East End Fan

Hunters is on his way to IOW for Thursday's meeting...Must be walking all the way.

I was at Kent for the Kent v Dons' challenge match when he made his track return. Have to say I was very impressed even though he ran a last in heat 15 after he had only dropped one point up till then.

Got to hand it to Boxall, his starting technique is quite unbelievable and even though it is technically illegal, you've got to admire him. His skill is such that he could have reached the very peak of the sport if his mechanical expertise had matched.

Made one of my odd visits to Kent when I learned late in the day that Ben Morley was riding for Wimbledon. Got to admit it was a great meeting and Bowen was really incrdible considering this was his first match back after injury. Heat 13 was probably the best race ever seen on a National League track. Not more than a tyres width between 3 riders over the line.incredible. Looks like Kent have landed on their feet with the inclusion of Greenwood.

Not a very satisfactory state of affairs. Season ticket holders must be a bit peeved. I hope that next season, Lakeside are able to put a proper fixture list together with a meeting every week. I'm sure the crowd would increase if they do. I have been going to other tracks this year to get my "Fix" and I would much sooner pay my money at Lakeside.

Why is there criticism of Cook not attending an away match ? Tatum is the team manager, not Cook. How does anyone know what Cook's personal circumstances are ? These are ridiculous comments.

Love the way that "Danny Connor" wants to set out his idea of how Speedway should be set up in U.K. Reckons that the 3rd tier should be amateur "Like it used to be ". Well I'm sure that Jon Cook and all the other 3rd tier promoters might have other ideas. Since the early days of the Conference League about 17 years ago ( educated guess), the league has moved on dramatically and no longer is the playground for Wobblies. We have top professionals like Paul Hurry, Steve Boxall and Adam Roynon, among many others doing their business in the National League. We still have lots of new boys, some up to scratch, some not, but all getting an opportunity not available in the upper leagues and making the 3rd tier a highly entertaining commodity. I have been a fairly new regular N.L. fan this year after Lakeside dropped down and I have been far from disappointed. In previous years I used to attend the odd N.L. match, mostly at Rye House and some at Kent and was always entertained then even when I didn't care who won. From my personal point of view, whatever the Upper leagues get into in the future, I hope they leave the National League alone to carry on doing what it does so well.....

Kent were saying that Luke Bowen's return is imminent. Apparently he was expected this week but failed the fitness test, Maybe he will be back this coming Monday ?

Thoroughly enjoyed the meeting even though the result went the wrong way for me. Keep hearing about a blue groove, but I didn't see one and it seemed to me that all the riders were easily ably to ride the track at full throttle without getting in any trouble. Absolutely gobsmacked that we failed to cash in on the poor night by Roynon. For the number One rider to only score a single point was a huge thing for the Kent team to overcome and it was purely down to the fact that our bottom end is simply not up to standard. To be fair, Locke tried hard and could maybe make a rider with some guidance from Kelvin. Send out the Scouts to the grasstrack events and maybe unearth some new talent. It's what Eastbourne seem to do successfully.

Great afternoon and a super result for us as was predicted. Cookie seems to have become the regular tractor driver these days. At least he doesn't have to pay for the service. To be fair, does a good job so far as I can judge.

Understand how you feel, Liam, Most fans are followers of one club and find it hard to switch loyalties. I am a bit fortunate in that, although a Hammers fan from the days of yore, I can enjoy good speedway even when the Hammers are not running. Switched to Hackney when West Ham closed and loved it there. Nowadays I do Lakeside for most meetings but also add the odd meeting at Eastie and Kent as they are not too far away. Have been to Rye House this year, but strangely enough I find myself preferring the National League.

It will need to be an inspired choice for reserve if Swindon are to be beaten...Can't see it happening. Kennett is an interesting choice of guest..Wonder if he'll be as good as a guest as he was as a home rider

When I think about it, a promise of a minimum of 14 meetings seems ridiculous. I come from the Old School of expecting something like 25 - 30 meetings a year. Now I know that those days are long gone, but only 14 ?????

