Albert

The line in the SS refers to the 'suspended' Peterborough boss Rathbone.... and the 'BSPA' vice-chairman Godfrey. Doesn't say Rob is suspended....at least not the way I've read it.

Who'd want the job of Chairman/Vice Chairman anyway? Are there promoter's actually queuing up for the job or do they get pushed into it? It's a position that requires much time and effort with little or no reward', just plenty hassle... Let the SCB take over the roll.

Statement still on the SCB website though..

Being realistic.. Good sponsorship, no rent, bar takings, food takings, thriving amateur meetings, training sessions, mini track sessions... I believe all contribute to the running of The Scorpions. Little old Scunthorpe are perhaps better off than many of you think.

You can add Scunny to your list.

I sincerely hope we go with Josh Auty again.. Good Average and more than capable, not to mention entertaining. Hoping too that Jake Allen returns next year. A bonafide number one is a must, if previous posters are right in assuming Stevie Worrall, that would do nicely. With Kerr seemingly bound for Glasgow... Douglas (no visa), Toft (no thankyou)... Aarnio and Bailey (team needs refreshing, so thanks but no thanks). A fundamental rebuild is on the cards. Would love to see Jorgensen back.. should he decide to ride in the championship.

I've been on a bike but never raced... But.. as much as I take you're point about the quality of racing.. crowds are down because supporters are increasingly peed off with rider power and meetings that only run to ten heats etc... I've been to Peterborough many times, decent racing but not a patch on Scunny IMO.

I don't particularly give a flying **** as to what any rider thinks of our track conditions...it is what it is, no different to anywhere else... just ride to conditions and stop whinging. Rider power is my pet hate, its the one thing that grates me about speedway. I've actually seen some great racing at Scunny in all conditions... amateur meetings raced at minus 3 degrees... very wet meetings with riders navigating puddles... hot weather meetings where its been virtually impossible to get any moisture in the track...Riders are paid to ride.. just do it. If a meeting starts, race it to its conclusion.

You would expect any requests or advice made to the BSPA/SCB would be made in the form of an email/text message?... If it isn't then perhaps it should be, there needs to be a clear audit trail in order to get to the bottom of issues like this. As it is... the mud slinging goes on...there's always three sides to every story... the accusers, the accused and The Truth. In this case I'd guess the truth may never be known.

A crack down on rider power needed... Riders who think they are bigger than the sport. "It's too wet, we can't possibly ride that" "five rider races, can't do that it too dangerous" (yet they'd do the Ipswich 16 lapper with how many riders?) Riders, team managers/promoters all to keen to abandon a meeting cos they're losing.. A bit of rain is just an excuse. There's also the 'let's get 10 heats completed and that'll do' mentality creeping in to the sport. It's the spectators that lose out...no wonder they're leaving the sport in droves. Give more power to the referee...if riders refuse to ride then hit them with a fine. I think the powers that be will resolve the issues with race nights and double up riders.. So that should be a positive. Get rid of the double points rule.. and sort the starts out, exclude riders for touching tapes, if a rider jumps or anticipates the start, let it go.

Good meeting to end the season. Scunnys top five all rode well.. (koc..so no average manipulation going on tonight..and it showed). Weakness at reserve proved our downfall. Worrall may've had only scored four... but it was good to at least see him attack the track and attempt the outside runs. BWD.....ditto..... Chris Harris improved after looking less than impressive in his first two rides. Full marks to Tom Bacon.. very impressive, didn't expect anything near that showing. Some great racing on show tonight.. on a good surface. Nice to end with a win. Roll on 2018...Up the Scorps!

We've had light rain this morning... seems to have stopped now, clouds breaking up. Forecast from now on is pretty good.

Good Call, decision justified.. Its rained since about 4.30pm.. generally light rain but with intermittent heavy bursts. Maybe... if bloody rider power didn't come to the fore... we'd of got the original fixture concluded.

Granted, the puddles were big... lets call them lakes. But they managed to get all that water off the track prior to racing (which was a good hour and a half after the scheduled time). Yes it was wet for the first so many heats...but it got better and better. Workington... as the losing team, they made the decision to end the meeting. It was apparently their prerogative to do so! ??? Nothing the ref could do at this point. It could of easily run to 15 heats. I work on the highways.. its pretty dangerous out there too, especially in the rain. I'd love to go to work and say its wet, sorry boss, I ain't bothering today.... errm, I wouldn't be in a job long. Why do speedway riders think they're so special? Motor GP lads, okay they got brakes... but they travel at much faster speed, they don't moan, not really. Neither do F1, Motorcross or other forms of motor sport. Just speedway riders. Perhaps they earn more than they let on, seems certain riders are happy to turn down the opportunity to earn money.

