21st century heathen

http://www.british-speedway.co.uk/news.php?extend.8331 ------------------------------------------------------- Heartbreaking for Mildenhall. My very best wishes for next season and the long term future. ------------------------------------------------------- The table is certainly tight in the right areas which should make for a lively end to the season. There's a 3-way battle at the top with the Heathens having the right balance of meetings in hand (on paper). Newport are looking very strong and have a point advantage but away meetings to catch up on compared to Heathens and Buxton. Buxton are just a couple of points off the top but have raced one more at home than the Heathens. They are certainly well placed to capitalise if either of the top two slip up though. Bournemouth have points on the board for 4th but there could yet be a challenge from Rye as they have 3 meetings in hand to make up the 6 point gap. Plymouth have raced more than both but are well placed, rather like Buxton, to make the most of any slip ups by the clubs around them. Finally, I can see a 4-way battle at the bottom continuing a little longer. IOW hold a slight points advantage but have raced one more than the 3 below them so could easily get 'sucked' back towards the bottom end, particularly if/when those 3 strengthen.

I certainly have no complaints about this signing. I'm gutted for Jon as he has been in superb form of late and I sincerely hope that he recovers quickly and is able to hit the ground running again. But life goes on and the club must do what is best for it to succeed on track. I agree that r/r would have been a big risk for an extended period. I'm sure Barrie will slot in and help maintain our play-off push.

In my opinion there should be a named reserve. He can only be used in the event that a rider falls/crashes during the meeting and is declared unfit to continue by the doctor. Tai and Roo both had heavy falls the other day and could easily have been ruled unfit to continue. It would have made a bit of a farce of the meeting had GB and Aus had to continue a rider short. I didn't think a tactical substitute could be used at any time when 6 or more behind the leading team, I thought it was limited. If it's unlimited why haven't the like of Aus used Adams and Crump (or Pol use Gollob/Hampel to replace Walasek rather than Balinski) to replace their weakest rider at every opportunity?

Another great night to be a Heathens fan. The lads all chipped in throughout and contributed something of note to the meeting. Smart - Made it look easy. Good to see him team ride in 13 rather than just clear off. Dyer - Liked his move in 10 to turn up the inside as Irving on the inside while the Saint was watching Smart go around the outside. Perry - Brilliant race against Burrows in his 2nd ride and got the win on the line and showed the increasing diversity in his ability to race by staying cool and calm to pick his way through traffic on the inside in his 3rd ride. Anderson - 3 out of 4 aint bad. Shame about the disclusion but it was the right decision. Armstrong - Shame he fell in one heat but apart from that he rode very well and came through from the back a couple of times. Heat 11 the pick as he just kept coming around the outside and showed the determination to make it pay in the end. Morris - Looked very good. A couple of points went begging too because I think he was the quicker rider in heat 2 and missed out on the run to the line in heat 11. No complaints at all though. He was much more in the mix than we've seen a few times. Franklin - Bottom scorer with 'only' paid 8 and no heat wins. Shocking!! A good return to action after a week off for Rich and as ever he showed good speed but has to do something about the truly appalling starts he makes at times. (and he knows it because he mentioned it after the meeting) If pushed for an answer I would give Morris the MOTM. Good stuff from Ash on Tuesday. Well done lads. That's us up to second in the table. Newport have away meetings to catch up compared to us and their record on the road is not as strong as ours currently (though obviously they could go out and win the ones they have to catch up on). So perhaps there is still a chance of finishing top this form can be maintained. Certainly, our home meeting against them could prove decisive. For the visitors I obviously need to give credit to Worrall for a very good performance on the whole. He looks comfortable leading races and didn't make any mistakes when under severe pressure a couple of times. It must be noted that he didn't look so happy in traffic though when it was tight and messy between him Richardson and Perry in heat 9. Sort that part of his game out and he looks like one to keep an eye on. Burrows was right in the thick of the action and working hard. He certainly deserves a notable mention for his performance, and likewise Irving who gave it everything. Hard to believe the latter ended up with such a poor looking score chart. The rest were, in truth, largely either passed and never really in it and their scores are a fair reflection.

