Dudley Versus Rye House

[greyhoundp 990]

anyone doing updates, now i never did updates before,but i can phone the heat winners through after every race if anyone is interested..

Edited August 16, 2010 by greyhoundp

[willp 0]

c/o www.dudleyspeedway.com

 

NATIONAL League Speedway play-off hopefuls Dudley Heathens continue their exciting season of racing when they face Rye House at Wolverhampton's Monmore Green on Tuesday (7.30).

 

The Heathens, back on track after a 14-year absence carrying the famous old Cradley Heath identity, have been one of the success stories of the sport, both on and off the track, this year.

 

Another bumper crowd is expected to pack the Monmore terraces as excited Heathens fans back their young team against an impressive Rye House outfit.

 

Heathens are currently third in the table, they're in the semi-finals of the Knockout Cup and are on the verge of booking their place in the top four and a shot at the league title.

 

Boss Will Pottinger said: "Everything is positive right now but we have to take one meeting at a time, I know that sounds boring but you won't be finding any complacency in me or my riders.

 

"We are at a vital stage in the season and we need to keep focussed. We will treat Rye House with respect and hope we can win by more than six points to give us all three points on offer."

 

New signing Barrie Evans, in for the injured Jon Armstrong, makes his home debut for the Heathens who are unchanged from the side which picked up a bonus point at Poole against Bournemouth last Wednesday.

 

DUDLEY: Lee Smart, Micky Dyer, Tom Perry, Jake Anderson, Barrie Evans, Ashley Morris, Richard Franklin.

 

RYE HOUSE: Kyle Hughes, Marc Owen R/R, David Mason, Joe Jacobs, Lee Strudwick, Tom Stokes, Shane Hazelden.

[BossMan 8]

DUDLEY: Lee Smart, Micky Dyer, Tom Perry, Jake Anderson, Barrie Evans, Ashley Morris, Richard Franklin.

 

RYE HOUSE: Kyle Hughes, Marc Owen R/R, David Mason, Joe Jacobs, Lee Strudwick, Tom Stokes, Shane Hazelden.

 

 

Should be an easy win for Dudley

 

Not sure if Joe Jacobs is fit to ride ?

[Alan_Jones 1,005]

Not sure if Joe Jacobs is fit to ride ?

Joe won't be riding but Ricky Scarboro will.

[willp 0]

c/o www.dudleyspeedway.com

 

DUDLEY Heathens can go joint top of Speedway's National League with a win over Rye House at Wolverhampton tonight (7.30).

 

And the former Cradley club will have the support of a club legend with the appearance of Dave Perks, who made almost 200 appearances for the old Dudley Wood club.

 

It's the first time Dave, who is based in the area, has had chance to see the new Heathens team in action and he will be available to sign autographs during the interval. There's a full colour double-page spread on Perks in tonight's programme which he is happy to sign.

 

Heathens boss Will Pottinger said: "Everyone has told me what a determined rider Dave was and he's delighted to come along and support our team."

 

Perks rode in 196 Heathens meetings, including their time known as Cradley United, between 1972-1981 and scored over 800 points for the club.

 

Heathens hand a home debut to Barrie Evans who is in for the injured Jon Armstrong and Rye House are without Joe Jacobs and Shane Hazelden through injury. They're replaced by Ricky Scarboro and Ashley Birks.

 

Another bumper crowd is expected with Heathens looking to continue their fairytale return to the sport after a 14-year absence

 

DUDLEY: Lee Smart, Micky Dyer, Tom Perry, Jake Anderson, Barrie Evans, Ashley Morris, Richard Franklin.

 

RYE HOUSE: Kyle Hughes, Marc Owen R/R, David Mason, Ricky Scarboro, Lee Strudwick, Tom Stokes, Ashley Birks.

[21st century heathen 220]

Shame about the injuries but a chance to see Birks softens the blow a bit. All three points and no silly slip-ups required for the Heathens after seeing Newport and Buxton do the business in their meetings. 65-25 would put us top (I think) but I'll take anything that gives us all the points.

