heathen79

Regarding the top four positions for the playoffs, am I correct in assuming that the first placed team chooses their opposition from the next three finishers. But that there is no advantage to be gained for finishing second, compared to third or fourth?

So I'm guessing Buxton are currently looking for a Sunday when Nick Morris is not riding for Glasgow to arrange their semi-final leg? I'd also be interested in how it is decided which club stages which of the two legs. If we can beat Buxton in the semi-final, the final unfortunately fills me with dread! A choice between Kings Lynn's deathtrap fence or Newport's beach-bowl of a track. Here's hoping we can draw Rye House or Bournemouth in the playoffs!

Mighty impressive that there is a Supporters Club coach travelling to both meetings and an awful lot of people also making their own way. I know many Heathens fans who have booked to stay either on Isle of Wight or near Poole next week. The biggest and noisiest away support in the league will be draping our rapidly increasing number of Heathens flags on the South Coast Tuesday and Wednesday! On the track, I'm hoping we can pick up 2 or 3 league points to fuel the charge to top spot. Welcome aboard Barrie Evans for his first Heathens experience. Hopefully Jon Armstrong will still be able to make the trip to gee on the lads from the pits. Ommer 'em!

Not that fence again. We've just got Rich Franklin back after his injury in the Kings Lynn fence and we lose Jon Armstrong whilst on a guest booking there. Well past time that the solid fence was sorted out at Norfolk Arena Practising after the meeting was TOM Armstrong? Maybe we can replace one Armstrong with another at Dudley then! Such a shame for Jon though, as all Heathens fans have said, he has been a revelation this season, not just with his points but with his experience and personality in the pits. Will be sorely missed in our camp.

Great to see James Sarjeant stepping back into the fold at reserve. Hope Richard takes it easy and is back soon because we have an awesome reserve pairing in him and Ash. Likewise, would be great to see James turn up and post a great score in order to prove a point and show he's worth a team place somewhere. Totally agree about it being almost like an away match for the Heathens too. We've ridden once at Perry Barr - over three months ago, and we lost! I'm glad it's a match against Isle of Wight and not one of the top four clubs. Should be close in the early stages and then I would hope that Ash, Tom & Micky can chip in with some first and second places in their latter rides. Good luck boys!

Hi there & thanks for the replies. Yes, I very much enjoyed the visit aside from the lengthy delays. Also all for British youth development in the NL. Great to see the Heathens team featuring youngsters Tom Perry (what a find), Rich Franklin and Ashley Morris, plus seemingly giving Lee Smart a chance to get himself back on the right track when no-one else was giving him a chance. I notice a very strong Heathens presence in the British Under 18 Championship coming up soon. No problem with us throwing in a bit of experience either in Jon Armstrong to guide them along and a couple of Aussies in Jake & Micky. As stated, there can be no complaints about the likes of Jake as he did such a sterling job guesting for the Young Stars and it would be hypocritical of any team to critise the use of the Aussies and then book them as a guest. As we're all also in agreement about riders safety, I hope that Kings Lynn will prioritise the purchase of an air fence very soon. The stadium improvements are superb, so perhaps future funds can be funnelled in the direction of the track perimeter. Would also echo the comments about how sporting Jake Anderson was after the crash mentioned earlier in the thread and the mutual applause from both sets of riders and fans throughout the meeting was much appreciated and certainly noted. Regarding the decision over abandoning or continuing the meeting, the version of events I heard was slightly different. And regarding the victory parade, it was clear that the six Dudley riders came towards the gate ready to go on track, but were held back while many Heathens fans filtered out of the stadium unaware that a victory parade was imminent. Eventually the two juniors were called back in from the track and the gate was opened to allow the Dudley riders out. Some minor points which didn't detract from some good racing, great team spirit, fantastic atmosphere from the fans and from our point of view a brilliant result.

What a great finish to last nights match. 38-34 down with three to go and a 45 minute delay. Had to wonder whether to go home and Kings Lynn wanted the meeting abandoned with the result to stand. Thanks to Jon Armstrong we waited it out and then - Bang Bang Bang - three 5-1s to turn the meeting completely on its head and take four points in one of the most dramatic turnarounds I've seen. Some great racing but I have to agree about the poor safety aspect. It's an absolute disgrace that the Norfolk Arena track doesn't have an air fence. Richard might have missed the end of it, but there were at least two other nasty looking accidents to Lewis Kerr and Simon Lambert which would have been totally different scenarios with an air fence. The Dudley riders can't gate for toffee and that generally means we get fantastic racing because they're all battlers and earn the points the hard way. I could have completely forgiven the boys for not wanting to risk the big moves after what they had seen their fellow riders go through though. As soon as we arrived many of us were daunted by the very solid looking fence. Perhaps we're spoilt by seeing so much action with air fences in place now, but for me that means our safety standards have been raised and everyone needs to step up to that. If Richard Knight wants to continue complaining to the BSPA as he did recently about standards in the National League being poor for letting in young Aussies, then I suggest he starts complaining about the safety aspect too. As for the admission comparisons to the World Cup, I would agree again. I paid £8 to sit in the Grandstand last night (it must have been reserved for away fans, because I don't think there were any Kings Lynn fans in) - the programme advertised the same seats for £35 next Monday. Neither the racing nor the atmosphere will be as good next week as it was last night! Once again, to finish, absolutely superb effort from the Heathens riders and fans. We didn't double that crowd, we totally outnumbered the home support and the riders' response was brilliant. They had to badger their way into getting a victory parade and then lapped it up waving the Heathens flag as they went (nice one Jake ). What a fantastic bunch of lads.

