T.N.T.

All teams that are performing well usually have decent gates so reaching the play offs should be the icing on the cake after a decent season with decent crowds. Wolves do pretty well with attendances but over the last few seasons it has looked down from a few years ago and this could be down to the lack of a team looking like reaching the play offs or people finding the cost of going too expensive. One reason I think crowds have dwindled down though is the amount of meetings now served up each season. Talking to Graham Jones the other day and his contract was for 66 meetings during the season. There were more league matches, cup knockouts, midland cups, Dudley Wolves Trophy and other meetings. Now we start later in the year and have weeks of no racing what so ever. One of the main reasons for this is the availability of riders who race in different leagues in different countries each week far more now than in the past. As Graham Jones stated at the Sam and Ronnie evening, he would have loved to have ridden abroad more ..... " but they only wanted him" (pointing to Sam). Jonah had a good career in the lower division but then came the point where he needed to move up to earn more money and progress. These days you dont have to as British riders can do 28+ meetings in each division giving them 60+ matches a season without using a ferry, plane or needing a passport. BANG went the ambition to progress by riding abroad or having to move up and now there are less than 30 full time Elite League riders and there is only Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls as full time British riders in the top flight which is possibly why it's hard to get a SWC squad together that can compete with Australia, Denmark and Sweden as the used to do in the days of Collins, Lee, Betts, Jessup, Louis, Wilson, Simmons etc etc etc. Make the Elite League just Mondays = 7 home (£20 possibly - more big names appearing) Get every track to enter the Premier League in two groups = 12 meetings (£12 possibly) Add play offs in both competitions and other meetings and thats roughly 28 home meetings

AVERAGES = HOME ---- AWAY 8.86 ....... Peter Karlsson ....... 8.32 8.16 .......Fredrik Lindgren ...... 5.93 7.84 .......... Ricky Wells ......... 5.33 6.55 ....... Lewis Blackbird ....... 5.82 6.24 ....... Jacob Thorssell ....... 3.56 4.80 ...... Tobiasz Musielak ...... 4.00 4.70 ........... Josh Bates ......... 3.73 AVERAGES = GSA ---- ROLLING 6.95 ....... Peter Karlsson ....... 7.15 7.63 .......Fredrik Lindgren ...... 6.96 6.05 .......... Ricky Wells ......... 6.40 n/a ........ Lewis Blackbird ........ n/a 4.97 ....... Jacob Thorssell ....... 5.30 6.50 ...... Tobiasz Musielak ...... 4.50 n/a ............ Josh Bates .......... n/a 32.10 ................................... 30.31 6.86 Peter Kildemand = Helping out at Swindon but Adrian Meidzinski returns on Jun 18th 8.70 Darcy Ward = Has put on Twitter he isn't riding here until Poole in 2016 6.55 Bjarne Pedersen = Quit Leicester due to personal issues 7.97 Krzysztof Kasprzak = Struggling most places so may need to race more ? 6.34 Vaclav Milik = Good last season at Poole and scoring well abroad. 8.00 Emil Sayfutdinov = Riding his way back to form and not in the GP's but Britain ? 7.00 Artem Laguta = Ex GP rider and prolific scorer everywhere but unlikely

It would be ironic wouldn't it if in the rescheduled running of this match Kildemand was lining up for Wolves

Disappointed with the end result as Wolves really needed to be looking at winning at these places or at least looking at a point to take away but neither looked like happening in this one Freddie Lindgren was terrible from the gate and even then never looked like challenging for a point with his two points coming curtosy of an engine failure for Lawson and the other beating his team mate, Jacob Thorssell who after a great gate in heat one was struggling to stay in contention which is partly the same as Ricky Wells. With decent banking, especially on turns one and two and the track being graded so the dirt stays wide, Ricky, Jacob and Freddie however still stuck to the inside line and even PK tried it in heat 15 to no avail as he chased Doyle. Doyle in heat one (out wide) did well after a poor gate off gate 4 to easily pass Freddie and then chased after Thorssell to catch him on the last lap while Wozniak did likewise to win well a bit later. Morris did well to go through the Wolves pairing off turn two but apart from PK and especially Garrity, Wolves could do nothing from the back and only hard riding from the Bees guest gave him the points from the back. A few changes to the inside line and this could be a great circuit with great viewing and getting close to the track but until changes are made this track relegates decent racing to a minimum which is a shame. Overall the best team won and Morris was an excellent choice of guest while Lawson did well in one race to win from the gate. Wolves simply don't have the firepower away from Monmore Green and while a much better night for Freddie may have made it closer, Leicester deserved the points.

