scotchopper

it was the same for the first half of the semi, particularly gate 4

From watching the Dale Devils this season the NDL is a significant steup from what the NJL was before, no idea about the MJL as never seen any. I think it was really starting to benefit the young lads and it is a far different scenario being the main event starting at 7.30 rather than an afterthought in the 2nd half. Unfortunately the amount of time between meetings this season meant a lot of momentum was lost. 9 matches over 7 months is difficult although it would also be a challenge for tracks with 2 teams to do much more. Kent being the extreme example what would have happened if they had been more successfull in the cup or got to the play offs in the Championship.

We did find the champs bar and had a few pints and some good chat with the locals. In fact it was me who shout "Yes you did" when Stevie Worrall talked about winning the Cup in 2014 with the Monarchs, in fact he won the treble that year. It's always good at Poole with some good racing unfortunately mostly Monarchs getting passed. Our heat leaders appeared to have ran out of steam a bit at the end of the season, that's the first time all year we've lost a 5-1 in heat 13 and 15. In the league match it was 3-3 and then 1-5 so we were capable of better. Best team over the 2 legs won and deservedly so. It is great to see large crowds at the speedway at Poole just a shame with all the matches getting crammed in we couldn't get decent travelling support for either leg or even a more deserving size of home support at the Edinburgh leg. We were intending staying for the Friday evening match as well but were back up the road early after the postponements. For the Monarchs it has been a decent season with some really good moments and some fgreat performances but a winter to think of what might have been and roll on 2022.

OK so important question, is there a bar at the stadium after the meeting tonight. Didn't appear to be anything after the keague match. Come on the monarchs, stranger things have happened

i'm sure they would have much preffered an evening fixture but the weather forecast wasn't great. Pain of the season getting to this stage and the rain offs we have had, too many fixtures to plan last minute. Saturday afternoon meetings never really work out that well for the quality of racing at Armadale or for the Monarchs results wise. got a couple of better races later on but the Monarchs heat leaders were just nowhere near fast enough, a real struggle to win races. It was the same last night to be fair and at Glasgow on Thursday sadly have just run out of steam. can maybe collect themselves together to make a fight of it on wednesday but a tough ask. Poole were excellent especially the top 3 and Basso and deserved their win. That is why they topped the league but just disappointed we didn't show the real Edinburgh Monarchs today.

one thing i would say is it is not as easy as some think to have a live stream, you need more than just rocking up with a camera and an internet connection. Edinburgh have been working on it for 3/4 years and have been evolving the service to where it is now. Even this year over the course of the season they have continued to improve adding replays and improved the graphics, it really is quite impressive. To do it all in house means they can cover every match and have done all Monarchs and Devils matches this season. I wish more away fans had tuned in this season, i really think if more had known about it and seen it they would really see the benefit. If you are a poole fan and not travelling today you shouldefinitely check it out www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk/emtv Glasgow pay QTV for their service, they do other sports including scottish football teams during lockdown. It is a pretty good service as well although not sure many clubs could afford that, i hope they got enough folk watching so they can continue to do it next year. I watched on thursday and was glad to have access, well i was until about ht6. Was great to see Redcar get there stream started although i was at the meeting so not seen it in action.

josh hasnt stayed in Scotland this season although I would imagine all 7 would have stayed overight somewhere. Hopefully they all have somewhere to work on their bikes as most seemed down on power last 2 matches. huge match for the Monarchs be great to win the cup, i'm hatching a plan to get to Poole on wednesday although midweek probably means 3 days off work. Shame they can't stream but it takes a pretty decent setup so not something easy to just do. Monarchs stream has been a godsend for me, having to isolate this week for Covid meant i've missed the 3 biggest meetings of the season. As they have the stream i haven't missed any of it, brilliant and very impressive service I hope everyone gets on the stream today for a national cup final. out of quarantine in time to go to poole. i watch the stream on my tv through the firestick on the Amazon silk internet browser, has worked like a dream for both matches so far. I would have went mental without it this week

entrance fee is only for the Monarchs match just asking for donations for the Devils match.

