Albert

The local paper isn't well read these days... It used to be a blooming good daily but for the past few years has been a weekly publication full of old news, ads, car sales and estate agents...100 of pages of shyte, I don't think its got many readers nowadays. The online version isn't much better, big headlines for trivial un-newsworthy items, most people just visit to laugh at the comments.

I think Scunthorpe should've rebranded years ago and advertised to a larger audience. Renamed to something like, 'Northern Lincolnshire Lions' or 'The Humber Sea Dogs' followed by a big advertising drive in places like Grimsby, Lincoln, it may have pulled in more punters, giving them a sense of 'it's our local speedway team' not one belonging solely to Scunthorpe. The product at Scunny is fantastic, it's difficult to put a finger on why it's not better supported. I think stadia has a lot to do with it thesedays, speedway is pretty much stuck in the 70s in that regard. From what I've seen of the stock cars, their crowds aren't that good either, poor in my opinion. But, unlike speedway, the stocks carry less expenditure, I believe drivers pay to race unlike speedway where riders are paid to race....big difference. If Scunny speedway can't make it viable then there's not much hope for others up and down the country. Look at the wider picture, Scunny is perhaps the most used track in the world let alone this country...The amateur scene alone must bring in £000's...always well attended providing a good income stream... Practice sessions likewise... Not to mention the training schools/track. Add in things like rent, Scunnys stadium isn't owned by a greyhound stadium or similar, Rob doesn't have the expense of rent like a lot of tracks. Similarly, bar and cafe takings are all Robs, they aren't franchised. So if Scunny can't make it, little chance others will either. It would be a major blow to British Speedway, particularly in regards to rider development... think most teams out there must have a rider or two that's benefitted from the Scunthorpe factor... a facility like we have here would be sorely missed. I wish Rob well and hope he continues, it's far too good a product to lose.

Rugby and Cricket amongst other sports have their own version of a video referee... Could Speedway follow suit? Obviously for televised meetings only... With all the benefit of tv replays, from various cameras, could speedway introduce a video referee and give him/her the power to overturn the match referees decision? Or if the match referee is unsure on a decision, gives them chance to refer to a video ref. Also, maybe give the teams two challenges each.. ? If they think something has gone against them, use up a challenge.... I think it would add something extra to televised meetings....but would it work?

I see Rob has issued a club statement on our website... You need all the friends you can get in speedway, Promotors are always asking favours off each other, guest riders, loans etc... Maybe Glasgows new promotion should remember this, they'll need favours one day and episodes like this stick.

Nah...no bitterness from me, I didn't expect to win, I stand by my comments. It does however grind a little that the Glasgow promotion illegibly backstabbed Rob regarding a gentlemans agreement over David Howe. If as Rob suggested, he agreed to release David and let you use him against us as long as you didn't also use a guest... In hindsight, Rob should've just held the deal back a week, wouldn't of been fair on David Howe....but then again, life ain't fair. Glasgow as a team, deserved there victory, on the night Scunny didn't have the riders with any consistency to challenge Lawson, Morris and the match defining Covatti.

Seen better meetings, lots of incidents but lacking in any top drawer racing. Few decent heats. Enjoyable without being top notch would best describe this meeting. Scunny without our big hitters of Auty and Douglas were always gonna be the underdogs in this encounter and that proved to be the case. Can't fault the effort of guest Jakobsen, his score doesn't reflect the shift he put in. Inconsistancy from all the Scunny boys was the real story. The strength of the impressive Lawson, together with Morris and the dubious guest inclusion of Covatti sealed a hollow victory for Glasgow. Well done to them, they did what they came to do.

