ouch

I’ll take heart from that as if it’s true The Aces won’t lose another match this season.

That all ended on the rainy night in Manchester with his role in ensuring Poole got the result they needed to make the play offs. It played out in full view of the Sky cameras with Steele looking like a rabbit in the headlights. Thing is he had a job to do and followed it through even knowing the danger he placed the riders in. He liked the idea of being a speedway supremeo but after that it would never happen. The fact it happened at Belle Vue seems to have turned him against us as he has acted in this way on previous occasions. Nothing will ever come of it as this is just speedway. The only silver lining is that very few of us actually see this and give a monkeys.

This wasn’t an error on Steeles part. He knew exactly what he was doing and he’s done it before. Saying this, that or the other MIGHT have happened is pointless, we can only go with what did happen and it wasn’t right.

Seems Max had bike problems in heat 13 and these forced him out of heat 15 also Mark had a puncture in heat 14 so couldn’t hold on to third.

I’ll be honest and say the damage has already been done. I banged the drum many many years ago to no avail. The play off debate in terms of speedway can be quite complex and many of the intricacies are lost on some. We are now at the point where we need to attract new fans as the anorak wearing, board waving fans have been pretty much forced out. The sad thing is their money is just as good as anyone’s yet it’s been almost literally thrown away.

When your clientele is old farts, of course you’re going to attempt to bring in a younger crowd. What you don’t do is implement a system (or systems) that helps drive these old farts away whilst simultaneously failing to attract newbies.

With regards to the play offs you cannot compare speedway to any other team sport. Common practise now is for teams to (purposely?) start slow, thus reducing their team average which then offers them the opportunity to build back up. In other sports this wouldn’t happen as they aren’t ruled by points and anyway if say Stockport County signed Ronaldo then they wouldn’t suddenly become favourites as in that sport it’s very much a collective effort - simultaneously. In speedway you can replace a low scorer with a high scorer and the difference is instant with a massive impact. Speedway is a different beast and this is unfortunately lost on those who wield the power who come up with ideas without fully investigating there impact.

Neil at Belle Vue is excellent with his pre race tunes and depending on what happened in the heat he often picks a tune to reflect it.

Yes, it’s been particularly poor this year. I’ve emailed them about averages but had no response.

Correct.

It would have been 7.26 if he had signed at the start of the year for a PL club. He signed part way through the season so he then used his converted CL average.

Comments about the Poole track were that is was better. It’s essentially like putting more glitter on a plop.

It would be a surprise if all clubs in a tiny 7 team league were not in with a chance of finishing fouth from bottom around the half way stage.

Very concerning. This is one thing I actually hope does get brushed under the carpet. A heavy fine would, I fear, be the final nail in the coffin for the Pirates.

Can you let us know the facts behind this post. It doesn’t tally with the figures I’m looking at?

Jye is only the fourth biggest improver in our team, never mind the league.

You can get one for a Zinger meal from the Dolphin Centre KFC.

Don’t take it to heart, he’s just trolling AGAIN. You’re basically replacing a rider that scored 7 last time with a rider that scored 17. As clueless as Walter Mitty is nobody is that dense so they cannot to see the true impact to the team.

Two of them, as close as to make no odds. Don’t know about the other two.

There’s no way Championship clubs are going to track the likes of Cook, Morris, Schlein & Nicholls at number one as it would sink them.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/other-sport/speedway/ex-belle-vue-aces-star-tai-6150003.amp

In ‘97 in think, we ran teams with a blank in the main team. The other four members took the rides similar to R/R. If we operated this again it would ease the rider shortage worries some have, keep the standard up and address the drop in earning that will inevitably occur, as in essence every four meeting would be equivalent to five in term of rides taken. The problem you have is if R/R was required. I’ll have to dig out the programmes from that year to see what went on or maybe someone could add to the discussion. I also think we should use NL riders at reserve with protected heats but this time get the averages weighted correctly to properly reflect their ability and no moving out of that position all season ( like the Poles).

Never happen.

Some good points posted recently. To save quoting each one here is my bit I like programmes, always have, for any event I go to. The Aces one is excellent with lots to enjoy. I’d really miss it but I can also see the need for an app. I spoke to Dave Gordon about such a thing with us having WiFi in the stadium but unfortunately all that went along with him. I remembered the golden sash after meeting competition. Whether promoters didn’t pay well for it I don’t know but top riders often ducked out of it and it was soon dropped. I’ve said for years now that junior teams should be compulsory and it would be great if their (5 or 6) heats were interspersed in the main meeting. For the last two or three years, at Belle Vue at any rate meeting have been run very quickly, so I think it could be accommodated. There was a 15 heat Colts meeting last year ran in just over an hour.

Typical speedway replacing a minor irritation with a rule that is completely irritating. If I was a ref I’d release the tapes just as the roller had to stop before hitting the tapes. Also if a rider pulled back as we see some do, I’d get him on the phone after the race and tell him he’s out if he does it again. Whilst speedway is essentially a basic sport it shouldn’t be so basic that it can’t adopt technology to help solve this issue.