neil3065

Its a real shame that there are doubts over whether Buxton will run in 2013. They have worked wonders to have been in the third tier every season since its inception in 1994. During that time, they have produced some excellent riders, who have been amongst the best at this level and gone on to achieve success in the PL & EL in many cases. They are somewhat unique in that, while they set out to introduce young riders to competitive Speedway and develop them, they are also a standalone club and need to achieve relative success on track to encourage the paying public to attend in sufficient numbers to make the club viable. This raises the issue of building a team to compete with clubs with larger fan-bases, such as Dudley and Mildenhall. The present third tier, in my view, isnt as good as it used to be. There are too few clubs and fixture lists are too dis-jointed to name but two issues. However, it seems to me to make a reasonable attempt at meeting the varying needs of its member clubs, which seems an increasingly difficult thing to do, as demonstrated by the doubts over Buxton's future. There's a big gap between the PL & NL in terms of being able to move up, The structure below the NL, ie, the regional 'second half' leagues is better than it has been for a number of years, albeit, it doesnt offer a viable option for any club that needs to 'step down' from the NL. So, its difficult to get a perfect fit of a league for every club to compete in. If Buxton were to stop running in the third tier, it would increase the void in third tier teams in the north of the country, which would be a real shame for the prospects of would-be Speedway riders in the north developing careers in the sport. Its difficult to know what the answer is, with Speedway as a whole suffering from the current economic situation. Could there be any possibility of a tie-up with a higher league club, ie, Belle Vue or Sheffield, perhaps, in a similar way to what Mildenhall has with Ipswich?! Buxton has an excellent record of producing talented riders, so I really hope they find a way to continue in the NL beyond the current season.

As Adam says - the promotion would have had very little time to organise anyone to travel up to Buxton for this fixture. A little surprised there were no Buxton juniors around to take the spot and get some competitive racing under their belts. Anyway an excellent result for the Fen Tigers with only five riders.

If they can find another rider who is available for up to about 5.50 points, then I think they still could. There is a deadline for signings at some point, though. Getting an experienced rider for that sort of average mid-season isnt an easy thing to do. Otherwise, it'll just have to be a 3.00 rider. Maybe Joe Graver will finally get a run in the side?

I'm sure what heathhen1 really meant to say was to wish Aaron Baseby all the best for his recovery.

That's the right decision by the promotion, IMO. Good to see one of the Tiger Cubs progressing into the senior side.

Surprised Mildenhall have not declared R/R at 2 - thought they'd realised that it was easier to accomodate at 2 than 5.Unless they already declared the side for this match with Blackbird at 5 and now cant alter it. Hopefully, Joe Graver will be getting the vacant reserve spot.

With the top four (Roynon, Morris, Perry, Bekker) that Dudley have got, then they remain favourites, IMO. They have, after all only lost one league meeting, whereas Mildenhall have lost two and been held to a draw in another. Stoke losing Lambert is obviously a big blow for them, and although, IMO, they were marginal second favourites after winning at Mildenhall, that has now changed. However, Dudley remain favourites, IMO, with Mildenhall just behind. However, Mildenhall have shown that they are able to give Dudley's top riders some real competition on their day.

I think the point was that one youngster, Joe Graver, was left out of the side after a couple of meetings (when he scored 5 points in each) to make way for another, Ryan Terry-Daley (who I think had a best score of six at Buxton, but hasnt scored anything like that well since). On that basis, people were questioning whether it was time to give Graver another opportunity.

Not sure how many genuine heat leader options were open to the Mildenhall promotion - Morris, Branford or Morley (albeit with a dash up from Rye like Blackbird), perhaps?! Always preferable to use a guest, rather than R/R for your number one, if possible. Particularly, as you say, when you have another heat leader racing earlier in the day, then dashing up to West Row for this meeting. If any of the above riders were available, it would be somewhat naive of the promotion not to use one of them! Let's hope Mildenhall can cover Heeps' absence well enough to get a decent lead to take to Stoke for the second leg.

Apparently. both sides tried to book Charles Wright as guest at number one, but Stoke were quicker off the mark and got in first - so Mildenhall are using R/R for Cameron Heeps for this match. That should keep it closer than it otherwise might have been.

