marko

is it me or did Jensen just drop an F bomb

we wont be seeing a track like this tomorrow night thats for sure

LOL

I think it was Woofers who mentioned the sound has changed since the start of the season, not being funny in any way because this is a serious matter i did actually think to myself on Saturday the bikes sounded louder than they did at the start of the season, not just one or two but all of them, maybe this has been developing over time and only now i noticed, i am wondering whether the huge amounts of stress put on these new silencers are actually causing them to change characteristics and therefore the sound is modified and possibly performance too, if and its a big if it turns out they are wearing out it will mean riders having to renew them serveral times a season and i can see protests starting again about their introduction. Eddy has though already accepted the findings which leads me to think he knew something was not right, if he was 100% confident in his equipment not being altered he should have protested even if he suspected the silencer was failing in some way, thats what i would have done no question, far too much at stake here the biggest being reputation.

If they dont get rid of the joker they should at least rename it as right now it has "its a knock out" written all over it and makes some aspects of the sport look like a joke. But here is strange thing, your also allowed to use a tactical sub so why cant we go back to this in league racing if its good enough for the WTC?

Very good meeting and i give it 8/10 would have been a 9 if it had been a bit closer at the end but thats life, Poland are truly the dominant force.

British Speedway now effectively 6th in the World, what a sad day for the sport in this country.

The closeness of the scoreline kept it interesting yes but from a racing standpoint there were only three passes all night, had this been a Lakeside sky meeting people would probably be riping it to shreads for being boring and ultra slick, i say this strictly as a neutral because i have no empathy with either side, the Heathens fan clearly enjoyed themselves what with getting the win and their riders done well adapting to this often hard to learn track.

Congrats to the Heathens on their win tonight, they did deserve it and their riders all got to grips with the track well. However i must say i dont know what the crowds have been like at Rye House for Hawks meetings but tonight i would be surprised if there were much more than 300 fans in attendance and that was with a decent few from the Midlands.

Probably worth pointing out that being a bank holiday and the start of a school half term the roads will be even worse than on a normal Friday evening so what ever figure you have in mind for getting along that stretch of the M25 i would at leaast triple it, its not unheard of for the whole area around Jnc 30 to get completely gridlocked on these occasions (roads directly surrounding stadium included) i only have to go from Chelmsford and i dont use the M25 going there but will still need to allow best part of 80 mins to get there if history repeats itself.

Crowd likely to be pretty poor i would think, of the 8 or 9 i stand with only maybe two or three are even considering going, the rest have said they are not interested in the Hackney stand alone meetings at all. For anyone coming to this one suggest a pretty nifty get away if you can especially if you need to go home via the M25 anti clockwise and if the meeting can be done and dusted before 9:45 as there is currently road closures being imposed around the area after 10 at night (mainly slip/access roads) and its an absolute pain in the neck if you need to go anti clockwise on the M25 because they send you over the border into Kent in order to effectively do a U turn, i went a quicker way last week but still ended up taking me over an hour to do a simple 30 min journey.

Was not at Rye House last night but do intend to follow Hackney when they are racing from Lakeside, I think the team has got a ton of potential in it and hope it does get well supported, hopefully too some more merchandise will be made available because although ive always been 100% Arena Essex/Lakeside im quite happy to through my weight behind this venture and support the Hawks.

Thanks for the info Tocha Does seem a bit strange Rye charging £18 all in for PL action when you can get EL meetings at Lakeside for 50p more. (at least to start with) Hawks £12 inc basic program is pretty fair though imo and not having to pay extra for a full program is good cost saving, of course at Lakeside we have the added advantage of getting those meetings half price if your a season ticket holder. However i am fortunate to be single with no dependants so my situation will be much different to others with families having to watch the pennies and i fully understand that for many this season it's going to be about making choices and cutting cloth accordingly.

That's fantastic value set by Plymouth for watching racing in the PL. I sometimes go to Rye House so would be interested to know their detailed pricing for 2011, from some of the above comments it sounds like Len could be pricing himself out of the market in some cases but i hope that isnt the case, I like Len, he is speedway through and through and at an age where most are sitting back taking it easy he is out there grafting away getting his hands dirty and not forgetting he does an awful lot for the youngsters. Lakeside are charging £12 for admission to Hawks stand alone meetings so i would think that is the buffer Len should be working too, it would make little sense surely for one track to charge different to see the same side, just an opinion but i don't get the impression the Hawks will be lacking support when they are racing at Lakeside, quite the opposite in fact and i am looking forward to seeing them race just as much as i am the Hammers in the Elite or whats left of it, bottom line is i hope for the riders sake both venues can attract healthy crowds for their meetings because these guys are the future and without them speedway does not have a future in this country.

