The whole show has been good at lakeside this season. The meetings have generally been well run, the track has been good, so has the racing. It's just a shame that most fans have voted with their feet, without giving it a chance.
tilehurst was a pretty basic stadium with poor viewing facilities, unless you were lucky enough to get in the grandstand. The crowds there were excellent, but I always preferred the racing at smallmead, when prepared right!.
If Plymouth had shown a bit more fight last night they could of pulled off a shock. The delay with the paramedic played into the eagles hands. With the wet stuff closing in I would have settled for 11 heats before the start. The crowd was poor, but understandable considering the awful weather.
Speedway and dog racing are two sports in rapid decline. Why would anyone invest millions of pounds on a new stadium that would take years to recoup their initial investment.
Riders have been missing these meetings across all three leagues for years. I don't remember any receiving a ban though. There has to be some sort of sanction on riders not turning up. Their actions have devalued these events, especially at the top level.
The rain has all gone now. Surely with the colts line up, cookie will be keen to get this on tonight.
I'm in lakeside shopping centre at the moment. The roads seem pretty dry compared to central London. Hopefully it will be a decent meeting.
I've only missed one meeting at lakeside this season. Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays make no difference. The traffic has been awful and the crowds have been poor. The location of the track is an absolute nightmare.
Maybe that has something to do with
Calling meetings off for dubious reasons. I'm an Arlington regular, and always felt the club was walking a tightrope as far as the authorities were concerned. When the recent home match with lakeside was run on a saturated track, it does seem to be a horses for courses attitude.
Three of my local clubs, Kent, lakeside & Eastbourne have all qualified for the NL play offs. That's a minimum of four extra meetings for me, bring it on I say.
With Ipswich probably moving up, the championship would be an awful league for the hammers. Hardly any local derbies, no away fans and the majority of the teams up north. Regionalisation has already started in my eyes.