marko

​​I know its not in the spirit of things, but should we be giving track time to riders before the meetings that are going to be assets of other teams? Anders Rowe was their most weeks last season, to hear he was always earmarked to go to Kent, feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth after all the track time we gave him.

Most of the heats on the updates site are listed as FTG and having seen a few heats on youtube i can see why, gate and stick it to the inside, even Hurry went backwards trying the outside line. OK, You cant make it too grippy at this level, but you need something there for the real racers so they can at least have a go. Wasnt a very good crowd there by looks of it (never seen the stock car section so empty) better track prep will be required if they are to retain more supporters or tempt those of us who have thus far stayed away, doesn't matter if its a division 3 or a grand prix, if its gate and go all the time it lacks appeal. But on the positive side its good to hear that the likes of Jason Edwards is continuing to make good progress (think he will be a shoe in as soon as rules allow him to ride in the NL) another rider who looked good last season was Anders Rowe, I wonder if Kent wont use him whether Lakeside could tempt him (if he is old enough to ride tier 3) its normally these very young riders who have developed from 125cc-250-500 who have the most potential to make it to a reasonable level.

Wasn't denying that Tony, but this level has always been referred to as the junior league regardless of the age of the participants. Some of those "juniors" will very soon be in full teams, so will they suddenly be no longer juniors just because they are in a team?

"There will be junior races prior to the meeting" I thought the idea was they are all juniors at this level.

Davey's problems are in the past, he has already said as much, there are no more excuses left, same old Poole fans claiming he should be given a chance just so long as it's not riding for their beloved Pirates

So was David Mason, although actually he wasn't

That's what will kill Lakesides chances this season, losing Zach or indeed Ben for whatever reason will be impossible to cover. Re the traffic on Friday nights, roadworks or not it won't make much difference, when the M25 goes down, it goes down.

Attendances are always up at the start of the season as people have started to get the bug back over the winter months, but as the novelty wears off and people remember why it was they couldn't wait for the previous season to end, the numbers will naturally drop back to an average, we have also been lucky with the weather so far as not much rain has fallen or been predicted to fall, at least in the southern counties, so the key will be how many will travel when its a damp chilly evening knowing that the obligatory slick track won't be able to take much of the wet stuff before it becomes dangerous. Then you have the TV factor when it starts, will the fact it's on BT sport mean less people will watch it at home and go to the track in person? I very much doubt it.

Sand hey? Hmmm, well I never saw it myself but I do remember reading about a certain track (Bristol I think) that tried to race on a track made up of sand, shared with the greyhounds or it was an ex greyhound track, something like that, in any case it was a disaster, zero grip, zero passing. Sand = not good

It can rain for forty days and forty nights, but it wont any difference to a concrete base, and watering a track with not much shale on it, does not make it grippy, it makes it slippery. Its not rocket science.

Meetings should always start on time unless there is a major problem with local roads, if everything is ok in that respect then it is up to supporters to get their on time and not have clubs penalise those fans that do.

Seems to be a worrying trend for a lot of the meetings across the leagues that i have read about so far this season, delays, poor racing and poor track. When will those that run the sport ever learn?

Hope Jamie is given a chance, I am sure his dad will be a big asset to have in the pits wth his knowledge of bikes.

Ah this is my sort of debate, after 28 years of watching and more importantly over a decades experience of running a speedway sim (late 90s to 2012) I can honestly say that a top heavy is nearly always better than one with strength in depth. But the top heavy side must bar some exceptions which I will explain below have at least three big hitters, under the old tactical subs rides it made those teams even stronger if they fell six points behind, modern day speedway with its tactical ride offers some degree of push back but not enough to turn a meeting on its head and in the today's National League there is no tactical rides so if a team does fall behind they are on an uphill struggle. The best sort of teams though are ones with two big hitters, a solid third and forth, a reasonable fifth and one good reserve which can swap places with the weaker second string so the team always has a good rider down there, the seventh can be a sacrificial lamb to keep the points limit down (anything scored from there is a free bonus) three rides and done for him with the stronger reserve taking his last ride. Teams that can boast a a couple of good heat leaders and one very good reserve can be dangerous on their day, I recall many years ago Swindon coming to Lakeside (we might have still been Arena Essex) and winning with just two riders, Leigh Adams and Jurica Pavlic who was at reserve and scored a max, they must have got around 35 points between them!

