scotchopper

This is the problem with speedway supporters and particularly people on this forum they want the world and they want it now. On the face of it your statement is completely correct however considering the monarchs have had 9 rain offs, all 3 teams that were still to visit armadale were asked for Friday. Somerset were the only team that were willing to race, Somerset and Edinburgh have the same race night so rearranging matches is difficult. Edinburgh run under fairly strict planning permission that doesn't give them any leeway run twice a week. The cut off is Monday (I still can't believe Peterborough turned it down) and somerset have 3 semi-finals to run as well as well as potentially finals. Edinburgh need to get home meetings in to try to get revenue to make up for all the rain offs and away meetings they have been paying for and the best night is Friday at 7.30. It is far from perfect and would match rather see a full strength somerset (and Edinburgh) team but given all this I would say well done to Somerset for getting a competitive team to armadale and I look forward to an exciting night of speedway, fingers crossed that the weather plays ball this week.

I believe Peterborough were offered this Friday and turned it down. If true I don't understand it at all as you say 4 points are armadale would actually put them above the monarchs and into the play offs for sure. Sheffield should beat scunny and Newcastle are going to run out of meetings so won't finish 2nd and therefore nothing really to race for at Ipswich. Monarchs planning permission is 1 meeting a week and won't run on off night on Saturday. So unless they organise something for monday it's not going to happen and the big signing on fees for the big gun is wasted.

It is unbelievable and worst of all Wednesday and Thursday were absolutely beautiful they would have had to water the track on both days. This is a disaster for Edinburgh speedway

I would say that even if it was an Edinburgh rider and did say the same when Sam did it to bjerre last year. it was indefensible and it sounds like starke was the same last night

Maybe not the best angle but am I right in saying that all the excitement is about the start of lap 2 rather than the actual collision at the start of lap 4? I don't really see the excitement here both incidents of 2 riders trying to get on the fastest line at the same time, don't see any red mist in that, fisher did lift slightly so went wider than he intended but there was still enough room for Paul. Too close to the camera to really see the cause of the crash but I guess as ryan was in the lead that is why starke got excluded. Completely out of order to square up to a rider lying castrate on the track even if provoked Worst than the result for Edinburgh was one of the top 3 picking up an injury, disaster

you are actually making my point for me, if a rider's average puts them into the main body of the team then put them in. Of course it is about signing the right riders, I can't imagine anyone signing a rider and hoping that their average will go down! As per always some get it right and some get it wrong for most new riders it will go down at first but might come good by the end of the season or the following season. Under these rules many riders will get discarded earlier than before and most will find it incredibly difficult to meet the visa requirements.

Mark has the same issue as we had with Jye, as a foreign rider brought in on an assessed 5.00 average for team purposes his average is not allowed to drop below 5.00 meaning Clegg or Dan would need to go above 5 for him to do to reserve. It's an absolutely bonkers rule, I guess the idea is that foreigners cannot then get into the reserve positions. The opposite of that means that reserves don't get into the main body of the team and could potentially get inflated averages whereas as a month at 2 or 4 would keep their average down. Interesting that you say our team average is at 42.15 which is a little bit strange as we have had a positive season so far. Not as good as the least few years but we are stilling winning more matches than we are losing, unbeaten at home in the league and picking up good away points. Got some tough matches left though. Interesting that means we could replace Mark who is averaging about 2.5 with a rider of 5.85. I don't think they will do it as Mark has showed some good potential but a good signing would put the cat amongst the pigeons.

the forecast is horrendous apparently, has been raining all week as well. JDC studies about 3 different weather sites so I think. I agree it is an early call but given the number of rain offs already this year I can't see them calling it if there was any chance of it being on As for tickets just email the club info@edinburghmonarchs.co.uk and they will sort it out. Never done it before but heard they are happy to reimburse people in your situation. there are a few pubs in Bathgate but nothing really to write home about. train is less than half an hour and really regular now. Hope you find something to do

