Boro Bare

Yeah same for me.

According to one of the Greyhound forums there’s been a fire at the track today. No info on damage yet.

Yeah he was declared fit and was under 2 minutes. During the 2 minutes it was announced he didn’t have a bike. Once he was excluded he withdrew injured. All within the space of a couple of minutes. Don’t know if the paramedic reassessed him, doubt they had time, maybe it was Danny Ford. Who knows?

First time I’ve seen a rider withdrawn for having an injured bike. Hope it gets better soon.

I suspect we’d have seen a lot better performance from Redcar’s youngsters if things had worked out as planned over the last 14 months. Our team structure relies on a strong top 3 doing most of the heavy lifting and we just haven’t had that. Connor was a late addition to the team last year. We lost Eric early on and he was only a shadow of his former (or current) self when he returned. We were still just about in with a shout of winning something when we lost Charles and the season quickly fizzled out. We’ve started 2024 by losing TJ and then almost straight away lost Danny. Puts a lot of pressure on the bottom end to perform in every heat with no respite. I’m sure Connor, Jason and Jake will put a couple of points on their averages at some point and I wouldn’t want to lose any of them. Just a bit tough being a Redcar fan/rider/promoter in the meantime that’s all. Similar situation at other teams to be fair.

Quite surprised by the dust comments. I genuinely didn’t see any at all. Thought the racing was an improvement on previous weeks as well. I’ve certainly seen less entertaining meetings at other tracks this year that aren’t attracting this level of criticism. As a Redcar fan I’m still disappointed but i think that’s more down to how poor the team has been. Doesn’t matter what the track is like, slow riders aren’t going to pass anyone and admiring your opponents ability to overtake wears a bit thin after a while.

Wonder if Kasper’s absence is significant. Switching him for Starke would be a good move in my opinion.

The fact that Smith has been signed suggests that’s the only change in the pipeline. Even if a top rider becomes available it doesn’t make sense to drop BWD. The team is that far below the points limit that only the weakest rider will need to be replaced ……. which is Smith. So unless George has asked to be dropped why sign Smith just to drop him straight away?

I was thinking something similar myself regarding the Rowe situation. Is Anders definitely serving a 28 day ban now though or are we just assuming that’s the case because Leicester have been granted a facility? Must admit I didn’t think/realise the whole “withholding services” rule was intended for circumstances like this where the rider has left the club permanently and seemingly by mutual agreement. I thought it was to prevent riders picking and choosing which meetings to attend or effectively going on strike to get their own way about something. Even then clubs occasionally do allow riders to be absent riding in un-sanctioned meetings where a facility isn’t granted and they have to use NL guests with no bans handed out. Plus we have riders not returning from meetings abroad when they’re meant to and only getting 14 day bans. I’m not against a temporary facility being granted for Leicester, not their fault after all and they need time to find a solution. I’m just questioning whether a rider ban has to follow and whether it has to be for 28 days? It does seem a very one sided rule if that is the case. I.e, if a club can replace a rider without notice and without consequence why can’t the rider leave the club on exactly the same terms? Assuming Anders is banned and wants to continue riding elsewhere in the UK does anyone know if he can he sign (but not ride) for another club before the ban is up and before his average increases or does the ban include all forms of activity?

I thought the track was excellent. Deep but consistent. With it being deep it took a little maintaining but a huge improvement. On the flip side though any home advantage is now lost but hopefully riders who perhaps wouldn’t have wanted to come to Newcastle in the past will now give it a go.

Must admit I have seen worse meetings at Brough this year and I was surprised to see the extent of track damage in the pictures. It explains the number of first/second bend falls although that end of the track has appeared patchy all year. I don’t know if there were concerns about the track before racing began or not. But when the first call was made from for the clerk of the course to contact the referee Roy Clarke said “I wonder how many times we’ll hear that tonight?” it suggested something might not be right. 2 decent races in my opinion. Ulle going round the outside of Starke on bend 4 (the first outside pass I’ve seen at Brough this year) and heat 10 with Howarth and Basso passing each other before Wethers nipped up the inside to pip them both. Wethers does seem to be the master at getting underneath anyone who moves a millimetre off the white line coming off bend 4. Hope he’s not too bruised after his off. I saw Cook talking to Wright after they got a bit close in heat 5. I was expecting fireworks - there weren’t any. Couldn’t tell if Craig was complaining or asking James if he was alright. All very civilised in the circumstances. Tonight’s updates do seem to have a slight hint of home bias. Hopefully everything gets sorted next week both on and off the track. I suspect speedway needs Newcastle rather more than Newcastle needs speedway.

Very pleased with that. Hugely entertaining rider.

Excellent performance from James Wright this afternoon at Scunny. Far better than I was expecting I have to admit.

I’m all for riders being required to honour their contract/commitments but sometimes that isn’t possible and common sense has to prevail. Let’s not forget there were actually 5 riders missing from that meeting not just the 3 from Redcar that have been highlighted in this thread. 1 of them being Lewis Rose who also had a contract/commitments. Newcastle get a facility for a rider who doesn’t want to ride at the moment whereas Redcar get no such consideration for 2 riders who weren’t able to ride. I’m not criticising Lewis for taking time out after his injuries, nor am I criticising Newcastle for making best use of the facility afforded to them. The rules are the rules and everything that’s happened here is by the book. Just pointing out that sometimes sh*t happens and there isn’t much you can do about it.

That tweet was last month DIAMONDS. Last I heard Carr was still riding unless Schramm has recovered.