Eastie will need to fire on all cylinders so that they take points from our tail enders. Can't see them making much impression on our top 3. Will be a close result and worth seeing IMO.

When will the current bunch of people who promote (?) Speedway realise the importance of a meeting every week on the same day and time. Tuesday at 7.45 EVERY week was what I was brought up on. We are all creatures of habit and people need to get the Speedway Habit that existed in times gone by. It cannot be beyond the wit of those in charge to organise a fixture list that deals with the situation. I remember at Hackney years ago when the team went to the other Friday track, Wolverhampton at that time, they used to stage the Superama so that there was always a meeting at the Wick every Friday come what may. I am aware that with the GP's there is more interference than in the past, but that does not alter the fact that most tracks don't even TRY to run every week with any sort of meeting at all.

Just because Anders Rowe lives in Swindon does not automatically make him a future Robin. I can remember seeing him practice at the Rye House school week after week, year after year, starting when he was about 9 or 10. He looked good then and I expect Rockets' fans considered that he would be in their plans. Although I'm only guessing, I reckon that the lad's link with Kent came from the Len Silver/Rye House connection.

We keep hearing about a new stadium to be built, but, with the news about the alternative river crossing to be considered, it seems to me that a new stadium is highly unlikely.....but I hope I'm wrong. Personally I like the National League although I would have liked to see more effort to introduce new young riders from Martin Hagon's school into the team so that we can watch them learn and grow. Our nearest neighbours seem to be able to do that.

Shame that the KO Cup has been diminished by the Hammers' withdrawal. Should not have been permitted IMO

Zach will be a big loss to the team and I doubt that r/r will gather the same points. I think that the rule should be so that if a rider is injured while riding for a senior team ( as in this case), the N.L. team should have the choice of r/r OR Guest.

I think Birmingham will give us a good match, well worth seeing so hope the weather stays good. Like Waco I hate the big gap between meetings and I'm sure it doesn't help the crowd figures. Learned this morning that we have pulled out of the KO Cup because we have no available dates. Why on earth did we enter it in the first place then ? Sad.

Bring 'em all on, I say. If they are worthwhile riders and not actually foreign, then the N.L. should welcome them. We have too many riders in the league who wouldn't have smelled a team place 20 years ago.

Halifax Tiger...I have to say that you seem very knowledgeable and any right thinking follower would have to agree everything you have said. What you have not mentioned is the basic illegality of the rule imposed on the league by the BSPA so that contracts cannot be owned or riders contracts able to be sold at whatever the going rate is. It is truly amazing that this has been allowed to continue almost without complaint so far as I can see. There is also the unfairness of priority of use when a doubling up rider has a clash of fixtures. The basic rule on this, as I understand it, was changed only a few short years ago to take the priority from the lower club to the upper club. In my view a detrimental step as a doubling up rider MUST be more important to the lower club, so it makes sense for them to have priority. Can anyone throw any light on when or how this got changed ? Seems to me that over the years, the politics of speedway have become more and more complicated and unfair while the actual racing that we see seems to get better and better !

Kent v Wimbledon on Monday and I understand that Steve Boxall will be number 1 for the Dons

Well I made the trip down the A2 to Sittingbourne on Monday to see the National Trophy match with Kent and Mildenhall. There did not seem to be any lack of enthusiasm there either by the riders or the spectators ( which were there in good numbers as far as I could tell). Plenty of Eagles fans who made a lot of noise all add to the atmosphere. More than at my own club when Buxton came.

Difficult to assess the crowds at Birmingham as most of them are behind glass. Hope they bring a few to us. I went to Kent last night to see the Eastbourne match. With a comparatively weak team, missing both Hopwood and Stoneman with only Connor Coles ( who did not do his reputation much good), I expected the Eagles to dominate. How wrong I was . Our Ben ( Morley) was superb and both Jack Thomas and Anders Rowe stood out for the home team. Great entertainment for me, pleased to see Eastie getting walloped for change.