Leaderboard

First this season perhaps but nothing new in the grand scheme of the last couple of years as fans of Rye House and Glasgow will tell you. The irony of your post is that your top three are probably one of the strongest in the league on paper as well. Offered Schlein, Harris and Covatti or Kennett, Lawson and Kerr I reckon you’d have a near 50-50 split on the trio fans would take. Eastbourne have a longer tail than yours but their home track advantage negates that in the case of Saturday’s meeting. If you thought Atkins and Rowe should have been getting anything out of Brennan and Wood round Arlington then you’ve not done your homework.

Good as neither are of the standard required to do that - Buster totally messed up our team that looked so promising in the winter so he will have to be prepared to take the financial hit for his decisions when things go pear-shaped. As my parents always taught me - to every action there are consequences!

Phillips is just not upto it full stop he averaged less than a point last season and hasn’t improved in a weaker league. Pretty sure George knows it but daddy’s money buys him a place.

First meeting. A point away with 3 riders not firing. I will take that.

To say I’m shocked you’ve commented would be an understatement. Who was it last season.....that’s it, the whole team should have been axed according to you.

Of course we have the ability to order cold weather just for you. A really good competitive meeting, with the end result that we wanted and needed. As I said about our meeting last week, the defeats have not really been about the lower order but down to the three heatleaders. The good thing is a HL is much more likely to return to form than a second string, and they all proved that in meetings riding for their Premier League teams last week. The track was odd with dirt moving off the normal lines, and us having to cover the bald patches especially on the 4th bend. Usually the right lines are where the dirt is, and that is usually around the outside, but Danny King in the 5th heat cut back to a tight inside line and was about 5 yards clear in one corner from former leader Lasse. Some really good riding and passes, and Sheffield put up a good show, especially Danny K and Broc Nicol. Was getting rather tight nearing the end, but that all changed with the DIamonds getting 4 5-1's to Sheffields one 5-1. As expected the riders that lost it for Sheffield were the enigmas Proctor and Howarth. Proctor even shut off before the line in heat 14, meaning Matty, pushing him hard, pipped him on the line. Howarth gave it a go early one, but 2 lasts in his final races says something. He used his head last night and was a better rider for it, but. Obviously it was cold again, but I would say to those that gave this meeting a miss, they missed a treat. It's a great sport in any weather, and with warmer weather forecast for the near future, why would you want to miss out on meetings like last night, with some great races and sterling performance epitomised by the efforts and results of Max Clegg. He's looking like a very good replacement for Ash, who I personally would have had back. The heatleaders are back, we are winning and we are top of the League. What more do you want.

You’ll see jack riding no.8 all season I’d expect unless for injuries. It’s quite farcical as I understand it - can only have 3 foreign riders from your squad declared in the 1-7 for any given match but can have a 4th foreigner as no.8 - so Toruń use Doyle, c.holder and iversen, they then declare a junior polish squad member in the team at say no.4 but don’t have to ensure he has 3 rides or anything so then just put jack in wherever they feel like! I think they can even declare a polish rider in the team as r/r and then have foreigner at no.8! Seems barmy to me! Yet polish league is supposedly the promised land!

Take a bow Max Clegg, awesome tonight!! Great to see Diamonds back to winning ways

Would recommend watching the whole match - if not watch heat 7 at 43 mins. it does not disappoint

Thanks LC. Signed Jesper, Nicki, Bjarne and KB, and ran my free training school for 10 years now that has produced all the Gems team, including Archie Freeman 150cc British Champion and both 125 and 500 NJL champions last year. Brought Newcastle back in 1997, and some unpopular cretin says "I destroyed Newcastle Speedway." NURSE NURSE

If you read the report it tells you that they think there has been a mistake... which is not unknown... HMRC chased us for what they said was a £34 and coppers underpayment... they got really nasty then realised it was their mistake and sent us a cheque for 800 quid not a word about the balls up they made and no apology either but they threatened to close the business if they didn't get what they said they were owed... and they were going to charge a daily interest payment on the £34 until us bad people paid their dues to the state.... total shower who are never wrong... until you prove otherwise then its oops... Grrrrr.... Regards THJ

this seems like a thread which needs strangling at birth. It hasn't started well. BTW i disagree politically with Tsunami and TWK usually but I have never felt the need to be so rude, despite the fact that one is a Geordie and the other a Mackem and both are exiters.

