Blackadder

It is all about the power junkies who are pushing for the change. Nothing else.

Tony Steele pushed for the interval to be held early at Sheffield last night due to problems with the setting sun on the third bend. Later on, there was a full moon over the second bend, but as Werewolverhampton weren't riding, there were no issues.

Only 2 Tigers won a heat, 5 for Simon Stead and 1 for Leigh Lanham, and that is not good enough. As Spike Milligan used to say, "what are we going to do now, what are we going to do now". Can't really see anything can be done until next month's green sheets are issued and we know how many points are available. For me, Richard Hall would be a welcome addition for entertainment at Owlerton.

That's what I thought, unless it was a replacement for Ty, who won't be there.

They have new muck now, for the first time in about 3 years, so hopefully the track will improve.

No Josh at Edinburgh tomorrow I believe. A better all round performance from the home Tiggers but I haven't seen times as consistently slow as they were on a day with no rain for some time. Good to see Eric Boocock brought in to help with track preparation; hopefully they will get it right soon.

That is the League Cup, not the K.O. Cup.

According to the web site, he is expected to be fit for Thursday.

Some light reading in the Sheffield Star. Leigh Lanham is set to return to work in the family fish and chip shop because of a shocking series of rained-off meetings for Sheffield. Lanham is a full-time rider but only races for the Tigers with no double-up Elite League club or foreign contract in Sweden or Poland to fall back on. And following the latest Owlerton washout, it means the Suffolk racer has only ridden three meetings in a month, all away from home. Now he’s ready to return to peeling spuds to earn a few pennies before returning to track action against Glasgow at Owlerton next Thursday. He said: “One of the family is on holiday so I’m going into help, but the extra income will be welcome. This is possibly the worst run of rain-offs I’ve known in 20 years. It’s so frustrating. “I feel sorry for the Sheffield management because they are new to it all and must be wondering what they have done to deserve this. We haven’t been able to get going and I suspect we are going to have a fixture backlog. My Dad has had the chip shop for 25 years and I help out occasionally, I worked in there when I was a kid, but I’m back there next week. “And hopefully when I get back racing next week Sheffield can batter the opposition in the bread and butter of league racing! “My wife works which is good, but as a full-time rider if I’m not racing then I’m not earning any money. It’s a nightmare.” Sheffield chief Damien Batessaid: “I am very disappointed again we fell foul of the weather. Riders need to race as they are not getting into a rhythm.” He added: “Hopefully the weather will get better so we all can enjoy a great night of racing next Thursday when Glasgow are in town.”

Meeting off.

Gracias.

What are Facu's plans for this year now?

No debut for Mr Klindt tonight then.

If you go to speedwaystar.net you can see the article. I can expand it enough to read on an Ipad, don't know what it's like on a PC though.

Now set for May 22nd instead of the PL match against Rye House.

Scunthorpe are due at Sheffield next week for a PL match and Berwick are at Redcar in a TTT challenge match, so could a swap be arranged?

Had a lot more rain last Wednesday night into Thursday than we have had this week, and the BBC forecast for tonight was no more rain after about 6pm. If that had been the case, the meeting would have started at 8pm, but the rain returned and racing was not possible. Were you the chap who was asking if it would be ok to use your ticket for the Rye House match in 2 weeks?

In the Sheffield Star:- Ty Proctor’s move to Sheffield is hanging in the balance. The Aussie, who rides for Elite League Wolverhampton, was signed recently as a replacement for Adam Roynon as Tigers management looked to bolster their side. But the move is on hold because of an issue over his visa with question marks over his eligibility to double-up. British Speedway bosses meet tomorrow to thrash out the problem; Tigers won’t know until then whether they can include him in the side for the Knockout Cup tie with Berwick at Owlerton that night. Sheffield co-promoter Damien Bates said: “As far as we are concerned Ty should be able to join Sheffield. We had done all we could and then were told there was an issue. Hopefully he’ll get clearance this week. It’s frustrating because we want to get on after a very promising start.” Sheffield submitted their re-declared line-up to the Speedway Promoters’ Association for approval by the management committee. But no new team declaration has been published; that means Proctor is still not officially a Sheffield rider. It means rider and club alike face an anxious wait. Sheffield find themselves 18pts down from the first leg at Shielfield Park but Bates believes the side has what it takes to turn the situation around. “We have to be positive” he said. “We go into the meeting knowing we have to get at them right from the start and see where it takes us. And we need out brilliant supporters to get right behind us, as they have done all season.”

Surely it is better to go with R/R for Adam Roynon or use a 3 pointer rather than have the SCB amend the result later and have all invalid points deducted.

Still light rain forecast all day until midnight.

BBC forecast is currently light rain all day from 8am until midnight, but they have been known to be wrong many times before. In the Sheffield Star:- Ty Proctor has revealed how he turned his back on a contract to race in Sweden to join Sheffield this week. Proctor, who lives in the city, will replace the unlucky Adam Roynon in tomorrow’s Knockout Cup clash with Berwick at Owlerton. And the confident rider already has his eyes set on battling for Premier League glory with what he describes as a “really talented side” around him. Proctor said: “Obviously it’s great to be back in the Premier League after the whole situation that happened at the start of the season with me losing my team place at Somerset. Sheffield was one of the last places I expected to end up because I’d already signed to ride in Sweden on a Thursday. I had been in talks with a lot of other clubs, but when they were able to fit me in it was a chance I just had to take. It was a difficult situation for me having outlaid a lot of money to ride in Sweden and it was a tough decision to make, but when it came to Sheffield everything just felt right and things seemed to fit. I live only two minutes from the track now so it’s perfect for me in that respect, and everything just seems to fit into place. I’m not going to hide the fact that the beginning of the season hasn’t been ideal for me, and I knew that I needed to be riding more to try and correct that. I feel my gating has been something that has been really strong this year. It’s just silly mistakes on track that have been costing me. I’m sure with riding more now I should be able to correct that and I’m pretty confident I can score plenty of points. I need to knuckle down and prove to a lot of fans what I am capable, so hopefully being at Sheffield can enable me to do that. I have signed for Sheffield because I want to win the league, and I feel like we have a really talented team with a lot of potential.”

Congratulations Josh, well done.

R/R is ok for Jason Bunyan, who has not ridden for Rye House yet this season. As Darcy has ridden for Poole, although not in an official fixture, it seems sensible to me to grant an R/R facility for him.

I don't think the gates are opened until the last race, which was at 9.52 last night. I'm certain that Damian will do all that he can to put things right.

Joe probably took the view that it would be more beneficial for the team in the long term to give Simon and Josh more track time. Any road, it is good to see the gloating cupboard open again after 2 years without being used.