Roger Jacobs

He can't do it on his own.

After the Somerset match, only to himself really. Everyone knows he's a very capable and talented rider. I still don't understand why he wasn't included in the starting line-up - despite it meaning that Heeps would start in the team and it would be Nielsen & Ellis at reserve. I don't think that would have been any greater a risk than using Makinen (and I thought that even before the Finn had ridden).

Updated 25/04/13. The Sackers Witches take on the Comets in the KOC-Up over two nights, with the return at Derwent Park on Saturday (thanks Topaz325 ). Expected line-ups: Sackers Witches: Doyle (G), Hawkins, Tungate, Risager, Lanham, Heeps, Ellis Workington Comets: Cook (G), Aarnio, Harrison, Howarth, Bach, Morris, Stefan Nielsen (G). Jason Doyle guests in place of Ben Barker, who is riding in the 2nd British semi-final at Sheffield. Ritchie Hawkins is scheduled to make his season debut for the home team. For the Comets: Confirmed Stefan Nielsen as guest in place of former Witch Chris Mills, who broke his left wrist in a fall when practicing after their home win against Sheffield last weekend. Craig Cook replaces Richard Lawson, who was injured as the result of a fall at Birmingham on Wednesday night (racing for Lakeside at Perry Bar in the EL). Thankfully, the KOC-Up does not feature the articifical point gaining tactical joker rule.

I tweeted back to Cook that Wright should contact Ipswich. Nothing to lose.

Still can't get my maths sorted - looks like Plymouth still need to win at both Ipswich and Rye House - but any wins should do it, not necessarily by 7 or more.

Kurtz v Heeps is interesting. Tonight Kurtz "only" beat Newman, Nielsen & Perry (and couldn't pass Perry in 12) - although obviously having a ding-dong with Morris until Morris' unlucky retirement. Heeps has had some ups and downs too, e.g. passed by Perry at Foxhall. Kurtz v Heeps head-to-head at Plymouth last week was 2-2. Hope we can get a date for the Plymouth fixture soon - they can't let the LC drag on ... !

Falls are not bad luck per se. The falls by Davies, Nielsen and Newman (and Makinen & Ellis) were all of their own making. Heeps was unlucky being rammed by Davies. Perry was unlucky trying avoid Nielsen but clipping his fallen teammate. Morris laid his bike down when he was thundering into the outside of the third turn trying to catch Heeps and the red lights came on, because although Nielsen had fallen earlier (in the same place as previously) and then stood up, Dan Holt (like a lot of us) didn't realise Nielsen had then crumpled in pain on the track. Fortunately, both Lanham & Heeps managed to avoid Nielsen and his bike - I think Morris's momentum and line gave him little option but to lay it down. I was very surprised the ref decided to declare the race, so to be fair you could say that was bad luck. On the other hand, you could say that Morris's line & momentum meant he might never have got round the 3rd/4th bends - we will never know either way. If I was able to attend on a regular basis any track where you can stand close to the racing, I would be there like a shot (including KL and P'boro). If I lived in travelling distance of Somerset or Swindon, I would choose the OTA for precisely that reason.

No many Devils fans on here, so thought I'd better start a thread for this pivotal match in the Southern LC qualifiers. Expected teams: Plymouth: Ty Proctor, Chris Schramm, Mark Lemon, Ricky Kling, Cory Gathercole. Reserves: Ben Reade, Todd Kurtz. Somerset: Jason Doyle, Alex Davies, Josh Grajczonek, Kyle Newman, Nick Morris. Reserves: Tom Perry, Stefan Nielsen. Any win for the Rebels will make them group winners. A draw will be almost certain qualification, barring a huge home win for Ipswich against the Devils. A <7 point defeat means they could be overtaken by Ipswich (if Witches get a >7 at home to Devils), and levelled by Rye House (so it would be race points difference with the Rockets). A >7 point defeat leaves the door open to both Witches or Rockets depending on their respective home results with Devils. Of course, the added incentive for the Devils tonight is that they could still qualify if they gained a >7 win v the Rabbles, and also >7 wins at both Hoddesdon & Foxhall ... Come on you Devils! Well, for tonight anyway

It absolutely does both improve the atmosphere and also gives you a much better perspective of the racing. Ipswich v Somerset was a very good match (the only bad luck the Rabbles had was Doyle's ef), and I'm certain that if those same races had taken place at, e.g. the OTA or EWR or King's Lynn, then those present would have been raving about it as the match of the season. Irrespective of the quality of racing there's always a little bit missing at Foxhall because of the viewing distance and the comparative size of the stadium. Back in the 70s, when the crowds were regularly 10,000, there was a genuine atmosphere. I can't imagine what it would have been like in the 50s with 20,000 in attendance every week.

