Steve55

Barker took Kurtzs' front wheel as he came inside him and took the bike from under him, should have been excluded, but in the overall way things went it didn't make much difference. Sheffield had all the bad luck early on whilst Redcar were riding poorly and then Sheffield had better luck later when the Bears seemed to improve.

Sheffield website and seen the notification of the teams for this meeting, from that it looks like Sheffield have changed their riding order with Bates at number 4 and Kurtz at number 2. Why? The only thing I can see is to give us a stronger pairing in heat 8, but weaker in heat 14. Are they hoping we will have won the meeting by heat 14!

Thanks Junior fan. Sounds like if it's a long term injury he might eventually require surgery, still if he's riding through the pain he's still doing a good job for the team. One tough b@stard in my view, I certainly couldn't do it!

I'm sure we are! What's Rob Branfords' injury? We noticed he didn't ride as well last Thursday against P'boro as he had before (apart from the first running of heat 14 where he was well away before it was stopped!)

Nice to hear something about the actual meeting!

As I posted 3 or 4 hours before what would have been the start of the meeting I considered this a good call by the promotion. I'm only 5 miles from the stadium, but I appreciate the early call of a postponement. Can remember several Neil Machin weather forecasts in the past where despite poor national or local forecasts, "the meeting was definitely on". Only to arrive at the stadium to either see the track water-logged, or it starting to rain just before or just after the start of the meeting. The promotion will take a bit of a hit financially, but how much have they saved the paying public in travelling costs and time. The rain today has been in showers of varying times and intensity. Yes there have been blue skies and a drying breeze, but some of the rain here was at times biblical and it only needed one of those to hit the track to put the meeting in doubt! So come on guys stop having a go at the people in charge, who in my view have taken the right decision for all concerned.

About 5 miles from stadium and its been bucketing down for the last half hour. The 'Look North' news and weather forecast at 1.45 pm showed showers during the afternoon and continuos heavy rain from 7 pm to 9 pm. In my opinion this was a good call by the promotion.

Well Ipswich put 60 points on them on Saturday and ran them close on Monday so on current form it should be a comfortable win for the Tigers tonight. However I thought Ipswich would give us a good test last week and look what happened after heat three! Peterboro' usually do well at our place, Holder and Ostergaard seem to like our track and if they get infront can't see our lads getting past them. Tigers better have their gating gloves on this evening.

The quality of the racing seems to have diminished at Sheffield since the installation of the air fence. Can't imagine why it might be a factor other than it's taken about two and a half to three feet off the width of the bends. Might just be a coincidence, or is it that I don't particularly like it! Didn't seem to make much of an additional safety measure again on Thursday when Danny King seemed to go under it after his bike hit it first. Seen that happen so many times as when Jason Doyle got badly injured towards the end of last season in the Grand Prix.

This could only happen in British Speedway - a rule book that you fill in as the season progresses, by whoever picks it up! Unbelievable, laughable rubbish!

The confusion over who has first call on Rob Branford seems to continue. There's a reference to it in this weeks SS in which the Rockets team manager says "The rulebook says he should have been with us, but we have been over-ruled by the management committee. As we were in the Premier League last year, we've been told that we have to abide by what happened last year and treat him as if he is a Premier League (Championship) rider." If that's the case why is he riding for Rye House tonight and not Sheffield? I understand he is an asset of Redcar, so shouldn't Sheffield (Championship team) have first call on him? Or have the two decided to take it in turns to get guests when fixture clashes occur. It's all as clear as mud to me. Does anyone have a definitive answer?

Nah, Ipswich are a far better side than Berwick, can see this being close, possibly a last heat decider! Hope so as it keeps it more interesting, pretty boring last week, apart from some decent riding from Todd Kurtz. Having said that his younger brother wasn't bad, but it was tapes up - gone in all his races. No wonder he says it's one of his favourite tracks!

Anyone know which team hold Rob Branford's registration? (Who's asset is he?)

We've seen it when they've been riding for us. It's unfortunate, but he wasn't actually 'riding' for Somerset (who I believe have first call on his services) when the injury happened. Yes the Sheffield injury jinx strikes again! Should be a good test for the Tigers tonight, but again with a guest riding it won't give a true presentation of how strong they actually are at Owlerton.

Do you mean like Scunthorpe at your place a week last Friday?

They managed to make it a last heat decider and heat 15 was quite exiting - compared to the majority of what had gone on before. However what others have said is correct and the crowd was visibly diminishing as the meeting got to the last three heats. The amount of vehicles in the car park may have had some impact on this as leaving after the meeting is always an issue, and if you ain't paid to get in who cares who wins may have been the attitude of a lot of people. The sport shot itself in the foot again with the tapes not working on a couple of occasions and the green and red lights not coming on, when necessary. To anyone coming for the first time it made things look 'amateur', not what you want if you're show casing your business. As for the racing, well it was what I expected, nothing at stake for either team and a track that didn't help those who went looking for it. As for the riders I liked the look of Kurtz and Branford who never stopped trying. As for Somerset Hougaard looked a class above the rest and Wright looked like he's in for another good year. As for their guest - well I'm just glad we didn't opt for him again!

To say that they're expecting a capacity crowd there's not much being said on this thread! Hope to see a decent performance from both sides dependant on how the track is we might get some entertainment. Nothing at stake from this meeting so hope all stay safe and get some competitive practice.

The team has apparently had a behind closed doors practice this week, not sure where - Leicester?

Looks like my intuition (post 1102 31/1/17) was correct! With regard to his previous involvement, was he actually an official promotor or was he just 'helping out', which is what I was led to believe he was doing?

Yes, I think I know what he meant by that too!

Has any mention been made of Neil Machin still being involved? Wouldn't be surprised if he's on the periphery somewhere.

Should be a challenge meeting arranged now between Sheffield and Leicester after the latest announcement!

That's probably why they are having two practice sessions before they ride against Sheffield.

So according to official fixture list no speedway at Owlerton until 6th April! Unless the previous week (marked as reserved) there's a challenge arranged. Could do with one before that though otherwise going straight into league away meeting with Ipswich, probably the strongest line up in the league.

Think the lad will do ok at P'boro, once he gets dialled in. Remember his home (every week) track was quite unique and he did alright. From what I've seen of him at Sheffield he rides the bigger tracks no problem, he'll do fine (IMO) at Alwalton.