I can.... but I don't necessarily agree with the outcome! Basically riders under 2 mins, Summers no1 bike failed at the start, he quickly abandoned that and jumped on no2... and got to the tapes with roughly 10 seconds spare. He was now under power, lined up with the other three riders and READY to race... fair enough. However, with approximately 5 seconds left on the clock, Richard Lawson decides to charge from the pits on a 'spare' bike, then ride to the tapes when the race is all but under starters orders. At this point Summers was ready to race and unaware of Lawsons actions. Two minutes up, Ref had no option to put red lights on and halt proceedings. At this point...Ask yourself a question...Who was to blame for the delayed start? Was it Summers who was at the tapes READY to race...or... was it Lawson who rode round the track to the tapes with a spare bike when there was no reason to do so.... ? Refs decision was, it wasn't Summers fault, he was sat at the tapes, powered up and ready to race...his teammate caused the delay. Therefore Summers was allowed back in the race. Lawson got away scot free... it bought Glasgow a fresh two minutes, enough time to get Summers bike sorted? End of the day, speedway is a team sport... Lawsons action delaying the start gave Glasgow an advantage..where they clearly should've been penalised under the two minute rule. Something wrong there. Summers, to his credit did return to the track for the rerun, positioned himself on a 15m handicap and was prepared to race...until it was pointed out to him that he'd not actually been penalised. So who was in the wrong?... Why did Lawson enter the arena when the race was ready to run? Was he legal to do so? At the point Lawson entered the track at no point was Summers asking for assistance, he was unaware of what was going on behind him and was ready to race. Has a precedence been set here? End of the day... the rerun resulted in a 5-1 to Scunny, so no advantage was actually gained....but it could quite easily had done.

Surprisingly easy win for Scunny, expected more of the Comets to be honest. Congrats to Ash Birks, what a fantastic guest booking, was absolutely faultless. The rest of the Scunny lads all put in a good shift... From a Scunny point of view, a most entertaining meeting and a most welcome three points. Ricky Wells, Rene Bach and Kyle Howarth scored the bulk of the points for Worky without ever looking that impressive. Not sure what to make of Kenneth Hansens showing.

Thanks Steve.. I guess its its a case of lack of volunteers at Scunny then, I know our track staff manager occasionally struggles to find flag marshalls, so additional volunteers for raking ain't likely to happen . Personally, I like the dirt building up and riders chasing for it, makes the racing much more entertaining. We are blessed with one if not the best track curator in the sport, always prepares a track which conjures up some fantastic racing with many different racing lines. I think Friday was a bit of a freak meeting with regards to the accidents...Christian Henry, he simply spun 360 degrees on the 3rd bend in a race that was pretty much spread out, looked tame but often they're the worst. By coincidence, Davies and Douglas both fell victim on the same part of the track/fence and both as a result of first bend collisions. The outside line is generally the fastest so no surprise riders aim for it from the gate, the slingshot they can gain out of turn two if it's kept wound can be quite extraordinary ... But this wasn't necessarily the case on Friday, as the likes of Barker, Wilson and a few others proved, cutting back to the inside can be just as effective.

I wonder if riders chasing the dirt are partially to blame? Back in the day, all tracks would have teams of rakers pulling the shale back every race, riders always had a little grip to aim for on the inside. Rakers do seem to have disappeared from the sport..certainly at Scunny. Any track out there still employ rakers? Or have tractors totally replaced them?

Not really.. was there to be ridden, it was one for the biggest balls. Dare to ride wide on turn four and the rewards were there to see. Most of the falls were down to first bend tangles, riders all chasing different lines. Was a difficult night for the riders, the sun being particularly bad at times...not that that was the cause of any falls, least I don't think so.

Tough meeting that... Well done The Scorps, fine win but at what cost?. Hope Douglas and Davies ain't too badly hurt after their nasty incidents and enforced withdrawals... Same to Christian Henry, looked a soft fall but sometimes they tend to be the worst, grade 2 concussion for him I believe. Good effort from Newcastle's three remaining top five, that said despite their poor scores, the reserves were on the pace and deserve much credit for having to take up their full allocation of seven rides. For Scunny. Great show from the two Bens... Firstly, Ben Wilson, gonna be great asset at reserve, particularly at home. Secondly, Ben Barker, wow, take a bow Ben... that was probably the best 'Guest' show I've seen for a long-long time. Great team player, bust his gut for the cause...110% effort. Thanks Ben.

Scunny badly missed our number one today, R/R didn't work out. Too many meetings on bank holidays, makes finding guests almost impossible...something for the BSPA to think about maybe. Kurtz and Grajczonek were a class act for Somerset...but it was Leigh Lanham that caught the eye for the visitors. A deserved victory against a weakened and somewhat lacklustre Scunny today.

