Paulco

Aye if last night was anything to go by , he's going to be a star

Just noticed there wasn't a thread for this meeting . What's wrong with you Banditos , don't you care anymore ? Anyway , the Joey Ringwood loyal will arrive in the Black and Gold at about 5 , see youse there .

I wasn't too downhearted last night , despite the heavy defeat . Armadale has never been a happy hunting ground for us , apart from our title winning year , so on our first outing of 2013 i wasn't expecting much . Edinburgh looked to have assembled an excellent side and it will take a monumental effort for any away side to run them close in their own midden this year , so from that respect any misgivings i have about my own team will not be formed on the basis of last night . Screen's injury is a worry , and i hope his foot isn't too badly damaged when he wakes up this morning . Unfortunately getting your foot caught in someone's back wheel is an accident nobody can legislate for . Grieves was steady and was involved in the race of the night against Pijper , whilst Wright and Bager offered only glimpses of form . Armadale is notoriously difficult for many an away rider , so with three youngsters starting their PL careers it was always going to be a tall order . And whilst Horwood struggled , young Joe Jacobs battled manfully for his 4 points . But it was the performance of Joey Ringwood which offers us most encouragement for the season ahead . Ok there's a few rough edges with him and the tight circuit caught him out on more than one occasion , but he got better with every outing culminating in a race win , even if he did nearly end up in the bar a couple of times during it . Nick Morris apart , it was the most encouraging debut from a young Aussie , in Tigers colours , for quite a while .

Too far mate

Almost ready to go , no need for thermals here - just plenty of beer tokens . C'mon the stripes

See , your time on here isn't entirely wasted

Yeah he was superb . He guested for us in two meetings that weekend , top scored at Workington and max at Ashfield the following day . Though in the 2011 season he guested in place of Ben Barker against us down at Plymouth and only scored 4 . I know Plymouth's upturned saucer is even smaller than Armadale , but he does seem to have a preference for the larger tracks .

I'll check , but i remember him scoring a maximum while guesting for us a couple of years ago , against Somerset i think

he's not quite as effective on small tracks , but we'll see

Do we include Darcy in that

And their stance is too be applauded . Any new ruling should be for the benefit of the sport , this clearly is not .

Dont these blooming Poles not know Britain is the centre of the speedway universe ? Time somebody had a word

Obviously we're massive underdogs in the face of such greatness , but we'll try our best to get the odd 3-3

And the away end will be the third bend this season . That will take a bit of getting used to

It's just a new rule for this year , and only for the PL , and it only affects riders finishing third behind a team mate unless they are on a t/r

I think it's April 1st

Are the Monarchs Chatzone not doing updates for this one ?

got to love it when the know-alls are proved wrong

It is indeed a very sporting gesture , considering we're down there next Saturday .

Ipswich seem to have made their intentions public , but i'm sure other clubs are following suit and have kept it quiet for fear of upsetting the authorities .

Is it , speedway is mostly a team event . So having team mates racing each other , and potentially knocking each other off , for 2nd place is madness . The only time a third placed rider will be paid a bonus point behind a team mate , is when the team mate is wearing the black and white helmet and finishes 2nd . So obviously when making the rule it was realised that a safe 3-3 could easily become a 1-5 or worse and didn't want the double points compromised . The reasoning behind it was that too many riders were being paid bonus point money , behind a second placed team mate in three rider races , but how many times a season does that actually happen ? A seriously short sighted cost cutting measure that the promoters have come up with and one that could lead to serious injury .

From what i hear , no . They didn't dare put the tractor on the track at the press and practice day on Wednesday . And with absolutely no heat in the air to dry out the morning frosts , like our Edinburgh counterparts , another week is required to hope Spring appears . But you are correct , any new fans attracted to coming along , thanks to this week's intesive media coverage and the ice hockey presentation a couple of weeks ago , will now probably find something else to do . Any potential new fan to our sport must be totally mystified at how we are at the complete mercy of the elements .

yes indeed . Really looking forward to the play-off match v Cardiff

The Mail was pretty amateurish though , the amount of mistakes in it ( spelling and otherwise ) was unbelievable .

<sigh>