King's Lynn v Swindon. KO Cup semi final 2nd leg. 17/9/18

[stevehone]

wonder why Robert was wearing odd boots tonight

[Grachan]

A decent effort from Swindon considering the weak bottom end of the side, but gave away too many 5-1s, which we couldn't afford to do.

Having not being there I can't give an opinion on heat 15, but the opinions from the Swindon camp (and the ref, obviously, who didn't exclude anyone) are very different to the King's Lynn "hooligans" (to quote Rosco), where first bend bunching is clearly the order of the day.

Good to see just how much Batch has got into the King's Lynn psyche, anyway. He does that. 

[Sidney the robin]

A brave effort by the Robins as there team was seriously depleted but you can't fault the effort and commitment well done to Lynn.

[tellboy]

4 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Rosco already speaks out

http://www.swindonrobins.co/news.php?extend.3179

What an earth is Rosco on about"football hooligans".Far from football hooligans,lots of verbals and shouting yes but to tar the fans as if they were football hooligans is so far from the truth.I quite like Rosco but coming out with stuff like that beggars belief.Take the defeat on the chin Rosco because comments like that sounds just like sour grapes to me.

[Trees]

Instead of cheering and celebrating with our team they were shouting abuse at Batchelor, that's what annoyed me the most! 

[semion]

Yeah Trees they should have been doing both.. As for Rosco, I guess his little speech deflects from the fact of his choice of guests was poor and not the sort of  line-up League Champions would look to put out in the semi final of a cup when going away to defend a Lead.

[Sidney the robin]

6 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

That is exactly what I miss. If Speedway had that kind of atmosphere week in week out the sport would thrive. It needs tension and rivalries. Everyone gets involved and the kids love it. It's what creates memories and love for the sport, 9 times out of 10 the actual racing is easily forgotten.

Night's like tonight is when I wish I was there.

 

Bring's back memories of Alan Cowland/ Wilko and mad Jack Millen (RIP )the sport needs drama and characters.

[Bagpuss]

I wasn’t there either but I’ve seen this minority ‘hooligan’ element around the pits at Lynn before when one of our riders was stuffed, admittedly it was eleven years ago when Tommy Allen squeezed Trevor Harding into the fence against Rye House but for a split second things were ugly before they calmed down. Passions do run high and while the proximity of spectators to the pits is a good thing it can also give a minority the opportunity to be aggressive and abusive  towards riders which isn’t good.

Anyway no surprise that Batchelor was in the middle of it all and Robin Brundle had some harsh words on Twitter for him afterwards. The most important thing is that Robert & Niels are ok otherwise we are going into the Play Offs without a fully fit heat leader.

[g13webb]

10 hours ago, Speedball said:

There’s a fine line between hard and dirty and in my opinion Batchelor went over that line. His only interest was to try and stop Robert by whatever means he could.

Not saying he meant for Robert to fall but he knew the only way he could possibly beat him was by stuffing him.

Other than the closeness of the aggregate score, actually thought it was a pretty dull meeting racing wise but heat 15 certainly livened the place up.

Well we must have gone to a different meeting last night, cause I see a totally different race than the one you are describing.   Sitting up in the royal box looking down onto the  track   you see anything quite clear .     That heat 15 was the all important race,  tension was ripe,  The tapes go up with Riss on 1 and Batch on 2 make decent starts,   But it is Musielak who creates the problem,   immediately he gates he moves LEFT squeezing Lambert.  Robert has nowhere to go and is squashed into Batchelor.   all 3 are tangled way before they get to the corner.  It was amazing they didn't all go down.  eventually  Musielak freed himself and shot across Lambert's bows,  taking his front wheel completely.  By that time the bikes were controlling the men.   Robert veered off into the safety fence at some speed , thankfully he was OK for the rerun.   All the talk of blaming Batch was ridiculous, he was a victim of the situation as much as Lambert was.  If anybody was to blame it was  MUSIELAK  who moved into Lambert.       I thought the abuse Batchelor was getting, was related to comments he had previously made about the club and the walking out he did last year,  but if it was by fans and Posters  thinking he was to blame for the accident then they are all wrong.....  Batchelor  did nothing wrong......

