drew2

Good to see no-one has blamed Gary May or Matt Ford for this yet!!!

I thank you for your honesty!! :-)

I can't wait for the season to start and certain teams start losing so some posters can moan at their own promotion rather than constantly trying to slate the Somerset team. How many pages of drivel have been spoutted on here! Some claim to know the truth but they don't, they only know the bits that have been publicised and have jumped to conclusions on the other bits!

Actually I am not too concerned by this forced alteration after the average mix up by the BSPA and still think this Rebels team will be up there competing come September. Yes i was looking forward to seeing Jack Holder but remember we had to wait an extra year to see Brady in action and what happened during that season??? ....... oh yes we won the League amongst a fair few other things!Think Holder is probably pencilled into the 2016 Rebels team already. I think Lanham will bring a lot to the team as with an injury free season he will make a mockery of that average of 4.90. I can see a couple of points being added to that figure plus he also brings some experience off track, much like Olly Allen did in 2014. With Lanham you have more idea what you will get but with Holder it was a risk as they had no idea exactly how he would take to British speedway, admittedly he could have very good but he could also could have struggled to live up to his bigger brother's name. As was stated on Rebels site Olly Greenwood stood down himself due to his work commitments so with hardly any points to play with what was Garry supposed to do? Max hasn't really set the PL on fire but is a capable rider and does again have the experience of the PL tracks and he will take the pressure off of Starkey a bit, who is the highest average reserve. Personally i saw the Greenwood/Starke reserve pairing as being a bit weaker than the reserve duo's we have enjoyed in the past few seasons. Anyway the OTA has a good record with 'ze Germans' as Kattman, Kroger and the Hef have all been well liked by the Somerset fans in their time there so i am sure Max will be fine. As they do every year i am sure the Somerset fans will get behind the seven riders who come to the tapes in March in Cases Rebels colours. Those 7 riders will certainly develop the 'Somerset spirit' which has carrying us through the past few seasons and all will be good again. Remember last year when Pontus signed, after the Brady confusion, not many people rated that as a good signing but he was probably very close to being rider of the year and not one Rebels fan would have moaned to see him back in 2015. For all the whingers out there the Rebels team is now 'legal' so what excuses have you got when they beat you now???? Well said Nick, I know where you are coming from!!

I think Peterborough actually signed Crumpy on a 2 point average back in the early nineties!! Mind you if you ever watched any GP he ever rode on TV in you would already know he was born in Bristol!

and you forgot riders that want to come and ride for you!

So Sheffield's and Berwick's new Aussies are incorrectly average too then???? Two words ...... Garry May

Good work yet again Garry, Debbie and co in putting that together. Was it announced if we get the 2nd leg of the Final at home next season? :-)

Probably only because he was heading Somerset's way! Reckon Rasmus Jensen might be one of them

and add Jack Holder to that side!!

From speaking to Wrighty last season i don't think Workington is his favourite track but if the money is being thrown around then fair play to him to take it as a speedway riders career is only a limited one. Wouldn't be the first rider to move in that direction from Somerset for £££'s but sounds like that one may be back???? I hope Wrighty is back with the Rebels though and yes i do think he is worth that average. I guess the doubling up with EL FT Reserve may be an issue on a Friday night though. Wouldn't surprise me to see Rasmus Jensen as a Rebel in 2015.

I think Sopmerset put up the admission price every year for the annual PL Playoff Final and will probably do so again next year. :-) No one has mentioned though as its the last home match of the season that there are fireworks as well after the meeting which might need to be paid for.

**down the cart** He is member of a Bridgy club now! :-)

The track was tricky to start with and maybe caught the home boys out a bit but i can tell you, and the home promoters sensed it as well,that for the first time in a few weeks the opposition came down with a feeling they could win. When former Rebel Claus was asked why are you here so early he swiftly replied 'we are here to win'! The Bandits certainly set off in that manner and the main reason for the comeback had nothing to do with the track IMO but probably more to do with a Rebels team meeting led by a certain Garry May! In all honesty it probably did the Rebels some good before they head into the play offs where teams won't turn up at the OTA defeated already. Oh and just to add the main subject for this whole thread (that has been altered!) was the Rebels Golf day and i am pleased to say that just over £2000 was raised on the day for the Air Fence Fund. So to everyone who supported it in whatever way they could, I thank you!

Looks like Olly has had to withdraw from Friday. Just the golf part and not the speedway before you Bandits fans get your hopes up!! It is a shame as i know he really was looking forward to it. His clubs were already here and he had arranged to fly down from Norwich to Exeter on Thursday & stay overnight before playing on Friday. Olly has really got involved in the club this year. His comments last week were also nice to hear when he said how welcome he has been made to feel at Somerset. He also said how much he was enjoying it and so much more than he had done for a few seasons. Pontus also said afterwards that the Rebels were the only PL club he would consider riding for so the promotion/management must be doing something for riders to say that publicly.

