Ommer Mon

I was very impressed with the Kings on Tuesday. They certainly didn't look like a team who had only won their first League match the night before. Steve Boxall is a class act and was worth the admission money on his own. He never gave up and produced some excellent racing. Jack Kingston also impressed. Probably the most entertaining meeting we'e seen at Monmore Wood this year.

Surprised that Starkey only got 3+1 he has been flying lately. Wonder if there is a story there. Perhaps that explains why we got him on such a bargain average. Hope he recovers for next Tuesday when the Heathens need all guns blazing again.

After a really enjoyable night at Monmore (with the Heathens winning)I'm looking forward to another instalment next Tuesday. I have to admit I sympathised with 'Porky' on the centre green, as he was in a no win situation. He inevitably got stick from the assembled Heathens masses. At least he attempted a couple of Wolves war cries before giving up. A great night with a superb atmosphere. I'm sure Sam would have been disappointed if he didn't get roundly booed and we we're happy not to let him down. All good pantomime stuff. I bet it's been a while since there was that kind of atmosphere at a meeting. Early days yet but if the only change to the Wolves line up is Kyle Newman for Tom Perry then I think its going to be a very close encounter with an exceptionally strong top five and two inexperienced reserves. Personally I would like to see the Wolves Elite League reserves in their team but I guess they may be otherwise committed. So what if they were to get maximums (but I don't think for a minute they would), our lads have to learn by measuring themselves against higher League riders and it would add to the spice of the event. Roll on Tuesday.

Totally agree with Philip Rising and Arthur Cross. For the good (or even survival)of the sport we really do need to have some serious discussions and hard decisions about restructuring over the Winter, especially if Sky pull out. Whilst I am sure we would all want to end up at Shale Shaker's position of new fans being attracted in healthy numbers, in the short term it is more about protecting the attendance levels we have and making sure that cost increases don't force more people to stay at home. Let's look at the costs for riders, equipment, maintenance and flights and feed any savings through to the poor old punter who is still trying to fund his hobby whilst being battered economically on all fronts. I think the majority of fans would appreciate leadership and bold decisions as long as we thought it may preserve the sport and allow it to improve and perhaps even flourish again when the economy picks up. Whether its £10 or not the very basic message has to be 'no more price rises' because the money is not there at the moment.

Just watching the Kings Lynn / Swindon match and with race wins for Richie Worrall, Ashley Birks and Nick Morris I think it proves the point I made earlier that the kids in the national league are capable of producing good entertaining racing and some of them really aren't that short of being capable of competing at the top level. Entertainment is the name of the game you can get that without all the commuting foreigners and machinery / tuning costs. Times are tough and Promoters need to look at cutting costs for riders and fans alike.

Thanks Sidney. Have to admit the six man team was a bit of an 'on the hoof' comment based on the thought that there may not be enough Brits to cover for the foreigners that we lose. After all we currently need double up and treble up riders to make up the teams.I really do feel the need for a big change in the Winter with less international commuters, an amalgamation of the three leagues into two and a lowering of costs and admission prices. Its a bit like going back to 1964/5 when the National and Provincial Leagues came together only this time we would have the fall back of a lower League for those who can't compete at the higher level.It's good to see the differing suggestions and with the future of the sport at stake let's hope someone picks up on them.

As mentioned elsewhere, a Promoter's attitude that you can simply increase the cost to the fans is unsustainable. There are few enough hard core fans left and everybody is on a tight budget these days - especially Mom Dad and three kid families. Old Ace said that people have to cut back on meetings as the prices rise and that is a fact. Whether it's £10 or £12 will have to take account of what the riders' outgoings are and at Elite League level you have international travel, mechanics dotted around Europe and the highest spec machinery you can get to pay for. Fact of the matter is that those costs have to be cut. If the Sky money goes any notion of an Elite League (if that is what it still is) goes with it but that doesn't mean that we lose quality racing! The one thing that really surprised me with Dudley when the Heathens came back was how good some of these kids actually are; and even mistakes are entertaining. Speedway is an entertainment industry and there is no doubt in my mind that the entertainment level in National League racing is as high as in the higher Leagues - it just happens to be about a second a lap slower. We have to find a way of reducing costs and making it viable for the riders and affordable for the fans. Whilst you cannot ban the foreigners (like we did with the Swedes in the 70's) you can refuse to pay the air fairs. If they want to come it's down to them and if not there are English riders around to take their places, especially if you were to reduce to six man teams. There will have to be a lot of head scratching in the Winter and I see the sport moving down a notch in Britain. Once fans get used to the new level of racing and especially the new prices thay will still be there in my opinion.

I agree with Halifaxtiger that the shape of the track is really good and when we were there in '96 there was some excellent racing especially when Mr Hamill missed the occasional start. I know from comments made at the time by Les Pottinger and Jan O just how difficult it was to get the track into shape after a stock car meeting. They used to pick up all sorts of bits and pieces and I remember one occasion when they had to drag a car axel out after it had been rammed in to the surface. The place hasn't been the same since Dudley started racing there again and we have had numerous delays, track lights failing, paramedics not arriving for two hours etc etc. I limit my visits to when Dudley are racing there because I don't have the confidence that meetings are going to be completed in a reasonable time. It's sad that it seems to have derteriorated lately but I'm not sure how much of that is down to the Speedway folks as they don't own the Stadium and could be trying to put on a show under difficult circumstances. I'm sure more would go more regularly if the track and, therefore, racing improved but that may take money that isn't readily available (a common theme in our sport). I don't want to get too gloomy here. Let's hope that the Potters can turn things around.

