Lakeside Hammers vs Ipswich Witches 13/4/18

[TonyE]

The problem at Lakeside is that the spectators spread themselves out so much that even a decent crowd can look scanty. Certainly, compared to last season, it was a bumper crowd. The crunch will come when we have decent weather which always, at Lakeside at least, puts a lot on the gate.

Edited April 14, 2018 by TonyE

[Baldyman]

It's hard to say. What one club may call a good crowd maybe another would call not so good, I guess it depends what a clubs average crowd is.   I would imagine a few clubs have double what others get.

[E I Addio]

Lakeside's average crowd is probably a fair bit lower than it was 5or 6 years ago, but that is symptomatic of many clubs, these days. I put that down mainly to the disastrous way the sport has been mismanaged in recent years. I see the rule that stopped riders from getting off the bike to prepare the start has been dropped already, barely a month into th e season, the latest example of how Chapman & Co stagger from one crazy idea to the next.

Ipswich are fortunate in that they are apparently one of the very few clubs whose attendances have gone against the trend, but many others were in dire financial crisis at the end of last season. 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned on the thread was timing. Parade was at 8.pm, first race a little before 8.15, last race finished 1hr 20 min later, so credit to the ref for keeping it moving, as last weeks ref did well, so credit where it's due.

I think a lot of Lakeside's supporters stopped going and maybe got out of the speedway habit as a result of last years disatrous decision to drop to NL, not that the club had much choice at the time, but some work has to be done now to win the missing fans back.

[marko]

Yeah it’s not a huge thing by any means but why advertise parade at 19:45 tapes up at 20:00 and then make no real attempt to keep to that, people are standing around having got there in plenty of time thinking, well is this going to start or not.

as you say there is a real sense of getting meetings through so far with the new rules concerning keeping the action flowing, nothing ruins a meeting more than long breaks in the action.

[cityrebel]

I'm not cookies greatest fan, but no one can accuse him of not running a slick meeting. Ok it started a bit late, but there is no interval at arena and swift tractor breaks, which is greatly appreciated by us fans from south of the river.

[TonyE]

If it finishes too early you have to pay for your crossing!

[Bash]

I only live 7 miles from Lakeside, but the  meeting on Friday sums up why I would rather drive 60 miles to go to Ipswich than watch at Lakeside where the dirt is still lacking. Riders trying to go wide just went backwards as there was nothing to give them any drive. Why they decided to water the outside of the track during the meeting baffles me as there was nothing to water, and this led to the two riders coming down in heat 8 as it was like an ice rink. Both riders should've been put back in.

Congrats to Lakeside on the win, and to Connor on his impressive showing. The tactical substitute rule is a waste of time, better than the double points but you should be able to use it more than once.

[New era Panthers]

10 minutes ago, Bash said:

I only live 7 miles from Lakeside, but the  meeting on Friday sums up why I would rather drive 60 miles to go to Ipswich than watch at Lakeside where the dirt is still lacking. Riders trying to go wide just went backwards as there was nothing to give them any drive. Why they decided to water the outside of the track during the meeting baffles me as there was nothing to water, and this led to the two riders coming down in heat 8 as it was like an ice rink. Both riders should've been put back in.

Congrats to Lakeside on the win, and to Connor on his impressive showing. The tactical substitute rule is a waste of time, better than the double points but you should be able to use it more than once.

Tac sub should be allowed  as and when required provided team is 6 points or more in arrears .3 times would be o/k IMO

[E I Addio]

9 hours ago, Bash said:

I only live 7 miles from Lakeside, but the  meeting on Friday sums up why I would rather drive 60 miles to go to Ipswich than watch at Lakeside where the dirt is still lacking. Riders trying to go wide just went backwards as there was nothing to give them any drive. Why they decided to water the outside of the track during the meeting baffles me as there was nothing to water, and this led to the two riders coming down in heat 8 as it was like an ice rink. Both riders should've been put back in.

Congrats to Lakeside on the win, and to Connor on his impressive showing. The tactical substitute rule is a waste of time, better than the double points but you should be able to use it more than once.

Nobody rode wider than Richard Lawson so if 14 points is going backwards, bring it on. Adam Ellis hunted down Rory Schlein and eventually caught him on the line by riding the wide line, and I don't recall Danny King, anywhere near the inside getting his 12 points.

I agree the Tac Sub is a waste of time but I would  have it dropped altogether. The public don't pay to see riders of the calibre of Scott Nicholls and Danny King take a TR against reserves where they win easily, as happened the last two weeks.If we must have a TR it shouldn't be heatleaders replacing reserves, it should be in other heats where they have to make a race of it.

[liam]

21 hours ago, E I Addio said:

Nobody rode wider than Richard Lawson so if 14 points is going backwards, bring it on. Adam Ellis hunted down Rory Schlein and eventually caught him on the line by riding the wide line, and I don't recall Danny King, anywhere near the inside getting his 12 points.

I agree the Tac Sub is a waste of time but I would  have it dropped altogether. The public don't pay to see riders of the calibre of Scott Nicholls and Danny King take a TR against reserves where they win easily, as happened the last two weeks.If we must have a TR it shouldn't be heatleaders replacing reserves, it should be in other heats where they have to make a race of it.

If rye house keep getting beat like last night some fans might fancy coming back.