thebaron

Everyone's writing their list for Santa it seems.... I don't think its that simple though because we surely have to have some form of 'change' to the British Speedway format for 2015. I will comeback to this during the winter. But all things being equal; it really is dead simple at the EWR Dear Santa 'promise to be a good' please can we have. 'Rocket Man' - David Howe ' Flying' Ryan Douglas 'Action Man' Josh Auty Tommy 'The Gun' Jorgensen 'Captain Fantastic' Ashley Birks Plus two 'suprises' Cheers Santa. If you can find five better Scorpions at PL level AND with the ability to up their game further - then you know better than me. Nicolai Klindt as a non Scunthorpe asset will likely depart. Leaving us two to find. But this assumes we are looking at the same 'league structure' as we have now. Somehow me thinks that may not be the case when the tapes go up on 2015.

Another thing; I have always said that speedway is better under lights; just the whole spectacle of it! and is it me just thinking; but do the riders enjoy racing more on a circuit with the crowd and stadium enveloped in the dark? Certainly its well documented how tracks perform better in the evening rather than a sunny afternoon. I definitely prefer floodlit speedway; it brings the medieval joist and 'knights on bikes' thing to mind. Anyone remember Dave Lanning for so long the voice of speedway commentary on World Of Sport. When TV Times promoted the speedway upcoming on ITV in the 70's-80's they used the 'knights on bikes' thing to capture the imagination and it worked- for this kid anyway!. There are many things that need to be considered in the Winter and its always difficult with speedway; the weather and fixture planning but if I saw more meetings under lights I would not be protesting.

What a bloody great meeting that was - thank you Rob and all the team for coming up with yet another EWR Speedway classic. I don't think (and I have been on the speedways for 40 years) I have seen a more thrilling speedway race than Heat 15 last night. Ryan's last ditch dive down the fence out of turn 2 (and he was always going to try that!) from third at the time was just astonishing skill and bravery. I usually note down a commentary in my programme of what happens but so much happened over 4 laps I were lost with it. Down 1-5 to the Bandits Vissing/Doolan pair (great night from both by the way) and somehow Josh splits them and powers to the front. I have to see this back; (fortunate my brother captured the whole 58.5 seconds of speedway majesty on his phone so I cant wait to see it back!). The team are just incredible at the right time; and Benji Compton added extra out of the reserve that we haven't got from Tom Perry - I wonder?. Scorpions are just right on the money coming into the Play-Offs and its testimony to how we set up at the start of the season. If we could get all the top six inform; and fit then we have 6 heat leaders and one of them a Reserve!. So just a massive thanks to everyone at Scunny last night; and yes I would have gladly paid my admission for just one race - Heat 15..but don't tell Rob. COME ON YOU SCORPS!

What a great meeting v Comets who despite missing riders still made a fist of it. David Howe was absolutely awesome; the speed he had in that bike was something else. He's been tweeting today about 'the rocket' and he was truly Rocket Man in Heat 15. His fearless last to first will live long in the memory. Turn the clock back and in my opinion there's no way David would have held onto that out the turns like he did yesterday with his shoulder injuries. It is a mark of 'howe' good a recovery he has made that he was able to stay with 'the rocket' when it was bucking like a good un out of the final bend lap three to set himself up for a unbelievable switch inside of Richard Lawson taking him to the last to first!. Not happy that we have dropped Matty Orange. Now; I know this was Tom Perry's first outing but in all fairness he certainly was no more on the pace than Matt. I know that Matt has an injury; but not withstanding this; we should have stuck with him. Surely that is the whole premise of what we are about at Scunny - developing racing talent. Matt's had a tough baptism for sure; but the more he rides the more he learns and he will come good. I would have liked to have seen us stick with him; and not replace him with a rider who with all due respects on that showing offers no more and possibly less!. I well remember Steve Wilcock making it into the Bradford team in 1974 and he might have been discarded when he struggled for points. But promoter Alan Knapkin persevered and guess what? Wilco became a National League legend. I see some of the same about Matt if we only keep faith. Bring back Matty Orange !

