Lord Lucan

No, first and second have to pick from 3 til 6, it's their prize for being the best two teams in the regular season?

Due to a drop in form, he was struggling at 5 for ages so it was decided to move the team around to try and get a better formula, seems to be improving him lately looks decidedly sharper while Howarth appears to be making a reasonable fist of Ht leader, at home at least?

Thank's Shads, Josh could be useful if he gates, looked a trier last night but missed too many starts?

I like that AF, always said it's only a 6 match season for the Championship so anything can happen if you save your best til last!!

Is Lambo still guesting for Rye this afternoon, looked a bit worse for wear after an awkward fall last night?

Absolutely, lined them up nicely along the back straight and whooosh round the rubbery stuff, amazed he got both, convinced Poole was a gonner but to get Lanham as well, bonus!! Dont think Poole was too happy at seeing that, caught Lanham half asleep not covering the line, nice one Joe!!

Bloody tactical rides??? Think this scoreline just about sums up the Comets at the moment, 20pts up and cruising, T/R comes along and the whole momentum changes to the point where we are desperately hanging on for a result that was looking about as clear cut as you could get? Became a very tense affair for the last 5 races, an Ht11 T/R 1-8 advantage followed by 3 consecutive 2-4,s put the Comets under real pressure for the result and a hard fought 3-3 in Ht15 was as good as it got and just enough to save our bacon!! Comets were solid throughout as a team, Kyle and Rene the stand outs, but good support from the other guy's built up a sound lead, Sheffield, in this match, were pretty much a one man outfit with support for Steady mainly via Poole/Wolbert but as it turned out, imo, had Wolbert not messed up his T/R then Sheff could have got pts from this match as well, you cant leave big holes like that when Rene/Mason are running hot, saving that was a huge ht advantage and absolutely vital as it turned out, big up to the guy's for that one!! Well, 3pts is what we needed and the 3 is what we got, just, but that's fine I'll take that but we really do need to sharpen our game for the play offs, we wont get off so lightly now, this is it, game on!!

Fraid not Comet49, didn't look much above 400 to me, shame as Steady was class tonight, rolled back the years to a time when he would be doing this for us, but top marks to Kyle tho, never saw many riders pull an outside pass on Steady like that one then hold him off for 3 1/2 laps, brilliant stuff!! Once Sheffield got dialled in they looked more together second time round, for what it's worth I think the turning point was the result coming through from Edinburgh that Newky didn't collect any points so as long as we didn't lose, then one point was good enough!! Stead/Wolbert the main architects but good support from Poole and Lanham kept Sheff well in it, tho to be fair, Comets were easing away and looking good for the second 3pts when the wheels came off a bit? Stupid exclusion for Josh for time wasting at the start and subsequently having to go off 15mtrs in Ht 13 while 8pts up, cost us the momentum, outgated by Stead/Wolbert, Kyle couldn't get close so moved aside for Josh to have a run but it came to nought, a shared ht after that set up the decider, same combo for Sheff, Josh/Rene for Comets but again, outgated, too quick around the park and neither Comet able to get a blow in? Sheff deserved something out of this meeting, rode more than well enough for that but, if not for that error, who's to say what would have transpired in Ht13 had Josh gone from the line, so I would say honours about even. Comets deffo looking jaded and we will need a huge improvement to trouble anyone in the play off, Josh still not where he was, Ricky getting better at two, Rene solid throughout, Mason tried hard but doesn't have the edge, Kyle looks to be coming on just fine at DP putting some really good wins together, Joe is improving and didn't get the pts he deserved tonight but Lambo definitely struggling, another fall knocked the stuffing out of him for this match and he was barely a passenger? Week off should help, no opponents for nxt Saturday as yet but we need a full outfit firing to give us a chance, we're stuck with it now so, we have to give it our best and hope it's good enough?

No worries, I had an inkling that was what you were doing, tho now I've extrapolated my own view on the subject I'm surprisingly happier with the outcome than I was before!! Wonder if it's worth putting it forward, as a suggestion of course!!

Hopefully the first match will have us with 3pts safely in the bag and in a position of only requiring 1pt from this one to qualify for the place no one wants, maybe a bit tighter this match but I'll stick with a 3pts home win again!!

