scotchopper

I'm probably more cynical than most but why on earth would somerset want to lower averages at this time of the season, absolutely bonkers! Finishing top 2 in the league this year gives a big advantage skipping one round of the play offs and avoiding the other top 2 team until the final. Somerset have more away fixtures left but arguably except Berwick they are all difficult matches so they need results to go their way.

Unlikely Sam will be back for this, gets the wiring out his hand about 7th or 8th so probably a week too soon although you never know with these speedway riders. He has been at every Edinburgh meeting (including at Plymouth) since the injury so he is desperate to get back. Without Sam I think the Monarchs will struggle at OTA but this does give us hope and you can never write off the Monarchs A phenomenal result for Plymouth, well done the Devils it was a shame we didn't see their real team at armadale. Who will Debbie Hancock blame for this one.

Nice to see an honest appraisal shame he can't count, 2 r/rs meant there were only 12 riders. For a number 1 bjerre was a disgrace conditions were not great but they were not that bad. Note the difference in attitude, after the meeting Erik was asked about the track and starred he has never ridden in conditions like that before but that was one of the reasons he signed PL, to experience all kinds of different tracks and expand his speedway knowledge.

Well that rule obviously isn't worth the fag packet it was written on, very shabby. Fair play to Glasgow for getting it done and good luck to David Howe, always a rider I liked. Not quite in his prime but should be an improvement on kozza. Not sure if that is a serious question but I understand that Ed's eyesight isn't quite 20/20 but he was able to see the monarchs take the 4 points.

It's hardly shameful. You do realise that all the promoters vote in the management committee and could go on the committee themselves if they want to. If it was the massive advantage people seem to suggest they would all be lining up to be on the committee. I am willing to bet that when they ask for volunteers the majority of the room are all very quiet knowing how much of a poisoned chalice it is. In a perfect world all of the administrators would be neutral and I would prefer that but it would cost money that speedway doesn't have. That money has to be spent on rider development not administrators that everyone would just disagree with and have a go at anyway. All the promoters sign up to it and could propose a vote to change it. In fact they would have voted collectively to bring in the change to the rule that we are taking about. You haven't explained why they are wrong in this instance. The bspa and British speedway have lots of problems and in many areas get it wrong so I don't really want to defend them but to say this is shameful is just plain wrong.

The ambiguity doesn't help anyone and any decision made under the discretion of the bspa will always get accused of bias although they should use elite league officials for these decisions. My understanding is that this rule has been brought in to prevent a team gaining an unfair advantage due to a rider having an assessed average that is quite clearly wrong. The reason seargant doesn't have a proper average is because he has missed meetings due to doubling up and he should have had it a month ago. So this really doesn't have anything to do with kozza smith so it would be the right call. Speedy recovery to kozza that is more important Speedway updates site said he went through the tapes in heat 12, was that wrong? Sounds like present day rather than history or is that site wrong?

Cookie and 2 minutes, Newcastle fans getting desperate here. Sam is a hard rider and ran a hard line, not dirty and definitely legal. He was in the lead and drifted wide to block the outside line, Lindgren had to pull out of the move or cut back. If this was some kind of illegal block it was nothing compared to when Kerr locked up in front of Max clegg, I see that never appeared in the complaints about the ref. A great performance from the monarchs with all 7 contributing key points the heat 2 5-1 was key to the win.

Please point out who has not accepted defeat, there are no excuses and I haven't seen anyone say we deserved to or should have won. Saying riders underperformed or were missing is not an excuse nor is it not accepting defeat, we had other riders perform better than expected and that has been said as well. What you are basically saying is that if we comment on a match we lost and it is not saying well done to the opponents we are bad losers, nonsensical! For completeness: We lost fair and square well done Workington, the Comets are a decent team at home this season and I would have accepted a 10 point defeat before it started.

But your 2nd and 3rd if are basically the same thing, a description of how edinburgh qualify for the semi-final. Is describing that really a biased and out of order report? imo if the report did not contain this information it would have been poor, that is the main thing we want to know. Edinburgh in shock tell their fans the main thing they are interested in, outrageous

