Ipswich V Edinburgh 12/09

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,706]

 

 

When we lost at Berwick after Cook had taken 4, Alex Harkess said he regretted doing it that way and wished he had given Cook 2 and hoped Tabaka had picked up something. So John Campbell did it the other way round tonight. Still didn't work.

That would appear to be the case as it fits with what he said to me.

[ekimba 319]

He took gate 2 in heat 15 leaving Tabaka with the iffy gate 4 when needing a heat advantage to get a point. Then shot off and allowed Ben and Rohan to team ride a 3-3.

 

I have just asked him why and he said he would not have been confident of getting past if didnt make it off 4. (which surprised me given his dominance all night)

 

He said they felt it was a better plan for him to go out and win it and just see how it went for Tabaka.

Thanks for that much appreciated

[Arson fire 4,785]

Did he break the track record then?? Says on twitter he did by .4??

[Had Enough 233]

Also surprised that Tabaka got Gate 4, and interesting to hear Cook's reasoning ... he was absolutely flying in comparison to everyone else, so should really have fancied his chances of getting away and maybe (emphasis on maybe) exiting bend 2 alongside Tabaka?

 

Still, a seven point victory is as good as a 23 point victory in terms of league points, even though the race points difference took a battering on aggregate. Definitely a good team performance by the Witches - you could say they looked abit jaded, but Cook apart the Monarchs didn't look very bouncy either.

 

Might be another hefty defeat at the OTA tomorrow night ... Somerset now clear favourites for the play-offs ...

 

Did he break the track record then?? Says on twitter he did by .4??

 

Equalled, according to the official announcement, so his name will appear alongside Barker in next week's programme

 

A classy unbeaten display, but no result for the Monarchs.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Had Enough

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,706]

Did he break the track record then?? Says on twitter he did by .4??

Was announced as equalling Bens time.

[Bash 496]

The thing was in heat 15 Cook didn't once look for his team mate and seeing as Edinburgh needed a heat advantage to get a point out of the meeting, you would think he would try to slow the race down to help his team mate but he was the length of the straight ahead as the Ipswich riders was riding side by side to stop Tabaka. The only time he looked round was entering turn 3 on the last lap and then slowed down but was so far ahead the following riders still didn't catch him by the line.

[cyclone 943]

No problem with Cookie's efforts tonight, as once more he reaffirmed his position as the PL's undisputed number one

 

Was not expecting the PL Fours Champs to pick up any match points at Foxhall Heath, so the end result was no surprise.

[London Witch 57]

Al Stewart must say I like the generally sporting reaction of the Witches fans to last night's fairly heavy defeat, given that there has been a certain amount of niggle between the sides in the last couple of years. Let's hope winners and losers on Thursday night are equally gracious.

 

Sadly not a single simple "well done"

 

So I'll say it. WELL DONE WITCHES. GREAT TEAM EFFORT

Edited September 12, 2013 by London Witch

[spanner47 336]

They used to say "happiness is 40-38", these days It's a 7 point win and no injuries, couldn't be better!! Just hope after tomorrows meeting the lads can have a rest and bring home some silverware at the end of the season.

[Footslide 4]

 

Sadly not a single simple "well done"

 

So I'll say it. WELL DONE WITCHES. GREAT TEAM EFFORT

Or even a, "Well Done to both Teams for riding and finishing a Speedway Meeting in the proper spirit and putting all the animosity to bed". Fingers crossed, anyway.

[Shadders 4,135]

The thing was in heat 15 Cook didn't once look for his team mate and seeing as Edinburgh needed a heat advantage to get a point out of the meeting, you would think he would try to slow the race down to help his team mate

In Tai Woffindens second season with the Rockets he spend a lot of the season paired with Tommy Allen at 3 & 4 where he often sat behind to protect Tommy Two Laps.

Cooks a decent rider, his average doesn't lie, but he's not in Tai's class and never will be.

[Young51 156]

 

Sadly not a single simple "well done"

 

So I'll say it. WELL DONE WITCHES. GREAT TEAM EFFORT

Err before you go getting on your high horse,i think you'll find on the last page i said & i quote.. "Fair play to the Broomstick Brigade " That's all your getting from me lol

 

In Tai Woffindens second season with the Rockets he spend a lot of the season paired with Tommy Allen at 3 & 4 where he often sat behind to protect Tommy Two Laps.

Cooks a decent rider, his average doesn't lie, but he's not in Tai's class and never will be.

Confused.com..who's saying he is in Tai's class Shadders old bean?? Though to be fair he did tan the World Champ to be's ass not once but twice round Monmore the other week..

Edited September 13, 2013 by Young51

[Had Enough 233]

To be fair to the Monarchs fans, a lot of them do prefer to live in a wibbly wobbly Facebook and Chatzone world of their own. Tuesday night's Chatzone updates were full of intellectual comedy, which was truly Fringeworthy (see what I did there? ).

 

I have absolutely no problems with Cook - it's very easy to recognise that he's very good rider - the bonus for me is that he has helped the Sackers Witches qualify for the League Cup Final, and to get three PL points last night.

