Mimmo

Well that's one hell of a soaking we've just taken in Heacham, anybody 13-miles down the road nearer the track, that has a more local weather update please?

Okay, we've mistaken what each other meant. I didn't actually mean it was a waste of time putting it on the website, what I was trying to put over, as you now appreciate, is that those reading it on the website are already showing loyalty to your wonderful club. Sadly those that have walked away probably won't be reading it, and they are of course the ones that need to be reached...........somehow. Other clubs are in a similar position to yours, and it is a very worrying time for the sport that we both so much enjoy, especially people like Rob and so many others who pump endless thousands of pounds in trying to keep it alive. I don't get to visit Scunthorpe very often, as I said, but over the past 2-3 years, I've introduced approximately a dozen newcomers to my local track plus a neighbouring one, and not one of them has returned for a second time, ALL giving the same reason that for them, it takes too long to get through what is basically a 15-minute meeting. I'm a die hard, so put up with things as they are, but must agree that barring incidents, no bog standard meeting should take more than 90-minutes to complete. I'm not suggesting that is the cause of the problems at Scunthorpe, because I don't know how long it takes to get through your meetings, but if it is part of the reason, then that particular matter should be rectified. Anyway Eric, all the likes of you and I can do, is keep hanging in there with our support, and just hope and pray the rough ride suddenly becomes a lot more smoother. Best Wishes, and good luck to you all at that fine club of yours.

Don't understand what you mean. I'm in full support of Rob, and of course its right that he keeps his fans informed. But that's just what they are, current fans that are keeping the club alive at the moment. All I'm asking is, that's it's those that no longer attend that need addressing in whatever way possible. So your comments make no sense, as I have at no point said that Rob shouldn't keep the fans informed, it's common sense that he should, and does.

I've always said, and will always say, that the Scunthorpe circuit produces some of the best, if not the best racing in the country. In the earlier years, I was a regular visitor to almost every meeting from my Norfolk base, and would love to be in that position to still be able to be so. However, when race-day was switched from Sunday afternoon to Friday evening, due to family health reasons, I had to reluctantly say goodbye to a club that had become a big part of my life. I still manage to attend the odd Bank Holiday Monday meeting, and all things being equal, will do so on the 31st August. I obviously don't know the reasons for crowd levels dropping, although some of it is bound to be down to poor results, a reason I can never understand, because that's when your club really needs your loyalty. As I said, in my families case, it's purely down to the change in race-day and race time, so is that the reason for the now missing fans? Have the promotion asked questions in the local papers as to the reasons for previous customers now stopping away? Those people obviously used to enjoy their visits, otherwise they would have stopped attending much earlier than they now appear to be doing according to Rob. There must be something that they don't like, or things that don't suit their lifestyle, so these questions need to be asked. I sympathise with Rob and everybody involved on the management team, but if making statements through the speedway media about possible closure if an extra 200 people don't come through the turnstiles, is the only source of plea that is being made, then that is a waste of time, because the chances are that the deserters no longer read the sports press anyway. I'm not aiming any criticism at anybody, but just asking the question whether these statements have been made public knowledge in the local press and possibly radio. I do wish the club the very best of luck, and hope upon hope, that the missing fans can find a way to return, because speedway needs Scunthorpe as much as Scunthorpe needs speedway.

Thanks for those kind words Martin. I hope that all is well with you now.

Just to correct an error in my figures for Ryan Kinsley (King's Lynn), they should read 3-5-9-0-9-7.20

Surely the track should have been bladed long before it was......shouldn't it? Seeing two tractors riding round in tandem for nearly an hour, was obvious to all, that was the correct way of going about things. Luckily once they did get their act together, the track actually produced some reasonably good racing, so well done to all for that.

As I'm unable to attend this meeting, would somebody be kind enough to take a few minutes to type the results out on here please, in the same way that I always do when able to attend. Thank You.