To be fair, Mildenhall thought they'd got agreement with Leicester for a similar arrangement for their previous home fixture v Stoke.. When it transpired this was not the case, maybe they gave up hope of Blackbird being able to ride for both sides on a Sunday on a regular basis (which probably would have been less than straightforward anyway) and accepted that they'll have to do without Blackbird on those dates, as now seems the case. Hence it wasnt worth altering the start time. Anyway, its done now, the fixture has been ridden, so the conspiracy theories are old news, and you're a bit late pitching in with yours!!

Still a pretty decent option to have rider of the quality of Tom Perry at reserve. The fact is Dudley are able to win matches comfortably without all the riders firing on all cylinders and without the team manager giving his high scoring reserve the full seven rides. It seemed like Mildenhall got going all to late in this match, showing what they could do, in terms of Blackbird and Jacobs beating Roynon after the meeting was already lost. But perhaps Dudley took their foot of the gas a bit with the meeting comfortably won. Obviously it was a blow to Mildenhall that their original choice of guest was not available and as a result, they werent able to cover Heeps' absence effectively, which would have made things a bit closer. In that case, Perry may well have had more rides. I know Bates had a couple of falls, and it probably wouldnt have made a great deal of difference, but there might be a case that he could have had an extra ride, with Halsey only scoring a couple of points. I think maybe the same could be said at times about Mildenhall not making full use of their reserves when the top five arent performing. When you're away from home without you're number one and a couple of your other riders only picking up a couple of points, its pretty difficult to get anything from a match. Dudley seemed to have more than enough about them to prevent Mildenhall from winning races until the meeting was won. I'm interested to know what the Mildenhall fans think about Ryan Terry-Daley. He was brought in with the promotion labelling him as a decent prospect, but having had a run in the side, his scores dont seem to have improved. I felt at the time it was harsh on Joe Graver, who'd got a couple of five point scores after Stoneman got injured. I see NorwichKev is suggesting the number six position needs to be sorted. So is it time to give Graver another chance, or should Terry-Daley be persisted with?

So lets have your truthful, balanced view of events then. You've had a pop at a Mildenhall fan for offering 'a biased view'. Yet all you've offered in return it seems, is a one-sided view. You are, it seems, doing the very thing you are complaining about! *EDIT* At least you've now admitted to some fault on both sides. As Adz said, though, its not good for Speedway at all.

And if that's the case, what you're peddling on here is different how, exactly?!

Why on earth dont Mildenhall just do the sensible thing and bring the start of this fixture forward?! That way, the fans will get to see both sides as near full strength as possible, instead of two below strength sides patched up with guests. There'll be an almighty scramble for guests, and with Roynon's average higher than Heeps' anyway, Dudley could well get a stronger guest in than Mildenhall (who havent always chosen to use a heatleader to replace Heeps) and that could be the difference on the day, anyway. As others have said, both sides will finish in the play-offs whatever happens. The greater all-round strength of Dudley's 1-7 than that of Mildenhall and Stoke will see them top the league table, whatever the result of this fixture. Plus, any hope Mildenhall had of topping the table took a serious dent when losing to Stoke last week. Allow both team's strongest possible line-up's to take each other on, and have the best possible spectacle. Otherwise the whole thing could turn into a farce, and the paying public dont deserve that.

Observing all things Mildenhall from afar, as I do these days. It would seem,in this instance, Mildenhall have agreed to a fixture change at fairly short notice in the knowledge that doing so would mean not being able to track their full 1-7, with Leicester also riding the same evening. So it seems Mildenhall have made the choice to agree to go to Lynn under these circumstances. This is somewhat ironic, given that Michael Lee seems greatly upset with Leicester at present. Agree with PhilK that R/R for Mildenhall's third heatleader will be easier to manage at #2 than at #5. Pity Mildenhall didnt realise that before yesterday's match, really. It may (or may not) have lead to a different outcome. But then, I've read and have to agree with some of the comments on here, that surely, barring a massive loss of form, three of the four play-off spots are already sewn-up. I fully believe Dudley will finish top of the league table, with Stoke and Mildenhall second and third, and almost certainly meeting again in the play-off semi's. So given that, it doesnt seem massively important that the odd rider might be missing here or there, or even the odd point be dropped. That is the downside to the play-off system in such a small league, with so few genuine title challengers. I find Michael Lee's comments about not wanting to deal again with Leicester interesting. I dont really think he's got much choice - surely Mildenhall cannot stand in the way of any of their riders who might be offered a PL chance by Leicester. I think he is over-reacting as a result of embarassment caused by the apparent change/misunderstanding in the fixture clash situation. When you get away from the inevitable politics in the sport, Mildenhall are having a very good season on track, as they did last year. I hope that their prospects of success arent too badly compromised by either politics or rider unavailability, as it is clearly a very good Mildenhall 1-7 when at full strength.