Would Pepsi Cola want to join Coke a Cola in Belgium or vica versa in France ? No because they are two independant companies and dont work together just as the Elite and Premier League are run as two seperate companies and until they run under one banner and have an independant and neutral governing body looking over all issues then the sport can't even think about promotion and relegation, When they tut it was never going to haried the play offs for promotion and relegation it was a farce as the EL teams whoi finished bottom were far too strong for the PL Champions who didn't want to go up and the EL track didnt want to go down.but this was never going to happen any way. Now we have far too many riders doubling up with most EL tracks having 4 of their 7 riders being PL riders also. So bottom place v Champions could feature the same riders but even if it was straight relegation you could end up with a rider who doubles up having to leave the PL team because they have gone up so having been promoted they not only have to find a top rider but also replace their number one. It will never work and hopefully never will feature again.

It doesn't but it's highly unlikely any track would want a 21-24 meeting season of league meetings with the British weather killing a number of weeks for everyone. Build all teams to the same level and then let some enter an EL (with star riders) and the others a Premier Trophy event and KO Cup and the sport would be much better equipped to move forward and should they want to build an international team, a strong but small Elite League season would test the likes of Jason Garrity or Kyle Howarth much more than it does now. Do Turkey's vote for Christmas ? British Speedway has long since needed an Independant board to report to that over looks the rules and running of the leagues and clubs PS; I know it's 24 hours late but I would like to say GET WELL SOON AJ as it was good to see him beating quality riders in the GP on Saturday and really looked forward to seeing him ride at Monmore having already missed the first meeting. It was a shame he had to miss this one too and it's a shame he is so ill that it is unlikely he would have ridden yesterday in Sweden (scoring 9+1) and unlikely to ride in Lakeside's next (possibly all) remaining meetings. Get Well Soon AJ !!

The Swindon team is very much like the Wolves team as they have five very good riders that the fans like and dropping anyone from either team would be harsh ...... but as much as they are liked you have to say they are not title winning teams are they. As for Swindon, it depends what the situation is with Kildemand as Meidzinski has returned from injury but Killer still continues to be in the Swindon line up even though he was signed as a temporary cover. So if he was looking at leaving soon, that would be the obvious change with Darcy Ward having to be the main target in a few weeks. So what is the situation with Kildemand as he is advertised in the Wolves programme last night as being in the Swindon team next week at Monmore ..... how long is he in for and has Meidzinski given up on Britain ?

