cyclone

Quite an achievement for the depleted, injury hit, Monarchs to restrict the rampaging Rebels to an 8 pt lead. Given that Somerset only lost by 8 pts at the Dale to a full strength Monarchs a fortnight ago, the Rebels will probably still be favourites to progress as it will be a tall order for r/r for Vissing and a NL guest for Bates, to match the 12 point scored in that league match.

A distinctive, spectacular one-off whom I always looked forward to seeing, since he first arrived on the scene as a precocious sixteen year old. He is also one of the most sporting riders, riding fair, giving opponents room to manoeuvre, and readily shaking hands with adversaries at the finish, win or lose. I hope he is involved in developing others, as he is an excellent role model for youngsters.

Any reason why Josh Grajczonek would not also be considered, given his current form at Saracen Park ?

Was reported that Bates was released from Rockets booking earlier in the week as Garrity, whom he would have replaced, was expected to ride at the Dale. Can Ben Morley now replace JG ?

An enthralling incident packed contest, with both teams playing their part. Somerset were worthy opponents, though imo, Newcastle are still the best team to have visited the Dale this Season, having turned us over twice. However doing the double over the Rebels (yes, remember, we also won at the OTA with the same 7 riders ) and taking 6 match points to nil, deserves recognition Quite rightly Josh Bates will be getting most of the kudos, but messrs Vissing & Tabaka in hts 12 & 14, did their bit in assisting him to victory. By his normal standards, Cookie was below par, after being caught up in first bend congestion, but he did produce the best overtakes of the meeting in passing Morris in ht6 and then Doyle in ht 15. Re ht 15, his record in the final heat is phenomenal, both home and away, and must be on the way to being the best ever in the PL. Notice some Somerset posters on here are berating the performance of Davies, Nielsen, and Lambert - perhaps they should be more realistic and acknowledge that on the night, their Monarchs counterparts, when on song, are the better riders on their home track.

Tigers last two home matches over the previous fortnight were wins of 49 - 41 against PL title favourites, Newcastle 49 - 41 and Glasgow 53 - 37, so how come all the foreboding about tomorrow Monarchs will be doing well to grab a single match point, given that a stronger Diamonds side failed to do so and also Max Fricke will be making his first appearance at Owlerton.

Can only reflect the view of the fellow Monarchs fans I talk to at the track, and none have predicted we will be 2013 PL Champs. OK you will get the odd dafty on this forum making such an assertion, but they are hardly representative of those who actually attend home and away matches. BTW I agree that Newcastle & Somerset are potential Champs, and would add Ipswich to the mix as they have come into a rich vein of form recently. If Claus and/or Theo are unavailable tomorrow, we should go for Bellego as guest, who is a firm favourite with the Tigeratti

I would expect the two guests (Tully & Branford) to score more than the than those they are replacing (Stead & Koppe), and r/r for Haines should also provide a better return. Also Wells performed well at the Scottish Open last Friday. Recently, Monarchs have not been that impressive at home, so I would not be surprised if this turns out to be a close contest at sunny Armadale.

He is never happy unless he is stirring it and trying to cause discord between Scottish supporters. When he was allegedly in Turkey, conveniently missing the home & away matches against Edinburgh, it was noticeable that there was constructive and amicable discussions between Tigers & Monarchs fans on this Forum

When I had predicted a comfortable win for the Diamonds before the match and that Lindgren was no mug round Armadale, some Newcastle posters were highly sceptical. Although I am a Monarchs fan, it was obvious from the KO Cup encounter that the Diamonds were superior from the gate and round the first two bends, and given the current state of the track surface, a more emphatic home defeat was on the cards as r/r for Henry, plus Schramm for Steve Worrall, would yield even more points for the visitors. The best team on the night won, and given we had a 6 point t/r, and Robson & Tully failed to finish when on 5 -1s, the final scoreline flattered the Monarchs. I still believe Newcastle have the best 1 - 7 in the PL and are now actually stronger using r/r for the unfortunately absent Christian Henry. Barring unforeseen catastrophes, Diamonds should win the PL Championship Play-Offs for this Season. As a general observation, more of the teams in the mix for the six Play-Off places seem to be performing better on their travels than at home, this Season.

Valid observations. Viewing the broadcast meetings from Denmark, Sweden & Poland regularly, I find the matches on our smaller tracks are more entertaining to watch, with more emphasis on passing, than gating and high speed that occurs on the Continent. One of the attractions of UK Speedway is the wide variations in track sizes and shapes, whereas in the rest of Europe there does appear to be more standardisation inasmuch that they are generally longer and wider.

On 14th June @ the Dale: 2,2,3 exc, including a win over CC - not a bad effort eh ?

You are obviously unaware he is doing well in the Elite also. To enlighten you, he is second in the Belle Vue averages, and also beat Holder at Poole, before he was injured

Given that r/r for Henry means that Tully, Worrall, Lindgren, & Kerr can take his rides, this should yield more points than a fit Christian would have scored. Despite Monarchs good away form, Newcastle will start as favourites to win this one comfortably.

R/R for Theo Pijper who is riding in World Longtrack meeting at Marmande on Saturday.

How are the % of meetings for EL vs PL distributed over early & late months of the British Speedway Calendar ?

The flaw in your theory is that you attribute falls wholly to rider skill level. One other contributory factor that immediately springs to mind is that track condition could play a part in riders falling off. For instance it would not be unreasonable to expect a lower incidence of falling on a well prepared track in perfect weather conditions, when compared to a rutted, patchy track when racing is taking place in wet weather.

Although we won, it was nip & tuck for most of the match. There were positives for the Tigers with Grieves putting in a vintage display and Bager probably having his best ever performance for the Tigs. Glasgow had 8 heat winners from five different riders, compared to 7 from 3 for the Monarchs. Also well done to the track staff who in addition to providing a record breaking racing strip, successfully managed to prevent any significant dust clouds on the hottest day of the year

Not in the team for the 1991 Final in Denmark

You seem to have missed I said mainly, not exclusively - there is a difference

Based on the actual EL racing averages for this Season that appear in the Speedway Star, as at 25/6, they were :- Woffinden 10.55, Kennett 8.63, Cook 8.00, King 7.71, Harris 7.15, Barker 7.04, Bridger 6.86, Worrall 6.56, Howarth 4.35 If Middleditch based his selection mainly on these, then the stats vindicate including Kennett.

Different surnames as it's Pontus Aspgren & Robin Aspegren

Hope you find the water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets more enjoyable then

Aw diddums, can you no take friendly banter

I Looks like Rab and Burney Nesbitt are at not getting much enjoyment on the Glasgow threads, these days Never mind, us magnanimous Monarchs fans, don't begrudge you a of bit fun to cheer you up through these sad times If it had been r/r/ for Karlsson, the two r/r rides by North & Nieminen, which yielded 1 pt, would have been allotted to the reserves, who may well have scored a few more on the night.