Ommer Mon

Hot on the heels of the successful 'rider you didn't take to' thread, how about this one? Who is the most frustrating rider you have come across. You know, the one with bags of talent who is a world beater one day and a muppet the next. To start the ball rolling let me introduce - Birmingham, Leicester and Cradley favourite Finn Jensen. I recall him notching a 15 point max for Birmingham one week beating Ole Olsen twice and I think he scored nil the week after! I recall him riding for Cradley at Belle Vue and coming in for Erik after one of his tpe touches - beat the Aces number one and then messed up Heat 2 against the reserves. It's a tough one to beat but I'm sure there must be others out there!

Starkie has been named as skipper. An excellent choice and I'm sure he will do a cracking job.

Sadly the pork sarnies have not been a regular feature but they do usually make an appearance on Golden Hammer night buch to the delight of the faithful. Me included!!.

How about Christer Lofqvist? Spectacular rider who never knew when he was beaten. Legend has it he used to leave tyre marks on the fence at West Ham. One of my favourite riders and very sad that his career was cut short so tragically.

It looked like a really good turn out for season tickets at the Liberal Club last night. The terraces should be full again this season! Looking forward to it.

Not sure about the "my" bit - sounds a bit posh for us! More like "me" in Cradley. The rest is about right though. Cheers.

Can I have a go with Blackbird and Morris if you have included the NK? Whoops I've just reread the title - sorry!

I have my fingers crossed that the Shareholders will be able to find a way to keep the Islanders on the track. Speedway can ill afford yet another track to go out of business especially now that there are avenues for more talented British youngsters to get a taste of higher level racing. Best wishes to those involved with the Club and hope to see the Islanders at Monmore Wood this year.

Two quirky tracks from the past - one brilliant and one not so! The Shay in Halifax with that incredible banking produced some spectacular racing with fans a couple of feet from the riders. Somerton Park Newport. The track was a rectangle around the football pitch with virtually no bend to it and I almost broke an ankle in a pothole walking it one night! I agree with the tightness of the Arlington first turn though it was good to see how Martin Dugard used to cope with it. I also agree with the comments on the inside line at Stoke. It looks dangerous to me!

I think it was New Cross that featured in the 1948(ish) film Once a Jolly Swag Man with Dirk Bogarde and 'Compo' Bill Owen . I think its on Youtube - can't check at the moment though due to work access restrictions.

I agree that Starkie is the best choice. Likely to be our top scorer (though Steve will push him all the way) and he knows the Club and the Fans after last season. He would be the ideal choice.

All credit to Nigel, Chris, Gary and Will. It's hard to think of a better starting septet. In Starkie and Steve we have two genuine Number 1s, Tom will get back to his best and Matt and Danny are two exciting prospects at reserve. Cleggy will improve too and should push towards the 7 point mark. Nathan is a great prospect. He will find it tougher in the team and may find himself swopping places with the lads at reserve throughout the season. That said he deserves his recall. His performances at Kings Lynn and IOW demonstrated his ability. The questions around tighter tracks will be resolved by improving his techique and that will undoubtedly come. Remember, he is still only 15! Really pleased with the line up and looking forward to another successful season. 'Ommer 'em Cradley!

Dudley Wood, Hyde Rd, the Shay and Perry Barr. Bryn made the point earlier about the number of tracks gone and never to return. It is quite alarming! Heathens programme featured articles on many of them last year - so many great memories!

Amazing isn't it? No sooner do we revert to the Cradley name than the authorities try to find ways of blocking our team building plans. Deja Vu! We were the team they invented points limits for. Very sad that Dan is being released. He was magnificent at the end of last season and a key factor in us winning the title. I wish him well at Coventry. Ommer 'em Cradley (Boy that sounds good. I wonder how Porky is going to cope with it!)

I think that this is a positive reaction to the state that the sport, at 'Elite' level, is currently in. We have to cut costs and the constant stream of poor quality bottom end foreigners being flown across Europe at great expense is an area to concentrate on. Forget any notion of National League riders being lapped every race. This is not the 1970s where juniors could barely stay on for a lap. Some of the lads at the top end of the NL know how to ride and are lapping quicker than the likes of Mauger, Olsen and Penhall ever did. They have talent and for the good of the sport in Britain that needs to be encouraged and developed. The NL has produced some excellent prospects over the last few years. Craig Cook, Kyle Newman, Kyle Howarth, Ashley Birks and expecially Richie Worrall are all climbing up the ladder. NL racing is good entertainment and the two reserves races could remind us what passing looks like! A bold step and I have my fingers crossed it will work on all fronts.