I really don't understand any of this. The report is on the Edinburgh speedway website it is 100% from an Edinburgh perspective talks in general about the match and then specifically about issues related to Edinburgh and the performance of Edinburgh riders. That is exactly what I would expect, at no point does it say we should have won or Workington were lucky. I read it as we were understrength a couple of or riders under performed but with encouragement over the performance of Erik and Justin but the result was fair. There are only two ifs. 1. If Kevin would have been riding we would have got a point, that seems fair enough and has been stated by several others on this thread. BTW it doesn't say we would have won with Kevin. 2. If Workington get two big wins they will finish top of the group and we will be left to wait and see if we qualify as best runner up. This is factually correct but the report actually makes it sound a lot more viable than it is, it will take a phenomenal effort from Workington to turn around the points difference and I don't think it will happen. The main theme was frustration that Kevin was missing and a determination to not allow that to happen again, this was self inflicted and accepted. Workington were solid and deserved to win, Edinburgh kept it close enough to ensure they finished above Glasgow which almost certainly puts us into the semi final. Best of luck to rusty sounds a really bad one and i hope he makes a quick recovery. The rest is just nit picking a report on the Edinburgh website and all it does is emphasise your envy and dislike for the monarchs. We're doing OK, thanks for your concern and I hope you have plenty more to moan about this season as it means we are going well x

What a brilliant meeting, I thought we would be lucky to see 10 heats with the constant drizzle but doc and his team got it perfect again. From cookie equalling the track record in heat one through to sam and nick having a great battle in ht15 a great night and those who chose to stay away were the real losers. Not as big a crowd as I was expecting and didn't appear too many tiger's fans which was disappointing. Both teams have some real quality this year, looking forward to some great battles over the season. Over the course of the two matches I think we probably threw away more points than Glasgow but it'll be too close to call, still might get both teams through in the league cup. Monarchs missing Kev tonight will make it tough but we should still have enough to keep it close enough to finish ahead of the tigers, would be good to clinch the one point to make it certain but that is a big ask. The comets still have an outside chance if they get a couple of big wins and 4 points at Berwick so not celebrating anything yet but a great job tonight from the monarchs.

Is a long way to go but building very nicely for the Scottish Derby in the league cup when both teams have shaken off the pre season rust. As long as the tigers bring a full team to armadale

That for me at Berwick was standard fare. Passing is always at a premium but can be spectacular on the very rare occasion you see it. Heat 5 last night was one of the best examples I have seen at Berwick ever, cookie was absolutely brilliant. People are complaining about the racing but because the overtaking was done by the other team and Craig in particular it has been glossed over. Heat 8 was the turning point, everyone thinking a 5-1 to Berwick was likely but Justin got out the gate and with some fresh air looked good, only cookies race times were quicker. Rob was very impressive again putting his bike on the right line and very difficult to pass. Kevin w looked good again and Max tried hard picking up crucial points and making sure crang scored nothing. Sam actually looked a little under power and had to run some defensive lines but very impressive in 13&15 to make sure we picked up all 4 points. This with virtually a 6 man team as Erik struggles to be competitive out the gate. He wasn't a million miles away though and hopefully as he picks up experience things will start to click into place. As for Berwick barker wasn't fit, taking his left hand off the bike during races and in obvious pain. Fair play for trying and I'll look forward to him vs Craig next time. Claus looked good and was surprised he wasn't in 15. Doolan and Thomas were good but not exceptional. Thomas only list to Craig and can but never looked like beating them. Kev was the same except the fateful heat 8. Alex looked like being the match winner early on until rob for the better of him and he'll be disappointed with 8 from 7. Unsure what matic would have scored but r/r only returned 3 and meant Luke had to have a4th race, he never looked like scoring after a mistake in heat 2 allowed Max through. As the Scotsman says Berwick have probably has their 2 toughest home meetings in the first 2 weeks without Ben at his best so I wouldn't give up on them yet. Glad we doubled the tigers score without the need for a tactical

If Nathan greaves had been riding it would have been over 60 no problem. Happy with my team, falling into place nicely with some unfulfilled potential still to tap into. With riders they have the comets should be doing much better at armadale

