Marksman

Kenneth Hansen scored paid 11 from 4 rides tonight in Sweden! Injured for tomorrow though... We are becoming laughable indeed, it's a shame when we've got 3 top riders in Howarth, Wells and Bach who are going really well. Just got nothing else.

Think this might be an early morning call off, always seems to be when we ride a southern club. The rain hasn't stopped yet today, not looking good unfortunately.

Jacko has said on the BSPA site that we will be using Rider Replacement in the immediate future. This won't actually be too bad as in May's GS averages, Rusty is 3rd in the averages which means his 4 rides will be taken by Rene Bach, Kyle Howarth, Ricky Wells and 1 of either Barrett/Greaves. This won't work out too bad and gives the promotion plenty of time to look for a replacement

No, British riders like Barker, Cook, King, Lawson are good for the PL and speedway would maybe not be financially viable for them otherwise. Just look at Lewis Bridger, if his average fit for the PL he would still be riding speedway in my opinion if he could ride in both leagues.

You know absolutely nothing regarding this, for the first time since riding speedway this year he has totally changed his equipment and is building new bikes, his first meeting isn't even scheduled until the 29th March and he never 'agreed' to ride in the Ben Fund meeting only if his bikes in the UK were ready early. He ships all of his available bikes out to Poland yet he is a disgrace?, he can't win with some of the fans on here, gets blasted for not furthering his career then when he tries to do so by going out to Poland for a week to fight for a team place in the top league he gets slated. As for your last point, he has already stated in the press when he signed the contract that if he gets a permanent team place in Poland during the training week he will be shipping the bikes out for the whole season, hence he'll be waiting to see what happens before he can commit to building extra bikes, that is what 'managing equipment' is for you.

He is shipping his bikes over to Poland for Stal Gorzow's Practice week, so I imagine he won't have one ready to ride in this country until he comes back. He certainly isn't pulling a Lewis Bridger!

Kyle Howarth is a Comets Asset, luckily for us Wells will only miss 2 meetings for the season, when he is riding for Wolves. Going to effect the Thurs/Fri night tracks the most throughout the season so not ideal for the PL.

So we have had to drop Mason Campton and Matty Wethers, as explained on the Comets website http://www.workingtoncomets.co/news/article.asp?id=100438 Really tough on Mason who was actually injured and broke his collar bone in the B Final of the NSW State Championship when colliding with Tyson Nelson who won the B Final and finished 4th on 11pts, had Mason came second in that B final he would have finished 4th overall on 12pts, thus have been able to ride in the UK this season!

Is this the same Palm-Toft who would score 5 from 5 guesting as a PL reserve last season, or the same Wethers who put nearly that figure on his average in 2013 and averaged 6.79? He knows the PL inside out, is going to be fully fit come march and is still only 29, hardly a bad move by us.

Ha, now I know your probably trying to get at Jenga here, but please come on I mean when your team replaces Holder with Lanham I would say that's when the 'wheels fall off'

I was just presuming in the Comets thread, but the announcement could be anything, so lets wait and see...

It's on the Comets Facebook page and website, that there is 'Shock news coming later today!' Wonder what is could be? Has anyone has noticed Michael Palm-Toft's last tweet, might mean nothing but; Michael Palm Toft @MPT_Racing267 · 20 hrs 20 hours ago Hard decision. But need to get things sorted! Im sorry. Hope not, hope it's something good...

Yes, I see the concerns about Hansen, but I think he maybe more settled with being in the same team as Rene Bach and 2 other Danes, I think he may not be at Number 1 for long which will be a good thing. Ricky Wells was great in the last half of the season, and if he has a full season of just riding for the Comets I think he can get better, a rider who knows how to gate and even started passing from the back later in the season, I think he can make that step up like Richard Lawson did. Already mentioned what the others are capable of, won't be expecting too much from Barrett, if he can put in good scores at home and slightly improve his average that will be more than we've had from second reserves in the past. Big point scores of 14/15 might not be scored often, but will be distributed certainly between the top 4 and Campton in order to win meetings, I still believe we can finish in the Play Offs, and if one of the top 4 someone steps up and takes hold of the number 1 jacket we will be in a good position. Years ago when we used to build the team around Stoney, and sometimes his large average our teams used to very much lack depth, never had a reserve like James Wright since, so who knows if confidence remains high in the team. Excitement will be on the Track as riders like Hansen, Bach, Howarth, Palm Toft are racers and often spectacular to watch, whatever happens can't see it being a dull season.