[waco 1,026]

Good win for the Heathens .But this Cobras side has been decimated by injurys and i fear without the return of key riders we will struggle to make the play offs... Ive no doubt the riders all did their best on the night but in all honesty we never had a chance of winning...

[Fourentee 987]

Decimated (the loss of one in ten) might not have been too bad. Three-sevenths-ated with Owen, Jacobs and Hazelden all on the sidelines was another matter entirely.

Dudley did what they had to do, and did it very well. Hell, they were even making starts! But Hughes apart the Cobras inevitably found it very tough going. Very impressed that a smattering of visiting fans made it up for a midweek match to support an injury-raddled team.

[Ben91 1,743]

To describe the result last night, in the words of David Brent: "I think there's been a rape up there!"

[waco 1,026]

Decimated (the loss of one in ten) might not have been too bad. Three-sevenths-ated with Owen, Jacobs and Hazelden all on the sidelines was another matter entirely.

Dudley did what they had to do, and did it very well. Hell, they were even making starts! But Hughes apart the Cobras inevitably found it very tough going. Very impressed that a smattering of visiting fans made it up for a midweek match to support an injury-raddled team.(end quote).......

 

It is even worse than that you can add Jaimie Smith (knee) and Ben Morley (broken ankle) to that list..

[21st century heathen 220]

WOW!! I know that Rye were significantly weakened but I was only joking when I mentioned the sort of score line required to go top. I genuinely didn't expect such a big score. All the lads were in great form and all clicked on the same night. We have a very solid looking line-up and they all delivered a top performance. In that form we'd have beaten anybody so hopefully the Rye lads put it down to experience and don't let it affect them ahead of the next meeting.

 

Smart - In complete cruise control most of the night. Had to turn it on at the last to pass Hughes and was forced to work all the way to the line to stay ahead. Good to see him looking out for Dyer. What I particularly liked was that he wasn't interested in the individual glory of heat wins and backed right off to allow Dyer to lead their first two races together. He allowed Dyer the whole track and just covered him from behind which is smart (forgive the pun) riding with an inexperienced team mate when you're not under a great deal of pressure. He left Dyer in heat 10 but the Aussie was well clear in 2nd and under no pressure anyway.

 

Dyer - Good gating generally (missed one by about a week and a half though ) and looked smooth, comfortable and quick. He's improving quickly and looks like another young Aussie to look out for in a few years time. He's got a great style when he's really on it as well. He deserved heat 15 but it was a shame in the end that he didn't 'bank' the first maximum in British Speedway.

 

Perry - Pah! Gating tart. It's not often 'Fred' can't pick them off when he makes a poor start but we saw it once last night. He slipped up in his second when an okayish start left him boxed in for a lap and stuck at the back. Ironically a really bad start would have probably resulted in more options on the first lap, but that happens. He was all over Mason like a cheap set of kevlars for the full four laps but missed out by half a bike length on the line. His gating in his other riders was better than his average and if/when he finds the key to more consistent starting he's going to become an even greater threat, even away from home. He looked very comfortable and quick in his three winning rides.

 

Andersen - His best home performance for a good while. He didn't look as quick as the rest of the top five but made good starts and managed to string together a lot of laps without any mistakes. He even made Hughes work extremely hard for a rare away heat win. What I was really happy with, despite the fact that Hughes got him in the end, was that he didn't let the extreme pressure force him into a mistake. That's important from Jake. Don't give them anything easy. Make them do it the hard way and if they pass you then take the points and don't fall or make a big mistake that puts you at the back.

 

Evans - Terrific start at home for him and he looked determined to put last Wed behind him. There's nothing to complain about if he is only dropping the odd point to the visitors number 1 (would have been 2 points dropped if Hughes hadn't fallen in heat 13). And he had the balls to face the fans in an after meeting interview and apologised to the travelling support for his poor score at Poole. It's extremely rare you'll hear a rider come out and make an honest apology like that. Top marks and a it was well appreciated by the crowd.

