SteelShoe

Yes but are the SGP dates known before the fixtures are compiled? . If not they should be.

I think it is the forecast for most of tomorrow that has done for the meeting, today's forecast isn't bad at all.

Maybe the award was for the number of UK teams managed, or mismanaged depending on your point of view 😃

Been frequent very heavy showers all afternoon today, more rain forecast thurs, fri and Saturday. Sunday being reported as driest day of weekend.

SGP Qualifier

could you post it please Neil ?

Comets have a fair number of what I would call occasional supporters ie will come sometimes but don't need their speedway fix or love it as much as the hardcore fans. By hardcore I mean fiercely loyal and will turn up whatever the weather or circumstances. If Speedway country wide continues to decline it is partly because it is not attracting enough people to cover the current costs. Those running the sport have to acknowledge this as a matter of urgency and take action to lower the cost base while making the sport more attractive to supporters. Current fan numbers at many clubs generally struggle to cover costs such as rider demands, travel expenses, medical costs ( around £1200 per meeting) Insurance costs, Stewards costs etc etc. I wouldn't be surprised if Workington would have liked to build a stronger team but were very mindful of the losses incurred at the back end of last season when crowds dipped. It is a catch 22, fans want a competetive team , the management have a certain budget probably based on expected break even numbers through the gates. If the fans don't turn up in these expected numbers on a regular basis then not as much money is available for team building. Offers to more capable riders are more likely to be bettered by lets say richer clubs. If the signed up team turns out uncompetetive or underachieves then this affects the numbers through the gate as the fickle won't come to watch a losing team. This increases financial loss even further putting a clubs ability to afford to race at a certain level in doubt. In my opinion the sport does not attract the attendances to call itself a professional sport any longer. It is increasingly questionable whether rider demands are sustainable on current attendances. The days when many riders had a job outside of speedway may well have to return. For me the way forward is one British League, let the riders who say they can't make one league pay make the choice.

Big thanks to the fans who turned out today with a shout out to the Monarchs fans who made the journey. Unfortunately quite a few were missing which was disappointing from a number of angles. Some decent races today without reaching the heights. Thought Comets had wrestled the initiative from the Monarchs after going 8 points up after heat 10. Then came the unfortunate heat 11 with Antti packing up 1st corner after making the gate and blocking Jacob Hook. This started a run of three 1-5's in 4 races for the Monarchs which resulted in Comets needing a least heat 5-1 to a draw . Batch and guest Leon Flint made no mistake. Must have been a bit of a surprise for Steve Lawson when dust came up in heat 1 considering all the overnight and lunchtime rain. The 2 Swedish riders Palovaara and Grahn riders were standouts for the Monarchs, very shrewd bit of business there by the Monarchs.

This is indeed a factor, Tate, Fraser, Antti (although rode at Armadale last season) won't have tackled small technical grippy tracks at all.

Yeah that was some turnaround, you guys had a certain Victor Palovaara at No2 who failed to score, seems to have come on a bit since then 😃. You also had a certain Eric Riss at 5 and Josh Pickering at No 3. Unfortunately miracles don't happen twice, last nights defeat was the biggest I can personally remember for a Comets team at Armadale perhaps some stat person/s could verify ?.

that's before the Pirates rock up on 7th June 😃

perhaps on the mini track with a good bit of dirt on.😃

I think with another strong heat leader in the team Tate may well be at 2 which may take a bit of pressure off him, he his finding consolidation of last seasons pre injury form difficult at the moment.. Ideally Fraser would have started at reserve like the Kennedys at Scunny and McDiarmid at Oxford which would help him find his feet. It's obvious that the point scoring abilities provided last year by Cookie coupled with the solid away average of Claus Vissing are a big miss. Jye's away performances so far haven't been what has been required from a rider with his experience while Antti continues to be an enigma on a lot of away tracks which is hard to fathom for a rider who often looks top notch at home. At the moment the team is very brittle. I can't see how the current deficiencies will be reversed without an inspired change or 2 in personnel otherwise we will be competing for the wooden spoon. Tomorrows meeting weather permitting will have more significance than the now near impossible task of achieving a place in the quarter finals of the KO Cup. UTC.

4 of us were coming up in a car but the rainfall radar has swung this in favour of the stream which is a shame. Been very dry since the initial staging dates 18/19th April.☹️

Nope

Coming up for this, weather now showing 20% chance of rain at 20:00hrs and 40% at 21:00🤔

With such a strong reserve in VP whatever Mark scores will have minimal influence on the tie. I'm more concerned about how the Comets perform, we need to step up.

Yes we will. It's up to Troy to prove he still has it and wants it.

Important couple of fixtures for both clubs. Worky will have targetted this as a must win when the fixtures came out, not just because the Tigers await the winners a fixture that I look forward too but also because it will provide two extra fixtures in what is a thin calendar.

Fair to say the Kennedy's have been impressive.

Don't think it is too early to worry about strength of the team. The indicators so far suggest we will struggle away and be vulnerable at home. We qualified from this BSN group last season so why quite poor this time around ?. Redcar are definitely stronger while Scunthorpe are probably comparable to last season. What about the Comets ? - Batch has not been at the same level both in attitude and on track performance so far. Cookie's points from the 4 corresponding fixtures last year (52) haven't been replaced by the rest of the team. Tate scored 32 points from No 2 over the 4 fixtures in 2024, (Jye 20) and 25 riding at No 3 this season. Fraser riding at 4 has scored 16 points whereas Claus Vissing riding at 4 last season scored 28. Claus's away average of 7.88 was excellent support for Batch and Cookie away from home. The lack of fire power has been our undoing so far. It is fair to say that Tate is not yet back to the rider we had the pleasure of watching at the GT Tyres Arena first half of last season, hopefully that confident fast Tate will return soon. The team was built on the premise of strength in depth but that strength is lacking. Improvements will need to come before we get too far into the league campaign or I fear we will need to bring in a strong heat leader from somewhere.

Batch, Jye and Jacob. 4 BSN Meetings plus 1 guest appearance for Jye at Berwick. Tate, Antti (until very recently) Premiership, Championship Pairs & CLRC. Tate - Polish U24 league, Fraser - Polish U24 league and Unia Tarnow Metalkas 2. Vinny NDL/NDT plus 4 BSN meetings.

With the price increase of fish since Brexit I can't afford it anyhow, about £12 for fish and chips these days. Fish prices to my local chippy have increased 3 times since Xmas and Haddock just went up again. Someone is doing alright out of it.

Not a playoff team on current form for sure. It is not how you start but how you finish, I'm sure the management will be keeping a close eye on the situation.

We will need a very good guest.