MattJ81

Newcastle are riding so it would seem that Max will be there, not sure about Dan Halsey who would be the obvious other choice. It does seem strange to have gone with Tom initially

Eventful enough meeting last night with many restarts. Firstly best wishes to the riders who took knocks; I can't remember the last time I saw a rider knocked out cold but thankfully Sheldon was up and walking back to the pits not too long after. Harry McGurk had a busy night with 7 rides and several restarts, he was struggling to slide the bike by heat 14 but I'm sure it will do him good in the longer term We seemed to throw a few points away early on with Max missing the 2 minutes for Heat 1 and Danny going through the tapes after reacting to a slight movement from Joe Lawlor (who looked really impressive). Hats off to Danny for a great ride in Heat 9 to beat Connor Coles and for picking himself up after an awful looking first bend pile up in Heat 14 to win the re-run Good to see Jack Smith teaming up with Clegg for a crucial 5-1 over Edwards and Coles in Heat 13, a solid night all round for him The win moves Cradley up to 3rd with more meetings completed than all of the others bar the Potters; Belle Vue in particular will surely be a threat to that play off place

There was a threat of rain on Monday which I assumed was the reason for the track being left a little drier than usual. There was a slight shower around heat 13 so you can understand the reasoning, especially as usually they are pretty good with the watering when required. I don't see too many NL meetings away from Monmore so I couldn't compare the amount of fallers, there have been meetings this season where falls have been rare but there are a lot more inexperienced riders around this season it seems. Having said that Dan Halsey has struggled at times with the track and he is one of the most experienced around.

Something else I meant to mention as an aside, again in the promoters notes for this meeting there was space dedicated to highlighting how much more difficult it is for the management to keep the club going at present with outside interests etc and along with the continued online abuse this leaves questions to be asked over the winter. Questions over the winter occur annually, with perfectly understandable reason considering the general outlook in the sport and specifically the situation at Cradley with no new home on the horizon (co-incidentally the same promoters notes mention Dudley Council who have stated recently there is no chance of finding anywhere, or words to that effect). It does strike me that the same message has been in every programme this season; I don't know what has been said against the club as I left the Facebook groups where I believe a lot of the vitriol is being posted but the ground seems to be being laid for bad news over the winter. I appreciate the promoters only really have this avenue as a right of reply but that first page of the programme has been a consistent message all season. One other thing worth mentioning, a little bit of beef between Len Silver and Will Pottinger after the Kent match with Len allegedly using some unsavoury language - mentioned a couple of times in the programme how disappointed it left Cradley officials. With Will being Cradley and Eastbourne manager I'm sure he isn't the most popular bloke around Central Park!

Watched Danny for and against Cradley over the last few years, he's always been quick and exactly the kind of rider speedway needs. Really interacts well with the fans both on and off track and great to watch. I think in previous years he has been prone to a mistake here and there which kept him from making the step up but that seems to have been solved this season so far. Long may it continue

Agreed re Brennan Sings, he I think would have been a real force and the partnership with Clegg already looked good by the time he was ruled out - they would have probably dragged the team over the line in closer meetings with Heats 13 + 15. On that average I don't think there was anyone else available who would have done the same job, Jack Smith will score decent points but isn't going to trouble Clegg for the number 1 spot as I think Brennan may have done. I really like Luke Harris and he looks ready to push onto heat leader level in many ways but isn't quite making the jump as yet. He was steady last night and was probably expecting to win Heat 14 but got outjumped by Verge and maybe tried a little too hard to pass him leading to him coming to grief. He has been steady in most meetings I have seen this season (admittedly all at home so far) but needs more heat wins rather than minor placings. Dan Halsey looked much more comfortable last night and deserved the Heat 15 nomination, where he looked good but slipped off sadly. Sheldon Davies looked more competitive than Lewis Whitmore which is all he needs to do in reality. Still not sure we'll make the playoffs but the 4 point win at Mildenhall may make the difference if we can pick up wins against Stoke and Plymouth in the next 2 home meetings The result last night would have been a lot closer had Georgie Wood not suffered 2 engine failures in decent positions but it's another one chalked off I guess