Strange meeting this.   Swindon arrived with a scratch team  made up of weak reserves and RR,    Lynn on the other hand were a heatleader missing.   Initially it seemed to be plain sailing for the Stars, but it soon became apparent this was turning into a gate and go extravagancer.   When Niels got injured the emphasis changed.   Swindon appeared to have more race winners and riders who could get out to the traps.  We were hanging on to a 2 point lead.     only the exploits of Robert and Riss were keeping us in the match.   Then came Heat 15 (above)     I can understand the excitement of the fans,   and the relief to reach the final,  but one has to feel sorry for the Robins, if they had a full team they would have won, no doubt

One thing that became obvious last night was,    Although we are not a one man team, without Lambert we are short of race winners when it matters....     When Niels pulled out we were in trouble,.      Yea,     we got there,      but only just......   

Edited September 18, 2018 by g13webb
Corrected movement !!

[waytogo28]

7 hours ago, Speedball said:

Other than the closeness of the aggregate score, actually thought it was a pretty dull meeting racing wise but heat 15 certainly livened the place up.

I have to rate it as the worst meeting I have seen at KL. In 12 races out of 15 there was nothing of note after exiting the 2nd bend 1st lap ( now common everywhere ). Purely processional.  I can only assume that Swindon agreed to use Scott Campos sight unseen because it was a disgrace parading such an obviously unfit and out of shape rider as competitive. He then proved that on track. After quite a number of years, he could not turn the bike properly. Any other.young rider would have benefited from the experience.

There was no sense of urgency by the promotion to "get on with it" and there was 35 minutes of tractor racing during the match ( I know I measured them ) which resulted in slower races immediately after and no closer racing. Buster is delusional that his track magic during a match improves the whole presentation of it or gives better racing.

It's a pity if the salvation of UK speedway means more scenes as in heat 15 with fans brawling over Rollerball speedway!

It's what Rossiter said before that point that was most despairing - that promoters were also arguing heatedly over 2019 and he had no idea what was happening or how to prepare for the changes that were coming. He made it clear that he was against further dilution of team strengths, but that is obviously what is likely to happen. He also said that it was a "make or break AGM" ( where have we heard that before?). It has been repeated for many years!

Finally ( I promise ) I came home feeling that, that is me finished with live speedway in the stadium, to watch the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 /10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more!

[Grachan]

56 minutes ago, g13webb said:

Well we must have gone to a different meeting last night, cause I see a totally different race than the one you are describing.   Sitting up in the royal box looking down onto the  track   you see anything quite clear .     That heat 15 was the all important race,  tension was ripe,  The tapes go up with Riss on 1 and Batch on 2 make decent starts,   But it is Musielak who creates the problem,   immediately he gates he moves right squeezing Lambert.  Robert has nowhere to go and is squashed into Batchelor.   all 3 are tangled way before they get to the corner.  It was amazing they didn't all go down.  eventually  Musielak freed himself and shot across Lambert taking his front wheel completely.  By that time the bikes were controlling the men.   Robert veered off into the safety fence at some speed , thankfully he was OK for the rerun.   All the talk of blaming Batch was ridiculous, he was a victim of the situation as much as Lambert was.  If anybody was to blame it was  MUSIELAK  who moved into Lambert.       I thought the abuse Batchelor was getting, was related to comments he had previously made about the club and the walking out he did last year,  but if it was by fans and Posters  thinking he was to blame for the accident then they are all wrong.....  Batchelor  did nothing wrong......

Strange meeting this.   Swindon arrived with a scratch team  made up of weak reserves and RR,    Lynn on the other hand were a heatleader missing.   Initially it seemed to be plain sailing for the Stars, but it soon became apparent this was turning into a gate and go extravagancer.   When Niels got injured the emphasis changed.   Swindon appeared to have more race winners and riders who could get out to the traps.  We were hanging on to a 2 point lead.     only the exploits of Robert and Riss were keeping us in the match.   Then came Heat 15 (above)     I can understand the excitement of the fans,   and the relief to reach the final,  but one has to feel sorry for the Robins, if they had a full team they would have won, no doubt

One thing that became obvious last night was,    Although we are not a one man team, without Lambert we are short of race winners when it matters....     When Niels pulled out we were in trouble,.      Yea,     we got there,      but only just......   

That description of the crash certainly fits more with what was in the Swindon report - which also said that it was Musielak and Lambert involved.

It's funny how some King's Lynn fans now have such a blind hatred of Troy Bachelor that they will blame him for anything. I know a bit of panto booing can be fun, but I bet this wasn't that but was genuinely serious.

I've seen it at Swindon with Rory Schlein, where the crowd would boo him. It seemed good fun until you look at the genuine hated and anger on some of the fans' faces. And they probably didn't even know why they were booing him.

 

[Odds On]

just think if the cameras were there, Rossitor would of been in tears playing the sympathy card!...always has and always will be the centre of attention, a real look at me individual.

