lucifer sam

MPT on fire on Sky tonight!! All the best Rob

You only got 40 points at the EWR with your top two. But yeah, it's something of a bogey track for the Diamonds. Still don't fancy you across two legs against Somerset. All the best Rob Gazc, although he was trying to hide them, I couldn't help but notice the Scotman's Peterborough Panthers socks when I saw him at Ipswich. All the best Rob

Did we ever get to the bottom of the various sources? My betting is Gavan's is Ketchup, while Shovvy's is HP. All the best Rob

CHEETAHS’ LONGEST-SERVING RIDER PASSES AWAY OXFORD CHEETAHS’ legend Ronnie Genz has passed away at the age of 86. London-born Genz started his speedway career at New Cross in 1950, also racing for Wolverhampton and Yarmouth over the next few seasons. Ronnie moved to Oxford in 1954 and spent 11 successive seasons at Cowley, often as a leading light. He topped Cheetahs’ averages for the first time in 1955. Oxford moved up to the top flight for the first time in 1957. Ronnie, alongside Jack Biggs, led the Cheetahs’ charge, but he suffered an eye injury which affected him for the rest of his career. The Cheetahs were surprising National League contenders in 1960, before having to settle for third place in the table, behind the mighty duo of Wimbledon and Belle Vue (Manchester). Ronnie reached the penultimate stage of the World Championship in 1961, the British Final at Wembley, and narrowly missed out on claiming a place for the final in Malmo, Sweden. It was closest he came to reaching a World Final. The same year a serious injury to Cheetahs’ Danish superstar Arne Pander placed even more emphasis on the contributions of Ronnie towards the side. In 1964, new promoters Cyril Melville and Rodney Rycroft took over at Cowley. They brought in Ron How and Jimmy Gooch; and Cheetahs swept to a glorious treble of National League, National Trophy and Britannia Shield. During that season, Ronnie had found himself in hot water, after riding one meeting for Provincial League Exeter under the assumed name of ‘Reg Neal’. The Provincial League tracks were running ‘black’ after a dispute with the Speedway Control Board and Ronnie was fined £5 for his indiscretion. 1965 saw the formation of the British League, and the newly-formed Rider Control Committee ordered Genz to move away from Oxford to Poole. Nevertheless, he enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career, leading the Pirates’ averages on 9.45. After three seasons at Poole, Ronnie returned ‘home’ to Cowley in 1968, and once more topped the Oxford score-chart. He completely missed the 1969 season through injury, but was still a heat-leader on his return in 1970. Halfway through the 1971 season, Oxford wished to strengthen. However, a move for Belle Vue’s Tommy Roper was counter-balanced by the enforced release by the Rider Control Committee of Genz to Newport. Ronnie spent one-and-a-half seasons with Newport Wasps, before retiring from speedway at the age of 42. Genz scored 2740.5 points from 314 meetings across 14 seasons (1954-1964, 1968, 1970-71) for the Cheetahs. Long-time Oxford supporter and former Supporters’ Club treasurer Cliff Peasley said: “Ronnie was such a good rider for such a long time for the Cheetahs. “These days, he would have been granted a testimonial meeting for his lengthy service. “Apart from a couple of years, we had a pretty poor team for most of the years that Ronnie rode for Oxford, but he was always a strong scorer.” Genz lived in London in his later years. After a period of illness, he died over the Bank Holiday weekend. Oxford Speedway has lost another of its heroes.

So what's been cooking on this thread? All the best Rob

Newcastle? Their away form may trip them up - they've very much dependent on stuffing everyone at home. I'd say Somerset are firm favourites to win the championship. All the best Rob

They tried that... it was called the Jack Young Shield, and the crowds were appalling. The play-offs only attract the crowds when they determine the league champions. Only speedway supporters would complain about something that is a success and is a crowd-puller. All the best Rob

Met him once at Brandon. Certainly not the brightest - I think his carers let him out once a week for the speedway. All the best Rob

I think you'll find the year 2007 came before the year 2012. In 2007, KL topped the table, while Rye House were deserving winners of the play-offs. Newcastle were another team who got their just desserts for picking the wrong team for their group. Went for Somerset instead of Edinburgh, and then got knocked out by Somerset. Only got themselves to blame for that. All the best Rob

It doesn't make the sport look barmy - it just brings it into line with 80-90% of other sports, who also realise the value of play-offs. Football doesn't have them at the top level, because it already plays out to capacity crowds. But it does have them to decide the final promotion place for the other leagues, because at those levels, a bumper pay day is welcomed. Play-offs are part of the modern sporting landscape and here to stay, even though one-or-two old fossils may not like them. Here's one old fossil who does! All the best Rob That's the change I would make. The table-toppers would receive a trophy. I believe Rugby does this - the table toppers receive a 'minor' trophy, while the play-off winners are the champions. All the best Rob

