Aries

Didn’t realise Joe Thompson struggled as badly as he did at Ipswich last year! Looking at the averages over league and cup meetings last year A Rowe 5.00 Dan Thompson 4.89 L Flint 4.88 C Bailey 4.43 D Gilkes 4.20 Joe Thompson 1.65 A Boughen N/A Joe was clearly awful!

Why not? Still 13 days to go but it’s been a long old off season! This is an intriguing opening fixture to kick things off with. Leicester are many people’s fancies including mine, and Belle Vue don’t seem to be as highly fancied this time around as in previous years. Home win for me and a comfortable one.

Harsh. Think you know what they’re trying to say. Of course everyone has been aware of the situation for some time, but it’s this time of year when March strikes that every fan gets the new Speedway season buzz where it’ll undoubtedly hit home even more for the fans of clubs that no longer have their side to watch. It was always going to get tougher the nearer to tapes up on a new season especially when clubs are uploading all their promotional stuff on social media for the new season.

2?? This was only two seasons ago. Has Doyle ever scored 2 anywhere let alone a play off final? That’s why I always laugh at those predicting Holder will overtake Doyle here in the UK anytime soon. The Peterborough lad predicted Bewley would average more than Doyle last year and even bet money on it before he was left with egg on his face. I mean it’s gonna happen in time, there’s a big gap in ages, but some people seem desperate to see Doyle’s demise for some reason and it just ain’t happening anytime soon. I’ll take another bet with anyone that Doyle will finish top of the Aussie averages this coming season here in the UK. Any takers?

Not here he won’t. Not yet anyway.

Col has been predicting the demise of Doyle for the last 5 years. A couple of seasons ago he said Jack holder, Fricke and Kurtz would all overtake him that year and he’d be demoted to “4th best Aussie” in the League. LOL. It didn’t happen then and it still hasn’t happened despite him predicting it every winter. Oh and it won’t happen this coming season either.

You can’t dismiss Ipswich on the basis of them having just the best top two and little else. Having the best top two (and they’re comfortably the best top two in the league) is huge, but they have no mugs lower down either. King and Ellis in the engine room at 3 and 4 is also strong, they’ve swapped Hume for Jenkins at reserve which is an upgrade, and they also have one of the best rising stars in the league in Dan Thompson. They’ll be the bookies favourites for a reason and tipping them to finish second bottom shows a lack of Speedway knowledge quite frankly as much as everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion, but predicting Ipswich to finish second bottom is a bit of a bonkers take. In the words of Les Dennis, if Ipswich finish second bottom I’ll give you the money meself

Of the top three Leicester have just signed from Wolves, Douglas actually had a higher GSA away from Monmore last season than at home over all meetings, and Masters rode at number 1. He won’t be anywhere near it at Leicester with Fricke there. They look a cut above to me. We’ll see.

Belle Vue have a huge home advantage. Doyle for example struggled for pace there last year by his own admission and even when he made the gate, he was soon swallowed up by the likes of Kurtz and Lidsey. Set up is just as important at big fast tracks as it is for small technical ones. The Belle Vue boys are very very quick around their home track and if you’re a visiting rider there and struggling for pace, you’ll very quickly get found out. There are some tracks where you can pop out of the gate and keep faster riders behind you by being clever with the lines you take and acting as a roadblock. You have absolutely zero chance of doing that at the NSS.