Sheldon Davies announced as a replacement for Lewis Whitmore

I'm a poor judge of crowds to be honest, and where we stand doesn't give us a great view of the whole area either. The crowd for the IOW cup match was down but with season tickets not included that may have had an effect - I don't know how many season ticket holders there are. With regard to Monday's meeting I thought we were outgated pretty consistently (Clegg included although it was great to watch him pick his way through the traffic), Luke Harris had an off night for the first time this season and Lewis Whitmore looks really low on confidence. Jack Smith will come good with more meetings around Monmore, although to ask anyone to fill Tom Brennan's shoes on that average is probably optimistic. Dan Halsey is doing his job as third heat leader and has never looked particularly comfortable around Monmore in the past so a few more meetings should help - having said that there are only 5 home league meetings left! Really impressed with Jordan Palin who seems to have a big future ahead of him. Our reserves are ticking along OK., enjoy watching Tom Spencer who isn't afraid to mix it and has a really unique style and Harry is picking up good steady points. There is a consistent message from the promoters in their programme notes about the frailty of the future and they're happy to move over and let someone else take charge if land can be found etc. I think the barbs on social media are having an effect and it wouldn't surprise me if this was a last hurrah, of course it always depends on available dates and the make up of the leagues anyway but you sense their enthusiasm is not what it once was.

Appreciate it's pretty late to start a thread for last night's meeting but I guess it should have one! Not a classic meeting but the first of the season for a number of the Cradley riders and a great finish; happiness is 46-44 after all and a great performance in Heat 15 from Max and Tom to get a result over Danny Ayres, who had looked unstoppable until that point. I would imagine this is likely to be a regular theme for Cradley meetings with the way the team is put together and the lower points limit, with Clegg/Brennan in particular easing through meetings a distance in front of most (with the exception last night of the impressive Ayres of course), Harris was steady in the engine room and Halsey had a great first meeting beating his opposite numbers. Then we hope that the new lads can get to grips with Monmore quickly to get us over the line; they were second best to their opposite numbers last night with Macauley Leek looking right on the pace. On the positive they all stayed aboard and completed races, I'm sure they will be beating opposition reserves sooner rather than later as they settle in. Due to the weather and constant threat of rain the meeting was done and dusted by 9ish, only a couple of re-runs all night and no interval

It's a Cradley type team for sure. Big hitters and a potentially long tail, but that's the way it's mostly been since about 1980 so I'm comfortable with it Happy to see Luke back, as mentioned above he has progressed steadily and will hopefully challenge for a heat leader birth as the season progresses

Thanks, didn't realise that

Thanks, that makes sense

Would both be on a 2.00 average? I assume so, Lewis is showing as 3.00 on 2018 list but I can't see Tom on there. With Harry also starting on a 2.00 it may mean one of Lewis or Tom would be in the main body of the team to allow Harry to start at reserve. I must admit I know nothing of Tom, I saw Lewis briefly at Buxton last season when Cradley rode there but he had to pull out after a fall in Heat 2. If they are on a 2.00 each it would, I think, leave 6.43 for the final rider Strange for the club not to announce the signings in the usual way via Social Media though?

I'm sure cost comes into it but there are also very few available dates at Monmore - the smaller NL this year makes it possible but I wouldn't imagine there will be too many free Mondays over the summer. I think the support would be there for it, should it ever become a realistic prospect.

One I believe, hence Cradley being able to fit in the matches at Monmore (with the odd one at PB should the need arise)

Ben Morley replaces Kyle Bickley for Cradley

Not including his stint with Poole Hancock rode 18 seasons in Britain, which I think puts him level with Hans Nielsen in terms of time spent in the British League. Nielsen quit the UK when he was 35, Hancock when he was 37 (or thereabouts). I don't think you'll find anyone claiming that Hans owes the UK anything, who did much the same and rode his final years in Europe. Forgive me if my stats or memory has let me down - I've taken them from Wikipedia but it seems about right. The main difference is that Hancock has carried on riding at the top level long past the usual, and perhaps by his mid thirties felt he didn't want or need to chase around Europe every day of the week unless the money was silly, which it isn't going to be in the UK. He certainly isn't the only one to make that decision I will admit being a Cradley fan of a certain vintage makes me probably a little biased

I wouldn't imagine so for a second, and if it was it didn't work as Kyle Bickley slid off in the next race anyway. I guess they put as little water down as poss beforehand as it had rained a lot earlier in the day so they were trying to keep it as good as possible as they went along, but then I know nothing of track preparation!

