2ndbendpostie

Semi proffesional league but one that charges the public a proffesional price !, the public is the reason that speedway should be allowing the best riders available to be on view, never sure what semi proffesional means, if you can earn a living at doing whatever you are doing then you a proffesional, if you have to have a full time job to subsidise it, then you are an amateur, if its an amateur league then charge amateur prices. As for looking after our own, well firstly anyone who gets on a speedway bike has got more balls than I have got, but if they aint better than the bloke who has travelled thousands of miles around the world to better himself than as far as I am concerned they need to practice harder to stake thier claim for a team place or find another sport they are better at. You, I get the impression are a die hard speedway man, thats fine and good luck to you, but die hard speedway fans are few and far between nowadays, fickle ba5tards like me are much more common, with good entertainment we will attend paying our £500.00 a year per couple, if its nothing but devloment riders, then that will not satisfy us, as there is so many other forms of entertainment out there now. Stating the obvious look at the difference between Mildenhalls crowds when unsuccessfull to those of last season when Cameron, Lewis, Joe, Jack, Aron, Mark and Danny rode so excitingly and successfully.

How bloody selfish some Brits are. And why is it legal to do so, employers cannott refuse to employ somebody just because they are not British, some people need to check its 2012 and not the good ol days of the colomial British Empire anymore. That being said, most that come over here are ready to race,young Cameron being the current example. If British Speedway is in such a good position to pick and choose who rides here, how come the current world champion chooses not to ride in this country. Whats the phrase, cutting your nose off to spite your face.

So many pages on the same arguents go on, so again I ask in all seriousness why should anyones birthplace or thier parents birthplace etc etc, have any effect on whether they can ride speedway in Great Britain ?. It would stop all this petty arguing etc. If the British kids were good enough, they would keep the "foreign" riders out anyway, and many of them are,and if you spoke to the 6 British lads at Mildenhall last year, I'm sure they would all say they learnt from having Cameron there. We mus'nt kid the young ones who are not good enough by giving them places they dont deserve just because they happen to have a British Passport. I have a British Passport but if the lads I work with who were not born here want promotion, then my being British wont stop them getting it over me, if they do the job better than I can.Sadly it's called the real world, as my dad always told me, "if you dont help yourself no other bugger will". Malcolm mentioned Tai in a post earlier, it was a pleasure to see the lad at that age showing the olduns how to do it, never heard me moaning about it then.

Right where were we, sorry for the delay in answering your post but I was watching the darts, and do you know an Aussie just beat a Brit ! shouldnt be allowed to compete over here should they !!!! I recall us having this argument at the start of last season (remember when you couldnt say anything good about Mildenhall ?) as I said then you can have a team of 7 Brits if thats what you want, I'm happy to have 7 riders from planet zogg as long as they are exciting or just as happy to have 6 Brits and 1 Aussie as per last season. Now this fascination you have with me not attending speedway, I reckon between myself and my wife attending Mildenhall we spend around £500.00 a season, entry, raffle, programme, food drinks, track shop etc, so for a speedway man like yourself it seems very selfish of you to want the promotion to lose that sort of money. As for the 6 Brits at Mildenhall I cannott obviously comment for them, but one is in Australia staying with Cameron Heeps at present, it seems the Aussies dont mind the Brits going over and racing there, certainly all riders spoke very highly of Cameron when interviewed during meetings last season, so I am guessing they would be more than happy to see him doubling up next season. Anyway darts is back on, this time between two Brits, so no nasty Johnny Foreigner to upset the applecart this time !

Now eithier you are a promotor or you have very good contacts or you are full of the brown stuff that comes out of male cows. But we will wait until the NL AGM at which such decisions are made before we know that, but thanks for disclosing that, I am sure many will be well pleased with you for that. As for trying to push people away from speedway at a time when it needs all the supporters it can, doesnt actually show you in a very good light. By the way do you happen to know if table tennis allow foreigners play in its english league ??

100% correct Sir, It would save all these silly arguments as to is and who is'nt eligible. I work with people from different countries, I have played sport with people from different countries, so why cant speedway riders ?

So pleased you are now giving Mildenhall some credit, I seem to recall last season you could'nt manage that very well at all. And may I wish you a happy new year as well ! As for nobody taking notice I seem to have had quite a few agreeing with me. And unlike you I am happy for people to have different opinions without resorting to insulting the poster.

The last time I checked they do not ride on Sunday afternoons. But thanks for such a constructive reply.

