teddy2706

It must be very daunting for Buxton's team to appear at Monmore against such an excellent strong side. When the teams were introduced, Buxton received no applause whatsoever, almost complete silence (no booing though, to be fair). Buxton were swamped from the outset although never stopped trying. I felt very sorry for them and such defeats can do nothing to encourage their riders. It does seem that some Buxton riders are in desperate need of mentors and help. Looking around at Monmore one sees schemes and money making efforts to help the riders, photographic sessions with riders, it is almost like intruding upon an extended family's summer party but what's wrong with that? The shame is that other clubs are not enjoying such cameraderie. Some clubs, appear to actively discourage any sort of relationship between the club and supporters. How many Buxton supporters even bothered to go last night?

Presumeably from the same place that you would get them if another two teams were riding in the NL? None of this is Steve's fault and he was very good at that meeting.

Any views on the SCB statement on Scunthorpe "inadvertently" including Steve Jones in their line up for this meeting?

No-one seemed particularly entertained to me. It was the same Buxton team that defeated Stoke a month ago, but it appeared to have no sparkle at all yesterday. Those lads need help and encouragement.

338metres? Cradley fans must surely know the correct answer to this.

Did anyone better Hans Nielsen's time at Dudley Wood rd. of 60.7 secs 18th July 1990?

Oh, the old red herring about riders can do it, I can't, so I am not allowed an opinion? This may be a revelation to promoters and some slavishly adoring spectators alike, but some of us go to see a spectacle, not a whitewash. There is a good article in this weeks Star about watering, dirt and track preparation, it isn't much different from Dean's view.

The fact that Buxton only won two heats out of fifteen and needed to use tacticals twice to get the scoreline to 56-39, a seventeen point loss? Seems embarassing to me.

The meeting was great, two friends who rarely watch speedway came from Doncaster and said they were very pleased they came, an afternoon in the sun and some hard racing. Ashley zipped around in a brilliant exhibition of speedway riding, an absolute joy to watch. Ross Walters and Liam Carr were fast getting to grips with the place and Ryan Blacklock's courageous efforts sadly didn't earn him all the points he deserved. It was a considerably better and more entertaining meeting than the previous night at Loomer rd. which was embarrassing and not entertaining. Personally, I love to see Stoke win, but they absolutely didn't deserve to win yesterday, just as Buxton most certainly didn't deserve to win on Saturday.

No.

When Tim rode for Edinburgh last season he was in some disarray, he had several falls, suffered a great deal of machine damage and was having issues with one of his engines, travelling to Edinburgh every week was not one of his better ideas, but hindsight is wonderful. The machinery issues are resolved, he raised his average last year with Stoke who could not, or would not, fit him into their team plans this season because of that high average, effectively punishing good performance. This does not do anything to encourage young riders. He was in demand early this season as a guest for NL clubs, which does indeed tell me everything I need to know thank you. Why would anyone want to use an unprofessional foreigner in their team who can't even be bothered to clean his bikes between meetings, particularly when an English lad who lives locally has no ride and couldn't really do any worse?

Tim Webster could easily fulfill this role, he has no NL club and would have low travel expenses for home matches. No brainer.

MR. Boocock at any club is good news for that club IMO.

Ritchie Worrall broke the Stoke NL track record on Saturday night, @ 62.2secs. A blistering ride, well done!

As this is still apparently a thread concerning Tim, I understand that Tim asked on 31st March if he could practise at Buxton but was told the fence was still not complete, so he couldn't. I further understand that one of Tim's sponsors was willing to cover Tim's expenses to practise at Buxton had facilities been available. Hearsay of course as I wasn't present.

Thank you for correcting my misapprehensions, I appreciate that.

