Birmingham v Leicester Mon 12th August PL

[AceBelle]

14 minutes ago, iainb said:

That was his brother 

i'll put the cans back in the fridge 😂

[BTFC LION]

9 hours ago, Lenny Lion said:

Although I did not attend last night I am told it was a disgrace with dust from the opening race & barely able to watch the limited racing by the end of the meeting the dust got that bad BUT I think Birmingham can only blame themselves for the last heat loss last night . 
 

I am told they allowed the Leicester track curator to do all the track grading during the interval after heat 11,

Is it purely coincidence that a Leicester rider won 3 of the last 4 races after the interval 🤔🤔

 

Absolute foolish from Birmingham. If I was a Brummies fan I would be asking serious questions of my promotion for allowing this to happen. 
 

To correct you, I am the track curator in question,  I went as a spectator, just to watch the meeting,  I arrived about 5pm straight from work with no intention of doing anything,  the track was being watered at that time, nearer to start time it was clearly drying out fast, it was also clear it would need watering during the meeting,  you can not put water on a slick part of the track as it makes it like ice, as john was on his own I offered to help if needed,  I graded after ht4, ht,7 ht11, so I find your accusation that I had an influence on the out come of the meeting offensive. 

I was told the track had been constantly been watered from Sunday,  and all throughout Monday,

I would also add many track curators know each other and it's not unusual for them to help each other out from time to time.

[lisa-colette]

55 minutes ago, iainb said:

That was his brother 

Classic! 😂

[TTT]

I wouldn't even book Freddie to guest in the play-offs, I think he's been quite poor for Brum and he's let them down in a lot of crucial races.

I'd be booking Harris for Home meetings tbh and then if his current form continues book Janowski for the away meetings.

[GiveusaB]

13 hours ago, AceBelle said:

Quick recovery from fever yesterday to ride in Sweden tonight for pawlicki  another pointless 28 day ban coming

Hopefully!

[foreverblue]

9 hours ago, TTT said:

I wouldn't even book Freddie to guest in the play-offs, I think he's been quite poor for Brum and he's let them down in a lot of crucial races.

I'd be booking Harris for Home meetings tbh and then if his current form continues book Janowski for the away meetings.

I think you will see a different Freddie in the play offs, he will be better at BV and Sheffield.

[tellboy]

On 8/13/2024 at 8:34 PM, Racin Jason 72 said:

And in the premiership.  

In the official green sheet averages it has Holder 9.20 above Sayfutdinov 9.04,and on current rolling averages it has Kurtz 9.18 above Sayfutdinov 9.12.

[Racin Jason 72]

13 minutes ago, tellboy said:

In the official green sheet averages it has Holder 9.20 above Sayfutdinov 9.04,and on current rolling averages it has Kurtz 9.18 above Sayfutdinov 9.12.

I was looking at the speedway star stats. 

[mikebv]

On 8/13/2024 at 10:10 PM, BTFC LION said:

To correct you, I am the track curator in question,  I went as a spectator, just to watch the meeting,  I arrived about 5pm straight from work with no intention of doing anything,  the track was being watered at that time, nearer to start time it was clearly drying out fast, it was also clear it would need watering during the meeting,  you can not put water on a slick part of the track as it makes it like ice, as john was on his own I offered to help if needed,  I graded after ht4, ht,7 ht11, so I find your accusation that I had an influence on the out come of the meeting offensive. 

I was told the track had been constantly been watered from Sunday,  and all throughout Monday,

I would also add many track curators know each other and it's not unusual for them to help each other out from time to time.

Sounds like plenty of watering, so is the lack of "material" the issue?

More depth of surface would keep more moisture in maybe? 

 

Birmingham does seem to become slick very soon into a meeting (and they are not alone in this), regardless of weather conditions..

[ouch]

On 8/13/2024 at 10:41 AM, GiveusaB said:

They should've sacked Pawlicki and bought a decent bowser with the money saved.

The track prep has been inadequate for most meetings.

In fact, the time that the track was prepared well, B'ham actually won (v Belle Vue)

Can't see many turning up next year (if they continue) unless something is done about the surface.

It will be hard to attract decent riders....'who wants to race on that every week'.....'let alone watch it' ?!

(unless you're a good gater of course....) 😃

If the ref had excluded the opposition’s top scorer in all their heat 15’s they’d have a load more match points, no matter what the track was like. 

[IainB]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

Sounds like plenty of watering, so is the lack of "material" the issue?

Lack of watering was definitely the issue, yes the track was fine for heat 1 but because watering wasn't done again until after heat 4, which was some 40 minutes later and there is a refusal in this country to water the track where the dust is actually being generated from, unlike in Poland where they just flood the track and the better riders will just get on with it, they just keep watering the track on the very outside when every rider is riding the curb around the blue groove spewing up clouds of dust!

[tellboy]

4 hours ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

I was looking at the speedway star stats. 

I always look at the official ones on the BSPA website.

[arnieg]

19 minutes ago, tellboy said:

I always look at the official ones on the BSPA website.

Depends what you want to measure - green sheets are problematic - as they include different things for each rider. For example 80% of Scott Nicholls'  GSA is matches from 2022 with Peterborough. Most of Doyle's is from last season.

For this season only Jason and Emil are still 1 & 2 on most measures. (The exception is league matches only exc bonus points where Kurtz shades Emil 9.09 to 9.01). 

