Lord Lucan

Good win for the Comets, a couple of decent races/passes on a very dry and slick track. Maybe just as well Cookie wasn't on his best form but, you can only beat what's in front of you and to that extent I thought we rode pretty well as a team, good even spread of pts scoring with everyone getting at least a paid win for their trouble!! First view of the full team in action tonight and yes, it does look a bit weak in certain areas but we should be able to get in amongst it with most of the PL this year, not too sure about the away form tho at this time, not been very good so far but, you never know, opportunity is there to pick up over the season!! Very disappointing news on Rusty tho, that's gonna put him out for a while but, best wishes for a full recovery young man, best wishes!! As for the missing supporters Gr8scot, incidents like last night's crash for Rusty doesn't help, no communication with the crowd, "again" as to what was happening, was the meeting going to end there or carry on, was the race previous going to be re run, "how is the guy"!!! yes, we finally got something over an hour later saying the Doctor had wanted quiet to monitor Rusty properly, so why not just put everyone in the picture at that initial point and say, we want as much quiet as possible due to the nature of the injury so you wont hear anything else until further notice, then, everyone knows "why" we are where we are, a few seconds to update and the job's good? After a while, half the crowd just walked out expecting that to be the finish and it certainly was looking that way? Add in the processional racing, rain offs, entry fees, lack of major successes etc, and it's very clear why no one supports the Comets anymore in the numbers we once had, RL/Football clubs are the same, we just fall out of love with sport in favour of cheaper forms of entertainment at the drop of a hat, to be fair, you could be successful and still have no crowd down here, fickle doesn't come close, then again, the part time job culture so prevalent down this way doesn't do much for the disposable income either?

If the forecast is correct then it's going to be even longer before I see the Comets in action than I thought, maybe someone is trying to tell me something?

Well aware of the pts set up C49 but I'm glad you brought that up, was looking at the LC table on the BSPA website and we have 3pts despite having only won one meeting "dropping" a point to Glasgow would only give us two, been wondering if I'd missed something in the new rules for this season!! Agree tho, with our Ht 15 record recently, I would prefer them over before the fat lady sings as well!!

Tough on Steady, tough on Sheffield as well, absolutely on fire at the moment and definitely one of the teams to beat this season, not been able to say that too often over the last couple of years? Hope Simon gets better ASAP, cant have riders of his quality lost to the sport for too long, there just aren't enough of them!!

Looks like two very evenly matched teams according to the updates and the odd comment on here? Disappointed that we dropped the point with a last heat 1-5, seems like that old nemesis of ours is still hanging around, still, a wins a win and although we've dropped too many points to be candidates for the semi's, we can use the remaining matches to get ourselves up to speed as a team for the PL? Hope the track was a bit better than last week and you all got some decent racing, hoping the weather will play ball next week for the E,boro match, will be my first viewing of a full Comets team this season so looking forward to that and seeing how we go!!

Will only be here in spirit this week, duty calls I'm afraid, Comets, provided Rene "is" fit to go and Kenneth has his bikes up to speed then I'm looking at a comfortable ish win 49-41 and get us up and running in the LC, if nowt else!!

Bit of a shame for the Comets to lose by so many, had a view on the updates site and we were well in there for a reasonable result, sadly we seem to have just petered out when it mattered, losing Rene didn't help or Kenneth not being up to speed but, never mind, could have been better, certainly could have been worse!! Glasgow, to their credit, look to have a useful side this year and will easily be more than competitive once everyone is up and running, hope to be able to see you at some point this year although Saturday wont be that occasion, work I'm afraid has stuffed that but, good luck too all and have a good season!!

Comets normally go very well here and I'm hoping today wont be any different, certainly believe we are capable of taking points from this meeting with the riders we have, looking for 1 at the very least!!

Guess I must be happy then!!

Comets very rarely ride well at Edinburgh thesedays, 60+, be happy if we can keep it in the fifties!!

