hawks 1975

Hopefully I'll complete it this time! Luke Killeen 7.73 Oxford Freddie Hodder 6.44 Belle Vue Max James 5.70 Leicester Jody Scott 5.31 Oxford Mickie Simpson 4.23 Sheffield/Scunny Luke Crang 3.61 Leicester Harry McGurk 3.00 Belle Vue total 36.02 Many thanks once again for running this - let's hope for a safe season for all the lads.

Try again! Connor Coles 7.79 Edinburgh Like Killeen 7.73 Oxford Freddie Hodder 6.44 Belle Vue Max James 5.70 Leicester Luke Crang

It won't be the same this year without my team in the NHL, but here goes: Connor Coles

Last season I was led to believe that the promoter was only allowed to hold two meetings per month where paying spectators were allowed in at Iwade. Given that Crayford have already announced that they are riding out of Iwade in 2024, perhaps that might explain why Kent Kings, sadly, look to only have one meeting per month?

Crying shame that Iwade will not be in the NDL next year - Si has confirmed that nobody has expressed an interest in running it. A solid, loyal group of fans now have no club. After an impressive first season, Si had only bad luck this year - allied to family health issues - and the powers that be seemingly went out of their way to make things more difficult. Now Iwade is no longer a SCB track. I believe the plan was to operate under the Nora banner and involve some 'nomad' tracks like Lakeside and Eastbourne, utilising three existing tracks, but with Mildenhall now under new ownership, I wonder whether Iwade and the Isle of Wight can still go it alone. I had hoped that a six team league, with say Lakeside riding with Iwade out of Iwade; Rye House at Mildenhall and an Eastbourne side on the island might have worked. Now it appears there will be no venue for speedway in a huge catchment area between Oxford and Poole where once there were so many. Finally, a huge thank you to Si Kellow for the last two years. There was always a friendly vibe at Sunshine Speedway on Sunday afternoons at little old Iwade and that was down to Si - a promoter who was always in amongst the patrons and regularly welcomed the visiting fans.

Where is the official announcement?!! No mention of this on the British Speedway web site! Do we know how much they have fined Si Kellow? Absolutely ridiculous. The guy doesn't deserve this extra hassle - without him there would be no speedway at all round here.

I forgot - we love the 4TT handicap option! Team mangers - in discussion with their riders - picking an opposition rider to be handicapped - brilliant! Rhys was ecstatic to be selected!!

Brayden came over from his base in Denmark for the day and certainly showed his class as befits a 22 year old rider competing in Poland - well done to Barry to get him over at such short notice to replace Henry Atkins. It's always great to see new riders. The other late substitute was Luke Harris who replaced Jake Turner, and he ended up topping the Plymouth scoresheet! Not bad for a lad who I believe mainly rides on the grass nowadays. I've always loved the fours format and congratulations to Barry Bishop and his team for overcoming all the obstacles to get his show up and running. Hopefully he can grow this concept from this beginning. One issue he has is that team speedway depends on fans getting behind their team, and that can only grow in time - especially where yesterdays teams largely had no connection. One question to Barry - are the same riders likely to ride in every meeting? Well done to all those volunteers who got yesterday meeting on. A special mention to the track staff - on such a sunny, windy day, it could have been a dust bowl - it wasn't.

Thankfully the fixture is listed in the Star, and there is even a column announcing the launch of the league. Hopefully the two replacements for King and Turner are of similar ability and we get an afternoon of close racing. Good luck to all those involved in this new venture .

An Amateur League? With Bowtell, Morley, Atkins etc riding? I think not.......!

It looks like the Nora 'League', now a four team tournament, gets under way at Sittingbourne this coming Sunday. The launch of the Nora 92 No Brakes League all seems very low key, I had to really delve deep to find out who was due to be riding for the four sides, and two of those listed - Jake Turner and Connor King - are both doubtful. The lack of communication/publicity hardly augurs well for a healthy attendance for the opening match at Iwade. I don't believe there was any mention of it at last Sunday's Kent v Berwick meeting - I know it is not run by Si Kellow, but surely there could have been something about it to tempt fans who may not know anything about Nora. Given how pro-active the Isle of Wight promotion are - and it is their baby I believe - I am surprised. Will this weeks Speedway Star even mention it - or will the powers that be have muzzled them?! With Alfie Bowtell, Alex Spooner, Ben Morley and Rhys Naylor all turning out for the other three sides, Kent fans might struggle to support the home Sittingbourne quartet! Let's hope it all goes off without any problems - good racing and everybody safe at the end of it.

1. Jordan Jenkins 9.47 Oxford 2. Connor Bailey 8.86 Workington 3. Lee Complin 7.27 Mildenhall 4. Nathan Ablitt 7.20 Kent 5. Max James 3.00 Leicester 6. Luke Harrison 3.00 Workington 7. Luke Killeen 3.00 Oxford Total 41.80

Think you could be spot on there, Come On The Skipper, unless Si has got a new three pointer up his sleeve!

Feared he was! We'll have to wait a while longer - he's a prospect.

Strength in depth Dave 1075, but perhaps not the top end strength for away? How about: 1. Alfie Bowtell 10.67 2. Joe Alcock 4.36 3. Jack Kingston 6.45 4. Connor King 4.16 5. Ben Morley 9.29 6. Jacob Clouting 4.07 7. Sonny Springer hopefully, or Chris Watts 3.00 total 42.00! I notice that Jack Kingston had the 9th best away average in the league! He goes well at Iwade, could be a trump card.