Trouble is Waco there is no way to make a team stronger at this level unless you get lucky with a new rookie, where as in the 1st and 2nd tier you might have a chance to land a foreign talent subject to paying air fares etc. Ben and Zach will be the NLs version of the turbo twins (although I do fear with Zach riding for three teams he could burn himself out) and I suspect George and Alfie will progress as the season goes on but we knew the reserves would be a problem and Mason would be an enigma. I had Lakeside down as a 8/9th placed team, after today that has not changed.

At least you have it a go Liam, which is a lot more than some of us are prepared to do, i followed the meeting on twitter and noted the sheer amount of re-runs and stoppages which led to a 15 heat meeting taking two hours, can't see many putting up with that come the chilly Friday nights. PS Lakeside really do look top heavy, Eagles lack a number one to be able to beat Ben and Zach, thats all that stood between them and victory.

The thing with Davey is he had a few poor seasons because of stuff away from speedway which none of us fans were privvy to, so ok I think he could be given a belated pass for that, but after sorting his life out and claiming to be in a better place now than for many a year, so unless its down to poor machinery there is no excuses left, reminds me so much of what happened to his mate Adam Shields.

Martin Dugard has tweeted one of Luke Bowens after 12 laps, its disintergrated, WTF

To a point Tony but if you go back to the early 90's where Terry Russell would often talk about the "Eastbourne trickery" then that's what i am pertaining too and back then they were in my opinion just as bad if not worse than Poole's attempts at win at all costs in recent times, given that as soon as he came to us his attitude changed makes me wonder whether he was really playing an active part in that or whether he decided to turn over a new leaf, only he knows. Funny enough though, its that very heated history which is why we still have quite an intense rivraly with them to this day, nothing fake or manufactured. Anyway, I have moved this thread off topic, but I would like to ask the question since there is an upcoming meeting the riders event soon, why wasn't this done at the celebration of speedway? surely that would have attracted a lot more interest all round?

What other reason could there possibly be for leaving a perfectly decent setup at Eastbourne? He spent years trying to screw Arena Essex over in the name of winning at all costs then suddenly wants to save them? Look, there is nothing wrong with seizing an opportunity, thousands do it every week (footballers are a prime example) when the chance comes to make a better life for themselves and their family but if anyone thinks Jon came to Arena out of love for the club then they are deluded? Maybe my memory on events is not right but I was on the understanding that Jon approached Stuart when he learnt of his plans, Stuart needed someone with a current license (a guardian so to speak) to be excepted so it fell into place. And was there any real risk for Jon? Stuart is the man putting the money in, if the thing had gone belly up then Jon would have found a place elsewhere no problem at all.

And when it's all said and done you will be able to cut and paste pretty much every comment on a live match thread to- "Where is the crowd?" "How do they survive on gates like that?" "The track looks awful, if the telly wasn't here it would have been called off" "Zero racing, no wonder no one comes to watch" "X team is playing for time and hoping for a rain off before heat 10" "X makes himself look an idiot by saying there was no contact when the replay shows there was"

I am surprised he didn't go to Manchester, he Only probably came to Arena because Stuart took over and he saw pound signs? if Dougo hadn't taken over and Ronnie Russel had stayed he would not be here in a million years.

What I would like to know is, what exactly is the end game here? To have the current side redeveloped and to have a track as part of that? To move away from the area into a multi sport complex? To move away from the area into some waste land for use purely use as a speedway venue? And lastly is all the above really just a pipe dream and it's merely about nursing the last few years out of the current site?

Why would clubs fold without TV? 2nd and 3rd tier clubs manage it, you just have to cut your cloth accordingly, they managed it before the sport was shown, all TV has done is create an army of armchair fans that has little intention of going to watch live and of course every week bar the play offs we watch speedway in stadiums practically empty because fans stay at home, hardly a great advertisement to those on the outside.

I don't know which team you support but I guess it's one I have not fancied for whatever reason, this level is the most unpredictable as riders can make outstanding progress almost from out of nowhere, I certainly would not put money on my predictions but everyone is entitled to them, if someone wants to predict the Eagles, Hammers or Isle of Wight to win the league then I won't argue with them. Some people do take others views far too personally.