Cheers for this advice and will certainley take note. One report coming in from Talksport says that it will be open from tomorrow morning. Lucky I am on holiday so will set off in plenty of time. Non the less dont want to waste time and fuel in a jam. Might get over early and have a look at the old speedway stadium at Quibell Park as I never went there back in the day. Thanks again. Looking forward to tomorrows match shame we came unstuck at Glasgee on Monday. On the plus side Scorps really had a right old go at the Fours. We said at the start we just want to be in the meeting to the last! and the lads did not let us down. All the Scorps came up with at least one great ride; Ryans pass on Pontus Aspegen in Ht10 of the Final was unbelievable. We are a top team when we all fire thats a fact.

Never mind the riders not being there I doubt we will be there either!. Have you seen this lash up on the M18/M180 into Scunny.Reports of 5 hour tailbacks into Scunny. Any advice as we travel from Bradford on the M62. Seriously if this affects tomorrow nights attendence Rob needs to hit the Highways Agency with a compo claim. But as I say what advice for riders and fans intending to travel. Cheers.

Great gesture and not just by Scunny; Coventry and Wolves have also looked sympathetically on Brummies season ticket holders. But am I being a bit of spoiler here?...free entrance here; free entrance there...if other tracks offer free admission for Brummies fans; they could potentially show upp at a different track each night and get in free!. Their Brummies season ticket would only be valid for the one Birmingham home meeting that week; not for multiple meetings. Or am being a spoil sport.

Need of a response after Sunday's debacle, and sure the riders will want it for themselves. How's Tommy the Gun?, he tweeted a couple of days to get over; what was first thought to be a broken scaphoid. Seemed optimistic. If not would expect we will have a guest in. That's a point; a guest rider for a reserve? not sure I go with that idea in principal. In t'old days you had to promote your No 8 rider. So it gave an opportunity to a local prospect at reserve in the match. So that would be one of the Stags today. It gave a rider like Stephen Wilcock a break at Bradford in 1974 and he developed into a Division 2 legend at Teesside. Just a thought.

Was left squinting at this hammering and seriously wondered if I had it wrong and it was Stags at Rough Park. Was it the track? I find myself hoping it was as I cannot see how Scorps can do that badly?. We need to very quickly put this behind us and get back to being the top team we are. Thanks to Tommy Gun and David for giving it a go but the rest will be hurting after this crusher. Expect a response on Friday v Sheffield.

Surely the right way to run the Scunny team would be if Matt W, and Max Clegg had been included from the outset as Stags riders in the NL. A score like this is an absolute killer on the gate for the home side; how do sell this to the fans. Do not misread me I am 100% behind the Stags; but why did Cradley need to sign up riders that logically would ride for the Stags. Both riders are development level so would legitimately make the Stags that bit more competitive over the season. Really frustrating to see Matt ride PL for the Scorps and then don the Cradley jacket second half and 'ommer us' to bits! I think its taken to the extreme to have all bar one rider on a 3pt average for the Stags. Cradley and Scunthorpe are approaching this league at entirely different ends. Cradley to blow the opposition away before a wheels been turned and Scunny acting in the spirit of things by fielding novices. Something is not right here and like the Elite/Premier set up needs a rethink at the end of the season.

Just wondered about this fixture running against the England v Uruguay match? could be a killer on the gate. This should be a good meeting; I suppose the promoters have considered this but with England kicking off in Sau Paulo at 8pm think its brave to run.

Should be a cracker! cannot wait to see Uli Ostergaard round the EWR again he was awesome in the KO Cup tie for Peterborough. Richie back and a first look at Manzeres for Ipswich. Should be a right old 'ding dong' of a meeting this.