That's interesting to read. Monmore is around 15m longer but the track record more than 2½ seconds faster at just over 54½. 2½ seconds is a long time in speedway which suggests that at Lakeside the bike are spinning their wheels off and not going forward. Can't imagine why that would be! -------------------------------------------------- Assuming the Aussies don't have either of the big two back and that AJ does return (in place of Nermark - keep the rest) for Swe then I fancy Den and Swe to go through ahead of the Aussies. Den did a respectable job on Sun, the Poles were just too good. Swe had a bit of bad luck and Lindback was virtually absent until his last ride on Mon. They would/should have pushed GB and Aus closer. Both strike me as being capable of upping their game at Vojens. That will make it tougher for Holder and Watt to post big scores and it certainly doesn't make it any easier for Ward/Schlein at the bottom end of the Aus team.

You don't think Klindt and Madsen will play a part over the next 10 years? But for one poor ride I thought Klindt rode very well, and Madsen is on the verge of being included I would have thought. ------------------------------------- I thought overall it was relatively poor as there were a lot of gate and go races. But that said there was a fair sprinkling of good races, and some very good. Not the best meeting you'll ever seen but certainly not the worst either. 25 heats was too many given the number of boring races though. Bottom line - mixed bag. The Russians provided much of the interest with some cracking rides at times to upset the perceived world order.