Gutted this is off, was really looking forward to it. It's been a nightmare season for weather at the dale I reckon only had one match all season not affected by rain. That potentially means we'll have to run a double header or run 2 nights in one week to get all our home fixtures in before the cut off date. Panther89, if I was you and you are looking for something I'd jump on the train into Edinburgh, the festival and fringe is on so the town is absolutely buzzing loads to see and do. https://www.edfringe.com/

There is a bus (number 21 https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/20%2021%2022%20TT%20Bklt%20web.pdf) that runs from Edinburgh road just the other side of the fire station near the big roundabout (5 mins walk from the hotel) that stops right outside the stadium but to be honest if there are more than 2 of you it will be just as cheap and more convenient to get a taxi there as it is less than 10 minutes by car. Fingers crossed we get some good weather and some quality racing.

That's the way it should work but with rain offs and the fact that teams have to agree fixture dates amidst a background of clashes with doubling up and foreign commitments it will never work. It might work if fixture dates for semis and finals and postponements were set in stone at the start of the season and enforced. but even then you will probably end up with free weeks in the middle of the season when there are no rain offs or teams forced to race on costly off nights or double headers then finishing their season in september because they miss out on the play offs. I prefer to have a few league cup meetings at the start of the season as a pre-season so with much regret I would keep it the way it is.

As the Scotsman has said, advance tickets are £15 but you must book before midnight on a Thursday, print at home and really easy to sort out. There is also a bus run by the speedway which leaves waterloo place in the city centre at 6.15pm and returns 15 minutes after the last race. Not sure where you are staying, let me know and happy to make suggestions on public transport. Loving all the haters on here, armadale is far from perfect but you will see a very well prepared race track which normally produces excellent racing and a very slick presentation with (weather permitting) no f@nnying about. Cookie is phenomenal round there so we should see some great racing especially against wolbert/masters and I can't wait. With all the rain offs and world cup we haven't managed to get any real form at home yet which has meant some really close meetings this season and I expect the same on Friday. Even after Sunday's result you can't rule out an away win, hope you have a good night (and your teams gets beaten).

people keep saying workington but they need to start wining away meetings to have any chance, that is why they failed last year as well. I'll be surprised if it is not the top 6 in this table that qualify.

I thought Ryan was lucky to get back in if i am honest, but it was the same in ht8 Morley should have been excluded imo. But was just pleased to see both riders get up, it was a terrible crash and ht15 wasn't much better. Wrecked both of their bikes and the night for them though.

close but not quite!! 52 points for the might Monarchs what a performance. Just need to sort out the home form

I can only assume you read into this from the updates and were not there. Given that they actually stopped for almost half an hour due to a sudden massive downpour which required track work after it stopped it was a well run meeting with little delay between races. 2 massive crashes that needed air fence panels replacing. Maybe they should have sent the jungle balls round whilst riders were lying on the deck recovering from crashes. Is that what you would have preferred

I was talking about good racing and number of lines on a track I guess it's not something you recognise

I take it you didn't see Sam actually change bikes twice before the race then, its very rare you see Sam do that and he obviously wasn't happy. Then after making a decent gate he just stopped on the first corner, baulking Mark who had also made a good gate and allowing both tigers through. He probably wouldn't have caught and passed Lunna yesterday but he struggled just to finish 4 laps without getting lapped and probably would have stopped if Mark was still going. Whilst I get that Sam isn't flavour of the month with those from the west today I am sure you have seen enough of Sam winning races at Ashfield to know that he is better than that, that to me says he had bike problems. If I was a tigers fan I couldn't care less why it happened. I don't consider a pass until at least the 3rd bend of lap 1, ashfield is the perfect example where making a good gate doesn't guarantee you anything, off gate 1 unless you make it to the fence first fully expect to see at least one rider going around you, if the rider on 2 makes a better start you are goosed and if you do make it the better riders will cut back and get you down the back straight. Fisher flew round the outside in heat 3 and a couple of Glasgow riders did it as well, it is impressive but for me is all part of the start and the 1st corner and for that reason I don't consider it a genuine pass. For the same reason that is what I would make the gate stats, not the person who won the race (as he may have been last out of the gate) but whoever make it to the 3rd bend first.