Yeah, I couldn't proportion blame for that incident. The referee did of course have the advantage of seeing the TV monitor, so can only assume it was clear on that. But as you say, camera angles can paint a different picture. The main thing is that Berge escaped unscathed, but on the flip side of the coin, it MAY have cost Glasgow a win.

How lovely to see a meeting that's not thwart with the usual tractor racing. I agree with proud panther that there wasn't as much passing as usual, but it was still a highly entertaining meeting to watch, and finished at a reasonable time, 8instead of having the mad rush to beat the curfew. I do hope that some lessons have been learned on that score tonight. WOW, what a fab performance from Simon Lambert, possibly the best I've ever seen him ride. One black note for me, was the rubbish centre-green presenter who contributed nothing to the meeting that we didn't already know. Well to be fair to him, I guess nobody knew the silly dance moves he was trying to get the start line girls to do to YMCA...how embarrassing. Hopefully his appearance was a one off.....simply dreadful, IMHO!!

Make that 4.......I'm back from America.

For anybody wishing to attend the funeral of former Oxford rider Arne Pander, who passed away on the 22nd May at Lisbon Court, King's Lynn, the details are as follows. Service at St Faiths Church, Gaywood, on Wednesday June 10, at 11.30am, followed by internment at Gayton Road Cemetery. Flowers, or donations for Lisbon Court Amenity Fund may be made at the service or sent to John Lincoln Funeral Directors, 40 Greevegate, Hunstanton, Norfolk.

I left before the end, which has to be said isn't the first time with Peterborough.......unfortunately. The meeting started at 7.40pm (I don't know what time it actually finished, as I left after Heat 13, totally fed up with the usual delays, plus to be fair, the cold too), but it must have been after 10.00pm. Assuming it finished at curfew time, that's a total of 2 hours 20 minutes. There was just over 15-minutes of racing, approximately 20-minutes of sun delay (unavoidable). Approximately 15-minute delay for the Richard Hall accident (unavoidable). Total time of approximately 45-minutes. That means we are paying to watch 1 hour 35 minutes of tractor grading, which seems to be done to excess at this particular venue, and general time wasting. Emma Strowger posed the question in her column in the programme last night, "Why are attendance levels falling in the sport".............Answers given above in my particular case. As for the meeting when it intermittently happened, the racing was excellent, as it nearly always is at the Showground, in fact it's hard to think of a track that currently provides better racing. Both sides gave it their all, and were a joy to watch, but as others have said, and I agree, to many other shenanigans spoil the evening out. Year in year out, supporters complain about the length of time it takes to get through a meeting, yet they continue to get ignored, so is it little wonder they stop attending, and that is sad.

Supposedly breaks the track record, then gets released by the club!!!!

No other reason than National League is my favourite level of racing, closely followed by Premier League. I've never been a huge fan of Elite League racing, although I do go to watch it at other tracks from time to time. I also love going to watch the various rounds of the British Youth Championship, although I can't make them all this year. I suppose it's grass roots stuff that I like. Nothing against those who prefer Elite League though, because obviously you get good racing at that level..................................once in a blue moon . If you're off to Coventry, have a great evening, and lets hope the 'Stars' win. I know I'll enjoy myself at Central Park, Win, Lose or Draw.

I'm certainly looking forward to coming to Kent in support of King's Lynn on Monday. King's Lynn 'Stars' are in action at Coventry the same day, but the National League fixture seems far more appealing, so in my case, a clash of fixtures doesn't matter one iota.