Note for anyone keeping note of scores from Updates. I text one result wrong. I got Johnson and Felton the wrong way around in heat 12. Updates shows them having scored 3 and 5+2 respectively. It should be 2+1 and 6+1. I blame Sandie entirely as I missed it and copied her programme. ------------------------------------------ Terrific performance by our boys. I was being entirely genuine when I said I had a slight concern over how the Heathens' riders would adjust, particularly in the earlier heats. And it was true to an extent. Jake and 'Fred' had their best rides in the second half of the meeting, but all the other lads started the meeting in stunning style. It's hard to pick out anyone as MOTM but if I was pushed for one name I'd give it James. In his time as a Heathen he averaged 2.71 (Dudley website) but last night he looked a different rider and looked very good. True that he messed up his last ride completely which is disappointing. But after being dropped he seems to have taken it very professionally and has grabbed this chance with both hands rather than having a strop and turning it down, as may have been the case with some riders. I sincerely hope one or two NL Promoters/Team Managers have spotted this performance and consider giving James a chance. He'll give you 100% effort, that was always clear when he was riding for us, and now his professional approach is clear as is the raw talent and potential to score points. It just needs little things to fall into place for him and I think he could score consistently decent points. Well done James. Smarty - Looked fast, smooth and unbeatable for most of the meeting. He made a fast start to heat and recorded what was announced as a new NL track record. He missed the start badly in heat 10 but went from 3rd to 1st in the second half of the first lap to cruise to another win. He also missed the start badly to heat 15. The track was more slick and dusty by then so it would have been interesting to see if he could have caught and passed the visitors. It was not to be though as an engine failure robbed us of a potentially good race. It was a bit disappointing to end that way by that's life. I just hope this isn't the start of a run of bike problems, as it wouldn't be the first time for Lee. That's 4 for the season so they are beginning to add up a little. Dyer - Superb. I love watching him ride already. As I said prior to the meeting if he ends up with B'ham the fans will love watching him. As confirmed by a couple of comments by Brummies fans, he has a great style. He made a couple of great starts and also showed he could muscle his way through if needed too. Great ride in heat 10 to dive under Warwick going into the last lap. Another to end on a disappointing note though with a poor start to heat 15, and he never got near the IOW pairing. Perry - Well, what can we say about 'Fred' that hasn't been said before. From unknown 3-point reserve with no speedway experience to a guy that can go out and score 9+1 in the main body of the team in four months. His home average with bonus points is nearly 9, which is staggering and shows that with a bit of experience on a track he can quickly improve. I would expect his second visit to tracks around the league to reflect this and his points tally to generally improve quickly on the road too. Back to last night though and once again 'Fred' provided some of the best action. He stole 2nd place on the line in his first ride, went from 4th to 1st in his third ride and from 3rd to 1st in his fourth ride. Had James not come back in and done so well my MOTM would have gone to 'Fred'. I'm already looking forward to more good racing from him on Tuesday next week. Anderson - Probably the only real disappointment of the night came from Jake. I don't know what's happened to the stunning form he showed when he first came into the team but he seems to have levelled off as roughly a 7-point middle order man rather than the heat leader it initially looked he could be. It started well but he made mistakes under pressure in his first ride and slipped from 1st to last. His middle two rides were distinctly average but he did end on a high with a heat win. So good on ya Jake for bouncing back well. Armstrong - Continued he superb form of late. He seems to be well and truly back to his best now and is proving to be a very important rider for us. He put a nice forceful move on Warwick in a race that was sadly stopped and restarted due to a faller. It looked as though he'd done enough to see off Warwick but I'd have been interested to see if Warwick could have put him back under pressure and how Jon would have reacted to it. Great night for him and ended up being the only unbeaten rider. If he can transfer his best form to Monmore we're going to look very very strong in the latter part of the year. Morris - Terrific start to the meeting with two confident looking rides to take 4+2 from his first two. His night ended with relatively a poor ride but the difference looked largely to be the fact that he missed it and couldn't quite do enough from the back. He was on the pace and working very hard though so good form and a solid score from Ash. A great ride in the rerun of heat 7 when moving Warwick out on the first turn and leaving him room but few options was good to see. If he can make good starts and be right in the mix like this more often the point are going to start to flow very nicely. Sarjeant - Already covered above. Couldn't be happier to see him finally pick up the point his effort deserves. Well done again James. Simmons - The good, the bad, and the indifferent from Nick. He won't be happy to be 5-1'd twice, particularly in heat 1 moreso than heat 13 I would think. A decent enough 2nd place thrown into the mix with a paid win in his last ride. But without doubt his best was saved for when it was most important (on paper at least - not that it mattered in the end). He went from 3rd to 1st when on a tactical in what must be described as the visitors' best ride of the night. Decent enough night on the whole, but support was lacking. Scarboro - Was never really in the meeting to be honest. There's nothing I can add. Sorry. Johnson - Improved as the night went on and was more in the mix by the end. Poor score but 'getting there' might be a good way to describe it. Warwick - Provided the only real resistance to the Heathens apart from Simmons. Top and tailed his night with heat wins, was well in the race with Armstrong in heat 7 when it was stopped and typically the rerun didn't go so well, and was generally there or thereabouts for the visitors. A good night for him as he scored in every ride. Hopwood - Frankly I thought he was very poor and I expected so much more. Only scored by beating his reserve team mate twice and fell when last on the tactical ride. Very poor on the night. Felton - Looked outclassed by the Heathens early on but came good in the end. He beat Anderson, Morris and Sarjeant in his last three rides. Solid effort and free from blame for the heavy defeat. Hill - Looked out of his depth if I'm honest. Another that was never really in the meeting so comments are hard to make. Just a point gained and that was by beating his equally poor team mate Scarboro.

I beg to differ so I'll PM you my number again.

Which is good news. I'm happy to welcome James back in place of Rich for this meeting. He won the reserves heat in April so hopefully he remembers that and goes in to the meeting with some confidence. Perhaps or should that be probably?! I would suggest he's being lined up for a place with B'ham in '11, assuming the rest of this season goes well at NL level of course. First impressions are that he is another off the Aussie production line. And of note more than anything is that Gino looks more and more impressive pretty much with every lap completed. I'll step in but have had problems on and off with my phone so if there's anyone else that can do it...

