Ben91

Sorry but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Both riders are in good form and Morley has done more laps round Rye than most so he is an ideal guest. Think the Eagles will win this, but it'll be close.

Think Nicholls instead of Bomber or King could have made a difference tonight. Granted he's not the rider he was but he's still out second best rider in my opinion, not right that he's sat on a sofa presenting the meeting.

I thought the conversion rate had changed along with the EL to PL one a few years back.

British speedway isn't very good I don't know if you've noticed? It's not devaluing the sport it's a fact. British only reserves is a good starting point for one.

There isn't a shortage of speedway riders. A squad system would work fine.

Lets not kid ourselves though, he wasn't a proper heat leader, he was just less bad than his team mates. I could be completely wrong here but I believe Luke Bowen's four point PL figure converts to 6.67 meaning he could replace Baseby. That doesn't help the Kings' lower order but he's a much better rider than Baseby. The problem for Kent now is that they can't do much to strengthen at the bottom end as any meaningful changes will mean releasing one of the key riders (Morley, Shanes, Ayres). The hope has to be that they can unearth a three pointer or two who can perform better than the existing bottom three.

At reserve you'd like to think he'll score some decent points though. Totally agree though, one bike is completely unacceptable at this level.

Kennett has been on form recently too. Glad to hear we made a good fist of it last night, hopefully Robin can fire from reserve, if he does we could see Boxall down there come next month and that's not a terrible thing either!

Make hay while the sun shines.

He didn't have a fanny 120 seconds before sprouting a willy though did he?

Can't say I recall Barker or Kennett having had Polish team spots, though I could be wrong. Even if they have tried and failed they could always try again and are just as likely to succeed as Cook.

All Brits should be aspiring to ride in Poland, it is the pinnacle of league Speedway racing by a mile. Cook has a lot of expectation put on him unfairly however IMO. He's not a youngster, he was a latecomer to the sport and to get to where he is now is an achievement in itself. He's done more than a lot of other riders his age and he could of course continue to improve still. These threads are never started about Kennett, King, Barker etc, all a similar age to Cook and all have been around the Speedway scene a lot longer.

If only we'd not capitulated at home against Peterborough, that said if we hadn't we we would have won the group anyway.

There are plenty of riders about, there are so many misconceptions that there's a shortage of riders. A squad system, only Brits at reserve and a slightly lower points limit for your 1-7 in each meeting is a very simple solution.

The way the rules are. The clubs aren't at fault, this does happen too much though. Perhaps we should be looking at squad systems.

You've not actually given an answer though have you? What makes monday any worse than Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday? Friday and Saturday night there are lots of other things that compete with Speedway, other sports as you've mentioned for one, other forms of entertainment for two and a big one for people in the age bracket that Speedway should be appealing to go out drinking at the weekends. If you promote Speedway well people will come whatever day of the week it is run.

If the stadium is only being raced two nights a month rather than four then why shouldn't they? Or how about this novel idea, one that will keep weekly speedway at each stadium, each EL side enters an NL side that races their home meetings during the weeks that the senior side is away. Also helps teams develop their own riders, everyone is a winner. Of course not, they fly over for Monday nights when sky is in town and two of our EL sides race on a Monday every week anyway. Why is Monday the worst night?

If I had a £1 for every time I've said this: Elite League meetings should all be raced on Monday nights. PL and NL meetings are not allowed to be raced on that day to stop clashes and allow British riders to double up. Two home meetings a month will help keep costs down for supporters, one race night may attract better riders back to the EL as well which makes promotion easier. If clubs can't commit to Monday night racing then they need to join the PL or NL, I doubt any would though as they can all run on a monday when Sky come calling.

Well petty name calling then, looks unprofessional too for the person who runs the track shop to be complaining about criticism. On the whole I think speedway merchandise falls short of the mark of most sports to be honest.

I personally have no issue with the track shop not being open at some meetings but I can see why some would. If you can't take criticism of your product that's not my problem really is it? But that's no need to resort to personal abuse.

Saw the pictures of Ayres winning/celebrating winning the Bronze Helmet. Presumably it reverts to Ben Morley when he's back but what a great sight to see Ayres looking so pleased about it, bloke seems to have a lot of passion about his racing! Would love to see him given a Rockets reserve berth next season.

Heard Timo Lahti has set up a coffee shop business back in Finland.

Because we already have a team? One with more history than Lakeside/Arena Essex too.

As I've said elsewhere give the bloke a chance. The time to worry will be if the stadium is no further advanced than it is now come the start of next season. The track shop merchandise isn't brilliant. If they're not bothered half the time then find someone nearer to Rye who will supply a decent product and turn up to every meeting. On to the meeting, I hope we're naming a number 8, with Steve just back from injury and running R/R it'd be foolish not to. A couple of PL heats would be good for Chessell too

Out of interest was there a second half at Plymouth last night? A rider scheduled for that could have taken Morris' place. As a Rye fan I'm annoyed about this, while Plymouth had nothing to race for last night the result of the meeting still had implications on the group and as such they should have at least been able to track a full team of riders.