After having followed speedway in excess of 50-years, I made my debut as a meeting announcer this afternoon, and I will never make adverse comments about announcers again. It's not until you do it yourself, that you realise it's not the simple task that you imagine. Anyway, apart from getting tongue-tied a couple of times, I got through the meeting without any mistakes. So thanks guys for entrusting me with the role, and in hindsight, I guess I sort of enjoyed it. So onwards and upwards, and I guess my next assignment will be the British GP at Cardiff in July!! Anyway, here are the results. WEST LYNN ALBION 91 1. Tom Rowlett R-R-FN-N-N-N = 0 2. Mick Skinner 1-2-3-2-1*-1 = 10+1 3. Andrew Leech 1-1-0-0-1-0 = 3 4. Mark Bibby F-2^*-2-3-2-6^ = 15+1 5. Billy Bibby N-1*-1*-0-2*-F = 4+3 6. Graham Knowler 2-3-4^-1*-3-1* = 14+2 7. Steve Lockyer 1-2-2-1-2-1 = 9 8. Pat Doyle Did not ride. 9. Rick O'Connor F-N-R-R-R-N = 0 10. Lee Harris 3-6^-3-3-6^-3 = 24 11. Liam Worton 1-F-2-1-6^-2 = 12 KING'S LYNN UNITED 115 1. Eryk Borczuch 3-3-3-2-3-3 = 17 2. Robert Parker 2*-FN-2-1*-2*-2 = 9+3 3. Rob Watts 2*-2*-1*-1-0-1* = 7+4 4. Alex Wilson 3-3-1-3-3-2* = 15+1 5. Mark Whitehead 3-3-3-3-3-3 = 18 6. Mike Osborne 1-2-3-2*-1-2* = 11+2 7. Damon Hall Did not ride 8. Richard Boyd 2*-2-1-0-2-1* = 8+2 9. Tony Raybould 3-2*-2-2-1*-3 = 13+2 10. Ian Chambers 0-1*-1*-R-N-N = 2+2 11. Duane Wuerzburger 2-3-3-3-2-2 = 15 1. Borczuch, Parker, Skinner, Rowlett (Ret) 1-5, 1-5 68.3 2. Wilson, Watts, Leech, M.Bibby (Fell) 1-5, 2-10 70.1 3. Whitehead, Knowler, Osborne, B.Bibby(NS) 2-4, 4-14 71.6 4. Raybould, Boyd, O'Connor (Fell) 0-5, 4-19 87.4 5. Harris, Wuerzburger, Worton, Chambers 4-2, 8-21 90.3 6. Knowler, Osborne, Lockyer 4-2, 12-23 76.0 7. Borczuch, Watts, Leech, Rowlett (Ret) 1-5, 13-28 68.6 8. Wilson, Skinner, M.Bibby (TR)-Parker (FN) 4-3, 17-31 65.0 9. Whitehead, Lockyer, B.Bibby 3-3, 20-34 72.1 10. Harris (TR), Boyd, Chambers 6-3, 26-37 88.8 11. Wuerzburger, Raybould, Worton (Fell), O'Connor (NS) 0-5, 26-42 92.4 12. Borczuch, M.Bibby, Wilson, Rowlett (FN) 2-4, 28-46 66.9 13. Skinner, Parker, Watts, Leech 3-3, 31-49 70.1 14. Osborne, Knowler (TR), B.Bibby 5-3, 36-52 74.6 15. Wuerzburger, Worton, Boyd 2-4, 38-56 82.2 16. Harris, Raybould, Chambers, O'Connor (Ret) 3-3, 41-59 85.5 17. Whitehead, Lockyer, Knowler 3-3, 44-62 74.2 18. Wilson, Skinner, Watts, Rowlett (NS) 2-4, 46-66 70.5 19. M.Bibby, Borczuch, Parker, Leech 3-3, 49-69 68.1 20. Whitehead, Osborne, Lockyer, B.Bibby 1-5, 50-74 71.0 21. Wuerzburger, O'Connor (Ret), Chambers (Ret) 0-3, 50-77 79.5 22. Harris, Raybould, Worton, Boyd 4-2, 54-79 80.6 23. Knowler, B.Bibby, Osborne 5-1, 59-80 82.0 24. Wilson, Parker, Leech, Rowlett (NS) 1-5, 60-85 68.7 25. Borczuch, M.Bibby, Skinner, Watts 3-3, 63-88 26. Whitehead, Lockyer, Knowler, 3-3, 66-91 73.4 27. Harris (TR), Wuerzburger, Raybould 6-3, 72-94 81.1 28. Worton (TR), Boyd, O'Connor (Ret), Chambers (NS) 6-2, 78-96 85.4 29. Whitehead, Osborne, Lockyer, B.Bibby (Fell) 1-5, 79-101 RACE AWARDED 30. M.Bibby (TR), Parker, Watts, Rowlett (NS) 6-3, 85-104 71.9 31. Borczuch, Wilson, Skinner, Leech 1-5, 86-109 69.1 32. Raybould, Worton, Chambers (NS) 2-3, 88-112 85.2 33. Harris, Wuerzburger5, Boyd, O'Connor (NS) 3-3, 91-115 80.8

