Killer Cat from Mars

The Aces simply have to win tonight - I was hoping they would have already picked up a couple of points from their early season travels, but we have fell agonisingly short on three occasions! If we are to be considered serious contenders for the play offs we have to start converting close meetings into victories. The weather looks set fair, so the track shouldn't be a problem, though Gate 4 will be a 'Gimme' after the stock cars were here last week. Whoever wins the toss should definitely pick 2 and 4! ;-). Prediction: Aces 51 Lions 39.

Having read through this thread, I believe everyone has forgot the golden rule of speedway - speedway riders are self employed and therefore when asked about their future, are going to give open ended answers - they are going to say that they like your fans, your track etc and a change may be good! It's just in case they need a change or in case their promoter decides to drop them at short notice. A sensible rider would tell every club in the EL/PL that he loved their track, their fans and has always wanted to ride for them, that way keeping his options open. Having said that, reading all your speculation is still good fun!

Forget the possible controversy over the guest rider - I'm more shocked that a Belle Vue thread on here has been started so early! Normally it gets created about 2 minutes before tapes up!

I actually think losing Cookie considerably weakens Belle Vue. His away form has been extremely patchy, but his home form is generally very good, and I would have guaranteed him a double figure score tonight against Lakeside. Finding an adequate replacement will be difficult and R/R just won't cut it at all! Steady for Richie looks like a more straightforward swap for me, and it will be good to see Simon in Aces colours again. As for Lakeside, Rory Schlein is a more than adequate replacement for Bridger - and Stuart Robson is a Kirky Lane track specialist, so I would suggest Lakeside are considerably stronger for their guests. All things considered I make Lakeside favourities for this meeting, but maybe the Aces can surprise me and pull off a win against the odds! Prediction Aces 43 Hammers 49.

The simple fact of the matter last night was that the best team on the night won. The Aces were slow to get going and we can't afford to keep giving teams starts, particularly away from home. We got away with it at Wolves, but Leicester remained elusively clear from us for most of the meeting thanks in no small part to their reserves, who outscored ours considerably. Plus you can't give a 5-1 away in both reserve races and expect to be winning the meeting! Much to ponder for the Aces, but they mustn't press any panic buttons - a few minor tweaks to the line-up is all that is required. I must admit that i am happy Leicester have found their feet in the Elite League and they have a great set-up which is a credit to them. A competitive Leicester side is an asset to the Elite League and they are very welcome.

As far as I am concerned, the Aces have to take full points from this fixture after their pointless start to the season. If we had nicked a point or two from either of the away fixtures, we could maybe relax a little, but if we have genuine play off ambitions, we need to get as many big home wins as we can, starting this evening hopefully! Prediction: Aces 52 Lions 40.

This team certainly has potential and is not short of racers so will be exciting to watch at least! None of the other sides in the EL have a standout lineup as far as I can see. But then again, it will be the mid season reshuffle that will do all the damage and decide who will be Champions or not. And we all know who are good at that particular maneouvre!

I'm not sure I understand why speedway fans are that worried about footie fixtures (Apologies to Flyin Panther - not having a go at you mate, you've just turned over the hornet's nest! :-)) - it's just a little bugbear of mine which I have seen creep into speedway over the years. There was an Aces fixture not so long back, and all the fans did was whinge about how it coincided with some Premier League game or other. The fixture was subsequently moved! Onto the meeting - bit of a pointless one really - Panthers to win by 30 -having said all the above, maybe i get now why Flyin Panther wants to watch the footie!

It does seem like a kick in the teeth to as Aces legend to give him a second half rather than a full individual meeting! Especially with it being the 50th Anniversary meeting as well. I think a previous poster may have inadvertently let the cat out of the bag with this one - maybe the first meeting at the new stadium is to be a huge meeting - full of international stars - dedicated to Peter Craven Memorial with a field worthy of the great man. Still the only British rider to win two World Titles we should remember. Maybe the opening meeting will be a tribute to Peter Craven, with maybe the main stand being named after him in a special ceremony at that meeting. (I would personally name the stadium after him - but I guess we are stuck with the NSS title?). A real shame that we won't see a full individual meeting this year in honour of Craven.

It's at time like this I wish speedway was an open, transparent sport! We have had 47 pages of rumour, conjecture, accusation and denial, but precious few established facts! I guess we will never, ever learn the truth of what happened - it seems both Belle Vue and the authorities are happy to keep it all behind closed doors! And until we receive a FACTUAL account of the case, we have to assume Belle Vue were in the wrong as they have been punished accordingly. But still the arguments rage, mainly from what i can see, for arguments sake! Sadly, does this mean this thread will go on forever? Eak - I fear that many people will have sore heads from banging them against brick walls before too long!

Well I hope this judgement closes what has been a very sordid affair as far as the Aces are concerned. The punishment is a fair one, and should do enough to also discourage other clubs from doing the same. As someone who has travelled a lot with speedway, it is good to know that dodgy postponements are hopefully a thing of the past. As an Aces fan I have been embarassed by this whole badly judged incident and hope lessons have been learned by whichever person(s) made what is now accepted was a very ill judged decision! Time to move on methinks!

If I could be Devil's Advocate for a second and avoid the slurry of mud being thrown the Aces way from all directions - doesn't this episode suggest that we need to put measures in place to prevent this kind of situation happening again? 1/ The oft suggested squad system would seem a good solution. If you have riders missing, simply replace them with riders from your existing squad? 2/ If a team is missing riders due to missed flights etc, isn't it better to postpone the meeting (with both team's consent) and race the meeting at a later date, rather than have a one sided thrashing watched by one man and his dog! Because it would be financial suicide for any club to put out half a team in a home meeting! They would be damned for telling the fans (as nobody would turn up!) and damned if they didn't (because people would be annoyed to turn up and find half a team missing!). And does it really help the sport when a National League rider is pitched into an Elite League fixture as a heat leader? Speedway has enough integrity issues as it is, without further adding to it by putting out weakened teams and charging the paying fans full admission to see this! Another problem speedway has is establishing clear facts and transparency - whatever happened on Monday is at this time open to pure supposition - what we need is a clear, efficient enquiry and a swift result - to stop the endless bickering, and maybe start moving the sport forward so that we can prevent this happening again, or at the very least, put measures in place to help clubs deal with the situation without causing all this controversy! Or is that all too sensible? The real victims here were any Poole fans who made the journey in advance and incurred costs - they should be reimbursed in full as a good will measure.

Great news that Buxton are running - they are the equivalant of the ravens at the Tower of London - if they withdrew from the National League, the whole edifice would come crashing down. My favourite season in speedway was still the treble winning year of 2010 - such an amazing, well deserved success for everyone involved with the club.

No thank you to that! But thanks for thinking of us anyway! I had to count to ten before responding as my initial response may have got me banned from the forum!

Someone has recently stated that the postcode for Hi-Edge is SK17 1RR? Can anyone confirm this? I don't need it anyway as I know my way there after 10 seasons of going! ;-).