Get rid of Klindt? just cannot see Rob taking that option; with Nicolai the 'form jockey' right now. But with Mellgren showing he could be fit, it is a real conundum for the management this. Can Anders come in and not be restrained by his injury?, Ash had a similar injury and although at times it does not look like it; there are times where he might have to reign himself in to keep safe. He is though doing great and it would be a tough call to sideline the captain. At Sheffield last week he rode his preverbial 'nuts off' for 3pts and generally is where he might expect to be given the serious injury he had. So to have Anders back having to ride 'within himself' as well might not be the best decision. Especially if Klindt makes way, effectively weakening us. That said Rob indicated from the off that if Nicolai got a EL ride again (now with Leicester) he would not stand in his way. But I am sure Nicolai will want to continue to double up - who doesn't these days. So squeezing Anders back in is no easy deal. Tommy might have made way; but after that blistering show at Sheffield last week I would be shocked. That's the sort of reserve everyone wants to have; and gives us a strong 1-6 which is how we set up. Ryan's non-negotiable; Matt is flame proof on a 3pt average. Which then leaves Josh and David. Seems impossible to think either would be stood down (I am sure they've moved on over any differences). Rob has only just secured Josh on a full Scorps deal!; fair enough his form has not been that of 2013 but he's still a PL No1 for goodness sake. For the life of me I cannot see Rob; parting ways with David; he's actually having a good season with some solid scoring, and has the ability (as with his full home max recently, of posting double figures home and away). You know what; I am finding it hard to make case for changing it; we can definitely make the Play-offs with our current 1-7 and then it could be 2012 replayed. For sure the management have a headache over Mellgrens return (a nice one really) and which ever way the dice rolls we know 8 into 7 don't go. Rather them than me. Whatever we keep backing the team.

I think you have pretty much said what most of us are thinking. Again tonight Josh on 3pts; I have a theory on Josh which says that the busier he is ie; doubling up with Birmingham in the EL last season...the better he is. Sometimes you just need to be in 'the zone' in speedway and too much time spent waiting for the next meeting to come around won't help your form. Speedway riders generally need to be out there racing; and that breeds confidence. You score 3pts and then the next meetings a week away. Except in this particular instance Josh can put it right at Glasgow on Sunday; and he is certainly very capable of doing exactly that. At the moment without Nicolai the going would be even tougher and to be honest, if Anders Mellgren confirms a return then a 'decision' would need to be made as if we are aspire to the 'play-offs' then both of them would probably be in the team. So depending on averages someone would be stood down. Back to tonight Ash(6) and David(5) filled in the middle order as you expect; but with Josh down and Ryan tweeting he rode his nuts off for just 4pts its a tall order against Rebels who have scored freely at home this season. To be honest I would not get too down (although the riders will be frustrated) because we can pick it up at Glasgow on Sunday and win there. But I do agree with other posters that something does not feel quite right at the moment; although I am certain everyone is working hard to keep the Scorpions on track in this ultra competitive 2014 Premier League.

A hard meeting this; Monarchs arriving unbeaten and with arguably the PL No1 rider in Cook. Giving away 10pts by Heat 6 made it really hard; yet we managed to claw it back and go in front by a point 37-36 by Heat 12. So credit where its due to the lads for that. Heat 13 was a joke! seems now you can take a flyer; duck the tapes and be away without so much as 'by your leave' from the Ref. It so obviously needed to be re-started; but Cook was allowed to jet away like a 'Monarch airliner' for a 4-2 with relatively subdued Sam Masters. Heat 14 was a crucial one; Ashley Birks did superb to round Monarchs captain Sneddon on the third lap - best ride of the day for the Scorpions skipper, but it was frustrating to see Jorgensen loose out to Steve Worrall for third. With Cook out in Heat 15 that point was going to be vital. Needless to say the Monarchs rounded the job off 5-1 in the last. Not getting down about this defeat; it will not decided the season for either team. With Klindt on the way for 28 days(possibly longer) and hope that Anders Mellgren may make an incredibly early return from his injury the Scorpions will be stronger. Thought David Howe had a good competitive afternoons racing; and Ryan is the real deal having made the jump from reserve. Tommy will be a strong reserve; but probably will not hit the big scores that Ryan has. If Klindt does well as I think he will and Mellgren back; there might be a decision to be make. Matt Williamson rode well to beat Monarchs captain Derek Sneddon in Heat 7. Matts got technique and knows how to ride a safe; tidy line round the EWR, so in keeping with the clubs supporting young British talent it would be nice if Matt got the time to develop.

