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Wow... what a fantastic night... 30 races.... completed... loved it.. absolutely loved it.... here is the meeting report by Rob Dyer. Wightlink Warriors Summer Speedway Spectacular Sees Appleton In Tasty Form The first of Wightlink Warriors Summer Spectacular meetings proved to be master class of track skill from former British Grasstrack Masters Champion Andrew Appleton (pictured) as he scorched to five impressive wins in front of an appreciative crowd at the Smallbrook Stadium in Ryde last night. The return of track sport to the Island was headlined by the first of three rounds of the Island Masters series - a grasstrack meeting on shale – and the twelve riders didn’t disappoint a very healthy crowd as they battled hard to reach the winner takes all Grand Final. On a night of nearly 30 races the Masters meeting also included a gripping six heat development meeting between the Wightlink Wizards and Weymouth Wildcats and a further six heats of races looking to the future and giving the youngster track time in front of an audience. Whilst former Reading and Oxford speedway star Appleton produced lightning starts to earn his wins he did have stern competition from Danish rider Jacob Buckhave and the two served up a terrific race in the Grand Final – indeed the three finals (C, B & A) certainly didn’t disappoint as all the riders gave their all right to the end. Also impressing were Tony Atkin and Rob Fortune whilst Wightlink Warrior Chad Wirtzfeld found plenty of speed to clinch the B Final on the night. As to the Wightlink Wizards, their battle to tame the Wildcats went to the final bend of the final heat and for all the world it looked as if the home team were about to secure the 5-1 result that would have seen them take a win, however with Jamie Sealey well clear at the front, Wroxall based Morgan Williams appeared to tire on the final two corners and slide to the ground allowing two relieved Wildcats riders through for a drawn heat that clinched the meeting 17-19 in favour of the visitors. Mention also for the PeeWee and 125 cc riders who opened the evening and especially to Kye Elliott from St. Helens (IOW) who scored an impressive 7 points to take the ’Les and Lesley (Midland Fans)’ Junior Rider Of The Night award. Warriors’ co-owner Barry Bishop wore a big smile after the meeting as he said, “Wow. What a night 30 races, bags of action both on and off track, super crowd, magic finals. The night had almost everything Martin and I could have wanted and we were so close to complete perfection until Morgan’s slip in the Wizards meeting. I’ve got to say we have worked so hard for this night. We’ve had many battles and we have achieved what we set out do. That is provided affordable family entertainment in a safe and pleasant environment. Right now I’m just a bit speechless and completely shattered but tomorrow we’ll be back at it and I can’t for next Thursday when we can do it all again with the Wightlink Warriors”. Island Masters – Round 1 Result: C Final – Eric Pike, Dean Cutler, David Hollingsbee, Barry Coates B Final – Chad Wirtzfeld, Charley Powell, Mitch Godden, Nigel Coates A Final – Andrew Appleton, Jacob Buckhave, Tony Atkin, Rob Fortune Wightlink Wizards 17 (Jamie Sealey 8, Jamie Evans 6+1, Morgan Williams 3, Eli Meadows 0) Weymouth Wildcats 19 (Bailey Fellows 7+1, James Laker 5, Max Pankhurst 4+1, Sam Peters 3)

Back injury for Ully but has full movement thankfully.

Sad way for a meeting to end. Thoughts with Ulrich. has been on fire for Panthers and Tigers this season. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery

Batch or Love Island contestants?

How is it nonsense? They want people at the track. If it's a fair way to travel then the stream is a good option. The nearer you are the more likely you are to go to the track. It's common sense on Edinburgh's part IMO.

First things first. A massive well done to Lynn and Alex Brady. Alex being a fan of 25 years means he's in his dream job. The enthusiasm he would have brought to the pits last night clearly rubbed off on the riders and he got them all fighting for every point. Racing was the best I've seen there for a while. You was always going to win a home match and unfortunately it was us to give that to you. A very poor heat 14 and a very poor Brady kurtz cost us. Kurtz just cant seem to gate right now. Where in Poland hes doing very good and as improved but for us he's gone backwards. All I can think off is that he cznt get used to the new tyre. There were a few moans and jeers at etheridge when he fell but I think they thought he stayed down on purpose. But obviously in the end thst wasn't the case and they rightly applauded him off the track. Anyway Well done on the win. Belle vue not good enough,

What an appalling site this is! Badly designed and, certainly as far as speedway is concerned, lacking in up to date information. To find out that the Sheffield match is on I had to go outside the site for a search to find what 'British Premiership Round 8' meant - I could so easily have taken this for one of their many repeats. if it had not been mentioned on this forum that match is on then I wouldn't have known anything about it - particularly as it's not in the usual Monday slot. The BSPA were keen to inform us of their tie-in with this organisation now they need to bend their ears to tell them to provide clear information about the sport on the website. It's certainly not doing speedway much in the way of promotion. And if you're reading this Baldyman don't bother to tell me to use the power of Google. It should not be necessary to delve through multiple tv listing sites to get the required information when it should be on the host website.