Think Comets will want to end this week with some nice home wins, just to take the bitterness off. Should be OK for the result required, dont see it being any sort of hammering just a good even contest with Comets on top by about 50-40!!

No wonder he scored F/A then??

Mentally given up, dont look interested, very weak away from home, just racing matches to get them finished, with the other sides around us not wanting to qualify for the play offs we are now just about stuck with it only needing 4/5pts from Sheff to be in position to be mullered all over again? Tragic performance tonight, barely a win between them, this wont have made good viewing and will have done whatever self esteem we had left absolutely no good whatsoever, just turned over in all departments with barely a whimper? As for the form of Campton, he did run up a paid max during the LC at the start of the season but hasn't built on it as we had hoped, certainly not lived up to the pre season hype and he has made virtually no improvement at all, been struggling for ages, no consistency and a poor scorer away from DP, whether, as AF suggests, that that is down to him not being at reserve anytime this year not only bodes badly on him but also shows up the non improvement of the reserves to be able to make the move up and spell him off? That lack of flexibility is now coming home to roost, unless someone is waiting somewhere to pull the cork from our genie's bottle these play offs are gonna make painful watching, we'll do alright at home just wont follow up away, living in hope now?

On that assumption Hettie the logic is probably in the same place that decided to start a cup competition in May yet have two protagonists waiting til Sept to actually be able to get cracking on it? As far as I am aware, the draw for the first two rounds is made pre season so clubs can set a date for the first one at least, it is then left to the qualifying teams to set their own agenda for the rest, probably why the competition can never be completed before the seasons end, if, as I "suggested" qualifying teams were given a set timescale to arrange and race those ties we might not be in this position every year, that's all I'm saying!!

Could be behind the sofa viewing this one for us? Rebels should be way too strong for a tired Comets team but you never know, I'll stick my neck out and say Somerset will take pity on us and stop this side of sixty!!

So would I if it helps you take points off em?

TA!!

Worn himself out, the effort of scoring a 15pt max against us was just too much of a burden to carry forward!!

Even moreso then, dont understand why speedway cant organise specific weeks to run the cup ties in and if rain offs occur then ASAP afterward?

Mere technicalities Rob, what I was saying was that with 20 odd teams in the league back then you were looking at 40 odd matches + KO Cup, nowadays we only have thirteen clubs playing 24 + another 4 for no real reason anymore and we cant get em in, it still rained in the seventies so we cant keep using that as an excuse, and we still get guest riders to help fulfil matches? I bow to your more insider knowledge of club affairs but the point still remains that through one way or another those seasons always got finished, (and I dont remember that many double headers being required to do so) and I never said run better just asked how it was acheived? PS, What's wrong with running meetings in November if it helps complete the season, if it's cold put a big coat on!!

The obvious answer is to find an old promoter from the seventies and ask him how they managed to get two Leagues of twenty odd sides to race home and away inc KO Cup matches, run in the same time frame and get them completed nigh on everytime, not many motorways around then either?

Yeah, remember that situation, back and forward same day and it still wouldn't work, You've gotta laugh Steve, you've gotta laugh!!

Same old,same old TJ, Comets were the architects of their own downfall by signing too many double up riders, these guys are professional mercenaries they ride for cash wherever they can so know the consequences of what might happen should something go pear shaped? Injuries and weather go with the territory so you minimize the risks as much as you possibly can, spread yourself too thin and re arranged fixtures are going to be a huge issue to the best laid plans!! These guy's know their limitations and if, as you suggest, they are not robots, then why take on so much extra work if they can't manage it? Personally, I would rather pay a bloke a better rate and keep him here rather than pay him a cost cutter and force him to look elsewhere for another income source, probably not viable but in a perfect world... who knows!! I've been watching the Comets in all their guises since 1970 and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see us lift a Championship Trophy, get the monkey off our backs, how long that will take depends on whether we make the right choices in future on who can deliver it?

Just using your post as an example Steve but does this just show what a farcical state speedway fixture planning is in right now, we're in the middle of September and we are still waiting to produce a qualifier to make up the semi finals of a competition that started in May while their opponents for that semi have been in the position of having to wait weeks to find out who they will actually play?

Still says "scrapped" on the News and Star website, slightly modified story from the one I first read but no mention of any re runs later on?