heathen76

Jake & Micky dont go home till the 3rd November. I can only presume they have been allowed to start sending kit back for a busy winter schedule back home following the Heathens exit from major competitions.

I would doubt it as Tom is only just turned 17 now.

Nothing wrong with Richards home form; 8.57, or 7.81 ex BPs (not quite up to date but a fair indication) away from home its apparent things aren't going too well, but following a nasty spill at kings Lynn, and a switch to reserve, im sure things will improve. Another spirited fightback, and now (aside from the IOW re staging) a run of home fixtures to end the regular season, everything from the teams performances, to the levels of support on the terraces both home and away has exceeded expectations so far,and then some! long may it continue

Congrats to Brendan, rode for us in a 2nd half at Newport last year shortly before his accident, and left a big impression on the Cradley fans with his attitude, enthusiasm, & genuine talent- great to see the lad beginning to fulfill his obvious ability- just dont score too many against the Heathens please!!

Taken from the Swindon official website; SWINDON emerged triumphant from an incident-packed and thoroughly entertaining Four-Team Tournament at the Abbey Stadium. Leigh Adams led the way with a 12-point maximum as the Robins accumulated 32 points. Meanwhile, Cradley Heath were second on 29, Oxford third on 20 and Reading just behind in fourth position on 19. SWINDON Leigh Adams © 3 3 3 3 - - - 12 Simon Stead 2 3 2 1 - - - 8 Mads Korneliussen 2 2 1 3 - - - 8 Morten Risager 3 0 0 1 - - - 4 Team manager: Alun Rossiter CRADLEY HEATH Hans Andersen 2 3 3 2 - - - 10 Adam Shields © 3 3 2 3 - - - 11 Cameron Woodward 1 1 0 3 - - - 5 Cory Gathercole 0 1 1 1 - - - 3 Team manager: Colin Pratt OXFORD Troy Batchelor 3 2 3 0 - - - 8 Lewis Bridger 2 1 4 0 - - - 7 Steve Johnston © 1 2 0 0 - - - 3 Paul Hurry 1 D 1 R - - - 2 Team manager: Richard Palmer READING Matej Zagar M 4 3 1 - - - 8 Patrick Hougaard D 0 2 2 - - - 4 Travis McGowan 1 0 D 2 - - - 3 Mark Lemon © 0 1 1 2 - - - 4 Richard Sweetman (Res) 0 - - - - - - 0 Team manager: Tim Sugar Referee: Graham Reeve Ht 1: (Re-Run) Risager, Andersen, Hurry, Hougaard (f, disq), 66.46 Ht 2: Shields, Korneliussen, Johnston, Sweetman, Zagar (ex, 2 mins), 65.39 Ht 3: Batchelor, Stead, McGowan, Gathercole, 65.58 Ht 4: Adams, Bridger, Woodward, Lemon, 65.02 Ht 5: Shields, Batchelor, Lemon, Risager, 65.86 Ht 6: Andersen, Korneliussen, Bridger, McGowan, 66.15 Ht 7: (Re-Run) Stead, Zagar (TR), Woodward, Hurry (f, disq), 66.08 Ht 8: Adams, Johnston, Gathercole, Hougaard, 66.15 Ht 9: Zagar, Bridger (TR), Gathercole, Risager, 66.67 Ht 10: Batchelor, Hougaard, Korneliussen, Woodward, 66.33 Ht 11: (Re-Run) Andersen, Stead, Lemon, Johnston, 66.52 Ht 12: (Awarded) Adams, Shields, Hurry, McGowan (f, disq), No Time Ht 13: Korneliussen, Lemon, Gathercole, Hurry (ret), 66.83 Ht 14: Woodward, McGowan, Risager, Johnston, 67.08 Ht 15: Shields, Hougaard, Stead, Bridger, 67.02 Ht 16: Adams, Andersen, Zagar, Batchelor, 66.58 Programme changes: Ht 2: Sweetman replaced Zagar; Ht 7: TR Zagar (Double points); Ht 9: TR Bridger (Double points). THIS HIGHLY anticipated encounter saw supporters from all four clubs descend on the Abbey Stadium. A fantastic atmosphere was present throughout and with the terraces bursting with colour, an array of competitive on track action certainly made the event one to savour. The Swindon quartet set the pace from the outset and Alun Rossiter's side demonstrated plenty of strength in depth during the sixteen heat formula. An immaculate twelve point haul from Leigh Adams headed the Robins' score-chart. The Australian stalwart rode with conviction throughout and received solid support from Simon Stead and Mads Korneliussen who both notched eight point hauls. The Cradley Heathens certainly showed bundles of tenacity right from the get go. Indeed, the Colin Pratt managed side took the meeting to a last heat decider and provided the large scale Heathens' travelling support with a performance to be proud of. A combined twenty-one point score from the Adam Shields and Hans Andersen combination kept Cradley in contention throughout. The duo dropped just three points between them and showed eye-catching speed from the outset. Oxford’s charge was fronted by the youthful combination of Troy Batchelor and Lewis Bridger. The Cheetahs’ made a decent start to proceedings but faded in the middle to latter section of the meeting. Paul Hurry endured a luckless evening, the Swindon reserve fell in his second outing and then was plagued by mechanical gremlins in his fourth. The Ideal Video Reading Racers’ evening got underway in unfortunate fashion with falls for Patrick Hougaard in the opening followed by a two minute exclusion for Matej Zagar in the ensuing heats. Things did improve for the Berkshire side as the meeting shuffled past the half way stage. Indeed, the Tim Sugar managed side were close to catching Oxford in the closing stages with their score-chart headed by an eight point return from Matej Zagar. Thanks to everybody for taking the time & trouble this evening-a great night,& a great show of support from our lot in particular,if only 3 !! races hadnt have been stopped when we were leading (and predictably didnt win the re-run) who knows we may even have won it!. Most importantly Patch, & everyone at Swindon were delighted with the turnout from supporters of all four clubs, and next year it will hopefully run on a sunday! Trouble is of course, we want it every week OMMER UM.