[g13webb]

58 minutes ago, waytogo28 said:

I have to rate it as the worst meeting I have seen at KL. In 12 races out of 15 there was nothing of note after exiting the 2nd bend 1st lap ( now common everywhere ). Purely processional.  I can only assume that Swindon agreed to use Scott Campos sight unseen because it was a disgrace parading such an obviously unfit and out of shape rider as competitive. He then proved that on track. After quite a number of years, he could not turn the bike properly. Any other.young rider would have benefited from the experience.

There was no sense of urgency by the promotion to "get on with it" and there was 35 minutes of tractor racing during the match ( I know I measured them ) which resulted in slower races immediately after and no closer racing. Buster is delusional that his track magic during a match improves the whole presentation of it or gives better racing.

It's a pity if the salvation of UK speedway means more scenes as in heat 15 with fans brawling over Rollerball speedway!

It's what Rossiter said before that point that was most despairing - that promoters were also arguing heatedly over 2019 and he had no idea what was happening or how to prepare for the changes that were coming. He made it clear that he was against further dilution of team strengths, but that is obviously what is likely to happen. He also said that it was a "make or break AGM" ( where have we heard that before?). It has been repeated for many years!

Finally ( I promise ) I came home feeling that, that is me finished with live speedway in the stadium, to watch the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 /10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more!

Not being a track man  I am no authority on how to prepare a race track.     To the naked eye,  I thought the track looked perfect, smooth,  with evenly spread of shale.  allowing for multiply racing lines.  But unfortunately the racing was dire .  After the first corner the riders were well spaced out, more like follow the leader than actual racing.  The most important part was the start.    I think the biggest problem with the sport is that the bikes are way too quick,  and every rider is riding full throttle.    Don't think you can blame Buster for that...    

What you can blame him for,  is the tractor racing we had to endure.      I too was aware of the time wasting.   8-40 we have done well and had 8 races when it was decided to have a 15min track grade.    I asked then is this the interval,   but it was noticed the First Aiders were still on the track.   We then had another 2 races  when it is announced the interval will be taken after heat 10, when we had another 20 mins of track grading.   Sitting/Standing around on a cold night for 35mins is not the way to enthral your supporters..      Won't they ever learn... ???  

 

[waytogo28]

5 minutes ago, g13webb said:

What you can blame him for,  is the tractor racing we had to endure.      I too was aware of the time wasting.   8-40 we have done well and had 8 races when it was decided to have a 15min track grade.    I asked then is this the interval,   but it was noticed the First Aiders were still on the track.   We then had another 2 races  when it is announced the interval will be taken after heat 10, when we had another 20 mins of track grading.   Sitting/Standing around on a cold night for 35mins is not the way to enthral your supporters..      Won't they ever learn... ???  

3

No. Is the only possible answer going by what the past has shown us. 

[Fromafar]

2 hours ago, g13webb said:

Well we must have gone to a different meeting last night, cause I see a totally different race than the one you are describing.   Sitting up in the royal box looking down onto the  track   you see anything quite clear .     That heat 15 was the all important race,  tension was ripe,  The tapes go up with Riss on 1 and Batch on 2 make decent starts,   But it is Musielak who creates the problem,   immediately he gates he moves right squeezing Lambert.  Robert has nowhere to go and is squashed into Batchelor.   all 3 are tangled way before they get to the corner.  It was amazing they didn't all go down.  eventually  Musielak freed himself and shot across Lambert taking his front wheel completely.  By that time the bikes were controlling the men.   Robert veered off into the safety fence at some speed , thankfully he was OK for the rerun.   All the talk of blaming Batch was ridiculous, he was a victim of the situation as much as Lambert was.  If anybody was to blame it was  MUSIELAK  who moved into Lambert.       I thought the abuse Batchelor was getting, was related to comments he had previously made about the club and the walking out he did last year,  but if it was by fans and Posters  thinking he was to blame for the accident then they are all wrong.....  Batchelor  did nothing wrong......

Strange meeting this.   Swindon arrived with a scratch team  made up of weak reserves and RR,    Lynn on the other hand were a heatleader missing.   Initially it seemed to be plain sailing for the Stars, but it soon became apparent this was turning into a gate and go extravagancer.   When Niels got injured the emphasis changed.   Swindon appeared to have more race winners and riders who could get out to the traps.  We were hanging on to a 2 point lead.     only the exploits of Robert and Riss were keeping us in the match.   Then came Heat 15 (above)     I can understand the excitement of the fans,   and the relief to reach the final,  but one has to feel sorry for the Robins, if they had a full team they would have won, no doubt

One thing that became obvious last night was,    Although we are not a one man team, without Lambert we are short of race winners when it matters....     When Niels pulled out we were in trouble,.      Yea,     we got there,      but only just......   

