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Leicester Lions 2016


Big Al

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I been called a lot of things of late, but bias I am not. Having been to Leicester a few times I was pleasantly surprised in that the track was far better than I had been led to believe. I like the red colour, It is smooth and fast. Although the straights are a bit narrow, the corners have plenty of width. Ok, in the majority of races the rider who gates normally wins, but you can say that about most tracks. What I liked about the track it that it is smooth, and very safe. Sure , the racing line is narrow, but a rider behind, can impose himself on the rider in front. Sometime when pushing and nudging, the person in front will make a mistake.

 

I'm not saying its the best track we have visited, but its not the worse either, Nothing is worse than a track where the surface is irregular, bumpy and non-consistent. And there's quite a few of them around........

Agree. Leicester does get a 'bad press' when not many tracks deliver great racing...

 

I would suggest that the reason they do get such comments is more down to the frustration of having had a 'blank canvas' with which to deliver a great track..

 

'Hit the apex of the turn at speed, slide across the bend up the banking to the fence, lock the bike, straighten the wheels, and fire yourself down the straight' appears to be the one racing line. Hence many races see the riders strung out playing 'follow the leader' in an almost 'synchronised speedway' pattern..

 

The inside of the bends are hardly used as the speed the bikes arrive at the turns seem to make it virtually impossible to 'hold the line' and going 'in wide and out narrow' would mean the risk of a Moto x style block pass from the guy behind or worse he wipes you out as he blasts through the apex..

 

A shame that it cannot (or maybe just 'will not') be amended as it could be a great asset to the sport given its great infrastructure and excellent customer focused operational standards on race nights..

Edited by mikebv
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I been called a lot of things of late, but bias I am not. Having been to Leicester a few times I was pleasantly surprised in that the track was far better than I had been led to believe. I like the red colour, It is smooth and fast. Although the straights are a bit narrow, the corners have plenty of width. Ok, in the majority of races the rider who gates normally wins, but you can say that about most tracks. What I liked about the track it that it is smooth, and very safe. Sure , the racing line is narrow, but a rider behind, can impose himself on the rider in front. Sometime when pushing and nudging, the person in front will make a mistake.

 

I'm not saying its the best track we have visited, but its not the worse either, Nothing is worse than a track where the surface is irregular, bumpy and non-consistent. And there's quite a few of them around........

Yet on the two occasions Sky has broadcast from Beaumont Park, the track has been quite different from usual (some would say Doctored), with accompanying increase in the number of incidents/near-incidents. I think also on both occasions the match in question has been timed to take place during a busy period of televised speedway (some would say hidden away within the schedules). Ypu can understand Sky's reluctance to cover Leicester away matches, so far, but at home the match result is usually fairly or very close (no one-sided blowouts except when Mr Zagar's in the away team!). So why the reluctance?

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As I have said before Leicester can only be featured on Sky at home during the height of the summer when we have the longest days.

 

The track lighting is not up to the required standards for TV broadcasting and the promotion are aware of this but cannot justify new lighting for at best 2 or 3 meetings a year. Sky were offered a Poole and Kings Lynn home Lions match in the run up to play offs but declined due to lighting

 

If Leicester had been involved in the Play offs then additional lighting would have to be brought in but this obviously has high costs.

 

With the team that Leicester are currently looking at putting out I think it may well just be the one visit again in 2016

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As I have said before Leicester can only be featured on Sky at home during the height of the summer when we have the longest days.

 

The track lighting is not up to the required standards for TV broadcasting and the promotion are aware of this but cannot justify new lighting for at best 2 or 3 meetings a year. Sky were offered a Poole and Kings Lynn home Lions match in the run up to play offs but declined due to lighting

 

If Leicester had been involved in the Play offs then additional lighting would have to be brought in but this obviously has high costs.

 

With the team that Leicester are currently looking at putting out I think it may well just be the one visit again in 2016

Yes, and of course being restricted to the height of summer also means heightened risk of the broadcast match being disrupted by a stoppage due to the sun.

Putting out poor quality teams, as you imply leading to 2016 being once more no Leicester away match likely to be covered, plus the lighting problem, and the need to try and deter viewers from dozing off on their sofas when the one home match is covered, can't be exactly making Leicester popular with Sky. Effectively it is rendering the league down to only 7 teams as far as broadcasting potential and options goes, and that cannot surely be popular with the other Elite league promoters either, meaning reduced attractiveness to would-be league sponsors. I bet there were huge sighs of relief when Lakeside were able to announce that they were continuing in 2016.

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As I have said before Leicester can only be featured on Sky at home during the height of the summer when we have the longest days.

 

The track lighting is not up to the required standards for TV broadcasting and the promotion are aware of this but cannot justify new lighting for at best 2 or 3 meetings a year. Sky were offered a Poole and Kings Lynn home Lions match in the run up to play offs but declined due to lighting

 

If Leicester had been involved in the Play offs then additional lighting would have to be brought in but this obviously has high costs.

 

With the team that Leicester are currently looking at putting out I think it may well just be the one visit again in 2016

Is this even remotely factual?

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TMW The required lighting level for Speedway on Sky is ideally 2000 Lux but due to multi use of most stadiums most are around 1500 but Leicester especially on bend 3 and 4 drops down to around 600-800 last time it was measured.

 

It would cost the club probably around 5-7k to upgrade the lighting its a shame that they do not have regular use of centre green for Football or Rugby as would then have to be made better

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TMW The required lighting level for Speedway on Sky is ideally 2000 Lux but due to multi use of most stadiums most are around 1500 but Leicester especially on bend 3 and 4 drops down to around 600-800 last time it was measured.

 

It would cost the club probably around 5-7k to upgrade the lighting its a shame that they do not have regular use of centre green for Football or Rugby as would then have to be made better

Don't they bring their own lighting?
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TMW No the only lighting that Sky bring is for the studio and for pit interviews track lighting is provided by the club

I always thought Swindon was a dark place to race but they are on sky regular,

 

So if Leicester were top of the league and had super tai they would still do only one visit,I don't buy the fact it's just to do with floodlights.

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The centre green is to small to get a full size football or rugby pitch on there, all you could put there would be a crazy golf course.

Why oh why did they make it so small if it had been that little bit say 16 feet or just above wider, then you would have gotten over the problems with the bends being to tight.

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The centre green is to small to get a full size football or rugby pitch on there, all you could put there would be a crazy golf course.

Why oh why did they make it so small if it had been that little bit say 16 feet or just above wider, then you would have gotten over the problems with the bends being to tight.

As you said in your post to me, you know who to blame.. I do sympathise with you..

Edited by Starman2006
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How come some of the lower league football stadiums can be shown in the FA cup. They don't have PL lighting

Theres nothing worth watching in a football match so it doesn't matter if you cant see the bag of wind sometimes .

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I always thought Swindon was a dark place to race but they are on sky regular,

 

So if Leicester were top of the league and had super tai they would still do only one visit,I don't buy the fact it's just to do with floodlights.

Ey up he's back. :lol:

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