Kent Whistle Gang

I apologise if this is not the right forum for a question like this. I'm trying to find rider averages for teams in the Conference League from 2000 to 2008. I've tried the usual places (SGB, Updates etc), but without success. Is anyone able to point me in the right direction please?

Nothing deliberate about Luke Clifton's coming together with the unlucky Conor Dwyer. Haven't heard a whiff of a suggestion by Conor that he regards it as anything but a racing incident either. It happened right in front of me; two riders in the same space at the same time - simple as. Also, Luke was straight over to check on Conor as soon as he was able to walk himself.

I don't get out of bed if it's not Tena Man. Literally, I just lie there.

I reckon Mildenhall will pip us (Kent Kings) for 3rd spot, so we're hoping we can grab 4th at the expense of both King's Lynn and Stoke. Tonight's match up against Mildenhall is phase 1. Stay safe everyone but come on you Fen Tigers. Have to say though, they look disappointingly weak on paper compared to the Young Stars septet. Also, listen out in case the match commentator forgets it's Aaron Mogridge riding for the Stags tonight, and not Dad Alan; our mic man got it wrong a couple of times despite telling everyone in advance that he would be on his guard. P.S. How much do you want for Marc Owen?

Quiet 5 minutes on a night shift at work. I did wet the bed later though lol (after I got home of course).

Wise words waco. The only blot on last night's landscape for Kings was the preparedness and stability of some of the riders. Good solid performances from the top 4 again, and only over exuberance preventing both Jason Garrad and Danny Ayres from returning double figure scores too. Have to say though, Liam Carr was the star of the show by some distance. Wonder how he would have fared against a fit Simon Lambert? I think that wraps up our home league fixtures and the win lifted us into 2nd place in the table. #Nosebleed. It's looking like that 4th play-off spot will be between Kent, Stoke and King's Lynn. Interestingly, we've still got to visit both of them in the league, so any points we can take off them (and hoping we can bag all 4 at Buxton) will be crucial.

Okay I'll humour you. Please tell us all what opinion you are defending on this occasion? Would it be "Lots of interest in this meeting ? :D", because that doesn't sound like an opinion to me. That sounds to me very much like you doing what you do best; being a wind up merchant. Just pause for a moment and ponder why that might be the case. It's because you're always sniping at the promotion and the supporters (for daring to attend a track you've vowed never to return to). In the words of Reggie Kray, "You've got nothing to say and you're saying it too loudly". All in all you come across as a bitter and twisted malcontent. I don't claim that my opinions are the only ones that are interesting and correct, but they are opinions. Putting you on ignore would indeed block most of your snide contributions. However, if you object so much to people having a go back at you why don't you just either stop posting, or be less of a pillock?

Lost interest in the meeting? No. The absence of input here has got more to do with losing interest in this forum. That's mostly down to contributions like yours AJ - they're boring, repetitive, and predictable. Yawn.

And there was me thinking this thread was about the Kent vs Scunthorpe meeting. Look guys, you are just going to have to learn to live with your violent objections to the way Messrs Cearns and Silver run things at Central Park. Why? Because there are hundreds of us who gratefully turn up each week, pay our money, watch our speedway, and go home happy. In this forum we have no real option but to read your bilious spewings. Feel sorry for us if you wish, but come 6:30pm every Monday night throughout the summer, nobody gives your bitterness and negativity a second thought in that stadium. I can't begin to tell you how much that pleases me.

Why are we so hung up on Adam Sheppard right now? There's no obligation on management to offer rides to him. If he objects to his treatment at Kent, he is free to try his luck elsewhere (similar situation to AJ really). Also, Speedway is an expensive business to run, even at NL level. No promotion will survive on rider development alone so to suggest that Kent should have a different philosophy is ludicrous. Scunthorpe Stags are there for the taking; everyone else has taken full advantage of that so why shouldn't we. If we took it easy against them and missed out on the play offs simply because one of our rivals scored more against the Stags than us, I would go <word deleted> ballistic. Nearly forgot to mention that we button-holed Graham Miles in the car park after the meeting. Finally got the chance to thank the Red Knight for all the thrills at Kingsmead. Top bloke - got his autograph too!

gustix, either you're playing devil's advocate here, or you've completely missed my point. Firstly though, I'm going to challenge your use of the phrase 'so-called outsider'; you make it sound like it's something I said, when in fact you are the only one to use it. Please don't make this into an argument about rights of access to threads; that's not where I was heading and I reckon you know that. Secondly, you seem to be arguing that there's a place for snidy, barbed comments in a reasoned and rational debate. I suspect that any right-minded person would see that as a negative and would fight to prevent this forum from being hijacked and dragged down into the gutter. Anyway, if you're so keen to champion the rights of people to voice their opinions, what about mine?

