cyclone

As a neutral, afraid you might be deluding yourself if you think Ipswich can overcome a full strength Sheffield side on aggregate in either competition.

Appears the telling factor tonight was that the 13 points return for the missing Heeps & Sedgmen was probably more than they collectively would have scored, whereas a meagre 2 point return for the absent Mark Riss was well below his recent scores at Ipswich. Cannot see Witches surrendering a 10 point cushion tomorrow, especially if MR is missing or is not fully fit.

The Glasgow fans on here are being very harsh on their own side. I was at Owlerton last week when Sheffo, minus Bates & Kurtz, pumped the Monarchs. Tonight the Homesters were at full strength, so a weakened Glasgow's performance was respectable under the circumstances. If we are all realistic, Sheffield are head & shoulders above everybody else and it will be a major shock if they do not complete a League and Cup double.

Teams as per Monarchs Official website- Teams for the SGB Championship matches at Armadale on Friday 8th September (start time 7:00pm, gates open 6:15pm), are: PARSONS PEEBLES MONARCHS: Sam Masters (Capt), Mark Riss, Ricky Wells, Josh Pickering, Erik Riss, Max Clegg, Mitchell Davey. WORKINGTON THOMAS ARMSTRONG COMETS: Craig Cook (Capt), Mason Campton, Ty Proctor, Matt Williamson, Thomas Jorgensen, James Sarjeant, Ryan MacDonald (Guest) IPSWICH TRU7.COM WITCHES: Danny King, Justin Sedgmen R/R, Thomas Jorgensen (Guest), Kyle Newman, Rory Schlein, Nathan Greaves, Connor Mountain Worth having a peek at the effort made to try to ensure the meetings are run by completely covering the track :- http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news-centre/article/2017-09-06/weve-got-it-covered Accompanying a piccy of the work done, here is the narrative:- "We have a determination to defeat Workington and Ipswich on Friday night to move a step closer to the play-offs but we also have a determination to beat the weather to ensure that Friday's meeting goes ahead and to assist as in that desire we have covered the track to defeat the worst of the rain forecast for Thursday. It's has proved to be a big job. Ronnie Anderson and his team commenced the job late on Wednesday morning and Promoters John Campbell and Alex Harkess and their gang completed the task on Wednesday evening. Josh Pickering even called into the stadium to lend a hand. The track was fully prepared for the meeting on Saturday so it is ready to go as soon as the covers are lifted. The forecast is much better for Friday but it will still take a big squad to remove the covers on Friday afternoon. Said Alex Harkess, "Friday's showers are to die out as the afternoon progresses but it is likely that we'll have to move quickly to get the covers off and undertake the final track preparations. We will welcome anybody who can come out and give us a hand. They'll be our guests at the meeting later in the day as a reward. We don't know yet when we will uncover the track until we see the forecast on Friday but we'll update our website, facebook and twitter on Friday morning with a likely time and will confirm later in the day the exact time through the same media outlets. If you can lend a hand we'd be grateful." Well done to all concerned

What appears to be overlooked was that as the Peterborough vs Newcastle fixture was already logged before the Belle Vue vs Rye House fixture, you would assume that both BV & Rye were fully aware of this and that Worrall & Harris would be engaged elsewhere. If you intend going to Awalton tonight, would you just accept that messrs Harris & Worrall would be missing, despite this fixture having priority for their services over the Belle Vue fixture?

You are allowed guests for double ups - Allen is riding for Somerset today

One of the gem incidents from his "reign" at Powderhall was when he was holding court in the stadium bar after a meeting. He shouted over to someone who knew him & also came from Musselburgh, to pass the ice bucket to him in order to ice his drink. The said individual opened the ice bucket and shouted back "it's nae use Toni, it's like your heid, it's f***ing empty"

Club statement outlining the events leading to the postponement yesterday:- http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news-centre/article/2017-08-19/club-statement-edinburgh-v-ipswich I would add that Graeme & Gordon Campbell, who had been working hard to get the track raceable, stood at the exit in their muddy overalls at the end, and apologized to departing customers and also fielded any questions. Furthermore John Campbell did come outside prior to the turnstiles being opened and explained that the riders were willing to race if further remedial work on the track was undertaken, but added that further rainfall would inevitably result in cancellation. IMO, if Edinburgh can be faulted for anything it is that they will always try to get a meeting on, rather than throw the towel in early.

My understanding was that at the finish of the 2015 Season, JS intimated that he wished to ride only in the EL and had already agreed to do so with his parent club, Swindon.

Some of you lot really take biscuit sometimes for your selfish/narrow minded comments when other results impact on Glasgow's title quest. Every team at some time, including your beloved Tigers, has had to use guests under various circumstances. However it appears that you expect Lawson to decline bookings or deliberately under-perform if called upon by your perceived title rivals. If every Promotion were allowed to sanction as to which other sides their contracted riders could, or could not guest for, this would be restricting their earning opportunities. Oh and in case you are unaware, come the Play-offs, riders from the qualifying teams, are not permitted to be used as guests at this stage.

Have you forgotten about Nick Morris who was an excellent guest previously, or even Josh Grajczonek who has no other UK fixture on Friday?