I view speedway as 2 hours entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, you probably view it much more seriously, but without my money and the money of many others who want entertainment, then I'm sorry you have to include the best riders available otherwise we spend our money elsewhere. Speedway is fun ,but its competing with many other places for our disposable income,if you want a league to develop youngsters thats fine, do it with 2nd halves not as a stand alone admission charging event.

So will the NL AGM in January agree such simple obvious rules for season 2012 ?

Simple answer, all riders from wherever in the world are eligiible, why favour the Brits ?, if they are not better than the foreigners then they should bloody well put the effort in, if Aussie riders are keen enough to travel thousands of miles to further there carreers then bloody good luck to them. Motor racing doesnt penalise foreigners, cricket doesnt, football doesnt, normal everyday working lives doesnt, so why the hell does speedway think its any different. Do we remember riders like Reg Trott and Billy Bales at Norwich Stars, as good a riders as they were ?, no we remember Ove Fundin and Olle Nygren, foreign riders have kept British speedway interesting for years its nothing new.

Classic case of no such thing as bad publicity, and a great example of promotors promoting, newspaper inches, radio time and forum discussion, well done Chris Louis for getting Mildenhall Speedway into peoples thoughts, also great to see Lewis Blackbird will be back at West Row next year. Or am I just an old cynic ? Edited for spelling error.

Agree lights not great, but the speedway rent the stadium and not own it, so unless the owners deceide to upgrade the lighting for the stock cars then I'm afraid it aint gonna happen. Having said that for 99% of the speedway season then meetings are done and dusted before darkness anyway.For me the addition of an airfence is the highlight of the season,and theres been a few highlights, but although no one wants to see a rider fall it is good to know, that they are going to walk back to the pits 30 seconds later in the majority of cases.

Just seen that heat 15 finish on the local itv "about anglia" programme, my god it was so much closer than I realised at the time. Not sure who was responsible for getting tv coverage, but hats off to whoever it was,there was a short preview on friday and a longer report tonight.

Congatulations to Midenhall on a great comeback Congatulations to Scunthorpe on their overall win. A bit of cliche I know, but today speedway was the winner. For and end of season summary, KOC Winners,top 4 in the league, play off finals runners up, a new air fence, good crowds, and all with one of the youngest teams in the league. Yeah not bad for a club whose very existence was under threat until after the league AGM had been held. Too many people people at Mildenhall to thank personally for this, so just to say to anyone who has helped the Fen Tigers during 2011 season a massive thank you from this Postie and his wife. Here's to next year.

I would like to add my congratulations to the Potters for thier league win, leagues are won over a seasons efforts, play-offs are only a 4 team cup competition, unfortunately a necessary evil for finanacial reasons.

We have shared a bit of verbal jousting this season Roguetrader but thats a nice post, on the subject of the announcer Kevin Long, I could not agree more with you,his return to the club this season has given everything a more proffesional feeling to the presentation, I know he comes on the forum so I am sure he will be pleased to see your comments.

First and foremost best wishes to Gareth and Tim for a quick recovery, without doubt losing those riders in addition to Tony Aitken's absence finished the match as a real contest, but Stokes remaining 4 riders gave it a damn good try. As no one has mentioned it yet I suppose that I had better be the one to say a huge well done to Bob Ellis for preparing a dust free track with plenty of riding lines and this on one of the hottest days of the year and less than 24hours after a stock car meeting, people like this are just as important to the club as the riders. Simon Lambert got a lot of stick on here last week, what a difference a week makes, a mature performance from him, heats 13 and 15 in particular passing both Mildenhall riders in both races. I sincerly wish him all the best in the premier league next season. Without doubt the result at Stoke won the tie for Mildenhall but in the early heats yesterday I was wondering if I was watching the same riders, Jack Hargreaves led by example in his first ride which seemed to settle a few other riders down, although this did coincide with Stokes problems so probably a combination of the two. Cameron looked much better on the Hargreaves bike aswell as the hybrid Heeps/Risager machine, it makes me wonder if there was already a problem with his own bike in Heat 1 where he looked anything but competetive.Lewis looked more like himself in his last 2 rides. I thought Michael Lee sounded very much the seasoned pro when interviewed, prefering to concentrate on the points thrown away early in the meeting, rather than getting carried away with it all. And although this is the 2nd leg thread can I congratulate the Fen Tigers team on their victory in the 1st leg to set up this play off final appearance.