Think you may be exaggerating slightly there, there were some passes yesterday but if you are on the right line it is still very difficult to pass at ashfield. There were some other good fast close races but I would hardly call it vintage speedway. e.g. Max Clegg just refuses to ride wide there for some reason and is easy pickings and I also think that was Lawson's problem he just assumed he was going to win and as the conditions were getting difficult he started coasting a lap early and fair play to erik he pounced on the mistake. I don't count genuine passes until the 3rd bend so my total was 3 and maybe 4 but nothing spectacular. Fair play to Glasgow they have built a really solid team and were very worthy winners yesterday. They have a great chance of picking up trophies this year especially now rene Bach is picking up points. Could depend on the reserves in away meetings but big home wins might be enough although I still think Worrall and Lawson have some fragile moments so still plenty to think about. Monarchs just didn't turn up on the day, Sam was well under par but understandable given the week he just had, looked to be something wrong with the bike in ht11 as he just seemed to stop in front of Mark on the 1st corner. Mark actually acquitted himself very well and probably would have won ht8 if Garcia hadn't fallen, badly baulked by masters in ht11 after a good gate. Erik started so slowly a bad habit he needs to break as he has now seen most tracks at least once, deservedly excluded in ht12. Ryan looked good in ht3 but seemed under power thereafter and will be disappointed at being beaten by Garcia and Lunna. Very average performance from Kevin: beats reserves and 2nd strings but never really threatened the Glasgow top 3, need more from him. Max Clegg just can't ride Glasgow, he has been there often enough now and should be doing better but it seems a mental block. Dan was never really in it either, needs to grow a bit for a track like ashfield. the make up of the monarchs team means there was a chance we will have days like this, so far the top 3 have really pulled us through in away meetings but none of them fired yesterday. Looks like that means the KO Cup has gone for this year as we are not hammering anyone at home but we are improving month on month and if Dan and Max can score like last Friday it is not a foregone conclusion. Certainly won't give it up and hopefully that is the bad meeting out the way now so we can get better if we come back in the play offs.

It's definitely more representative of the league positions. I think the top 6 there will be the top 6 come play off time

What an absolute shocker of a decision to exclude Riss swiftly followed by an even worse decision to award the win to Todd Kurtz. Arguably the worst decision I have ever seen, it beggars belief as Sam has passed him at the same time simota hit the deck. I couldn't see when the red lights come on but at best from a Plymouth perspective the 2 riders were alongside each other therefore it should have been a re-run. Unbelievable to award the win to Kurtz.

Was great to see all the kids there and Ed the monarch was brilliant with them. I think the school was in Addiewell though no idea where you got Slovak from Bonkers logic. The answer is in your post though Your heat leaders outscored us by 7

After reading stuff on here and seeing your results I actually thought your reserves looked much better than I was expecting. Greenwood was terrible in his first 2 but then settled down and got a good point in his next one and was unlucky in heat 8 when he clipped Dan as he chased him. Castagna battled hard including a pass in his first ride. Very few reserves will gets points against Monarchs top 4 at the dale this season. Seargant actually looked competitive and passed erik in ht1 before Danny fell. Can't afford to throw away 2 races though surely someone has to sort out his tapes offences, it's embarrassing. As others have said though it was your top end guys that let you down last night, whilst they looked competitive and made very close interesting racing only 4 race winners all night tells the main story. When it came to the crunch in the last 4 races they couldn't get anywhere near Kev and Sam and with Max beating Risager in ht14 Ipswich got as many points as they deserved - zero For the Monarchs Sam was fantastic - paid maximum and great team riding his cut back on danny King in ht1 got us off to a flying start Erik is now virtually a reliable heat leader, more good progress. Caught in no man's land in ht10 but a good night Kev started slow in 2 tough races but finished like a train, it was his turn to fight off the opposition in ht15. Just needs to do it in all 5 Mark looked very good and solid was pleased he got a good point. Little bit rusty out the gate but that'll come and was good to see his brother do practice laps with him Ryan is as tough and competitive as ever and talk of him being past it is premature. Lacks a bit of speed which cost him in ht13 but showed his mettle in rerun of ht7 Welcome back Max Clegg, we all know he has it in him and this is what we expect. Really unlucky in heat 7 when he lead for 2.5 laps against tough opposition should have got 2nd. Dusted himself down to beat Risager in 14 Dan keeps improving and gaining confidence race by race, starting to be very competitive in 1st turn and pressured seargant into mistake. Things looking brighter for Monarchs, now onto Berwick and Scunny

