EnglishRoundabout

More bad luck...best wishes to Howarth.

May have been on some of those coaches too sidders...mind you, I was definitely not unfortunate enough to be on one of those postponed trips to Manchester. Got all the way to Kings Lynn once though, being turned around in the car park before we could even get off the coach!

His strengthHis Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh His strength is motivation Sidders....when he sulks or is moody, it does nobody any good. A tactician he definitely isn't though.

Good post sarge... spot on. I get a little irritated however to hear him say 'I am still learning'......but how come virtually ,all of us 'keyboard warriors' could see that it was sooooo obviously Birks and not Gathercole for heat 14? Was he trying the 'artisan' approach and backing Gathercole to produce a match/point winning ride? Sadly Cory, doesn't seem to have developed over the past 4 seasons as we would have liked and in my opinion he will remain a solid six pointer in the PL. Birksy is a different matter...I reckon he has something which deserves patience and nurturing.

asi Taken your time to witness this great little track stevebrum! You will enjoy it I am sure. Not there tonight myself, but you will soon see it is great little circuit with basic but nevertheless worthy of a visit facilities.

Have to agree that Rosco is perfect for bringing speedway to the media in Swindon and he is an excellent advertisement. Without him (as shown when he went to Coventry) it is definitely not the same. However, his behaviour at Birmingham in my opinion was downright childish. If he wants to be a really decent team manager (which undoubtedly he does) then he has got to show more consistency. , Sulking for various reasons unknown to us fans is just not on. Quite frankly he looked rather pathetic on TV. The Robins team have the talent to win this league, I stick by my prediction that they will. Come on Rosco, get behind the boys and see the job through.

For half a season.....

Thank you Cliff. I try to get to the OTA as often as possible. The racing is always first class, so its always worth the trip.

As I trudged out of the OTA after the disgraceful debacle a week or so ago, I wondered why I ever bother with speedway. My own club Swindon treat the loyal supporters at the Abbey shabbily at best, and the Somerset promotion missed an opportunity by not getting on the microphone straight away to at least explain things to a baffled crowd that Tuesday evening who had stood in sunshine to be told the track was unfit. However, tonight's match was everything good about speedway. The track curator, much maligned the week before, produced a slick dustbowl (probably nervously refraining from adding too much water this time) that incredibly still produced fantastic racing. Passing and re passing in almost every race. In heat 3 Alex Davies, having passed Tulley, began hunting down Lindgren, and clearly had the speed to pass, but coming out of the second bend, picked up extra drive and hurtled into the fence at speed. He was thrown head first over the fence, somersaulting and landing several yards from my feet. Like others in the crowd, I rushed extinctively to his aid as he lay stricken on the grass between the fence and the lighting rigs. Amazingly, the first person who got to him first was Jason Doyle who had sprinted across the centre green, before leaping over the fence and quickly removing his team mates goggles. Fortunately Davies had missed the ironwork on the other side of the fence and amazingly was on his feet after 10 minutes of treatment. He later returned to the track to rapturous applause and produced two very fine rides. Has this boy been signed by an EL club yet? What a terrific, racer...brave and tenacious. Jason Doyle was in sublime form and is a truly great captain, leading from the front when the Rebels had their back against the wall. Nick Morris looked smooth and rode very mature for one so young. Josh Grashoniek is in the best form of his career and is really dialled in around what I reckon is one of the best tracks in the country. Superb nights entertainment, restoring my faith in speedway once again. To cap it all, I dropped a £10 note on the floor and a very nice gent behind me kindly pointed it out......nice fans are the Somerset folk.....

At least the M4 is open and you don't get diverted half way to Wales on your way home Shadds...

Rather a Sweeping statement....have you been to Plymouth? Very good atmosphere with decent sized crowds even though they have yet to put together a decent side. The inclusion of Jensen has provided even more enthusiasm down in Devon.

Don't get me wrong Red, I am a Swindon fan through and through and will always support them, its just that at times (probably when I am feeling frustrated with what is happening at the Abbey) I make the fairly short trip to the Oak Tree Arena. Watching kid Morris and Doyley is always good, plus a decent pint of cider or scrumpy from the nearby cider farm is another positive!

I am afraid I am another who has started going to Somerset on a Friday evening. Fantastic racing (virtually every week) and you actually feel like someone cares about the people who are paying to get in. There is decent food and drink and the toilets are actually clean and tidy. The Aussies in the Rebels side are top class entertainment. I will be there on Friday.