We must be nailed on for the wooden spoon then , the thing is that you may be failing to see is that in Mason Campton we now have a rider that is capable of scoring heavy at reserve. Mason started the season scoring well in the main body of the team where he stayed all season, following on from his fine form in the Australian championships, he really suffered from lack of meetings this year with our farcical '6 week break' In the summer, which really set him back, but he ended the season in much better form, also he represented and scored very well for the Aussie u21 team in the World Cup. Palm Toft would be equally capable if they swapped places. Barrett has previous double figure scores at DP, and also away from home when guesting for us, not too shabby for a second reserve. Maybe some doubts about the consistency with Hansen, Bach and Howarth, I believe Hansen and Bach will push each other for the Number 1 jacket and then Howarth especially should put points on his PL average as we all know how good he can be. Leaving Wells, who is really good away from home and was the most consistent rider over the second half of the season and quite rightly our rider of the year, fans all wanted him back. Importantly, unlike last year Comets have the first call on all 7 riders, so there's no riding for other EL teams when we are riding. Hardly a 'shocking' team in my opinion, I mean we will still finish in the top six at least. I've seen a few shocking teams over our PL era and fail to see where your coming from, are you basing this on Kenneth Hansen being number 1? Maybe not ideal I'd agree, but we shall see how he goes.

Post from Steve Whitehead, promotor, on the comets forum; "interesting and annoying that Somerset have declared a team that adds up to 44.45. They were at the same AGM we were when we were told new visa riders from Aus would have to come in on 7 average as that is the criteria agreed with UKBA. New criteria is in process of getting agreed but could take months / years to agree. So why do they think that can ignore rules again The got Kurtz on a too low average last year ( should have been a 7 due to riding in Denmark previous year) but are at it again. This time though it could damage our whole sport due to UKBA current close monitoring" Wonder if we'll hear more about this from the other promotions soon!

Decent side with potential, but man for man with the comets would only take Josh G over any of our 1-7

Family connections yes, but doesn't even speak to his dad, that's the main reason he won't ride for the Comets again anytime soon. Dont be too sure he'll be riding at Glasgow in 2015.

Did you see the Quote from steve on the Comets forum, seems like a great bit of business. I don't think Richard will have had any say in it, or does he intend to ride for the Comets again. Especially while his dad is still in the Comets pits!

Quote directly from Workington Promotion on the comets forum "The deal for Richard was a genuine one, one in which Lakeside agreed to pay Workington a substantial transfer fee, in instalments. Initial instalment was paid on agreement, the second was due if w decided not to invoke the buy back clause. It was Lauras decision to have Richard back as an asset. Overall all I will say it was good bit of business for Workington Speedway :-)

Richard Lawson ‏@RlracingLawson 2m 2 minutes ago Lakeside is almost sorted with Jon Cook looking forward to be back there in 2015 want to clarify I will NOT be racing for Workington in 2015

Well he's just tweeted this: Richard Lawson ‏@RlracingLawson 2m 2 minutes ago Lakeside is almost sorted with Jon Cook looking forward to be back there in 2015 want to clarify I will NOT be racing for Workington in 2015 So answers the question!

So the Comets have bought back Richard Lawson http://workingtoncomets.co/news/article.asp?id=100423 Doesn't mean he is riding for us in 2015, but I wonder if he'll be back at Lakeside?

The quote from Laura on the website says “Without question he has a lot more to give and he is certainly capable of increasing his average substantially." Haven't people been saying that for 4 years now?, can't see it myself, the thing is away from home he scores 4 or 5 points too often, can't see much change unfortunately. Only 22.5 left for 4 riders now, one of Wells, Grajczonek, Howarth won't be back if not more, would of settled for Wells instead of Bach I think.

Rene Bach our third signing, not too happy to be honest!

Ha, you can have him then but I don't think we'll see him in the UK next season.