Hunters

I don't understand the comment about Kelsey's face of thunder win or lose. When he had back to back heat wins against Kent beating James Shanes fair and square in the process he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. He is a young fellow who really wants to keep up the family tradition and when he makes a mistake he gets mad with himself and wears his heart on his sleeve. I have spoken to him over the last couple of years and he is a nice young man particularly for still only just17 years, No Bridger or Ward episodes with him I'm sure. I believe Martin is developing him for the future and blooding him slowly.

I recall seeing the Spiller boys in the British Youth championship about three years ago at Arlington , the only round I think they contested. They were both very good, Daniel was untouchable in the 500cc and his brother, a couple of years younger, I believe won the 250cc. I think their father is Army or working based in Germany and I have been wondering when they will appear on the scene. I seem to recall that the one Daniel beat was Reece Downes. Another master stroke by Martin Dugard I expected all NL clubs to be queuing up to give him a try.

My feeling was based on the information that Marc Owen was missing, Thank goodness that was duff information or we would have been in trouble. It still looked very uncertain after 5 heats, how can Bates, Dugard (twice), and even Ben Hopwood come off when comfortably in front. They will have to get their act together before the cup finals and no more appeasing Strudwick there must be a 6+ guest from herein as it sounded like Georgie is out for the season and a while yet before Richard Andrews can return. Martin Dugard has done a great job this season but what he does now will be the difference between some success and the season falling apart.

The injury and illness syndrome never seems to end. Have a feeling the unbeaten home record will go today.

Do any of you clever young IT chaps know how to get a video link to the FIM Youth World Cup in France today and tomorrow?. Love to see Tom Brennan give it a go.

Good to see they are giving Gary Cottham a run on Sunday instead of Richard Andrews R/R. I suspect this is preparation for next year. Whatever the points limit next year we will have to shed a lot so I can see Cottham and Powell at reserve and Wood and Dugard joining BWD in the main team. This will probably only leave about 7 to 13 points for the last two dependent on where the limit is set between 36 and 42. It could be a tough season. Bradley is really expensive at around 10.5 and makes us too top heavy. Of course we all want to watch him so will have to settle for enjoying him and having the team struggle a bit.

Thank you for your insight. It makes sense but I have never heard the situation spelt out by anyone involved

Can anyone tell me if there are any rules in the NL on how a rider gets his team place back when returning from injury if the team has been re-declared. For example : Tom Perry (8.96) is replaced with Josh Bates (8.46) James Cockle (8.59) is replaced with Jake Knight (7.62) Kelsey Dugard (4.96) is replaced by Gary Cottham (4.70) Unless the replacements really improve their averages whilst standing in, the originals will continue to have a higher average making it impossible to return all season unless the promoter discards others to change the team around. Does this mean the League season is over for Cockle, Perry and Dugard? Even worse, what happens if say Jake Knight gets injured, then his replacement would be less than 7.62 and the gap from Cockle even greater.

Glad to hear the early rumours on Georgie were wrong, we would be lost without him. Sorry GASBLOKE No chance. Their combined averages are almost 49 so if the limit is set at 36 again the team will need major surgery. Even at 42 we will have to drop a couple of 6+ and bring in two at 3.00. Unfortunately you cannot find riders on 3.00 like Georgie and Kelsey every year. Small consolation but Birmingham will have the same problem.

Just when we thought we had more than our share of injuries Georgie Wood in his second race makes a huge attempt to go round Dan Greenwood on the last lap and just failed on bends 1/2 then makes a huge effort on 3/4, clips the fence, goes over the handlebars and the words coming out of the Pits were Broken Collar Bone. BWD is now the only one of the starting line up not to have been injured and only he and Marc Owen of the original line up will be available I would think for the next 6 weeks which is close to end of season. Martin Dugard has done a great job of covering so far but I don't see any way of replacing Andrews and Wood and Cottham is no Kelsey Dugard. I can see things unravelling fast now. Very disappointing but we can't complain, these lads really give it their all so there must be a higher incidence of injuries. Hope Georgie recovers well. As for Coventry I expected more from Dan Greenwood after they way he rode Arlington when he was our guest and Ritchings was nothing special but in Knuckey they have a real little gem, like to see more of him.

The NL rules seem as confusing as the EL. The green sheet says Ellis is NEG not available to guest as he has aPL average of over 4.0. So how come he can guest tonight? Nearly all the No 1's are NEG so who can stand in for BWD on Sunday?

Cannot see the Eagles getting anywhere near Birmingham or Coventry on their own track. Our strength lies in depth and this competition is for top loaded sides. They will get points of the 4th best's and BWD will be a spoiler but that is all. As I see it only two rides each, A long way to go for 2 rides, no surprise Stoke and Buxton not entered. For the neutrals should be a good final between Brum and Cov with home advantage deciding it.

