MD

The venomous atmosphere was present on Friday night, something i havent seen since the early to mid 2000's. For the first time i chose to move away from the fourth bend enclosure to escape it. Banter is banter but the anti Glasgow theme was prevalent throughout. Perhaps they get excited travelling beyond Harthill, for others it was drink. Regardless its off putting.

Glasgow contributed to it by having a ridiculous number of tapes exclusions in the opening heats at Le Stade D'Ashfield which showed we were nervous even though under no pressure. Nick never came to the party until his last 2 heats and we missed Summers big style. Ive no doubt Aaron would have won his second heat against Wolbert and Riss had he not hit the tapes.

Anyway back to the meeting and Glasgow were their own worst enemy with a ridiculous number of tapes exclusions in the opening half of the meeting. Sarjeant led the charge at reserve consistently outscoring his opposite number at reserve and we need more of the same tonight. I've not made up my mind if Carr improves or seriously improves the Monarchs at reserve. A tough battle ahead. Hopefully Theo can do us a turn though r/r for Summers may not be ideal with Morris taking 3 rides to get going. I'll be glued to the updates heat by heat, would be a bonus if someone could provide less subjective analysis via the Speedway Updates site.

Its taken the new owners less than 12 months to get their measure. Now they know what they are dealing with. They will have learned cooperation only happens when it suits. Times are changing, the establishment are being challenged and its our turn to be successful.

Glasgow have been to court before in the early 2000's and won due to a rule that wasnt applied and which disadvantaged Glasgow. Then owner Brian Sands was subsequently driven out.

Absolutely agree, with current arrangements it extends Edinburghs sphere of influence far wider than it should be. Edinburghs franchise should be reduced to a radius of 15 or 20 miles from Edinburgh city centre and Glasgow likewise. As it is Armadale is almost on the border of North Lanarkshire and that should be the farthest point considered east.

The answer is no but thats just the smokescreen, its more likely that Glasgow and Edinburgh will be competing for an ever decreasing number of riders for Friday nights and with the way things are going Glasgow may have more financial clout moving forward. Going back to a previous point the club owners have said the club must cover revenue expenditure from gate receipts whilst they are happy for the moment to spend on capital items in and around the stadium. It feels like the tide is turning and we are going to have our time once again and step out from the shadows of Edinburgh, a bit like the beginning of the Shawfield era. The bitterness then from our rivals was significant with accusations of oversized engines and all sorts. Those people are still involved with them today and dont expect them to take it lying down.

Which part? Thanks were given all round and they made it clear they wont be bullied by anyone. It was very clear who that was referring to. Im not sure that alone would drive your comments.

The letter handed out isnt particularly controversial. Its Edinburghs right to object to Glasgows request which they have exercised. Its a no brainer for Glasgow wanting to move to a Friday as it doesnt compete with other sports like football as it does on a Sunday and there are no foreign speedway leagues running that night either. Glasgows owners clearly feel frustrated by it all and wont attend Armadale any more. Thats no great issue. However we need to dispel the myth Scottish speedway. There is no such thing, there is Glasgow speedway and there is Edinburgh speedway. For the 3 seasons prior to this one Glasgow could have gone to the wall and no one in the east would have batted an eyelid. The other myth is that there is cross over of fans attending each others tracks. Absolute nonsense! Outwith when the teams meet this just doesnt happen. For years there has been a mutual boycott among many of attending each others track which has only changed this year with the relaunch of Glasgow. Im not sure it is capable of lasting in the long term and no doubt this statement will deter a few more.

Still no write down of the Monarchs chances from TheScotsman. Thats confidence for you!

Fisher and trailers go hand in hand surely!

Its not the Grand One or his protege for Friday anyway. Chris Gay according to Tigers site. We have to aim to beat Sedgmen from the gate on Friday, he's not a chaser and will more than likely finish in the same position that he goes down the back straight. If he gates however he's gone.

To the dark side! You sure about that?

Kozza will need a high placed finish in the Aussie state championships to qualify for a work permit. Morris openly doesnt like Ashfield and a mutual parting of the ways is likely.

You will be in the minority in defending the indefensible. Yes, yesterday in ht8 it was as clean a gate from all 4 riders as you are likely to see but got pulled back however no riders were warned so perhaps just maybe it wasnt Sarjeant. The next rerun definitely was Sarjeant as standing from the fourth bend you could see he dropped the clutch momentarily before the tapes rose. He is notorious for it and hasnt learned this season that by his own actions he draws unnecessary attention to himself. Not a witch hunt by referees more an immaturity from the rider.

I think there will be more than a few 0141's that wait and see.

No its not and playing the racist card is the weakest form of argument. We have one of the poorest referees I have ever seen in Willie Dishington. He's not biased but y f**k is he incompetent IMO. Hopefully he nor the Grand Monarch are in the box this weekend.

Edinburgh £15 advance, £20 on the day. No doubt Glasgow will follow.

What happens if Friday night is rained off? #justsaying

Last time Somerset were up they came into their own when the track slickened off. After each regrade they noticeably stopped winning races. Hopefully we get a fair bit of tractor work tomorrow! Also wish for some consistent refereeing, Starke should have walked in ht14 for jumping the start having been previously warned. Bring it on!

Should be no problem that way.

I'll predict a rerun in ht2 with a warning to the rider in yellow to sit still at the tapes. Thereafter i hope we can keep it under 10 points. Well by ht8 anyway!

He has been pretty disappointing this season. Having dropped the best part of a point off his average last year with Somerset, im sure the thinking in the camp was that he could put it back on with us but its not happened, dropping marginally again to 7.91.

For anyone heading up early on Sunday, the remaining Red Road flats are being blown down around mid-day with a few local road closures. This will also include closing the train line from Cumbernauld to Queen St for a bit. All should be done by 3pm though!

There was also an accident on the M8 at Townhead about 2.20 which backed the traffic up a fair distance.