Halifaxtiger

Seconded although sadly I can't make Plymouth Some very entertaining racing indeed. Many congratulations to Adam Kirby from a very proud sponsor

That still means keeping Newman in and leaving Armstrong out - and there's scarcely any difference between the two in scoring. Its unlikely that either Newman (who is actually injured at the moment) or Roynon will be riding in the NL next season while Armstrong almost certainly will be. Aside from the reasons I have already given, I really don't understand why you would alienate one of your top men (and one of the top men in the NL) for the sake of at most 2 and a bit months speedway. Taking everything into account and accepting that you can only have two out of the three, its the right decision.

Most meetings that go down to the wire are usually pretty good and this one was Deserved success for Dudley on a track where this season they were humped out of sight a weeks ago. The surprise packets for me were Belle Vue; who knows what they might have achieved had Howarth been present. Quick mention for the Stoke promotion. I am sure those huge speakers weren't to everyone's taste, but at least there was an attempt to improve the atmosphere and liven up proceedings Best of luck to those involved with Ellesmere Port.

Dead right and its a point that some people forget or try to brush aside. Its all very well stating that the NL is a training ground (which to s significant degree it is) but the stand alone clubs in particular are still businesses that rely on gate and sponsorship income to make ends meet. That means they have to have a competitive, attractive team to pull in the punters. No punters, no NL. What you need is a balance between the development of young riders and the survival of teams and I think the NL have just about got it right. That's not as nailed on as you think. According to the Dudley website,Armstrong's NL average is about .25 of a point below Newman's, he's the kind of experienced, knowledgable, unselfish senior rider that most NL clubs need, he's a club asset, he doesn't ride for other teams so he is always going to be available and there is the small matter of loyalty to the club captain and permanent team member. A decision to dump Armstrong and keep Newman in particular could well back fire in seasons to come and, forced to make the choice, I'd have kept Armstrong over either of them.

£1 more than normal isn't bad I'll be coming Anyone making the journey from the Fens ?

Might be down next saturday for the fours so i will come and say hi then. I will certainly be back at some point before the end of the season.

Yes thats me. I also have a plymouth programme board !

Not a bad meeting, a very good heat 15 and Pickard's swoop in heat 14 being the highlights. Was impressed with Pickard again, Sarjeant and, for the Colts, Widman who deserved more points. Spent part of the evening commiserating with and laughing at Vog's past impecunity and future indebtedness (in equal measure, I should say). Netto Noodles indeed.

Coming to this one. I think Stoke will win comfortably, with Howarth & Garrity putting up a bit of a fight.

and against Hackney The only thing is out of the holiday season the Islanders gates have always been poor, even at PL level.

Possible broken foot at Lakeside on Friday I am afraid .

Got a text from Barrie this morning - he has a suspected broken foot after trapping it under the bike. At the very least it appears to be ligament damage He has to wait until the swelling goes down before it can be X rayed again and the actual situation confirmed. Real shame, because he has hit top form recently.

If the track wasn't that bad, why was there extensive grading (at the request of the riders) after heat 5 and heat 7, why did the belle Vue team manager describe it as nothing more than 'rideable' after that grading had taken place, why has Chris Morton admitted that it was rutted on the Aces website, why were there crashes in almost every heat (certainly up to heat 7) and why did the Dudley riders refuse to ride (they didn't do that at Stoke on the end of a similar hammering a few weeks ago) ? As I have pointed out, if you ride an appalling track surface week in, week out, (and by all accounts that is how Belle Vue is) you get used to it and are aware of precisely how to cope with it. As I have also pointed out, Tom Perry is a grass tracker who is at home on rough surfaces. Couple of questions for you: Why not just prepare a decent surface that all teams will be reasonably comfortable with and can really have a go on ? Virtually everyone else does it, so why not Belle Vue ? On one thing we agree on, and that is that it is the spectators who are the main losers (although I'd say the Dudley riders who are nursing injuries (however minor) also fall into that category). The losers in the long run, however, will be Belle Vue Speedway, because fans will stop coming to watch one-sided farces on slagheap tracks. As a neutral fan with no axe to grind with anyone, I will have very little sympathy if they state complaining about crowd figures for their matches because as far as I am concerned that is Belle Vue's fault and theirs alone.

The referee does give a report on the track. To my knowledge, it is not made public. To be fair, the discussion was about the track so it had to take place out there so that both sides could make their case by pointing to what they thought was right or wrong. I can see your point, but its difficult to do that in a changing room. I would say that any rider who refuses to ride after a track has been declared safe by a referee should be subject to disciplinary action. Whether that will be the case or not I don't know. It was stated that the meeting was abandoned at heat 12 (which means that the result stands) because of the curfew. Ken Wrench (the announcer) did state that that was at 10.00 pm but Rob B has stated 10.30. If it was 10.00, the question to ask is why was it completely ignored ? If it was 10.30, why was the meeting abandoned before the curfew came into force ? I suspect we'll never get an answer to either or both. My advice is not to dig too deep into rules and regulations. As most speedway fans will tell you the rule book is scarcely worth the paper it is printed on.

