oldtimer

I know they are the rules but how would you feel; if the boot was on the other foot, Newcastle finish top of the League on points and then lose due to a stupid rule that few support. I'm pleased for The Rebels of course but you have to have some sympathy for the Diamond supporters, or you are not very sporting.. Also think reserves should only be allowed to take 6 rides, that would still allow your two reserves to cover for an early heat injury. Doyle Mr Fantastic, and great performances by Kyle and Tom also. Have to admit I was completely wrong about replacing Sam with Jesper because of Jesper's away form due to lack of track knowledge, happy to eat humble pie. Wrighty was warned for tape offences at Somerset on Friday and after this performance, might be better if we had R/R for him in the finals.

Well done to Somerset getting a point from the Play Off match. However although I support Somerset it's totally unfair that in such an important match Somerset go in front of Newcastle on points just because The Rebels had a double point tactical and at Somerset Newcastle were not far enough behind to use a tactical. There should be no tacticals in the Play Offs and speedway continues to be a farce.

We had Holder and Gathercole at Somerset

Spanner 47 is correct about how long some matches take especially when it's a cold evening. I think it's done on purpose to make you think when you get home that you have had a long evenings entertainment. Last night Somerset got through a double header 30 heats plus a 15 minute interval for riders to change tyres between matches in 3 hours and that included the extra time for a few "two on the trot" due to R/R and reserve swaps.

As an OAP I thought £20 for two cracking matches on a well prepared track was excellent value for money and well done the Somerset management. In front of a bumper crowd, the track was slick but with 30 races and unreliable weather that was the right prep, and it produced passing inside and on the wide outside line, close racing and plenty of passing, a tribute to the track staff. Somerset had Cory Gathercole and James Holder standing by to cover any first match injuries, I assume they did not do this for free and how many other promotions would have been smart enough to have made this provision. In the Play Off match Rebels threw away some points early on, with Jesper and Claus tape offences, as judging by there subsequent performance in this match they would probably have won their races. Tom unfortunately got in the way of Claus (off 15m) in heat 4, but Tom looked on the pace all night and deserved more than he scored. In the Prem Trophy match Jesper and Claus couldn't get out of the starts and were totally different riders to the first encounter, fortunately Alex came to the rescue with three wins. James won a race in each match but acted angrily with himself after every defeat. Jason and Alex were awarded riders of the night for the respective matches, Jason deseved it for his team riding alone. Apart from Johnson all the Diamonds rode well and Nedermark scored 21 plus 5 bonus from 14 rides. I thought his form was tailing off at the end of the first match but he bounced back winning his first two races in the second match. Thought Alex was lucky in heat 8 as he went for a narrow gap and clipped Nedermark who fell but Nedermark excluded. On the food front, I had the pastie mash and gravy even though it is still crossed off the menu, so if you like your pastie just ask. With a large crowd it makes you wonder why it is not like that every week, with people queuing outside at start time. Even in a recession, people were willing to pay more than the usual Friday night price, because in return it was better value for money with 30 races and on paper the Diamonds would be entertaining opposition. The conclusion is, get the price and VFM verses entertainment ratio correct and people will come. I also think speedway under floodlights is always more exciting.

Hope Lindgren has his "guesting" head on tonight!

I think you should be able to declare a number 8 in a double header in case of an injury in the first match.

I agree with those who have said speedway is more than 15 minutes of racing. I go to Somerset on a Friday because there is bugger all on the TV Friday night, I like there pasty and mash and it's a social event where I can have a joke and discuss speedway and have a moan, with like minded anorachs, who I only see on a Friday night. It could however be more value for money if the presentation was better, you can't reproduce the Millenium Stadium atmosphere, and I fear air horns will never return in popularity to League racing, but, it should be 2 hours or more of entertainment, not just tractor racing that drowns out the rider interviews. There is too much standing around with nothing happening, and I am certain this puts off new people. You have to attend for some time before you get to know the riders and get some knowledge of the sport and get hooked, and there is not enough "raz a ma taz" to make new people think, that was a good evening with a good atmosphere even if the racing was processional.

Once again my recollection of events are wrong, will mention it to my doctor next time I see him. Good job Statman is on hand to correct the daft old fogies

Still not working for me, the red line where it should appear is blank, will try on another PC After this Friday I will be missing until 19th October Should have said it's the new thread bit on the white line that had vanished, have logged on via AOL instead of IE and it now works, very strange. I remember when we had double header before, Mike Golding said could not start engines in pits before 7-15 and we started double header at 7-30.

Somerset will be against Newcastle in a double header Premier Trophy and League Play Off matches this Friday. The Somerset web site says start time is 7pm, but I thought they were not allowed to start before 7-30pm, assume council is now more flexible. Fortunately the local weather forecast for Friday is good. Anyone know what's wrong with the unofficial web site, the new topics does not work?

What a boring meeting, was it because Olsen built the track? He was the man who a few years ago killed off GP speedway with his slick tracks. The SKY team thought it may have been the covers producing an inconsistant track, if this is so then it's a major reason not to introduce track covers in the UK. It would have been better if the meeting had been cancelled after Fridays rain as at least the fans would not have been cheated by paying their money for what they thought was going to be an evenings entertainment.

