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I haven't been to a speedway meeting since Newcastle closed, and thoroughly enjoyed this evening. Big thanks to the Redcar promotion for putting on the fixture, and assembling such a decent Newcastle team. The track came to the riders and in the second half of the meeting we saw some good racing. Also, the meeting was done in 80 minutes, which was great and a credit to all concerned. I haven't read a copy of the SStar since last summer either, so don't know how the Bears team compares with other sides in the Championship but you certainly have a top class trio of heat leaders: I wish the team every success and will certainly be back. It might take quite a lot to restore my faith in speedway but this evening was a very good start.

Very good match to start the season I thought. Second half of the meeting was very good. Some fast close action and passes. a fair result that shows both teams will be there come the end. credit to Sheffield as a club for running the meeting so quick. everybody would of gone home happy

1. Glasgow 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Edinburgh

Totally wrong assumption. Redcar track staff, including 'our' Johnny Swales, worked extremely hard Friday, Saturday and Sunday to try and get the meeting on for both Stuart and the many fans from here and elsewhere, to try and get this meeting on. All very well criticising from 40 of miles away, but if you had been there and therefore fit to comment you would have seen the multitude of track equipment plus volunteer vans being used to try and squeeze the water out of the track, which had got into the track following the downpour on the Saturday. Whilst it looked goodish to average on the top, apparently anybody that walked on the track said it was soft underneath and definitely unfit to ride on. Anybody from afar can make stupid and harmful assumptions, but it doesn't give credit for the effort that was put in to try and help Stuart and the fans.

Living on a prayer?

Do you want some Spinny?

This thread is far too friendly and pleasant

Looks like this one will beat the weather so some speedway finally. A chance for a run out before the competitive action starts for the new look Bears team - 4 home debutants and will be interesting to see how they go. Good, strong Diamonds line up and nice to see that they are all ex Newcastle riders and not just a group of riders wearing the Diamonds colours. Hopefully a few Diamonds fans will make the trip down to make it a worthwhile meeting to stage. Hopefully a good safe meeting for all involved.

Please don't, leave the rest of that mob in the second tier forum, I don't look at that much.

Can’t look at it like that otherwise you might as well shut up shop and not bother.

When you look at some Championship admissions, I would suggest £22 is very good value to watch some of the worlds best.. Whether both leagues' admission price points accurately reflect what is on offer is another debate, however, to watch top class riders in action I would say £22 isn't too far away from being VFM..

Wait till the Ipswich brigade get bored and start coming on here.

The riders were never going to ride it, and Stuart, referees and the trackstaff agreed they would not be able to make it fit to ride as it would have been unsafe.

Good meeting to start the season .Heat 11 for me the race of the night watching Dan try everything to get past Tobi who covered every move helping to protect Lewis Kerr up front and shaking hands after good stuff.Ellis looked looked down on power being past by both Kurtz and Lidsey who both then pulled away easily ,leaving him well behind .Mulford good ride in heat 8 took advantage of a mix up on the 1st bend got in front and didn’t put a foot wrong with bellego chasing hard.I think Belle Vue s title hopes rest on Kurtz. He goes well all season and I think he will pull the others along .Dan Bewleys score looks worse than it was .Apart from the 1st heat when he missed the start and got filled in he was definitely on the pace .For Sheffield solid home display Holder and Tobi leading the way, Bellego is good to have in heat 1.Howarth good hard ride with Kurtz going into bend 3 .Ellis did well to say he looked slow .Kerr is very handy to have at 6 especially at home .Gilkes had a good opening race battle with Mulford and hopefully should settle in .Good meeting some good hard racing and all riders go home safe .I enjoyed it even though I was stood with some Belle Vue supporters who yelled a lot blew bloody whistle s and made too much noise (only kidding hope they all got home safely)

He brings the fans speedway need characters and pedersen is definitely that and a top class racer