It's actually been called off for dangerous conditions and high winds.

I hope for the sake of all concerned, that the wind isn't as bad up there, as it is here..

Very Very Very Breezy is still an understatement Screamer The strength of this wind should keep any significant rain away I'd have thought, and I shall not be wearing my best crown topper tonight

MIDLAND DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE – 3rd May 2015 MILTON KEYNES 13 1. Jeremy Pestell 3-FD-FD = 3 2. Rob Watts FD-3-2 = 5 3. Connor King FD-R-FN = 0 4. Robert Parker 3-1-1* = 5+1 (Team manager: - Russell Paine) COVENTRY 21 1. Danyon Hume 1*-3-3 = 7+1 2. Josh Bailey 2-2*-3 = 7+1 3. Callum Walker 2-2-2* = 6+1 4. Mitchell Beckett FD-1*-0 = 1+1 (Team manager: - Laurence Rogers) 1. Pestell, Bailey, Hume, Watts (FD) 3-3, 3-3 AWARDED 2. Parker, Walker, King (FD), Beckett (FD) 3-2, 6-5 AWARDED 3. Watts, Walker, Beckett, Pestell (FD) 3-3, 9-8 60.3 4. Hume, Bailey, Parker, King (Ret) 1-5, 10-13 59.2 5. Bailey, Watts, Parker, Beckett 3-3, 13-16 58.9 6. Hume, Walker, Pestell (FD), King (FN) 0-5, 13-21 60.0

At 7.10pm last night, just 40 paying customers had entered the stadium for what once again turned out to be an attractive meeting. Whilst the crowd level did rise come start time, it was still ridiculously low, in fact I've seen nearly as many people in attendance at a Southern Track Riders Meeting. In fact you get around forty people queuing to get in at Mildenhall, some 2-hours before the scheduled start time. Amongst the few that turned up, there were both Coventry & Mildenhall supporters on the terraces, not to mention the handful of Buxton faithful, that made the very long journey. So where were the King's Lynn public?? I know that we had a meeting on Wednesday, and realise that many people can't afford two meetings in one week, but on the other side of the coin, there are a lot that can afford it, as is proven by the fact that some go to all the Mildenhall meetings, but won't or don't support their own clubs National League meetings. WHY? The meeting, whilst not reaching the standards of the previous one against Mildenhall, still produced far more passing than any Elite League fixture does, or has done so far in 2015, and I'd have thought the management must be besides them selves with worry this morning, following this financial disaster. Personally, if I was a KIng's Lynn rider, I'd be wishing that I could ride for a club whose supporters appreciated what I was doing in an attempt to give entertainment. What happened last night on attendance levels, was an insult to everybody connected with the club. They deserve better, and hopefully things will improve as the season goes along. With regards to really talking about the meeting itself, well there seems no point, because if the locals had been interested, they'd have been there to see it for themselves. So well done to both sets of riders, for dishing up an evening of good quality racing, and of course in particular, well done to the Young Stars, for notching up three valuable league points.