I think reducing admission will make little difference, if it looks a good match you will attend, if it's poor opposition and r/r and guests you may not. There was a match at Somerset this season where one rider was injured and 3 were at an under 21 competion which left the home team with just 3 of their signed riders, I would not have attended if it was free admission as it was not worth the petrol cost. Give the fans good racing and they will attend. Never been to Worky but what's the match night presentation (music, interviews etc) like at Worky, so many tracks ignore this and it's 2 hours boredom and track grading broken up by 15 minutes racing.

Havn't read all the posts on this thread, but it seems to me that fans want to see the riders that have signed for their club racing against a visiting team that also includes riders that belong to that club. Nobody was interested in challenge matches and fewer people are interested in matches where teams are made up of guests and R/R. The problem is too many injuries, there are a number of solutions to this, all have been discussed before but nobody willing to bite the bullet and make the drastic changes necessary. There were two articules in The Star recently which should be compulsory reading at the next AGM. One discussed a change in tyres and more dirt on the tracks and reducing costs, the other by Barry Briggs on what a big mistake lay down engines were. Looking through the weekly results recently I noticed riders like Nicholls and Harris riding for three different clubs in a week, none of which were their own. How can you support a sport where your own riders are helping the opposition to win the League. If riders are not injured they are missing British meetings by riding abroad, in various competitions, under 21's etc. Unless there is a major change, the sport it is dead in the water, it must be the only business where the management completely ignore what their customers want, and which has no coverage in the press, what paper would cover the world cup with a joker.

Should be easy for Rebels against the Workington R/R guest select team. One of the many problems with speedway, that often due to so many injuries, you do not get to see the riders who are actually members of the home or visiting team. There are things that can be done to improve the situation but nobody running speedway seems to care. Will not be there on Friday or next Wednesday and I know my charisma, personality and wit will be sorely missed. However may return on the 28th when hopefully the tuck shop will have grown some pasties.

Thanks Statman, yes that's what I meant, compared to previous week. Track has been excellent this year considering the appalling weather, and Oak Tree remains the best track in the League.

Thanks to Ez and his team track back to it's best this week, and as often happens the scoreline did not reflect the quality of the racing, passing inside and out, and that line from the second bend along the back straight fence was back and often used by Rebels. Alex on fire and the fastest I have ever seen him, lightening starts and well clear in most races, awarded rider of the night in front of his dad. Highlights were Jesper's passing efforts from the back and James passing the two Sheffield riders from 15 metres, unfortunately Kyle suffering from ignition problems. I thought the Tigers would have performed better especially as they had just had a good win against Newcastle. Josef Franc particularly poor and strange decision to do your first tactical in a race which included Doyle. Only Skidmore and Haines deserved any credit, great to see Joe in such good form after all his career injuries. Brent Werner interviewed in the bar by the mad Aussie, and fortunately not making another come back. Had the burger and chips as pastie still crossed out on menu board, however when I asked are pastie's coming back? the reply was, "we have them", I replied you won't sell many if it's crossed off the menu. very strange?

Surprised Joe Haines is riding, thought he was injured? Don't agree Tigers are a mediocre team, thet have some good riders and cannot understand why they have not done better. Sheffield usually do well at Oak Tree as both fast full throttle tracks. Not vital for Rebels to get all 3 points as play off position is safe, I think it will be a close match and hopefully some dirt on the track this week. Ez usually does a good job. If Doyles name was Wayne Rooney he would have been off for a month.

I new it was going to be a disappointing evening from the start as the pastie mash and gravy was crossed off the menu, nobody seemed to know why. The score was close but passes after second bend could be counted on one hand and mostly processional. Track was dusty and no grip on the outside, riders trying to go wide were losing ground and even Cory Gathercole was hugging the white line. You would have hoped heat 13 with Doyle, Vissing, Barker and Fisher would have been a cracker, but yet another procession. Heat 15 not much better with Barker struggling at the back. As for our guest, well it said Lase Bjerre in the programme but i'm not so sure. Unfortunately my friend who was attending for the first time this season could not have been impressed by the quality of the racing. A good win by Rebels and now certain to be in the Play Offs but apart from a close score not much to get excited about.

Interesting to read what Sam had to say in this weeks Star, feel sorry for him. With the Somerset view that the need of the team come first, I assume nobody's position is safe if they under perform, winning the League being the most important thing. I wonder how this affects rider moral? If our guest Bjerre performs it should be an easy win for Rebels tonight.

Will score well when signed for Scunthorpe especially if we meet in Play Offs.

I'm sure the promotion were aware of this, and not blaming them in any way, and Jesper has to honour any pre booked commitments.. I also assume Sam Masters participation in the under 21 competition was also a long standing booking the promotion were aware of.

Yet again Somerset riders will be missing. Alex Davies and Sams (missing meetings) Masters replacement Jesper Monburg, that's ironic isn't it?

Says 0 against Doyle on live update scores but EF in race report. Was it EF, unusual for Doyle, and was he leading?

Any live updates?