Shads, the finishing positions in 2007 were: 1. King's Lynn 2. Birmingham (5th at cut-off) 3. Rye House 4. Sheffield 5. IOW http://www.speedwaygb.co/premierleaguetable07 So not quite as much good fortune for Rye as you suggest. As for KL, they had choice of semi-final opponents and chose Sheffield, so more fool them! All the teams knew the rules at the start of the season, and therefore RH were worthy league champions. All the best Rob

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions bring down the curtain on their 2016 home fixtures, when they host the Rye House Rockets at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening (7.30pm). Scorpions moved off the bottom of the table with their 54-39 victory over Redcar Bears on Sunday, overhauling both the Bears and Rockets in the league table, and will be looking for a further three points to stretch that gap. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey says: “We’ve put in three great performances on the trot, and we’d love to complete our home meetings with a final flourish against Rye House. “As well as another cracking night of racing, I’m also throwing in fireworks on Friday night, as a thank you to our loyal fans.” Although it’s the final home meeting of the season, Scorpions still have four away meetings remaining, at Sheffield (Sept 14), Plymouth (Sept 17), Rye House (Sept 19) and Newcastle (date to be confirmed).

Another brilliant night of racing. Looking forward to Friday's meeting... plus the fireworks. All the best Rob Yes he will. All the best Rob

As factually (in)correct as ever I see, my dear Cyclone All the best Rob

The Edinburgh version would be nice. All the best Rob

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions can climb off the bottom of the Premier League table with a victory over the Redcar Bears at the Eddie Wright Raceway tonight (Sunday, 6.30pm). A victory of any margin would lift Scunthorpe ahead of Rye House, while a win of seven points or more would also lift them above Redcar. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’ve scored two terrific home victories over Workington and Newcastle in the last couple of weeks, but we certainly won’t under-estimate Redcar, who have a number of riders who can go well around the Eddie Wright Raceway. “But if we ride to our capabilities, there’s no reason why we can’t take another three league points from the meeting. I think it’s going to be another cracker. “The end of the season is rapidly approaching, and we only have further home meeting after this one – at home to Rye House this coming Friday. “My message to the supporters is a clear one; come along and enjoy some terrific racing before we take a six-month break for the winter.” Scunthorpe’s away meeting at Rye House last night was rained off at 6.15pm, less than an hour before start-time. Fortunately, the weather forecast is much improved for this evening, and it should be all systems ahead for the visit of Redcar. There are 24 heats of action in total this evening, with a nine-race second half consisting of a six-heat Northern Junior League match between Halifax and Redcar, and the vintage bikes of yesteryear in three ‘Blast From The Past’ races. Admission prices for this evening: Adult: £15.00 Student/OAP: £13.00 Child (10 – 17): £5.00 Child (0 – 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-17) Match Programme: £1.00 Expected teams for this evening: Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Josh Auty, 2. Michael Palm Toft, 3. Lewis Kerr, 4. Fritz Wallner, 5. Ryan Douglas, 6. Carl Wilkinson, 7. Jack Smith (guest). Redcar Bears: 1. David Bellego, 2. Tobias Busch, 3. Hugh Skidmore, 4. Jonas B. Andersen, 5. Lasse Bjerre, 6. Jye Etheridge, 7. Lee Payne. Northern Junior League teams: Halifax Dukes: 1. Kean Dicken, 2. Sheldon Davies, 3. Jordan Palin, 4. Harry McGurk. Redcar Cubs: 1. Carl Basford, 2. William O’Keefe, 3. Elliot Kelly, 4. Alex Goldsborough.

Yay, KJ is back. All the best Rob

That does tend to happen a lot. Although this one hasn't... yet. All the best Rob

Davy, I've never seen so many inaccuracies within a single paragraph... that's quite impressive. Are you going into competition with Cyclone? Meanwhile, you might want to keep the thread on track, it's supposed to be about the double-header last night... and the questionable use of Kevin Whelan at No 6 by the Monarchs. All the best Rob

What's going on? No rain at all predicted for Peterborough tomorrow. All the best Rob

MEETING RAINED OFF

Decided to stick at home. It's not showers, it's a great big band of rain and it's due to reach Hoddesdon... well now!! Hope I'm wrong, and it goes ahead, with Scorps winning by two and R/R for Lewis scoring a max All the best Rob

Cheers. Unfortunately, I think the rain is on its way. Was expecting to see it off first thing this morning - then remembered it's not Uncle Len at Rye any more! All the best Rob

Shadders, any weather updates mate? Put my departure back from 3.30pm to 5pm. The heavy rain has already arrived in Oxford. PS BigCatDiary, website and twitter both updated this morning before posting the news on here. All the best Rob

I had ice pops from the Café instead. Fingers crossed the Ice Cream Van is back on Sunday. All the best Rob