heathen79

Just catching up so here goes: As already pointed out, but not yet acknowledged by you, Jon is a Dudley asset. Likewise Tom Perry. Ashley is a Wolverhampton asset. Also note, Danny Stoneman was on loan, but has been replaced by Adam Portwood who will also become a Heathens asset if things work out. The progress over the last two seasons of young Brits Ashley Morris, Tom Perry, Richard Franklin, Darryl Ritchings, plus Adam Roynon and Lee Smart would seem to make a mockery of your argument. The National League does develop riders for the higher leagues and Dudley have played a huge part in that already. It is also a competition in which every club competing would like to win. Better not mention now being National League Four Team Tournament Champions then! I think the difference should be noted between wanting to win, which the club clearly do, and wanting to win at all costs. When releasing Luke Chessell as part of the move to bring in Kyle Newman, the club were criticised for the 'win at all costs' attitude. Now by bringing Roynon back in place of Newman instead of Armo or Ash, the club are criticised for not wanting to win or put out the strongest side. Damned if you do and damned if you don't! And so to the point in question and I agree entirely with HalifaxTiger here. To be the clear the choice is as follows. Roynon is fit again, so Dudley can: a) not bring him back at all Replace Newman (as agreed in the first place between rider and club) c) Replace Ashley Morris d) Replace Jon Armstrong I am amazed by the opinion that we should do anything here other than bring Roynon back in place of Newman. Kyle has been absolutely brilliant on and off track for Dudley, and made a great impression. There is a nice thread of messages offering some sincere thanks on the Cradley Fans Forum for him. But he was always a temporary replacement for Adam. The lack of loyalty to drop either Armo or Ash would have been incredulous.

Was Tormod Langli Norweigan? Seems an unusual name too. Could this be him as 'Father of the Bride'... http://www.elisabethandjames.co.uk/whoswho.htm

I think that's a really disappointing and pointless post to make.

Gaffer's on Radio WM right now. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/birmingham_and_black_country/ Phone-in to follow.

A summary of the falls from the updates site: Ht1: Mason fell lap 2 bend 2 when 2nd he was hit by Armstrong. Ht2:Johnson fell lap 1 bend 4 when 2nd excluded all riders ok. Bizarre heat Richardson all over the place looked to Halifax like Portwood laid it down to miss him when he hit the fence for the 3rd time Ht3: Bekker fell remounted lap 1 Ht4: Another crash, Newman locked up bend 1 and fell Richardson and Johnson crashed all riders up and walking back. Ht5: No crash! Ht6: Newman then fell lap 3. Ht7: Another crash :/ Widman, Perry and Morris all came together Referee now making track inspection. Re-run 2 riders only. Ht8: No crash! Ht9: Bekker fell and remounted twice. 3 riders only. Ht10: 2 Colts riders only. Ht11: Johnson fell hit by Ritchings up and ok but excluded. Ht12: 3 riders only. Match abandoned. Read more: http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bvc&action=display&thread=8396&page=1#ixzz1S6LFJiaM Seems a bit more to it than 'just the Dudley riders falling off'!

I completely agree. And when the officials at the track don't know whether the curfew is 10pm or 10:30 because they are 'old and confused', I think we are on some dodgy ground! Well I would summise that the sensible fans who are saying that the track was clearly dangerous are the ones questioning why the referee chose to cease the meeting around 10 minutes before the curfew, when it was him who had declared the track was perfectly ok. Now, thats confusing!

DUDLEY Heathens riders dominate the Great Britain squad for next month’s European Under-19 Team semi-final in Sweden. The event takes place in Eskilstuna on Saturday August 6 where the young Brits will be up against the hosts, Denmark and Germany. The Young Lions Management Team of Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher have selected Dudley star Ashley Morris as their skipper and will be joined by fellow Heathens Tom Perry and Brendan Johnson. Mildenhall’s Joe Jacobs completes the four-man team with Richard Franklin named as reserve. Heathens chairman Nigel Pearson said: “For the Heathens to provide three of the four starting line-up team members plus the reserve is quite remarkable. And I have to say it’s not bad for a club which often gets accused of a win at all costs attitude. ”It underlines the fact that we are working closely with youngsters this season and for Ash to be named skipper of Great Britain Under-19’s is a fantastic honour. Congratulations to Ash, Tom, Brendan and Rich, it’s a terrific moment in their career and I hope they feel proud. We at Dudley Heathens are proud and we wish them well, along with Joe Jacobs, for the event.” Morris and Perry will be on hand at the evening with Jan O Pedersen on Friday, July 29, at Cradley Heath Liberal Club when there will be some auction items available for fans to bid and back their trip financially. Anybody who is interested in sponsoring any of the Heathens riders can email info@dudleyheathens.co for further information. Read more: http://cradleyspeedway.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dudley&action=display&thread=790#ixzz1RpJFzCUI Not sure whether this is the best forum for the thread or perhaps the International forum. Quite interested in this meeting though and wondered if anyone had any good travel advice for a possible trip to Eskilstuna?

