Hamster00

Somehow I don’t think this decision was based on the evidence of one meeting. Kemp has been fine but hasn’t exactly pulled up any trees, a high score of 8+2 so far this season, his average was actually going down slightly at the start of June for what it’s worth. Cookie has shown signs both at Workington and Oxford of some sort of a renaissance, maybe not as consistent as he used to be but he could certainly be a match winner for them, it was only a few weeks ago he score 16 from 6 against Sheffield. It continues to prove that Dickson is prepared to shake things up and that’s something I am glad to have in a Team Manager.

Making my first trip to Poole to watch Dicksons Bandits, not overly hopeful of anything and if this seasons form for the home team are anything to go by I’d be happy if we managed to hit 30. Maybe I’ll get a flat white on my travels though, hopefully it will be fluffy.

Great team performance from the Bandits after the disappointment of losing at home to Poole last Saturday. Redcar seem to have picked up the same issues that have plagued Berwick for recent seasons, a weak middle order including Jonas Knudsen. I did think it was an odd signing at the time as he is not in the same league as TJ on UK tracks but I guess options were limited for the Bears at that point. Great to see Jye and Drew on form tonight and I think any success this season is down to them building on results like this. For any Redcar fans that think tonight was dusty just wait till you’ve been at Berwick tomorrow.

Must win for both sides if they want to keep their hopes alive of either winning the group or as best runner up. Edinburgh have put in 2 good performances away from home so far this season and although we have some riders who normally go well around Armadale I’m expecting the Monarchs to take this by 10 and end our hopes of qualification.

From a Berwick perspective I think tonight was far more positive than negative, I have no doubt as has been mentioned that if Glasgow hadn’t had Claus we would’ve taken the bonus point and potentially the meeting. If Sedgy had started how he finished maybe even then we could’ve stolen the bonus point. Kemp looked the best he has looked so far in a Bandits race jacket and despite nobody really setting the world alight we hung in there till the end. Next Friday at Armadale is make or break for our chances of qualification, a must win if there ever was one.

The moment Glasgow got Vissing in for Flint I think Berwicks chances of getting the bonus point went up in smoke. We had a fair chance before that imo and I don’t think Sedgy will do a bad job at all, he was the best pick of what was available with Brennan away and Nicholls ultimately never takes Championship guest bookings. Vissing however makes Glasgow extremely strong, I do also wonder why they let him go and brought Leon in but only time will tell if it works out for them.

How many riders injure themselves going for a gap that isn’t there but then will still go for that same gap next time? How many people in day to day life get caught speeding but still go and speed the next time the are in a car? I’m not quite sure again why just because someone shouldn’t do something or because you and me and many other people wouldn’t think it was wise to do means that they can’t do it? People are competitive, sports people even more so I would say, so will always look to gain an edge. Again I’m only offering a difference of opinion and as Fromafar said it looks like when he watched it he caught Fredriksens dirt deflector and we clearly just have different opinions from watching it from different angles etc. I haven’t watched the stream as I don’t have a particular inclination to buy a stream for a meeting I attended and that might change my view if I did so. I’m merely offering a viewpoint, and I can completely agree that if I watch it back I could change that opinion but I disagree that principally people always do the most sensible thing, 99% of life isn’t black and white, it’s various shades of grey imo and that’s why we have forums like this and will often have to agree to disagree.

I don’t think he would be the first or last rider to ‘drop it’ in an attempt to get another rider excluded or a rerun, again just my opinion as he was behind both Monarchs going in to bend one so I don’t think it would be the strangest thing in the world for a rider to try and get himself/his team a second bite at the cherry.

Good result against an Edinburgh team I think is far better than most have given them credit for over the winter. From a Bandits perspective it was nice to see a last heat decider go our way and Rory certainly seemed to have the bit between his teeth tonight and gave Picko all he could every time they met and it was good to see him come out on top in the most important race of the night. As for the refereeing decisions, the rule change with jumping at the start means it has to be called back even if someone penalises themselves. I thought from where I was he got the other two correct, Jye looked to take a dive and the Heat 14 one looked like a typical first corner incident, however as with lots of decisions it is subjective and generally depending on what tint your glasses have on you will either agree or disagree.

