Col

It's too grippy, some of the riders are struggling to turn the bikes. Thought so, thanks.

Is the track record faster than the Hans Nielsen record that no-one got close to for years? Or is that null & void as the track is different?

Track is not as wet as it was when Brummies were here last season. It looked as if they'd put half the river Avon on it that night.

Marvelous. My third visit and second time track prep issues. Kemp & Kurtz were certainly very tentative in heat 1 - too grippy I assume.

Probably covered previously but currently sat in YVR international departures and have just spotted this. Lindgren replaces who? Milik? Lampart?

Mountain v Pickering & Holder Snr

Haha. I was back on the M1 way before that, but it was 50 mph for most of he time I was on it, then the A38 and A5 were partially shut so a bit of a pain!

If you look further back Bailey gifted a point to Edwards in heat 2, trying to pass Mountain on the outside. Mountain was by far the best reserve tonight and had Lemon put him in heat 14 I'm sure he'd have beaten Edwards and may have held Pickering up for long enough to give Cook a decent lead. Yes, he'd have been off the bloody awful gate 3 but it wasn't such a handicap later on and Mountain was gating well. There wasn't much passing really, from heats 9-11 two 5-1's (1 for each team) turned into 3-3's on turns 3 & 4. Firstly Pickering sneaking around Mountain to make the Belle Vue reserve switch to the outside which allowed Holder senior to pass him inside, a heat later Holder junior stuffed Howarth allowing Lidsey & Cook through.

Why didn't Lemon swap Mountain for Bailey in heat 14? That could be the difference.

7:30 start - I think. Confirmed.

I've seen the Aces get battered at Owlerton too many times to think it will be close. At least I'll not see a Musielak maximum this time. I just hope the racing is decent and I can be back on the M1 by 21:45.

Flint is usually good at NSS, in comparison to any other RS at least. I didn't see it at the time, my eyes were on Mountain v Lampart, but Flint drifted a little too wide into the really deep material allowing Cook through.

I definitely agree that Vargarna & Rospiggarna will prop up the table.

Heat 14

Lindgren 133 more Woffinden 133 less Cierniak 133 more

So the weather is forecast to be good on Thursday for the 2nd leg of the KO Cup where Belle Vue hold a 49-41 advantage over Sheffield from the first leg on Easter Monday. If Aces perform as they usually do when I go to Owlerton, the Tigers will have this sown up by heat 10! If Woffinden & Bewley bring their Polish form however it could be a different matter.

Milik was doing OK until his mechanical issue, after which he seemed to be suffering with an arm injury, Pawlicki was trying but didn't have enough speed for NSS. Decent battle for second with Lidsey in his one ride. Worrall was probably worse than all three imports. Lampart was much better than I thought he'd be.

I thought it was reasonably entertaining meeting considering how one-sided it was. Lidsey v Pawlicki & heat 14 being the highlights. Didn't seem a lack of effort from Pawlicki, just didn't have enough speed. Milik started well but faded after mechanical gremlins but of the three Lampart acquitted himself best. Hope to see a stream of heat 14. I had thought Flint was too far in front of Cook to be caught so my eyes were on Mountain closing in on Lampart so missed Cook passing Flint.

There looks allot more dirt on the track than normal to me.

Pawlicki would have ridden NSS before when Poland won the SWC there? I'm sure he wasn't awful, I'd have remembered. Probably wants the meeting to be closer than 55-35 to maintain interest. I'm sure Lampart & Milik have visited the NSS before on U21 & international duty, neither were any great shakes. Brennan will probably deny Bewley s maximum but gift Bailey a point on his way to 8 points from 5.

Piotr Pawlicki - 3, 3, 3, 1, 0 - 9 as Zielona Góra succumb to the top end strength of Gorzów in the final 3 heats losing 41-49, Pawlicki 5-1ed twice.

Gorzow top 3 to good for ZG, home team needed a decent lead before heat 13.

Thomsen superb.

Zielona Góra need a 5-1 in heat 14 to draw, because the best they can hope for in heat 15 is a 3-3 barring any mechanical disasters.