thebaron

I think my point is to take both Lambert and Davies's averages out of the match all together. No R/R and you promote your No8 rider as we would have done back in the day. That way there is still "advantage" to Newcastle on higher CMA's and on home track; so I am not looking for a favour for Scunthorpe that would be daft again.

Talk about tying ourselves up in knots ? ..Lambert versus Davies is not like for like on this seasons form; and also if you consider the averages of the two riders related to the R/R facility Lambert can be replaced by; (the rider above him in the CMA's - ie; No1 Steve Worrall and everyone below that includes No3 Lindgren 7.27). Meanwhile for Scunthorpe application of the same rule for Davies; (brings in the rider above Lewis Kerr 6.28 and everyone below; none including Kerr can match Lindgren in the averages). So definite disadvantage to Scunthorpe there. Thinking this through the only fair way to balance this up; would be to turn back the clock to the 1970's and promote the No8 for each track to be one of the reserves. Promote the highest average reserve (MPT for Scunthorpe and guest Garica (Rose) for Diamonds to the main body of the team). Then I think you end up with a better balanced and common sense scenario. Of course things are never going to be equal are they; but is that not the nature of any sporting contest ?. By trying so desperately to limit team strengths and even everything up; you just end up in knots which is where I came in.

This meeting generated a lot of positivity around the club; after weeks being in the doldrums looking for clues. Josh Auty was on fire; unbeaten in his last two EWR meetings; posting two successive 5 ride maximum scores. He has definitely benefited from handing the No1 jacket to Ryan; who so often has been the one rider we can look to this season. But now it would seem we have two bone fide top riders who can take the fight to the opposition main men. Got to salute Lewis Kerr; had to double take him on the parade; looking every bit Andrea's Lyager from a distance. This was only because he had borrowed Andrea's bike and race suit; having parted ways with his previous backers Revolution Speedway; meaning he was minus a bike and gear before the match. On borrowed stuff; he manages to play a big part in the taming of the table topping Tigers and survived a nasty Ht9 spill that saw Alex off in the ambulance with a back injury. Lewis has always looked competitive around the EWR as a visitor and here was reason to think; that provided he sorts his machinery out going forward then he can play a big part in the remaining weeks of the season. Polished show too from MPT a great reserve; looking safe and assured on the bike. Tofty has definitely developed his racing whilst away in the Elite League with Belle Vue and more recently in the PL. Great trump card to bring in for first Little Josh as a reserve replacement and then for Alex. He could be busy in the matches to come. I thought that the staff and riders managed the meeting very well; responding on and off track to the tactical switches and changing track conditions to get the most out of it. You will not see a better high speed swoop from last to first than Josh going around Summers on turn two to join Ryan for the 5-1. Just awesome speedway that and had the support really getting behind the team. Worth noting that with Alex sidelined and Little Josh failing to score it was a 5 man team to all intents; so to run out 51-39 against the league leaders and big spenders was no mean feat. Hearing Alex has two crushed vertebrae so; wishing him all the best for a full and timely recovery; which will influence whether the management look to bring in a replacement. But there was much to enthuse over yesterday; and Rob was clearly buzzing; as he categorically stated that "we are definitely running in 2017" But right now the focus has to be on harnessing the positivity around the EWR; after two successive home wins and edging our way away from the wrong end of the league table.

I'm going out on a limb after Redcar last night ..the leagues upside down we'll beat Glasgee !

Thing is June;...we're better than this; No honest we are. Lewis Kerr has frequently proved himself a darn good rider and he posted some big scores for Ipswich earlier; Alex Davies I rate very highly; always have one of those riders who is never out the race; when he was at Somerset you looked at their top three and then thought "hang on" they've got a fourth top rider in Alex Davies. But he really has been playing catch up this season and then Wilko our 2015 Rider of the Year and another who can be a top scorer at this level; but this season something is not working for him. Your just left scratching your head; as the management are. You know what I was thinking coming home ?; is our in game management the best it can be ?; do we plot our way through the meeting as a team ?; surely we do ? or do we ?. For example Alex and MPT in races 10 and 12. Did they not agree before the tapes went up which one of them was taking which line ?. Reason; they both dived on the inside and actually mucked themselves up in my view. Surely one should have gone for the switch inside and the other attacked it from the outside. But is it that simple ? who knows ?. One thing I do know; there are too many question marks in this short rant.