You're just using free expression as an excuse to brag about how good your team is and how crappy the rest of us are. You seem to feel you can just saunter in and say anything you like, no matter how upsetting or controversial, just because you have an 'opinion'. Reality check mate, when you spit out mindless remarks like that, they're not opinions, they're insults. Don't be surprised when occasionally someone has a go back - it's called self defence. If you have any affection for the team you follow, you wouldn't go about demeaning others. It hurts and you won't always be top of the pile. What goes around.....

Well said greyhound. I think gustix is wrong on this occasion; everyone is entitled to their opinions, but Heathen1984 takes it too far. He has a history of gate-crashing threads and crowing. That causes ill feelings between supporters and there's no place for it in speedway.

It's prats like you who give proper Cradley supporters their otherwise undeserved bad name. Shame you have to tarnish the good reputation of hundreds of proper speedway fans with your unwelcome poisonous visits to Kent threads. #TrollOff

If you'd told me there'd be 12 points difference between these teams by the end of heat 6, I'd have replied along the lines, 'About time we used a tactical then'. Who could have predicted that it would be Kent leading 24-12? The final score, 56-36, had us all sitting staring at each other in wonderful disbelief. Forget that they were without Ben Wilson, Lee Payne, and James McBain. On paper their replacements, James Sarjeant, Marc Owen (their top scorer), and Adam Kirby (7 paid 9 on his last visit here), should have delivered a shed load of points. Kent were without Simon Lambert (operated R/R for him) and had a still under par Ben Morley (8 paid 9) leading the attack. Up to the plate came Aaron Baseby (10 paid 12), David Mason (12 pd 14), Benji Compton (15), Jason Garrad (6 pd 7), and Danny Ayres (5 pd 6). Good weather, great atmosphere, large crowd, exciting racing. Didn't risk going? Your loss - big mistake.

I've just checked BBC and Met Office. Looking okay for tonight now. Light showers only predicted, but they should have blown away before tapes up. Sarjeant in for Wilson. Owen in for Payne. R/R for Lammy. Question is, will R/R earn us more points than a guest? The list of available guests who might do a job for us is quite restricted: Max Clegg Tom Perry (riding EL) Joe Jacobs (riding EL) Brendan Johnson (riding EL) Liam Carr Dan Greenwood Stefan Nielsen (riding EL) James Cockle James Sarjeant (Stoke got there first) James Shanes (injured) Darren Mallett Lewis Rose (riding EL) I might have been tempted to invite Jack Kingston along.

Benji injured his hand again guesting for Cradley at, wait for it, Stoke! He fell in his only 2 rides, being excluded from the 2nd one, then withdrawing from the meeting. Like him, his bike's feeling a bit 2nd hand, but both should be okay to turn out against Stoke. R/R confirmed for Simon Lambert. Need Ben Morley back firing on all cylinders to stand any chance I think.

Looks like Kent will be at full strength tonight (except Freemantle's not back yet), to face the Lions. There's a comprehensive preview on the Kings' website. With Oliver and Daniel Greenwood (they're not brothers! Who knew?), Toms Perry and Woolley, Max Clegg, Sam Chapman, and R/R for James Sarjeant, they will present a challenge. However, they made heavy weather of a home tie against Mildenhall yesterday, only winning 50-43. Kent fans will be hoping Lambo continues his run of fine form and that Magic is fully recovered from his kidney(?) infection. Benji is rumoured to have thrown caution to the wind and will perhaps be pressing his new engine into service. We're all hoping Ben Morley can rediscover his early season form and that Aaron Baseby can weigh in with a solid contribution. Our two reserves should at least be looking to restrict Sam Chapman to a nil return. Danny Ayres (new nickname Bladder Man - friend him on Facebook to find out why) needs to convert passion and bravery into composure and points (you don't have to do it all in the first couple of laps). As for Jason Garrad? More of the same I think. On the subject of Facebook, and having already mentioned Brandon Freemantle, he's advertising a GM engine for sale. Anything we should know? Finally, fingers crossed the weather forecasters are mistaken. Rain. rain go away. Incidentally, to become an honorary member of The Whistle Gang, all you need to do is turn up at Central Park with a whistle and join in. Blow your whistle!