Called off around 5:25pm - just too much rain by the sound of it and the forecast was for more during the evening.

No need to address it to Jon Cook, I'm pretty sure he's already in agreement that Nelson shouldn't have ridden and has had his say. Neil Machin has a biased interest through his Sheffield links with Nelson. Jonathan Chapman and Kings Lynn are on the warpath about the Aussies in the National League, with Rob Lyon throwing his hat in from a Team GB point of view and even Richard Knight complaining, as he sees chances more limited for his son. As for Alex Harkess, I think he gets the message and this is a hot potato at BSPA level. Told you to expect a grovelling apology from Len Silver - looks like it worked and Rye House keep their illegally earned league points!

There is no official word yet, but this was what I understand was decided after a meeting today. Expect a grovelling apology from Len Silver for using him ... what happens to the match I don't know. I think there's discussion amongst the BSPA at the moment about the situation.

Well check your travel plans, if Kings Lynn carry on kicking up such a fuss, you might have to go to Coventry to watch it instead!

So, the World Cup week is on it's way. Kings Lynn due to stage the Qualifying Round for us. I heard that they are moaning about the requirements and other things and don't actually want to stage it at all.

Cracking looking line-up. Smart, Cook, Kurtz, Armstrong, Hart probably all capable of winning. Perry, Dyer and Morris all good spoilers too. Not sure whether there may be a question mark over Tyson Nelson now given the protests about his visa. I heard the suggestion that he may not be allowed to ride anywhere, including in this meeting (Edit: hopefully he's ok to compete as it's just an open meeting).

I haven't read all of this thread, so I apologise if I go over anything already said. On the subject of Tyson Nelson, Scunthorpe rode under protest because they didn't believe he was elligible. I believe they have now been proved correct, that Nelson should not be riding anywhere at all in the UK and getting paid for it. He is billed at Number 1 in the line-u for Dudley's Golden Hammer meeting on Tuesday but I don't think he will be allowed to even ride in that.

So with t the qualifying rounds taking place this weekend, has anyone answered the questions yet... what is the race format for the 12-rider line-up? Who decided on the riders (it's correct, that age can't be the factor as Ashley Morris is included). Also, there has to be at least one more late change with Ben Taylor injured.

Couldn't have more passionately polarised opinions on this one eh? I guess I am in the minority by not really minding either way which British track this event has been allocated to. Bottom line is that despite this being the World Cup and possibly the second biggest international event in the UK behind the British GP, we don't have stand-out stadiums to step up to the plate. The GP is at the Millennium and wherever is chosen to host the SWC round, it is a big, big step down.

Hi. Does anyone know where I can see a Stadium Plan for the Millennium Stadium which also shows the ticket prices in the relevant areas? I know there's a stadium plan on the SGP website but I can't tell from that which ticket prices get me which particular area of the stadium. I'm thinking of going this year for the first time in a while and taking my four year old for her first GP experience.

I think Heathens Speedway Supporters Club are hoping to do a coach aren't they? Will check.

Thanks for the messages. Still not really found what I wanted to know. I've visited the stadium website and seen the seating plan. As on the SGP site, it has block numbers but I don't know how these correlate to ticket pricing. I am looking at the lower price bracket, but if I buy tickets at £29, £35 or £40 where will those seats be? Are all the £29 tickets in one place - upper tier? lower tier? Is it worth me going for more expensive tickets for a better view. Is there a designated family area as I will be taking my little girl for the first time?

That second incident with Hancock... when did it happen?

Thank you very much! And thank you for your own signature representing Slovenia!

So, here's the 'International Speedway' Petition Challenge then... How many countries can we get represented with signatures to Bring Back Cradley Speedway. If your country is not in the list below, or you know someone who can bring another nation to our list, then we need your help. Here's the petition address to sign up: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/brin...y-speedway.html And here's the countries represented so far: Australia Canada Denmark Germany Ireland Italy Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Slovenia Sweden UK USA That's 14 different countries. But no-one yet from New Zealand, Finland, Hungary, France, Latvia, Spain, Czech Republic... all are possibilities surely? Spread the word!

So, while we're on the thread, how about a definitive list of Millard-isms... "line abreast" "Thriller in Manilla" "xxx will have to come again" "Disappointment for xxx" etc

After seeing a lot of stuff about the Morton v Lee match race, can anyone confirm what part Ermolenko, Collins, Carr and Mogridge are playing? Will it be the four of them against each other in their own set of races.

Just to bring this topic back to life again, a new book should be available later this year which gives all the ins and outs of Bruce's career. PENHALL - The Bruce Penhall Story has been a work in progress for 12 months and is now due for publication with plenty of contribution from Bruce himself. Web site at www.brucepenhall.co.uk