speedybee

Bees deserved nothing tonight. At least we saw an outside pass - Harris on Covatti... How rare is that this year! In virtually all the earlier heats, my recollection is one of four riders strung out with at least ten bike lengths between them. Was that a better track? I guess so... Classic audio collision between Yorkie and Chris Simpson before Heat 9 when the former was resolutely continuing his interview with Doug 'flyer' Wyer, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the riders were lined up at the start, waiting. Chris had no option but to override the Yorker and we were treated to both talking at once. Was I the only one feeling deafened by the volume of the talking in the stand? (The music was about right) Nice to see Tony Gillias on track...

A friend of mine who is new to speedway was utterly thrilled by this week's meeting - and I must admit that the Bees match from the week before was one of the best for racing and entertainment I've seen in recent years..

Weird day, from start to finish, and wish I hadn't made the effort to go. Left at 3..huge A14 jams, so diverted via Corby to the A47 then had another long hold up near P'boro. Finally arrived just before 7. The event was a little surreal, and the delay only added to that. Most of the Coventry team seemed at sea, apart from from Harris (and to a lesser extent Andersen). In many races Bees riders were left trailing, or were struggling with the track and got passed as if they were going backwards. Didn't think much to the presenter or the food, though I do like the view from the home straight high grandstand, and it was good to see a big crowd in the stadium (seemed to me a bigger crowd than most Brandon home league matches). Good to see Porsing, Lambert and Kerr looking very sharp. The Stars are already having a vintage year..fair play to them! Otherwise, best forgotten. Roll on this evening.

Thu 29 May 2014 London Gatwick to Rome Fiumicino Dep 06:50 - Arr 10:20

Perhaps he's dumbfounded and completely lost for words, having called Coventry a "boring" team on here not long ago.. Or choking on humble pie?

Heavy showers around for the best part of the next half hour or so.. hopefully will pass by then and track won't be too flooded.

Google Earth shows a big band of rain just below Coventry area which is right on the edge. It stretches from the Isle of Man south east to beyond London . I think the weather is coming in from the south..if so, it may just miss us once this shower has alleviated. Touch and go, I'd say..

and with Colin Pratt, I think too..

Now, that racing surface... Here are Mick Horton's comments in today's Speedway Star. "The fans can rest assured that there are a lot of people who really want us to have a good track for this Friday, and I've had the assurances that we will have a good track." Will they get it right??

Wish I'd known you were there, Jacques.. would have come and said hello Still cant stop replaying last night in my mind.. weird, dramatic, thrilling, drama-filled twists and turns and a huge amount of overtaking and close racing .. and more. Agree totally that any boycotting Bees fans lost out there... That was proper speedway, with the bonus of a result going our way. And Hansen.. what a star. MOM easily. Could hardly believe some of his moves out on the fence. Home supporters have only seen a glimpse of what this man is capable of, given a decent track. Worth the admission money alone. Mr Spectacular!

Amazing meeting. Just back home and so, so glad I went. Nights like this are few and far between. What top class entertainment, nearly every race full of incident and overtaking. Main reason I went down was that I enjoyed the A fixture so much on Sky. This one knocked the socks off it. Credit to the Pirates fans who were so generous with their applause for the Bees (Andersen booing at the end notwithstanding)... Tonight reaffirmed my faith in speedway after some dreadfully dull meetings at Brandon.

Once the track bedded in, a great meeting to watch - close, tense, plenty of overtaking and not without it's drama. Just what was needed after some dreadfully dull fayre at Brandon all season. Bees should have taken full advantage of their lead but were the unluckier of the two teams. A point is welcome and probably about right in the final analysis. Standing almost level with the start line, we called the Pawlicki photo finish correctly. Interesting to read that the ref stopped answering the phone to Havelock in the end. Hansen, Sargeant and Garrity can take full credit, though two disastrous rides dominated by bike problems from the latter really hit our chances of a surprise away win. Harris was solid if unspectacular. But where's our much trumpeted out and out No1? A point or more at Poole on Wednesday? I'd be less optimistic, I'm afraid. But who knows..

Big downpour at 6.30 leaving track soaked but they're grading in extra material and it looks to be drying reasonably well with some strong winds about. Fingers crossed for some good, safe action. And it seems we have Yorkie instead of Porky on the mike? Surely not! Riders have asked for extra grading. Start delayed til 8

Really looking forward to this one, having been starved of decent racing all year at Brandon.

I see Trevor Geer is gloating in Speedway Star that Eagles got Bridger on board before Coventry could book him as a guest for Harris.. he has to do something to build interest in this fixture I guess

Ah, yes. I'd forgotten that in a fog of dust. Priceless moment!

The doom and gloom for me came from one of the most boring meetings I've had the displeasure to witness. A dust bowl procession. How I yearn to see Coventry's racers actually race. If that was speedway, it wasn't speedway as I know it and love it. No complaints on presentation and good to see the Simpsons back. But Mr York's contributions were a total waste of time.. I couldn't hear a word of his interviews, with sound cutting out and very loud, annoying white noise hissing around the stadium. Everyone around me was remarking 'thank god' when he shut up. And then at the interval he cut directly across David Hammond while he was still talking! The guy really isn't worth the petrol money. And yet Chris' pits interview was totally clear. Good to hear some of the regular tunes and build ups to races. It certainly gave the night it's only sense of drama. In fact it was the only positive on a depressing, dusty night.

Now maybe they can listen to their own riders, who are deafening us all with requests for more dirt on the track! SORT IT OUT!!!!! That was one of the dullest most depressing nights of speedway 'racing' I've witnessed in a long time.

What a borefest. Good size crowd in again and they go and shoot themselves in the foot by serving up one of the slickest, dustiest tracks I've seen in a long time. Zilch entertainment value apart from the long overdue return of the Simpsons, with Chris finally replacing Yorkie on the centre brown, and the old buzzard relegated to unintelligible white noise style 'interviews' in the pits..I think I'll give the next meeting a miss. What a let down!

It's getting that way fast with me and I'm only 15 minutes away... Fingers crossed they sort the track for some better racing on Friday. After watching gripping meetings from Poole, Wolves and Peterborough on Sky, those tracks are clearly in a different league to Brandon right now.

I'm pretty much at the end of my ether with Coventry Speedway. If it isn't the choice of team management, it's the track. If it isn't the track, it's the godawful presentation. There really is no atmosphere now. Perhaps best to knock it on the head before it gets even worse?

Good result for Bees. Such a shame the track didn't provide an outside line or more proper racing. Let's hope they get it sorted for Friday so we can be entertained.

I think I fell back in love with speedway after watching the Poole v Bees match on Sky, so thrilling was the entertainment. Last night offered nothing at all to lift the big crowd.

Not quite sure how you can say that? To me, it was like watching paint dry. I love the set up there, the stadium, the fans, the presentation (much better than Brandon), the closeness to the racing (again, much better than Brandon) the atmosphere. But that was amongst the most boring, follow-my-leader speedway I have ever seen, on a very cold night. Great Bees win, but we were relieved to get home and do something exciting, like putting the kettle on. If the promotion got the track sorted for good racing, they'd be onto an absolute winner.

If Bees were to buy Howarth mid season would they be able to get preference over his fixtures?