Came away from this one last night; thinking that this was one we could and should have won !. There we are both Ryan & Big Josh pulling pukka top two rider scores; sticking two 5-1's at them as a pair; one to give us a shout at Ht13 35-42 down. But; the well used MPT and L'il Josh aside; where the hell was Wilko 4?- on a track he should know like the back of his hand !- to be fair L'il Josh actually looked smoother round the tricky Media Prima Arena ; Alex 3 ? and Lewis Kerr 0 ?. No middle order at all. As I say we could and should have won this meeting. On paper we did look better than the Teddies but for some reason ???. Alex and MPT together in Ht10 and Ht12 seemed to be intent on going for the same bit of track and opportunity was lost. Just when we got some momentum at home v Ipswich and guys are looking back on it; we're kind of back to base-ment for that Big One on Sunday v Glasgee.

Great show from Glasgow last night; riders and fans as one. Nothing wrong with Danny Ayres going OTT with the celebrations if that's what he wants to do. Reminded me of TV's Gladiators where you have hero's and villains remember Wolf and Cobra etc..certainly the crowd lapped it up; if you pardon the pun. If you had never seen Speedway before or had been away from it for a while; and tuned in; you might be forgiven for thinking "speedway seems to be in decent shape these days". Where can I see it where I live ?...

Seems ages since the last home meeting; and the forecast for Sunday does not seem all that great at the moment. Watched the Glasgow v Edinburgh derby on SKY last night; what a great crowd; and the fans and riders as clearly contributing to the atmosphere. Take a bow Danny Ayres for his showmanship and clearly a crowd favorite. There was some great racing especially from Edinburgh's Ryan Fisher and it put speedway in a good light. Glasgow and the new Belle Vue are showing that there might be a way forward for the sport. Looked at the PL table on SKY and there we were propping the whole thing up !..but we have only ridden 7 meetings; so in my view plenty of opportunity to make something of the rest of the season and see how far we can climb. Here's hoping for good weather and some great racing this Sunday.

Coming from Bradford so would not mind some updates from the club on Twitter ? Track more than likely fine hence no concerns at this stage; sure we will be kept in the picture.

Well I am going for a Scorpions win and some restoration of confidence in the team. Would be nice to see Lewis Kerr make a solid home debut - proving Ipswich wrong! and Alex Davies back amongst the points. Incidentally back to Ippo;see that score at Berwick last night? absolute drubbing. We are not the only team with problems it would seem.

Should have been capable of better than this and as much as I want to remain "the external optimist" results are beginning to make it look misplaced. One Ht winner against a weakened Comets and even NL guest Blacklock posts one of their 14. What the blazes happened with Alex and the Flag Marshall? WTF its not supposed to be WWF ! We most definitely need to get something out of tomorrows meeting and think thats a Win !

Looking at the line up's why can I see Scunny winning this ?

Premier League clubs are now inviting fans to be team manager for a meeting !. Fans of the club can be reassured that I have declined the clubs offer to stand in for Dave Peet at Workington on Saturday. I clearly need to get to grips with this blooming ridiculous rule book !.

No kidding ?.. there you go; you learn something every day in this game. By the way; but were probably talking half a point difference on the CMA's if that. So that stops us organising our heat leaders to maximise effect !..never happened in the good old "daze" I'll give you that. A bit like Harry Kane in your 1-11 and having to stick him in nets !. More anti-speedway for you. Then that's that we're stuck with it; but welcome Lewis and still looking forward to Scunday. By the way don't worry too much about the post I'm fine honest; folks need to start worrying if I stop caring enough to post anything. Then speedways really in bother. Cheers and all the best.