I think the wet weather earlier in the day didn't help, along with the threat of further rain this I'm sure affected the track prep - after (I think) heat 4 they were watering the track which we thought unusual.

The best team did win, both on the night and obviously the fact they are a team. I don't think I've seen too many people from Cradley dispute that but I'm not sure what else the management could have done in this situation? At the start of the season they tried to keep a flavour of Cradley past with Adam Roynon, Bradley Andrews and Connor Dwyer in the team. 2 of these have been sadly injured and Connor only had rides for Cradley (which many seem to think the club could convince 6 others to do) which I think wasn't enough for him to get back into the groove after a promising season last year. Now that other promotions have finished counting their cash from an away Cradley crowd they have decided that it shouldn't have been allowed and won't be in future - a view I don't disagree with from a credibility point of view but I'm still glad I got another year of watching my team. It looks as though unless there are significant changes to the league structure next season, or a way can be found to share Monmore and Perry Barr, we won't be back. It's been a pleasure to watch Drew Kemp ride this year and Max seems to be back on form which is good to see

Sorry I must have misheard - I did make a point that 53 sounded really quick!

Oh just one small gripe, and I'm sure it's nothing the Birmingham promotion have much control over but the food outlet being closed at the start of the interval wasn't great. Whether the (I understand) larger than usual crowd had cleaned them out of supplies I don't know but when there isn't any other option to get food in the stadium it's not ideal. One thing that the Brummies promotion did have control over was the entertainment on the centre green for the kids during the interval, a great and fantastically simple idea which my 10 year old really enjoyed

When you have a top two riding like Shanes and Bacon did last night it will usually be pretty close, being a Cradley fan of a certain vintage you got used to being 6 down with a few races left knowing there were at least two heat advantages to be had in the latter heats and it was the same for Birmingham last night. We needed to have a decent lead going into the last few races and we just about managed it even with only 5 or 6 race winners all night. With a solid reserve in the Brummies team the result would have been very different, but that's the one thing you could have predicted with confidence before the meeting I thought the turning point may have been when Richard Andrews came to grief chasing down Shanes when we were on a 4-2 and the re-run was a 4-2 to the Brummies, although the way Shanes was riding you wouldn't bet against him winning the race from that point anyway. The move he made in Heat 15 to cut through into second place coming off the 2nd bend was a beauty, though I would perhaps not have appreciated it so much if the result was in the balance Heat 1 of the MDL meeting he won in 53. something seconds, beating Jamie Sealey by a decent distance. He looked good in that race, although I only saw it as we were leaving

Absolutely, we only have 1 match left as it stands - away at Birmingham - and Kemp will miss that along with Bickley as Belle Vue and Mildenhall ride each other on that date. Kemp will be in the main body by that point so I guess a guest and R/R with possibly a couple of 3 point reserves if Chris is out of action after last night.

Technically it was a 6 man team v 4 man team, at the start of the meeting anyway. But I see your point. The team was built to the same points limit at the start of the season as every other NL team, accepting that it was something of a dream team scenario when the riders were only agreeing to a handful of matches so you could pick a very strong team. The riders have moved as their averages have changed and replacements where required have been within the usual rules I believe. We were fortunate that Drew Kemp hasn't gained a realistic average so he remained at reserve last night whereas Leon Flint moved into the main body of the Brummies team. What promised to be a good meeting lost it's edge after the awful crash for Chris Widman and Danyon Hume. I hope they are both OK, I believe Chris has damaged his wrist and Danyon is suffering with the arm he broke last year. They locked together half way along the start finish straight and piled through the fence, luckily that fence is a good one and one of the bikes went over the top so was out of the way as they impacted else it could have been a lot worse. Cradley won the meeting at reserve which was always likely to be the difference even before Birmingham lost one of their big hitters. I do enjoy watching James Shanes ride and he was barely troubled last night at all, Tom Bacon likewise but it was just a case of filling in the minor places for the home team. Shame that Kemp and Flint didn't meet each other much due to some team management wizardry to keep Kemp scoring the most points covering R/R, his rides and Widmans rides. Was good to see Flint, Kemp and Edwards all going at it in Heat 14. Shame the track wasn't in too good a condition due to problems with watering, then to finish the night off typically the tapes gave up the ghost at around 9:45, just around heat 11 I think? So something of an anticlimax in the end