This looks like being a very, very close match. Difficult to predict, being the start of the season and many of these riders will have had very little track time etc. Last season's opening meeting at Mildenhall between these two was decided by a single point, and looking at the team line-ups, it wouldnt surprise me if there was only a couple of points in it either way again this time around. The two number one's are bound to be pushing to be the top rider in the league. Its difficult to know which pair of reserves will be the stronger, as Mildenhall's have had so little track time. Tom Perry, I would say, is the top rider out of the two sides' middle order pairings, but Joe Jacobs and Byron Bekker will both have something to prove in 2012 after disappointing last season. Daniel Halsey is a solid NL rider on his day, but had an inconsistent 2011. Lewis Blackbird established himself as a NL heat leader last season, and will be looking to push on towards PL consideration this season, so he and Ashley Morris could be pretty evenly matched.

I seem to recall some 'inane gloating' on here by someone under the alias of 'justdowntheroad', when they thought the judgement would go against the stadium owners and seriously limit, or indeed finish for good, motorsport at the stadium. While I see your point about sympathy, I'm sure they, whoever they were, weren't concerned with the financial implications had the judgement gone against the stadium owners.

This is indeed fantastic news for Mildenhall Speedway. As the judge pointed out, when a property is purchased, the onus is on the purchasers to do their research into the local area, as part of the decision as to whether or not to make the purchase. Thankfully, common sense has prevailed, and the enjoyment of hundreds of people on a weekly basis of sport at Mildenhall stadium can continue.

As you say, Nikko, it is good to see a British youngster being given a chance to make a name for himself. Given the collective experience of the Mildenhall management team within the sport, I'm sure they've seen enough of Josh Bates to feel that he is ready to take his chance at National League level. I'm sure you've got lads on your books with little or no NL experience who are keen for an NL team place, who wouldnt be part of potentially 'weak' reserve pairings in your view.

That's an interesting point. I think Stoke are also assembling a solid top four, and in Birks, Worrall, Reade and Pickard you do have some potential significant improvers. Of the Mildenhall line-up so far, In theory, Halsey and Jacobs ought to be capable of significantly improving their starting averages, following inconsistent seasons in the past. Indeed, if Halsey is to achieve his stated aim of establishing himself as a heat-leader, then he'll need to almost double his starting average. Jacobs, at his best, can be an NL heat-leader, and ought to be pushing for a PL reserve spot, so again, he'll need to put a point or two on his average if he's to fulfil the progress his potential has suggested in the past. Nielsen, by all accounts, should have the potential to increase his starting average of just over 5.00. So Mildenhall will naturally be hoping that all five can produce heat-leader contributions. I wouldnt see it as putting any pressure on Mildenhall's final two signings (reserves). Obviously, its always handy to have a consistently good scorer or two in those positions, and hopefully Mildenhall will have that - but then, every NL club (including the Potters) will be looking to sign youngsters who can come into the team and score well at reserve. I'm sure both Mildenhall and Stoke will again be serious challengers for a top four finish, along with Dudley amongst others. Mildenhall's away form in league matches was patchy last season, with wins at Dudley and Rye alongside some hammerings by their fellow play-off contenders. Hopefully the new look side can be more consistently competitive away from home next season.

