Hamster00

I also enjoy it, it gives me a great time to catch up with friends and we as a group make every away trip we can. I’d also like to see my team actually compete for a trophy for once though and that’s where I think we disagree. It gets a bit tiresome hearing the old lines such as “Just be happy you have speedway” etc just because myself and others would like to see on track success for the first time in a long time. The two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive, I think Poole fans and Glasgow fans alike also have similar bonding stories, they also get to see a winning product on the track too.

I’m fairly confident no Poole fans will be on this thread saying we should be favourites for anything. Disappointing signing, Edinburgh got the best of him last season bringing him in on a low average. If my maths is correct he averaged 5.91 after moving to number one last season so is on an inflated average due to his fantastic form whilst riding at reserve.

Glasgow aren’t just being smart business wise for their own benefit either, losing them would affect all the northern clubs. Glasgow bring a big following to Berwick for sure and I’m sure they take it to the other northern venues too, they’d also lose virtually all the away support they get at Ashfield. It would be a lose lose situation for those with the most at stake. There is nothing “brave” about what the teams in the Premiership are doing, it’s business suicide for most, you just need to look at recent history.

And in two posts we have the feeling of a large majority of Berwick fans in a nutshell. We are happy we’ve got speedway and who cares about the outcome. There is no craving for success despite the distinct lack of it especially the fact we haven’t made the play offs in over a decade. So why bother trying to compete with Poole or Glasgow or anyone else for that matter? I absolutely wouldn’t blame the promotion for having that viewpoint if this is the fan feedback.

Seems way off base to me, someone could simply miss out because they don’t fit by 0.01 and someone else does or because they don’t suit the track as well as rider B or a team decides to build with seven riders below 8. Assuming someone would miss out purely because they are holding a team to ransom is typical of what I’d expect on this forum. British speedway is its own worst enemy and continues to be so.

Both parties can share blame on that front I think, Borke was never fit, was never going to be fit and was rightly replaced. But he should never have been signed and/or he shouldn’t have accepted, you can look at it either way. Given that it sounds like it was a pretty messy breakup though I would be astounded if he was signed again and personally I’d much rather take a punt on someone new.

Agreed but I think they’ll bring him back, they are loyal to a fault with a lot of riders and Hume also seems very popular with the casual Bandits fan, you can see that just by looking at the comments on Facebook for the last couple of seasons. I think for similar reasons we’ll see Jack Smith back despite the fact he has probably peaked in his ability he seems very popular with the promotion and fans alike. Personally I would have neither if your goal is to try and win a trophy or at least make the play offs for the first time in over a decade but that doesn’t often seem the goal.

I came up last night as a neutral and I was not disappointed with what was put on show, good racing, a great crowd and a great atmosphere. The referee had a shocker, it was speedway shambles at its finest in heat 1 at the rerun with Palovaara never mind in heat 7, hats off to Kye for coming out and getting the better of Bomber in the rerun. It was completely predictable heading into heat 13 that Glasgow would walk away the victors, Edinburgh needed to be at least ten up going into the last 3. Max Perry was the match winner though, he stepped up big time with Nagel struggling and deserves all the plaudits.

I understand some people have very strong opinions on play offs but I think without them our sport would be even less interesting to many people, they provide drama and no doubt a very important stream of income for a lot of teams. I went up to Glasgow last night as a neutral purely and simply on the basis of it being in the balance and with the hope of a dramatic meeting which was delivered in droves going all the way down to a last heat decider. The place was absolutely packed, programmes sold out by the time I arrived, I’m sorry but if you remove the play offs you lose all that. Those that say that more people might attend league meetings if it counts more towards a league title may be discounting the fact that teams on the edge of the play off bubble these days may lose crowds because by August they’d be out of the title race and nothing to play for, with this system most teams have something to race for for most of the season.

Clubs losing money need to seriously look in the mirror, Plymouth who are hardly world beaters and have a very limited track and space have upped their crowds considerably by the looks of it through some savvy work on social media etc. Granted in some cases things can’t be avoided but I absolutely think there would be a lot to be said for promotions being less insular and less of the ‘woe is me’ attitude.

Do you get paid every time you say the name Gerry Facenna?

Again though it worked perfectly, 2 x 5-1, 1 x 4-2 and one more 4-2 would’ve happened if it wasn’t for Masters running out of fuel. You could also argue that Oxford at full strength have 1 heat leader and 6 riders of a very similar level so putting the R/R with Masters is a good idea as proven on Saturday.

