Banks Olympique 16 Oct

[TMGracing 4]

Sam raced in the US open in New York. He came second to Chris Kerr.

Edited October 17, 2012 by TMGracing

[T.N.T. 355]

Hopefully a no hoper beats Nicholls off a big handicap(30m I think), Wolves will be sure to sign him up in 2013 then

 

I for one would welcome Scott signing for Wolves as he is a 7.5 rider who is always top scorer at Monmore and loves the track. Wolves need to be back to being dominanatat home again if they have plans on being a play off team again and in the last two or three seasons there has been alot of close results and points dropped.

 

 

 

I thought Michelsen was supposed to be riding in this?

 

Michelsen was injured in the last round of the World U21's and Oskar Fajfer was drafted in to replace him.

 

 

 

Crowd was decent.. but quiet.

 

the rostrum placings were somehwat tarnished by the awfulness of the alleged 'worlds best referee' Tony Steele.

Heat 20, Kildemand jumps the start from 20 metres, start marshall raises his red disc to signify it.. Lindgren doesn't race as a result and Steele lets the race continue. Pathetic.

 

I was there for only one reason, to see the great Sudden Sam one more time and he delivered with a Heat 12 victory.

 

 

Freddie didn't have to get a win in heat 20 to secure runners up spot, he only needed second place and could have let Kildemand go clear but he had a few bike problems and wasn't picking up speed so pulled up. ..... Freddie may be more disappointed to have already lost the title.

 

 

As for the crowd, possibly the biggest crowd of the season and for me it was a pretty decent line up even with PK and Kennett being ruled out. Nicholls is a track specialist, King has had decent meetings around Monmore and Kildemand has been one of the leagues most improved riders this year while Ryan Fisher always goes well at Wolves. Add to them the terraces favourite, Adam Skornicki who can beat anyone on his day and home track riders Lindgren, Wells and Klindt and you have quite a few riders that can win races in this.

 

Andrew Tully did himself no harm with some good races ..... couldn't catch a 51 year old but still scoredwell and Kevin Dooan looked better than his average suggests and both were good stand in's at the last minute. Aspgren and Thorssell did ok, picking up the odd point here and there while Tom Perry continues to impress and deserved more. Strong contender to be doubling up in the EL next year but who for ?

 

 

The crowd however was always going to be good with Sam back ob the bike. Maybe a few thought he was going to hit the ground running after his recent rides in New York, but his first two rides were ridden with caution and it looked like the old magic had gone.

 

 

Heat 12 starts and the young Pole spins on turn one and is run into by Tully and Perry ..... hopefully he will be okay. In the rerun, Tully looks to have the better of Sam, but the old boy is back and powers around him leaving turn two. Tully has a few goes to catch him but Sam ges clear and ready to celebrate a race win ...... but runs wide on turn four, clips the fence ..... but hangs on to win.

 

Despite starting 10 yards back and the mistake on the final turn, he still clocks a time of 58.79 ...... Fisher won heat 7 in 58.80 and Heat 13 from the gate, Kildemand wins in 58.22 .. the final five races were all in 59+

 

 

Sam had some fun and that's all it was going to be for him ...... and despite a puncture and a bike problem in his last two, it was great to see the Magic is still there ....... sometimes !!

[BWitcher 12,453]

With regards to Sam, I speculated during the meeting would he have issues with the new silencers, which we know even the top boys took some getting used too. I spoke to him afterwards and he confirmed he was all at sea in his first couple of rides getting used to them as the bike wasn't reacting at all like it normally (or used too) does. In the various exhibition rides he has done he's always rode his old equipment.

 

Add this to the fact it was going to take him some laps to get back into the groove, its no surprise he started slowly.

 

As 21CH says, his body wouldn't hold up to racing every week but he sure enjoyed himself and shows he can still do it. He also made sure he didn't put any other riders or himself at risk, especially in his 2nd ride when he was off the gate. He was holding the lead fine for 2.75 laps then lifted in turns 3/4 (a spot that claimed a few victims).. he held it but lost speed. He let riders through then on his inside rather than race them.

 

Heat 12 was a different story though! Starting alongside Tully and Tom Perry, he swooped around the outside of turn 2 to hit the front. Tully went hard underneath him into turn 3 and appeared he would get him as many expected Sam would let him go by, but he wound it on to power back to the front, before leaning on him into turn 1 and pull away for the win. After the meeting he explained he really wanted to back that up, but away from the start in his next he realised he had a puncture. In his final heat, he was leading for a couple of laps until Scott Nicholls went charging by into turn 3, Nicholls was fairly wide, Sam right by the fence.. Sam took the wisest course of action and shut right off at that point, he had nothing to prove and was no point risking a crazy daredavil move. In doing this it allowed the other 2 riders by.

Edited October 18, 2012 by BWitcher

[21st century heathen 220]

Sam raced in the US open in New York. He came second to Chris Kerr.

 

Who else was in the line-up?

 

...Tom Perry continues to impress and deserved more. Strong contender to be doubling up in the EL next year but who for ?

 

Too early for Tom to DU in the EL. IMO Tom should consider another year NL and DU PL. With a near 10-point average in the NL he would become the out-and-out number 1 which will be a new challenge at that level to help him raise his game again. He's averaged less than 4 in the PL, seemingly finding the pace a bit hot more often than not. I would speculate, having not watched him riding PL, that he's often missing out from the start and is finding the PL boys don't come back to you quite so readily as in the NL. He's made huge strides in just 3 seasons on shale but let's not expect too much too soon. If he can average 10 as a number 1 in the NL next season and can average 6+ in the PL then perhaps it could be a possibility.

 

I do agree with your comment about the crowd. It was certainly up there with the higher attendances of the season. It'll be dwarfed next Tuesday though.

[BWitcher 12,453]

Who else was in the line-up?

 

 

Nobody of real note was in the line-up other than Chris Kerr. The rest were East Coast riders. I believe only a mechanical problem denied Sam 1st place.