Gb Under 21 Qualifiers

[Khabiboulin]

Crowd was poor

 

Maybe that was because of the roads. I sat on the motorway for 7 hours and failed to make it. Extremely disappointed as I even took holiday and left early to ensure I'd make it in good time.

 

Well done to Haines - I guess it makes up for losing the British U18 final when he was top scorer.

[neil bv]

Well done Joe, I don't come the 1 big meeting you make the gate in the final. Thought I might add that if any folks in Kings Lynn could sponsor him this season he could do with the help. He's struggling for financial help this year (don't mention vans to him or van keys to his dad) & he's a cracking lad too. He's picked the World Under 21 semi in Gdansk & it would be nice if people could get behind The New British Under 21 Champion as Tai's already got plenty of help..

A good debut from Kyle Howarth too. They make em good up north.

[marko]

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.

 

 

[Sprog1]

Classic underdog win by Joe. Sneaked through almost unnoticed in his first three rides then came out and beat Tai in a very good race. In the final Tai and Lewis off gate 1&2 were watching each other and Joe had a terrific run round the outside on bends 1&2. Tai couldn't really try any overtaking moves as he had to defend his own position against Lewis so Joe just had to hold on for four laps.

Lewis seemed to be back to form- all acrobatics and hanging spectacularly off the bike. Tai also looked very good. Didn't have his usual Lakeside problem of going too fast down the straights and losing it on the bends. I don't know if he has been thinking about technique coming up to the GP's but he seemed much neater and tidier that I have seen him in the past.

Josh Auty looked good but once again very poor gating let him down. Jerran Hart was quite impressive in relation to his age, and Rob Mear looked OK considering he hasn't raced for 8 months.

Apart from that the variation in ability throughout out the field was too great to make this a decent meeting. Too many riders out of their depth against the top dogs and too many processions.

[Trees]

So any track but Lakeside next season then!!

[mrss]

So any track but Lakeside next season then!!

another, in depth and informative post from you.

[Wolfsbane]

A Wolves 1-2

 

Looks like we've finally got rid of the Dad's Army tag

 

Well done.

[BenHart]

reason for bad crowd is likely because of the grid locked M25 because of a multiple car pile up.

 

But the track was awful

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

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.

 

What a crazy comment...

You Elite League fans stick to your diet of processional Poles, anonymous Aussies, sleep-inducing Swedes and dormant Danes, for me I'd rather watch Britain's young talent anytime... And I don't just mean the start-line gals!!!

[Piccolo]

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.

 

Except it was Lakeside's meeting and they run it on the night, I'm sure the Lakeside staff are appreciative of your support.

[TonyE]

Except it was Lakeside's meeting and they run it on the night, I'm sure the Lakeside staff are appreciative of your support.

 

I think you will find that statement not 100% accurate. Suffice to say the event was held at 'Lakeside', the degree of control able to be exercised by the home promotion appears negligible.

[Custom House Kid]

reason for bad crowd is likely because of the grid locked M25 because of a multiple car pile up.

 

But the track was awful

 

Not to sure what you mean clarification as to it's shortcumings would help.

If you thought it was slick, some of the young lads would have struggled with a grippy Arena.

 

IMHO the track had little to do with the poor racing just the variation in talent (sadly) at this level.

Some of the races where reasonable.

 

 

Watching last night It came to me that perhaps the Pre War handicap system was not a bad Idea sprinkled in with the odd match races. If we could run second half's across the country this may enable some of our lads to up there game with handicap events. Not likley to happen I'm afraid ,but we do need to give these youngsters some support.

 

Having to text did not help my enjoyment of the meeting and may have clouded my opinion.

[marko]

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.

[Fourentee]

If you thought it was slick, some of the young lads would have struggled with a grippy Arena.

 

IMHO the track had little to do with the poor racing just the variation in talent (sadly) at this level.

Some of the races where reasonable.

 

Agreed on all counts. Briger/Woffinden/Haines are very, very strong riders at this level (and other levels, of course, but you get my point). But I reckon some of the more inexperienced riders will have learned a lot from watching how they go about their business both on track and in the pits. To take Richard Franklin, as an example, just because he rides for Dudley and so I see him ride at Brum and Monmore. He scored three points (I'm not going to touch on that dodgy exclusion ) in the final and now has the benefit of the "feel" from a big meeting. He also gained experience by coming through the qualifier, working out what points he needed, etc. Proportionally I think he'll be more ahead of the game by comparison with riding two NL matches.