I think you misread my message I was complaining that it is not fair on everyone (not just Edinburgh) that the strengths of teams and potentially trophies can be decided by timing of events and the dates averages kick in. I just used this example where Monarchs missed out on 2 points because new averages for the rest of the team and Erik Riss in particular kicked in 2 days before they were allowed to replace Jye. I wasn't actually complaining and hopefully Mark Riss will come in and perform like a 7 point rider. As everyone loves a moan they always remember the times where their team lost out on a good deal and very rarely remember the occasions where they have benefitted from the rules. One of the remarkable things about the last 2 seasons was Edinburgh won both times with the same 7 riders throughout the season, not many teams can claim that! I brought up the Aaron Fox example because he came in on a 5 point average as the 5th rider in the team and whilst his scores were better than Jye's when he got his first average it was below 3 and that included a couple of meetings at reserve as sedgy went above him on 1st May. So for a short period of time Edinburgh could have replaced him with another 5 point rider but decided not to as they could see potential and didn't want to disrupt a good team spirit. Whilst he did improve and did score some vital points including heat 14 of the grand final he finished the season a 3.5 average not exactly brilliant. I believe Edinburgh did ask him back last year as he probably would have improved that but ultimately he decided he wouldn't improve enough to make a successful career. Whilst he was a lovely lad and I would have like to seen him back I think he was right. Whilst Aaron had scored and looked a little better than Jye by this stage I have no doubt that if he was riding this season with the new rules and this years Monarchs team he would have been replaced, if Jye had been in the 2014 team it would have been a harder decision to make but at least he would have got a crack at reserve (even with the new rules as monarchs top 5 were above 5 for most of the season) and a better chance to show he was worth his place. Ultimately as paulco says Jye may not be good enough, I hope he gets at least 1 more chance at it but he'll need to get his finger out and probably the rules to change. Anyway good luck Jye and welcome aboard Mark.

yes the Newcastle match a week past Friday was his 8th meeting and 4th at home, which meant he got his official average on 3rd June. 2 days after the new averages come out where the rest of the team went up 2 points. If it wasn't for 2 rain offs Jye could have been replaced with a 7 point rider. cest la vie Good luck to Mark, welcome to the Monarchs and if he can pick up like his brother we are in for a treat. It's a bonkers sport where a rain off can dictate changes in teams, just look at Peterborough timing is ........ everything. Edinburgh are pretty loyal to their riders and do give them a decent chance, even though we have had very successful teams recently there have been 1 or 2 who could have been replaced, Aaron Fox in 2014 springs to mind. Jye is a lovely guy and as many have said he does have potential but the new rules makes it very difficult for him, he demonstrated in the NL challenge match we had that he is better than the average NL rider and maybe a shot at reserve would have been the catalyst to get him going. Even Max Fricke went to reserve for a month in his first season and just look at him now. I hope he does get another chance but if he is saddled with 5 point average it will be difficult. Whilst I am sad to see him go unfortunately I don't think the monarchs could do anything else, maybe if the reserves were performing better they could have stuck with him but with 3 guys struggling to score a change had to be made.