scotchopper

Don't know the person but they certainly aren't neutral. I intentionally did not touch on the subject of Friday night racing in my post because even if all of your claims and the claims in the letter (or whatever you want to call it) were true imo it does not justify it. The timing was atrocious and it was flawed. There can be no justification for boycotting another track. If I was a Glasgow fan I would be worried that they did not travel to support their team in such a huge meeting regardless of the reason. Anybody who spends more than 2 mins on the bsf will know that what is written can be easily interpreted many ways, sometimes accidentally or innocently and sometimes mischievously or vindictively. In the same way it can be written to have multiple meetings again unintentionally or completely on purpose. As far as I am concerned the letter can be summed up in a sentence: thank you to our fans and boycott evil edinburgh. It doesn't say that but it might as well

I'm sorry that you felt intimidated and people were verbally abused. I can assure you that the vast majority of edinburgh fans are much better than that and as far as I am concerned visiting supporters are always welcome. It doesn't make it right but every club has their share of idiots and i hope it doesn't put you off. It wouldn't be fun without opposition and their fans and banter between them, as long as we draw the line at the right place. It is great for us right now although I am sure Glasgow will get their turn soon. Having said that the letter handed out on Friday did cross the line as far as edinburgh fans are concerned, you say we misinterpreted it but I completely disagree. The letter said they were boycotting armadale and basically encouraged glasgow fans to do the same. I could never agree with anyone boycotting meetings for any reason and find it very juvenile and wrong that they did that. I would like to think from your username justere2cgoodspeedway that you would agree with me. I have a couple of poor experiences at ashfield, for example I actually traveled through for the infamous sun off meeting but I was still there for next meeting and will always be there to follow my team. That is actually the saddest thing about this, Glasgow could have won the Championship under the new ownership in their first season and the owners did not travel to support their team. There were 2 fundamental errors in the letter as well: 1. That they were surprised with edinburgh's position, anyone who know's anything about the edinburgh promotion would have known that was going to be their answer I am sure the same conversation happened last year and nothing has changed. You can disagree with them on their position but it certainly wasn't a surprise. 2. Edinburgh do not want to harm Glasgow or stop them from being successful from a financial perspective, this couldn't be further from the truth we want to see a strong Edinburgh and Glasgow, crowds like Friday and Saturday and at the League Cup Final will be a major boost to both clubs and we want to see that happen every time. They are trying to protect their interest, again whether you agree with them or not they are doing what they think is best for edinburgh speedway nothing more and nothing less. I arrived at the same time as the tigers supporters bus on Saturday and heard a few suggesting they'll be happy when armadale shuts down and from this letter I guess the new owners feel the same. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and after friday nights dreadful meeting it doesn't want to make me rush back to ashfield but I will be there for the spring trophy next year to cheer on my team. I have been hugely impressed by the improvements at Glasgow this year and met your owners at the League Cup Final, they seemed like really good folk and very welcoming and enthusiastic but the timing of that letter means i have lost a lot of respect for them. I heard there were another couple of childish things going on as well. If you disagree with someone find another solution don't just throw your toys out the pram. As for the speedway. It was brilliant to see Aaron Summers walk the track at armadale before the meeting, the crash on Friday was one of the worst I have seen and was amazed and very pleased his injuries were not worse so hope he recovers soon. I think that probably did ruin Glasgow's chances and it would have been a lot closer if he had 10 rides, I still think we would have won but would have made it very tight. The rest of the Tigers dug deep and did really well to get a 7 point lead but all the daft tapes infringements threw away points. Edinburgh were poor on the night with several riders struggling and making mistakes with Rob injured early Glasgow really missed an open goal there, speedy recovery to Rob as well he really has tried hard this year and whilst he would have wanted better he has chipped in with some important points, like heat 2 in the league cup final. On Saturday edinburgh upped their game big time: Cookie passed lawson as if he wasn't there in heat 1 and only a stupid fall ruined a perfect night for him 0.2 off the track record in October after coming from the back Sedgy after a poor first heat never looked like getting beat Kevin was excellent as well chuffed for him Erik finished the season with a higher average than Max Fricke in his first season, if he cuts out the wee mistakes he will be brilliant Sam was back to his old self on the engine he is planning on using in the GP Max Clegg had a great night beating a tiger in every race Thanks to Liam for taking the booking at short notice was really happy for him to take a point. As for Glasgow Lawson tried hard and was worthy of his points on another night would have scored more. Nice touch after ht15 Don't know how long it is since theo has been on a bike but looked very rusty, not his fault that glasgow had to find a guest at short notice. Kakke would probably have scored more putting aaron at number 3 was an interesting gamble but backfired when he went down. he would have got a lot more than 5+1 on current form Morris was very average, don't understand why he couldn't bring his swindon or world cup form into the PL maybe injuries taking their toll. 2 tape exclusions in the first meeting was dreadful. He needed to be at his best in both meetings for Glasgow to have a chance and it didn't happen Victor was put in a difficult position with the tactical change and it just didn't work out. I hope his withdrawal from ht13 wasn't as a result of his earlier fall Hynek scored better than I thought he would but only finished ahead of 2 monarchs, liam carr in ht2 and benefited from cookies fall Sarjeant tries too hard and puts too much pressure on himself I think he is being poorly advised as he has real potential. Threw his toys out the pram in the end but showed his passion for it, again hope he is ok after a couple of falls All in all from a monarchs perspective a brilliant night and appropriate that our 2 stand out riders, Sam for first half of the season and Cookie for the 2nd half, brought the housedown with the 5-1 that secured the Cup. Amazing scenes afterwards in the bar, i think it almost topped last year. Speedway is over for another year and we get a well earned rest now but cannot wait to see the battles again next year and hope we are talking about events on track and not off track.

