Lord Antebellum

I loved this meeting! A real, old-time bruising encounter, with Fricke, Neilsen and Sneddon all emerging from the medical room after treatment to ride on for their teams. It must have been 50-50% for the referee not to exclude Newman after the Heat 8 incident, but as his choice was between two team-mates, different rules seem to apply. Otherwise, his decisions were spot on. The crashes, medical requirements, repairs to the fence (and to innocent riders' machinery) stretched the meeting, but with Nigel always telling us what was happening (plus BMX demonstrations from Nick Morris and amusing interruptions by Dick Barrie, whose deflation of a heckler was brilliant) it was never a drag. Superb speedway all night, and I'd have given my personal awards for each team's most-exciting rider to Stefan Neilsen and Derek Sneddon.

I would think Mr Patchett will be wanting to run 125's at Swindon, then....

It depends what you want, my friend. Financial stability with racenight entertainment, which your club has enjoyed for the majority of their forty-odd years in the sport, or a win-or-bust attitude to give you one wonderful season of 60-20 victories and then oblivion?

Does anyone have a link to the sequence of photographs referred to in previous posts?

A strange post, as the pie I enjoyed at Berwick when I was at the Under-21 meeting was superb.

Where? 44-46 was the scoreline, surely?

You'll be hoping their Swedish team doesn't haul them back if they have a clash it dates, then? One NL guest is acceptable, but two....?

Nope. Who would insure the riders?

I see from Facebook that a collection at the meeting for Ricky Ashworth raised a wonderful £1,120. Well done all. Also that Debbie Hancock came over well in an in-depth talk with Dick Barrie during the ambulance delay.

Some folk are pretty hard to please. I'm certainly enjoying watching him, and if he's "not that special" I wonder why he was a World Team Cup winner and third in the World U-21 title last season?

Sadly, I was told at Somerset tonight that Rob Branford's season seems to be over.

Not the best one, was it? The rain, virtually all day I'm told, reduced the track to slop for the first half of the match. Congratulations to track staff and certainly the riders, for getting it on. Expensive night for Rebels' promotion, hardly helped by a poor Wednesday-after-a-rainy-day attendance.

Wasn't there, but pretty clear from photo the rider in blue (Vissing?) has his arm over the rider in yellow (Branford's) right arm, which will clearly have the effect of holding Branford's throttle open and would be pulling him sideways while the bike maintained full speed ahead.. Nothing wrong in out-of-the-gate arm-wrestling, just a terrible outcome in this instance. Agree with the posts by Boobs and Junior Fan. Totally disagree with Caithgen's post -- reports from officials?

I'll be coming up for this one, as it is a Wednesday, which suits me nicely. Better than football against the Jocks. Looking forward to some good racing and parallel entertainment rather than the rather intense must-win-at-all-costs attitude we see at times. Speedway should remember it is in the entertainment business, the average casual spectator can be put off by too much of the "gotta win or we'll change the team again" stuff some clubs seem to adopt.

As a first-time visitor from Devon, I imagined I was back at the County Ground. A stupendous track produced tough racing favouring the brave. Stadium is clean and bright with great viewing facilities. The crowd was vibrant and enthusiastic with the large Polish presence and Dick Barrie held the show together with humour and insightful information. Well worth the trip, even if the rider I was following (MBJ) missed out on the podium. Full marks to everyone, FIM, BSPA, Berwick and the young riders.

Entertaining enough evening among friends from both camps.

From the sound of things, a new reserve will be needed after tonight's crash at Armadale. Hope both guys aren't too badly hurt.

Sigalos was Number 3 in the world 30 years ago. One of the zippiest gaters of all time..

David Bellego turned in a shift at Swindon tonight. Very impressed with him. On his own track, he must be expected to be like a fox in the hen-run on Saturday.

As an Exeter-based neutral, I'll be there to watch good racing and bright entertainment. I like both clubs, so may the best team win.

A bit harsh, Charlieboy -- Sheffield have introduced Facu Albin and Damien Koppe this year and could see them rising to become worthwhile assets in seasons to come. No-one could have seen the horrific injury tappy coming.

The addition of Bellego makes this meeting a very tasty treat! But I still fancy either Bech or Michelsen to come out on top.

This thread appears to have wandered a bit off Mikkel Bech? Good luck to the lad on Saturday at Berwick in his World Under-21 Final.