Lets not forget that the Colts riders are used to the appalling surface(because according to virtually every source its like that every week) giving them a huge advantage over everyone else. Dudley, on the other hand, ride something like that once or twice a season because nowhere else (with the possible exception of Buxton -and they appear to be responding to criticism)is like that. As one Dudley fan pointed out, Perry is the one Heathens riders who is used to such dreadful condiitions because he's a grass tracker (European Champion of some kind, I believe). Armstrong was complaining about the track from heat one and was instrumental in insisting that grading be done after heat 5. Its little wonder that he had had enough by heat 7, with his team mates pulling out of the meeting one after the other and Perry on his way to hospital. 'Tricky track' Disgraceful would be much closer. 'Nothing to lose and everything to gain' You simply have to be joking. I can see all too clearly what they might lose by riding a track like that but what on earth could they gain when there is only Belle Vue that is like it ? All of which is more or less irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that the track was awful and there is absolutely no excuse for that whatsoever. Riders safety is put at risk, spectators pay to watch a load of completely one sided rubbish and the sport is brought into disrepute when the opposition team (understandably) refuse to ride. If this is a hatchet job (and indeed it could be) it is nothing less than Belle Vue deserve.

My fault on that one. I was doing the updates and only had a quick look - which was completely inaccurate. As soon as racing started you could see that there was a lot of material on the track and that it was rough, grippy and patchy.

I wasn't aware of that and it certainly accounts for his astonishing riding in that heat. For what its worth, I completely agree with your suggestion regarding Portwood's lay down - it was clear he thought Richardson was going to fall. The thing is Rob I really don't see how a meetiung can be abandoned due to curfew (and that is what we were told)when the curfew hadn't been reached. That's bizarre. Its true Armstrong & Howarth wouldn't (or couldn't)ride but there was no reason why Portwood and Johnson might not have replaced them. If the meeting wasn't abandoned due to the curfew, why was it abandoned at all? I agree with you both to certain degree. The referee simply has to be the man making the decision on continuing or not and any riders refusing to ride after that deserve censure, whilst young riders should learn to ride both slick and grippy tracks. That, however, should not be used as an excuse for the failure to produce a racing strip that is nothing more than merely 'rideable' - and that after extensive grading following heat 5 & heat 7. All tracks have a duty to prepare a decent surface for racing and, when they don't, they deserve the criticism that comes their way. That duty doesn't just extend to rider safety but to paying spectators who expect to see some sort of entertainment for their money, not the farce we saw last night.

This meeting showed all the worst about British Speedway . An appalling track surface that caused an abnormal number of crashes in the early heats (anyone who says the Colts could ride it obviously did not see Scott Richardson in heat two)and finally a multiple rider pile up at the start of heat seven. Even after major track grading, the Belle Vue team managers comment was that the track was 'rideable' - I'd probably just about agree, but the number of crashes before that suggest that it was anything but and it says everything that 'rideable' is about the best comment he can make. We then had the spectacle of riders, officials and the referee involved in 'heated exchanges' on the first two turns about whether to continue. One, understandably, did. The other (equally, and in my opinion more) understandably did not. Kyle Howarth deserved the angry reaction he got when he suggested that Dudley only wanted the match abandoned because they were losing, while Jon Armstrong's statement that 'speedway is dangerous enough' was fully justified. The next 6 heats were an absolute shambles, with riders refusing to come out and others going through the motions. Finally, we had the elastic curfew. Ken Wrench announced that it was 10.00pm, yet racing continued until well after that so that a rsult could be declared. If the curfew is 10.30, why was the meeting abandoned for that reason before that time ? Home promotions cynically twist curfew times to suit their own ends and the sooner that is taken out of their control the better. Speedway's crookedness, cynicism and 'take what you get' attitude to its paying customers was never more demonstrated than last night, and was enough to put a dent in the enthusiasm of the most committed fan. I was due to go there twice more this season (to see Barrie and Oliver) but I will be rethinking that. I certainly won't be going again otherwise. There was one tiny bright spot, and that was the young female presenter. She did her best to drum up support in a stadium notorious for its lack of atmosphere, kept everyone informed and very fairly (and possibly quite bravely) got opinion from both sides. Impressive .

This potentially looks like an entertaining meeting so I will be coming over. Forecast looks good and its not that far away (about 30 minutes door to door) but I'd appreciate a weather update about 6pm if that's possible.

Agreed 7 points for rider replacement and 10 from Starke are almost certainly more than Hazelden & Mason would have got. I, too, was impressed with Blacklock. He could start banging in a few points before the end of the season if Sunday was anything to go by.

I thought Harris was lucky first time but seeing it again I am not so sure. The camera angle isn't just quite right to see it properly but I think Dryml took Harris' leg.

Wouldn't dream of challenging you on stats Its just brilliant to see a battling performance.

Well said indeed. What has cost us dear is the the falls and Woffinden's exclusion. 6 points from those races we'd be 3 behind. They could have chucked the towel in and accepted second place but its the sort of fighting performance that has been so lacking on occasion in the past. Proud of them.

Not a bad meeting at all. Not much passing but some pretty close racing. Good to see Mr Evans has re-located his gating boots even if I managed to put the mockers on him in one race. Also good to see young Brandon Freemantle continuing where he left off on Friday. I was impressed by Ryan Blacklock, who deserved far more points than he got. Very unlucky in one race when he was second and failed to turn his fuel taps on. Ben Taylor, too, deserved more after a fighting performance. The best thing of all was the track - '100 times' better than last week according to one rider and the number of falls this week was way down. I think it was helped by the light rain that fell early on, but I really don't believe that was the sole reason for the improvement. Never pleasant to be critical, always good to see a change for the better so hats off to the Buxton promotion .

I think you are missing the point. There is not one single one of us that is not capable of extraordinary, inappropriate actions under provocation or in certain circumstances. Its quite clear here that Richard is one of the least controversial people within the British Speedway community (for want of a better description) so its very likely that something caused him to act in the way he did. Before he is condemned for one-off, wholly exceptional behaviour I suggest you attempt to find out what that was, because it just might be that a lot of people placed in his position might have done the same thing.