 

Morris - Great night for Ash. Top and tailed his night with very easy wins looking quick and comfortable while leading. Challenged for 2nd in his second outing having come through to 3rd. Great effort in that ride. Almost overdid the effort and came close to blowing it but recovered well to take the odd point. Solid third in his third ride to. Scored in every ride which should give him increasing confidence that despite dropping to reserve he can get on terms with the middle order riders.

 

Franklin - Similarly Rich had a great night. Coming through a couple of times as required but made much better starts in a couple of rides which was good to see. Very solid night for Rich and just dropped a point to Hughes, who he actually led briefly.

 

For the visitors Hughes obviously led the scorers but didn't help himself or the team by falling twice. I'm not sure there was more than a point in it for him in heat 1 but he had two points in the bag in heat 13 so at least 3 points slipped away there. That apart he looked quick at times and kept the Heathens on their toes, and ruined a handful of maximum hopes while he was at it. Mason was the best of the rest as he took a point away from both Perry and Mason. None of the others were able to take any points from the Heathens and rarely did it look as though they had anything like that pace required to challenge. On a positive note I would generalise that the Rye lads rode the track ok and weren't all over the place falling in every other heat.

[heathen79 6]

Just wondering about the guest rule in relation to this match. I understood that guests were only allowed for your Number 1 rider, but Rye House called up both Ricky Scarboro and Ashley Birks last night.

 

My presumption is that this was allowed because Ricky Scarboro is officially unattached now and that Ashley Birks is only named as Number 8 for Scunthorpe??

 

As for the match, what an awesome performance by the Heathens. Not the greatest entertainment in terms of racing as we were just so dominant, but worth it to get the confidence boost and go top of the league.

 

The rider interviews straight after the match are a great idea and I'm delighted more and more people seem to stay to listen. Huge credit to Barrie Evans for his words and an immediate round of applause from the fans to show their understanding. The team spirit amongst those guys just seems to be fantastic.

 

I have to admit I wasn't sure whether Lee Smart could be an out and out number one for us, but considering he was left on the shelf without a team place anywhere in the winter, he has surpassed all expectations. Not only a genuine Number One, but showing his worth in the Premier League too. And on top of that, he's riding intelligently, he is team-riding brilliantly and he appears to be a very good captain too with his words after the matches recently.

 

Time to barrage Dudley Council with a copy of the current League table Heathens fans!!

[Shadders 4,134]

Just wondering about the guest rule in relation to this match. I understood that guests were only allowed for your Number 1 rider, but Rye House called up both Ricky Scarboro and Ashley Birks last night.

 

My presumption is that this was allowed because Ricky Scarboro is officially unattached now and that Ashley Birks is only named as Number 8 for Scunthorpe??

Scarboro has signed up for the rest of the season.

[*JJ 512]

I have to admit I wasn't sure whether Lee Smart could be an out and out number one for us, but considering he was left on the shelf without a team place anywhere in the winter, he has surpassed all expectations. Not only a genuine Number One, but showing his worth in the Premier League too. And on top of that, he's riding intelligently, he is team-riding brilliantly and he appears to be a very good captain too with his words after the matches recently.

What gave you this idea? Smart is really too good for the National League; but it was obvious (IMO) that he and Ben Taylor were left out of the Brummies team for this year in order that they should make a strong spearhead for the Heathens.

[heathen79 6]

What gave you this idea? Smart is really too good for the National League; but it was obvious (IMO) that he and Ben Taylor were left out of the Brummies team for this year in order that they should make a strong spearhead for the Heathens.

 

No, this was not the case at all and there were other riders in the frame. Everything has clicked into place though and Smarty has been brilliant. Thoroughly deserves his place back in the PL at Stoke.