21st century heathen

I remember someone saying Bekker was a steal last season on his average from the year before, but it still went down. Ditto for James. Both riders will get my full vocal support when they pull on the Heathens race jacket but I'm going to need some convincing we've signed the right riders for 2012. My challenge to both of them is to go out there and prove me wrong. -------------------------- Our side seems almost done and dusted now. The club have confirmed they'll speak to Ash and Tom when they get back from Aus. It would be a major surprise if they don't re-sign, so with the exception of nailing down which 3-pointer it will be our line up is virtually confirmed. Roynon Morris Bekker Perry White-Williams Ritchings ? I've said all along my preference would be Clegg at reserve but I expect N Stoneman. Time will tell.

I've posted in the Edinburgh thread with my thoughts on him.

I feel his style just needs honing, or smoothing out if you will. Compare him having only ridden speedway for a couple of years to Darryl (who has grown up shifting shale) when it comes to changing lines, mid-corner cut-backs etc. Somewhere like Monmore will help him do this. Somerset is a perfect fit for his more natural style of getting out wide and letting the bike run and build speed lap after lap. I also hope everyone give him time to settle and help with the right set up and lines to ride etc, and Tom, for his part, certainly does need to decide whether he wants to really get stuck in and further his speedway career. I hope the Aussie trip and this PL chance has convinced him that speedway is the way forward. And yes, his gating is shocking at times but he has improved on it from 2010 to 2011. 2012 is a big year for him already.

It's a fair comment as a generalisation but I don't think he is at that stage yet. He improved last season. He started the year on fire but a succession of heavy falls took their toll and his form dipped alarmingly. There wasn't more difference between his home and away stats than you'd expect. He averaged just over 7 at home, just over 6 away. He's only 18 and has only ridden Monmore in the N L for two seasons. Although I accept riders sometimes need to move around I disagree with you about Ash at this stage. It's even less of an issue for Tom in my opinion. He just needs to ride more speedway. He's only ridden most tracks a few times. Coming from grasstrack means wide open spaces hold no fears for him. If anything riding a smaller track with tighter corners is what he needs to improve his speedway technique. ------------------------------------- New signing on Saturday. Someone new to the club. http://www.dudleyheathens.co/news.php?extend.456

I'd rather the more experienced rider were paired with the reserve. Tom and Ash, assuming they sign, are slowly starting to gain an understanding together so keep them as a pair at 3/4.

According to the BSPA website the points limit is 50. Happy days. (first line copied below) Updated: 06/12/2011 . BELLE VUE BUXTON DUDLEY 1 1 1 Adam Roynon 9.08 2 2 2 Byron Bekker 6.55 3 3 3 Darryl Ritchings 4.29 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 Total 0.00 Total 0.00 Total 10.84 Remaining 50.00 Remaining 50.00 Remaining 39.16 *edit* format lost when pasted but see the bits in bold. .

So was 'Fred'. Yes, it seems the days of one-club career riders is behind us. The points limit is just too low for more than the odd few riders to stay put.

With due respect to all riders at this level - You've had fair warning of the changes so should have been planning for it long before now. Regarding the new rear mudguard - even as a fan I think it's a very good idea as it will prevent (hopefully) the horrific injuries that Nicholls, Pedersen, Norris and Crump have suffered in the past from tyre burns when limbs get 'sucked' in under the mudguard. I would have thought speedway riders would welcome them rather than moan about the aesthetics.

I'll be honest - I'm not convinced about Bekker at all. I could be completely wrong but I can only comment on what I've seen myself and I'm not sure he's going to make a big step up. He gets my support while he's wearing a Heathens race jacket. So c'mon Boris make me come back in about 10 months time and admit I was wrong.

Delighted to see a club give 'Fred' Perry a proper chance. I'm hoping speedway, as opposed to grasstrack, is really starting to get under his skin, especially with the current trip to Aus going well. Tom has a true Brit never-say-die approach to his racing. There's a good reason he's so popular with the Heathens fans. http://www.dudleyheathens.co/extras/ytm_gallery/ytm.php?view=UOjEp6lV-HM&p=1&c=2 http://www.dudleyheathens.co/extras/ytm_gallery/ytm.php?view=Oy0rhfrk0go&p=1&c=3 http://www.dudleyheathens.co/extras/ytm_gallery/ytm.php?view=KFuMn7ej4ZM&p=1&c=3 http://www.dudleyheathens.co/extras/ytm_gallery/ytm.php?view=Ppbsqfk_WjI&p=1&c=3

All league's have a pre-AGM where all but dotting the i's and crossing the t's should be sorted. It's only when someone moves the goalposts behind your back that there's a problem. Fortunately, despite a few spats the NL doesn't seem to suffer the same in-fighting seen elsewhere. I suspect all clubs know where they stand with regard to rules for next season. ----------------------- So we have Adam and Darryl signed with another to be announced soon. Tom has posted on FB that he has one team sorted for next year, and just one more to sort out now. Hmm... Let's call a spade a spade it would be a big shock if Tom and Ash weren't back with the Heathens in 2012. Roynon Morris Perry Ritchings That would be a good start that would make many a Heathen happy. I expect at least a couple of new faces next season. Call it gut instinct.

Darryl will sign his contract at the club's Christmas 'do'. Another signing to be announced soon too. http://www.dudleyheathens.co/news.php?extend.451

Hamill and Hancock. And perhaps more surprisingly Cross and Nahlin. It was a short-lived partnership but they were prolific as a 3/4 pairing when we also had Hamill/Hancock as the two heat leaders. They were no quite so consistent away but at Dudley Wood a Cross/Nahlin 5-1 was nailed on and for them to record 2 or 3 5-1's at home each week was not unusual.