I'm still incredibly surprised that Nielsen was never offered the chance to ride for Ipswich this season. He said he was surprised too, when interviewed by Kevin Long for Rerun Productions - don't forget to buy the DVD it was a very entertaining match, with several post-1st/2nd passes and lots of incident. PS: Somerset signed Nielsen and he had never even seen the OTA, let alone ridden on it!

It's a wide track, so they need to look at the tensioning of the tapes - if they were a bit shorter and stretched a bit more, it would help to correct the sagginess. Just a few tests would work out the best configuration. Also agree that there should be (if not already) vertical "joints" between the tapes, e.g. roughly in line with the painted lines between the gates.

Looking purely at the descriptions in Live Updates, the vast majority of "passes" were as the riders shaped up on the first/second bends, which happens at every track - sounds like a standard speedway match you could see anywhere. The advantage that Somerset gives to fans is they are so close to the racing, which genuinely adds to the atmosphere and the perception of great racing.

Slow down Jules ... they only scraped a draw!

Fair play to Lanham who I was critical of last season, but has taken on the Captain's role and is doing a good job on and off track. He was the only old timer to give up his place in the Edinburgh British Semi, so he could race for his club, and produced a top performance tonight to make it worthwhile. Not bad: passing the home #1 on the line in a last heat decider!

All six of them They must have a looked at the perfectly prepared EWR and thought, why can't the ref postpone this too? Splendid result.

Plymouth I think it was? I recall the two Plymouth fans (like the two Scunthorpe fans last night) were not impressed.

I have stated that I was surprised it was called off, and I also stated that I personally think they could have tried blading it. http://scunthorpesco...?Team=Scorpions http://ipswichwitches.co/ PS: Interesting to note that Ipswich still keep referring to matches being cancelled, rather than postponed. If it is cancelled, maybe Rob Godfrey can claim the points? .

The ref called it off. As you will have read from above, both Lanham & Howe said it would be tricky, but they left it up to the ref to decide. There were no puddles becasue the track had been ripped-up and ready to be raced on (yes, it is ripped-up and grippy and Foxhall), so the rain soaked straight in, making it very greasy. I personally think that they might have tried blading it and trying to mix in some new surface or sawdust - but that would have taken a lot of time - and what sort of racing surface would ahve been the result? Answer: it would clearly have deprived the paying fans of witnessing the unquestionable talent of all seven Scorpions in their full flying ready-to-race grippy track configuration. Indeed, a bladed track would probably have played into the hands of the obviously gating-tart Sackers Witches.

Is this stuff included in the programme?

The beauty of Redcar's victory is that they did it without being able to resort to the artificial joker Even in the days of the good old tactical substitute, I always felt that a home team should not be allowed to resort to such changes. All credit to the Bears - a backs-to-the-wall victory.

Hooray for artificial joker points Awful, detestable rule. Speedway is supposedly a sport, not It's A Knockout. Only if you can find someone who can score 5 points a meeting ...

The programme is a fixed cost, which needs to be recovered. That's not an excuse, it's a simple business statement. Apart from varying levels of sponsorship, British Speedway relies almost entirely on cash flow. Tonight's rain-off will have cost a comparatively large amount of money versus no significant income. Again, not an excuse - just simple business facts. Sorry if these concepts are difficult to grasp (or at least acknowledge).

Nope Beautiful clear evening now - the moon shining brightly. I genuinely thought the match would be on, but as mentioned above in the quote by David Howe, the ref decided to call it off.

David Howe has posted on Twitter, re the conversation with the ref (Mick Bates): "I said it was up to him, me and Leigh both agreed it would have been difficult but was the refs choice not ours."

http://www.lovespeedway24.co.uk/teams/ipswich-witches/witches_clash_with_scunthorpe_called_off_1_2024352 Not a nice thing to say about your own skipper! From what I saw, that wouldn't be difficult . PS: Sorry Rob .