teddy2706

Thank you for replying Jayne, however I seem to remember Tony having a rough time in early 2013 which culminating in him being absent for the rest of the season after the Kings Lynn away meeting and Buxton riding r/r for part of the season and using Lee Smart later on. I thought I remembered hearing at that time that Tony had withdrawn his services, but satisfyingly the results without Tony included a 60-31 absolute rout of Kent, so perhaps Kent fans might like to bear that in mind following last Mondays match? There was certainly not a flag marshall on turn four in heat one at the first attempt because the ref. called for one to be present. I am not even sure said marshall was there for the re-run of heat one either, but he was later on.

For the first time in some years I have been encouraged by the Buxton team average, it looked a competitive side on paper. However, the home meeting against Stoke was a disaster due to Perks not appearing and this has now set the scene for the immediate future. The Kent away meeting was a horrible humiliation for all. Ellis Perks would and should have been well aware of the importance of appearing at Buxton's first meeting and had, as far as I am aware, ridden the night before. It is a great shame and disappointment that Ellis was too ill, or chose not to appear and spend four minutes in the saddle in an effort to give Buxton a fighting chance using guests to cover for him in future. Personally I am sick to death of paying full admission to watch six man Buxton teams riding their guts out to cover for non-existent, non-appearing or simply absent riders. It is not fair to the riders, nor to the paying public. The Hopwood shenanigans, the Ollie Greenwood disaster, David Wallinger showing how good he can be for Stoke but not for Buxton, Tony Atkin clearing off halfway through a season have all left me with a bad taste in my mouth in previous years. At least when Charles Wright was riding, we had something to cheer about even if he couldn't hold the whole team up from the number one spot. And what the hell was going on with two five lap races last Sunday never mind attempting to run a race meeting without sufficient flag marshalls?

This will have been discussed elsewhere on this forum I am sure, but am I alone in being fed up with loud music played at speedway meetings between heats? It is a mystery to me why Buxton speedway has on some occasions a PA system completely unable to deliver heat results, yet perfectly capable of spoon feeding muzak to the assembled throng? Speedway is supposed to be a family orientated, social occasion, or so we are led to believe from seventy years of marketing, yet between races we cannot hear a word our friends are saying because of music played far too loudly. To add to my Gruffalo rant, I would be perfectly happy to hear announcers and track announcers simply giving information relevant to speedway, or interviews with riders or managers, I can manage perfectly without the Smashie and Nicie inane chatter so common nowadays. A track announcer who is not ecstatic at a visiting team win might be nice. Oddly enough, I would like to see my chosen team win occasionally too, but perhaps that really is a bridge too far, a Pipedream perhaps...

Short of a plague of locusts can anything else befall Buxton? Injuries, retirements, guests who don't perform,starters/flag marshalls who can't count, what next?

"Greasers"? Blimey, where have you been for the last forty years? It's a long time since I was called that! I still ride to meetings, an older gentleman from Yorkshire does too, but we are in a minority.

Sadly, it looks like Greg Hancock couldn't drag Buxton from the bottom of the table. One can accept losing away to Kent with Danny Ayres and the Piddletown Express on such sparkling form, but the home losses are very hard to stomach... However, in fairness the team has been extremely unlucky with injuries and no team manager can plan for those, but there is a limit to how hard Ollie and Ryan can ride in an effort to keep the flag flying....

This actually looks like a very exciting fixture indeed providing it runs without a hitch.

In my opinion, it is difficult to improve at anything unless you practice long and hard and in any form of competition you need someone better than you to form a benchmark. Jon Armstrong and Tony Atkin are excellent examples of older riders mentoring, advising and helping to improve younger riders, why Richard Hall cannot assume such a role is beyond me? Aspiring to beat someone better and more experienced can only be good and many people like the idea of young NL heat leaders becoming automatic choices for PL team reserve berths. If Richard Hall was leading from the front in NL, (and that actually remains to be seen!) younger riders like the Piddletown Express, Ashley Morris, Robert Branford and Ben Morley et al would immediately make it their business to try to humble him, what is wrong with that? If Ben Wilson can have a hinged door between PL and NL, I cannot see why Richard Hall cannot? We hear the persistent drip drip snivelling from NL managers and promoters that there are not enough riders available for their teams, yet Richard Hall is unemployed, British and highly experienced. What on earth is going on at the British Stuffedshirt Promoters Association? Introduce rider control again and send him to Buxton!

A pitifully small crowd saw Buxton get turned over completely. This was always going to happen and I am not surprised that so few people turned up to watch this sort of humiliation.

Speedway at its best apart from Josh Bates crash which was highly alarming. Regarding the argument at the pits wall: I didn't hear anyone boo Robert Lambert, why would anyone do that to a rider who had tried so hard?

I cannot say, hand on heart that I am looking forward to this fixture at all.

Count me in, it looks an attractive fixture to me. There are much worse ways to spend a Thursday evening....

It must be hugely discouraging for the track staff having a meeting so early in the afternoon. The track was wet through at 1pm, yet despite watering all afternoon it became a dust bowl, I don't think anyone could have done more to try to keep the surface damp. All credit to Simon Lambert, absolutely flying around the EWR. The centre green crossing incident simply reinforces the distance between the sport administrators and the grass roots public. All that succeeded in doing was robbed us of what we paid to see. I know the ruling has been in for a while, but I understand Rob Branford fell foul of it at Loomer rd on Saturday too. It is an idiotic rule as some tracks such as Coventry, Leicester, Buxton and Scunthorpe have the pits entry almost opposite the start line and it takes time to get from the gate to the start, but others such as Sheffield and Stoke have the pit gates after turn four. Therefore, the time available to get from the pit gate to the start lines is different at every track.

Whilst I agree with the sentiments regarding EL/PL teams running NL sides, Rob Godfrey has dabbled with it on occasions and isn't at present. He seems to have his hands full attracting sufficient bums on seats for PL meetings? I certainly didn't think the bar was packed for the Storm/KL fixture because I was sitting right in front of it. I get the impression that my observations regarding poor crowds are regarded as somehow derogatory or negative? That isn't my intention, but it is intended to be an alarm bell to all of us who are stakeholders in speedway who aren't, at present, attending live speedway for whatever reason. As an old Station Rd and Dudley Wood Rd spectator, I know that once the facility is lost, it can stay lost for a very long time. This is why I cannot understand some promotions alienating their support base.