EC Rides Again

From Rob's quotes it looked like Adam was first choice. Will he end up at Rye House ? I think it's the natural fit. Pretty pleased to get Klindt. At PL level he'll win a lot of races but is always liable to throw in a zero at least once a meeting. If he gets 3303 each outing he's doing a good job.

Looks likely to be either Klindt or Roynon. I'd take Klindt. If we could get Thorsell we'd clean up the league easily. However, I'd think his Swedish commitments would intervene. Shame.

I'm hoping that this will be the last meeting I'll miss for a while. Sundays are not good for me, Friday nights are much better (could say the same for the team !). What did Rob say about replacing Anders ? He usually shares his thoughts from the Centre Green in his own inimitable fashion.

Wow ! For a "meaningless" LC match this has created no end of controversy. I look forward to the PL matches later in the year.

It's the old chestnut in speedway: "My" rider is a hard but fair racer. "Your" rider is dirty and dangerous. T'was ever thus.

Took the words out of my mouth ! From 100 miles away I can't explain all the falls and stopages. Was it the track, bad riding, bad luck, all three ?

The entire conundrum very well summed up ! The two sides in this argument are at loggerheads but they should be able to see that they are mutually dependent. The stand alones have to have opposition to fill out a season and the second teams need to test themselves against a mixture of opposition. When Scunthorpe made their late bid to enter the NL this year I would presume that their intentions on team building would have been discussed with the other clubs at the NL AGM. If it was going to be a problem then the other clubs should not have accepted their entry.

Quite agree that the best thing about this match is the emergence of Sam Chapman. I wasn't there today (boo hoo) so could someone fill me in on his background story ? Looks like by rather more luck than judgement ( I presume he was in the team due to the injury crisis) the Stags might have a new prospect to get excited about.

Really good to see Stevie Worrall bouncing back form a poor season last year.

It was only when Compton caught a crab in Heat 2 that the track was deemed a problem. In these circumstances it's always the home team that let's matters get into their head whereas the away team just rides a track as they see it on the night. After the week from hell for Scunthorpe, Sheffield were unlucky to catch most of the Scorpions on good form for the first time this season.

Good point, HT.

Pleased to read RH's apology and he has every right to put the incident into context as he saw it. However, the SCB inquiry this week will have to decide on any further punishment, and I think that some sort of additional ban would be appropriate. The message should be underlined that what Hall did was totally unacceptable. This will be my final comment on the subject. Glad that Josh's injury doesn't seem to be too serious, the Scorpions could certainly do with him at Owlerton on Thursday.

I thought that at least both Sanderson and MacDonald showed a glimpse of their potential today. The rest of the Stags kept their chins up and kept plugging away. Mallett, Cockle and Hughes were a class above the rest today, but all three of them are not going on to make a real go of it at a higher level, are they?

Agree with you Mimmo (but I'd maybe put the blame for the crash as 90% Auty and 10% Hall) Redcar very good today. Best I've seen Summers ride at Scunthorpe, Lawson a class act at No. 1 and Skidmore, Wilko and Graveson all go well at the EWR, so you were made to win at our place. I also thought Crang looked good as a three pointer. Rob Godfrey must have a headache going to bed tonight. The Scorpions couldn't have made a worse start to the season. Their number 1 out for months, Auty potentially side lined as well and the captain never looking like beating an opponent today. Oh, and Somerset visiting the EWR next week ! Looks like three straight home defeats to start with. The only real bright spot was Ryan Douglas who looks like fully justifying the faith being shown in him by the Scunthorpe management. I don't think that Lawson will have many riders swoop past him this season like the young Aussie did this afternoon.

A lot of opinions from people who were not even there today, hey ho ! Josh can be a bit reckless and can be a menace to others and himself on occasion, but my God he's the kind of rider who tries his heart out and is a real racer. Is he lying in Scunthorpe hospital tonight with a serious injury ? Do some people even care ? Hall was reasonably aggrieved that he was knocked off by Josh, but Auty had made the gate from 1 and was heading for the dirt, Hall was off 4 and just assumed that it was OK to screw it on and ride around the fence unencumbered. The two riders tangled and both had a nasty spill. What followed was sad and also pretty shocking. One of the bikes (Auty's ?) was still revving and I assumed Hall had picked himself up and was looking to turn the engine off, instead he waded into Josh and put the boot into a rider lying prostrate on the track. Auty rightly excluded from the re-run and Hall rightly disqualified from the rest of the meeting and facing a fine from the referee.

Thanks Scunny 1

I presume that no news is good news weather-wise ? I'm setting off from Grimsby in 20 mins - fingers crossed!

No Lee Dicken ?

Will be quite some time before Anders is on a bike again, sadly. I'm sure that we all wish him a speedy recovery. I was hoping to make my season's debut tomorrow but the weather forecast is a bit dodgy.

Will Anders be fit for the Scorpions ?

Hope Anders is OK. Someone needs to remind the Scorps that the season has started.

Not bitter, then ?

Gutted to miss this one, but if Rob makes the first match of the season on Mothers Day then what can I do ?

Great news for the u-18 prices. My lad turns 17 in May so he will be at the lower price all year, nice one Rob !

Huge sigh of relief heard all over North Lincolnshire. Sounds like he may miss the opener on Sunday, but the Scorpions should still have enough to see off Sheffield.