IainB

http://www.gbspeedway.com/2024/guestperf.php?mc1=x&mc2=i&mc3=pf&mc4=Belle Vue Aces&team=Belle Vue Aces&league=A&sort=date&comp=CMA

You won't be laughing as you appear to have zero sense of humour

Isn't the carrot of gate choice what keeps them trying to score more than 8 or 9 points though. The mental and strategic side of things is often what separates a sportsperson from a great sportsperson. Zmarzlik doesn't very often choose the wrong gate which is why he's always in the finals.

Ivacic riding with a massive air break on his head in heat 2

There's been another last minute rule change announced and it's that during Belle Vue's home leg Bewley and Kurtz will be starting from a 15 metre handicap in every race. It's okay though as everybody is still riding against everybody else and you will be entertained.

Shows you that there's a lack of experienced heads in the pits perhaps. It may be easy to get caught up with what's happening on the night for a rider and they may see that a certain gate is more favourable through the meeting but it tends to be a different story when it comes to crunch time. Obviously if a particular gate has been head and shoulders above any other you'd be a fool not to pick it but if they've all been fairly equal the percentages suggest you pick an inside gate.

No Polish club is going to drop the likes of Lindgren if he really wants to ride in the UK there are plenty of other Polish clubs that would be queueing up to sign riders of his quality

I'm not, I think it's a bit of light relief

Okay, point 2 is obviously a given, so say you run 5 rider teams and you have 3 of them out injured, what then? R/R for 1, then what? Cancel all meetings until the team is fit? Personally I'd like to see a little more club affiliation, so PL clubs could call on a CL clubs riders, like feeder clubs, that'll never work credibly while riders are still doubling up/down though.

But what is the alternative? I think in the Swedish match it was something like they were dropping Tom Brennan to bring somebody like Anders Thomsen back into the team from the "squad" knowing full well that he was unavailable to operate R/R instead of Brennan, and you think our setup is daft. The only way you will ever do away with guests is by having a squad of employee riders (say 10 or 12) contracted to only ride for your club and that ain't never going to happen

They either have juniors in their team or sign short term replacements from what is available like Wroclaw last year in their pay off finals, which made it a complete non-event Or Sweden run R/R and/or a squad system, but they like the UK can only bring riders in when Polish availability allows, I think I was watching a match the other day where they were running R/R for a squad rider who wasn't available due to a Polish fixture!! It's not just here where this madness prevails

I've just become a "Rising Star"! And I can't get a team spot anywhere 😁

There's lies, damned lies and statistics, just for a bit of "fun" I've looked back at this seasons GP's when it comes to the "sudden death" semis and finals, pick the bones out of this: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Gate 1 10 6 6 5 Gate 2 12 4 5 6 Gate 3 2 5 7 12 Gate 4 3 12 9 4 I think the clear message is don't pick gate 3!

I'm just going by what Tatum and Louis have said, both world class riders in their time as I mentioned in a previous post it was no coincidence TRick went off gate 1 all night during his glory years. Every GP winner this year, with the exception of Michelsen has come from the inside gates. You're right though he does need to win one and soon

What a season! Whatever happens from here on in, it's been up there with 2019! It started a bit shaky with nobody except for Richard Lawson being able to string 2 decent matches together. Personally, I would have gotten rid of either Masters or Becker mid-season, but that's why I'm a keyboard warrior, and Stewart Dickson is a team manager The turning point seemed to come after that appalling display at Ipswich in June Stewart Dickson has proved to be the best thing that has happened for Leicester Speedway and long may that continue. Up the Lions!

Hey, what do I know? It's only an opinion, I've never ridden a bike but I have watched an awful lot of bikes being ridden, Greg Hancock hasn't got a great track record as rider coach, first Magic, now Wozniak, I kind of worry for wee Willy Cairns a bit, he maybe good for equipment and riding technique advice but when I've heard him speak on TV he doesn't strike me as someone to give great strategic advice. But Wozniak is not at the level of Lambert, Lambert has shown he's at the top table of GP riders, he's made the "mistake" of picking the wrong gate twice now, is he learning from his mistakes? Maybe he will on his own, time will tell I suppose.

I've also just checked on the Leicester City Council's what's on website for this week and we have the choice of: Leicester vs Yorkshire County Cricket tomorrow A Horse Racing meet on Tuesday Sidekick adults dance on Wednesday Or Over 55 Dance Workshop on Friday That's my week sorted... even though I'm not 55, maybe I could sneak in If I search for speedway it returns: "The Lions team consists of one Australian and six English riders and are captained by Scott Nicholls a seven-time British Individual Champion. The charismatic Nicholls, who is renowned for his highly colourful tailored shirts, is an analyst on the BT Sport channels during their live transmissions of the season long Speedway Grand Prix competition. Saturday’s are the Lions normal race night with a start-time of 7.30pm with occasional Sunday afternoon’s fixtures. Children sixteen and under are admitted free with a paying adult and meetings usually last up to two hours. There is car parking at the stadium and refreshments within the venue."

It's certainly no guarantee but you've got to give yourself every chance especially when it comes to sudden death semis and finals, Lambert had first choice in the semi, chose gate 3 and made almost as bad a start as he did in heat 18! The chances of him catching and passing semi finalists like he did with an injured Madsen and Huckenbeck especially just after a track grade were almost non existent. If he'd had an ex rider in his corner saying to him gate 1 over and over again in his ear things could have been very different

Well, I've just checked the Local papers' website and there is only 1 mention of Speedway on there and that was Craig Featherby's brother running marathons and that's on the whole website, BBC Leicester website... nothing. A google search for "leicester speedway play playoffs" in the news section returns a press release dated 01/08/2023

As someone who sat there for years watching TRick win from gate 1 all night long, I think there is a clear advantage to it, especially when the cream rises to the top in the latter stages of a meeting. Some people don't like them but Tatum and Louis know what they're talking about regarding gate choices

I think, by his standards, he had been struggling a bit recently, it's just that the opposition can't put a consistent enough challenge up against him. At the moment it is Zmarzlik vs everyone else, there's just no clear challenger

What an extraordinary GP! Some big big crashes, what the hell was Holder doing in 18?!? What the hell was Lambert doing in 18?!? Why the hell was Madsen walking off in tears at the end of the GP?!? He seems quite highly strung. At least Dan has got the 100% final winning record monkey off his back Bizarre gate choice from Lambert again in the semi, both Tatum and Louis saying gate 1 and Lambert gives it up again. Maybe somebody else that could do with an ex rider in his pit bay? I know Crumpy used to be there but it seems not any more. Why Allen and Stead are never at the GP's I don't understand (I know it's because of money) but you always see the Danish manager there and also some of the others floating about.

I have to say, for a track with no floodlights... they're great floodlights

The "Marshall"

It's how Richie Worrall referred to Neil Vatcher in his Facebook outbursts last year... and the name seems to have stuck (for some at least 😁)