If the buckets are out when Dudley are there soon I will certainly contribute. Best of luck with it Jayne. We can't aford to lose teams over this.

I don't think Coventry were particularly bad last night. It was one of the best Heathens performances I've see since our return to the track. Three extremely strong heat leaders plus two free scoring reserves (especially Cleggy who was magnificent), its very hard to compete against that especially when three of the Storm are still frankly 'learning their trade'. Good luck to Lawrence and colleagues for the rest of the season. Don't get downhearted over one result there will be plenty of better days ahead with such a talented team.

I can't wrap this up without a note on the outcome. We picked our tickets up on the morning but guess what happened when we got to our seats. Yep, as predicted earlier in the thread, there were people sitting in them!! Ticketmaster had clearly double booked them. the stewards were very helpful in resolving it and we got to our places just in time for Heat 1 after a 20 minute wait. I have sent Ticketmaster a suitable email thanking them for their 'world class service'and, as Triple H suggested, threatening them with watchdog unless we get some compensation. I note the tickets for next year are on sale today and I don't think Ticket master are included as Agents. If that's the case - well done BSI!!!!

Glad to hear it's not Ticketmaster. You may stand a chance of getting them!!

Well I've had my phone call from Ticketmaster. In fact I've had two of them!! My tickets weren't in the post after all, in spite of all the messages on the phone line and website. The truth is that they never received my tickets for distribution and they have now arranged for me to pick them up at the Stadium Box Office on the day. I hope that others waiting will be luckier than me. If you are still waiting it may be worth a call to get them to make sure, through their tracking system, that they are on the way. Best of luck (or failing that see you in the queue!!) Ommer Mon

That's not a bad idea, Triple H. I might just do that when the dust settles.

Well, after spending two hours trying to get through to 08444 999999 and getting cut off ten times because they are too busy, I finally spoke to someone who said that yet another batch of tickets has been sent out today (29/5)and they will be delivered on Friday. That's probably no good to me as we are travelling on Friday but may help some others who are waiting. If you do get through to someone they can check on delivery via a tracker if a number has been allocated. I have asked what to do if I turn up in Cardiff without any tickets and nobody had a clue in spite of the website referring to picking duplicates up at the Stadium. They have promised to call me back tomorrow and I will look forward to that. If I get an answer I'll post it here. Never again!

Thanks for the suggestion Racers and Royals but they have disconnected those lines (clearly too much risk of people getting through on them!). I just tried 08444 999999 and a recorded message said that the last tickets were dispatched on 28/5 and will be delivered no later than 30/5. I'll believe it when I see it. Fingers crossed for all caught up in this fiasco.

I'm clearly not alone! Sorry to hear that there are many people in the same boat as me and the other 9 in my party. Looks like an interesting night is in store for me trying to phone Customer Services. Their phone no is 08444 999 999 if that helps anyone. Any positive news of tickets finally arriving would be comforting but I won't hold my breath.

Thanks for that detailed reply Mr Ore. Clearly, others have been down this path before me! I have the feeling there may be a few more battles with Customer Services before I final take my seat on Saturday night.

Thanks James Falcons Maybe I'll try them next year.

Has anybody out there got their tickets for Cardiff from Ticketmaster yet???They have to be the worst company in the world to do business with. Every year I have trouble booking seats in the 'Family' area because I want to include an extra adult in the party and now five months after booking and four days ahead of the GP I still haven't got my tickets! The message on their website says if they haven't arrived by Wednesday to get in touch and they will make arrangements for us to pick them up at the Stadium - incredible!! Easier said than done though. They don't reply to emails and their phone line just cuts you off after a couple of minutes because they are too busy! To add insult to injury I had an email from them yesterday reminding me that the GP was taking place this Saturday.Next year I'll be buying the tickets on the day. Is it just me or do others suffer the same. If anyone from BSI is looking at this please take note of how your Agent is treating your Customers. Rant over!

A really good night. The family and I all enjoyed it (especially with a last heat 5-1 to win it. The presentation was slick and I agree that the new presenter did a very good job. Some of the music was a bit dated but that applies to most tracks (and is meant to be a constructive comment rather than criticism). Excellent move to let the kids in for nothing. They are the future of the sport (hence the music comment). Well done to the Coventry Promoters for taking the gamble and I hope it proves to be successful. I thought the crowd looked bigger than the 500 mentioned earlier. Best wishes to Laurence et al and I hope the Bees fans turn out to support the Storm.

The silencers do make one heck of a difference and reduce the noise levels signicantly (up to 8 decibels). There is bound to be protest from neighbours but noise is something you can actually measure and the proximity of the motorway would certainly help.

Dudley Wood - Penhall Gundersen Mauger Olsen but for entertainment how about Janno, Phil Collins, Peter Craven and Christer Lofqvist

Tony Mc mentioned Tony Barnard above. I used to do the Cradley match reports for the Mail and passed the details to Mr B regularly each Sunday. A relly nice fella, and big Hackney fan if I remember rightly, who knew Speedway inside out and put some excellent editorial together. I had the pleasure of meeting up with him and his wife Iris, together with Glynn Shailes, at Oxford in 1993 and spent an enjoyable evening in the restaurant. Sadly, Tony passed away a couple of years ago but I have fond memories of his wit, banter and company. A true gent.

If the Heathens ever get a track in the Dudley area with a 7:30 start I expect the Council curfew to be 7:29.