I'm nervously looking forward to this one. We're in great form at the moment and on a surge toward a play-off place if we can take all the points tomorrow. But as stated above this is basically an away meeting for the Heathens as well as the visitors. I have no worries about Smarty and Jake has no excuses not to score well. Armstrong may get through it on confidence alone, but hasn't ridden there this season as he joined us after our early April meeting against the Americans. Rich (only relevant if he rides) won a couple of races back in April but also ran a couple of last places. Likewise Ash won a heat but ran last places too. 'Fred' had a fantastic debut scoring in every ride for paid 9, though not winning a ride. And not forgetting of course that we lost the meeting. So it's a bit of a mixed bag for our boys in our only meeting at PB this season. I'm looking forward to seeing Micky again. He has a fantastic style and is great to watch. PB is a fair bit more round than Monmore so should suit his style even if it takes him a couple of rides to weigh it up and get the right set-up (hopefully Smarty is on hand on that score for the Heathens). I'd fancy us to cruise to a comfortable win if we were at Monmore, but being at PB for the first time since the open weeks of the season just puts a slight question mark over predicting the outcome. I will be very disappointed if we don't take the points but it I do fear the early heats could be tight as our boys readjust. Ommer Um!!

What a terrific result for the Heathens. Well done lads. We seem to be building a bit of momentum towards the play-offs now after a couple of months where it looked as though it may be out of reach. Good to know Rich is relatively okay after his crash.

Getting back to the original point - Dyer was superb on Tuesday night. He had two match races against Anderson on Monday night after the Wolves meeting. In the first he couldn't get to grips with the track at all and completely gave up after two laps, free-wheeling around in the end. In the second he rode two very good laps to lead Anderson with a bit to spare, but was then badly caught out on turn two on the last two laps and let his new team mate through for the win. So not the most promising signs ahead of his first meeting. But that was soon turned on it's head. Solid 3rd places and challenging for 2nd in his first two rides was followed by two very, very impressive rides and heat wins with plenty to spare. The confidence was oozing out of him as he chucked it in to the tight turns hard and fast, hanging off the bike in the process. I think it was going in to lap 3 of heat 8 when he threw it in very early and was already broadsiding less than half way between the start line and the first turn, hanging off the bike and clinging on for dear life. I've been watching speedway at Monmore most weeks since the start of '98 and although this is a lower level I can honestly say he took to the track better on his debut than all but two riders I've seen in the past (K Cegielski and L Bridger - for the record). From not being able to get around it to winning with such a terrific style in just 4 minutes of racing around Monmore is impressive. Like it or loathe it I think the Aussies might have another youngster with a good chance of going a long way in the sport. It will be very interesting to see how he goes against the stronger riders/teams in the league.

And had he maintained it I doubt he'd have been dropped. However, he has struggled and his average has dropped by a point to under 3. How many 3-point riders in any of our leagues get more than half a season to improve before being replaced? I don't know why it's just the Brummies that are getting some stick off you. We have Wolves and Coventry assets riding for us. And lets highlight that one of them happens to be James so where he ends up is nothing to do with Scunthorpe, Birmingham or Dudley. It's for him and Coventry to sort out. --------------------------------- For the third time - Are there any young 6-point Brits that could have come in for us instead? It's a genuine question that seems to have been completely ignored by those more familiar with this level of racing than me. *edit* typo

'Fred' had only done 5 when the club had done 6 because he missed a meeting. Therefore, he remains on his start average. Those that had completed 6 got a new average. I am sure.

There's nothing strange about it at all. 'Fred' missed a meeting early on because he had a prior commitment in a grasstrack meeting. He had only completed 5 meetings rather than 6 at the cut-off for June averages. Therefore, he stays on 3.00 and remains at reserve.