OK, name twelve who you are claiming are acting like this. The likes of Kevin Doolan, Sam Masters, Jye Etheridge, Josh Pickering, Cameron Heeps, Josh Grajczonek, etc. - are they included? Nah, you're just over-exaggerating and stereotyping all Aussies, just because of the antics of a few, mainly Holder. I'm sure we could all dig up examples of other nationalities that have been naughty boys in the past ,and missed meetings in the UK for others abroad, such as Zetterstrom & Jonasson, etc, so should we be banning Swedes when we complete Brexit also. Christ, the quality of the UK leagues is poor enough with adopting such loony suggestions as this

Don't think signing Pickering was down to luck as they had positive recommendations on him from contacts in Oz, including current PL riders. In fact he is the only new Australian to appear in our leagues this Season. Last Season we gave Etheridge a decent run but unfortunately it didn't work out for him, so credit to Jye for persevering and coming good in 2017 and also Berwick on giving him a further opportunity. Bringing back Mark Riss on a starting GSA of 4.00 was also a shrewd move, and until his injury, he had upped this to 6.34, whilst younger brother Erik has increased his by more than 1.5 also. The real weakness as such, imo, has been in the recruitment of the statutory two eligible UK riders, who have shown little sign of improving, albeit Clegg is currently around half a point above his start point, though this is mainly via his home form, whilst Davey has went to 3.03 from his 3.00 start. It might seem that we have been punching above our weight, but apart from that shock away win at Ipswich, we have already met the weaker sides at home twice, and with Peterborough, Ipswich, Workington, & Glasgow due for the B fixtures, reckon we might well drop at least another nine points at home, and drop out of the top four

The relevant SCB Reg is:- 16.3.4 No Team changes will be allowed after 28th July with the effective date being 31st July, except for riders returning to the Team after injury. So according to the above, it would appear that injury replacements are not allowed after 28/7, unless the rider replacing an injured rider in a team, is a rider returning to the same team after injury. In Berwick's case it would appear Bridger could replace NBJ, but not anyone else who had not ridden for the Bandits this Season or had been previously replaced for reasons other than injury. Agree 16.3.4 should be relaxed as any team losing a rider with a bona fide injury, should not be penalised further, but according to the Reg, this will not be permitted.

Noticed an Ippo fan posted this after the Panthers vs Ippo match on 2/7:- Rumour has it that the similar shenanigans were employed at Foxhall when both Scottish sides last visited, with the dirt being scraped off the visitors gates and spread on to the home slots by the track staff Might be sour grapes, but worth watching out for

Or Gino Manzares (work visa permitting)

Your point about why apparently no effort was made to carry out remedial work on the track after ht14, given the improving weather conditions, at least deserves a public explanation from the Berwick Promotion. If no public statement is forthcoming from Bandits by midweek, may I suggest you raise the matter directly with them.

Try freeze framing when the riders are lined up, and if you honestly still maintain that Masters foot is touching the white line, then you really need to have your eyesight checked as you also appear to be unable to recognise Masters left foot from his right

Despite the intermittent rain, the racing was decent and very competitive, with Diamonds unlucky to have Lewis Rose fall and sustain a nasty injury during ht 12. Up to that point the scores had been level, and the final outcome was in the balance. Here is a facebook link to the post match analysis, including interviews with Robert Lambert & Sam Masters :- https://www.facebook.com/edinburghmonarchs/videos/1492643774105055/ Uncharacteristically, Ludvig Lindgren had a major strop with with the Start Marshall after ht15, whom he allegedly called an f-ing cheat because he wouldn't move Masters over in gate 1 before the start. Well for Ludvig and anyone else who is interested, here is a short video on facebook of the start of ht15, which you can judge for yourself :- https://www.facebook.com/mike.hunter.9693/videos/1538433849540589/

Must have successfully impersonated the Invisible Man then

Riss does not race in Poland, but I do not know if he is riding in Germany at the weekend. I thought the one league work visa restriction on Commonwealth riders had been relaxed and was the reason why the likes of Justin Sedgmen is able to race in both the PL & CL.

Out of interest what would the costs be and what is the source to substantiate your claim? There will no doubt be an existing maintenance cost for starting gates which can malfunction in various ways, which together with the re-runs of unsatisfactory starts, add to further meeting delays Maybe you consider delays to be part of the Speedway experience

Not many decent guests available on Saturday - Barker, Riss or Tungate at 1, Hopwood, Bowtell, or Parkinson-Blackburn at 7?

atm, various weather forecasts for Friday are reasonably good, indicating there is only a slight chance of light rain for a short period during the afternoon & evening. Summers for Morris, & Shuttleworth for Payne should not weaken the Bandits, whereas Schlein & Sedgmen might score slightly less than Masters & Wells would for the Monarchs. Apart from Jacobs, the rest of the Bandits have previously recorded decent scores at the Dale, so this might be a fairly close contest tomorrow.

I have no technical knowledge of transponders, but the above, taken from an earlier topic sounds like a possible solution. It also appears that races could be started by means of lights, as per motor racing, thereby dispensing with unreliable starting gate & tapes. Does anyone know if this has been considered or trialed previously?