cookie was coming hard back underneath Barker when a bit of contact probably caused the chain failure, simple racing incident so no decision to be made. Shame as it spoiled what could have been a cracker of a race but talk of a panthers 5-1 was very premature. Would have liked to seen cookie with fresh air to chase down anders but a 3-3 was fine for us and would have snapped your hand off for a point defeat before the start with Kevin missing and Sam struggling. Been confirmed tonight that Kevin will be back on Friday so Edinburgh should have enough to win this but can take nothing for granted as Somerset showed last week.

Erik is out with a reserve in 3 races. Can't move it if that is what they declared. I would have moved it to no2 even if kev was available first match back after injury can always be dodgy so would help there.Given that there is no trs I would also move erik to no3 at the dale

I think he is extremely doubtful. Monarchs will need to dig deep in this one, no time to feel sorry for themselves after last night. Will always back them and a win is not out of the question but if they keep it close I reckon they can pull it off over 2 legs.

Well done to Somerset a thoroughly dogged performance really hung on in there and battled for every point so you cannot take anything away from them. Rasmus Jensen really came to the party at the right time and were solid from 2-6. Sedgy's chain failure when miles ahead was a massive turning point but the tie was probably won by 2 decisions, Edinburgh should have moved r/r to number 2, too much pressure on Erik and too many races they looked vulnerable. Then Gary May putting Chessell in heat 13 and taking out his best rider was inspired. Cookie was imperious and has had an amazing week Sedgy was solid but would be disappointed with ht8 and bike failure was very costly Kevin was badly missed get well soon kaiser Erik was trying so hard but it just wasn't his night, he has pulled out some important wins this season and was unlucky not to do it again in ht14 Sam is still hampered by injury and not his ruthless self Max was great in ht2 but struggled after coming off in 3rd race never really recovered Rob very similar to Max hopefully not hurt in ht12 Well done to the rebels and bring on the panthers.

Sorry but whilst the foot wasn't off the gas completely it certainly wasn't flat to the floor once the cup was won, proven by the fact that Glasgow's first heat advantage in heat 9 was the race that made it mathematically impossible for them to win, Monarchs needed a second place and got it. After that the pressure was off the Glasgow riders as well so they relaxed a bit and improved but I have no doubt had there been league points on offer we would have won. A great day out and a fantastic Monarchs support on the 4th bend. The chant of "Are you sergeant in disguise" when there was a false start in the kids vs the mascot running race summing up the jovial atmosphere. Big congratulations to Glasgow and their new promoters on the advances they have made off the track.

it was a really good night with a big crowd and some fantastic racing as well. Edinburgh winning was a nice little bonus too, well earned picking up 2 wins from gate 4 in the last set of heats. Heat 11 was probably the best race with a very impressive ride from grajznonek. i think Riss went from last to 1st and back to last again within a lap. To pick himself up after that and win heat 14 was a brilliant achievement. If he can just cut out the races where he gives everyone a 10 yard start he can go on to big things in speedway to match the longtrack. With Somerset and Edinburgh riders looking dominant and the best there we are setup well for the Cup Final tonight. First time I have been to Redcar and was quite impressed, a lot more infrastructure than I had thought and some good viewing areas as well and as said before some very good races. The legendary pie was very nice but I did get a row from a local for not having peas with it ;-) Congratulations on the new lease and good luck.

hmmm, is 7.40 the normal finish time for a 5pm start. Looking at travel options for next sunday. That would leave it very tight for getting to Stansted for a 21:40 flight.