Was a good evenly matched meeting till it all went wrong in heat 10... first Auty, then Davies, game over. Up until then there was some cracking racing...we saw more passing in one race than you'd see in a full season at some tracks. Fair play to the Rockets, they perhaps would of still nicked the win even without Scunnies misfortune (which was all our own doing), Kennett and Lykke were particularly impressive..as was Jakobsen to be fair. Changes afoot.. Douglas will be back in the next week or two..and with Ben Wilson coming in as a reserve should give Scunny more balance and a bit more of a competitive edge.

I was incident reporting and timekeeping at this meeting...at times it was a real struggle keeping up with paperwork and the pace of the meeting, no sooner one race had finished they were lining up for the next, it was relentless.... I commented or rather wondered if anyone was texting any updates.... like I said earlier, hats off, the texter, must be a whizz with phones Its a great service...and I agree, these kids deserve it just as much as the older ones.

I've just returned from this meeting, what a great effort from the kids.. some real talents on show. Huge well done to all concerned. I joked about someone doing updates for this meeting, never thought someone would actually do it...I take my hat of to the updates team...55 races in something like 2 and half hours, that's some going.

Great result for The Scorpions...was hoping for a point, but to get two.. well done boys.

Reference to Lunna's exclusion in heat 11. What happened was...Williamson was on 2 minutes, with roughly 30 seconds left, rather than let the two minutes elapse and get the lad an exclusion... Scunny in order to keep the meeting flowing made the reserve change..... Surely at this point a fresh two minutes should of been given to Lunna, however, it wasn't. He was given the remaining 30 seconds of Williamsons warning. Wrong in my opinion. Scunny could of easily let Williamsons time elapse, then wait another minute to make a decision to put Lunna in, then another two minutes warning for Lunna....Crazy, punished for trying to keep the meeting flowing.

I never said we wasn't lucky...To be honest, we are pretty poor, I'm amazed we got over 30. Speedways all 'if's n but's'.. Had we had Ryan Douglas, who knows, we may've broke the 40 barrier. Thought Cookie had three rides, didn't he fall in his 3rd and get himself excluded?...

We may've been poor.... infact, we are pretty poor! but despite being poor and weakened, Scunny, compared to other visitors at Edinburgh this year..., to score 39 points wasn't too bad. Glasgow 42 pts (twice), Workington 37 pts, Berwick 32 pts.

That was much more like it... bit of track time starting to pay dividends. Well done The Scorpions. Great to see David Howe back to his best....and a greatly improved performance from Theo Pijper and Alex Davies. Wilko and Josh more than played their part whilst their was yet again signs that Ellis Perks and Nike Lunna could become a formidable reserve partnership round the EWR. Nike fast becoming a fans favourite for his never say die attitude. For Newcastle...strange off night for Stevie Worrall. Rosen looked a class act, whilst there was some good support from Henry, Kerr and Lindgren. Some great riding and such fabulous entertainment, credit to both teams for that.

not in the top three averages...and including bonus points your three top scorers were Compton, Proctor and Bates.

That old argument! Practice is practice, whatever the surface....and credit to Sheffield for putting the practice in. I've seen much more of the Sheffield lads and the Worrall brothers preseason round Scunny than I have of most of our own.

Bit of both... Some Scunny lads looked well rusty and appeared to need track time to get up to speed.... and one looked like he was on a meal ticket! Our two reserves showed promise, sharpen up their gating and they'll be fine. Josh Auty was awesome, that pass on Stead/Compton was just brilliant. That was the bright spot for us Scunny fans today, that was as good as it got. As for Sheffield.. they can only beat what's put infront of them, to be fair they did that pretty well. Thought Josh Bates looked particularly impressive. I think that result was inevitable, Sheffield lads have had extensive practice round Scunny in the last month or two...very professional in their seasons preparation...whereas Scunny ??

Has there been any representation from the clubs promotion at these meetings? Ie, Rob, Gail, Montie or Cookie?..... I haven't been to any of the meetings so I don't entirely know what's been discussed. I think it's important that the group and the promotion interact and help each other though. I guess any ideas or initiatives that come from the group will need to be agreed with the promotion?