diamond@heart

Good win by the Diamonds tonight with a hard fought battle against the Monarchs. Hats off to TJ and another very impressive performance from Clegg, gets better week on week. Gr8 to see Wethers amongst the points and Bjerre's haul would have been greater if not for a retirement and a team riding attempt which didn't quite work. Lambert still a worry but Phillips has to go, he's not good enough for this level, simple as.

Take a bow Max Clegg, awesome tonight!! Great to see Diamonds back to winning ways

We need to sort our gating out and the track appears to have been different for both home matches so having a similar track would be a benefit. Hopefully Clegg continues where he left off last week and Phillips needs to pull his finger out and start to justify his team place, rather than as most people (myself included) think, he only got if because of his dad (harsh but fair). It will be interesting to see crowd levels on Sunday, after two dismal displays by the Diamonds, will the crowd mainly be made up of season ticket holders, as will those who pay at the gate on the day decide to give it a miss due to the first few matches results and the fact it is f*****g baltic at the minute and line of duty is back on. Hoping for a Diamonds win to give us something to build on.

Lasse seems to be having more mechanical gremlins tonight. R, R, 2, 0. Hope he gets them bottomed out sooner rather than later.

Interesting little Q&A on Tero Aarnio's Instagram feed!!!

Absolute s***e. Phillips not good enough for this league and both Lambert and Wethers pi$$ poor. Wethers needs to improve and Lambert and fast, I think the team already needs a major shakeup and we are only two meetings in. Only Clegg has impressed me so far. I don't mind losing but we need to compete and we are not, we are poor out of the gate and giving ourselves a massive hill to climb.

I thought the aggregate winner got a bonus point?

Agree with you 100%, I think Barker was to fault for the incident with Bjerre and as you say, the fact he fell indicates contact and he should of gone. I think that decision turned the match firmly in Redcar's favour. I don't think it would have made a difference to the aggregate score but it would have meant an opening night victory. I think this is the first time in a long time I have seen such a twitchy set of Diamonds riders at the tape, it was like we had ants in our clutch hand. This will have to be sorted otherwise we are going to continually penalise ourselves. For me, the ref was rubbishe, to the point where he should be removed from this level of competition for a while and the incident with the rider red exclusion light and not the red stop lights topped it off. I hope he doesn't darken Brough Parks door for a while but as he is local and refs are thin on the ground we will probs see a lot of him. Impressed with Clegg, seemed to go off abit after two races, not sure if injured after fall or lack of confidence. Phillips still a worry for me, not on the pace and only points were gifts. Impressed with Bjerre and Jorgensen's pass on Wright was top drawer. Steve was poor in my opinion for his standards and to be out elbowed to the first corner by Wright summed his night up. Onwards to Berwick and see what that brings. For the Bears, really impressed by Wright considering I believe he used to and maybe still does hates Brough Park. Greaves and Bacon were very good for the Bears and luckily Palm-Toft had an off night. I think the Bears can be confident of a good season. Congrats to the Bears you were by far the better side over two legs but I think we deserved the win last night, just my opinion.

Did we get battered last night, don't think we did. Meeting decided by a poor refereeing decision, but you expect that from a Mackem..

The result.

Glad I stayed in the house.

I was impressed with Max Clegg yesterday, looked good and riding a number of different lines and looking fast. Jorgensen also looked good and seemed to be really attacking the track as was Bjerre. Phillips still has me concerned, still doesn't look comfortable around Brough but time will tell. Love the kevlars, especially the big white Diamond, just missing the word 'LADA' underneath in my opinion.

Does anyone know when the club has to buy a new air fence. I seem to remember they only have a shelf life of about 15 years or did I make that up?

Great article in last weeks speedway star about the all conquering 1976 Diamonds. Horrified to discover that one of my all time favourite Diamonds is a Berwick fan!!!

I think you maybe correct re: Phillips. My only issue is that he doesn't seem to be able to ride our track, always seems to get out of shape and never looks comfortable when on it, almost as though he is seeing it for the first time. If the line up is as people think and Phillips and potentially Wilkinson at reserve, we are going to be relying heavily on Wilko in my opinion. We will have to wait and see.

Matej Zagar used to have the same problem. The signing of Jorgensen is not one that I would have gone for and don't think he will get the fans flocking back but we will have to see. So we have Wethers, Clegg, Jorgensen and Lunna with 3 left to go. Will be interesting to see who they are, no disrespect but hoping they are not Phillips (tried that route and it didn't work and I don't think he has improved as a rider) or Lindgren (needs a year away from Newcastle, feel he has gone stale). Top riders left appear to be Palm-Toft and Erik Riss, both of whom preform well around Brough, chances of getting both of them?? probably remote, but would like to get at least one. Baby Bjerre might be a good shout as George maybe able to sort him out, you never know. Looking forward to news of the next signing, I think the next 2 are make or break and feel they will determine whether we challenge or are also rans, Somerset already look strong contenders and potentially nailed on for the top spot, but speedway is a funny old game and you never can tell. Onwards to the next signing and 2019 our anniversary year.

I didn't think Rene was doing the UK next year, isn't his girlfriend due to have a baby which I think has ruled him out or some other commitment? Might have just made that up but thought I have read it somewhere I wonder how much of cleanout Newcastle are going to have. Might be good to freshen the team up, obviously it will take new riders a while to get used to the track but might benefit all. I think Ludvig for one needs a change of scenery and I would like to see Rose back, not sure if he has finished with speedway.

What about Palm-Toft, rides Brough well. Would be good to have Wells. Gutted Ash has gone, thought he was nailed on to come back.

Reading the SS it sounds like his Polish commitments have ruled him out. I can't remember the quote word for word but George was suggesting that being a Sunday track and finding riders was difficult due to Polish commitments and they would have loved to have Tero back but his Polish commitments have put a stop to that.

George English said in Speedway Star that Tero is ruled out due to Polish commitments, it was the edition with a big article on Lewis Kerr.

2nd rider for 2019 to be announced tomorrow. BCB or Aarnio?

I know I'm not helping here but you know what they say 'No News is Good News!!!'.

What about Fake News!!!

Lets hope he is returning back to us to spearhead our charge to the title!!!

I thought Stevie was looking to ride in Poland which is why he left us the last time. I would assume that would still be the case and therefore he would be ruled out?