Fourentee

I recall a couple of Scandinavian visitors of a certain age at Wolves just a few seasons back making a beeline for the pits to get a key autograph. They had one target in mind and were delighted both to get the signature and enjoy an extended chat with their hero -- not the current stars but Alan Grahame, latterly a machine examiner at Monmore. Five years ago Peter Collins was guest of honour at a classic bike show in Shropshire and I saw him approached by a man for an autograph. The two had one of those "and who should I make it out to?" conversations in the display hall and the man turned to indicate, some distance away, a profoundly disabled young man in a wheelchair. PC promptly bowled over, signed, and chatted to the recipient at length. Top bloke.

I suspect we've all been there. Despite being a touch typist I invariably transpose the same two letters in the word 'dyslexia'. Aware of the pitfall and wishing to use the term in a headline one day, I lifted my hands from the keyboard and 'one finger' typed it...neatly transposing two other letters instead. Not my finest hour.

As noted elsewhere, Bewley was tremendous last time out at Monmore and could be a key card if fully fit. Fricke likewise a concern after injury. From a Wolves perspective, the only lingering concern similarly would be over Masters' fitness. Let's hope for two fully-fit sevens and a brilliant two-legged tie. The Aces strike me as marginally better at Monmore than Wolves are at the NSS, but not much in it overall. Game on!

I would hardly regard them as biased towards Poole. Given the seemingly widespread expectation that Swindon might win the first leg quite handily, perhaps it was merely an effort to underline the potential for a close encounter and keep viewing figures up?

I suspect you may be right!

Hmm, but as ray c intimates a couple of posts back, who comes up? It may not be a long queue...

Excellent Steve, that did make me smile. Well done.

Would like to think that is par for the course throughout speedway. I'm sure every track will have its minority element, but at bottom it's a friendly sport. I like chatting to opposing fans, it's a shared experience and always good to have a different perspective.

Honest Alf, the punter's friend!

Agreed on Worrall. Masters admitted after Monday's match that he was sore and had probably made his return a little too soon. However, presumably Blunsdon's wide open spaces will be a little easier on his collarbone than Monmore's tight turns, so we will see. R/R for Schlein, I fear, will be the problem for Wolves here but I guess that's the trade-off for managing to field in Worrall a guest who, at this track, is potentially an improvement on the regular team member. In passing one has to doff the hat to Swindon for this extraordinary run of victories which surely the most fervent of their supporters could not have anticipated at the start of the season. Lunna, sadly, out for the season with broken shoulder and two broken bones to the back.

Agreed. I recall Wolves riding at Belle Vue and Coventry on the same day some years ago (think there was an odd number of teams in the league that year and agreeing to both matches meant all teams had a home fixture over the course of a Bank Holiday weekend) and it being something of a struggle. And that's considerably less mileage than the Aces are racking up today.

Well, they are certainly in form and currently top the table. Which team would you expect to win?

Carr was, indeed, exceptional; Bacon also very good although helped repeatedly by the ref's non-intervention over his rolling starts while I suspect that JPB merely found life a bit stickier in traffic than in fresh air. That's just track craft and at his tender age he's got plenty of years to get that under his belt. Exceptional progress already. An entertaining night all round though Cradley will be kicking themselves for all the points lost needlessly.

There's an alarming stat! Four near-misses, claiming a point on each occasion, but you're right. As far as the match goes, I'm with Beowulf. Given Poole's record, it really should be an away win but it's all too easy to mount a convincing argument against that happening.

Yep. If he's interested in Britain and Matt Ford (or any other promoter) reckons he's kicked on and is good value for his average, then clearly there's a deal to be done. It's obviously particularly incumbent on promoters to spot these bargains given that the sport runs with ceilings on team building. How committed to Britain Woryna (or any other of his countrymen) is permitted to be by the Polish authorities is, of course, potentially another matter altogether. And DC2's reservations expressed above on short-termism will certainly chime with some posters. But as to Woryna's average, FWIW no quibbles from me.

Fair point. Perhaps there's a cumulative effect with the home form. So much of this sport seems to be based on confidence.

That's the most curious aspect of it all. Perhaps the run of home defeats has instilled a lack of confidence among the riders concerning their own circuit, where away from home they tackle the track on its merits.

I suspect the worry again here for Wolves will be the reserve berth, with one of Masters' rides to be filled there. Even in last week's 22-point home win over Somerset the reserves were outscored 11-4 and it might well only take an injury among the remaining top four to see the side put under the same pressure as in the previous defeat to Poole. Doubtless Middlo will be pumping up his team by reminding them of that victory. On the other hand those four Wolves riders all scored heavily at home last week and the Pirates are not in great form at the moment. I'll go, not without some lingering anxiety, for a 6-10pt home win.

Firstly, commiserations to Fricke on such a nasty injury and good wishes for a swift recovery. It is, obviously, tough on Belle Vue to lose his services (putting to one side the possibility of an early return). But it is, for good or ill, much easier to enforce the letter of a rule rather than its spirit. How many injuries, to riders of what calibre, are you suggesting to prompt an exception? What happens if that exception is made for one club and not another in broadly similar circumstances? Where is the line drawn? Try to show at least an iota of common sense.

Described on the Poole thread as just battered and bruised, so hopefully nothing too worrying. Edit: Apologies, described on the Belle Vue thread. It's next to the Poole one!

I had certainly expected him to score more heavily than that; he was the No.8 at Wolves a while back so has some knowledge of the circuit. But as you rightly imply he has been a brilliant signing for the Rebels; nice guy, too (takes after his dad who I remember well from back in the day!).

Just being polite to the visitors, I expect...

The inference you drew was obvious.

Good news. FWIW I thought Greaves was about half a bike's length ahead; Shanes (who does have a curious style in corners) appeared to lean on him, Greaves commenced his broadside into the turn and over they went. But I can quite see opinion dividing on party lines, as it were. Unnecessary. That was a nasty tumble he took at Monmore.

Workington's finest, Taffy Owen, a villain? How dare you, sir?!