That's a bit rich coming from a Sheffield fan. I seem to recall its fans calling for heads to roll when some riders were under-performing not so long ago. The bottom line is, irrespective of nationality, that James has dropped more than a point off his average. He's had half a season not just a couple of meetings. As I said previously, the stats don't lie. He's failed to score in half his races and has failed to win a heat. Our team was under the points limit at the start of the year. Ben Taylor's replacement Jon Armstrong (two Brits BTW ) has not scored as heavily as most expected Ben to this season (Ben should have been well over 8, perhaps about 9, while Jon is just over 7) so we've lost out at the top end there. Ashley Morris has struggled to find consistency at number 2 and his average has dropped to just over 3 so we've lost out in the middle order too. With a weaker link than hoped for in all three main areas of the team something needed to be done if we were to remain competitive in the second half of the season. With the dip in average from some riders we can fit a 6-pointer in at 2 and let Ash regain his confidence at reserve. He's got the ability to score well, we've seen it from time-to-time. Hopefully and easier first ride will get him off to a flyer and settle him down for the rest of the meeting. We still have 6 out of 8 Brits in the team, Ando coming in was forced on us due to injury problems at the start of the year so this is the only change due to form. I asked earlier and I'll ask again, as I'm not as familiar with this level of racing as EL/PL, are there even any 6-point Brits available? With due respect do you not think the official website ought to get it right? It's hardly surprising that some see the sport as 'mickey mouse' when you think about it. The website, in the 21st century, will be the first port of call for official information about the sport to many/most (certainly new-comers I would think). To think it can't get the name of its leagues correct is shocking. I can't imagine any visitors to the site thinking they ought to search for the rule book to check the name of the leagues are correct. Also, admittedly at a glance rather than studying it, the rule book refers to the league as the 'National Development League'. 'British' does not appear in the title. Perhaps the intention was for the league to develop English talent. Ban the Scots I say!!

Two things in response to that. 1) I am still not all that familiar with all the riders at this level. Can you give me a list of Brits on a 6-point Brits that could have come in? 2) Being the best option for a club is not entirely about having the right average. If B'ham want to have a look at him with a view to next season, or perhaps beyond, it is a sensible option that he has a run out for the Heathens. We will be riding some meetings at PB so it will raise interest amongst the Brummies fans and perhaps raise attendance to the Heathens meetings a little. It's important that the Heathens can be a commercial success as well this season. As I posted earlier - We've had half a season and unfortunately James has been unable to turn the corner. The stat's don't lie. It's not as though the Heathens have dropped someone in form. I'm sure James himself would admit it's been a disappointing run of form.

Was that really the most constructive comment you could think of? For the record - yes I have seen the league. We're 6th, a little way off 4th but will race our 6th away meeting before we race our 4th home meeting. So with home meetings in hand and a re-shaped team that is nearer the points limit we could make a push for a play-off place.

Having built a team well under the points limit at the start of the year that was packed with Brits I'd have thought you'd be happy with the approach the club took? Is it's the Heathens fault that Sarj has been in poor form and that the best option to re-jig the team within the rules happens to be an Aussie? I would love to have seen him turn the corner and start to score well for us but it hasn't happened. He's failed to score in exactly half of his races, has failed to win a heat all season and is averaging under 3 (Dudley website stats). Having started under the points limit and having also seen Morris struggle to find some consistency (his average is just over 3) the club needed to do something if it is to make a push for a play-off place. There are still plenty of Brits in the team. I genuinely don't understand the reaction by many. Perhaps it's just anti-Aussie nonsense? Jealousy about the fact that at the moment they're producing a lot of young talented riders? It's swings and roundabouts. Most of the established nations have had periods of producing a lot of riders or virtually none. The USA being the most obvious example, and perhaps the Kiwis from a little earlier. Lots of Aussies and Poles around at the moment but not many Brits and Swedes. C'est la vie. *edit* p.s. Best wishes James. There's no doubt you gave your all. I hope you get fixed up somewhere soon and start scoring more freely. And welcome Micky. I look forward to seeing you in action soon.

I hope that's not an analogy?!!

Lora where are you? Next time I see you we're going to have to have another one of those 'Lora's phone pics' sessions. My money is on you at whatever the odds.

Gotta get yer kicks somehow!!

Ladbrokes 40/1 for Holta, Bjerre and Lindgren must be worth an e/w at ¼.

The kid can ride and I think there's a good chance he'll follow in Tai's tyre tracks and ride as a Brit in due course.

The graphic at the end of the video should read 'The Beginning'.