Sorry, I should have just type 'the Council' for clarity. Really? I thought pretty decent numbers had turned up. Shame.

Such a shame to be losing a team from the NL. I, like a few others, thought that Newport may run NL only for a while as the financial risk is lower. Of course, it would have been a loss to the PL in that case so either way it's sad for us to be losing a club. Fingers crossed that the locals come out in force next season and the future of the sport in Wales is secured. Best wishes to all down there. It's far from a clever marketing ploy. The association with the Dudley name is keeping a lot of Heathens fan away because DMBC appear to have done, and continue to be doing, jack all to help us find a new name. Make no mistake it's extremely controversial and largely very unpopular. But after 14 years of no speedway the name is a small price to pay and many, like myself, don't acknowledge the Dudley part of the name anyway. The Wolf Cubs raced in the old CL for a while. It was dropped by Wolverhampton Speedway due to low turn out. Birmingham Bulls have raced some meetings at NL level and been well supported I believe.

I don't doubt a single word.

Rob will be able to recall what colour socks they both wore!

That's a good point actually. It may well have been that Olsen named him at reserve which is why he refused to ride rather than he refused to ride in the first instance.

You forgot to include you guys in that too. Some of the best meetings you could hope to see were some of the DWT meetings on the Aug Bank Holiday. Some of the racing was just brutal. You're right, nothing else mattered other than beating Wolves (or Cradley from your point of view). We used to count success as to who won more meetings between the two rather than where we were in the league or how far we got in the cup. Greg and Ronnie used to have some superb races. Good clean racers the pair of them back then, but Billy and Sam would be happy to knock lumps out of each other. I recall Pratt being interviewed in the early Sky Sports years, which was not too long after we closed, about the season ahead and he said then "I don't care as long as we beat Wolves". As a former Cradley rider and team manager he had his priorities right. The worst on-track incident I've seen happened at Monmore between Karlsson and Hamill. The former put the latter through the turn three fence and when interviewed after the meeting Porky put it something like that was a tough race to which Karlsson replied he should have known what I was going to do and I'd do it again. I should add that I also saw Cross put Ermolenko straight through the first turn fence in an incident that followed Cross being angry at a dangerous move Ermolenko pulled a couple of races earlier. I blame Pratt for this one though because the next time Ermolenko was out he immediately put Cross in as a tac sub when we had better options for the points. It was pure revenge and everyone knew it - the fans were chanting Psycho as he came out just waiting for it to kick off. Cross didn't even wait for the exclusion light if I remember right, he just turned around and went straight back to the pits, took his helmet off and sat down. I can also remember an incident between Stephen Morris and Scott Smith in a morning DWT meeting. For once Smith was the innocent party and he threatened to 'have him' in the evening meeting. Morris never turned up for the second leg. I always felt it was better at Monmore for the atmosphere on the terrace. This is only really because we had a very good turn out of Heathens fans, literally hundreds, and we all stood together between the tapes and first turn. The form book went out the window and anything could happen on the night. It was probably the most bizarre sense of pure hatred mixed with speedway's typical friendliness. We would all be singing and chanting at the riders or the opposition fans all night and yes there were plenty of gestures but there was never any trouble beyond people mouthing off at each other. The riders helped, or made it worse depending on your view point. From the second the riders came out on parade they were booed, with the task drowning out the Wolves fans' cheers, let alone the stick they got if anything happened. In fact I think Sam got booed every lap he passed us. And who can forget that glorious night in '93 when the title slipped through Wolves' fingers and into the grasp of the Aces. There were more Heathens fans there that night than BV fans!! Wonderful wonderful memories and I fear that's all they will ever be. Even if we returned to EL racing next season (no suggestion that it's likely - just saying if) I don't think we'd see scenes quite like those of yesteryear again. I don't think the rivalries on track any even close to those we saw back then. I don't today's riders would be able to understand what it meant to the fans. It would be just another meeting racing against, in many cases their friends or former team mates or even current team mates. In the past only the very top riders rode elsewhere and many many riders were largely considered career club riders. They felt it as much as we did and I just don't think that could be replicated these days - at least not without some considerable time of it being explained to them by the like of Hamill/Hancock/Cross/Big Al/Jan O/Gundersen etc I think you may be mistaken. I have the England vs Denmark Test from Brandon '85 on tape/DVD. I recall that in commentary the off track problems are referred to. Nielsen was not left out of the team. He refused to ride. He was named in the team as reserve and was present. But when he was called upon he refused to come out and ride. I also recall it being something of an embarrassment for England on the day. Gundersen was riding but was having appalling bike problems and with Nielsen refusing to ride the Danes were effectively without the top two riders in the world but still won.

[sarcasm]Yeah, I mean who the hell would consider making a living and paying the rent/mortgage when they have a 99/1 chance (Unibet - Pepe) of succeeding where they've never threatened to before?![/sarcasm]

WOW congrats :-)

He was going to be my tip to win it as well.

This is the best line-up I can recall off the top of my head. There are several rather than one or two genuine challengers in Lindgren, Woffinden, Nicholls and Harris. Winning it is probably a step beyond Karlsson these days but obviously he'll be up there somewhere. Barker, Fisher, Proctor, Skornicki and Klindt are all serious spoilers that could break the heart of the one of the top four in the last round of rides. Even Wells will be a threat to the big boys when he has a head start because he's pretty useful at Monmore and quick at times. Ditto that for Lindgren Jr too.

+ travel, food, drink and half the number one's will be a no-show for various reasons.

You may enjoy browsing the youtube thread on the forum. Lots of people have posted some of their faves on there.