You could lookm at it another way, everyone else is packed up and has no speedway but yet we are still being entertained all the way to the end. I agree I would prefer that the crucial matches are run in better conditions but it didn't stop last year's final from being an absolute classic. So if edinburgh suffer as a result maybe everyone will finally realise that the chair of the bspa has so little real influence in what really happens and that it is collectively all speedway clubs that are responsible for the state of our sport. management by committee doesn't work whern the members interests are so varied.

It's a very strange one this. The Monarchs website said that they struggled to get a track and rider availability so reading between the lines this is plan z. Doesn't make any sense as there are no PL or EL fixtures on any Saturday planned. Might get Plymouth vs somerset if the devils get through on 10th October surely they could have found a track. Going to be a busy week for cookie, Paul starker and josh grajczonek

The attendance for the play off final against Somerset last year was the largest seen at armadale for a good number of years in my opinion. However I accept for the semi finals or group stages they didn't seem any better to me. I have no problems with play offs as everyone knows the rules at the start of the year and agree many other sports use the same system. The biggest annual event in the world the superbowl is basically a playoff final. Where I think it doesn't work in speedway is the way the teams are built up and the fact that teams can strengthen just before the play offs start. In other sports if a team has qualified for the play offs they can then rest riders in the final few matches or try out new systems, that doesn't work in speedway as your 1-7 is your 1-7, riders don't want to miss out on earnings and there is very limited scope to changing any systems.

Motorcycle Australia announced sam and sedgy as reserves a few weeks ago, they were 2nd and 3Rd in the ausie title behind doyle . I guess it was low key as Darcy was set to be announced as wildcard the day after his crash. I expect sam to be promoted to wc with another reserve to come in. Only other option would be to give it to one of the u21s who will be there for the team final the following week but I expect it to go to an aussie. 2nd reserve may well end up being morris, grajczonek or kurtz so edinburgh might not be the only team affected.

I think if we had a load of rain offs or lots of problems finishing the fixtures then edinburgh would have to lump it as that is the way it goes and everyone misses riders for injuries, double ups, gp qualifiers, etc. throughout the season If it is being deliberately manipulated to try to ensure it happens when we have 5 weeks to get 3 fixtures in is quite frankly pathetic. Almost as pathetic as Gazc's replies to all of the comments, aye!

Everyone was waiting for the doctor after the track grade so it was a delay. I have no problems with why there were delays (except the interval and the ref in ht5) just commenting that with all the delays things got dragged out.

Just read my post again trying to work out my agenda but can't find it. I didn't say it was a bad meeting, there were some good races and Stevie Worral was excellent. I said it never really took light, which it didn't imo. the atmosphere was very flat and I have been to many more electric meetings at brough even when the racing was poorer. The main reason for this was the score in the 1st leg, as I said before if it had been closer this could have been a classic. Even a close match on the night never really looked likely with the monarchs never really in it. It also dragged a bit with a good number of restarts, a couple of falls, a wait for a paramedic, watching the water truck fixing the hole and then the interval, god knows why they didn't just do that at the same time.

The meeting never really took light for me, Newcastle really needed 5-1s and when Monarchs got the two 4-2s in heat 4 and 5 the aggregate result was never really in doubt. For once Monarchs were steady rather than spectacular summed up by Kevin's four 2nd places, he normally has a couple of good race's and 1 or 2 not so good but this time was just steady beating newcastles 2nd rider every time. Even with Cookie (missed every gate) and Sam (looking low on power) misfiring our top 4 easily took us through to the final with enough spare to rest cookie (or his bike) in heat 15. Never really needed to get out of 2nd gear. Newcastle were very worthy of their win on the night with Stevie Worrall (must be guest of choice during the play offs) looking fantastic and Richie not far behind. The rest struggled to make any real impact on the monarchs top 4 and erik winning heat 14 in the slowest time of the night summed that up. It's a shame that stormy crashed out early in the 1st leg or this could have been a classic. As for heat 5, the decision to exclude cookie was a joke. I understand he was off his bike when the 2 mins elapsed but he was about to clime back on and none of the other 3 were ready (there is no rule about being off your bike as they chose not to implement it). The couple of seconds it took the start marshall to tell cookie they were all on a warning was the difference and it was just the ref trying to be the star of the show. Given that there had been 2 restarts already and cookie was not at fault for either common sense should have prevailed, as it normally does in PL speedway. I pay to watch 4 riders in a race not some donut up in the stand try to act the big man.