I said before season started they were too top heavy and despite Zac doing well I really cannot see them getting more than 35 points unless they have a lot of good fortune. The bottom 4 look really weak on a track they haven't ridden before, particularly Arlington.

Certainly was an entertaining meeting with a good crowd. There are no excuses for them not coming back next week. I was a bit worried when we had such unavoidable misfortune in heats 1,3,& 7 which cost us 6 points but the lads kept on doing what they do best and came through with flying colours. Really looking forward to the next time we meet as we probably will do in the cups. Only downside for me is that our gating still looks suspect. No problem at home as they keep coming from the back which makes it exciting but reading updates it is our Achilles Heel away. This also applies to BWD, we have seen him go by Morley, Branford,Clegg and maybe Ellis next Sunday but picking them off head to head is one thing, meeting two or three in each race is another and he will not do well in the NL riders championship unless he sharpens up his gating.

If that is true we need a new manager. Kelsey is 16 and just out of the Youth Championships. In all competitions he is averaging 5.58 made up of 4.22 away and a super 7.05 at home. All clubs would love to have a number 7 with those statistics. He has had his share of bike and tape problems and a lot of falls even a couple when comfortably leading but that is the price to pay for being a racer. This League is about developing young British talent and Kelsey is right up there as one of the best 16 year olds, nothing moderate about him.

Fancy 50-40 to Birmingham which should be overturned with a few in hand at Arlington.

Now I am confused, The Wednesday position is no problem but the Eagles rode their 4th League meeting last Sunday which I presumed meant a change, with a new Green Sheet issued on 21st May. If the next issue is not until June 1st what happens between 21st May and June 1st. With the Cradley match on May 24th this is could be quite important..

Which would mean that the 15th May stands until about 20th June. Georgie is going to be a busy boy.

I am wondering what GSA applies to this match. If the current one (15th May) then Richard Andrews 4 rides can be taken by BWD, Georgie Wood x2 and Kelsey Dugard, but yesterday was their 4th League match so when do they change?

Every meeting seems to get better. A big thank you to Rob Branford for making this a good one. His clashes with Bradley were great indeed heat 13 will go down as one of the greats. If Bradley is going to realise his potential he must improve his gating. He has no trouble carving past most riders at this level but gives himself a real handicap against the stars. He gave Rob a comfortable 3-0 success in gating, fought like a tiger in heat 11 but just failed, pulled off a wonder pass in heat 13 to stop his maximum and after coming through the traffic in heat 15 tried another flat out round the top of bends 3/4 into the fence. Exciting Thrilling stuff but he lost 2-1. Luke Chessell also gave us a thrill in heat 14, with Georgie Wood gone away in front Luke was under constant pressure from Mark Owen for second place. Coming out of the final bend Owen at last got by heading for the line but as they reached it a sudden burst from Chessell just got the verdict. Somebody asked on another thread which we preferred El or NL, its no contest we must make sure we stay where we are. The only disappointment was the crowd, the road closure due to a water main failure will have had some effect but there should have been a lot more than the +/- 400. Where are all the ~Eagles Elite Lge fans, how can we tell them what they are missing? As for Rye House, they look a 2 man team and were otherwise pretty poor. I don't want to get involved in the Brenden Johnson debate but I am glad he is not here. When Bates made his first ever appearance here last week he looked a reasonable rider but Johnson was all at sea.

No change to the weather forecast and after another shower it looks much brighter so just maybe it is moving through even quicker than forecast. Hope I have not put the kiss of death on it.

Weather Update The hourly forecast says overnight rain moving through by 12.00. By 17.00 the sun comes out and 18.00 full sun. Rain has been light, only 1/8th of an inch in my measuring pot. If the forecast is right there could well be no problem as the temperature is quite good and there is a drying wind.

Thank you Islander, It would seem the comment someone made about replacing Warwick quickly before 4 matches as BWD's average would be well above 5.0 had no bearing on the issue.

Calculating the GSA could not be easier but what I don't understand is why a new average after only 2 h+2a instead of the usual 6h +6a of the Elite. We have already seen 64 - 24 so imagine something similar and a couple of close away matches then the averages go sky high whilst the team getting 24 might have three more tough matches and averages going through the floor. No problem if they both keep the same team but as soon as they have to use Guests or re declare it causes a problem. What are the rules on re- declaration? Using the above scenario the team with high averages might add up to 42 for just the six riders leaving out the injured or unavailable 7th man. How do they replace him? By the same token the team with very low averages could add up to about 37 allowing them to drop a 3 pointer for a new 8 pointer. I am sure there must be some provision to prevent these things but I don't know the rules and suspect there are many anomalies, Matt Ford would have a field day.