Just about every team manager uses R/R at 2 these days, don’t understand the consternation around this as in 3 of the heats the replacement is with theoretically the teams strongest rider and then in heat 8 you get to use said rider. It worked nearly perfectly for Oxford last night too as they got 2 x 5-1’s, 1 x 4-2 and would have had another if it wasn’t for Masters running out of fuel. Peter Schroek makes some strange and terrible decisions but putting R/R at two was absolutely the right thing to do and seems to be the consensus thing to do these days. I found it more odd he didn’t use Knudsen in Heat 12 and put Killeen in heat 15.

Well deserved home win, Edinburgh should comfortably make the playoffs imo. Poor team management as per from Dickson, should’ve kept the TS for heat 13 as would’ve expected Wood/Smith could’ve beat Loftus for the 3-3 in 12. I know he expected Killer to beat Sedgy but given how uncomfortable Morris looked I would’ve have had him out of 13. Bottom end far too weak with Smith and then Hagon having to be at 2. If/When Morris gets up to speed it’ll all be way too late to even get close to the play offs.

Completely agree, he’s actually upped his average this season at Plymouth and was just an unfortunate victim of circumstance. I’d certainly have him in over Smith for the rest of the season based on that and his efforts last night, it’s hardly a big risk, his floor is probably the same as Smiths but his ceiling is higher imo.

He does for Smith

Trigger should be in for Jack Smith based on that performance tonight, Smith hasn’t been the same since he was made permanent in the side and certainly struggles if he doesn’t gate. Wood is absolutely fine imo, paid 5 tonight and has routinely got above his average at home, you carry him away but most teams seem to have a reserve like that. The problem when you have a weakened lineup is that everyone has to pick up the slack, tonight only PK really did that out of the regular Bandits, Kemp looked uncomfortable and out of sorts and had his poorest home performance in a long time despite scoring 11 from his 6 rides he didn’t beat anyone of note. JJ will take time to settle in and unfortunately didn’t take to the track like he did last night, hopefully he’ll be better for it next week.

Excellent showing last night considering we were 14 points down at one point JJ and Kemp especially we brilliant. As for tonight I think it’ll be another close run things with two weakened teams, for Berwick it’ll come down to whether JJ takes to the track the same way he took to Ashfield last night as Glasgow could potentially be using Bomber and Howarth for 6 rides each which will prove difficult to overcome unless Drew Kemp has some able back up.

I’ve just checked and he’s actually having his worst statistical season in the Premier League/Championship since 2010 when he rode for Workington. Yes granted he was the best rider in the league for periods at Edinburgh and Glasgow but I don’t think his on track performance can be classed as unbridled success as some seem to make out. You've got to take one with the other and that’s how I see it, I can put up with Kildemand averaged 7.80 or whatever it is as he is no nuisance and generally seems to put in a strong effort. Cooks off track issues combined with his worst statistical season since 2010 but hey we’ve dealt with worse on track so I guess this is fine to you?

I’m actually surprised at how Kildemand has done, I thought he’d struggle far more than he has due to the fact he hasn’t had a team in Poland for a few years now and wasn’t exactly setting the world alight in Denmark, I thought he’d be averaging around 7 rather than closer to 8, he still isn’t afraid to mix it and is clearly trying but his machinery seems slow. Cook you are bang on, interested if he gates otherwise just potters around the white line but I better not upset the Cook fan club anymore.

But why would you sign someone that constantly gives you a headache? There is a reason teams like Workington moved on from him and they’ve been totally justified in that. The fact you don’t know if he's turning up at all to any meeting should be reason enough to avoid him and as for having all these bouts of sickness well maybe the less said the better. On track he’s been bang average imo, he’s nowhere near the rider he was years ago that would mean I could understand the excuses that were made for him. There always is plenty of people willing to defend him and personally I don’t understand it but each to their own.

I would fancy my chances if I was Plymouth, a lot will depend on the guest whomever that may be and the reserves for Berwick. The Cook signing had disaster written all over it from day one and those that hailed it as the best thing to ever happen have certainly got a dose of reality now.

Craig Cook being announced as not riding must win the award for least surprising announcement of the week.

After this meeting he’ll have missed 3 out of Plymouths 11 matches, I agree it’s frustrating but not nearly as frustrating as Jonas Knudsen missing the first 5 Oxford league meetings, plus when Plymouth signed Klindt he had no Polish commitments. However I don’t see you raising an issue with the likes of the Knudsen one so maybe it’s just you having an inevitable dig at Plymouth.

I think it’s maybe his hero worship and idealisation of the Comets and the ownership that means he could potentially have the blinkers on.