Paulco

While it was nice to get the first win on the board , the entertainment value on a chilly evening was virtually nil . The experts have enlightened us to the fact that if there's a danger of rain , the track has to be as slick as that . I know nothing about track prep so I have to take that at face value , but I don't see any newcomers rushing back after watching 15 heats of follow the leader . In saying that , i'm very satisfied at the form of our big three and i'm sure the other lads , in particularly Lunna , will fare better once they get a racers track to show their worth . Better viewing in the Charlie Monk stand now they've added a tier and a nice new snack bar as well , new floodlights are cracking too . Has the plan for the big screen been shelved for now ? Or has that still to come ?

Bit follow the leaderish though , very slick track with gating at a premium . Need to up our game a bit in the earlier heats for next week .

I'll visit it a week on Sunday

Cracking view from the veranda outside the bar

There used to be two reserve races where two track novices would race both number sevens from the league match . The winner of the first reserves race would also get into the rider of the night competition . It's called competition , something to aim for aids improvement . Racing against the same three other novices a couple of times after the meeting isn't going to do any young rider any good . More so up here in Scotland as there is no National League side within a couple of hundred miles .

When it's done properly it's up there with Peterborough as the best track in the country . There's just so many lines for the riders to go for .

Shame , but thanks for clearing that up

When the fixtures first came out there was a Belle Vue v Kings Lynn fixture on May 3rd . So I thought I might take that one in on my way south to see Ipswich v Glasgow on the 4th . It has since disappeared from the fixture list on the BSPA website , but it appears in todays season preview edition of the Speedway Star on the Belle Vue page . So does that fixture go ahead on May 3rd , or not ?

Have to disagree with you , Scunthorpe is a brilliant track . Last year's meeting the day after Cardiff wasn't great , but I've seen some spectacular racing round there . When Peterborough became unavailable 5 days before we were due there ( 2 seasons ago ) , me and Willie ended up at Scunthorpe v Rye House , and although the home side had a lot of bad luck and lost heavily because of injuries to Auty and Davies , the actual speedway was breathtaking .

I'm sure we wont get another 71-19 meeting , I don't want to stand through one of those again ( unless it's against Edinburgh ) . So an entertaining narrow home victory will do very nicely . I know at the start of any season you can get the odd weird result here and there , but i'm sure our boys will be ready and fired up to make a winning start to the campaign .

Me too Pat

Me and Willie had a great time last season , was about midnight before we left the stadium

They probably are , but unless you are a big fan of the particular rider , they're a no-no for the discerning speedway fan .

To be fair , there were some crashes . Plus testimonials are dreadful meetings to watch

The Simon Lambert testimonial today .

Aye could be an expensive season for me haha

Agreed , saw him at Berwick last Saturday night and he was very poor

It was tongue in cheek , but the clashes between our two sides should be very entertaining

That being true , I've been to Ipswich three times in the last few years and have yet to see Glasgow lose there . And since I intend going to both league matches there this season , that will be a blow to the Witches' title hopes .

Seems an age since we hosted the Benfund meeting , but this Saturday begins our League campaign . All the early season cobweb blowing events will have taken place , our Benfund , Berwick's anniversary meeting and the Trick Track open at the dump . We begin with a meeting against last seasons poorest visitors , the Scunny arachnoids . In their attempt to break the 20 point barrier this time they rely on much the same septet that held up the league last year , though they might be a man light with Lewis Kerr's Peterborough jinx surfacing again on Friday . We approach our new racenight with probably the best heat leader trio in the division . Son of God , Aaron Summers and the senior Worrall twin . I fully expect Richie to continue last season's progress and establish himself as our number 1 , even though Aaron starts in that legendary position . Imagine gracing the Tigers number 1 race jacket and following in the footsteps of the likes of Monk , McMillan , Nagy , Stancl , Parker and God himself , Steve Lawson . Is there a greater honour in British speedway ? I think not . And we have a very young and exciting back up to the three heat leaders . Dan Bewley allowed to serve his apprenticeship in a West Lothian backwater , lives the dream of every young Cumbrian and follow in God's tyre tracks . Our entertaining young Finn , Nike Lunna , returns to enthral us with his never say die endeavours . He might be named after a pair of trainers , but we love him . Then it's welcome to our two new reserves . Tom Perry has always shown a liking for our track and he can kick on from last season's impressive campaign and challenge for a top 5 place , while it's welcome to young Jack Smith . He boasts a speedway pedigree nearly as good as Son of God and we look forward to enjoying his progress throughout the season . So not long to wait now until the Stripes take to the shale , a city expects lads .

He's trying to throw mud at us as usual , probably referring to June 2010 at the dump . That is ancient history as we have left sort of stuff in history where it belongs . But as we know a Monarch never forgets , Christ they still go on about Buster Chapman's alleged heart attack in 2003 . Though they have selective memory as they gloss over certain bits like the aforementioned Herr Wolbert's dodgy burger in order to miss a meeting enabling him to start the next season still on his assessed 7 point average .

Not any more thankfully , what about yours ?

Back in the day when the EL averages were doubled for PL purposes , he was just over the 6 point mark . He rode for Wolves for a while and was Wolbertesque in his average reducing , culminating in that shameful night at the dump afterwhich we could fit him in and he could ride PL . Does that refresh your memory ?

We had Ross Brady ( 2007 or there abouts ) who got injured on an artificial ski slope a week before that season was due to start . We were able to use the r/r facility until he was fit .

Why not , he got an injury tonight