Stats as at 14 Aug.

[brianbuck]

It continues to amaze me how so many people living in places anything up to 100 or so miles from Perry Barr, seem to have such intimate knowledge of all the background information of how Birmingham  Speedway is run and of the merits of the members of the promotion, so perhaps a few genuine facts might be useful to them:

Senior Birmingham management have keys to Perry Barr Stadium, and access to the site can be obtained at any time - but access to the speedway track is a different matter. The stadium's major greyhound meeting is staged on Saturday nights so no work relative to the speedway operation can be conducted until Sunday mornings, and even then, the tenancy agreement insists that heavy equipment cannot be taken across the dog track until it has been covered, so this time consuming job has to be done first.

When the weather has been as dry and hot as has been the case these last few weeks, watering of the speedway track commences on Sundays and continues throughout the day, and then re-commences on Monday mornings. The suggestion that last Monday "that the track was dusty from heat one" made by someone who was not at the meeting, is absolute nonsense.

Regrading and re-watering of the track is usually conducted after heats 4, 8 and 12 as is the case at most other tracks. On this last Monday, the first re-grade was delayed due to the first heat being restarted twice, heat three being similarly re-started, and a further delay when a rider was excluded for failing to make the two minutes deadline and some confusion when he wasn't aware that he had been excluded.

The situation with Pawlicki's absence has been well documented, and I imagine that pretty well all of us share the same opinion about this, but having now completed 75% of their fixtures, Birmingham are not now able to replace him with a new signing - but I have it on good authority that no Birmingham rider is on any kind of guarantee as seems to be widely imagined, and the clown who keeps flogging the notion that Birmingham should have signed Artem Laguta, must know as we all do, that Laguta is not interested in riding for a British Club.

Where the poster who criticises Sam Ermolenko gets his information from, I do not know. Lampart was nominated for his Rider-Replacement ride in heat 3, but after a first bend collision his machine required adjustment and he subsequently failed to make the two minute warning and was excluded. His exclusion does not allow him to take another rider-replacement ride, which is fair enough. This might or might not have cost the Brummies the match, but it can hardly be the fault of the team manager!

Birmingham's difficulties in assembling a more competitive team have been well documented since the start of the season, as have been the difficulties in persuading foreign riders to join the club. The signings of Milik and of Pawlicki have not been as successful as was hoped, and Freddie Lindgren, although still a very good rider, is taking a little time to re-adjust to racing on British tracks after his lengthy absence, so in my opinion, the Team Manager continues to have rather limited options in his job, and doesn't deserve the constant criticism he receives.

Fair comment and opinions are always welcome on this site, but it seems to me that there are too many posters from distant parts who are making up their own opinions based on heresay or guesswork, and others who just can't seem to wait for their chance to put the boot in against a club and it's enthusiastic management, which is battling for its survival under difficult circumstances not all of which are of their own making.

 

[IainB]

30 minutes ago, brianbuck said:

Regrading and re-watering of the track is usually conducted after heats 4, 8 and 12 as is the case at most other tracks. On this last Monday, the first re-grade was delayed due to the first heat being restarted twice, heat three being similarly re-started, and a further delay when a rider was excluded for failing to make the two minutes deadline and some confusion when he wasn't aware that he had been excluded.

4, 7 & 11?... Why wasn't the track watered after every race though on what was an exceptional night weather wise? All it would take is 1 lap of watering after every race, it would take around 1 minute. Why leave it 40 minutes until the first watering and then only water the outside of the track which wasn't where the dust was coming from or where the riders were riding... and this is not just unique to Birmingham although it does seem to be a regular occurrence there. 

Edited August 15 by iainb

[stevebrum]

On 8/13/2024 at 4:41 PM, Arch Stanton said:

He scored 7 from 5 rides including two duck eggs around the NSS a couple of weeks back. He looked far quicker there in the Speedway of Nations though so you have to ask the question, how much is he putting in to the league meetings for Birmingham? He now has an actual average of 7 and a half, pretty poor for a rider of his quality. 

Or makes him as poor as Laguta? 
tbh any rider coming to the UK for the first time or mid way thru a season (even if they have been here before) is going to take time to adjust.

Freddie is no different. Emil of course is an exemption to that rule plus Freddie was in the top 2 averages virtually every year he rode for wolves as number 1. 

[IainB]

32 minutes ago, stevebrum said:

Freddie was in the top 2 averages virtually every year he rode for wolves as number 1. 

Except 2015 & 2016 when he was averaging pretty much what he is now,  he had a decent 2017 then cleared off 

[stevebrum]

15 hours ago, iainb said:

Except 2015 & 2016 when he was averaging pretty much what he is now,  he had a decent 2017 then cleared off 

Not forgotten all the seasons prior to that when he virtually topped the averages every season.

[Pauldoveyspeedway]

On 8/16/2024 at 8:49 AM, stevebrum said:

Or makes him as poor as Laguta? 
tbh any rider coming to the UK for the first time or mid way thru a season (even if they have been here before) is going to take time to adjust.

Freddie is no different. Emil of course is an exemption to that rule plus Freddie was in the top 2 averages virtually every year he rode for wolves as number 1. 

Freddie is still a class rider...

[stevebrum]

On 8/18/2024 at 2:46 PM, Pauldoveyspeedway said:

Freddie is still a class rider...

One of the world’s best riders at that.