Leicester look the pick here for me. Someone earlier in the thread made a good point, Leicester have the Wolves top 3 from last year, a Wolves team that finished second in the table. And they have added Max Fricke and Richard Lawson on top of that! That’s potent. They’ve also been smart and used all the points gained from Kemp’s 25% reduction, something Ipswich haven’t done with Jenkins 25% reduction. Ipswich will still join them in the top 4 though and pretty comfortably this time. They’ve fixed the Riss issue with Ellis and they’ve also got one of the better rising stars fit in Dan Thompson. Finally having a rising star that could contribute in meetings turned their season around last year. Oxford will also comfortably make the top four IMO. The only question mark with them is the fitness of a few returning injured riders. They could be slow burners if it takes them a while to get up to speed but if they do, I expect them to be strong. Solid all through the top 5 and the best reserve in the league in Kerr. The last spot isn’t quite as clear cut. Of the remaining sides I think Lynn look the best. Big fan of Musielak and he’ll do a good job for them at #1. Look to have Wotsit on a bargain average going by his performances for Peterborough last year and I’d expect him to swap with Palm Toft after the first change in averages meaning Lynn also will have a strong reserve all year. Not convinced with either Sheffield or Belle Vue this time. Belle Vue will need Bewley to be the 9+ rider we know he’s capable of being, rather than the 8 point rider we saw last year. If he steps it up a gear, Belle Vue have a potent top 3 with Kurtz and Lidsey that could see them challenge for a play off spot. Bewley the key here. Sheffield have the weakest reserve pairing in the league, which is a problem when you have a rider or two in the top 5 who are a bit flakey. Chris Holder isn’t the rider he once was, far from it, and neither is Woffinden. I think both will be hit and miss this year especially away from home and when they’re having one of those nights where they don’t want to know, that’s when you need your reserves to chip in to cover and this is where Sheffield will struggle. Good luck Birmingham..

Most of them are aren’t they? To be fair to Ellis at least his gating is usually pretty good.

That’s the problem right there! Think you could well be right . They were clearly struggling so I wonder if they’ve been given a bit of a helping hand here?

Well you can bet your bottom dollar the Sheffield “Hokey Cokey” Tigers will! Ipswich Oxford Leicester Sheffield Lynn Belle Vue Birmingham

Belle Vue did give it the thank you to Jake for stepping in on a short term basis guff because they had to once they broke the rules.

Nobody expected it to be on that average. What people were expecting though is something intriguing and interesting. Thomson is neither.

On the same day Worky unveil Tate, Poole unveil a near 30 year old competition winner. Lol

What’s that I hear? Is it the sound of STEVEHOLS heart breaking??

They’re more than just “marginal” changes and Ipswich finishing fourth is a bit deceiving. The issues with Erik Riss are well documented, Ellis is a huge upgrade. Jenkins isn’t as big an upgrade on Hume but still an upgrade all the same. And there’s a third factor here and that’s the Rising Star. Over 10 meetings last season Joe Thompson had a GSA of 1.18. His string of zeros were a big factor in Ipswich’ poor form early on along with Riss’ struggles. When Ipswich finally got a rising star in that made a contribution in Dan Thompson, the narrow defeats turned in to victories and they were probably THE form team by the end of the season which coincided with them winning the cup and narrowly missing out on the title. It would be interesting to see a league table from the moment Dan Thompson joined. Starting next year with Ellis Jenkins and Dan Thompson instead of a struggling Riss, Hume and Joe Thompson isn’t marginal improvement, it’s huge. Belle Vue for example look to be weaker than last year whilst Ipswich have strengthened. Ipswich will rightly start as one of the favourites IMO.

Couldn’t disagree more and surprised this has got a “like”. They should be charged more or at least change the age ranges for free entry. Toddlers and kids under 10 who attend with their parents fair enough, but I’ve seen groups of mid teens walk in at both Ipswich and Lynn and not have to pay a single penny. That can’t be right surely? Name another event whether that be football even lower league, cinema, or any other event you can think of, where 14 and 15 year old teenagers get in Scott free? An amateur bangers meeting will cost a child between 5 and 14 a tenna! And people think charging a quid at Speedway is out of order? Unbelievable.

With all due respect to Joe, there’s no way Leicester would pick Joe over Dan so clearly Dan wanted the move to Ipswich.

You haven’t just given your opinion though have you, Orion. Everybody (well most) can see right through your trolling drivel. You can not rate it as much as others, no problem. But you’ve gone with the reactionary bait setting “garbage” “terrible side” which it blatantly isn’t and you know it. You’re one of two things, you’re either completely and utterly clueless about Speedway, or you’re a trolling tool. You’ll no doubt attempt another illiterate comeback doubling down on your “opinion”, but as I say, most see right through your inane drivel.

You people need to stop biting. Orion is a sad little tool who only posts controversial takes for bites and you’re all making his life easy by jumping straight in his net.

Which one? Meaning that isn’t the team, or Dan Thompson isn’t at Ipswich?

Well they wouldn’t say next years team is boring because that wouldn’t be the truth. Absolutely staggered by some of the negativity here. Some of you are incredibly hard to please obviously! A team including Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov is not exciting anymore? Deary me talk about being spoilt.