Well for a pretty poor match up of talent and a one sided meeting, there was some good races in this one but overall it was an easy three points for Wolves and could have been embarrassing had Lewis Blackbird not been injured and Mikkel Bech had not been in fine form. Jacob Thorssell and Peter Karlsson had some good races with wins from the back while Bates, Wells and Bjerre all gained points from passes. Bech made each of his races entertaining and this was by far his best showing around Monmore Green and after a poor heat one, Nicolai Busk Jacobsen was impressive in his other rides and nearly passed Ricky Wells late on and should have been given the heat 15 ride. Ostergaard may have only scored 3 points but fought hard in a number of races and had to be passed a few times and at reserve it was Steve Boxall that impressed with good wins in both reserve races from the gate. Last year Wolves had to take a poor line up to Swindon just as Lakeside did hear and while there may be some races this is not an Elite League meeting and while I understand the cost of cancelling such mis matches, the sport can't continue to put out meeings like this as it's like Man Utd playing in the same league as Hednesford Town. The Elite League has to either be dropped or made to be just that ..... ELITE. Get the 8 EL tracks, 13 PL tracks and Cradley Heath to compete in one big division split into two groups of 11 and all set to the same points limit giving them all ten home meetings. These ride on any night apart from Mondays. The 8 EL tracks that want to do EL still then use the top 5 from their standard team and bring in two riders from a selection of four to ride in the EL matches. This gives them another 7 home meetings. Then the other 14 tracks compete in two groups divided by North and South (unlike the big league) giving them another 6 home meetings and they also compete in the KO Cup competition. This means a progression for riders as riders like Jason Garrity, Steve Worrall, Lewis Blackbird etc can ride in EL matches as reserves or second strings for the same track that they will be competing in the PL as heat leaders / second strings. WOLVES (EXAMPLE) Tai Woffinden Piotr Pawlicki Fredrik Lindgren Peter Karlsson Ricky Wells Jacob Thorssell Nicolai Klindt Lewis Blackbird Josh Bates Ashley Morris Matt Williamson It can happen and all teams currently in the EL would put on 7 Monday meetings in the EL if Sky asked them to ..... so no excuses for track availability. Woffinden, Pawlicki, Kasprzak, Kildemand etc would be more likely to ride here each week if they had just 14 meetings (or less) and maybe even get appearances from Pedersen, Sayfutdinov, Hampel etc ..... maybe even Jonsson !!!

NEW AVERAGES JUNE 1 7.63 Fredrik Lindgren 6.95 Peter Karlsson 6.50 Tobiasz Musielak 6.05 Ricky Wells 4.97 Jacob Thorssell FTR Lewis Blackbird FTR Josh Bates 32.10

Was a week ahead of myself as PK moves to second heat leader on June 1st

Be interesting to see who Lakeside can get as a guest with only Swindon and Belle Vue not riding and Scott Nicholls already booked up to ride for Coventry ......... maybe they could book Matej Zagar (unlikely) ..... Troy Batchelor (likely) ....... or simply go with R/R and let Jacobsen, Kennett, Ostergaard and Bech have extra rides !! Change my view to a 54-36 win and Lasse to actually score well against a virtual Premier League outfit

Ever thought of reading properly and understanding the written word. it looked obvious to me that only four teams were ever going to challenge for the title this season and so far those four are still looking the most likely to be in the play offs Poole - Coventry - Kings Lynn and Belle Vue were the four teams I tipped before the season and only the bad travels of the Aces has made me still think it will be those four in the end. Wolves have a decent start in the table but apart from one away match against a poor Lakeside team, they have shown little away and with a defeat at home the top three look like clearing off into the distance and only ruthless changes to Wolves, Lakeside, Leicester and Swindon would in my opinion make them contenders to catch Belle Vue.

From day one and even before that it looked obvious to me that only four teams were ever going to challenge for the title this season and so far those four are still looking the most likely to be in the play offs so half the teams were in the Oh Well There's always next year bracket. Regardless of who wins and who is holding an end of season dinner dance in August, I just hope next year they totally scrap the current race format and make it a more level playing field as the current format suits those with the best lower order riders far too much. At the start of the season we had some great Grade A reserves in Blackbird, Garrity, Newman, Auty etc but they ride in the Premier League against the likes of Simon Stead, Richard Lawson, Daniel King and Nick Morris but in the Elite League they are protected from such riders and can score double figures in the EL without beaking sweat almost but in the PL they fight hard to score 6. By all means protect the #7 to just reserves and second strings but the #6 needs testing more and the second strings also and bring it back to a team effort in winning matches rather than a few key riders having easier rides.