Brendan made plenty of friends riding for Cradley as a 'second half team' in 2009 and he will fit straight into the Heathens set up. I think this will be a new lease of life for a clearly very talented young rider. I like Brendan a lot, and I think he will score well and increase his average on what he's got for the IoW, especially with a run at reserve.

Pleased for young Brendan if he has the reputation of being a "big money" loan signing!! Also a welcome back to the Heathens as he rode for the unofficial Cradley team in 2009 when we were doing second halves.

Let's just say our average home attendance would be more than welcomed by some Elite League clubs, never mind Premier League!

18-18 at the moment.

It's OK, we're used to that at most places we go.

Looks evenly matched. Hope the Heathens can lift their spirits after the cup knock out and make the stars feel the backlash!

Well I'll be the first on this thread to offer a huge well done to Stoke on their progress to the KO Cup Final. Obviously the damage was all done in the first leg and we knew it was too much to pull back. Glad the Heathens won the second leg, despite tumbling out at the same stage as last year. Thanks for the comments regarding Sunday Malcolm, it is appreciated. Stoke clearly have a very strong looking team now, with some power at top, middle and bottom of the order. As for the Heathens: still very proud of all of our team. They're mostly young lads, who haven't tasted defeat very often while pulling on the green, red and white. This will be all good experience for them and they will be stronger for it. Looks like we're "concentrating on the league" now. Shame that ends up as a mini-knock out cup at the end too, but I'm sure we'll be in there battling for it.

Driving through the night to Poland and now flying back to get to Stoke. Fantastic commitment Kyle. Hope you Ommer 'um in all three meetings.

Great win from the Heathens. Good form from all the lads. Picking up maximum points at home is important as most top teams do, but what's really standing out for us again so far is our percentage of league points picked up away from home (see MiniMax League table), so it's off to Newport for an important one on Friday with some confidence.

An away win by 0 would be ok, but I'd settle for a 'draw'.

Would be nice to get an easy win for a change instead of making hard work of it! The confidence boost would be good too, especially with some tough fixtures ahead over the next week.

manchesterpaul: I, for one, think you're a genius! I love the tables and have glanced at them already so far. However, as you rightly say the National League is difficult to be accurate about with it being a slow-starting fixture list and a small league overall. I reckon the next challenge for you is to somehow take into account the quality of opposition that clubs have raced. If a club has been unlucky enough to have their first couple of fixtures against teams who the league table suggests are the best in the league, then it seems unfair to compare their results with a team who has ridden against opposition who could be perceived as being relatively weaker. Room for some extra columns in the tables? ;-)

Flippin Nora, my Twitter feeds got around today! Let's focus on the important bit: great win for the Heathens. Could have been all four league points, but gotta be happy with three from another away win. Superb battling spirit from our young Heathens once again.

I tell you what mate, that was us approaching our best - and there isn't a team that could live with us firing on all seven cylinder, like at Belle Vue on Wednesday. Armo scored ok, but wasn't even at his very best; Rich certainly was - his best performance of the season and both from the gate and from the back; Tom was looking like he did last season - best of the season too; Ash scored paid 9 (I think) and was "disappointed" with his score - he actually did really well but has set such a high standard in some other recent matches; Kyle took a race or two then looked like a Number 1; Darryl was great and deserved way more than his score - Tuesday night showed what he can do; Danny will have gained confidence from his score and has the style right. It all came together, but of course it needs to do just that on Cup Final day or Play-Off Final day to count for anything!

Personally, I like the pairing of Ash and Tom together, especially when they're both on form. A potent middle order duo like Flyer Phil & Big Al! So, I'm hoping the decision of R/R at Number 2 is the only reason for the change in riding order. As for who to use first, don't forget, everyone is eligible, so the reserves are unlikely to be used at all. Armo, Tom, Ash & Rich.

So, on the subject of averages, how did Kyle Howarth's official average drop so much for Belle Vue. And from looking at their official list, they seem to be in a position where they could drop a reserve and bring in a new heatleader, due to a couple of riders not completed the 3 home & 3 away, like the rest of the team. Yikes!

OK, so if my understanding is correct, the only key documentation here must be the presence of a UK passport. Presumably he now has one, otherwise there would be no question of him appearing at all. There has been a long delay in getting the 'paperwork' in place, so - also presumably - the 'paperwork' in question is whatever is required to get an Australian kid a British passport. Which brings me to the question: what exactly is required to acquire a British passport, if you're not actually British? Because whatever it is, that's where the delays, discrepancies and the controversy must lie. An interesting case to follow. I have no axe to grind with him appearing, if it is within the rules. As a Heathens fan, we enjoyed the services of a couple of great Aussies last year. It does seem a heck of a lot of effort, expense and patience involved though, so there's a lot to live up to for a young lad now. I can already see the headlines and arguments when he goes and scores the vital points to win the KOC Cup or Play-Off Final though!