Tim's away average last season was not a true reflection of his abilities, but his away average appears to be the reason Stoke released him, even though his cma was considerably better at the end of the season than the beginning. As far as I am aware, he wan't offered any help by Stoke to find a new club, he was simply informed he wasn't wanted anymore, a fate that has befallen many other riders over the years, cast out, often by telephone, yet supporters don't think this is selfish? At that time, I believe finding another club wasn't easy and Buxton offered him a place. He was unable to practise at Buxton and overcome his apparent shortcomings at that track and it appears highly likely that he would have reversed his averages this season by having good away scores and rubbish home scores because of the lack of opportunity to ride there apart from racedays. He hasn't, to the best of my knowledge signed for anyone else, so whilst it does leave Mrs. Moss in a predicament, if he had returned scores of four or less all season the supporter base would have been right up his back with armchair criticism and would be abusing Mrs. Moss for ever signing him at all. One other thing BW Double, I read recently that at Buxton's only home match so far this season, they had to water the track several times during the meeting. Strangely, I don't remember this happening, but I do remember the toilets had no water to wash your hands and I was told that there was no water to shower with either. Care to comment on that?

Vog wasn't there either! On paper, 5.45 minutes per heat should be sufficient, in practise it proved not to be. Folks who are too dumb to learn from mistakes should not be in positions of influence, so one hopes that this nonsense will not be repeated anywhere, not just Stoke! I resent the implication that all the stoppages were due to riders reckless behaviour, it was an important event and they should and did ride to their best abilities.

Whilst cancelled meetings (for whatever reason) are very annoying, geezers like me will remember how distressing it was before super communications became part of our world. Telephoning a stadium to ensure a meeting was going ahead was frustrating with either no answer or an engaged tone, I hate to count how many times we used to arrive at a meeting to find a hand written cancellation note flapping about on the gate, having travelled for long distances, we couldn't even get in for a cup of tea. I believe I remember once attempting to attend a Test match against the USA at Owlerton and being refused the exit off the M1 by police who insisted we were flying pickets during the miners strike. At least now promoters do all they can to let us know that a meeting is cancelled in good time, in these times of ludicrous fuel prices it does save us a great deal of money. It isn't really fair to grumble!

Gas lighting would be a dramatic improvement at Loomer rd unfortunately, far better than no lighting which spectators enjoy now! Joking apart, that electrical system at Stoke will kill someone unless it is addressed and fast. Most of the Black Country was in Staffordshire and in my opinion still should be, although I have heard it said Staffordshire was a lot colder than West Midlands! So long as he was legally able to ride in the UK, no it wouldn't matter. I think that Rais Mustaphin was from Mongolia and he was a really exciting Ice Racer. Or am I deliberately missing your point?

Hello Rip van Winkle, did you have a nice sleep? Neither Cradley nor Wolverhampton have been in Staffordshire for donkey's years, we chucked you all out because none of you spoke English!

If Ollie Greenwood rides like he did on Saturday spectators are in for a treat, the lad was flying! He is English, not a dubiously legal Australian and it isn't going to affect league aspirations. What's the problem?

Dan Berwick rode for Stoke at Lakeside last Good Friday afternoon against Hackney Hawks in place of Ben Reade. He scored one point, falling later and hurting himself. He was signed out of the meeting as unfit, but appeared that same night at Oxford Stadium in a Dirt Riders meeting and won it. Tim Nobes rode for Stoke at Mildenhall and fell very heavily, suffering a nasty, painful injury. He re-mounted and finished the race. This demonstrates how hard speedway and grasstrack riders are. If these two were on my shopping list for riders, I would have no hesitation which one to choose for my team however.

Has anyone ever drawn up the tracks to scale and overlaid the drawings, it would be interesting to compare them? I wouldn't mind helping someone do this if anyone is interested and it hasn't been done before.

With regard to second halves, it baffles me why Sheffield who start at 7.45 are usually able to accomodate a second half, yet Stoke who start at 7.30 are frequently in danger of overrunning their own curfew. Perhaps some promoters believe tractor time is more important than riding time, certainly it seems to take a very long time to get less than 17 minutes of racing completed at certain tracks, this isn't helped by referee's and rules allowing too much time between heats. All tracks ought to be capable of holding decent second halves. However, NL is hugely entertaining and deserves a full meeting on a fresh track surface, so second halves are not the way forward for NL IMO.