Sings4Speedway

Has an attitude problem full stop. Plus is not what most (Ben Hopwood apart) would consider "race fit" however it could now mean that Conor Locke is not the rider with most falls per meeting from now on........

Crumbs. No arguing that the inclusion of banks in the 1-7 has been as pointless as his scoring powers but i would be very surprised if any Raiders supports were excited about this.

What a cracking meeting. Thoroughly enjoyed a good contest between 2 good sides of which the better strength team won over the 2 legs but a meeting in which the lead swung to and fro throughout providing plenty of excitement until late on. Starting with Brum Waj. Racked up the points nicely for a consistent tally Bacon. Was excellent throughout Hume. Best ive ever seen him ride & was as close to Ayres as anyone. Ritchings. Below par, picked up easy points without looking competitive. Perry. Rode better than his score suggests & especially considering his return from injury. Smith. Outstanding (barring the naughty move in ht 2) JPB. Will have better days, was shuffled into the tougher heats to make way for a more in form Smith. As for the Kings Greenwood. Hope he was embarressed to collect his money. Equipment of effort? At least one was seriously amiss. Thomas. Better than his score suggests and rode a huge win in ht 8 when it really mattered. Shanes. Awesome as ever. Gating is improving but still able to swoop around everyone from the back. Mason. The curse of number 4? Average at best and can see a change required if Kent are to kick on... Ayres. Run out of superlatives. Gated superbly & never looked like being beaten. Verge. 2 great rides in ht 2 but looked adrift of the pace after that. Clifton. Suffering with injuries i suspect. bashed around again and didn't really mount much of a challenge all evening. Overall i would watch speedway like this happily every week. Great appreciation from most fans especially the travelling Brummies and the home crowd (except the few idiots who boo'ed, shame on you) would liked to have seen the rest of the Kent side out congratulating the Birmingham team and not just Ayres but all in all an excellent advert for the NL as echoed by Graham Drury' kind comments.

Too much of this happening this season. Not sure if the refs have been told to keep races running but its going to end in a biggie somewhere. Probably seen a dozen occasions where a rider is down and clearly not going / able to get up and yet the race runs on until it gets too close for comfort. It might not be popular but i would much rather races stopped as a precaution than watch someone injured by letting it continue.

Providing the weather doesn't spoil it i reckon Rye might? Kennett in superb form, Kasper & Morley likewise and what odds on Lanham having a blinder.......obviously the home side are all in good nick too but something makes me think that Rye can take a point here.

Would't be unhappy with any of those especially in that order. D.Greenwood is the obvious choice given his recent record around Central Park but there is something poetic about Morley being involved in such a key meeting as he was part of the Kings journey from the start.

Did Toms Bacon & Perry take rides after the meeting? How did they get on?

Bitterly ironic that Matt Williamson the guest in question who was at the heart of this ruckus had a bit of a stinker last night!

An off night for any rider could swing this tie. Think that Brum will have enough about them to run out winners at home but providing Kent can keep the score within 10 (which is easily achievable) then prospects look good for Monday. Not only is this a massive chance for the Kings to pick up a piece of team silverware but could have a large impact on the Kent attendances as many will opt for Speedway if the result looks close but perhaps football if Brum hand out a thumping tonight. On a side note i believe the football is being shown in the main bar? If so surely its the answer to both. Watch the speedway then the football to follow? Sounds like win win (except perhaps for England)

Not sure even the scb can get Cradley any away points this season.......unless they sign him at reserve

Horrible to hear all your stuff was stolen. Did you advertise on here what was taken out of interest? Hope whoever was responsible gets their comeuppance!

Sadly for Raiders fans its not straws that have been drawn its riders selected with little / no experience that has hurt you. It should't be the case that riders are heading for the tapes to take part in their first speedway race in NL meetings. Locke & Bowdrey were signed as Grasstrackers were in favour again at the start of the season assuming they would be like Georgie Wood (well they are not on the grass and certainly not on the shale). Hunter deserves more time as he has ability but building a team with him at 4 is crazy. It might be too soon for Leek & where has Banks disappeared? There were riders in the pipeline that would have made the Raiders a very potent side but the new promotion wanted to put their own stamp on things and must stand by their decisions.....

Who else is there? From the sounds of things Pipe is looking at digging up some rusty ex riders to replace the rusty ex riders he signed at the beginning of the season.

Theres no escaping the fact that Kevin Jolly got it horribly wrong and will have to pay the penalty for his actions. Cradley are not the first team to exploit the rules and they won't be the last (Mildenhall included). However the deed has now been done, Kevin has impacted his own business and let down his own fans who in my mind should make a goodwill gesture to them. However hounding the man out of the sport is ludicrous. He is a passionate Speedway Promoter who puts everything into his club and sometimes over steps the mark. Surely the best way forward is for the SCB to levy the appropriate fines, inflict a stern slap on the wrist and use it as a lesson for everyone for the future that whether you agree with the rules or not they need to be followed. Driving a promoter out of the sport & placing a club in jeopardy cannot in any way to coin a well used phrase be "in the best interests of Bristish Speedway".

Didn't hear / see that Gary needed an op Best wishes to him and hope that he is screwed together and on the mend soon.

I don't think there will be any shortage of clubs looking to sign him if he was released. I think he has ability but probably trying to hard? Think Brum would snap him up and get the best outvoted him? Bridges may be burnt for a return to rye? Edit I meant to say Cradley although. .......

Was in place before due to the lack of riders plus keeping late starters out of team places. The likes of Ayres, Clifton, Tedam etc would be finished before they started.

Looks like Mildenhall have let another strong away position slip. Still a point from the meeting but I very much doubt it will be a very jolly ferry crossing back.

I know after that performance id be ashamed of him too!

Luke "Sledgehammer" Chessell ? Guessing rather than knowing for certain. I spy Mitchell Davey has his passport now..........

Lets hope this goes ahead as IOW have had rotten luck with the weather so far and its a blinking long way to go for a rain off.....

Chessell (love him or loathe him) is a trier and does have the habit of falling when pushing too hard which was probably due to the fact that things were going belly up early on but he should know better. Morris has those mechanical gremlins out the way now and in the end it didn't cost you. The Cradley team is built very top heavy and is hugely reliant on the top 3 all scoring big. When that doesn't happen at least one other needs to step up and Basford came through for you. It does sound like an awful advert for NL speedway though and perhaps fortunately only a small crowd were there to witness it.

I would take the approach that it was a bad night at the office and you still got away with it. You won't have many nights at home where Morris has a stinker and Chessell gets 2 x NF. Yes it was a Buxton team with 2 guests & 4 reserves and had Blacklock been available it might have been very different? But you got away with it so it can be put behind you and look forward to the next round.

Does anyone have a link / suggestions of best place to get hold of a copy? Retro speedway website only has issue 73 listed at present?

Weather spoiling matches is inevitable and the same applies to meetings delayed due to rider injuries these are sadly par for the course with the sport but i hate it when i see / hear MDL meetings have been cancelled or cut short because the main meetings simply do not get started on time, there is a major interval or worst of all because people just cannot be bothered. Unavoidable delays happen but a bit of effort and attempts to make the riders feel welcome would go a long way.