Too much of this thread rightly or wrongly has been dedicated to the Lee Complin discussion since last nights meeting, it would be nice to move the focus back to what was a very enjoyable meeting. I wasn’t overly high on Glasgows team coming in to the season but given they have a team full of ex Bandits and Sheilfield Park specialists I knew they would provide a stiff test at home and I’m mightily happy to come away with the victory. Lewi Kerr was impressive to say the least, I really feared the worst when it was 33-33 with four races to go but the boys were fantastic and every single one of them contributed to another good win. I am hopeful we can give them as good as run for their money at Ashfield as they did for us last night and although it will be extremely difficult to get the aggregate bonus point I wouldn’t say it is out of the question.

Not really, I’d much rather have the 7 we have personally, Leon needed a change for both the good of his career and to freshen up Berwick and I personally think we have a much more exciting prospect in Freddy Hodder at reserve compared to Ace.

Tough night for Tiger59, at least he got a fish supper.

Regarding Celina, two things can be true, she can/is absolutely deserving of an opportunity to ride in the Championship because of her exploits on the continent and it can also be true that Workington have a savvy promotion and knew it would be good for promoting the club to get in business with Celina. She deserves every opportunity to perform at this level just like every other 4.00 foreign rider who is new to Britain, if she achieves close to a 4 point average this season then it is a highly successful one. She was certainly on the pace at Northside, away from home will be difficult but again it is for most newbies to Britain. The difference between Celina and most other 4 point newbies to the league is that her results will be much more heavily publicised and scrutinised.

Good to see the fish in Cumbria still bite well. Good win at the GTS Arena.

Transponders are only 99.9 percent perfect.

Poole Scunthorpe Berwick Edinburgh Oxford Redcar Glasgow Workington Plymouth

More likely break it, if his spells at Berwick are any indicator. However he is still young and always seems to perform handily on the continent so maybe this will be the season it clicks for him in Britain.

I don’t think we will ever agree and I understand the point you are making. I just don’t want to see another club fail when things could be done and in my opinion have done nothing wrong. They signed Nico Covatti, he would/will ride for them as soon as he is fit enough and it is just extremely unfortunate that he became injured riding elsewhere.

Totally disagree, common sense is often lacking in this sport but I think for once it has prevailed. A minor league sport where we should be doing everything we can to preserve and help the clubs within the system survive, I’ve been following the sport since the late 90’s and the amount of teams who have fallen on hard times and disappeared to then never return is staggering, to the point where the bare bones remain. Giving Plymouth no facility and then basically no hope of competing never mind winning would surely turn not only casual fans away but the fantastic loyal support that the club has. The last thing I as a speedway fan want to see is another club fall on hard times through in theory very little/no fault of there own. Why do you want to see Plymouth in a potentially bad situation? Is it so your own club does better? I’m a Berwick fan like yourself and I would much rather have as many competitive teams in the league as possible and teams being sustainable for years to come.

Sheffield have started their season with Tai already riding so would get the appropriate facility? So I’m not quite sure how that is the same as Plymouth losing a rider for the first portion of the season before it’s even started? I personally think a team starting a season with only 6 riders and say having to use an NDL guest to cover it completes strips away any ‘credibility’ the sport has. I feel the sport has spent a lot of time (Mainly Phil Morris) trying to restore some sort of credibility and excitement to British Speedway recently and I don’t think it’s good for the sport to put a club in a potentially untenable position moving forward. Promoting a speedway team and making it work in this day and age seems a tough gig at the best of times and the sport has often cut its nose off to spite its face in recent years, I feel this is potentially one of those times and I’d be really disappointed if Plymouth struggled financially or otherwise due to this.

Because I think it seems quite clear Plymouth have attempted to sign a variety of riders of which none have worked out for various reasons. I don’t think anyone either wants to see the club bankrupt themselves either signing a rider or because they are completely uncompetitive and fans dwindle away and never come back. Covattis injury is an unfortunate thing that is obviously not the clubs fault, I understand that the rules are the rules and it is not the authorities fault either but I feel in instances like this there should be some flexibility. I'm not a Plymouth fan either but I think it would be in the best interests of the sport to be flexible as surely a competitive and potentially profitable club is good for the sport no? Or would you rather see them go the way of so many clubs in recent years?

I really hope that is an attempt at satire.

As much as a lot of people criticise Dick and his centre green shenanigans, I guarantee you will miss him when he does hang up his microphone. I remember when he was missing for a season a handful of years ago and I certainly felt that the presentation on the evening was far poorer due to the lack of his presence.

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

I think you’re the clueless one mate.