Just wondering how we will line up 1-7 ?. Signing Lewis Kerr has me thinking back to Bradford 1974 !. Our No1 and Captain "armchair stylist" Alan Knapkin took over the promoting reigms at Odsal mid season. Knapkin paid a transfer fee for Bostons reserve rider Tony Featherstone and he made his Odsal debut at No1 !. We could not quite fathom out how Tony ended up switching from reserve at Boston to No1 at Bradford?. Back in 1970 at my second ever Speedway meeting Tony had been the first rider I had ever seen flung over the back straight safety fence onto the Odsal terraces and walk away ! So we were a little unconvinced about his signing?. But Knapkin knew his man and Featherstone posted a 12pt maximum home debut score !. He never looked back after that and became a big points scorer in the team until Odsal closed its doors to Speedway in 1975. My point is that I would give Lewis Kerr the No1 race jacket too ! and show the same leap of faith Knapkin showed Tony Featherstone-who ironically would later ride for Scunthorpe at Ashby Ville in the 80s. There has been talk on here that riding No1 has not always brought the best out of Josh Auty ? Debatable sure ?. So I would take a bit of pressure off and move the order around. So; 1.Lewis 2.MPT 3.Ryan 4 Alex 5.Big Josh 6.Carlos 7 Little Josh. I think that pairs the riders quite effectively and immediately shows the regard and faith we have in Lewis coming into the club. I do not want to pile the pressure on Lewis but I just think this move managed this way might be a win win for the club and a very talented and brave young English rider with a point to prove. It would be a "feather" in our cap and his if we have found our modern day Tony Featherstone. Looking forward to the weekend now.

Agree; we are not a million miles off; is there not some satisfaction from turning the situation around with most of the team we have?. If the situation is as you say with Ty Procter then that's that with it; if we add Lewis Kerr then fine. What I would campaign for in 2017 is a Transfer Window system; say two windows in a season; where you can change your team. Barring injury or unavailability you work with the 1-7 you declared at the start of the season until the first window and so on. Guest riders (a necessity maybe in moderation) and the constant swapping and changing teams ruin the sport for me. Any Scunthorpe fans remember 1972 ? battered up hill and down dale and I don't recall much in the way of change in that 1-7. Part of the excitement is seeing if we can up our game and get back in the game with the riders we have. I realise that some folks do not see it that way though.

From what I have gathered Ty Procter was making his way back to the UK; so suspect he would be here if not already. Absolutely Lewis Kerr would be a good move; and his leaving Ippo took me by surprise; apologies to all if I appear to have jumped the tapes and signed him up already when that's the managements prerogative !

I like Lewis and its brilliant to see how well he has recovered and so brave to take on the challenge of racing speedway so soon after his injuries. But; for that reason I do think we get him at a time when he is still in that recovery process; and we have to be careful not to expect him to suddenly turn our season around. Personally I would have tried for Ty Procter; because he comes back very much with a point to prove; and you get Aussie mates rates from him circa teaming with Alex and Ryan. I could be wrong. Welcome to Scunthorpe Lewis; and all the best; lets re-group and draw a line under things from here...

Phil; agree we have not fully picked the tools up with the exception of Ryan. Its not all about winning for me; but it is a results business and thats what folks want to see. For me there is interest in trying to get a tune out of the team we have. Its part and parcel of sport there were, are and always will be winners and losers.

Its hard to explain why the team have gone so flat. Genuinely there was a lot of excitment and plaudits generated after the British Semi Final; so we would do well to feed off that. But the two home defeats have taken the air out it really. More so as we have made changes that have not instantly had the desired effect. The last two meetings have not been near the quality we have come to expect. But the track "conditions" do play a part and we are a team set up to chase opponents down over 4 laps; not win gate go! Peterborough; Sheffield and Berwick have arrived with riders who we know can win races at the EWR. All with at least three in their team. With Scorpions being very much a non gating team and off form its easy to see where meetings can get away from us. You cannot give away much to the opposition at the EWR because theres very little home advantage. So many of the top PL boys know the track inside and out. I do not think there is no lack of effort some of the coming together down the straights as the Scorpions tried to get in the race was alarming Big Josh, MPT, Wilko, Andreas and Alex were all squeezed hard up to the fence at times trying to find a way. So I wont accept the team has downed tools far from it. Sometimes you have to give the opponent a bit of credit and all the victorious visiting teams have had riders in there that were sharper; more determined or on better equipment and you have to look at that and see what we can do to reach that standard. We are not a million miles off ! we still have riders in the team who I believe are some of the best to do the job. Its fine margins mechanical;pyschological; physical and sometimes when your lucks out its out Sat here I have written down 7 names and their current averages all within the 42.50 points limit that on paper might give us a boost into the rest of the season. It involves moving things around a bit and puts MPT at reserve. But I wont put it up on here because I respect all of our team and their effort, daring and skill on our behalf. I hate changing I have said that time and again; I want to trust in the decisions we made coming through for us. But at the same time we all understand that the team; the club; is bigger than anyone. Lets get our heads up and go forward appreciating we have a team to follow at one of the great race tracks in mordern British Speedway History. Keep the faith.