I know Edinburgh live stream all matches soeverything including the Devils v Mildenhall will be streamed this week. Anyone know if the Glasgow leg will be live streamed, to be fair they have been busy promoting and rearranging the poland test match i'm sure they'll have the stream for that

No one wants big meetings to be decided on a 2 minute exclusion. Would much prefer a bit of referee discretion as is the normal in the British leagues. Clocks on the centre green has to be universal at all the tracks in the league before they start to enforce that. This grumpy old men mentallity that we don't want gardening and returning to the pits is beyond me. I would far rather all 4 riders were as best prepared as possible to give us the best race possible and will happily take getting home 15-20 minutes later for better racing than a race spoiled by going down to 3.

Is there any chance at all of this matched being switched to 3pm, I know that has happened a couple of times recently. Got a flight at 8pm, can do both if it's a 3pm start but not 6pm #gutted

Technically it was the correct decision as whilst Ricky was at the gate he was facing the wrong way using the back wheel to prepare his gate when he was excluded. For me it was a massive shame that a last heat decider with the teams all square was spoiled by a technical decision. Not convinced it would have changed the result but did leave a bad taste in the mouth. I'm sure the worky fans didn't let it spoil their enjoyment. A fantastic performance from the comets, from the track preparation creating a track perfect for their team and a struggle for the monarchs. They are quite entitled to do that and whilst it made it a bit of a gaters paradise early on did produce some cracking races. Then all 7 riders in the home team performed excellently with only 2 last places, deserved to win. For the monarchs, it is difficult to fault the effort of the riders but we simply weren't good enough in the conditions on the night. Fair enough getting caught out early on but riders should have been capable of getting the set up. Pickering and Worrall fighting really hard and all races they were in were exciting but the fact it took a monumental effort just to pass bickley for a 3-3 tells a story. Willie Lawson deserved a lot more than 1 point for his efforts and heat 12 would have been a massive turning point if it wasnt for a puncture with monarchs on a potential 5-1. Josh was brilliant in this race protecting willie and then after being baulked by the puncture managed to pass campton again on the last lap. Jordan stewart was out his depth his only contribution being keeping erik behind him in ht4. Although as he couldn't pass Stewart doubt he would have passed campton. That was the sign of things to come for the skipper who simply wasn't fast enough, he fought hard for 4 points but he should be hitting double figures. yet again the big 2 failed in heat 13, a story of our away season and rickys mistake in ht15 probably summed it up for him only 7 points for a no1 is not good enough. Least said about Victor the better, he can't be fully fit. A disaster for the monarchs on track and off track as the financial consequences of not reaching play offs or cup final will be huge. Well done to workington unbelievable change from last night and good luck in the cup final.

My statement about it being off was in a different context. I give up Friday night was a perfect meeting in perfect conditions I wish all speedway meetings were like that.

No excuses here, the track was the same for both teams but the Berwick riders adapted much better, were excellent and thoroughly deserved their win. I also didn't say it should have been off I said because of the cut off date it had to on. I believe if the cut off date was 30th September it would have been cancelled at 7pm. I was in hospitality so walked over the track at heat 8 and the state of my trainers is testament to the fact the track was not 'fine. As i said before well done berwick

I got your point. The track was rideable but not raceable for the first 10 races that for me means it should have been off. If it was like that frequently people wouldn't go. I go to watch speedway racing. It also took a huge amount of effort to get it to that state and a 45 minute delay to the start, that couldn't happen every week. Riders would have normally refused to race as well, last night was an exception because of the cut off and everyone understood that. As for the we on the website, who really cares you are just nit picking. You would be correct if it was on an independent site or the bspa site but not on the club's own website which is maintained and updated by volunteers who give up a huge amount of their time for speedway. I would expect reports on there to have a monarchs slant if other clubs do it differently that is your prerogative. No one forces you to read it

Is this a serious post? Whilst we ended up with some good races in the end and track was as good as it possibly could be given the circumstances any other week that would have been cancelled at 7pm. The track staff did an amazing job to get this meeting on and the Berwick riders deserve all the credit for adapting so well in the early stages. It's clear to see from the last 7 races what the result would have been on a dry track but that Is irrelevant. I also think that we would have beaten most other teams but the riders berwicknhave were perfect for the occasion. It is sport after and sometimes upsets happen. Well done Berwick just need Newcastle and Peterborough to do the same tonight

http://www.lakesidehammers.co/fixture-confirmation/ Not sure if I am reading this correct but I think this article means that the Lakeside vs Peterborough match won't be held before the cut off date. I also cannot see how Workington vs Lakeside will be held before the cut off date. This means Lakeside will only manage 3 more meetings, away to Edinburgh and then home to Glasgow and Newcastle. If they fail to get any points at Edinburgh on Friday that would mean they are vulnerable when they should be stick on for the play offs. Weather permitting they look like the only 2 meetings featuring the top 7 that won't fit in before the cut off assuming it is 16th September?