I've had my run-ins with Tsunami on the political threads, but you can't question his speedway credentials. Involved in one of the most successful spells of Newcastle Speedway and then running some invaluable training schools.

In the pantheon of ignorant a##eholes on this Forum - you must be top.

Doyle, Batchelor, Musielak, Ellis & Lampart will comfortably outscore Masters, Schlein, Nicholls, Howarth & A.Morris

Says the guy who is the biggest BSF a##hole.

Not my favourite track but some decent races, did I mention it was cold. A few freindly faces, Tero, auntie Sue, Thj and the odd Comets fan.

SomersetBlue albeit a passionate Somerset fan, has a tendency to be very biased. I myself thought Somerset had one of the best heat leader trios in the league but as has been said Harris will throw in plenty of duff ones and with Covatti missing, it decimates the whole team. It amazes me people keep talking about Somerset as being 'up there' and 'one of the favourites'. This has to be worst Somerset team assembled for many a year. Probably the worst since we ended up with Lubos Tomicek at number 1!

Prob at 7,40 announce a 3 point mdl guest

Apparently Newcastle’s odds of winning the title have just gone from 500-1 to 499-1. Always good to see a written off underdog doing well, whether it be the team or Max Clegg.

Just been looking at this and a good link posted by Steve Park and unfortunately it does not look good at all for the Comets An Insolvency Services Company from Birkenhead have been appointed to wind up LJM Asset Management Ltd however I am not sure where the £300k figure of debt owed to HMRC comes from but it does have implications with regard to the Speedway. No doubt this story will grow and rumble on however it made the move to put the "licence on ice" for a year and not to run an astute one as it would have resulted in the collapse of the club right at the start of the season... Very sad situation Regards THJ

The thing is under Ged you always felt he had one eye on strengthening up whenever possible and he was never afraid to make changes. Under Buster? Who knows!

Strikes me as if they're waiting for team changes elsewhere. Most likely Nicholls or Thorsell.

What fun! Stan Burza still riding & coming 3rd in 1st round Hungarian Chanps (1st Pepe Franc!!).

And with the reds just been relegated this weekend,and town hardly endearing themselves in a piss poor league, the future of the new stadium looks even brighter,get the shades out

Perfect choice then - he can shove his words right up his @£$€

One race win at Cardiff 12 years ago seem to have given Harris an aura that quite a few people can’t look past. He’s a very inconsistent rider and only going in one direction. He hasn’t helped himself in my book by becoming a member of the club within the sport who label fans with opinions they don’t like online as “keyboard warriors.” So unprofessional. Get on with your job that we pay you to do. Give me Scott Nicholls any day. When we had both men at Rye Scott was just as entertaining when behind, he just didn’t find himself in that position as often as Harris. Five years down the line if both are still riding then I’d imagine Nicholls will be at a similar level to where he is now, Harris will probably be a five point man or taking pocket money from kids in the NL.

That's handy. I started in Lynchwood on April 1st and do get a bit stuck sometimes for lunch. Where is your McDonalds?

So here we are again. Another season of whingy, whiny Swindon fans and the same old Reading fan calling for team changes after one match. What a surprise. Losing by 2 at Wolves is a disappointment, but hardly a bad result for a season opener. Swindon haven't even had a practice yet. Yes, the botttom end didn't score many, but that is how the side is put together. It's always going to be the top 4 scoring nearly all the points, especially away from home. Nine from Jason could have been more, perhaps, but he was paid for 11 and it included a 15m handicap for tape touching. Could Jason still have gone in heat 15 I wonder. His big race mentality might have got us a draw? Hard to judge without being there.

Ha ha ha hes your signing of the season.Oh and you were going win comfortably please engage brain next time before making childish predictions.

Not comfortably outscore at all. Wrong as per usual. Good call! No surprise at the result, Robins one of the strongest sides on paper this year. Good to see Becker being a match winner so early in his career. A win is a win.

Another weird decision giving Barker 4 rides tonight. Why not put Summers in, not like he had back to back rides.

I can't believe the other night when we were talking about this I somehow forgot about Scunthorpe. I was reminded in no uncertain terms yesterday

Only by Edinburgh and a few of there “supporters”.

