Halifaxtiger

Many congratulations to the Brummies. Worthy champions. The meeting itself was a good one. There wasn't much passing early on but the riders were never strung out and the scores were close. Halsey's superb ride in heat 15 to beat Ellis showed it could be done, and Wajtknecht got Coles a race later. It turned on heats 10, 11 & 12. In heat 10 Chapman got out in front of Halsey and blocked him, allowing Wajtknecht to get away. Then Halsey made a poor move and lost touch altogether. Ellis passed Kingston a race later, and then in heat 12 after Ruddick had fallen early on Mountain lost control when well clear and the Brummies were gifted a 5-0. Couple of nice touches : Robert Henry saluting the Birmingham fans, and Graham Drury providing them with a big bottle - possibly not champagne, but very thoughtful all the same

I saw Simmons, Morton, Collins and many other very fine team riders but.....the best team ride I have ever seen was between an 17 year old (Richie Dennis) and a 16 year old (Grant Hayes) for Scunthorpe against Wimbledon in 2005. Dennis slowed the race to a ridiculous pace as he sat outside his partner and he did for the best part of 4 laps, only to see Hayes fall on the bend before last. I forget who the Wimbledon rider behind was but he wasn't impressed, starting on Dennis after the race. Anyone who thinks team riding is dead didn't see Branford & Hughes on Saturday night.

I thought the attendance was disappointing too given that all 10 teams were represented and most had their top riders out and dry weather was pretty much guaranteed.

24 heats in 2 and a half hours, good quality presentation and some entertaining racing. The meeting was a credit to the NL and to King's Lynn Speedway.

EL Grand Final, last race. Poole need a heat win to beat Coventry. Holder gets a massive flier after pulling a huge roller at the gate. No doubt Havelock would defend that, too.

I can't see where it says 'until' - although I wouldn't deny it could be better worded. What it says is that the starting marshal puts the riders in position, makes sure they are still and that their back wheels are on the ground then signals to the referee and walks away. The referee then illuminates the green light and after a pause lets the tapes go. If it is the case that the two parts - ie before and after the green light comes on - are unconnected, I'd question what the point of having a starting marshal and rule 15.3.2.1 is. While I would never deny that this rule is applied inconsistently - because in my experience it most certainly is - my view is that all riders sit still at the tapes and then the starts are fair rather than a lottery about who times their roll right.

From my own perspective, I don't think there is more risk of serious injury or fatality than in the past. Bikes are certainly faster, but safety at tracks and medical and surgical procedures have improved significantly. To my knowledge, 5 riders lost their lives riding in Britain alone during the 5 year period 1979-1983. That doesn't take into account serious or paralysing injuries here or fatalities or such injuries everywhere else in the world.

I think you're right. But I also think there might be more than a few who will choose the NL Fours on Saturday who would have gone to Peterborough as well had it been on Friday. Me, for a start.

Clashes with the NL Pairs at King's Lynn. Its all about availability of the stadium, of course, but I can't help but wonder if Friday would have been a better choice.

Outside the stadium and it is spitting with rain. The ground is very wet indeed.

Does music make that much difference ? At Redcar on Friday they played Abba's greatest hits back to back before the meeting. Not bad, but I am 50 and they must all be at least 25 years old. At Berwick on Saturday comments were made about the age of the music, too, and a highlight at Plymouth are the Wurzels. I suppose it adds a bit of atmosphere but that's about it.

They do have at least some control of running double headers (to be fair, Coventry do have a backlog) Having two meetings starting at 7.00 or 7.30 means that they have to run absolutely smoothly, with no crashes or other delays. That is unlikely so the chances of getting through 30 heats in 3 hours is a slim one - especially when the riders are NL standard.

Usual entertaining meeting at DP Wells never really looked like being beaten but Hansen had to work hard for his maximum. Fisher, Doolan and Garcia tried hard for a poor Bandits side, not helped by a shabby performance from Tungate. He's better than that. Special word of credit for Blacklock. He's stepped up big time for Buxton this season, was pretty competitive and amazingly remounted after a fall in heat 10. I trust he will get a few more PL bookings. Fingers crossed the meeting on Friday will at least help to ensure the future of the Comets. The really sad part last night was a poor attendance when the promotion deserve much better. Speedway can ill afford to lose a club of Workington's quality.