Afraid im guilty of not having that much knowledge about the younger NL riders so cant really comment too much on the team and their chances. David Mason i feel is an apt sort of signing in that the last time we saw a team racing from Hackney (1996) Magic was part of the setup their, his current average looks low but ive read on previous comment on this thread there is reason behind it and i think the idea will be for him and Barrie Evans to lead the side, realistically both are not likely to progress beyond the NL, fair to say they would have already reached stardom by now if they were going to but the National League with riders like Seemond Stephens and Mark Simmonds is a pretty competitive league because the stand alone clubs have to be just that little bit more attractive to bring people in. On the pricing side of things, ok its not exactly cheap as chips but the key will be how they price the program and concessions, for this league i hope a more cut price program can be made to keep costs down, two quid absolute max thus £14 overall, or a simply race card for a pound would be even better, the Elite is likely to be best part of £20 this season inc program, would also have to guess that both promotions would need to come to an agreement about pricing because you cant have both charging different amounts to see Hawks "home meetings" And finally we know the standard of racing at this level is good, more passing because of mistakes etc but the show also needs to be professional and just because its the NL doesnt mean we can do away with rider interviews etc not saying they are going to do this but in the past non EL meetings at Lakeside have been lacking in this department (no Geoff) love him or hate him he definitely adds to the show.

Cant say ive ever been a big fan of Hackney, always been one of our rivals as i started watching speedway regular in 89, in those days we had the Spring or Autumn Triangle with the Kestrels and the Rockets and of the three clubs Hackney was always viewed as the strongest or certainly most likely to win in any given season. However the name is but a name and im fully behind this idea, the more track time we can give to the riders of tomorrow the better, we simply must start to devopelope our own talent in this country or face continually being dictated and taken advantage of by others. You only need to look at the JD situation, all that money paid out to secure his contract and the loyalty shown to him and this is the thanks we get.

Superb meeting, Well done Tomasz on becoming World Champion Also got to pay tribute the gutsy performance from Bomber

Ladyluck It was probably a good crowd because people turned with expectations of seeing a good meeting with a quality field but from what i had read on here it was anything but that, i think if we are honest with ourselves as speedway fans a lot of what we do is based on the hope that it will be ok and things will get better where there have been problems and issues in the past. Hope is very dangerous thing and loss of it can be fatal.

I cant help but think this competition is a waste of time, clearly some riders don't give a hoot about it and then we hear of clubs not telling their own fans about riders that will be missing even though to have such knowledge would have no negative effect financially to the club itself. Some clubs dont even acknowledge the fixture at all, there is not one press release on the Hammers website about the pairs before or after the event and i think it was exactly same last season, this meeting does not exist, it is not recognised even though it is effectively a BSPA event and every club/promoter is part of the BSPA. Its the very worn out record about coffins and nails, very frustrating.

The track was not great but i will give them credit for getting on with the meeting, 25 heats done in not much more than two and half hours.

Cant recall the meeting he officiated at Arena which incensed everyone (it was not recent) but certainly do not remember his name (Mr Robinson) with any great fondness, same applies for Chris Durno and Paul Carrington but they really are all as bad as each other when it comes down to it and their arrogant self centered attitude does not help their cause, never quite understood why the ref boxes we have are not made of Ivory

Sorry Parsloes you missunderstood the point i was trying to make with my proper meeting comment, it was in no way meant as a slur on those riders taking part last night, i have the upmost respect for these youngsters because they are what we are banking on for the future of speedway in this country and that is more important than anything, what i meant was that i was looking forward to seeing a meeting which had a better flow about it with interviews and chat etc and generally a track prepared more for racing than simply being safe to ride. The concept of the seven 7 series is fantastic but i have yet to see it forfill its potential via its application, the under 21 title has a lot of history and riders know it is a big thing to win but like i say i dont feel that the organisers who ever they are really do the event or the competitors taking part justice. People are expected to pay quite a large price to attend these meetings and deserve something for their money and i cant help but feel the reported low turnout was in no small part due to the meeting of 2009. Yes i realise that you cant make a track like Lakeside grippy because a lot of the riders wont be able to handle it but last week we saw the perfect example of striking a good balance and lets be honest with ourselves here, these youngsters which we all hope will go on to be our future stars need to experiance all types of tracks and conditions for them to complete what is a very tough learning curve.

After last season there was no way i was going to go to this meeting but i am sad no horrified to read that nothing had been learnt from the mess in 2009. This again could be very damaging to Lakeside speedway even though they are the innocent parties, until these meetings are treated with the professionalism that they should be, Lakeside and other clubs should refuse to hold them. Roll on next week and a return to a proper speedway meeting.

I was not there so can't comment on the track although to hear of dust flyng in March does sound very strange indeed. Just wondering is the Rye track still laid on the old tarmac stock car track?

Think it is fair to say this meeting is going to be very well supported with fans from all over making the journey, what i would like to ask is does anyone know if there is going to be any significant extra parking available on the day? and are people allowed or will be allowed to park there cars down that very long toll road which would be very handy if you come from the Harlow side?