berniev123

After a Heathens 'Horror Show' for Heats 1 to 4 inclusive, glad to say that we have a 25 point lead into Leg Two of the NL KO Cup. Must say that the first 4 Heats were a joke to watch as we could not get 2 riders past the tapes in too many Heats. We still won in the end and I expect, unless, we try the same on the Island tomorrow night, we have the KO Cup as well as the rest we entered for in 2013! OK Heathens, what about getting the NL Trophy in 2014 then we have everything going back to 2010?????????????????

I agree with this and have one thought that, perhaps, two leagues BL1 (Surviving EL & PL & NL???) & BL2 (EL, PL & NL) as a semi pro organised sport, which would be weaker than what we have now then a new National Development League running with 4 or 5 man teams as per the MDL now below that as a 4 Team Tournament over the whole Season. Just a thought, but we are at 1964/5 all over with none of the big wigs from the Provincial League to knock heads together!

I agree with greyhoundp! We have four more matches left and could end up either winners or losers! Injuries happen in speedway, ask Wolves or Poole this year, but until the last lap has ended this Season we are in with a chance for the NL Title & the NL KO Cup or nothing at all! Keep up the good work all the Heathens riders and stay safe

why????????????? Wednesday does not have Mildenhall/IofW riding does it?

The best team for 2013 so far would be the top 7 in the NL averages as per this week's Speedway Star!! Ash Morris would be at #7 with a near 10 point average! Take a look in the Speedway Star for all 2013 averages for matches ridden, the BSPA one is NL only.

I, too, went to Monmore Wood in the hope of seeing a future world star in top class form eclipsing all the Heathens! What I saw was a spoilt 15 year old who had no idea how to walk out with his own team mates, try to ride off when Porky was introducing the meeting & riders, try to do practice starts on the hallowed starting gate shale before the meeting starts! His performance on the bike was an absolute disaster for him to say the least. Every body knows that Monmore is a very hard track to ride but if I were him, his advisor or parent I would take stock of what went on & learn from it! I agree that perhaps a DU 2014 season with a smaller track in the NL & what ever in the PL then DU in the PL & EL in 2015 would help him no end. Good luck with whichever way Robert goes in 2014 but he cannot have a bad a night as last night for a long while.

He probably was when his dad, the late Rob W, put him on a bike BEFORE he took a plane and came back home to Scunthorpe and tried him in the CL! But, then I was not lucky enough to see Woofys faltering steps astride a speedway bike before he left Australia to find fame and fortune at Scunny, Rye House & Wolverhampton! As I say there must be a similar product waiting to be let loose at Speedway track somewhere in the UK to rise to the top!

I have yet to see a "wobbler" in the NL since 2010 when Dudley started in it! I did tho' when I used to go to Buxton/Wolves CL way back between 1998 to 2002! The present day really inexperienced riders are probably in the MDL or the Amateur racing which I do not see at all. Then again, everybody has to start somewhere and yes I would not mind if these guys were used today at #7 instead of the ringers that appear scoring 21/21 until they get a proper average. Just might find the next Brit to get a World title that way as even Woofy and Bomber had to wobble and get in the way when they started out way back. Thinking back into pre history, the gent I loved to watch as he was learning (wobbler as we called him at Cradley as a term of endearment more than anything else) was Lyndon Brown! He had at least a half lap start round Dudley Wood, remained upright and normally came last. He used to bring the house down! Great guy, Jamaican I think, but he had the nerve to get on a 500cc JAP speedway bike and give it a go in front of the Heathens hoards that watched the second half, no matter how bad he was...............and I would not!

Good news for common sense for Buxton to have Charles in the team!

If he cannot, where does that leave Buxton?

Very, very tongue in cheek response and no offence meant to any one, but if you live in the back of beyond North Kent, where I approximately lived way back, it is a good as an excuse as I could give from the Black Country today !

If SB is unfit on Moday night why not both go 6 on 6 with R/R for both teams as BOTH the Kings & Heathens could /will be without the #1? Fair game after all the comments about the Heathens team structure at Buxton & Sittingbourne (Kent). Why not Kent go with an untried 3 pointer at #1, which I doubt, or ????? I am just joking as a Guest or an agreed 6 v 6 with R/R make more sense and would be NL legal!

Where have I been going wrong since 1959? The above would put me in low A or very high B! I have lots of Cradley/Dudley (& others) badges, many programmes from my travels, travelled all over the UK in strange speedway clothes, do my bit with Heat Sponsoring & a Season Ticket at Monmore Wood and love the sport to death! As they say in the Black Country, "Once A Heathen, always a Heathen!". Do I need some form of medical help?

