PaulS

How about re-declaring the team, Rose for Henry? Could we get Robert Lambert in for Kerr just until the end of the year at least? Whatever the team, a 22 point deficit will be a big ask, fingers crossed...

Surely we would have been better off redeclaring and including Lewis Rose? In good form before crash and knows his way around Brough. Tero more than capable of riding in main body...

61 - 31. Yes some great wheel-to-wheel racing tonight, with a rare and very welcome zero crashes/falls. No poor Diamonds performances with some excellent ones to boot.

I somehow had a good feeling about Tero Aarnio at his first meeting...grabbed his autograph after and he said it would be better next week...apart from that being rained off, he has not disappointed! I for one would love to see this rider in Diamonds colours in 2016. I was not at Peterborough tonight, but 2 points for my favourite rider Ludvig seems a bad day at the office. Decent efforts from Worrall and Nielsen. Thanks to our guest for helping to keep the score close. Anton seems to continue to struggle but at least he had enough fight to mostly keep out of the last places. His starts at Brough Park have been leaving him too much to make up, perhaps that was the case tonight...?

Sensational performance from Ben - amazing from a rider just coming back - and a great collection from the Panthers fans for Lewi, well done.

I don't think Wilko (ex-Diamond who earlier this year did well enough for a Heat 15) is the difference between going or not going to the Speedway on a Sunday, but it's a valid point about the website not being up to date. There might be legitimate reasons (illness etc.) for that, but Speedway would benefit from up to date web pages to help it compete against other sports which DO have quick updates.

I respect you're offering suggestions on how to promote Speedway, however crashes cannot ever be welcomed and often just leave new fans questioining who is turning up for my injured rider today. As you suggest it is great to see riders walk away unscathed from spectacular crashes. But I would rather show new fans some heats of exciting racing where no riders got hurt. I would like to think sun delays etc. could be resolved by shades or tinted visors, however from previous delays I think I understand it's not that simple? Clearly sun delays are an action for promotions to assess and see if anything needs to be done.

Sorry damn phone has a mind of its own!

Robert is an exceptional talent and is the future of British Speedway (along with Woffy) and we are all lucky to have him. It was memorable seeing him in action at Brough Park earlier this season, throwing his bike all over the place in his first race, I was literally shaking after the Diamonds held him off for a 5-1 - after which he later proceeded to rack up some 1st places. I expect Peterborough fans will back him to the hilt when he turns out for Team GB, but it's nonetheless understandable to be frustrated when your star rider is in reality only ever putting in the odd appearance here and there. Perhaps supporters of other teams should keep in mind that they can at least expect their heat leaders to put in lots of appearances, whereas Peterborough fans have not had that. However, RL is only 17, his potential seems to have no limit, and him and Woffy could give us the foundations to build a WC-winning team around. If that happened, who knows how far that would take British Speedway out of its current crisis and bring in more sponsors and investors...? One way for Peterborough fans to look at RL is that he may very soon help to inject money into our sport, helping to keep their club going along with many others...

Speedway is *relatively* a cheap night out, especially compared to PL football (also, can you imagine Toon players mingling with the fans and doing autographs and selfies after a match?!!) As a lad I used to enjoy going to the East Corner with my mates for just a few quid admission, but the Taylor Report and Sky money changed things somewhat. Of course I will never forget King Kev's entertainers, but... Football has become a greedy, cash-hungry ogre where being an average PL player will net you a staggering £30K a week. Plenty of Speedway riders can but dream of making that in a SEASON... But of course football has cleverly styled itself as 'The Beautiful Game'. Really? Players writhing in faked agony every time an opponent brushes against them, and of course the ball has a tendency to be out of play much of the time, so 90 minutes of action is a fallacy. Don't get me wrong, great sport, fun to play and at least watchable, but why should this bloated cash-hungry ogre get pride of place at the table while other sports are reduced to scrapping over the crumbs? It's definitely one of the worst promoted sports. Couple of examples: 1. Lad at my local corner shop asked where I work. Turns out he thought my Newcastle Speedway polo was staff uniform for a karting track rather than my desperate attempts to be a walking advertising board. 2. Usually-very-bright lass at work thought Newcastle Speedway was some kind of public track I could pootle my little YBR125 around for fun, rather than a place to watch professional riders tear around on 500cc brakeless methanol bikes.

There are also several football teams...but only one Speedway team. If the Diamonds folded, we would not have the option of saying 'Damn shame to lose the PL team but at least I can pick a new NL team from Blyth/Whitley Bay/South Shields'. No Diamonds = no live speedway. Top division football has been spoiled by money; Speedway is desperate for money. Come on Fat Mike let's see the Newcastle Sports Direct Diamonds winning trophies next year.