Just when we thought that big black cloud had passed over quietly.. down it came, in bucket loads. Ten minutes of heavy rain.. A promoters worst nightmare. Rob and his track staff worked wonders to clear some rather large puddles on bends 1 and 3 and get the track looking half decent... to us mere mortals it looked wet but kinda race ready. Cue rider protests... No regard to the supporters that had waited patiently for one and half hours, no regard to the efforts of the track staff that had worked tirelessly to get the meeting on. One or two riders vociferously venting their dislike. Cue Phil Griffin.. Wasn't having any of it... just get on with it. Well done big Phil, you tell'em. Rider power is killing speedway. The supporters appreciate it when someone stands up for the paying public... thankfully common sense prevailed. So.. Okay, the first four heats were tricky.. we knew it would be...but the track improved immensely as the meeting progressed. Just as the track had dried out and had started producing some good racing...cue rider power again.. apparently the track was getting worse, we can't continue. What utter rubbish. I'll say it again.. Rider power is killing speedway. As for the meeting.. Lewis Kerr made a mockery of the conditions to win heat one in style.. and in a reasonably fast time. Jake Allen looked assured. Toft, Douglas and Aarnio were all set for big pay days. Josh Auty revelled in it, attacked the track and looked good. Cookie, wasn't interested in heat one but looked a class apart in winning heat 5. Full marks to Mason Campton, was looking good and picking up big points. James Sarjeant, for all the bad press and hate he's been getting lately was riding well. Paul Bowen, no disrespect but just simply wasn't up to it. So.. nice to end our home league programme with a win.. wasn't pretty, unfortunately curtailed a little too early in my opinion.

A bright start from Scunny.. Edinburgh were a beaten team... then something happened. Pathetic second half from Scunny.. pathetic. Apart from the very impressive Jake Allen and to a lesser extent Josh Auty and Ryan Douglas they were dire. In all my time supporting Scunny, that was an all time low. Certain riders need a good kicking, that was simply unprofessional, they let themselves and their supporters down.

Create two leagues.. midweek league (obviously for tracks that ride midweek) and a weekend league for tracks that commit to weekend racing. That would eliminate the need for guests other than to cover for injuries.

Ditto what HT posted. First meeting not as good as the second... having said that, Robert Lambert was a class apart, a complete joy to watch a rider in such form. Together with the formidable Lindgren and Summers the Diamonds were just simply too good for us today. Heat 7 0-5 didn't help our cause either.... and with Palm Toft and Auty underperforming the Diamonds deservedly took their first ever win at the EWR. Second meeting quite surprisingly turned out a one sided affair. A great solid team effort from Scunny. Some great racing.. and the meeting done and dusted in about hour and twenty minutes. Workington were pretty poor to be honest.. Summers looked a completely different rider to the one that rode for Newcastle. Campton, Proctor and Jorgensen all had good moments but were far too inconsistent. Jorgensen very unlucky to be adjudged at fault for the heat 6 stoppage, looked to me like David Howe perhaps the primary cause for that one. Talking of David Howe, great to see him back in Scunny colours, albeit for just one day. Good effort from him. Also.. Good to hear the Assistant Start Marshall Derek Holt is Ok after being clattered by Palm Toft... Nasty incident, pure accident.. Hope he's not feeling too sore in the morning.

Peterborough more than contributed to an entertaining meeting...score swung one way then the other, at the mid point it looked like the result could go either way, thankfully for us Scorpions, we came good in the end. Jorgensen's pass on Aarnio and Auty in heat 11 was simply sublime, who's to say Harris or Holder could've pulled that move off? it was simply brilliant.. BWD also executed a great pass. Starke, Ulrika and Lambert all had some good moments for Boro. Auty and Douglas were particularly impressive for Scunny though. Kerr impressed too after another slow start. Scunny reserves both suffered mechanical gremlins but to their credit came up with some vital points. Obviously the lack of Jack Holder was the big issue for Peterborough, maybe his appearance would've made a big difference to the scoreline....and perhaps to the match points.

Many riders reap the rewards of blasting round the outside of bends 3 and 4 at Scunny... never seen a rider execute the move quite like Kingy did tonight though... the turn of pace over a short distance was quite something... proves what good machinery the guy must have. He was a joy to watch.

Heat 12 the turning point... pure lack of effort from the scunny pair. If betting was allowed in speedway, this would definitely smell of a scam. Slow time and zero effort from the scunny boys... it does make one think! Danny King was a class apart, fantastic show and great to watch. Some good racing, not a classic by ewr standards.. Several controversial reffing decisions, to be fair I agreed with most, perhaps Aanio's exclusion in heat 14 a little suspect, not that I had the greatest view of that at all. I think the ref was a tad lenient in ordering all four backs in 4 & 14, scunny lucky not to suffer exclusions in both.

Great thread. For the best interest of the sport, It's time to grab it by the scruff of the neck while there's still a chance. Time for the authorities to listen to those long time supporters. Supporters must come first, dwindling support will eventually kill off the sport unless things are changed for the better. Time for radical rule changes, lets strip it back to the basics. Get rid of the unwanted double points rule, stop the gardening and put a limit the number of double uppers or scrap them altogether. Oh... and take away the increasing "rider power".. Yes, riders safety is paramount.. but that statement is used to often as a get out clause to abandon a meeting. Give more power to the referee.

“All I can say is that it speaks volumes for the club and the two riders that both agreed, straightaway to keep racing and giving their best for the Witches. Yeah...A club that just mucked up big style... sack first, ask questions later..... then admit the bspa were right not to sanction the moves in the first place. I thought Chris Louis was better then that.

Just one change then?

I half expect Berge to be named... Rob seems to like the guy. If that's the case, wouldn't that mean we'd have to make at least two changes to accommodate? Whatever the team changes.. this saga ain't half dragging on.. we got a meeting on Sunday!