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Championship League Riders Championship

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13 hours ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Because he’s not against Tero Aarnio, Kevin Doolan and Nico Covatti in the GP’s.

The same Tero Aarnio who ended up the qualifying heats one point behind Craig Cook and was only eliminated from the semi-finals on count back? No bad for a guy whose season appeared to be over on Thursday night courtesy of Ben Barker...

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14 minutes ago, moomin man 76 said:

The same Tero Aarnio who ended up the qualifying heats one point behind Craig Cook and was only eliminated from the semi-finals on count back? No bad for a guy whose season appeared to be over on Thursday night courtesy of Ben Barker...

Aarnio did well yesterday and had a cracking meeting for the Diamonds at Owlerton a few weeks ago. As for you mentioning Barker how the ref made the decision to exclude Proctor from the re-run of heat 15 was unbelievable, Barker came straight across him coming into the third bend and just took him out! In his first two heats Barker looked like he was riding the Redcar track spare bike, but then in his next three he looked rocket powered, but he was struggling to control the bike and was all over the place! Exiting, but dangerous!

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22 minutes ago, moomin man 76 said:

The same Tero Aarnio who ended up the qualifying heats one point behind Craig Cook and was only eliminated from the semi-finals on count back? No bad for a guy whose season appeared to be over on Thursday night courtesy of Ben Barker...

Exactly, Tero done well, and Craig was struggling against these riders and gave up in one of the races at the back, although did get himself sorted and looked good in semi and final it shows that he is NOT at GP standard, everyone can make the gate once in a while and get a couple points at the level above what you are currently at, which is what Craig is doing in the GP’s.

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first of all , congratulations to cookie on his win . although not totally in agreement of how the qualifiers for this event was worked out . ride 4 meetings and get in . there is something wrong with the governing body of the sport . but fair play to Craig , he was chosen to ride by bigger dogs in the town and done what anyone else would have done . well done marra .

even on Saturday night @ workington , he was still giving help to Kyle Bickley on his starts the night before . you cant knock him for that . A NICE LAD AND VERY GOOD @ WHAT HE DOES .

also well done to ty proctor on getting into the semi. almost there , but not quite . a great effort by ty .

hope the dan bewley fund raising is still kicking on and look forward to seeing him next season . 

double header @ worky on Saturday night , 6.30 start . a good deal on entry for these two meetings . hope to see lots of redcar and newcastle fans down for 30 heats of cracking speedway . 

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Was there myself, it was a good meeting, only thing I have a grudge against is the line up, to be honest  Doolan and Covatti should not have been in the meeting, they are simple not good enough now,  would have preferred Morris and Harris to make it a top field worthy of being called a Riders Championship, poor crowd I thought for the type of meeting it was, the crowd has been bigger in the last few years, but overall it was a good meeting,

As regards Cook's stature of being a Grand Prix Rider, he qualified on merit so should be there, however he has not done himself any favours  in the preparation for the next one on Saturday, rides on Thursday for Belle Vue, then flies out of Heathrow on Friday morning to Vienna, then faces a three hour car journey to the Grand Prix venue, probably misses practice whilst all the other riders are there ready for the meeting on Saturday, preparation I thought was all part of the business.

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2 minutes ago, STEPHEN 333 said:

Was there myself, it was a good meeting, only thing I have a grudge against is the line up, to be honest  Doolan and Covatti should not have been in the meeting, they are simple not good enough now,  would have preferred Morris and Harris to make it a top field worthy of being called a Riders Championship, poor crowd I thought for the type of meeting it was, the crowd has been bigger in the last few years, but overall it was a good meeting,

As regards Cook's stature of being a Grand Prix Rider, he qualified on merit so should be there, however he has not done himself any favours  in the preparation for the next one on Saturday, rides on Thursday for Belle Vue, then flies out of Heathrow on Friday morning to Vienna, then faces a three hour car journey to the Grand Prix venue, probably misses practice whilst all the other riders are there ready for the meeting on Saturday, preparation I thought was all part of the business.

Well Doolan was also there on merit... Berwick’s number 1 at the cut off point. Simple. Covatti is Ipswich’s number 1 fit rider as well due to Schlein and King being injured! 

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6 minutes ago, STEPHEN 333 said:

Was there myself, it was a good meeting, only thing I have a grudge against is the line up, to be honest  Doolan and Covatti should not have been in the meeting, they are simple not good enough now,  would have preferred Morris and Harris to make it a top field worthy of being called a Riders Championship, poor crowd I thought for the type of meeting it was, the crowd has been bigger in the last few years, but overall it was a good meeting,

As regards Cook's stature of being a Grand Prix Rider, he qualified on merit so should be there, however he has not done himself any favours  in the preparation for the next one on Saturday, rides on Thursday for Belle Vue, then flies out of Heathrow on Friday morning to Vienna, then faces a three hour car journey to the Grand Prix venue, probably misses practice whilst all the other riders are there ready for the meeting on Saturday, preparation I thought was all part of the business.