Going off at a slight tangent, how about compiling a team of most improved riders, to fit within the 40 point starting limit? Rider / Starting GSA / Current GSA / GSA Improvement Steve Worrall / 7.09 / 9.92 / 2.83 Oliver Greenwood / 6.89 / 10.33 / 3.44 Tom Perry / 6.30 / 8.38 / 2.08 James Cockle / 6.24 / 8.84 / 2.60 Daniel Greenwood / 5.74 / 7.76 / 2.02 Connor Coles / 3.67 / 6.28 / 2.61 James Shanes / 3.46 / 7.71 / 4.25 Total starting GSA = 39.39 Total current GSA = 59.22 Total GSA Improvement = 19.83 Think you can do better than that?

Don't know if this has been raised already in this post, but it is so important that I thought I'd risk repeating it. In March this year, Kent Kings submitted an application to Swale Borough Council, to run 23 races per meeting on six days per season, to permit more prestigious international meetings and championship events. Anyone can access copies of the documentation on the Council website but, more crucially, you can also support the Application on the website too. Please don't be put off by the fact that it's online; navigation is simple, so is locating the documents and reading them, and leaving your own Supporting Comments. Here's what you do: Search for Swale Borough Council In the search results, under the main entry, click on the 'Planning' link Under 'Search or comment on an Application', click on 'Search UK Planning up to 19 May 2014' Enter SW/14/0087 in the 'Application Number' box and click 'Search' This will take you to the Application mentioned above: You can see the actual Application at '18 Mar 2014 Application Form' The 'Objections' and 'Supporting Comments' are there for you to read; these might give you a guide as to the types of comments which supporters hope will sway the authorities Click on '> Comment on an Application' to leave your own submission. The whole process should take less than 10 minutes to complete, once you've decided on the form of words you want to use. Please take the time to throw your weight behind our club. Finally, please spread the word among as many like-minded friends, colleagues, and family members as you can get your hands on. Oh, and by the way, BLOW YOUR WHISTLE! (Sorry for the caps).

Much will depend on how Morley rides. If he is still in the doldrums then Kent should edge it. We'll need Benji Compton and David Mason to step up to the plate though. Interesting that Mark Baseby makes a return to the shale. Wonder if he's being groomed for a return to the NL in 2015?

AJ riding in like the cavalry to save the day. Cheers for that mate. Looks like we recaptured the moral high ground.

Before I go on to make my point here, can I just say that I don't have any ill feelings towards Cradley or there fans. I've heard that they've got a reputation for being arrogant and disrespectful, but I haven't really witnessed that myself. I take my hat off to their team builders who have managed to assemble a fabulous team while managing to keep to the original points limit. They are a class act. However, it strikes me as rich that Kent is being criticised for it's track and promotion, by supporters of a team which does not even have it's own track. Don't forget Heathen1984 that your team currently ride their home meetings at Monmore Green, an Elite League track which has hosted Wolverhampton speedway meetings pretty much without interruption, since 1961 (and it's history goes back a further 30 plus years). This is only our 2nd season; we know we still have some teething problems, but Monmore wasn't built in a day. Let's see how Cradley Heathens cope in your second year, after you hopefully find a home of your own.

The match threw up some interesting talking points. I think that's my first 0-0 in several decades of spectating. Not sure David Mason could have bettered the 9 points we got from R/R. Danny Phillips inability to sit still at the tapes. Starke getting within spitting distance of the track record. The early appearance of the blue groove on bend 1. Was Benji under power when the ref stopped heat 9? Garrad being excluded after being wiped out by Ayres. Baseby laying it down (not falling off) to avoid Morley. And did Garrad really pip Phillips at the post? Cradley exposed those weaknesses at numbers 1, 6 and 7 again. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect our number 1 to deliver a double figure return, even against opposition of this calibre. Also, it should be possible for the reserves to contribute 6 points between them. Performances like that would have swung the match our way. Thank heaven we had Lambo, Benji and, to a lesser extent Baseby, to keep the score respectable.