Albert

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?

Guy Martin I think has ridden the EWR before...or at least he was scheduled to ride in Xmas flat track meeting in 2008. Memory fails me as to whether he actually rode though, sure someone will confirm. He's certainly gone up in the celebrity stakes since then. I agree, would be a fantastic coup to get him down, would certainly attract a good crowd.

There's loads of local village/county shows in early summer, Scunthorpe Speedway should be represented at these.....tell people who we are, what we are, where we are and when we ride. We've had stands at certain shows in the past, Julie with the aid of some of us supporters, and with the help and assistance of a few amateur riders have generally been well received.. But.. To do it proper and to make more of an impact, if we could get a team member or two, with bikes to answer all the techie things, have photos taken etc. Get some freebie give aways for kids, balloons or something... show them videos, show people what they've been missing. Give some free tickets out or give people chance to win tickets....if its hot, sell cold drinks, always a winner.

Not sure a supporters club does exist anymore...there was one resurrected in the early days of the Scorpions, I myself served on the committee. We certainly wasn't embraced by the promotion at the time. I remember sat in a committee meeting in the presence of the then joint promoter Norman Beany.....he couldn't of made it more obvious that we wasn't really wanted. He was livid at the thought of us making our own badges to raise funds, not that it was his decision to make. I resigned shortly afterwards. Others carried on, some left, other people joined...sadly it faded, probably beaten into submission. Not sure it exists any more. It is heartening however to hear you say one is now needed The supporters club always used to fund its own functions (end of season do's / trophys etc), as far as I know, the promotion didn't pay for any of that.... no one expected them to....except for the odd year they ran their own do. Every little bit helps, especially in the situation we find ourselves in. If a new supporters club (call it what you want) is set up, perhaps it could help in many little ways. The Sting Fund group runs the raffle but does it do anything else?, yes it did run some functions a few years back, very good ones at that. Maybe Sting could be expanded to incorporate a supporters club? A group which could assist and help the promotion in whatever tasks deemed appropriate, not necessarily just raising money. Most supporters aren't that naive, they realise some of the financial burdens promoters have....if they can raise a few bob and help in any little way, it can only be good. Just need people to support it. For me, David Howe is the perfect captain. He is in touch with the supporters...as is his wife and daughter, everyone has time for them and vice versa. Hopefully he can get the boys gelled and build a team spirit both on and off the track. I have no doubt that Rob, Gail..Montie, Paul , David Howe and others have a few ideas on where the club is heading...hopefully with some assistance from the supporters we can look forward to a good season and beyond. I'd just urge any Scunny supporter that is willing to help attends the meeting on Tuesday. Together we can do some good.

On track, there's no problem at Scunny. Rob usually puts together a competitive team, track is normally top notch and the racing as entertaining as anywhere. Take away the team/racing element, things could be much improved. Minor things.....Track facilities are improving slowly but some of the improvements made haven't had the desired effect. Take for instance the seating, there was a crying need for it...the elder supporters needed somewhere to sit, however the steps were made a tad steep and some of those supporters just couldn't manage to climb them. Result, they stop going. Lighting could be better, on and off track. I hear of supporters not being able to fill programmes in because its too dark. The poor PA system, every week you hear complaints from supporters that hasn't heard announcements. Little things I know....but! Time to take stock.. Look at what they do best now... whilst also looking back the past 9 years or even Quibel Park days to see what they did so well then....combine the good bits and ditch the bad. I remember back to the 70/80's, our supporters club thrived, the social side of supporting our local team was brilliant. we had our own football team playing in the local sunday league, we had regular functions, our boxing night do's at the Baths Hall were legendary, always sold out. Loads of money was made and distributed to riders in need. Supporters felt part of it. However, attempts to resurrect the supporters club were generally poo poo'd by the promotion, it was never felt wanted and never really stood a chance. Eventually I guess it gave in. Likewise, our forum which was once a nice pleasant site was ruined by a few individuals (or one particular poster from within the club, who posted under several names) basically killed it. Caused Apathy, Why?...June hit the nail on the head when she mentioned Kenny...he was the one person that recognised a need to engage with its supporters. He was so approachable, everyone this side of the fence got a 'hello' and he always made himself available for a chat in the bar after a meeting. He was a great ambassador for the club, one that will never be replaced. Now more than ever, promotions up and down the country should EMBRACE their supporters, make them feel part of the their club. Too many fans fallen by the wayside because of ill feeling or whatever. Its these we need to win back, we can't afford to lose anymore. Scunny supporters don't want to see the speedway fold, they are offering to help in anyway they can. Time for supporters and promotions to gel, work together...maybe together we can find ways of attracting more through the turnstiles.

Interesting comments from Rob Godfrey....