Mildenhall look to have assembled a very solid top five, arguably stronger than last years. From what I could gather, form-wise Joe Jacobs could be considered somewhat fortunate to have kept his team place, after not progressing as he might have done last season. But then, he is an Ipswich asset and Mildenhall are looking to develop some British youngsters, so on those factors, assuming he is fit for the start of the season, its no surprise he has been retained. Similarly, neither Mark Baseby nor Jack Hargreaves seemed to reach their best form consistently last season, so its no surprise they have not been retained. Aaron Baseby is indeed unfortunate to be left out of the side after significantly improving his average last year. Clearly he's a victim of his own success to an extent, as if there are 7.5 points left for the last two spots, as Phil suggests, he's only a fraction of a point over being able to be included alongside a 3.00 reserve. There had been rumours about Nielsen joining, but I'm a little surprised he's moved from Scunthorpe, when they are looking for a couple of more experienced riders to fit in alongside their crop of youngsters for 2012. However, the chance to work with the ex-riders that are involved at Mildenhall is clearly a big plus point for potential signings. Cameron Heeps should develop into a strong number one next season and be amongst the best riders in the league. I have heard Chris Louis interviewed suggesting that an exciting British prospect will be included at reserve, presumably a complete newcomer and therefore on a 3.00 average, which should leave about 4.5 points for the final rider. Be interesting to see who that is, as its proved an awkward average to bring someone in on in previous seasons - hence Aaron solving that problem last season. Pleased that Mildenhall seem to have resolved the issues relating to their participation in the NL in 2012 - hopefully circumstances will dictate that I can be a more frequent visitor to West Row in the coming season.

Without seeing any outline of the BSPA's reasoning for these developments, I can only assume that the fee that has been imposed on Mildenhall is connected with assurances required over the future of the club beyond 2012 following on issues in respect of the stadium that were raised last winter. However, this is not the first time that the issue of the BSPA requiring a significant financial bond from Mildenhall Speedway has threatened the future of the club. With the country's economy in its current state, it would be no surprise if additional outlay of this kind would cause any club cash-flow problems, let alone a small NL club like Mildenhall. Given that, you have to question whether the BSPA has the best interests of Mildenhall Speedway at heart. Perhaps Mildenhall would satisfy the BSPA if they were to abandon their future plans and simply close the club down? Sadly, battling against the BSPA does seem to be part and parcel of life as a promoter of one of the sport's smaller clubs. Chris Louis has clearly stated that Mildenhall Speedway needs some support from the BSPA to be able to continue to run and to develop its proposed youth development programme. Part of the BSPA's remit is to look after Mildenhall Speedway's interests, as one of its member clubs. They must understand the implications of imposing an additional financial levy on the club that, as Chris Louis says, doubles its running costs and the viability issues that leads to. Chris has openly asked the BSPA to work with Mildenhall Speedway to ensure the club can continue to run - surely that's in the best interests of Speedway as a whole. It will be interesting to see how this develops and whether the BSPA are prepared to listen and to work with the club. This is one small example of the sort of political goings-on that has left me disillusioned with the sport and caused my interest to dwindle in recent years.

Circumstances dictate that I dont get to see the Fen Tigers much these days (plus the politics in the sport has dampened my enthusiasm in recent times). However, still keep an eye on events at West Row from a distance. The comments coming out of the club since the end of the season seem to indicate that they want Cameron to stay as number one if he's given permission to double up. However, there's also a good case to be made for going with a number one on a lower average and using the points left over to strengthen other areas of the team. The Ipswich way in previous years has been mostly to keep their teams together as far as averages allow - so, given the Witches connections, the promotion may be caught in two minds between that and strengthening up so that they can be more competitive against the better sides away from home more often. If Barrie could be signed as a third heatleader, then he'd certainly strengthen the middle order. Hopefully, they'll get Lewis Blackbird back (wouldnt be surprised if he doubles up in the PL) and he can continue his excellent progress. Robert Branford is a name that was linked with Mildenhall towards the end of last season, and he's a quality rider in any NL side. Ben Reade could be a useful signing at reserve - he seemed to have made big progress last season. Joe Jacobs seemed to have a disappointing season - think he'll be back as he's a Witches asset, but he needs to really kick on and nail down a heatleader spot, instead of moving between second string and reserve. Mark Baseby, IMO, hasnt really progressed at NL level for a good few seasons now. Aaron did very well to significantly increase his average last season. Be interesting to see if Hargreaves returns on a reduced average. He seemed to have a mixed season and could be a good second/third heatleader for someone, whether that's Mildenhall or elsewhere. Ought to be establishing himself as a number one though - certainly has the ability. Halsey seemed to have a mixed season too, but finished well and if he can make the kind of progress he's talking about - he could be on a bargain average at second string or reserve.

Excellent result for Mildenhall to go to Stoke and win for the second time in a matter of weeks to end the season with the KO Cup in the trophy cabinet. When you consider what Mildenhall went through in terms of the club closing down part way through 2010 and have bounced back, with a new promotion this season and have the KO Cup to show for their efforts, its a marvellous achievement.