Great Line up, really looking forward to seeing Hans (he will think he"s Erik!) Adam & Darcy in Heathens race jackets! We also have our (HSSC) academy team out following the Covenrty V Wolves fixture this coming Thursday (sept 10th) Lining up against the Cov youngsters will be Paul Starke, Chris Widman, Simon Lambert, & Nick Morris Issue 3 of the HSSC fanzine is also available to download at the following link; http://www.datafilehost.com/download-6918e4f6.html No Ads or spyware, although the download (as a PDF) does take a short while as its nearly 4mb Seeya all on the 10th, & 17th!

An encouraging amount of interest down Cradley way regarding next thursday- very hopeful of a large turnout, although many have obviously had to book time off work etc in order to attend. The line ups seem well matched, & I believe Gary P will be announcing Adams replacement very shortly (best wishes to Adam for a speedy recovery from all) If the rider suggested accepts the invitation, I dont think you will hear any Heathens fans complaining! The local press will also be advertising the event from the weekend onwards, & there was lots of enquires at last saturdays Old Hill festival, (thats an even smaller town next door to Cradley Heath BTW- but the event was very well attended). Cant Wait!

Pleased to say that events are causing significant interest from the Cradley perpective,whilst its going to be difficult to organise mass support, given that most folk work till 4.30pm in local industry,& will need to use holiday entitelment etc, initial enquiries would suggest a fair dose of the famous black country accent round Swindon way come the day!. The major local newspaper,(express & star) & BBC radio WM are also prepared to assist,although we have them concentrating on next wednesdays junior 2nd half at Brum for now!, with the "Biggie" at Swindon (the first time the Heathens have competed in a full meeting for a decade) to follow. HSSC also have a social evening with Nigel Pearson on Thursday 28th May, at the new Liberal Club in Cradley heath High St, admission free for members, & just £1 for non members. Many thanks to Gary for what should turn out to be a very well attended, and popular event, highlighting the current & unnaceptable position of three of British Speedways most successful & well supported teams.

Video from Billy's Farewell Party: Billy & Sam Ermolenko discuss the Cradley-Wolves rivalry. Without doubt the best reception Sam has ever had in Cradley , Roll On Sunday!!

Taken from the Cradley website; 20/03/09 Billy says farewell to the Heathens Supporters in style Billy Hamill said farewell to the Heathens Supporters at a wonderful party at Cradley Heath Liberal Club last night 19th March, he was quite emotional when he saw the room packed with around 200 fans who had all come to party with him before he hangs up his Kevlar's and returns to the USA. Billy arrived in style in a stretched limousine driven by former team mate Mark Robinson and was followed by a number of his friends who had arrived earlier in the day from California. Well presented by Andy McCarter's disco and a backdrop of Andy Hale's fantastic collection of race jackets and Bruce Penhall's bike. Full credit for such a fantastic night must go to the new Heathens Speedway Supporters Club for all the hard work they had done to make this such a special party for Billy, so thanks to Simon, Paul, Andy and Will for such a memorable evening. Billy called Sam Ermolenko up to the stage to join him and told some great stories about the rivalry between Cradley and Wolves, both are looking forward to clashing on-track this Sunday March 22nd for his Farewell Meeting. He also introduced the young lads starting their careers on British tracks just as he did back in 1990, Ricky Wells and Chris Kerr both had a chance to talk to the fans on mic. At the other end of the scale Colin Pratt told of when he bought Billy over as an 18 year old with his buddy Greg Hancock. Lots of goodies for sale from Dave Rattenbury and the HSSC, pork sarnies again, and great so meet up with some of the Heathens fans who came out specially to say farewell to a truly great Heathen, BILLY HAMILL.

In all seriousness, lets hope lots of fans from Cradley, Coventry, Wolves, & British Speedway in general, all turn out to wish Billy a richly deserved send off. As far as resuming the old banter for the day is concerned, however,we nearly always used to drown out the Wolves fans to the best I can recall,but then looking back at the Dudley Wolves trophy results from the late seventies onward, thats probably not suprising! Should be a great weekend,& good to see such a strong line up turning out.

THERE WILL BE !!!! A quick reminder also for anyone wishing to attend Billys party, on the 19th, at Cradley Heath Liberal club, that tickets, unsuprisingly, are going fast.

yep- Billy suffered a severe case of premature celebratis,& cost us the match!-we quickly forgave him however given the almost routine nature of 5-1 returns when most needed. Really looking forward to this meeting,& HSSC (Heathens Speedway Supporters Club) will certainly be looking to help Billy promote the event to all Heathens fans throughout the black country, where he feels most at home. From a rookie (in british speedway terms at least) to world champion,( in our final year at Loomer Rd)-a Cradley legend,-but for once we will ignore local rivalries to join with Coventry fans ,& even supporters from "that lot north of Bilston" to salute a rider that has always entertained & demonstrated an all too rare(particularly looking at this years probable team line-ups) loyalty to British speedway.

Billy Hamill has also announced his retirement, & will be holding a farewell meeting at monmore it seems