I was going through all my programmes from the British Final and BLRC from 1965 until 1974 and it was interesting looking back .I personally did not see any of there wins in both events i did see the 1974 British Final where Eric Boocock won it and Briggo did actually beat Ivan in there meeting.Barry generally was pretty poor that evening and Eric was sublime.HEAD TO HEAD in British Finals 1965/ 1974 Briggo won four beating Ivan six race wins to three in all there meetings IVAN also won the event four times in that period.The BLRC i UNFORTUNATELY gutted really saw none of Barry’s six victories he made that event his own from 1965/70 my only query was in 1969 Ivan did have an ef in one ride and had four other race wins beating Briggo in there meeting Barry went on and won the meeting.HEAD TO HEAD in BLRC 1965/1974 Briggo won six titles beating Ivan six times to Ivan’s two Ivan did win the event twice in that period 1971 and 1973. Ivan was arguably the greatest rider ever in my opinion ( was never a fan huge respect for him though ) so was quite proud of Briggs head to head record against Ivan generally i would imagine only Ole / Peter Collins can rival that.A great period that; other memories were Barry missing the 1972/73 BLRC but doing a great job in helping crash Ashby secure second place in 1972 behind Ole.

Bit of a hollow victory after seeing the crash Ulrich has had , best wishes to Ulrich he will be difficult to replace , hope his injury is not as bad as it appears and he is back with us soon.

Says someone who can't spell lol. Was that sarcastic? Thought I'd better ask cos no one else gets your sarcasm but you!

Think there’s more chance of one league than Poole moving back up. Variety is better than seeing the same team every other week. Wouldn’t be Suprised go see a revamp this coming winter with north/south with top 4 meeting in play offs.

So do I, BOBBATH, and I used to attend a lot of meetings actually wearing an anorak back in the day!

I didn't realise Masters was on tea making duty tonight.

Or just download a VPN

Instead of complaining how about you read the full article. It states if you are within the 25 mile radius and can’t attend contact the club as to why and they will do their best to help. so for example if you’re isolating they would probably allow you to have the stream.

Great to hear that the first meeting went well. Now I just hope that Wightlink/SWR play ball and reinstate the late evening boat and train services to enable me to enjoy the racing and get home afterwards. Good luck to all involved with the Warriors.

I enjoyed the Belle Vue meeting and so went again last night. Obviously, the racing was not as good but the scores were close and the balance tilted between the teams until the Panthers pulled away, so I enjoyed my evening out. Owlerton is perfectly capable of producing good racing, as the Belle Vue match showed. I don't know how many tracks I've seen speedway at but the common denominator is that I've seen poor meetings at all of them, including many at the great Hyde Road. My one visit to the NSS produced a turkey. It happens.

See above W9. It was a sarcastic comment aimed at Skids (specifically) due to the content of another thread, that's all.

Track prepared to deal with the heat and not to balloon dust. As commented modern speedway is speed and the guy with the fastest bike normally wins. As most riders have similar equipment the only way you will get passing if someone makes a mistake and on a track like Sheffield where it’s open the throttle full and blast it, then that ain’t going to happen. Batchelor shouldn’t be riding at number 1 but the averages demand he does. I can’t see how averages make any relevance to teams in this league when the standard has fallen so far. Harris at reserve is an example of the system being wrong and allowing 7 rides makes no sense.

You aren't the only one who has said this... Cant understand why Ben wasn't picked up at the start of the season... would have been moot anyway because of his hand injury at the Newcastle P&P however he's back firing on all cylinders now (well one good one anyway) and its nuts that someone hasn't give him a go... there are a few Prem clubs that seem to be weak at the bottom end and Ben slots in on a very reasonable average (5.42)... Like I said "Nuts" as he could do a job that is for sure... and improve any team in the league... Regards THJ

I said that at the start of the season,likes Sheffield and good entertainment value.

That's a very unfair comment, Technik. the opening post talks of three fathers and sons as the topic he wanted discussed. The discussion generally follows in that vein with contributors looking to match the number of three. It is really not just chunky who took that to be the subject of the thread.