What a brilliant night of racing. Heat 1 was possibly the best race I've seen at armadale and set the tone for the night. It also set the tone for the scoring with a last place for Rory. The monarchs looked the hungrier team throughout with only covatti really able to seriously trouble them. The tac sub and a few 3-3s kept the score interesting for a bit but never really in doubt and when our 2 swedes took a 5-1 over covatti in ht8 there was no coming back for the witches. Ricky and Erik excellent and very well backed up by Joel, Victor, Mark and to a lesser extent josh who had a tough night. Max got a paid win in ht2 and was really unlucky with his race against wethers and machine problems cost him. But it was a great night with passing in most races and really close hard racing. Just a shame the monarchs have 2 weeks off as the momentum of the last 2 nights could propel them into significant play off contenders. Although I'd settle for racing like that every week

Afraid you're wrong. The race was stopped because robbo failed to clear the track not because he fell therefore he was 4th when the race was stopped. For me this rule was brought in for the case where a rider looks up and decides whether or not to clear the track depending on how the race is going. That wasn't the case this time as Robbo was trying to clear the track but wasn't able to. The rule also has the referees discretion in it which will always leave it up to interpretation, this will always have problems win consistency. I like the idea but not seen it actually used, there were definitely races on Friday and tonight where it could have been used for both teams

When was he out of control? Having watched him regularly he has great control, he gives 100% every time just awful out of the gate. Could be a great rider if he learns to gate

As the Scotsman says monarchs probably arriving at the wrong time with the Panthers determined to make up for Friday night and we still have a few finding their feet. Outside chance with Ricky, Erik, Mark and Josh all showed good signs round there and if Matt gets going you never know. Those guys also prefer a bit of dirt and Not expecting much from josh or max. Happy with a point from this. For those complaining about the cost and quality of speedway get the dvd for the Monarchs vs panthers match. Absolutely magic

The Edinburgh promotion do everything they possibly can to get meetings on and that is fine by me. Much rather that than tracks that don't bother their backside. Sometimes that means they wait longer than they probably should but there was no way they were going to call that meeting off last week early. First match of the season after loads of publicity with a huge crowd expected, they were desperate to get it on. There were forecasts that gave the match a chance so there was always hope. Unfortunately those forecasts were wrong.

Apparently now Rob Godfrey has confirmed that Luke Becker would have been entitled to a discretionary endorsement just as myself and others have described above. However the MC have decided that they will not be awarding any discretionary endorsements to anyone whether justified or not. As far as Ryan Douglas is concerned I don't think he missed the qualification meetings because of injury so it doesn't apply to him. It's harsh but not a terrible position to have and obviously many on here agree that is what the rule should be and removes any ambiguity. But when was this decision made and why was it not communicated to all teams and other impacted. Why did they just not table an amendment at the AGM and change the rule so there was no discretion clearly stated in the rules and everyone was fully informed and aware. The rule (even though many on here are ignoring the fact it exists) has been in place for several years so could easily have been changed and debated by all promoters not just the MC if required. Steve Evans has apparently been working on this appeal since September, Edinburgh appealed for the endorsement 3 times and all 3 times were only told he did not meet the rules and not told anything about no discretionary endorsements being given. So on the 4th occasion when asked informally they have been told that the rules have effectively been changed. When did the rule change? Now if I was being a cynic I could say when they received the request from Edinburgh......

Maybe but if you or anyone else can justify why he does not fit in the terms of the discretionary approval then I will happily move along. The MC failed to do so which is why it is open to accusation of bias. As i said before Edinburgh will move on, sign a new rider who could work out better. It is the young lad that is being punished. Hopefully he comes back to the monarchs next year and shows everyone they were wrong.

That's the thing arnieg. Edinburgh contacted UKVI to clarify if he should be eligible and were told that as he had an injury yes he should be considered. As I said in my post they leave the decision up to the MC as they are better to judge the 2nd question, i.e. yes barring injury he probably would have qualified but is he good enough? The MC have not said NO to this they have just said he won't be considered. If they are to deny Luke the opportunity to race in the UK then they should at least have the balls to tell the lad why they don't think he is good enough.