scotchopper

Monarchs heading down to a league match at the showground for the first time in a good few years. Really looking forward to this especially with our old friend ryan fisher in the panthers line up, his battles against cookie and sam (who is looking particularly good on the bigger away tracks) could be worth the trip on it's own. Here's hoping the fish is fully fit. Starting this thread early a wee bit selfishly as looking for advice on getting to Stansted Airport after the meeting. We have an early flight in the morning and looking at getting a taxi. A couple of websites suggesting £65 for a cab which sounds pretty reasonable. Any locals think this is unrealistic and any recommendation for taxi company..... We did look into bus/train options and it is posible but as there are 3 of us the overall cost won't be much different to a taxi and at least twice as long. Any suggestions for a pre-meeting aperitif would be welcome as well, should be down quite prompt as a short train ride from scunny.

So 2nd place in the southern group need to get to 15 points to qualify ahead of 11 points in the other 2 groups. This rules out rye, Plymouth and Somerset. Although with one sequence of results Somerset could still tie Peterborough for top spot on 14. Peterborough and Ipswich both only have away matches left so getting to the 15 point mark is not a formality. Add into this if Workington get a 4 point win at Glasgow they tie Redcar on 11 points, I assume it then goes to points difference which would put the comets ahead of the bears. Given today's result that might make worky a favourite. So it will be a few weeks before this gets clearer. Worky are at Glasgow on may 18th so might not know until then. Is the semi final a random draw? The team with the best record (edinburgh) could get the 2nd placed team automatically. Can the two teams in the same section get drawn together?

I assume that the teams in pool c will drop their score against the bottom team when deciding the best runner up. So not a certainty that it'll be from that pool. Worky or Berwick could still make it with 3 wins and Redcar on 11 still have a chance. I just hope they get the sf draw done soon and get the fixtures on early in the season. Monarchs have a free week on 9th may and it could get our sf home leg that night.

I think poor is a tad harsh blobby, with Glasgow racing 2 novices at reserve and berge looking poor the result was never in doubt. As per usual we had a slow start but with Kevin and Theo back to their best the tigers put in a decent effort. If the 2 Danes had been there it could have got very interesting but I think we had another gear to go into. Aaron took a big step in the right direction, passing berge in heat 1, making some good starts and first bends. Deservedly beating lemon and not far from rusty in ht10. Sunday is a big one for him to show he can compete with those guys. Cookie was exceptional in 13 and 15, as he admitted himself he was probably slightly under prepared for ht1 as a result of the travel from Manchester. He wasn't gating tonight but as a speedway fan he can do that every week if he produces that standard of passing. However Justin was the stand out for me, ht7 was important with monarchs only 4 ahead lemon and rusty looking their strongest pairing and best chance of a heat advantage. First run Sam and Justin made a great gate and were off into the distance when lemon fell. On 2nd run rusty made a much better gate and split the monarchs but Justin put the pressure on and forced a mistake. Rusty went down and struggled to get going just to pick up the one point, tigers advantage averted match over. He was beaten by wolbert in 11 but a brilliant team ride with deek in ht14, Justin took the harder inside line slowing allow his captain round him on every corner, classy. He more than deserved his nomination in ht15 and then demonstrated why. Made a great gate from the outside and was putting pressure on Theo for the lead for2 laps, he recognised it was cookie coming fast behind so pulled over allowing him through with little fuss and not losing speed himself. A well earned scalp of Kevin wolbert and allowed cookie to bring the house down with a great pass over Theo. Sam is still adjusting to the dale as a home track but still got that vital win in ht7, if he masters his home track no one will get near us at armadale this season. Max, Derek and Stevie had quieter night than what they had set previous this season, but all still scored good points and had at least one ht win.

Two great signings. Best rider in the league and potentially the best 3pt rider. I wish it was March already

As opposed to cookie night in Edinburgh☺

An air fence does nothing for fans, are you kidding! Apart from not wanting any rider hurt I have spent enough time standing at a speedway track waiting for an ambulance. Most clubs are running meetings but the bottom line is it won't raise enough cash. There are also so many meetings you can ask a rider to do for free and you cannot run a meeting with 7 riders.

Why do we insist on dumbing down our product and punishing riders for good performances. It is already quite difficult for teams to fit in a rider on cookies average and you want to bring in a rule to stop your top performers racing. I understand the need to attempt to get all teams competitive but the idea is fundamentally flawed.

