greyhoundp

I said it earlier, and if SCB is correct, and he usually is, then it has to be Rory Schlein.

Firstly may i give my best wishes and a speedy recovery to Simon Stead, a nice guy, and good rider who is pretty much irreplacable in the Sheffield Team. I have just had a quick look through the averages, and the only rider that i can see who may come close is Rory Schlein, i dont know what passport he is on, but is he allowed to double up/down ?.

As i said earlier in this thread, i thought there would be Cradley fans in attendance, despite what some Brummie fans might think there is NO great animosity towards the Brummies, and we realise that without a Brummie Team this season, its highly probable there wouldnt be a Cradley Team for us to watch, and without Cradley its debatable that there would be a Brummie Team, so we realise we both need to support each other through the Turnstiles when we can, that support may even be shown by hoping the away team might win occasionally . . I feel sure there will be more than a sprinkling of Brummie fans supporting Eastbourne next Wednesday, heres hoping for good weather, and a Home win.

Firstly well done to the Brummies, and hard luck RH, points are only given for finishing a race, yes the reserves were the difference in the end, which is why some doubters of this Birmingham team have underestimated it, we know what Adam and Tom can and will do, we knew Sam would hold his average at least, we suspected Adam Kirby and Harvie Banks might struggle in the main body of the Team, but in fact Adam is gaining his 3rd places, what many people couldnt judge were how would Zach Wotsisname and Alex Wilson would do at reserve, I saw Zach doing after meeting races, and he looked a pretty useful youngster, one that i would have liked at Cradley, Alex Wilson i knew nothing about except he rode in the winter series at Scunthorpe, they are both doing more than enough to show they will probably be in the main team before to long, lets be honest Teams with more than 2 x 3 pointers will always put the stronger riders in the reserve positions, so that they can take extra rides if required. The thing thats as important for Birmingham is was the crowd decent, or enough to make the NL viable ?.

This would have given a good guide to Brums season, but with 2 riders missing it wont now be such a good form line, however i do believe this meeting could well be won by The Brummies reserve strength which i expect to be to strong for RH, however i do think the Top 4 of the Raiders could win this if they are ALL firing, Rob Branford should be to good for the Brummies, Luke Chessell when he gates takes some beating, Luke Priest & Kyle Hughes are experienced NL riders who on there day can score double points 50 - 40 to Brum but it wouldnt be a surprise to see RH take a point. It will be interesting to see what the size of the crowd will be, Im pretty sure some Cradley fans will be there, after all Tom Perry and Luke Chessell were both past Cradley riders, and the weather forecast couldnt be better.

The art of laying a Bike down in a split second is something American riders are taught to at the beginning of their careers, and most are quiet brilliant at doing, this is something I believe British riders are no longer taught to do, and it needs to be brought back as soon as possible, its for everyones benefit.

I really hope its a great meeting on Sunday, I have to say Im surprised that you have nominated Richard Andrews as your winner, I have seen Richard ride several times over the years for various Teams, and he has never really impressed me any time i have seen him ride, he must have improved greatly or someone is setting his bikes up for him, in a different way to what he has done previously. I will be coming across to Arlington in a few weeks time for what is my nearest home meeting when The Heathens visit, hopefully we can give you Eagles a run for your money. Have to say i am impressed with the way the new Eastbourne management have taken things on board, with the promotion of the Team, the use of Social Media (frowned upon by the majority of BSPA members) for PROMOTIONAL purposes, this is a vast and usually free way to PROMOTE events, and brings Speedway to a vast untapped audience, well done Eastbourne, but i am not so impressed as to want Eastbourne to beat the Heathens on Track .

Yes Perks was the difference, and a big well done to Coventry for going oh so close, and great to see Dazza Ritchings back on a bike, and scoring well. I wouldnt say we will be vulnerable with Perks in the main body, however we may be more average than some seem to think, Its good that we won tonight but had the meeting swung the other way, I think some questions would have been asked about Team manager Pottingers decision to take Michael Neale out of Heat 14 replace him with Ellis Perks, and retain Luke Harris, many on the Terraces were surprised by that particular move. This Team is still a young team, and Neale and Mogridge have found it harder since their first meeting debuts but Im still happy enough with this Team, last heat deciders seem to be the order of the day now, and our next home meeting is against the Hot Pots from the South Coast Eastbourne Eagles, that meeting will be a big pointer to where the Title will be going, hopefully Nathan will be 100% by then after being involved in an horrendous looking crash in Ht 13 when 3 riders came to grief. Well done to both sets of riders for a good close meeting, but surely their is more of a riding line at Perry Barr than just the inside, their was little if any drive/grip around the outside.

uk martin, their is bound to be a good turnout, dont forget this is NOT the first season we have ridden Perry Barr as a home Track. I would forecast the numbers will be, more or less the same as Monmore, it could even be slightly higher depending on how many Brummie supporters come along to support Coventry and hoping to see a Coventry win. I hope Nathan is fit to ride, however i would prefer to go with rr if he is not 100%, Im expecting something along the lines of a 50-40 home win, with the reserves making the difference.