ooft very tight, for the sake of fixture congestion come on the diamonds

and then there were 7

He was in ht13 Though night for the monarchs but bigger and better days to come good to get a wee reminder we are not invincible every now and then. Well done Sheffield Nice try but Sheffield have virtually zero chance of finishing top 2

You were close Manse, top plays winner of 4v5 from http://www.speedwaygb.co/premierleaguetable15 PLAY-OFF PICTURE - HOW IT WORKS - Each team meets each other once home and once away. - The top six teams then progress to the play-offs to decide the Premier League Championship. - Every Play-Off tie will be raced on a knockout basis, with the first and second placed clubs progressing directly to the semi-finals. Quarter-finals: 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th. Semi-finals: 1st v 4th/5th, 2nd v 3rd/6th. - In the event of a tie on aggregate in the Final, the outcome will be determined by Golden Heats Format. It is very frustrating that they don't announce the date of the cut off time, even if they announced it then put it back it would be better. For once Monarchs have got through their fixtures well this season, only 4 matches left of which 2 are this week, final home match on 28th August with the date of the Workington away match still to be determined. I have no idea why it is not this saturday, worky have 5 matches left and have a free week. Edinburgh will then be in a waiting game as barring some strange results will get the bye to the semi, so with other teams still with plenty fixtures I reckon it will be at least 3 and probably 4 weeks before their opponents in the semi-final are known. Hopefully have KO Cup and league cup matches to entertain us in the meantime but will probably have at least 1 free week, not a great time to have a free week wouldn't want to kill their momenetum so might slip in the Scottish Open.

A couple of good races tonight with Worral and Lawson working us hard especially sedgy. Result never really in doubt after Lawson not making ht1 and cookie smashing his own track record again. Should be enough to make the final as cookie, sedgy and Kev should get 35 between them and Sam should hopefully be back. Solid performance from all the team Cookie was unlucky not to make a great move on Lawson stick, apart from that was much faster than everyone else. 2 times under the previous track record Tough night for sedgy as Worral ran him hard a couple of times and a trip to the air fence, still 2 paid wins and a solid score Kev looked fast and unstoppable with a paid Max Erik starting to be very competitive out the gate consistently although a couple of times to wide on the first bend meant he collected 2 lasts in hard races. Out practising after the meeting again. This lad is peaking perfectly. 7 points for sam's r/r was less than he would have scored including the witches only heat advantages. The cast is off so hopefully back soon Max looked good with a great win and a battling third, shame his bike failed and prevented him getting his 4th ride Rob looked like the first time he had seen the track, you cannot fault his effort but trys far too hard. Got his reward with an excellent paid win in ht14 riding side by side with Erik. Worral got good practice for next week and looked good which should make it interesting as Charles Wright and Josh g both go well at the dale

Sorry I can see why you misunderstood my post cliffeboy, i totally agree there is no chance they were fiddling their averages someone else suggested it further up, i think the suggestion was bonkers. Of course teams will want to avoid Somerset but Somerset will want to only have 2 ties, they need a win tonight to get back into it. Things can change quite quickly but teams will startto run out of fixtures

Thanks Scotsman, copy and paste error with my formulas, now sorted.

I prefer the +/- approach where you subtract dropped points at home from points gained away. It doesn't tell the full story as you may have raced the better teams already but I think it is the closest to a level playing field M +/- 1 Edinburgh 16 16 2 Glasgow 18 16 3 Peterborough 16 14 4 Somerset 14 10 5 Sheffield 17 7 6 Plymouth 14 3 7 Ipswich 18 2 8 Workington 13 0 9 Rye House 14 -3 10 Berwick 14 -7 11 Newcastle 16 -9 12 Redcar 14 -9 13 Scunthorpe 16 -12