ouch

All ifs buts & maybes. I'd agree with the bulk of the Wolves fans who prior to the play off semi, when we were both at full strength said The Aces would win over two legs. They know their riders better than most. Whoever won yesterday it was a bloody good meeting and if you get the opportunity of seeing clean cut sports dvd, grab it

Even the league title is not in the same league, compared to years gone by.

Irrespective of the riders involved and the guest situation it was an exceptional meeting with some truly memorable heats. Speedway at its best.

Workingtons Craig Cook says he's not riding. Workington say it's ok. Belle Vue get penalised. It's like if my next door neighbours say it's ok for their dog to take a dump outside my house and when I come out to complain the council official slaps me with a fine for dog fouling!

The fact they finally decide to tackle the issue when it effects Belle Vue is purely coincidental.

Cook hasn't been banned. If he had failed to provide a sick note then he would have been suspended from Workingtons next home meeting of which there isn't one this season. The BSPA can allow a rider to race within seven days following a none speedway illness but they can also prevent them. This preventative measure has as far as I know never been implemented until now. Craig Cook is the captain of The Belle Vue Aces who have the home leg of the cup final tomorrow.

I've a lot of time for Sam and he has a lot of time with what we are trying to achieve at the NSS. I think all tracks should prepare the best race track for all riders to strut their stuff. It can bite you on the backside every now and then but the overall product makes these set back easier to take. Tracks now are set up for the home lads off the start with a few tricks thrown in here and there. It almost guarantees a half decent team a win and often a good win but the racing on offer wouldn't prompt an upturn in attendance. In fact the opposite happens if they start losing as there is little else to keep the punters entertained and once lost they don't return. Though it makes things hard for us I'm glad Sam and others enjoy coming here I just wish we could get the rest on board and push the sport forward again.

The Colts lost by 16 points last time. We had replacements for Dan, Jack, Rob & Lee and we got 26 points from those rides. I'm hoping for more this time with three of our own back but then again they have little experience of the Eastbourne circuit so it's hard to say if they will or not.

Correct, no reassessment was made for the Wolves signing. I'm not banging on about it merely using it as an example of the flexible approach to rider averages when querying what Zagar will be on......for us.

So did Tai but he would have been 8 if we signed him.

I wasn't at all suggesting that a prospective sponsor would use this forum as their only form of research but it not inconceivable that it could form some part of it. As to the other points they are all true but it's highly unlikely they would be read by someone only interested in one particular fixture. The point put across by many is that no one is interested in the KO Cup irrespective of who's missing or what teams or involved. It's this I take issue with.

I think if a team has three or more members missing or if the total with both teams combined is four or more then the fixture shouldn't be run. Filling gaps with guests has been far to easy recently and has resulted in riders missing meetings willy nilly. The current situation with Wolves is quite unique imo as all the riders involved are injured. There is no prospect of rearranging this tie within the current season so I think steps should have been taken to make the Wolves team at least feel like a Wolves team. The inclusion of Wells fits the bill and I would have been happy to see Tai. R/R for another spot would leave only one potential "foreigner" in the wolf pack and I hope give their fans something to genuinely get behind. One side note I'd like to make is that comments about how uninterested fans are about this competition do not contribute to the greater good and should be kept to yourself. A potential sponsor toying with the idea of becoming involved would soon turn away as would any floating supporter. Constructive criticism, yes. Blind pessimism, no.

It's the dammed numbers game. I feel bad enough just typing a team without him, what it's actually like telling these riders to their face that they don't have a team place must be hell.

1. Cook 2. Hougaard 3. Holder/Woffinden 4. Tungate 5. Zagar/Fricke 6. Bewley 7. Smith

Sigh. You do realise he's not here, so you can take a holiday from the goading insults. No need. I'm hoping in future Wolves/Aces threads can be as enjoyable and devoid of insults as the Aces/Stars, Lions, Pirates, Rockets, Rebels & Robins threads have been.

I posted on 25/8/17 that RR had only averaged 7.03 in place of a 8.48 rider, though Lee's average was due to increase at the next set of averages. We are not benefiting from RR. We could have signed another rider up to 8.48 but decided to let the lads have the rides before Lee returned but unfortunately he didn't, then it got so late on it wasn't worth making another signing. No rule breaking here mate, only bones.

Yep. Imagine if the 3 ride ref cock up had cost another final in the KO Cup. Add in gogglegate and you have to question why these costly ref errors always happen to us?

Re the nothing meetings, this is another side effect of the play offs as this is the be all and end all which renders anything else pointless. It all but killed the other two legged cup competitions. This filtered through the sport to the point where riders were dropping out and this only reinforced fans opinions. To make it worse fans regularly voice these opinons so potential attendees start to belive it. Back in the day the Northern trophy was an important cup for us but try selling it now with all the online negativity.

I think it should be compulsory for at least all top flight teams to have a junior team even if it's only a small MDL type to run as second halves.

The main reason is the Colts are a very good team and riding at home only serves to highten that. We lost at Lakeside by 8 when Dan only scored 6. There was a last heat decider at Mildenhall that we lost by 4. Apart from those we have only lost when fielding under strength teams. The only reason we don't win away by more is the inexperience of the young lads in our team and the fact they have to get use to the quirks of those track. They have ironed out any quirks at the NSS due to the fact they ride there regularly. I think at this level differences in home and away performances are heightened by the riders inexperience.

Will Zagar be on his 7.48 average or will it be upped if we want to sign him?

Are we all a bad bunch or is it just a minority as it's unclear from your post.

It's been an extremely fine line between Lemon winning and losing. Who's to say the ref would have bothered re gogglegate, as they didn't alter their decision when their mistake was pointed out last week? Different refs and an earlier implementation of the anti ringer rule would have seen Lemon with three on the trot titles.

Indeed you are mistaken, about a great many things. Copyright: The Emperor, Return of the Jedi.

What's people's views on this one? Do clubs get a better average attendance per meeting if they run weekly up to the end of the season or if they cram several fixtures into a short space of time or even run double header? Here's one for people with promoting knowledge, do you make in gate receipts running two meeting one week after the next at full price or do double headers draw a bigger crowd in, that compensates for the reduced admission charged for the two meetings?