Birks and Ellis were always going to be the weakest pairing while Garrity and Sarjeant always looked the strongest and so that has been proved but I am pleased with the Wolves pairing of Blackbird and Bates although they do both seem a bit inconsistant at the moment. My original predictions are going well but with Wolves possibly having four points to play with soon and a certain World Class rider looking for a team place soon I hope Wolves are ruthless and make changes required and prove me wrong in saying they wont be in the top four at the end

I have to admit that before the Christmas period came in 2014 i was hoping Lasse Bjerre would be back in the Wolves team for 2015 but that was as the fifth member of the top five with a double spearhead leading the team. In this position and the form he had last season with the club he could have been a solid second string in this format and unlikely to ever rise to heat leader status. Here we see him return as the third heat leader in a format that makes better riders like Thorssell, King and Lawson all struggle to score points so to book him as a guest to cover the #3 position is strange as R/R would have seen extra rides for PK, Ricky, JT and Lewis which should be good for 6-8 points at Monmore but not away. But with the news on Freddie being unsure and the weakness of the make shift Lakeside team and their poor record away, you can see why this guest booking was made with so many teams already riding in the EL and PL plus at least Lasse has had some great rides for us beating very good riders. It will make Wolves weaker than R/R and hopefully Freddie is at least 90 percent fit we should have enough to win easily still and even if the in form return of AJ it should be a 50-40 win at least and another three points but as good a start as we have made, averages are dropping and if we are to challenge we really need to get more strength in away meetings and keep Ricky as a second string.

Good meeting once the interval had been done. Magic was excellent in the heats but lacked experience and knowledge in the big heats but overall Tai was a deserved winner yet again and quite a few of my non speedway friends are now cashing in on it at 4/1 even though I never put a bet on ..... gutted. You often see riders brushing off the dirt from their kevlars but to see Tai using his drink to wash all the sponsors logo's on the rostrum just highlights how dialled in he is this season and his obseRvation to detail. It's a long way to go and a six week break to Cardiff where another hand made track will be under scrutiny. However on the race night Cardiff has done well in the last few years and Tai going into the meeting six points clear will make it even more electrifying for the meeting and hopefully Bomber can enjoy the next round too but will need to have better gating skills than normal. I am pleased to see Jason Doyle doing well and he is clearly going to be the leading Aussie this year as Holder seems to be a shadow of the rider he was before his crash and it is hard to see him getting anywhere near a top 8 finish this season with a tough line up and AJ also looking like the rider we know he can be. Tai, Nicki and Hampel to finish top three clear of the battle for fourth to eigth.

WORRA LLOT OF MUD Wolverhampton lost their unbeaten home record due to a number of reasons but the main reason was the guest booking of Steve Worrall at reserve who was dominant in the wet conditions and fast from the gate. Even when he did tail off in his last race, it was all over. The referee had a bad meeting with Heat 3 being the start of it. Danny King gated alongside Rory Schlein and they were side by side in the first turn and going wide. They touched a few times and eventually this sent King into the air fence on turn two but without hesitation the red light came on and King was excluded. Shocking call. A few other falls then took place on turn one and all four back each time, including Ashley Morris in heat 12 but he was exiting turn two and fell on his own and was given a second chance which was taken with a 5-1 which ended the Wolves hopes now being 8 down with three heats to go. Bomber had more falls than a Grand National field but as usual was up and ready to go again but in heat 11 he had passed Schlein and was after Bjerre but caught a bump going into turn one and again ended up in the bouncy castle but as Jacob was leading he quickly got his bike off the track. These two heats were the heats it was clear Wolves were on Mission Impossible. Bomber rode with determination as always and deserved more points and less drama while Ricky had a good battle in heat 6 passing Iversen but in thje whole wasn't liking the conditions and Jacob had a average night until heat 11 when he easily beat Bjerre and Schlein in the heat Bomber fell. Overall Kings Lynn were sharper out of the gates and provided the race winner in 10 of the 15 heats and along with Worrall, they had Robert Lambert in excellent form while Kenneth Bjerre was fast from the gates in his opening heats but as the track got on he was left trailing while Iversen only looked like a GP star after the second spell of rain at heat 10. Lewis Blackbird was unlucky to be called back in heat 12 but apart from that he was way off and Josh Bates won heat 2 well and was caught up in a few first bend incidents and although he only gained one more point, he deserved his fourth ride and remember he finished ahead of Lewis twice when Lewis fell both times at the back.

