Al Stewart

The Edinburgh meeting this afternoon is being Live Streamed. 30 races in 4 classes. Details on the Edinburgh website. Cost is £4.99

Casting aside the club's problems for the moment, Friday's match at Armadale could be close in spite of Birmingham's pretty bad showing at home on Wednesday. The absence of James Sarjeant is a hard one to cover. Friday 27th May: Edinburgh Monarchs v Birmingham Brummies (Championship), Armadale, 7:30pm WTF MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Lasse Fredriksen, Kye Thomson, Paco Castagna, Josh Pickering, Jacob Hook, Greg Blair (guest). CURTIS-SPORT BRUMMIES: Claus Vissing, Stefan Nielsen, Justin Sedgmen, Ashley Morris (capt.), Tom Brennan (guest), James Shanes, James Pearson Saturday 28th May: British Youth Championship 2nd round at Armadale, 2:30pm. 30 heats of action in competitions at 125cc, 250cc and 500cc level featuring the stars of the future and including some Monarchs Academy prospects. Even though Speedway Star doesn't say so, BOTH of these meetings will be Live Streamed by Edinburgh (as will every Armadale meeting this season). It might seem mad to have two streams - BSN are also there on Friday - but Edinburgh have their own regular customers who we want to keep faith with.

Yes I know but it seemed to fit in this topic. I always liked the name.

There was a pre-war rider, South African I think, called Cecil de la Porte.

Drizzling, scheduled to go off. I am pretty certain it will go ahead having talked to riders and track men. Forecast ok.

Tough one for the Devils tonight. STELLAR DEVILS: Danny Phillips, Josh Embleton, Tom Woolley (capt.), George Rothery r/r, William Lawson, Gregor Millar, Lewis Millar CHARGERS: Jordan Jenkins (capt.), Ace Pijper (guest), Ben Hopwood, Jacob Clouting, Nathan Stoneman, Arran Butcher, Sam Woods Available on Live Stream for £7.99 from the Edinburgh Monarchs website.

In the hotly-contested battle to find the stupidest rule in the book, the annual contortions of the heat 15 rule are very strong contenders. What is the point of the rule? Well it is to ensure that the teams give the public value for money with four in-form riders in the last race, and don't go for cheapness by putting in the two worst and least expensive. So instead of all this statistical waffle, the rule could be: "The referee must be satisfied that the team managers have nominated a strong pair for heat 15', or maybe "The referee may rule that teams must field a stronger pair than their initial nomination'. That's all that is needed.

That's very interesting, I'd love to get it. Any assistance in identifying the recorders gratefully received.

I don't suppose this match was filmed by anyone was it?

I suspect the Bandits think they can come and win this one, like the Bullets last week. We shall see. They certainly know the track. No surprises in the lineups. Big test for the new Monarchs. WTF MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Lasse Fredriksen, Paco Castagna, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Jacob Hook, James Sarjeant. FTS BANDITS: Chris Harris (capt.), Ty Proctor, Theo Pijper, Leon Flint, Ricky Wells, Jye Etheridge, Kyle Bickley. As with all Armadale matches this season, Friday’s match will be Live Streamed. Details on www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk

Delighted to hear it.

Is there anyone filming at Newcastle this season?

Unfortunately Graham missing tonight due to Covid, but Colin "Mr Junior Speedway" Mackie steps in.

Yes

I believe it’s available shortly after.

TEAMS FOR FRIDAY’S MATCH: Friday 8th April: Armadale Devils v Berwick Bullets (National Development League), Armadale, 7:30pm STELLAR DEVILS: Danny Phillips, Josh Embleton, Tom Woolley (capt.), George Rothery, William Lawson, Gregor Millar, Lewis Millar GRANT HENDERSON TANKERS BULLETS: Kyle Bickley (capt.), Kieran Douglas, Ben Rathbone, Greg Blair, Luke Crang, Mason Watson, Ace Pijper

Interesting NDL match in prospect on Friday. If you can't attend this one will be live streamed from Armadale. To access, hit the EMTV button on the Monarchs website, it's available now. You'll need to register for an account the first time you use it, thereafter just log in. It's £7.99. The Live Stream for the following week's Championship match Monarchs v Bandits can also be purchased now, £11.99

The coverage was OK I thought. Obviously a very one-sided meeting and yet all of the Brummies achieved something during the match.

It maybe just hasn't started yet?

Riders usually ride for expenses, and the beneficiary probably hopes some will re-donate these expenses. If big stars appear for riders they perhaps don't even know, that will probably be for an agreed fee. It's unlikely there will be much concession on rent because stadium owners will want their cash, though the rider might persuade the promoters to sponsor the rent. The ref may be kind enough to re-donate his/her fee.

Both capable of much better. After the league fixtures, Kemp finished the season 13, 2, 9+3, 8+1, 9, 7+2, 8+1. These didn't count for his CMA of course.

White boots - yes. Scottish Open - no. On his only Scottish Open appearance he scored 2, October 1963. Scores at Meadowbank were 6,7,12,9,13,2,10, between 1961 and 1964. He scored 9 in the PL Final of the World Championship in 1963, that was impressive in a very strong field. Of course he won the Provincial Riders Championship at Belle Vue in 1962, passing Wayne Briggs in the final. He scored 2 maximums at Exeter against Edinburgh.

I don't remember anyone saying that Kasprzak would not be able to ride the track. In fact it was a very wet track but he rocketed round in fast times, it would have to be mentioned in any list of best-ever Armadale performances.

This is a mistake, explained in the following post.

Before anyone starts jumping up and down, it says on the BSPA website today that Edinburgh have a doubt over Anders Rowe. This is a mistake, it was copied over in a team lineup we sent out which came from an old release of ours. Anders is riding. I've apologised to Anders and will also contact Andy Povey of the BSPA.