Sings4Speedway

Thoroughly enjoyed last night some excellent racing on show and a little drama thrown in. I agree i thought the ref was excellent and got everything spot on (except perhaps the awarded heat 1 as i didn't think enough laps had been completed) but every rolling start was brought back as it should be. Birmingham were clearly fired up which showed with a couple of over eager falls. Didn't agree with booing of Carr after his bike took off and he was understandably annoyed. Cupitt should have known better, went down at the back so no chance of all 4 back, looked up to see Davey 2nd and took his time. He knew what game he was playing so getting riled up by the fans & reacting was poor on is part but i suspect he will be poorer when a fine drops through his door. Tom Bacon was class yet again & should take a bow regarding how to perform & behave like a professional. From Kent Bowen was excellent, Hopwood, Thomas, Rowe & Andrews all did their job. I can see why Stoneman has been in the wars recently though, certainly no need to overtake Jack when they were already on a 5-1 and very fortunate with 2 hard attempts on Bacon in the rerun of heat 14. Personally id watch a spectacle like this every week but i know there are very few meetings like this these days.

Thats alarming actually. A rider of his caibre dropping over 3 points off his average. That said im sure he will come good again but a bit of a worry.

Think with Bacon, Carr, Cupitt + a reserve taking his rides makes Brum slightly stronger if not level regarding what Ritchings would have scored. Would be nice if Spooner gets to take at least 3 of the RR rides as he is travelling down yet again but ultimately hoping for a good close & fair match.

NL is a business & and an expensive one so no complaints there. Sadly over the years teams have become mis-matched due to multiple reasons (points money, location, day of week run on etc) i like many enjoy watching entertaining speedway between two closely matched teams regardless of the result. Hence why i am picking and choosing which matches i attend this season as a 60+ home win is not value in my eyes. If two teams turned up and both had 3 pointers from 1-7 i would still be happy as long as the racing was even & entertaining.

However what we have got at present is a league full of plenty of riders that were put in because they were the "correct" age and have levelled out into being NL standard riders only and will never be any more. There are some that have had 5,6,8 season in the Nl and never progressed but have averages that fit so keep getting included. The other issue i have is with promising youngsters getting a place over a rider of higher ability but who is older than the preferred age bracket. Why can they not continue in the amateur leagues until they have improved sufficiently? In my opinion if you are good enough you are in age, fashionable backgrounds (Moto X, Grasstrack, skateboarding etc) should not come into it.

Ditto. With Rounds 3&4 now completed at Rye House t would be nice to see how the Championship is stacking up. Slightly alarming though that of the 33 Young Lions competing 20 were in the 125 class but only 4 featured in the 500cc class? I guess this shows how many riders are already moving up and focusing on NL racing?

Won't disagree with you there happens far too often up and down the country

I've not been this season and seem pretty unlikely too. In previous season's it just lifts as soon as a rider slides into it (poor design or poor fitting) either way it exposes rider and machine to the armco barrier behind which makes it pretty inadequate in my opinion.

Im actually quite close so far. Couple of positions reversed and im spot on (except for pesky Lakeside being much higher up the table than i anticipated).

That sucks. Any idea how many races it had done?

I'd never question the amount of effort put in by the Mildenhall promotion but got to think the choice of shale is a factor. Mildenhall is small and the margin for error is tiny. A patchy surface will always cause problems and an inadequate air fence only adds to the woes

Probably the best result that JOB/Brum could have hoped for? I assume the ban starts from when he informed Sheffield that he wanted to step down so half of it is already served? In hindsight he could have informed Sheffield that he wanted to step down but would continue riding until they signed a replacement? In the long run it will have little impact on JPB's career so just a case of lessons learnt and move on.

I know some have limited choice & some have to try & keep their better halves happy during the season but it always seems an odd choice to me. If there was a fixture backlog its quite conceivable that a rider could miss 4 meetings with a weeks holiday during the season.

Now appears Nick Porsing is another victim of low life scum. Taken from his Facebook: "Unbelievable... This specific speedway bike as shown on the picture was yesterday about 5pm UK time stolen from my workshop at Nordelph, Downham Market, Norfolk, while my manager David was in the house! Witnesses has seen an unknown white tall transit van driving down the farm road and around the area . About an hour later the same van was seen after reports from police that goods was stolen from another farm 3 miles away. Please share! Absolutely shocking!" I hope these are unrelated incidents as the last thing anybody needs right now is a crime wave from within the sport dragging it down further.

I hope this is a nasty coincidence but Jack Smith also had a speedway bike stolen recently. Last thing the sport needs is a crime wave from within.

Welcome Agostina. In addition to the above questions do you know the number of races that is recommended before a service takes place? What items are instructed to be replaced at each service interval? & what the cost would be to replace these items? Many Thanks

Same as last time and the time before that. ......

I think Speight ought to be worried about his place as thats a poor return and he doesn't even have a particularly nice style. Tedham & RTD also need to step up the latter in particular as he has been around long enough but seems to be showing little improvement

Hurry should be getting double figures & if Spooner can hit his 3 that is most likely more than the riders they are replacing would achieve

If and its a big if that Brennan doesn't ride then i suspect it will be either O'Keefe or Whitehouse (most likely O'Keefe). That said i suspect the gamble will be taken on Brennan as on current form even a below par performance will return decent points.

Certainly appears to be in the "in" choice on the island at present. Fingers crossed they can snap him up before someone else does? Obviously there may be logistical issues with his brother already riding for Belle Vue? Plus perhaps the freedom of being an unattached 3 pointer and picking the rides he wants is suiting him.

I think Spooner must have been signed also as a guest has to be from another sides 1-7? Sounds like a "defiant" Lakeside have still got a good signing on their hands even if Hurry is around the 9 point mark. They may be upset that other teams have objected but that happens across all leagues so they should be used to it.

Not so much team but signings were made namely Bowen, Clifton, Thomas & Hopwood then when the points limit was lower than Len was expecting he could no longer fit Shanes into the side & Stoneman was recruited instead. In my personal view it would have been better to keep Shanes and release Clifton in place of another 3 point rider (Spooner?) which would have given the team a powerful top four and potential in the tail. As things stand Spooner did well and has been released whilst Clifton & Stoneman combined are just achieving the points that Shanes would have done alone.

Great to see riders from the development leagues improving but equally provides a headache for those organising the teams? Reading only have 3 eligible riders from their squad as i see it (providing all are available) and Kent will have to run without Cousins i suspect (again if the other members are all available) Reading : Luke Harris - NL Average now 6.00 ineligable? Kyle Roberts - Declared NL 1-7 Nick Laurence - Declared NL 1-7 William O’Keefe Niall Strudwick - taking a break from Speedway (Drew Kemp)///not eligible till August KENT Bradley Andrews - Declared NL 1-7 Anders Rowe - Declared NL 1-7 Alex Spooner Jamie Cousins - Declared NL 1-7 James Laker

Fingers crossed. Im assuming TBC is going to be the return of Kean Dicken?