Like last year, I'm going to post the averages, but also like last year, they'll look a mess once they've download, but here goes!! MIDLAND DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE 2015 (All matches excluding Challenge, bonus points not included) Up to and including the 30th April. Compliled by Mike Moseley. Rider Mat Rides Points BP Total Average Ryan MacDonald 1 3 9 0 9 12.00 Arron Mogridge 1 3 9 0 9 12.00 Daniel Phillips 1 3 9 0 9 12.00 Alex Wilson 1 3 8 1 9 10.67 Conor Dwyer 2 7 18 0 18 10.29 Ben Basford 2 7 17 1 18 9.71 Tom Bacon 4 11 26 0 26 9.45 Adam Sheppard 2 6 14 2 16 9.33 Jamie Halder 3 9 21 1 22 9.33 David Holt 6 17 37 0 37 8.71 Layne Cupitt 3 6 13 0 13 8.67 Paul Bowen 1 3 6 1 7 8.00 Lee Geary 3 10 20 2 22 8.00 David Morgan 1 2 4 0 4 8.00 Kevin Whelan 1 2 4 0 4 8.00 Robert Parker 10 27 51 0 51 7.56 Andy Mellish 2 8 15 2 17 7.50 Danyon Hume 4 13 23 3 26 7.08 Sam Ward 3 9 15 1 16 6.67 Ryan Kinsley 2 5 8 0 8 6.40 Ben Holloway 3 10 15 3 18 6.00 Jeremy Pestell 2 6 8 0 8 5.33 Adam Portwood 5 12 16 1 17 5.33 Rob Watts 3 9 11 3 14 4.89 Luke Whitehead 2 6 7 1 8 4.67 Jack Thomas 3 7 8 2 10 4.57 Sam Darroch 6 19 20 4 24 4.21 Chris Bambury 1 3 3 0 3 4.00 Lewis Griggs 2 5 5 1 6 4.00 Sean Phillips 1 2 2 0 2 4.00 Connor Fletcher 5 16 15 2 17 3.75 Lee Springthorpe 1 3 2 1 3 2.67 Mitchell Beckett 3 8 5 2 7 2.50 Bradley Seal 3 5 3 1 4 2.40 Lloyd Ditchburn 1 2 1 1 2 2.00 Harry Jones 3 8 4 3 7 2.00 Niall Strudwick 1 2 1 1 2 2.00 Cameron Hoskins 2 5 2 0 2 1.60 Stephen Whitehouse 5 13 5 3 8 1.54 Lawrence Fielding 4 8 2 0 2 1.00 I bloody knew it, they were in a presentable form when I cut and pasted............what a mess!!

Yes I too was right in front of that fateful event, and I fully agree with your sentiments.

With the 'Young Stars' last meeting at the Adrian Flux Arena against local rivals Mildenhall, being the best race meeting seen at the venue, at any level in 2015, supporters will be full of anticipation of a repeat performance tonight. Visitors Buxton, have lost their opening two fixture this season, but that means nothing, as that was yesterday, and today is today. Jason Pipe, who was here with the Peterborough (MDL) set-up two nights ago, will have sussed out the general set-up and racing lines, and will be able to pass this information onto his charges tonight. We ourselves lost our last meeting, when we went down 64-24 to the ultra powerful Eastbourne side at Arlington a couple of weeks ago. So both sides will be eager to atone for what happened last time out. With weather forecast looking bleak for Sunday and Monday, this could be our only chance to see some speedway action this weekend, so lets hope that a large crowd will turn out like last time. I've not been able to find any information out on the King's Lynn website or Facebook with regards to team line-ups etc., although I'm sure that is probably taking place as I type this out, so in the meantime, I'm indebted to Buxton, who have displayed the information on their site. KING'S LYNN: 1) James Cockle 2) Josh Bailey 3) Scott Campos 4) Shane Hazelden 5) Tom Stokes 6) Layne Cupitt 7) Ryan Kinsley BUXTON: 1) Tony Atkin 2) Ryan Blacklock 3) Adam Extance 4) Tom Woolley 5) Ben Hopwood 6) Ben Basford 7) David Holt A Midland Development League clash between the two sides follows the main event. Gates open at 6.30pm, it'll be a good 'un.