I have said many times I have a lot of time for John Anderson but this wasn't a good meeting. Berwick were always in control and the track was very one line - Barker's pass on Williamson was the only one all night. Williamson's crash was awful and I was surprised to see him walk away and astonished that he came out for the re-run. The crowd didn't look too bad to me (helped by a fair contingent from Workington). Its a pity whoever prepares the track isn't as a good as the person who prepares the burgers. They are just superb

Not as good as last week, but still a good meeting It remains to be seen whether Sheffield's team changes will benefit the side or not (although, to be fair, they virtually had to be made) in the play offs. Very impressed with Garrity and Bates - both have come on a bundle since I saw them last time.

Would he ? Rye House - Kennett aside - were pretty poor, too. The rest of the team all scored at least paid 9 that night. Wright scored paid 6 - and in three of his races, there were only 3 finishers.

Plymouth have one aim at the moment : to make the play offs. That means they have to win all their home meetings and pick up 4 points away if they are to overhaul Ipswich. They can't afford to carry anyone. Its fair point that Wright is just returning but if he's not scoring the points, he's not scoring the points. I have seen Wright ride three times for Plymouth, two at home and one away. In both home meetings he was beaten by the away reserves, so there's no guarantee he would consistently start winning races from that position. At Redcar, he never looked liked beating anyone - in fact, he was way behind and his failure to score hit the Devils hard that night. I think Simota is on borrowed time (however popular he is at SBA) but if it came to a choice between him and Wright, I doubt if there would be many who'd pick Simota to drop. I'd say that to achieve their aim bringing in Eklof instead looks like a smart piece of business. We'll see.

The weather didn't behave itself. In my view, the meeting should have been called off after heat 11. The last 4 heats (in particular the last 3) were farcical.

I think you're right. Not, as you also point out, that it made the slightest difference either way nor did it detract from a very good meeting.

Not funny. In the slightest.

16.5.2.2 If the absent Rider has an assessed MA and is a PL#1 (by MA) only RR facility is allowed

I have been meaning to ask whether it is Zhack or Jakes ? I don't think there was any major outlet for argument, comment or debate before the creation of the internet other than the terraces or the pub. They are still the same today whilst we can express our feelings to a far wider audience online. To me, that's a good thing and while its a question of sorting the wheat from the chaff I find it disappointing that members of the BSPA apparently ignore it altogether.

Rob Godfrey said that he hoped that Thomas Jorgensen would be back at EWR next season................and then slightly too late said 'If we are running'. I suspect they will take their place in the 2016 PL and, providing they get a decent team in - because that is what led to the drop in attendances, 5 out of the first 6 home meetings being defeats - see no reason why they shouldn't do OK. Rob has already said they will switch to early Sunday evening. The thing is Scunny is the best of example in Britain of giving fans what they want- excellent racing, good presentation and no unnecessary delay.

Another cracking meeting at EWR with the highlight being an extraordinary heat 8 Lyager looked a lot better than Rob made him out to be at the last meeting........... This meeting, along with the previous night at Redcar, showed how all ages attend speedway meetings. With the Plymouth boys and the Redcar crew on Thursday I felt positively youthful. Last night, with Lightning Fingers, the Doughnut King and the President of the Alex Edberg fan club, it was totally ancient

Cracking meeting, as good as I have seen anywhere this season Both sides going hammer & tongs at each other all night and its difficult to state a real highlight although the battle between Holder & Andersen in heat 15 was special - no-one knew who had got it as they went over the line. Agree very much about the 7-1 - when the lights came on Risager was definitely in front. Shocking decision. The only downers were that Plymouth deserved a point and three sets of road works on the way home. Best part was seeing STMP back to what it was about 5 years ago - as one of the top tracks in the country Now trying to figure out how I can make next Fridays meeting.....................