marko

Afraid im guilty of not having that much knowledge about the younger NL riders so cant really comment too much on the team and their chances. David Mason i feel is an apt sort of signing in that the last time we saw a team racing from Hackney (1996) Magic was part of the setup their, his current average looks low but ive read on previous comment on this thread there is reason behind it and i think the idea will be for him and Barrie Evans to lead the side, realistically both are not likely to progress beyond the NL, fair to say they would have already reached stardom by now if they were going to but the National League with riders like Seemond Stephens and Mark Simmonds is a pretty competitive league because the stand alone clubs have to be just that little bit more attractive to bring people in. On the pricing side of things, ok its not exactly cheap as chips but the key will be how they price the program and concessions, for this league i hope a more cut price program can be made to keep costs down, two quid absolute max thus £14 overall, or a simply race card for a pound would be even better, the Elite is likely to be best part of £20 this season inc program, would also have to guess that both promotions would need to come to an agreement about pricing because you cant have both charging different amounts to see Hawks "home meetings" And finally we know the standard of racing at this level is good, more passing because of mistakes etc but the show also needs to be professional and just because its the NL doesnt mean we can do away with rider interviews etc not saying they are going to do this but in the past non EL meetings at Lakeside have been lacking in this department (no Geoff) love him or hate him he definitely adds to the show.

Cant say ive ever been a big fan of Hackney, always been one of our rivals as i started watching speedway regular in 89, in those days we had the Spring or Autumn Triangle with the Kestrels and the Rockets and of the three clubs Hackney was always viewed as the strongest or certainly most likely to win in any given season. However the name is but a name and im fully behind this idea, the more track time we can give to the riders of tomorrow the better, we simply must start to devopelope our own talent in this country or face continually being dictated and taken advantage of by others. You only need to look at the JD situation, all that money paid out to secure his contract and the loyalty shown to him and this is the thanks we get.

Superb meeting, Well done Tomasz on becoming World Champion Also got to pay tribute the gutsy performance from Bomber

The track was not great but i will give them credit for getting on with the meeting, 25 heats done in not much more than two and half hours.

No poxy Millard tonight, thank christ for that

"real disappointment" how many times has that been said tonight, around 30 so far i reckon and we are only upto heat 11.

What Hans was getting at by quoting "this isnt conference league" is that riders at this level shouldnt be craping themselves everytime someone goes near them. You should be able to race and race hard without the others riders taking a dive in the hope of getting someone excluded, i like both Hans and Bomber but Chris in my humble opinion made a bit of a fool of himself when he said he had his leg taken away when he clearly hadnt, what would he have said of they had shown him the replay at that point? End of the day it was harsh to exclude either rider as it was almost six of one half dozen of the other but i guess the ref viewed it as Chris left the door open, Hans took the gap and Chris then having realised his mistake tried to get accross knowing Hans momemtum would take him into him.

Drinking alcohol is a privilidge that sports like speedway and cricket enjoy because everyone generally behaves themselves but that could easily be taken away. It wont be a full proof answer (no pun intended) so there should also be notices saying that bad langauge or anti social behavoir wont be tolerated, of course there would need to be stewards clearly marked at the tracks to aid this. It has to be nipped in the bud before speedway becomes like football where you have whole familiys (not just adults) shouting and gesticulating at the oposition players simply because they are the other team.

Pretty much the same thing happend at Arena at start of season when Hans passed Leigh Lanham on the inside and Leigh dropped it, there was possibly a little minor contact as per last night but some riders find it all to easy to just take a dive than stay on knowing they will lose a race position. Hans understandibly a very frustrated rider because every time he gets near another rider of lesser ability they expect the worse and are almost waiting for that chance, its almost as bad as diving in football, soon riders will be too afraid to try and pass for fear the other will simply take a fall.

Always happy to do that Vince but my luck is about 50/50 right now. Anyway, skybet have Trick at 9/4 and Nicki 3/1 Another good possible outside wager could be Andreas Jonsson at 50/1 ?

I have hated this rule right from the start and unfortunately i have followed a team that nine times out of ten will gift wrap the oposition an 8-1 as soon as its used whether the promoters will see sense is another thing but if they are not going to go back to the old tac subs then the threshold for using the tactical should be at least ten points down instead of eight or keep it at eight but each tactical must be on a handicap of 15m back. Promoters-we didnt want it, we dont like it, get rid of it!