I take it you would rather he didn't ride for belle Vue on Thursday so that he can prepare 'properly' for the Grand prix. 50% or more of the posts on here are about the lack of commitment and loyalty shown by riders to UK teams. yet when a rider tries to treat his team and there fans with respect he still gets slagged of. give me strength.

 

PS well done Cookie and thanks for the way you've performed in Tigers colours

Edited by SharpenRake
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13 hours ago, keepturningleft said:

 

There seemed to be a hell of a sling shot effect coming out of turn 2 on the outside!

Numerous death defying overtakes at that point of the track.

As others have said, that was a superb, and hugely entertaining meeting.

Well done Craig Cook and great to see him jumping the fence and acknowledging the travelling Glasgow fans.

So glad that someone mentioned the "bend 2 sling-shot," which I have made reference to in previous postings. This is a high-speed manoeuvre which involves a death-or-glory drive round the bend 2 air-fence, carrying momentum into the back straight. It is heart-stopping to watch and is invariably a devastating overtaking tactic. The move was perfected three or four years ago by Simon Stead when he was at the height of his pomp around Owlerton. I suspect he taught it to other Sheffield riders because, throughout the 2017 season and the first half of 2018, it was deployed by others, notably Josh Bates, Kyle Howarth and Lasse Bjerre. In 2018 the "sling-shot club" was joined by Charles Wright and latterly Todd Kurtz.

However, for some reason which I cannot explain, the manoeuvre became absent from Sheffield's track-craft half way through the 2018 season and immediately Sheffield went into the pattern of losing matches at home (failing to win any of the final 5 home matches). Maybe it was a result of a slicker track, less dirt or whatever, but the sling-shot manoeuvre was noticeably absent after June.... until yesterday, when it was used to good effect by several riders.

I can't help but believe it was the demise of the sling-shot that led to Sheffield's loss of home form. Faster-gating opponents were able to hang onto their leads in situations where previously the likes of Howarth, Bjerre and Wright would have been past them on the second bend like a rat up a drainpipe. I hope that whatever factors have done away with the sling-shot will be put right before March 2019.

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51 minutes ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Well Doolan was also there on merit... Berwick’s number 1 at the cut off point. Simple. Covatti is Ipswich’s number 1 fit rider as well due to Schlein and King being injured! 

Exactly Doolan Number 1 at the cut off date plus in his defence has not ridden for over 2 weeks due to Berwick completing their home fixtures in good time.

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1 hour ago, jenga said:

 there is something wrong with the governing body of the sport .

That is statement of the century. Only folk that disagree are the BSPA and SCB. The only way British speedway is ever going to move forward is once a totally independent ruling administration is put in place.

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16 minutes ago, cinderfella said:

That is statement of the century. Only folk that disagree are the BSPA and SCB. The only way British speedway is ever going to move forward is once a totally independent ruling administration is put in place.

It's never going to move forward, because there will be no one to watch it. Most people under 40 have zero interest in speedway...

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17 minutes ago, BluPanther said:

It's never going to move forward, because there will be no one to watch it. Most people under 40 have zero interest in speedway...

Can't say that about Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Certainly when you look at what you get for your money now it is poor value. A few years back I took my two sons to the stock car racing at Cowdenbeath and it cost about half the price of going to the speedway cost but there were 20 races generally over twenty laps with car shapes the boys could relate to. You can guess where they wanted to go rather than speedway after that.

And never the likely hood of a rain off due to the tarmac track. They just brushed the water away.

 

 

Edited by cinderfella

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In every one off world final and the majority of GP's throughout history, there have always been riders who have qualified on merit but who realistically had little chance of ever winning.

Craig Cooke is probably a current example of this but it's grossly unfair to keep knocking the man - it looks as if he will be out next year anyway but even so, he has already achieved what most riders never will.

The only difference for people like Cookie and Bomber is that unlike struggling riders in GP's and world finals in the past, the 'ordeal' goes on for 10 or so meetings where as it was over and done with on one night previously.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Steve55 said:

In his first two heats Barker looked like he was riding the Redcar track spare bike

Haha Do any tracks actually have 'track spares' these days? The last time I recall seeing one was at Coatbridge in the mid 70s. Mitch Shirra had to use it but being knee high to a grasshopper he somewhat struggled on a bike that had been obviously set up for taller riders. He had mastered the art of leg trailing by the end of the race though.

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4 hours ago, iainb said:

Remind us... Where did Lambert come in the GP qualifiers?

One point behind Cook. But if people really want to compare the two then league averages would be the only way to do it and that shows a fair old gap across the three main leagues.

Edited by Bagpuss

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