Really dissapointing for everyone concerned, typical British Bank Holiday weather.

Shanes, Morley and Ayres will make sure it wont be 1 sided.

That will make the meeting far more competitive and entertaining.

Just to let you know, here in Bournemouth the rain stopped about 30 minutes ago, now its brightening up considerably, so Im going to say the meeting will be ON, good luck and hope you have a big crowd, you deserve it for the efforts you have put in. Im expecting The Eagles to hand out a real "Ommering" to the "Kings" and a special good luck to Dan Greenwood..

10-00am here in Bournemouth it was very light Drizzle here from 7-00pm ish yesterday, this morning its steady rain, now (Poole Off) i dont know how much of this you are going to get over in Eastbourne (coming your way) but it has to make the meeting doubteful, as for Kent going with RR this definately makes them weaker, and can see a big home win on the cards.

The dogs dont run on the Speedway track, I have seen Monmore Green Speedway track being worked on whilst greyhound racing was taking place, so i very much doubt thats the reason.

Connor Dugard has posted on Fb that Matt Saul and Jamie Cousins are reserves Adam Sheppard is No8, i guess Connor is in touch with Kent management for program printing and such like.

I had always thought that discussions had taken place with Dudley MBC over the last 2 years, it now appears that i seemed to have misunderstood. I doubt their has been any discussions with Sandwell and even less so with Bromsgrove. I will say again if we have to wait for ANY Council to phone up and say here you are here is a piece of land, then it aint going to happen.

UK Martin, Dudley MBC will never do anything to help Cradley Heath Speedway in my lifetime, the best opportunity to do so, was when Barratts first purchased Dudley Wood Stadium, there was and is directly behind DW Stadium waste ground, then adjacent to that is a Sports facility, 2 Grassed football pitches, a hardcore Basketball Area with floodlights, Changing rooms and Car Park. The opportunity was there to do a land swap which the Council was NEVER interested in, the houses could have been built either where the waste ground is, or the land where the Sports facility is. This would have given Barratts their houses, would have retained Cradley Heath Speedway, or/and given The Council enough land to build a modern facility for use by all. The Council never made any attempt to do this, and to this day the waste ground behind Dudley Wood Stadium remains unused.

Ahem it was Cradleys home meeting, Iv no doubts thats what the Cradley fans will take to calling it, if we want to split hairs its The Alexandra Stadium.

Atkin for Ellis means it has to be a home win for me, home Track advantage will count for more against inexperienced Teams, and Brum have 3 riders making their debuts a Loomer road, Adam Ellis would have been pretty nigh unbeatable and though Tony is very experienced around Loomer he doesnt fully compensate for The Leagues best rider. So Im thinking somewhere in the region of a 50 - 40 to 55-35 win for the Potters, but it will be good experience for the Brum riders.

Not as good As they think they are, or as some of us think they are, I have publically said even after last week that The Brummies are Top three material barring injuries, It was almost impossible for The Heathens to improve on last week, and barely believable that Adam Ellis the Leagues Top rider would have another poor night, added to that the Brummie riders ALL put up improved showings maybe only by a point or two,but that was enough to turn a 30+ point deficit around, 26 points from your Top Two, 13 from two middle order riders, that only needed 7 from your lower end which they got admireably, Harvie Banks may only have scored 1 point, but without that point Birmingham wouldnt have won, well done to all the riders. Porky is what he is, he is the Cradley Centre Green announcer, most of us Heathens love him, lots of away fans hate him, on nights when it is a 60 point procession he keeps the boredom away, yes he sometimes takes the Mick out of away fans, but he is a sound guy, he knows his Speedway, is quick witted, and can take the Mick out of himself, i wouldnt change him for anyone, he always without fail thanks the away fans for coming at the end of a meeting, as for being called a Clown he would be happy to know he is that funny..

Well done the Brummies, so who were the guys that were saying Cradley will walk the league and Brum will finish 7th or 8th ? its not going to happen, this proves the League will be a lot closer this year, Okay some may say it was over after last week, but believe me, there is NO way Cradley riders didnt want to win that last heat local bragging rights were at stake, pride was at stake and us Cradley fans are NOT used to losing especially at home. This will do wonders for Birmingham speedway, it wont hurt Cradley either a diet of 60 plus scores was becoming boring, bring on the next meeting between the two sides. I wasnt there but according to someone on updates they said it was a big crowd, remember this was Cradleys home meeting so that alone would ensure a decent crowd.

The rules as i understand are that the Highest Average rider must ride at No1, then your 2 lowest average riders must ride at reserve, the remaining riders can ride at 2,3,4,5 as the Team manager prefers, actually i was thinking the same thing last night, but i think many Team managers want a strong No2 to ride in Heat8.

And if we all did that it would be pointless having an open forum, its what forums are about opinions. Some think Eastbourne will win the League, others disagree, some think Eastbournes reserves are the strongest pair in the NL, others disagree it all goes to make a good strong Discussion Forum.

Thanks BrummieSte, i was thinking it was a weird move to get Phil back in after only 1 meeting.