TheScotsman

Interested to know what the "significant initial provocation by the opposing rider" was.

Cookie's statement now online - http://www.cookieracing.com/

Think this could be pretty close. Wouldn't like to call it one way or another unless misfiring Monarchs get Armadale track sussed.

Stroll in the park for Ippo unless Edinburgh reserves, plus Theo and captain Deek can show some form. Can't rely on Cookie, Claus & Max to score 40 points.

In fairness, having been at Rye for the last 2 Saturdays, even in the blistering hot weather they have done a good job at keeping the dust down.

I'm pretty sure I saw a card machine at the ticket desk at Rye on Saturday. Good on them.

So Cook who has been riding 4 and a half years gets binned after 1 match and "has had his chance". Barker has been riding 10-11 years and lags behind Cook in both EL and PL averages this year but he should be a regular? King is coming up to 12 years in the sport without hitting any great heights and he should be a regular? Bridger is in his 9th year and what has he achieved? He also lags well behind Cook in the EL averages but he should be a regular? Jeez - give me strength.

Don't see the problem with Nelson - he knocked up 3 good wins and a second against GB the other week, beating Bridger and Robson. He is a bit enthusiastic and therefore a bit erratic sometimes but he's the kind of rider I would go to watch. And he's improving well - maybe just needs better equipment. He did well enough against Edinburgh. Lykke - I'm not convinced about him. 7 points against Edinburgh looks good at first glance but 2 of them against a very slow Sneddon, 1 against Davey - just back from injury and not yet fit, 1 against Joe Tabaka who was a bit second hand and apparently was on Sneddon's push bike, 2 where there were only 2 finishers and 1 ahead of Nelson who was coasting with a puncture. So not as good as it looked.

Forgot to mention - Cookie looked blisteringly quick when he was in full flow - especially in heat 5 when he clocked 55.5 after pretty much shutting off after bend 4 - 0.4 outside the 3 year old track record. Since we weren't near the ist/2nd bends, were any of the various falls up that end (Tabaka, Bunyan, Aspgren if his was at that end too) due to the infamous camber?

Yes I couldn't believe what was going on out there on the starting grid. Never seen that before - I assume there are rules about it? At least it was all a pointless exercise given the multiple restarts. I think Rye were a bit unfortunate with their various incidents which were probably equalled out by Edinburgh's misfortunes with Joe coming off and having to use Sneddon's push bike in heat 14 and Cookie's demolition attack's on the start tapes. (Looked like they had run out of spares by the end!!) I do accept however that tape breaking is avoidable, but being stuck on the motorway for hours and only arriving 10 minutes before the start is likely to make you edgy. Certainly for his 3rd offence, the tapes were held a long time - almost willing him to go through them! Quite interesting seeing Nelson come through the fence on 3/4 and landing about 5 yards in front of us. I had to stop the wife going to see if he was ok!! Rye did well to keep the dust down as well as they did. However it was still a desparately slow long drawn out meeting - something has got to be done to cut out the gardening and going back to the pits after tape offences. Maybe the 2 minutes should be 2 minutes to be at the tapes ready to start because the green light will go out then and should be used sooner in each race?

Is Theo 2 or 3 in the aves?

But has it not moved nearer mid-track than it used to be?

Well it's Joe's 5th season now so maybe it's about time the potential showed a bit more than a 3 point PL reserve average??

Always seemed to me in the past that if they went over it they got sucked into the fence. Is it higher/wider now than in previous years?

Paid my first visit of the year to Rye on Saturday and watched from the first bend near the pits. I couldn't believe the amount of adverse camber on that bend. I know there has always been a camber but this looked about a 3 foot drop and it seemed much nearer the middle of the track than I remember though I have tended to watch mostly from the home straight in the past. having said that, my previous visit was last year and we watched from the seating between bends 1 & 2. Has it got bigger? Why is it there? Can't it be reduced a bit? It looks like it reduces the effective width of bends 1 & 2 by nearly 50% and so unless you have a lightning start from gate 4 you are always going to struggle. Just asking!!!

Ellis? Really? That changes everything. Really rate the lad - and it winds up Jackal!!

I don't think a 2012 NL average of a little over 3 and a 2013 NL average of 2.44 is likely to trouble many in the PL. I would also be a bit concerned for his safety. But probably a cost-effective move (though very cost-ineffective if there are problems elsewhere in the team [Max in particular]).

Yep I think the standard of f&c has dropped at Rye, and indeed has the portion size. Mildenhall however - still excellent!!

Yep - pity it all spilled over from their other thread(s)!! Personally I am concerned about having Tommy F. at reserve. If Max runs into machine problems or anything we could really struggle.

How was the coffee?

Are you quite sure about that Worky lineup Mr B.?!!

So it's Masters who is hot-headed now? Strange it was all the Fish's fault when Masters came off at the end of the last race in the Fours.

Yes I forgot to congratulate Brum on their superb victory. I don't agree that Newcastle were the best team though - Brum had 4 riders who could all (and did win races). For Newcastle, King was poor and Larsen was rubbish in his 2nd ride, only managing to beat a woeful Lambert. Bach was nowhere in his first, even against the woeful Lambert! Lemon was by far their best rider. Sheffield were really unlucky and Edinburgh were steady but only had Fish capable of regularly winning a race.

Sitting in the stand we didn't have such a good view as you Nutz but my first impression was that Fish could not have made contact with Howe but after a few seconds we just knew he would have to get the blame anyway. That's the trouble with having the web army on your case all the time. A bit like Nicki P. really!! However the best moment for me was in heat 5 of the final when he was off gate 4 and Lyons off 3 (with the 2 rabbits off 1 & 2!!). They were pretty level out of the start and side by side round bends 1 & 2 with Lyons trying to squeeze Fish out. Fish however kept it wound on and wriggled through the smallest gap to just get his nose in front coming out of bend 2. He then punched the air in celebration knowing that he wasn't going to be passed in the next 3 and a half laps. Job done!! Great showman!! (Slightly surprised he let Lyons pass him so easily in the final race - looked like he was caught napping along the back straight!!)

Fantastic result for wee Tam!!