LOL, ok as long as you are a postie and not a manager then I withdraw any offending comment ! I just hope that at this years NL AGM common sense prevails, and up and coming youngsters of any country will be allowed to ride in the NL, I can only speak as I find, and Mildenhalls gates have gone up and up this year, and this will be due in no small measure to the inclusion of young Cameron, and bums on seats are at the end of the day what promotors need.I have no problem with bringing on British youngsters but don't give them a place, make them earn it, it will be to thie benefit at the end of the day to have to fight for thier places. For what its worth, young Joe Jacobs is going back to Australia when Cameron goes home, to ride speedway there for four months, he would never have had that chance if it was'nt for Cameron coming to Mildenahll, so theres one big plus point in allowing foreign born riders into the NL. For my views on the play off system please read my posting made before the 1st leg on this thread, I guess an awful lot of Stoke supporters will be agreeing with me after todays meeting,a seasons good work undone in 1 meeting due to unfortunate injuries leaving you with 4 fit riders.

Bollards ! Speedway is in the entertainment game, that means any rider who is good enough be he from London, Glasgow, Sydney or the bl00dy moon should be riding to give the public value for money. This is 2011, the British Empire has gone, Johnny Foreigner lives and works here in every other way, why should speedway be any different. Get over it and move on.

I'm not coming up for this one so it's not fair if I comment on the fixture itself, I just want to say before a wheel is turned, congratulations to Stoke Potters on being the NL champions, as in my old fashioned opinion the team thats top at the cut off point off the season, wins the league. yes, I know why the play offs are there, extra meetings and extra revenue for the top 4 successfull clubs,and I am not saying they should'nt happen, but if Stoke dont win the play offs then in my humble opinion, then they have been robbed.

Dont think there'll be too many empty spaces on the terraces next week, fantastic publicity just what the sport needs some excitement, see you all next week and bring a friend. Hopefully all the people that were not that there yesterday but seem to have had a need to voice an opinion on the subject will also come along, come on you know you want to. Never ever been hoarse after a speedway meeting before yesterday,great display from Dan Halsey. Just an observation Simon Lambert's first 3 outings high and wide on the 1st/2nd bend which caused Re runs, heat 13 re-run and heat 15 start (this after the "incidents") he took a much tighter line result no carnage, yet he still won the race, the boy at this level is class, but he has been involved in so many 1st bend incidents at Mildenhall in both meetings this season that it cannott be coincidence, and the obvious truth is he doesnt need to do it, he can win at this level without causing potentially big problems for others. I said after Stokes 1st visit that he was the best rider I had seen around West Row this season, and I stand by that, but yesterday he tarnished his reputation in my eyes with his actions on and off his bike.

Very simply the best entertainment at a speedway meeting I have ever had, it had the lot,excitement,controversy,if all speedway meetings were like this,then then the fans would be flocking back, just as they were at West Row this afternoon. And as for value for money well the best £10 I've spent since that weekend in Hamburg a few years ago (dont tell the wife about that one!). As they say "If Carlsberg done speedway meetings......................

Should be a good one, Stoke the table toppers did,nt quite get to grips with the tight West Row circuit last time, with of course the massive exception of Simon Lambert who on the day was superb. The Tigers back at full strength now will know this is the fixture they have to win by a reasonable margin, as coming away with anything from Loomer Rd in the 2nd leg is not something other teams have managed this year. That all said, with going from no team at the time of the AGM, to being in a KOC Final and qualifying for the play offs at the end of the season, is one hell of an achievement already for the West Row management and riders. I have also read elsewhere that the air fence idea mooted only some 5 or 6 weeks ago has come to fruition and the said fence is now in the possesion of the promotion and will be put into action as soon as possible,although that is unlikely to be this weekend. At a time when some other clubs in the Elite league seem to be in doom and gloom mode, it's good our corner of Suffolk is heading onwards and upwards. Sunshine seems to have been ordered for Sunday afternoon, so getting there early otherwise I think we could end up on the 3rd or 4th bend.

I thought the crowd was pretty good considering the weather and the was it worth travelling or not decisions to be made, lots of hard work from the track staff and carefull consideration from referee managers and captains and great efforts from all 13 riders all combined to give us a meeting in which heats were only about 3 or 4 seconds slower than normal. If Jay Herne had'nt suffered from bike problems early on then the scores would have been a bit closer, but the home side obviously wanted it more with a play off place at stake, using R/R at No1 worked better than any guest has done for the tigers around West Row and no doubt the extra points money will be gratefully received by the riders.For me it was well worth waiting the extra hour to see a meeting, well done to everyone who made that possible. I hope the remaining matches are fixed up asap so the riders dont get match rusty, the crowds dont get out of the habit of coming and of course rain is more likely with every week that passes now. Is "tiger feet" our new adopted tune then ?, herad it more often yesterday than the old favourite "eye of the tiger".