Good to get the meeting on and a decent crowd. Classic first meeting of the season both teams abit rusty, Holder and Musielak were bang at it, as were Kurtz and Wright. Bewley will be disappointed with his points as he was defo on the pace. Ellis did well to score 5 his bikes just weren’t at it seemed to be well down on power hopefully sorts them issues out quicky. Bellego will be solid for Sheffield, would have won heat 8 if Gilkes didn’t block his run coming off bend 2. Blodorn had a quiet night and Brennan just never seems to mix it with the big boys when it comes to it. Both teams will be happy enough, can’t see BV struggling to earn the bonus point as 6 points just isn’t enough

Good meeting in the end after a bit of a processional start, not helped by a shower just before start time. Tigers just about deserved the win and Musielak was man of the match. For the Aces fans who didn't make it - Bewley was far better than his score suggested and there was no way back for him in Heat 1 when he missed the gate. Kurtz was his usual self - several brilliant rides and a couple of duff ones. Wright looked sharp and will have a good season if he stays fit. Very impressed with my first look at Lidsey - tidy rider and pretty quick. Brennan will be fine and Blodorn is going to add another point and a half to his average I reckon. I was also very impressed with Mulford who rode brilliantly in heat 8 and didn't make a mistake in the four laps. Play off certainties for me. See you Monday, weather permitting.

Both draw in crowds for different reasons, but good for speedway..

Robbo will be due a Testimonial for his Testimonial being attempted for ten years.

I used to climb the fence at Armadale. The steward caught me and told me to get back in.

My post was before they put that one up!!

I wonder why? You'd expect Batchelor to be keen to show promoters what he can do!

Don't think he meant they'd end up dead

Possibly over budget too?

I am expecting a Witches win,, we are supposed to be one of the best teams and the track should suit some most of our riders,,,, apart from our reserves.

Stupid comments from yourself.Fans seem to know better than Promotions in recent seasons given what I’ve witnessed first hand.I applaud the track staff efforts but surely history tells them not to bother if things are not perfect nowadays.I sure it was the right decision but They could have saved themselves a lot of hard work.No consideration for travelling fans.

Yeah I think it's a team that there's going to be a fight to get on the outside line!! Don't see much room for team riding lol

Can I put a different spin on it Tony (or perhaps less spin, more drive ) ? How about P-O Serenius, or indeed Erik Stenlund ? Brave, brave men who took on, and beat the Russians at their own game. Thoroughly nice blokes too,,

Bjorn Knutson was my all-time favourite rider. Retired too early of course or he would surely have won more than one world title and Ivan Mauger might not have won as many.

Lista startowa: Texom Stal Rzeszów 1. Marcin Nowak 2. Jacob Thorssell 15. Rafał Karczmarz ebut.pl Stal Gorzów 3. Martin Vaculik 4. Szymon Woźniak 16. Oskar Fajfer Platinum Motor Lublin 5. Bartosz Zmarzlik 6. Dominik Kubera 17. Fredrik Lindgren Włókniarz Częstochowa 7. Leon Madsen 8. Kacper Woryna 18. Jakub Miśkowiak Fogo Unia Leszno 9. Chris Holder 10. Janusz Kołodziej 19. Bartosz Smektała For Nature Solutions KS Apator Toruń 11. Patryk Dudek 12. Robert Lambert 20. Paweł Przedpełski Cellfast Wilki Krosno 13. Krzysztof Kasprzak 14. Jason Doyle 21. Mateusz Świdnicki

The match was over by 8.45 - I was home in time to watch most of the second half of the England match on telly. Will we get a proportional reduction in admission prices for shortened entertainment value? I've known a frame of snooker at the Crucible last longer! (not complaining really!)

Just like stupid fans making stupid statements without knowing what actually happened. The track was deemed on early Saturday to getting better and likely to go ahead on the Sunday. Unfortunately there was a sudden downpour in the afternoon and evening which went straight into the track. Work started early on Sunday to remedy the problem but with massive efforts from track staff and volunteers vans, they couldn't get the track to harden up and therefore safe to ride on. All agreed with that decision, riders, track staff, referees and the public.

good to see that having seen many top sports stars in wide range of sports there is nothing quite like seeing the very best show off their skills, I do remember seeing Nicki P ride for Newcastle in his first ever season 98 at Owlerton - you could tell he was going to be good! last season I got to see Doyle at Owlerton and Foxhall and he is a top class rider too. The last time i saw Emil he was landing one on Nicholls in cardiff!