Barkers re-signed for Ippo so forget that one.

Came away feeling a bit abandoned tonight. Rob disappearing again from centre field when we need him to keep the momentum in proceedings. It felt very flat at the end and your left scratching your head. It looked a tough meeting on paper and the reality was just that. Berge; Doolan and Tommy Gun were soon posting heat wins and factor in Theo Pjiper and Matty Weathers and by Ht8 the meeting was getting beyond us. Suprisingly Theo was not fully affective which was probably just as well. We cannot make starts always last into turn one and unless your prepared to shut your eyes and wind it on on the outside your chasing shadows Scorpions did there best to try to get into races notably Ryan and Andreas; and later on Wilko thrashed it round the outside to win Ht12 and that seemed to ignite his meeting somewhat scorewise. Ryan looks the leader in this team right now and was the best of our resistance throughout. Boy is Alex having a hard time; he would have won Ht14 charging round the outside before coming to a shuddering halt on turn two !. Taken out of his third ride in favour of a reserve ride for Wilko. It was a pressure evening for him for sure. In the time I have watched Alex over the years hes a rider you rarely rule out of the race. Speedways unforgiving Alex will tell you that all racers will. Its part physical part psycological and part mechanical; if those variables are out of synch it can be tough going. Alex is still a good rider. But my biggest concern is for Josh Auty he really is out of sorts right now. He will know that better than anyone; once we lose his points at the top end we are in bother. Particularly as we do not have a second big hitter to take some of the burden Josh never gates well; its his trademark actually. Miss the start and then watch him come from the back. But this season he is finding it hard to fight his way through the field. You cannot level any critism at Little Josh paid 5 from three rides is all we can ask. But I think our lack of form might be affecting him as he sees his more experienced team mates struggling for consistency. It does put more pressure upon him for sure. Andreas and MPT have to be allowed to settle in; and show their worth; but you feel that they may not get the time as things stand. We would have preferred Rob to stay centre field and stay with it; like I said we felt a bit abandoned to it; along with the team. Maybe that was a bit of mind games ?. Either way a week can be a long time in speedway to next Sundays clash with Edinburgh Sam Masters & Ryan Fisher both EWR specialists. Sure the management will be looking at what we can do. Talk on the terrace is of Ben Barker; Ty Procter and Lewis Kerr; the latter a suprise leaver at Ipswich. We would be looking at Plan C if further adjustments are made. I think we have to be sure any available riders will improve us if that is what we decide to do. It is hard to think that Robs pre-meeting rally call to the team wont have ramifications after another home reverse. The next few days will tell. Keep backing the team and the club. We got to get it together and we will.

Some top quality work there Steve; thank you for sharing these with us.

If you were promoter it might be a conversation you would have ?; but as always I don't like changing; as much as we have been misfiring as a team; I believe in the riders we considered good enough; to take us deeper into the season. But if a rider like Barker; a recognised specialist around our track comes available; you would not know your speedway if it was not in your thinking. Mmmmm I'm thinking?

Thinking same; would we ? Hes 7.70 on latest Greensheets we could fit him in. Right rider at the right time ? But hes not torn up many trees at Glasgee this year. Certainly one of the best around the EWR on form and is the "big hitter" we need.