If Musielak moves right from Gate 4  (given that you said Batch was in 2) how did he squeeze Lambert.? Surely he was heading towards the fence!(only your right if you are situatated on 1st bend)

Edited September 18, 2018 by Fromafar

[g13webb]

15 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

If Musielak moves right from Gate 4  (given that you said Batch was in 2) how did he squeeze Lambert.? Surely he was heading towards the fence!(only your right if you are situatated on 1st bend)

True !!    it was from where I was sitting , facing towards them..     Musielak actually moved  immediately to his LEFT,  squeezing Lambert between  himself and Batchelor.    All four back was the right decision,  but the Ref  could've  issued a warning  to Musielak about his erratic move....   

[Rickyb]

52 minutes ago, g13webb said:

Not being a track man  I am no authority on how to prepare a race track.     To the naked eye,  I thought the track looked perfect, smooth,  with evenly spread of shale.  allowing for multiply racing lines.  But unfortunately the racing was dire .  After the first corner the riders were well spaced out, more like follow the leader than actual racing.  The most important part was the start.    I think the biggest problem with the sport is that the bikes are way too quick,  and every rider is riding full throttle.    Don't think you can blame Buster for that...    

What you can blame him for,  is the tractor racing we had to endure.      I too was aware of the time wasting.   8-40 we have done well and had 8 races when it was decided to have a 15min track grade.    I asked then is this the interval,   but it was noticed the First Aiders were still on the track.   We then had another 2 races  when it is announced the interval will be taken after heat 10, when we had another 20 mins of track grading.   Sitting/Standing around on a cold night for 35mins is not the way to enthral your supporters..      Won't they ever learn... ???  

 

Despite what everyone on here thinks I really don't believe that Buster rides around on his tractor just for the fun of it, there was obviously a reason for it last night maybe the riders asked for more grading, and I'm sure he doesn't do it to wind up the fans. also it certainly was not a cold night!

[g13webb]

1 minute ago, Rickyb said:

Despite what everyone on here thinks I really don't believe that Buster rides around on his tractor just for the fun of it, there was obviously a reason for it last night maybe the riders asked for more grading, and I'm sure he doesn't do it to wind up the fans. also it certainly was not a cold night!

I cant imagine any of the riders were complaining last night,  they were all riding it so well.    All I was saying, with a little bit of thought going into the procedure,   would it not be possible to either wait another 2 races and have a big track grade in the interval, or if the track was that critical , couldn't the interval have been brought forward, rather than having 2 lengthy breaks...     They don't have this problem in Poland, they run a tight ship with every option programmed in.   A 5min track grade, after every 4 heats.   The meetings are run to a strick timetable...   Its not that difficult.      

Also sitting up there in the Royal Box was quite chilly with a sharp cold breeze keeping everyone awake.     It was only at the end, when at ground level, did we realise how cold it was up there.  

[Rickyb]

1 minute ago, g13webb said:

I cant imagine any of the riders were complaining last night,  they were all riding it so well.    All I was saying, with a little bit of thought going into the procedure,   would it not be possible to either wait another 2 races and have a big track grade in the interval, or if the track was that critical , couldn't the interval have been brought forward, rather than having 2 lengthy breaks...     They don't have this problem in Poland, they run a tight ship with every option programmed in.   A 5min track grade, after every 4 heats.   The meetings are run to a strick timetable...   Its not that difficult.      

Also sitting up there in the Royal Box was quite chilly with a sharp cold breeze keeping everyone awake.     It was only at the end, when at ground level, did we realise how cold it was up there.  

I see your point but I still find it hard to think he would ride around and around for no good reason, and yes I imagine it would be a bit cooler up in the royal box.

 

[castrolargh]

55 minutes ago, g13webb said:

True !!    it was from where I was sitting , facing towards them..     Musielak actually moved  immediately to his LEFT,  squeezing Lambert between  himself and Batchelor.    All four back was the right decision,  but the Ref  could've  issued a warning  to Musielak about his erratic move....   

from where we were standing,just below the refs box,musielak wasn't even straight at the gate , and did indeed get across Robert by means of making a better start which may have impeded Roberts run to the corner, BUT, bachelor gated alongside Robert, neglected to turn left and gave him an almighty shove. Dirty doesn't even come close and very lucky not to be excluded for dangerous riding.