bomber was excellent and was great to watch. Whats more important than any result is that Brandon continues to exist as a speedway venue. Walking down to the Royal Oak before the meeting i was imagining the impact a new housing estate on the speedway site would have on the local community, it would take away that village feel and with the extra traffic etc i would be suprised if any resident would want that. As we saw with our stadium building a new venue is not straightforward, Swindon are finding that out, and not forgetting Reading whose new home never materialized. The sport can not afford to lose Coventry and i hope im visiting Brandon for years to come.

Good result for the lads, just hoping we can now get a run of matches and get into a regular stride.

Got to say the Colts meetings so far have been superb, far better racing than the EL. I cant see me missing any meetings at this level after admittedly being a tad sceptical to begin with. The level is far better than the last time i saw an NL meeting.

The council in Swindon have always appeared to be pro speedway i think this will happen for next season.

How is Swindons new track coming along?

A very good meeting with some good racing, the pick for me being jon armstrong putting in a tremendous ride to pass the colts pair for the win, rob shuttleworth suffered some bad luck and rode far better than his total suggests, his e/f after a good manouvre from the back in his first ride being very harsh. Dan Bewley was superb, this lad is one of those natural born talents, the best debut by a kid ive seen since the days of collins and morton, massive way to go to match up to those two but dan appears to have everything to go very far. A mention for the tigers for taking the meeting at short notice, they have a couple of good lads so the colts had to work for the win, this meeting far exceeded what i was expecting for NL, looking forward to the next one. So onto the aces next week, swindon wont have a problem with coming here, this track lends itself to superb racing and i can see away riders looking forward to coming to manchester now instead of dreading it, a big chunk of home advantage gone but who cares about that if the racing is top class?

Can see our inactivity being exposed in this one.

A good result in the end, Leicester rallied for a couple of heats after their 8-1 and came back at us but just didnt have enough. The racing was much better than my last visit, the track changes seem to have been a positive. It must be frustrating for Lions fans at the moment but a poor side is better than no side at all when you consider the years Leicester was without the sport. Considering how Bjarne Pedersen was dropped before a wheel was turned i think he would be a far better bet than the likes of Walasek, like Paddy he owes Leicester after his last performance there, Hougaard will be fine, the reserves will always do a job, add Pedersen, and thats a better starting point than whats there at the moment. I thought Wozniak would have kicked on this season i saw him a few times last year and he looked real promising. I dont know about averages but the likes of Stead and Summers would defo be better than the poles, hope the Lions can sort something out to strengthen them up.

Was looking forward to coming down for this one but having checked several weather sites its forecasting rain from 5 pm to 10 pm, these days its certainly not worth travelling unless the forecast is bang on, will have to leave it till the very last minute to decide.