As a second string should be good for 6 points or more but as a heat leader ? I don't think he has pulled out, it was simply suggested by another person that now we have Bomber in for Freddie, R/R would be a stronger option and capable of 7-9 points

This is a weird one as Chris Holder will be at #5 with a 7.00 average according to the press release however the GSA says that Davey Watt now has a 7.08 average despite having not ridden for weeks. So maybe the correct line up should be R/R at 1 and Holder at 2 with Watt at 4 ?

Wolves made light work of Lakeside at Monmore Green despite a slow start and the Hammers could only get one heat winner after the first two heats and this could be a complete swing around here. Lakeside have a team that is built to win at home and there are questions to be answered by Wolves about the scoring of certain riders away from WV2 Like to see Wolves push them all the way and at least get a point ....... but it may need a TR at one point 51-42 my guess

Injuries are part and parcel of this sport and where appropriate a guest should be allocated to any team to replace a rider, especially a number one rider as neither team should suffer and I actually like to watch Jason Doyle at Monmore Green so welcome the fact they will have seven against seven. The only issue really is that it should have been announced that Jason Doyle is on standby for Monday night as AJ is struggling with an injury and is going to see how he feels after Saturdays GP which is an individual event and missing that meeting only costs him and not a team. That way we could have woken up on the Monday morning to hear that JD will be riding. Maybe one rule could be implemented across the main nations of Sweden, Poland and Britain to say if a rider misses a team event, he is automatically ruled out of any team event for seven full days, meaning if he misses Monday then the next team meeting he can ride in would be from 7.30pm April 27th onwards.

Hancock 11 - 13 Woffinden 11 - 13 Kasprzak 11 - 13 Pedersen 10 - 12 Hampel 10 - 12 .............. £20 more NKI 10 - 12 ................... £40 more Holder 10 - 12 ................ £50 less Zagar 7 - 9 Doyle 6 - 8 Jonsson 6 - 8 MJJ 6 - 8 Janowski 6 - 8 Gollob 5 - 7 .................. £20 more THJ 5 - 7 Batchelor 5 - 7 Harris 3 - 5

Harry Kane is a 21 year old who has done well at various venues while Richard Lawson is 29 and done well mainly at home meetings and last season was a second string most of the time. Don't get me wrong, he has done a great job for Lakeside in the last two seasons but under a format that helps second strings it does suggest he scored what is expected Think Mr Kane earns a bit more than Mr Lawson also

He is not returning though like AJ was after a long time away. Seems a bit strange that AJ and Doyle will ride in the same GP on Saturday and both will possibly ride on Sunday in Poland on the Sunday but only one will be fit to ride on the Monday in Britain ? Lawson and Bech have never really done too much at Monmore Green with Lawson 7+1 twice as a second string last season and Bech 7+1 and 5 with his best score as a heat leader but from five rides.and both rode in the meeting when Bomber guested for Tai and only scored 2 points. Last season Lakeside lost 48-42 at Monmore in the first meeting with PK, Davey Watt and Steve Worrall as their top three scorers while in the second meeting when Harris guested they won 46-44 with Davey Watt top scoring and Adam Ellis getting 9 at reserve against Jacobs and Perry but with Lewis Blackbird and Josh Bates it wont be as easy this time. Wolves to be comfortable winners here I think and a 54-39 scoreline with Doyle top scorer for Hammers and a solid showing from all the Wolves team with Wells and Thorssell again doing well at WV2

With only 2 riders left ....... Killer and Batch ..... it is hard for any heat leader to score 10 in a meeting these days with the lop sided format so well done if they do get 20 each week between them but highly unlikely. Nice to see Swindon getting Peter Kildemand back for a few months while Meidzinski gets fit ....... or is that when Darcy gets the all clear to return !!! ...... cant see him going back to Poole as Holder will be below 8 by then and it would be hard for him to go anywhere other than Swindon, Lakeside or Wolves ...... hopefully not Wolves