[Young51 156]

To be fair to the Monarchs fans, a lot of them do prefer to live in a wibbly wobbly Facebook and Chatzone world of their own. Tuesday night's Chatzone updates were full of intellectual comedy, which was truly Fringeworthy (see what I did there? ).

 

I have absolutely no problems with Cook - it's very easy to recognise that he's very good rider - the bonus for me is that he has helped the Sackers Witches qualify for the League Cup Final, and to get three PL points last night.

I did indeed see what you what you did there Mr HE..very witty. Frankly,I dunno where you get your ideas about a lot of our fans,as you well know yourself that our forums and fb pages are open to all,and many of us contribute to other fine forums etc up and down the land... I fear we've been here before sir alas,but feel free to flog your deid horse or broken record if it floats yir boat Enjoy your victory but you probably havnt heard the last of us lot this season worse luck haha..

Edited September 13, 2013 by Young51

[TheScotsman 2,484]

My obviously very biased take on last night's performances.

 

 

Not a great meeting or spectacle at Ippo last night unfortunately.

 

The good things.......

- more improvements to the stadium since I was last there for heatergate - they have added yet more banks of seating along the back straight so most of that area is seated now (but not covered). It's certainly one of the best appointed stadia around at the moment.

- Cookie's performance - majestic and untouchable from the back straight on lap 1 onwards - so much faster and smoother than anyone else

 

The bad things........

- £2 for a tray of chips in the diner which, after a 10 minute wait while they were cooked, turned out to be thin frozen chips cooked in oil which was not hot enough and so each bite brought a squelch of warm oil into your mouth:(. Abandoned them after 4 chips.

- the lack of atmosphere - it all seemed very flat, but probably not helped by Monarchs "efforts" up to heat 9

- the music is rubbish!!

 

The track was a bit rough and very patchy in places and bend 2 seemed to take quite a while till it was smoothed out. Risager was interviewed and said there were grippy patches and icy patches (not real ice because it was a pretty mild evening and had been like that all day!). And it's very dark on track - the shale is a dark colour and the track lighting is not great because it seems to be aimed at the stock car track on the outside.

 

For Ippo.........

- Barker seemed a bit subdued - he said on the mike that he is still in a lot of pain so I doubt that the rough track helped him much. Nice to see he acknowledged at least one of Cookie's wins with a wave (a genuine one!!).

- Heeps came on to a decent performance with 2 wins

- Tungate and Lanham did their job perfectly well, with Lanham a bit unlucky to lose power in his first race to let Joe through for third

- Risager started like a rocket - 2 very fast starts (one from the graveyard gate 4) gave him 2 good wins but then he came up against Cookie in his next 2

- Ellis was ok but in truth I expected more points from him. Deek and Max were the only Monarchs he beat, though he is entertaining to watch.

- Hawkins was a surprise. He looked half decent and beat Max 3 of the 4 times he met him.

 

For Monarchs........

- Cookie was untouchable as mentioned earlier. There was a bit of confusion about his track record though. I thought they announced 56.5 and the electronic scoreboard showed 56.5, against Barker's previous time of 56.6, but the scoreboard changed during the next race to 56.6. Intriguing!!! He had won every race before the others were through the last bend.

- Deek had a nightmare. A great start in heat 1 but the race had to be restarted. A great start in the rerun but picked off by Barker and then Heeps. A good start in his second race but then picked off by the Ippos and then sliding off when at the back but cleared the track. Then sliding off in his 3rd race and getting stuck under the air fence and being excluded. We needed some points from the skipper.

- Theo started very well with a good win from Tungate but then disappoined with only 2 more points from his next 3 rides and was overlooked for a TR in favour of Joe.

- Joe was very impressive and even made the gate in heat 14!! After a lucky point in his first ride, he battled really hard (I take back my criticism!!). Put everything into trying to get past Heeps in his TR ride but to no avail. Won heat 14 very comfortably against Lanham and Ellis but had the graveyard gate 4 in heat 15 and just couldn't get past Tungate though he tried everything.

- Claus was also disappointing. Started with 2 seconds then messed up bends 1/2 in his 3rd ride to let James Sargeant though and finished comfortably at the back. Not at the races in heat 13 against Barker and Risager.

- James totally demolished the tapes in heat 2 so was never in the hunt from 15m and slid off when still at the back but cleared the track. Not close in his next ride but had a steady 3rd in his 3rd ride after Claus messed up.

- Max was a bit of a mixture. He finished comfortably ahead of Ellis in his first ride but was way adrift in his next 2. He looked a bit tentative going into the first bends so maybe his injury and the rough track didn't help. He turned on the style to beat Tungate in a close race in heat 12 but was adrift of the Ippos in heat 14 when we needed another point.

 

So we were near to a point but yet so far. 8 heat winners but 12 no scoring heats combined with only 9 points from 2 heat leaders tells its own story really. By contrast, Ippo were solid throughout with evryone looking capable.

 

The gates were all important though - gate 1 had 4 winners out of the last 6 heats and 7 throughout. Gate 4 had only 2 winners all night - Cookie obviously and a Risager flier in heat 4.