Tough one this; would have preferred to have had Klindt available because he is capable of jumping out and winning races. The guests have not really done it; so it may be just as well to go R/R. Worrall's a big plus at reserve for Monarchs in the form he's in; Cook will by taking no prisoners; and Masters will no doubt be out to show us what we missed out on. If we can 'get about' the middle order and Monarchs reserve Fox; for instance Matty W needs to finish in front of him in Ht2 and Jorgensen to post a big score from reserve we could get this one 'over the line' by Ht15?. Should be a belter.... Come on you Scorps!!

I rated Klindt last time; though he does have the knack of jumping out the start and winning by miles or missing out and trailing in last. Either way he will be good for his average that's for sure and add some stability to the ranks. Always seems to have good equipment and already knows the ropes at the EWR so its a great move for us in my view. Thing is that the reshuffle on the new averages;and the arrival of Klindt maintains our strength. We still have a powerful rider at reserve in Thomas and that was always the deal with the way the team was set up. Robs 100% right to make a switch now; May is an important month. I was surprised that Adam Roynon lost his ride with Tigers and not surprised that we were interested in him. Not sure what's happening with Adam as his twitter page seems to indicate selling his gear or is that just his Tigers race suit?.

Fair bit of room there for bringing one or more riders into the team, if thats what the end of month Green Sheets say. I can see a case for waiting at least until the GS's are out before making any changes; and making a final 'call' on the fitness or not of Anders. This is a very competative league and it will not be decided in the next month but you can soon see things getting hard if we put off the decisions too long. Everyone is down apart from Ryan; so a reshuffle is going to leave us with another powerful reserve. Thats how the team was set up. Not sure what Lanham was up to last night; the Ipswich track is in his DNA is'nt it?. The guests (Vissing apart) have not worked for us with Anders average at 7.33; your not going to get a No1 on that figure. That's not to say Anders ain't a No1, for sure he would have added 1.5pts to that. So it tells me we need to get in an 8pt+ rider or make more than one change?. Mikael Karlsson is an obvious shout or get Nicoli Kiindt (released by Swindon) back. I liked Klindt who might have occassional blips but pretty much scored solidly on most of the tracks at this level.

I made a point about Jack Millen in 1973 and I agree with a subsequent post that the kick aimed at the St Johns chap; was more to do with the way he approached Crazy Jack when he had suffered a leg injury. So I was wrong to compare the two and apologise for that. It has brought another one to mind when Boston star Carl Glover and Bradford's reserve Mike Fishwick had a right old battle for 4laps at Odsal in 1975. Glover I believe came out on top; but I recollect that as Glover went on a 'lap of honour', Fishwick pulled up and waited for him to arrive between the third/fourth turn( turns1/2 new circuit) and planted a bunch of fives on the unsuspecting CG.

I am pleased for Richard Hall that he has chosen to make this statement. I agree with him that in the 'heat of the moment' you can loose your head and that is a mitigating point. However I would still suspect that the authorities will not allow this to pass with just a warning. RH did aim a kick at Josh which to me looked to connect and as devastated as he will be(and I believe him; he will be) he will have to take the rap for it. It is some good news that Josh might make Sheffield on Thursday; because we need him riding well; as we know he can right now. I am sure that Josh and Richard can come together on and off track in the future; respectful of each other as talented racers and put this behind them. Speedway is unforgiving enough without introducing a further jeapordy. Rob's correct there have been times when a 'barney' has set the sparks flying at a meeting; Gollob v Boyce comes to mind, and did'nt the TV people love it!. Thanks but I would rather see RH and Josh go wheel to wheel in a titanic but fair battle on track than aiming punches and words at each other.

