MrMungo

Oh dear. Ole Olsen's slick tracks don't seem too bad now! Dissapointing stuff so far. Was quite looking forward to this one aswell. Hopefully the injury is not too bad.

I think Greyhoundp was referring to Thomas Jørgensen, who, I think (but not sure), has toured with Team Viking in the past. Stefan Nielsen has not.

IIRC, Oliver was 5th in the averages, so it was only really R Worrall, (Smethills if not at reserve) and the reserves who were eligible to take on an extra ride. Besides, strengthened or weakened, R/R should only be a last resort at this level. I don't know how much Compton has ridden lately, so he may well be a bit rusty, but from what I remember, he was a capable rider on his day.

Looks like Scunthorpe have signed Benji Compton to replace the unfortunate John Oliver. Should be a decent second string, I'd imagine.

He already has an average, which was in the Sheffield programme 2 weeks ago. So no, you are wrong

I respectfully disagree, Neil3065. Mildenhall really should have got at least a point from this match. It's a poor showing on their behalf that they didn't. Scunthorpe are really struggling with injury problems lately. Stefan Nielsen wasn't even down to ride today after his crash last week. Adam Wrathall has a badly damaged shoulder and was about to pull out of the meeting before JLo crashed. Add that to the injuries to Birks, Irving, plus now JLO, and it was quite an impressive achievement for Scunthorpe to get all 3 points from this match. Helped of course by the dopey Mildenhall Team Manager. On the bright side, it was good to see Daniel Halsey apologising to Stefan Nielsen. Credit where it's due. Best wishes to JLo (and his family) on his recovery. It was a horrible looking crash. The poor guy has no luck whatsoever. Not for the first time he has been the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time

Pretty sure he'll be at Scunthorpe tomorrow, "Superstar1". Scunthorpe will be REALLY short of riders otherwise. I hear Irving went to hospital today aswell. Hopefully it's nothing serious. Hopefully Adam Kirby will have a speedy recovery & hoping to see him on a bike soon. Congrats to Buxton on their fine win.

I know he was looking forward to riding at Birmingham again, but he won't be riding tomorrow night due to the injuries sustained at Mildenhall on Sunday.

Hope the injuries to Franklin and Stoneman are not serious & that they recover quickly. Congrats to Stoke on a very, very fine win.

Blair has retired, and Cooper, I am not sure about. Think he's taking a break from the sport or something similar. I don't think there's a great deal of difference with the team changes. It just gives Scunthorpe/Sheffield a full side again, which is good to see. Not a huge fan of R/R at this level, but it's occured quite often with some many riders having PL commitments.

It's been the case for a while, Vog. Nothing ridiculous about it, just an awesome NL team, IMO. Scunthorpe/Sheffield have just been using a reserve instead of Cooper (on most occasions) for a while now. It's made them seem "weaker" than they actually are.

That may be a reason for the new signing then? With lots of extra PL meetings being slotted in at this time of the year, there may be a few occasions when the Worralls, Birks or Irving may be unavailable.

He's healing well. I honestly had never seen so many cuts, bruises and general redness on a human body before as I saw on Sunday. Just taking it one day at a time.. The foot and wrist injury is worst at the moment. The 7 rule will probably (not 100% sure) rule him out at Buxton even if he did want to ride, anyway. Bank Holiday Monday at home looks more likely.

Hasn't Paul Cooper pretty much decided to concentrate on other matters for the time being?

Agree with much of your comments, Halifax Tiger. Especially regarding the fraction of Mildenhall supporters cheering when a Saint fell (on most occasions). It's appalling behaviour and should be stamped out of the sport as much as possible.

Any news when it will be rescheduled?

Fascinating thread. Did Tom Stokes ride last year? I've been impressed by his progress, as I really thought he was one who might struggle this year. What happened to Oliver Greenwood? Is he still about? He seemed to have completly vanished off the radar. Maybe he got annoyed at the lack of opportunities for a British youngster? People like Portwood may not be at the NL level at the moment, but the only way they will improve is by riding as often as possible. Would it really be that damaging to the sport for each side to have a rookie at number 7 at the start of the season?

It was a pleasure chatting with you too, Screamer!!! Bit surprising that Mr. Allitt chose not to use Kerr a little bit more bearing in mind a few of the Young Stars were clearly struggling.

I'm a bit confused. Is this meeting on Sunday, or was it a typo? I thought the rules were 3 home/3 away, then 7 days, which would surely mean Heeps' new average doesn't take effect until Monday...

It's possible, as they did try and get him to guest for Gary Irving last week, but failed for one reason or another. Or maybe Montie is hinting at something else?

Based on your theory, Mark Loram would not have been eligible to ride in the National League. Is he less British than Chris Louis (for example)?

Nasty one for Swiderski. Hopefully he's in a better state than his bike!

Injured following a crash last night.

Some good races despite the scoreline and pre-meeting rain. Saints all looked very impressive (although Smethills will take a few meetings to get dialled in) whereas Stoneman impressed me greatly for the visitors. He looked better as the meeting went on and fully deserved his race win. Without him, I daren't imagine what the scoreline would be like! Best wishes to Adam Roynon (hope the rumours of his season being over are untrue) and Ricky Scarboro (shoulder injury?) for speedy recoveries.

On the bright side, at least it isn't dusty! Bjerre looking like he's up for it today