Very very sad indeed. The more info that is slowly appearing on here, (and elsewhere), regarding the Comets demise, continues to make me amazed that the 2019 season ever got any consideration at all. For example - the pitch renovations making the speedway track unavailable, the businessman who 'turned turtle', now it's a huge debt seemingly (?) owed the HMRC . Regarding the latter, there is post on the Town RL forum - from a Gentleman- who claims the promoters owed "businesses and riders"..........as Lewis Carroll wrote 'it just gets curiouser and curiouser'!!!!

Well we are top of the league now and at least for the next two weeks!!!

Still think we'll finish ahead of Lynnand Ipswich

Just looked it Baggy. Ronni did ride one meeting for us in 2002. You are correct it was 2001 he rode. Did 10 meets. The rider i think you couldn’t remember was Jernej Kolenko. Wasnt the best season, summed up with Fast Freddie Eriksson ending up 3rd in the averages on 6.33 Kugelmann rode in 01 (1.83 average) not 02

The problem is for the Nice Polska teams this season is that the best youngsters in the league in 2018 have been snapped up by the Extraleague teams and the clubs are having to start again. The thing in these youngsters favour is that the Polish u21 system is the best in the world with plenty of team competitions aside from their league outings.

Absolutely 100% true.

He isn’t a heat leader anymore according to Bluster

greyhounds, a couple of facts. Kent applied for planning permission to race on a Saturday ( that would allow them to enter the CL) This was rejected by the local council. Kent appealed the planning decision, this was again rejected . that is the fact of the matter of Kent remaining in the NL. It angers me that Football clubs are allowed to build a monstrous football stadia in London with no parking facilities, a bunch of football hooligans who rampage around the streets every Saturday - and yet Speedway with its modest crowd levels of well behaved supporters and family atmosphere are refused planning at every opportunity by a very small minority of “NIMBY” neighbours. Sadly I witnessed similar Issues at my local track Canterbury, where the local residents seemed happier listening to barking Greyhounds 24/7 in their kennels than the noise of a speedway meeting for 2 hours per week. Strange country we live in nowadays ?

The frustration will only grow as the season progresses. Last year he became harder to replace as each month passed as his average kept dropping. You also have to factor when the grasstrack season starts and another shot at the GP qualifiers for the unreliable (or poorly prepped) equipment issues to start. His average is what it is for a reason. If last season is anything to go by, his Championship club will get the least effort, infuriating the life out of you when you see him on BT Sport a couple of days later performing heroics for his PL team.

I think that merely serves to show just how difficult it will be for him to get a top flight place here - injury seems the only way to me, and even then I suspect other options will be considered first. I'm a Cook fan - and he's anything but an average rider - but he was stupid with Peterborough. True, he had a point. But in sticking to it he halved his speedway earnings overnight and massively lost out as a result. Instead of thinking it through he behaved petulantly and he will be counting the cost all season. I really don't know where he goes from here but suggestions that he shuts his mouth and just gets on with it seem pretty good advice to me.

have a feeling it will be very well supported not necessarily because everyone is a middlo fan but think it will be a high class field with some of our favourite riders returning for a one off spin,eg love to see magic again,even nikki p would be agreat draw! (hope they dont go silly and charge 20 quid or more,perhaps under 16s free!!)

Just had the P&P video pop on on my Youtube suggestions Great piece - fantastic season scene setter Yet again showing others the way

Young Kyle was hugely impressive tonight, he commented in the programme how grateful he was on Workington sticking by him and how much it helped his confidence. Seems a very level headed young man and looking forward in watching him progress further with us this season.

Your missing what im saying. Im not picking out exact figures of what crowds Man Utd get and Wolves get. What im saying is that a top supported club be it in football or speedway can lose a number of fans who stop watching and still get more than a lesser supported team but its the percentage of people. In my analogy (forget the numbers) Man Utd 80000 fans....drops to 60000....a drop of 25% Wolves 40000 fans .....drops to 35000.....a drop of 12.5% Man Utd still get more fans. The point i am making here is Poole are probably the best supported team in the land. But if they get gates of 2000 and drop to 1500 then their fans are more fickle then a club who gets 1400 that drop to 1200

Add in the dubious secret ruling of only 1 rider per NL team who has a Champ level average of 4.00+ (or has achieved that at some point in the past) which i think all barring Belle Vue have already included its a very small window of opportunity for List. But things do happen and a club may be desperate for a long term replacement for a heat leader but with guests available for number 1's its a long shot during the season.

Possibly both