Sunday evenings are an awesome way to end the week, speaking as a Newcastle fan. Friday nights most people are knackered from work and either want to lie on the sofa or hit the booze. I really hope the Scorpions can try at least another season. Best wishes to Rob.

No to both...some good overtakes tonight though.

Good post. You and I both agree the lad has potential to step up and hasn't done so yet. He has talent but seems to be in big bro's shadow...? What's to be done? Sports Psychologist? Get Santa to give him Gating Gloves? I always used to tell Mrs S that Ludde was unstoppable round Brough Park if he led on the back straight, yet he got picked off in one of his races on Sunday after a mistake. I think we should perhaps not read too much into last Sunday though as it was a hugely disappointing performance, I will eat my Diamonds baseball cap if we have a meeting as bad as that again this year...

The main things that have hurt us this season IMHO: 1. Lewis R was very out of sorts earlier in the season for whatever reason, of course he had the minor prospect of becoming a dad on the horizon. Sad for the lad to be struck down not long after rediscovering his form and banging some fine scores and entertaining races in. 2. Inconsistent season for Christian, bike troubles and whatnot, it's not for the lack of trying as we saw on Sunday's tactical ride crash. 3. Rosen, already missing track time from last season, did his collar-bone. He is at least a useful second string with potential to step up, and 6 weeks R/R takes its toll on the team. When riders you need to step up have a stinker like last Sunday then getting a result is going to be very hard. As to the rest: Simon has done a job; Stevie sensational; Ludvig and Lewi K maybe have not quite kicked on as we had hoped but overall at least decent seasons. Based on this and #1-3 above, I wonder why some posters seem to have an anti-Ludvig agenda?

Simon scored a disappointing zero on his own track and Ludvig is captain so perhaps he was trying to help Simon. I remember Robbo coming out with Ludvig last year with swapped bikes to investigate Ludvig's poor gating.

Err...Steve Worrall?! I don't think Ludvig should be singled out for criticism, he has improved his average while captaining a team who are struggling a bit and he also has the challenge of the #5 race jacket.

Didn't realise Lewis R was badly crocked, sad when the lad had recently resumed banging the points in. I guess changes are inevitable then? Watch this space?

Simon has done a job for us, to be fair. He has clocked up some points but has also had the odd poor score here and there. To give credit to the lad he tried to do some testing after the last meeting with captain Ludvig, but they were both red-lighted for the Sheffield interviews/junior match. If Simon were to be dropped, it wouldn't be because he did not do his job as a #6. It would be because the team overall has not kicked on and had some riders step up (honourable exception to Stevie), leaving some points to play with. Harsh but that's Speedway. It would be good to suggest eligible replacements before posts criticising the team, if possible. I'm not convinced changes at this late stage in the season are the way forward. Better to send Anton some gating gloves and get Simon to sort his setup/whatever other issues? As always this is just my opinion and I welcome healthy discussion that keeps Newcastle Speedway going and, ideally, brings future silverware (there be still PLKOC this season, Weegies Smeegies...)

I welcome your support for the team as at the end of the day I want to continue to enjoy the thrills, spills, noise and smell of live Speedway with Mrs S. However, I don't think this match was 'close' - it was the worst Diamonds performance I have seen since Workington pumped us at home circa May 2014.

Robbo Garrity and Bates always looked a threat tonight and produced a lot of overtakes. If you have a solid reserve like Simon scoring 0, then a disappointing performance from Anton, then you are making it hard to get a result. Hopefully the Diamonds will bounce back at Redcar and then v Scunthorpe, I should hopefully make both matches and it surely won't be much worse than tonight...!

Scattering greyhounds ashes.

Rosen had a horror injury last year, then this year broke his collarbone mixing it from the back. All massive disruptions for a rider still relatively young. So I think we just need the lad to ride to see what he is or is not capable of. Score in our earlier deafeat to Scunthorpe suggests he has potential. I'm a Ludvig fan - but on current form, 'Supa Stevie Worrall' would be first on my team sheet.

You couldn't make it up.

Tonight's match wasn't our team though was it? 2 of our 3 guests (kudos to RH though) had a disappointing meeting. It's pointless saying a team's not strong enough when it wasn't actually the team. 3 of the 4 riders missing tonight have promise to improve - plus Stevie Worrall who has been mostly sensational. Lewi K is much better than tonight's score.