I always enjoyed the racing at Sheffield and rated the track in the top 3 British tracks. …….used to go 8 or 9 times a season. In recent years the quality of racing has taken a nose dive to the point where I rarely go as I have been so disappointed with the racing. Last night, I watched it on Eurosport and my mother who has watched Speedway since the 60s commented around heat 11 “ there hasn’t been much passing” would love to see Sheffield get back to having a good race track

Learned alot from you BOBBATH , BL , Steve, Norbold ( ect) yesteryear is a passion of mine.My memorabilia collecting scrapbooks pictures autographs keep me occupied and it is very enjoyable.The last few months i have bought alot of DVDS from the Jan Staechmann collection terrific value great to look back at the old footage.

I think you've missed the word 'some' out Henry, every track has them unfortunately. I expect feelings were running high during heat 14 but it's never acceptable to cheer a fallen rider IMO.

A triple team change is needed in my opinion. Batch, Wright & Bates to make way, needs to happen sooner rather than later too.

Oh I don't know! He'll probably have a problem with anyone who steps into Zane's vacant position.

Good luck to IOW tonight. Barry has been on Facebook live throughout the day, promoting the meeting, promoting and giving exposure to the sponsors. I really hope they have a successful season

Just one of those nights. Glad it could get through to 10 heats, but even that was a struggle. Hope the injured lads are ok.

Obviously love island They are lucky to string a sentence together but will rake in thousands of pounds. Batch will be lucky to cover his fuel the way he’s performing !!!!!

I see nearly 17months post Covid the ''healthy discussions'' between posters continues. I think I have missed it!!!!

I still feel bad for Trevor Redmond losing the 1961 Provincial Riders' Championship (60 years ago) as he was easily the best rider on view that night, but shed his chain on the last corner of the last bend of his last race while well in front. So I wouldn't feel so bad about something that happened as recently as a mere 49 years ago, TWK!

Love or loathe Nikki Pedersen you gotta give him credit for riding in this after that crash last week

All looking good here in Cloppenburg. First heat to start soon.

We're all (well most are) adults on here, so WTF is widely accepted and regularly used in the correct context. For the record, I say What The Fudge myself. So

Haha, C4G looks like your attempt at sarcasm is a very poor one going by these replies. I'd give it up if I were you. lol

Yup, this a great forum-particularly glad for stuff on sixties (my era)- I still have the programmes of every meeting I ever attended.!! I must be what you Brits used to call an "anorak"!!!!

George Major rode for Aldershot, Oxford, Neath, St Austell, Coventry, Cradley Heath, Norwich, Leicester (Blackbird Road), Doncaster, Newport (Somerton Park), Belle Vue (Hyde Road), Birmingham (Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium), Glasgow (Hampden Park), making 13 teams/tracks. However, his appearances for Coventry and Belle Vue were only away from home.

The back straight was always my favoured spot.

Surely ben barker must be worth a go at Sheffield great track for him always gives 100%,he also has top equipment this year.

I understand that Leicester & Glasgow tried to get Fraser Bowes into UK racing recently but it wasn’t an option due to work permit limits

Take Kurtz back......Please.

Tbf to Pearson he's right about Batch, he's not that bad a rider, he needs more speedway, wasn't he the highest averaged rider at the start of the season?

Probably waiting for Batchelors new green sheet average!

Looks like the fonz these Happy Days

Wow, really got it in for him haven't you? What has in ever done to you, apart from outscoring someone who you think is amazing. I bet you thought Zane would get double figures last night and then you could moan about how wrong the management got it. Unlucky! Bickley gives it his all so he can guest for Poole any time he likes, no problem.

It's Eurosport... I really don't know what you were expecting

If you were there, you would know it was a far better performance than the points he scored. Remember, he is a CL reserve, so riding at No.2 on a relatively new track to him was always going to a tall order. Ht1.Got baulked on 1st turn ,kept plugging away and was reeling Ruml in by the finish. Ht6.Gated with Schlein and Pedersen. Made nuisance of himself. Only their long standing experience took them to the front. HT8. Was cruising, never threatened, to a 5-1 with Hume. Engine went kaput and sounded like a bag of nails. HT10.Change of bike worked well. Rocket start and on another 5-1 until a small error left Z.Cook to go round him. Could have so easily have been 5 pts or more. Looked far more accomplished than Keleher,Ruml, Bowtell and Smith. Did his job very well. Considering this was only the second ever time he has ridden the Poole track, he acquitted himself very well, in my opinion. I heard people saying that for a guest, he tried hard for us and happy to have him back again. Not sure hed like the 7-8 hour drive from Workington each week though!

We're the lead story on page 2 of this week's Speedway Star and the response to sharing our request for people to object to the planning application and to share that request over as many groups as possible is going well. There's a long road to go and a very tough fight but we're getting the backing within speedway that we hoped for. Thanks to all. Rob.

If true that must fall under with holding services rather than prior commitment? That said any reason seems acceptable in the NL? No problem with that as long as its the same rules for all.