I said it would be closer than people think but, "not that close"???

Going to be interesting this match, certainly feel it will be closer than people might think so I'll go for either, 46-44 or 43-47, Newky's reserves could be the key here?

Satisfactory result in the end, not quite as many as anticipated but that should be enough to win overall? Only saw updates when I finished work and we did look to be more solid scoring throughout rather than having any one stand out performer, maybe that could be a good thing, not relying on one person all of the time? Thought Newcastle would do OK and they did appear to be in the mix for quite some time, just fell away in the second half or, just gently eased out of the way by a stronger Comets team still, sets the 2nd leg up quite nicely!!

Wont be at this match tonight, or many other's for that matter, as working conditions take their toll on what's left of my social life? Newcastle dont look particularly strong this year but they do have an annoying habit of riding well over ere no matter whom they bring!! Still looking for a comfortable home win to make the 2nd leg a bit easier so I'll go for a 55-35 outcome and everyone finishing in one piece!!

Just in case anyone may be vaguely interested, tonight's scheduled 2nd leg is now OFF. Rained heavily early doors and is due to do so again this afternoon, no idea when this will/ever be re run but as it's pretty much dead in the water anyway I can only see it being at a time when even less people give a sh*t about the outcome as they do now? Sorry, just noticed the new post, ignore this one?

Very good start for the Comets, have to admit I wasn't expecting that, even if Hansen had been riding, so to do that without is a positive sign albeit "very" early doors!! Dont want to see our old friend R/R too many times this year, had enough of him last time around, all in all, happy with that, scoring looked plenty solid enough throughout, we'll get tougher tests no doubt but that'll do nicely for now!!

Quite, I really am letting the side down, totally unacceptable!!

Sorry MM, I will try harder not to suggest such things in future!!

Would it not be easier to just have a 6pt average applied to "every" import rider irrespective of where they originate from so no matter whom you pick they will start from that figure then everyone knows what they are dealing with, without, having to go through all of this every single year?

No Ta, had enough of those performances last season!! Best Wishes to everyone for a very Happy Christmas or, if you prefer, Christmas, shove it up yer a**e!!

Quite, broken collarbones appear to be becoming less and less problematical than they used to be!!

Bit of light hearted banter baldy, thought you would be up for the riposte over there, clearly got that bit wrong?

Whomever Ippo pick it's a great side you have there, Championship material without doubt!!

It's four months away, how long do you think it takes to fix a broken collarbone, the bloke will be riding again after Christmas, no probs!!

Well, after last years performances I didn't expect Howarth to be back for this one? Agree with several posters here, not the most exciting team we've picked judging by recent years, too many ponderables for me of riders needing to "up their game" in order for us to be challenging for any honours? If that is the case that we dont need suffer the double up gremlins we had last time which so soured our season then there is no excuse for any of these selections to perform poor to moderate this time around? Campton is the big question for me, the talk of him scoring well, now he's at reserve, only holds water for as long as he's there, didn't do very well, especially away, in the main team last year so will he be able to do it this time if needs be, if the others maintain or improve then yes, a very handy bloke on his day at reserve but needs to start showing it more often? Be interesting to find out where Wells will start next season, did well from the middle order over the latter stages but not too good at Ht leader, Howarth, with only one track this year should put more pts on the board if he's focussed enough, Bach, cant see him improving much but should easily score 10+ at home, Barrett, dont know much about but hope he can do a nice job same with Hansen, big ask to be No1 on suspect credentials but we'll have to wait and see and Palm Toft, seems to have earned a reputation as a racer so hope he can do exactly that on a consistent basis and keep the others on their toes!! All in all, not overly excited but, it is what it is and thats our seven to ponder over the Winter, maybe this "nothing exceptional" team will do what the overrated ones haven't in recent years and actually challenge for the "Good Stuff" at the business end instead of just falling apart and wanting to finish, could be where we've been going wrong, doesn't look that good on paper but???