I think BT's victory in the bidding for European Football could be significant. At the very least it creates many vacant slots in the Sky live programme and it leaves many pennies in their pot to put into other sports, like ours! My fingers are crossed that this could be good news for Speedway but the key is, if we get the money, we need to spend it sensibly and train British youngsters as I have mentioned elsewhere. I don't agree with the fear that Sky could insist on the top riders. They don't cover the Grands Prix any more so there is little spin off in it for them in that direction. They want competitive and exciting racing that they can sell in its own right. Cut costs - restructure the Leagues to get greater variety - spend the money wisely - train the kids - keep the cost for fans down.

He repeated it a few months ago when he attended a social evening in his honour in Dudley. What an opportunity missed for the sport in Britain. If we could get a rider who could gate like Erik and pass like Jan O (when he gave everyone else a start) I would suggest we would have a ready made World Champion and plenty of bums on seats to watch him.

Picking up the 'train the Brits theme' both Erik Gundersen and Jan O. Pedersen have offered to get involved in training British youngsters. Jan O has got as far as launching his Academy. Both are keen to give something back to the Country that gave them so much. The drawback seems to be that both would need to be paid for their time and expertise (and that is a very reasonable request). There is a lack of impetus from the Promoters to take up the offer as there is no incentive for them to do it when they can fly a '4 point' foreigner in to do a tail end job. Forcing teams to include British lads at reserve (as outlined above by Pandorum) could be a step in the right direction. Use the money you save from not flying in foreigners to fund a few sessions with Erik and Jan O - then see the talent come through.

It is time for a major shake up and there is no doubt about that. The Ryanair theme above is absolutely right. Too much money is spent on flying mediocre foreigners around Europe and they show little loyalty to Britain when tested. If Freddie is not prepared to be realistic then he should go elsewhere - he went down in my estimation when missing a match for Wollves to go to the European Championship when others rode both days. I have already said elsewhere that I feel the National League product is real value for money and some of these lads are flying round tracks faster than Mauger, Olsen, Penhall and the like ever did. I think we are now down to the real die hard fans, many of whom would turn up to watch the grass grow on the centre green. As long as they have competitive racing to watch I think the vast majority would stick with our sport and provide a foundation to build on. The Dudley/ Cradley fans have demonstrated that. We have gone from Hamill and Hancock to Blackbird and Morris and the celebrations at Kings Lynn were as genuine as ever they were back in the 80s. What worries me is that the majority of 'die hards' are now 50 or 60 somethings. We somehow need to attract the kids to the sport for it to survive and in time prosper and that is something we are not going. Cut costs - make the racing competitive - concentrate on British talent - get the kids on the terraces. Simples - not! Good luck to the Promoters.

Given the 'bib' on you picture I thought you would have given Wimbledon from the 50's a shout too. Thanks Guys. I take the point looking at that Scunthorpe side! Extremely talented bunch of lads, may of whom have gone on to greater things in higher Leagues (especially Woofie). Just one question and I appreciate this may tax the memory somewhat. What was the points average when that team was put together?

I ask the question because I genuinely don't know the answer. No clever references to Wembley please! Mildenhall won almost everything last year and Craig Cook & Nick Morris' Buxton a few years ago were excellent but who was the best Conference / National League Team of the modern era? Whatever the debate I think this years Heathens side has been magnificent and justified all of the tough / unpopular decisions that the Promoters made in the Winter. How fitting that 30 years after the 1983 team, we have at last produced another highly successful side.

It's gonna be cold but there is no sign of rain around at the moment. Big crowd, great atmosphere, it will be a great night. Looking forward to welcoming home the Champions and building a big lead to take across the water tomorrow. Ommer 'em!

Congratulations to the Islanders. See you in the Final.

I suspect that much will depend on the Sky decision. If their support goes then I think the Elite League as we know it does with it. That would surely mean some EL teams wanting to drop down through the need to reduce their costs. It has the feel of 1964/5 with the top tier with too few teams and not enough backing. The amalgamation of the Leagues worked wonders then and the British league stood the test of time for many years. I would hope that by cutting costs by reducing the influx of mediocre foreign riders and perhaps the Grand Prix stars the Sport can try to rebuild itself. All that matters is that we have competitive racing. As I have said before National League racing is probably more exciting than the Elite League due to its unpredictability and inexperience of some riders. Its an entertainment game after all and as I have said before the current National League offering can be very good indeed. It's good racing that happens to be a second a lap slower than the EL. So what! You still feel that warm glow when your team wins just the same. In terms of teams going out of business, I think the Heathens may struggle now that they have to buy all that silver polish. Only joking! Fingers crossed there are no casualties.