Marksman

A good meeting somewhat spoiled by the unfortunate injury to Tate. Hopefully we get some good news! I think all the Comets riders dug deep today and put in a better performance then they have lately. Jeppesen seemed to find something later on in the meeting that he's been missing for weeks, looked down on pace in his first 2 rides compared to what he can produce. Drew Kemp is now also finding the fastest line around Northside, and NHJ gave us something we've been lacking at reserve, interesting that he said in his BSN interview that's he's gone away recently and decided to ride a bit more conservatively at times, instead of trying to make every overtake possible and coming off. It showed today, looked miles better.

It's an interesting interview with JD, he's always been an honest guy. So has basically just told it how it is. Might get missed but he said that the club is in no danger at this present time, but I can totally see why it wouldn't be sustainable long term to run next season and beyond. I heard an averaged figure that the club is losing per meeting and although not ideal is probably pitance compared to what loss Sheffield and some Premiership clubs are running at. IMO it is more a problem with certain factors out of our hands. The UK cost of living, rising costs of running a meeting and compounded by the British Speedway logic as a whole, when I look around the Arena the crowd levels don't strike me as that bad, the number of sponsorship boards is remarkable, crowd levels are probably what I would expect given what we are and where we are, and the fact we don't live in a pre-90's (pre-digital) age anymore, which is often forgotten on here. Big changes are needed, and promotors like Mark Lemon need to get their head out of their arses and stop believing that a Premiership model with GP riders is sustainable for the good of British Speedway, and think of the bigger picture for every speedway club to survive, that in itself does more damage than anything I believe, it is proven time and time again that the 2nd tier racing is the most competitive and exciting league IMO. 5 man teams would be a must for me for starters, and for the Comets it's amazing how much of a diference the crowd is when we face Glasgow, Redcar, Edinburgh etc. so more localised speedway would help. Fans still seem to travel in numbers to away meetings from what i've seen, and Comets fans certainely repay the favour, there was loads that travelled to Redcar recently for example.

Batchelor has aggrevated an years old left knee torn ligament injury riding the last few weeks at Northampton. Ultimately it's flared up over the last few weeks riding on a rough surface. Comets team boss has confirmed that is the case in a local interview, this weekend is due to be the first meetings he's ever missed in 3 seasons riding for the Comets.

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Jacob Bukhave was another I seem to recall

I think that is probably true yeah, but it can go the other way and management/officials could be like Keith Denham and upset people and drive people away from attending too. You could say Redcar, Scunthorpe, maybe Edinburgh are ran the same way as Workington too. Another thought I had is that I don’t buy that there is no home advantage either. Klindt has shown what a true home advantage would look like on the track. You just need fast riders, which obviously comes at a price. That’s why Belle Vue have such a home advantage around a similar track. Batchelor has been good for the Comets and his gating is elite at home, but he is simply not suited to the track. Think Nicholls at Belle Vue. IMO, I would be looking at bringing Antti Vuolas back next year, and fellow riders suited to our track. Yes we might struggle away the odd time but I think you need to be strong at home more importantly.

Dwindling support? Definitely not, we see some of the best speedway in the country, in what is the best and most competitive league!

Meeting won and lost at Number 1. Thompson over Kemp. Tried to be positive when the Comets signed Kemp, but in reality it's probably one of the biggest downgrades I've seen at Workington. Struggle to see how he was consistent enough to average 8 last season. Should of just brought Antti Vuolas back, who would of gave 110% effort

Charles Wright making his comeback tomorrow now at Workington in Jays memorial 4TT meeting

Should of stuck with the original plan of Lewis Kerr guesting 😆😆 Shocker of a debut for Drew I’m afraid, especially when we’ve been getting 10 points from R/R. Glasgow were lightening out of the start early on and that was that. The racing got good once we became competitive but it was too late.

Shocker of a start today, can’t get out the gate. Said Zischke and Kemp wouldn’t be the best partnership, both looking to ride the same bit of track

The points per meeting is a pointless stat at the moment, for example Edinburgh's is skewed by the fact they've rode 3 out of 4 meetings at home (including a home draw) and already have an aggregate point only 4 meetings in.

Interested to see how Kennett goes tonight, thought he looked rather good at Northside on Saturday given his long spell away.

Kemp is a really good signing, suits our track for sure. He can be very fast on his day. Scored 12 points last season at Northside from the No.1 position. Glad he's been snapped up and in the side for this weekend. Averaged 8.57 when riding in the No.1 position last season, so obviously has the ability, he kicked on massively over the last 2 seasons. I would move Kemp to No.5 and have Batchelor ride at No.3 with Tate, but that's just my opinion.

R/R worked out again ending with 10+1. Batchelor seemed to have more speed this week while his gating remains elite as ever, whereas Jeppesen seemed to struggle out the starts Max Perry impressive again, really good signing for us. Found something surprising looking at the stats seems like Batchelor has rode in every Comets meeting since the relaunch in 2024, 61 meetings in a row. Unless I'm mistaken, can't be many riders in British Speedway on that kind of streak for one club? (Lawson, Harris maybe??) Probably used to happen all the time years ago, but not so much in modern times.