Thanks Parsloes for the info re our R/R at #1, I thought that the declaration had to be done 7 days before the meeting by both teams. Strange, but then we are the Heathens and the management must think that the other 6, if in fine fettle, will cope with a full 7 man Kent. We will see the outcome as it could be a mistake with SB probably getting 14/15 and the rest of the Kings getting 31/32 for a win. That makes it that both our holiday weekend meetings are running with R/R then and we will be back to normal on Tuesday for the Island at Monmore Wood. Have a good day Monday and I will have to search eBay for the Kent programme!

I have to ask, how do you know? Inside info? Guess? This is only going to happen if Blackbird is not #1 in the working official Green Sheets in my opinion as the rest can take his four programmed rides. Checking on the Dudley site he is, infact, behind Paul who is slightly ahead at #1 by a merest fraction. Anyway all in Kent have a good day on Monday & all the riders have a safe and enjoyable day and entertain the good crowd that you will have! May the best team win!

No fear Gustix! The Heathens will be there on the track and in the stands! Hope my adopted county cannot stand an Heathens onslaught. 'Ommer 'Um Heathens or as I used to say in my long stay in Maidstone & Gillingham....Hammer the opposition my Heathens! Hope all the riders stay safe and I will be watching from the Black country via the Internet!

We had a similar chance at Dudley Wood in 1959/60, look it up yourself! History states that we had a rubbish team from 1965 to when Dan Mc Cormick took over! United we became then back to Heathens then the glory years.........even to today as Dudley, but the story was glory and many good memories and the rest is history!!!! Try and get someone to track share at Brough Park, Newcastle and see what happens or get a promoter to talk to the Bolden owners.......then historically moan again as the last time I said about the saviours of British Speedway. At least Bolden is not a housing estate or a Tesco or a Sainsbury or a bull dozed heap al a Reading or a decaying stadium like Oxford or a wall like Nelson or faded into history like New Cross, Fleetwood or Liverpool to name a few .

If I am correct, the Provincial League Saints lasted just a few meetings as you say and the team was scattered to other tracks by Parker or Bridgett but that was not the end at Bolden. The team had a few more attempts at league racing in the 1970's as Stars or Gladiators. Whoever promoted them then had the same luck as they had in the Provincial League. Eventually shut by their respective promoters for whatever reasons they had, so you can't directly attribute the 1960's closure as the end of Sunderland Speedway. Bolden is a great dog stadium and it would make a first class Speedway stadium, but it has never supported league speedway for a sustained length of time. I know it hurts as you are a Sunderland fan as much as I am a Cradley/Dudley Heathens fan.

As a Heathens fan from the Provincial Leagues days, well 1959, I can see the day when a pirate league will resurface with teams who either can't afford an air fence or teams that cannot afford the rates of pay in either the Elite or Premier League. So what if it is filled with older, experienced or inexperienced riders, the whole structure of speedway was saved by Mr Parker & Mr Bridgett, et al back in the day with the reopening/closing of PL tracks between 1959 & 1964. Without the Provincial/Pirate League we would have not got the BL in 1965 or the 4 league structure (EL, PL, NL & MDL) we have today!

Yes, according to the present structure we have the EL, PL, NL & the MDL. They all feed one another. We at Dudley have, at the present, the 2012 MDL Champion in our septet. As I said, who knows what will happen after October 31st with any form of restructuring. I know the fans of Dudley want PL but they will get what is affordable at the moment with money going to the well running of the club, not down the drain!

I will follow the Heathens in what ever league they are in in 2014. Yes, I would like to be in a higher league but nobody as yet knows the league structures for next year in any of the 4 leagues! Once a Heathen always a Heathen!

2014 at Dudley as a third/forth Heat Leader? Lee was great #1 in 2010!!!!!!!!!!!

From my understanding of NL Regulations.... ALL the matches that Adam has ridden in the 2013 NT/KOC, etc. do not count towards his NL average, a bit like our crowd at Dudley! He will gain his 11 point or thereabouts average after he completes 4 NL matches anywhere. In fact tonight at KL is, I think his 4th NL meeting so he may get a new average that will be official in about 7 days time. Hope I have got this right as I am hoping our Dudley averages change after the Kent NL match and our little crowd have their correct averages 7 days later.

Well, it gave Max a run out for Dudley and gave the KL ultimate RINGER a day off in Germany to play with being an U16 International with a very false NL average. Pity that the ringer will be used when it suites KL as opposed to today! No bad feelings as it fits KL's Play Off/KO Cup options!

I have to ask, but why is this allowed as LEGAL?