Have to agree that Richard Hall's reaction was totally unacceptable. Just imagine a footballer kicking an injured opponent whilst he was stricken on the ground, he would have the book thrown at him. As I explained to RH's supporters around me; it matters not what has gone on before you cannot kick an injured opponent. How could RH be sure Josh was not badly injured and his kick would add to those injuries. On 'the street' I think RH might be looking at a Police charge (not that I am wishing this on RH) I don't want to think of him in that way. I respect the riders all of them; there is a line of racing respect and it has always existed. Except it went right out the window today. From my view point it was 4 riders going for the same bit of track and boosh!. You think you have seen it all in Speedway and then this. It will be interesting to see how the BSPA and Redcar Speedway deal with RH; for sure he has brought Speedway into disrepute. The only time I have seen anything like this was back in 1973 when Crazy Jack Millen riding for Sunderland at Bradford fell and proceeded to 'put the boot in' on the St Johns Ambulance man who went to his assistance. On the meeting itself; the Scorpions already without injured No1 Anders Mellgren had the cards further stacked against after the Heat7 incident with Hall/Auty. Ryan Douglas offered hope with some great riding but with Ashley Birks off the pace and Tommy Gun miss-firing; the Bears assumed control in the later stages. I was impressed with David Howe who looked competitive and up with the Redcar riders in his heats. With the season barely underway; change seems inevitable when the first Green Sheet averages are out. First up as things stand the Scorpions go to Sheffield on Thursday looking to keep things respectable and will want to begin their Premier League campaign with a win over Somerset next Sunday at the EWR.

Get your point but would still tend to favour R/R at the EWR. To me we are now 'seeing out' the League Cup (as early as it is) and if Anders is out then the others will benefit from the extra track time. We can cover it at home; and bring in a guest away from home. If this is a long lay off for Anders then if it was me I would wait for the first set of averages before considering any replacement. Not suggesting we deliberately ride down the averages but they will come down meaning that our options may be greater on the new set of averages. For instance Ty Procter might be a possibility and he definitely wants a PL ride. So going with it now may make us better placed when Anders's situation becomes clearer.

From Rob's most recent post on Twitter Anders was to under go an operation on his spine; so first and foremost all thoughts and good wishes to him. Its terrible to lose our No1 with hardly a wheel turned; but his speedy return to fitness is the uppermost concern. Lets try and take some positives out of last night Ryan sounds to have given everything for little return; Matt did exactly what was expected of him with 4pts; while David and Tommy posted heat wins. It must have knocked the stuffing out the team to lose Anders to what is reported as a dreadful crash. We can but re-group for the return on Sunday; we have some very good speedway riders in our team and they will want to respond. For me I would go R/R at the EWR. Anders has the highest average so any of the remaining Scorpions would be eligible to one of his rides. Chance to get extra competitive track time for the four who take the rides.

Really enjoyed the meeting yesterday despite the Tigers coming out on top 48-42. But the meeting was not really about who won; for all the riders were winners here. Lets not forget that both teams had riders returning from serious injury in 2013. Scorps; Ashley Birks and David Howe, Tigers; Simon Stead and Adam Roynon, To see them going for it and showing few ill effects in their first competitive meeting back is a real credit to them as riders and sportsmen. Stead was outstanding. It is very very early days so nothing to worry about if your a Scunny fan or get over excited about if your a Tigers devotee. Just whole hearted effort on the part of both teams who should have plenty to say in the chase for Premier League honours. Was looking forward to seeing the Stags return to the NL; but this was marred by the horrific Heat 2 pile up which did put a damper on things to say the least. Unfortunately it was a case of three riders going for it on turn one, and Kent's Brandon Freemantle and Stags Reece Downes coming away with injuries. Freemantle appeared to get trangled up in Reece's machine as he let go of it! squared up and went straight into the air fence and over the top on to the grass banking. An alarming spill and very clear it was not one you walk away from. The air bag punctured and the fence at the back against the grass banking will not forgive!. A lengthy delay of about 45mins while both riders left for the hospital and the 'air' literally went out of the meeting. However a great effort by the rest of the Stags particularly Liam Sanderson who took 7 rides and a few falls but will have learnt much from his debut. Another pile up involving Aaron Mogridge and the Kent pairing in Heat 14 curtailed the meeting with no medical cover available. An entertaining start to the season, with Ryan Douglas due in from Oz this week the Scorpions will be at full strength for the League Cup ties v Redcar. Tempted to make a first trip to the North East on Thursday to back the team.