Thought i had better start this now as i will be too busy later in the week to be worrying about starting threads on here!! ;-) I think it is very hard to predict a winner on Friday as with the decent weather forecast it should provide good fair conditions for everyone to do their best. I doubt it will be a one sided landslide scoreline this week although saying that the winners may well top 80 points! (good job Debbie ain't paying points money on that!) The chances of a Rebels win are slim in my view as despite his recent good form skipper (and new number one) Olly Allen, along with some additional support from the team sponsors Cases, carries the hopes squarely on his shoulders but he may struggle especially with the potential of many cameras clicking, at least the flashes will be turned off this time though!! :-) Obviously the main event of the day is actually the 2nd annual golf day at Brean GC starting at 10am followed by the PL match back at the OTA at 7.30am. Oh and when it gets around to the speedway action i feel it will more than likely be another comfortable win for the Rebels again. See you all on Friday and lets raise some money for the air fence fund!

The racing was pretty good considering the scoreline and glut of 5-1 the Rebels racked up. The scoreline flattered Peterborough as their 5-1 would never have happened had Olly not pulled up when someone flashed as camera. Good job he was almost the length of a straight ahead at the time as no accident was caused! Rebels were on fire and on that showing and the new GS averages from next Friday i can't see the RR being a problem for them. That team has a great team spirit going again this year! There was a couple of brilliant passes tonight from the Rebels boys, Wrighty made a couple and poor ld Dryml was mugged by Todd's divebomb and them gave Pontus a big elbow which still didn't stop him sailing past! Seen two home meetings this year so far and currently I think the overall scoreline of both is something like Rebels 127 Opposition 47!! The racing tonight was miles better than the Rye House match though. Roll on next Friday and our Golf day followed by another home win against the Bandits, although Pontus won't be there due to Swedish Final.

Kennett's rides cost them exactly 1 point! Any guest (especially the one i heard to had offered to ride) would have definitely scored more than that! Don't get down to the OTA much on race nights this season and that was my first meeting of the year due to work/family commitments. Every time i get a chance to go i seem to end up seeing Rye House and in all honesty that team is hardly of PL standard. Reckon Cradley would turn them over at Monmore!At least they won't be back again this season. Boxall should have sent a text saying he wasn't coming, at least the Somerset fans would have understood that!!

Wouldn't Pontus be riding in Sweden on a Tuesday in future weeks so therefore it would leave us without any other option than an NL guest i'm guessing. I think the match was maybe arranged this week as the SWC being on meant no Swedish League for him meaning he could be at the OTA, although i might be wrong. Looks like Wrighty got us out of a hole tonight with an awesome performance. As i have just tweeted i do feel the injuries last night to Olly and Andre plus the withdrawals of the ex Rebel Proctor and Lanham only made the Tigers stronger and us much weaker. Has Olly ever only scored 6 in any completed home meeting this year, usually good for double that? Admittedly Stead missing might have weakened then though slightly.

Its in the People's Republic of Cornwall! They don't like to think of it as being in England south of the Tamar. :-)

Riders tend to want to come to Somerset as it is a well run club with a great race track each week. Certainly not cheque book speedway down here! If it was then a 2013 Rebel would have probably been a 2014 Rebel as well but you can't blame a guy for taking the better pay deal he was offered elsewhere.

For all of you moaning about the early call off remember the promotion aren't made of money and any call off comes with signifiacant expenses to them. The earlier the call off the less this expense usually is so with the news last week that 1 track has probably ceased racing and another two struggling to be able to run next season already it makes 'business sense' for the promotion to make the call. A poor weather forecast has a dramatic influence on the attendance anyway so if they had held on and on and got the forecast rain and called it off at 7.30pm with fans inside the stadium they would have been slated for that as well.They really can't win but if you want to see the sport continue the fans also need to think of the wider picture of the whole thing from their point of view. Yes it is frustrating that some didn't get your speedway 'fix' last week but we live in England supporting an outdoor sport and the weather is unpredictable so we have to deal with the issues it throws at us. No speedway this week is better than no speedway for the whole of next season or beyond. I sympathise with the Worky fans upon ther long journey for no speedway but Somerset ain't a bad part of the world to spend a night! Until we get a roof over the OTA (!!) anytime you make that journey from Cumbria it is the risk you take. Some you win some you lose! I think Ronnie Allan is based nearby to the OTA and so is possibly used as the SCB point of contact in helping with decisions re meetings going ahead or not. I seem to recall a mention of him being invovled for the PL Final 2nd leg last October during the day whent he weather was not at its best. For those suggesting the weakened team being a factor i would like to think the Somerset boys would still have been too strong for the Comets, ex Rebels and all, anyway. I sense the BSPA make the call this week rather than the Somerset promotion but with SKY in town i reckoon it is unlikely to get called off too early.

Robbo is already guesting for Somerset (for Nick Morris) at Plymouth on Saturday i think according to Rebels site

Seems like anything goes tonight!!

May get shot down for this but i actually think the Rebels still have a reasonable chance to get through especially if we have the full team for the second leg.