Thanks davetriumph9394 for the lift

It is impressive shame his main impact was to put wee joe Joe through the fence. Congratulations to Somerset, cracking team and worthy winners

Well done Somerset well deserved. Gutted that we couldn't quite do it and unfortunately that heat 9 on friday had a say in the shake up as wee joe would would have done better in ht14 at home and first 3 rides tonight. Unfortunately that is the way it goes sometimes. Get well soon wee man, hopefully see you in the blue and gold again next year.

dave that would be excellent. should be there before 7 will give you a shout. there 2 of us. just need the weather to play ball and get this meeting on in good conditions. monarchs got a good crowd last night would be good to get the same on monday

Joe has a compound fracture to his tibia shin bone (from monarchs website) which is a disaster but given the speed he went through the fence at is amazing that is all that is wrong with him. Missing him on Monday makes it incredibly difficult for monarchs to get anywhere near Somerset but you never know, we'll go with optimism and belief but will need a big chunk of luck. As for the crash in real time from the track it looked like nick did it intentionally and had the red mist come down after Joe took him with a hard (but fair) move on the previous bend. I saw a very brief clip in the bar afterwards and it didn't look as malicious but it was reckless and dangerous.

Come on the monarchs, let's put a marker down on this tie tonight!

going straight to bristol airport after the meeting, getting quoted £40 for a taxi from OTA. Does that sound reasonable? looked at trains and they were £16 a head and take a lot longer so think we are going for it.

Redcar website didn't even have an advert or news story for tonight. I know know it's a long shot (and looking longer now) but that is pretty shabby. Any idea of the Redcar team?

Sorry I meant at the dale from what I've seen this year, magnus was immense at the plrc. Risager didn't really work out tonight but I commend the monarchs promotion for trying someone different. Meant to say well done James grieves, that was him at his best tonight! It's been a while but was nice to see him go out on a high and with some nice words to say about Edinburgh as well. Have a good retirement.

There is no rider in the league that could replace cookie but i think they haveone of the best available. Newcastle and somerset have riders that are close but they race each other tonight. Ryan Fisher and Kevin Wolbert are previous monarch no1s that could be considered, guess what Belle Vue race Peterborough. Risager was excellent last week, not just the race he beat cookie he was threatening in all races. He looked just as good in the 2 previous visits as well. The rumour was that he was asked immediately after the meeting and I cannot blame the monarchs promotion for that. Given the tigers septet I expect Morten to score similar to what cookie would have. thinking of other options (best riders in oither pl teams) aaron summers - used before and would have been an ok choice rene bach - never overly impressive at the dale ben barker - never going to happen ricky wells - racing for glasgow kozza/stormy - reasonable choices but neither fantastic oliver allen - always poor at the dale, frightened of the track josh auty - hasn't been great at armadale for a while michel bech - doubt he would have come/too expensive magnus karlsson - not any better that risager as far as el riders not in the pl (i think we'd have up to 6.31), only viable option thomas h jonasson - would have been nice as he missed deek's meeting but never great at the dale cameron woodward - too far for one meeting lewis bridger - no thanks adam skorniki - could have been interesting Given he has recent experience of our track and a decent performance i think is the best choice out there

On his armadale performances I'd take him. Doubt it'll happen though as we have a number of other options. What will his ave be?

Anyone who thinks cookie cannot team ride get a copy oh ht11, SENSATIONAL Sneddon showed all the doubters as well Well done monarchs thoroughly deserved here's hoping we finish it off tomorrow

a wee bit shell shocked. well done somerset. monarchs worst result of the season, we even scored more at ipswich when cookie got early bath a wee challenge to overcome on friday but it will be a different ball game. get some pride and form back and you never know.

from monarchs website The full list of fixtures for the group is: Saturday 21st September: Workington v Edinburgh Thursday 26th September: Ipswich v Workington Friday 27th September: Edinburgh v Workington Saturday 28th September: Workington v Ipswich Thursday 3rd October: Ipswich v Edinburgh Friday 4th October: Edinburgh v Ipswich weather permitting this will leave plenty time for the final. fingers crossed the ko cup final too

http://www.workingtoncomets.co/news/article.asp?id=100198 edinburgh, workington, ipswich confirmed on workys web site. double header for edinburgh at derwent park on saturday. definitely up for that, please give us some good weather

the only way it could be reversed is if edinburgh appealed the protest for the redcar match that got redcar an extra point. That won't happen as edinburgh have already admitted they got it wrong and accepted the punishment. there is no appeal and there is nothing leicester can do. i agree it is far from perfect but it is not going to change everyone knew when the cut off was and leicester knew when they went to newcastle it could come down to points difference. that is where it went wrong i'm afraid

no idea where the minutes are and you can do all the reading you want it won't change anything, sorry.