Pretty fair assessment Crazy. I do think however that the communication from the management has been crap. They have a habit of 'going to press' after the horse has bolted, which in my book is simply not good enough.

Doyley living in Lydiard Millicent Bertie? Crikey , a bit salubrious for a speedway rider isn't it?

As i said before the season started, Zengi is an astute signing for the Bees. He is classy and can gate as fast as anyone. He may be prone to inconsistency as is typical of many of his fellow countrymen, but what you get is him developing into a 6-7 point rider who will put Britain high on his priorities.

Personally Blu, i would have kept your two poles from last season (worth the admission money themselves at the EOES). Why on earth Buzz in particular was sacrificed goodness only knows. At least he could make a go of things on away circuits. Norbert was different and needed another season on the smaller tracks. But your management knew this, hence why they perservered with him ( initially). Now there's talk of sacking Sundstrom to try to strengthen!! Just crazy. He is a class act and just having 'one of those seasons' like most riders do in their early years. Lawson is another one. Why was he ditched? He showed loyalty and promise in Panthers colours. At reserve, he came up with a couple of double figure scores last season. I saw him score 11 i think against Lakeside at the EOES. Lasse Bjerre is yet another one. Averaged around 6 riding at number two in his first full season didn't he? Perserverence is the key at Peterborough in my humble opinion.

Your theory is not unique to Swindon though. Any EL team only has to have a misfiring heat leader and the pressure then falls on the second strings and reserves. You quote the defeats at Arlington and Kirmanshulme Lane, but what about the victories at Alwarton and Perry Barr? Wins that were inspired by good performances at reserve! As i have stated, Swindon in my opinion have the best side in the league. Teams/riders go in and out of form throughout the season, that never changes, what is most important is that the team hit form more or less together at the right time. I am confident this Robins team will get to the playoffs and have the depth and the class to win the final again.

Ridiculous comment. (from a fan of the wooden spoonist elect) Remind me how many meetings the Robins have won away from home? The same as last season, we lose a couple (mainly due to weakened sides) and some press the panic button.Have faith, we have a terrific top 5, Kennett will come good again and Ash and Kacper will continue to punch above their averages. Young Nick is hitting form and Hans will be back firing everyone up soon.

Sneak in over the wall, a programme and a couple of pints and that's about a tenner Sidders....

Thought i'd heard it somewhere before. Took a chance signing him TWK.....

Is Beech the local ale that they were selling in the portakabin?

'Spouting anymore rubbish'? It is called giving an opinion. I admit i have no intimate knowledge of track preparation , but i do have decent eyesight and a pretty good understanding of the sport, and can also give a fair view. I stood in the temporary stand on the backstraight just prior to the entrance to the third bend, and i can tell you there was a large rut there! Cory Gathercole hit it twice, and both times it put him out of shape. Sure enough Glasgow came good later in the meeting, but that was also due to their better gating, which early on was indifferent.

My first trip to very sunny SBA. Healthy crowd turned out for Mikkel Bech Jensen's debut. My guess was the attendance was around 1200. Great little track although a big rut appeared on the entrance to bend 3 as the riders did their warm up laps. This hindered the racing up until heat 9 when the constant re grading improved it slightly. A much needed thumping win for the Devils though. Pre match entertaintment was provided by a raging fire within a green VW Camper van on the A38 which has an elevated view of the track. A distraught driver of the vehicle stood and watched and a brave passer by attempted to put the blaze out without success. Trumpton arrived some 10 minutes later to applause from the crowd! Meanwhile, Jensen went from last to first in his debut race for the Devils, and Screen went from first to last in his second ride. Try as he might, Joe, could not seem to get to grips with the track, although every race he was in it was pure entertainment. mikkel Bech as he wants to be known, was an instant hit with the crowd and he certainly looked the part. He has natural balance, especially for one so tall and slender as he is. There is no doubt he will be a big hitter and the Devils fortunes will change. Their crowd deserve success as they are fair and sporting bunch that created a good atmosphere. Good to see Todd Kurtz mixing it. I have been a critic of his recently, but he looked agressive last night, and didn't take too kindly to some rough treatment from Henning Bager, 3 times snapping at him after heat 8 had finished. A nasty looking crash concluded the nights racing after Screeny lost control of his machine which in turn brought down the closely following Lemon. Fortunately both riders were up pretty quickly. Will be back again soon hopefully. Ben Barker's return might be a bit spicy!

Yes sure, will do.