topsoil

The league table doesn't lie, Berwick look like being one of the weaker teams in the play-offs. Edinburgh, Somerset, Ipswich and Scunthorpe seem to be hitting form at the right time, while Berwick are going in the opposite direction. Not complaining though, if you had offered a play-off spot at the start of the season I would have thought that would represent a good season. Some very good teams in the play-offs, should be some great matches coming up.

Berwick got away with one tonight. Scunthorpe were heading for a 5-1 in heat 14 until Ashley Birks packed up, causing a very nasty looking accident with Steen. Thankfully both seemed okay. Then in the re-run John Auty taking a bad fall after completing the race minus a steel shoe. Auty would have been a probable for heat 15 and was looking good. Matej Kus proved the match winner driving inside the excellent David Howe in heat 15. Just glad to pick up a win of any sorts tonighht. One or two riders a bit under par and a solid opposition.

Expect a tough meeting here, I reckon Scunthorpe are solid all the way through, with the potential ace Ashley Birks at reserve. Good choice of reserve in Hugh Skidmore after last weeks performance. Hopefully Matej keeps up his good run of form and Matty can hit the ground running at reserve. Should be a cracking meeting.

Before the meeting I would have thought 34 points would be about par at Somerset, but after the start we got and leading after heat 7 I'm a bit disappointed at the capitulation that followed. But I suppose it also shows how strong Somerset are at home, even without Brady Kurtz, who has had a hell of a debut season. Going to take a good team to stop them. Still my favourite away track and a hell of a way to kick off the Cardiff weekend.

Excellent performance from Matej tonight. A seven ride maximum, full or paid, is a special achievement. Struggled a little bit at the start of the season, but has ridden brilliantly since dropping down to reserve. Does anybody know who he belongs to?

Whether you are in a struggling team or not has nothing to do with individual scores. Riding for a poor team hasn't affected Simon Stead's form for Sheffield this season.

Weren't the Russian teams criticised for containing riders who didn't ride for them back in these days? But it would be great to think one day a speedway version of the Champions league could be as widespread as the football version, including teams from several countries.

I'd like to see some sort of European competition introduced to speedway. Unfortunately because of the way speedway is run with riders competing for teams in up to four or five countries it looks like being very difficult to implement. Football has the Champions League, an unbelievably lucrative competition, look at the new TV deal signed with BT Sport. Rugby union has the Heineken Cup, or whatever the new competition is called. Again a very lucrative competition for the teams involved. In both sports these competitions are seen as a natural stepping stone between domestic leagues and international competitions. Any competition which brings TV exposure and money into speedway gets my backing. Just needs a bit of well thought through planning. Remember English football league clubs turned their noses up at the original European Cup back in 1956. Now it's the holy grail.

Disappointing not to pick up a point tonight, I thought we would have enough riders who would be suited to the Peterborough track to get something. Very little chance of a top two finish now which means a likely trip to Armadale and possibly Brough Park in the play-offs. All in all though if you had offered a play-off place at the start of the season I would have taken it. Berwick were very much outsiders to reach the play-offs in the eyes of the pundits and bookies.

That sounds nasty. Long winter to hopefully come back stronger and ready for next season. Would really like to see Liam succeed. The sport needs far more young local riders coming through.

Wrong on all four points

I can think of half a dozen passes tonight. There was also plenty of close races. Berwick is a very fast track and there isn't much we can do about the shape because is it round a football pitch which isn't going to move. It would be brilliant to have a purpose built track of our own, but in this day and age there are very few councils who would pass planning permission for a track, certainly not the one in Berwick. So it is Shielfield or nothing. Not that I am complaining because there has been some very good racing there this season.

First time I've heard this podcast. Some good interviews and quite enlightening to hear about Mitchell Davey and his injuries. Part of the sport you don't hear much about. Scott Frame did a good job on Biker FM.

Chuffed for Matty Wethers tonight he's not been in the best of form of late, but seemed to have an edge tonight. Good to see him back to something like his best. Matej also sharp out of the gate and looks fast when in front. Steen also attacking the first and second bends better than of late. Just a word for Sheffield. Every team goes through bad spells. Only a few years ago Sheffield were unbeatable at home and were a fixture in the end of season playoffs. Every team has downturns. Their time will come again. Tuesday night is going to be tough, no doubt about it. Need every rider to be on top of their game. Can't wait.

Really good result for Berwick tonight. Reward for the promotion after the recent run of bad weather and call-offs. Form like this and we should be in the playoffs. Solid team performance seems to be the secret these days. Even when your number one only scores two points. Hopefully Claus is saving the big scores for Saturday and Tuesday?

I hope there is a place in the team in the future for Liam Carr, because Berwick and more to the point the sport in this country in general, need more of the likes of Liam coming through. It would be ideal if some sponsorship could be found to help the local riders out with equipment to keep them competitive. Liam has shown glimpses this season, in particular riding three and a half laps without a steel shoe to beat the British under 21 champion in the Cup so the talent is there. That said there is no doubt the team is strengthened by the change so the promotion can't be criticised on that point.

Good meeting with a couple of brilliant races, especially heat 20. My only gripe is Denmark win having played the joker. An exact mirror image of last year when Poland won in the same circumstances. Crap rule, get rid of it. The very fact its called 'joker' tells you all you need to know. Bydgoszcz always provides great racing. Cant understand why the crowd was poor. Home country has a great chance of winning, every prospect of good racing, beautiful weather.

Top marks to all concerned for getting the meeting on tonight. The racing was actually quite good given the conditions. None of the riders actually struggled to get round, the riding was smooth and there was a couple of good passes (Pijper up the inside of both Jensen and Wethers, then Kus around Berge). Personally didn't give the meeting much chance of going ahead beforehand. Good to see Kevin Doolan scoring well. He seems to be a whole lot more confident these days and has a harder edge about him. For Glasgow I was impressed with Pijper, Berge and Thomsen. Something to build on for the future. Can't really judge Palovaara on tonight. Give him six meetings home and away.

It's saturday teatime so right ok cue here comes the rain.

Every year, and it seems to be getting worse, the sport has a big problem with rain-offs. Promoters and riders complain about losing money and fans have wasted journeys. But it never seems like anybody is doing anything about it. There is obviously no easy solution (or you would think it would have been implemented by now) but I would just like to hear for once promoters actually putting some money aside to at least look into coming up with something. A bit of investment could pay dividends in the long run.

With all the bad news about meetings being postponed and the financial repercussions, some brilliant news to put things into perspective.

Forecast is not looking good for the weekend. Berwick having absolutely no luck with weather this season, most weeks it has been beautiful 6 days a week, then Saturday afternoon / evening it starts to rain, only to dry up about 8 - half 8. Don't know how many more rain-offs the club will be able to take financially. Hopefully we can dodge the showers.

Just warming up for his pals from Sheffield in a couple of weeks, ding ding round two!

Think the Doolan celebrations would have had more to do with his return from bad form of late, certainly there has been a big improvement in his form in the past week. Anybody who knows speedway knows Berwick's poor history at Armadale, so Edinburgh probably still favourites for the tie.

Thought this was actually a cracking meeting. Not much in the way of passing, but a lot of close, fast racing. Always fascinating because whilst Berwick built the lead you always got the impression Edinburgh were on the verge of a comeback. Still fancy Edinburgh to go through, They will probably be too strong at Armadale, even though Berwick have a couple of ex-Monarchs in their line up. Good crowd for a midweek meeting as well.