Word I text was straightforward not sure where mandatory came from. Not always an agenda behind these things Was very disappointed with Workington in the end only 4 race wins, 5 riders who are or have been heat leaders unfortunately for them they all looked like 3rd heat leader at best Hansen's 3rd meeting of the season at armadale and only scored 3 points Ricky was decent and always looks good at the dale, a great win on a tr, Sam's first loss of the season at home Rene was average, 4 2nd places and passed twice whilst leading Rusty by his standards was awful could not get around the track, even in the race he scored he tried to throw away his points on the last bend. Kyle has really struggled at the dale after a brilliant cameo for us a few seasons ago. Demonstrated he can do it with a fine win over cookie and sedgy but didn't finish his other races. Taken out of last race as victor was on track before 2 minute exclusion. Nicki never looked like scoring Victor was good, never looked like beating any of the monarchs top 5 but worryingly had the better off both reserves all night As for the monarchs Cookie has lost his gating gloves but still only dropped one point and looks really fast. Would have been interesting if he had been ahead of sedgy in heat 6 as he would have put real pressure on kyle. Out practising gating after meeting Sedgy was solid and won the dangerous heat 8 against comets best rider Kev looked back to his best and loving it. Slightly lucky to get a 2nd bite at heat 12 but after missing the gate in the restart he reeled in and passed René superbly Erik's gating in first 2 was the same as last week giving everyone a start but then picked up 2 solid wins with a great gate and first turn. Real confidence boost and a good sign for monarchs Sam was excellent again, took an extraordinary ride from Ricky to beat him Max was solid and close in every race, only beat Nicki Barrett. Attained his average Rob was very similar to Max but a little more competitive. Trying too hard with the fall in heat 12 but confident he will have better nights

That is a fair comment however no one would have predicted quite how well edinburgh did last season and the nature of the way riders get paid meant it was a very expensive season and would have blown any budget set at the start of the season. To use your analogy if the car dealership came back to you after 3 months and said actually the performance of your car is better than expected you are now due us £xxxxx more. It is these unexpected losses that make speedway so hard to budget for, I can imagine there are some promoters at times who will start wishing their own riders lose to save money which is bonkers, happiness is 46-44! I agree with the principal that there should be prize money for the winning team but the only way that is possible is if the league gets a sponsor. As many have said good luck to Glasgow and I hope they manage to get the balance right between spending and building for the future and like ekimba hope they finish second to us.

Perhaps bspa and ukv&I came to a compromise this year knowing the start of the season could be impacted by the timing of this situation. Also leaving the country to get their visa doesn't mean they have to go back to Oz. A long weekend in Poland and they could reenter the country on their new visa. I am just guessing here and I'm sure there are other valid scenarios, why do people always assume the worst

Theo deserve a testimonial as others have said he has never chosen not to ride in British speedway, in fact the opposite as he looked to give up the long track. One of the most unlucky guys in speedway average wise. Not for the first time his commitment to his team has left him on an undesirable average. One of the few bright spots at Glasgow last year, the incompetence of his team mates left him on an inflated average. I hope he gets a big crowd and a team place at some point this season.

unfortunately it is you that missed my point, i realise it was an attempt at humour it was just a very poor attempt imo. Glad you are not offended....

you keep trying to wind people up but there has to be some semblance of reality for it to work, otherwise people are just laughing at you not your intended target. back on topic, someone i thought would be on this list is arthur sissis, sheffield must be very worried about his performance in the Aussie u21s. Jake allen has made berwicks decision a little tougher and jack holder should be a good addition to the league at plymouth.

Brady Kurtz, Jack Holder and Jake Allen gave him a good run for their money. Max is only 18 so 3 more attempts at it, good luck to the lad. Good to see him make it count in the big races. Nice to see him commend Sam and Sedgy for helping turn around the bike before the rerun of the final. Spirit of monarchs 2014, hope we see Max back for the Scottish Open.

so the suggestion is that edinburgh paid wolbert for an entire season to get his average down. That has to be the most ridiculous claim ever made on this forum and that is saying something. Next you'll be telling me that edinburgh forced the glasgow promotion to keep him in their team all season. for whatever reason it just didn't work for Kevin at Glasgow, despite his excuses about track etc most of that lies at kevin's door. He has been spectacular in the past so he should be in this category for potential but he has a lot of questions to answer.

I don't know if i am missing something but if Jake comes in on a 7.00 average Berwick would be over the points limit. Add 7 to the other 5 riders gives you 40.84 so not even a 3 point rider would fit for the 7th rider. so if he isn't a 5 then berwick need 2 more riders.

I think that Glasgow should be obliged to pay a (sensible) fee for summers the loan system in speedway is badly over used and teams should be forced to include at least 3 assets

I don't think anyone was questioning steady's team riding skills more a statement that he was guaranteed a point a race every time whereas there was no guarantee cookie would beat his team mate whether he wanted to our not. In fact you can prove it just by looking at cookies average for the first month or so of the season when he was partnered by Aaron Fox. For the first 10 matches it was 10.77 but it dropped after Justin went to number 2. Other thing of note is that the GSA is the rolling average for the last 24 meetings not the entire season. There was a possible 34 matches in the season, 28 league and 6 league cup. Craig was ever present so would be a lot closer to steady for the entire season as those meetings with Aaron were not included in the gsa