Weather forecast for Monday is clear skies. Going to be a great night. I don't mind paying £22 for the line-up we are getting.

Am planning on coming to this hopefully as well weather permitting! looking forward to seeing Dolye and Emil v Nicki

I think it was a fair result with both teams going for it. Some good racing considering the snow and rain we’ve had recently. Tobi was class. Meeting took just over an hour to complete so it proves it can be done when there’s no incidents. Don’t think we’ve done enough to get the bonus point but it’s early season so no need to panic. Well done to all the riders for getting on with it and putting on a good show.

This is a very tough league to predict as none of the teams look particularly weak & plenty have riders expected to improve their averages. 1st Workington. Have a good number one in Bailey & then could have as many as 4 2nd/3rd heat leaders backing him up. Expecting Sam McGurk to be one of the strongest reserves in the league & Kelly is an acceptable number 7. 2nd Oxford. Have a very strong top 4 (top 2 stronger than Workington). Scott is very promising as a second string, while Clouting is a decent reserve. Weaker at number 7 than most of the other clubs though. 3rd Leicester. Could well have the best top 2 in the league. After that have a lost of very promising youngsters. Could end up with Spencer & Food being the best reserves in the league. 4th Mildenhall. Great top 2 to rival Leicester's. Solid middle order without being as strong as the top 3. Similar to Oxford at reserve Butcher will do ok, Richardson very much unknown at this level. 5th Edinburgh. Strong number one in Bickley, good back up in Roynon, Hook & Spooner. Big season needed for Simpson as a second string. Could have the weakest reserves though. 6th Kent. Strong number one. Then 2 or 3 3rd heat leaders (if Alcock comes back from injury ok). Better reserves than last year, but wouldn't call them strong. Missed a trick with Alcock being on a low average & building 2+ points under the limit. Put in a stronger number 7 & Alcock would've started at reserve! 7th Belle Vue. Reasonable at the top, but weaker than most. Any of the bottom 4 could potentially end up at reserve, so will always have 2 good reserves (the strong part of their team). 8th Berwick. Certainly look the weakest team to me. Big season needed for Coles stepping up to number one, doubling up for Berwick should help. Don't see a lot of improvement in the rest of the side, that combined with them being almost 2 points under the limit, outs them bottom for me. Good enough to be competitive, especially at home, so don't see them being miles adrift, just a slightly under average side in a strong league!

For anyone interested a new comets supporters club is due to be launched soon, info on social media and website. UTC

You normally get the quick times when it's grippy.A bit slicker you normally get slower times but also better racing most of the time.

In that case,,, let the best gating side win

If only they'd had Robert ..... oops!

Tai Woffinden = 3x World Champ, never rode dirty to do it either, unlike Pedersen!!

We are in Ipswich and it is pouring so right decision. We are staying overnight so plan B put into operation and having a nice meal in the pub. Shame as we were looking forward to getting our first fix of methanol.

Yes... Keep an eye on the club web site... Regards THJ

It should still be the photographers photo they use or theirs no point in having him there, official twitter page or not

You have to feel for Robbo.

Just watched a short video interview of Robbo saying the track was not fit to race the track had work carried out yesterday but overnight rain ruined it, yes an earlier call off might have helped...I traveled over from Cumbria with my nephew and arrived at the gate only to be told it was off.

Modern times,alot of riders if the track aint dry and slick they dont want to know!

From the rules of the comp(translated) 4. In MPPK competitions, the pair (including the reserve ) consists of players from the club's team with the highest SI from the previous season, including no more than one foreign player.

Reel em in mate,especially poor old Arthur54