21st century heathen

My understanding is that it would be based purely on points difference regardless of the results against each other. If it were allowed to go down to the wire in a good old fashioned scrap for the title and all three finished on 45 then the current situation before the final few meetings would be as follows. Team For Against Difference Buxton 860 690 +170 Dudley 819 656 +163 Newport 782 664 +118 On paper it would be a tough job for Newport to bridge the gap as they would need two very big away wins or for both Buxton and Dudley to slip up badly. Again on paper it would be advantage Dudley with two home meetings to come and only a 7 point points advantage to bridge. But it would still require us to actually go out and do the business on track and who knows how many of the young and inexperienced riders involved for all teams would handle the pressure of it being so very close. But as I said none of this is relevant thanks to the play offs meaning whoever ends up fourth could steal it away. Buxton Newport Dudley at the deadline is my guess. And with apologies to the teams involved I haven't looked to see who can fit in meetings before the deadline for the fourth place battle.

It says TBA on the website, so I was assuming they would be pushing to get it on this week if at all possible. But as Will has said it's Newport that could yet be the threat. They have two away meetings this week scheduled before the cut-off date. Top spot is in their hands. I would be surprised, and disappointed, too. But then I was surprised, and disappointed, when Mildenhall turned us over at Monmore. Just look at recent results around the country. Nothing is a given. You're got to get out there and earn it. --------------------------------------------------------- What is most disappointing about the whole situation is that the hateful play-offs are going to ruin the most exciting end to a season I can recall. Buxton, the Heathens and Newport can all finish on 45 if they take maximum points from their remaining fixtures. How intense would the end to the season be if all three knew they needed every single race point available to take the title on points difference?! Instead I find myself hoping others have postponed meetings, a wish that doesn't sit well with me, because I think from our point of view finishing top of the table could be an important tool is sticking it to Dudley Council.

Individual meeting threads will be added as and when they are upon us. One thread for all meetings is not suitable as many members are looking for information on an individual meeting.

Oh yeah, forgot about the deadline. That's annoying!! There goes our chance to top the table. Our only chance would be for next week's meeting to be re-staged this coming Sunday, but I would doubt that it will be. It'll be a huge shame if/when the weather intervenes with the final league table, same goes for the EL, but that's life. Parsloes - Our two remaining home meetings v the southerners are at PB, not Monmore. Both were originally scheduled to be at PB but were rained off. We've had just the one NL fixture at PB so our lads are not so experienced around there. That potentially opens the door for a shock result. We did win that one fixture, v IOW, with plenty to spare though (60-33).

Depends how you look at it mate. 9.50 home (higher than Armstrong) and 3.50 away (lower) = 6.50 o/a (lower). Armstrong was in really good form just before his injury. His o/a average is8.36. We've been significantly weakened.

No doubt that most of the PL would thrash the Heathens out of sight. But Evans, and I, refer to lower order PL teams. Stoke would be a good team to face but obviously Smart rides for both which is a shame (perhaps they could use a guest for him). Our lads have been invited up to Stoke, and not forgetting that Cradley moving up there for a year revived the club in its own right, to practice a few times this season so perhaps free dates permitting perhaps a 2-leg challenge would be a nice way to say thanks. Thoughts?

I reckon we could compile a list of the most likely to cry-off around the middle of March.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hans and PK both pull out, and I wouldn't be surprised if KK found a reason not to be there. Are Wolves going to use Klindt as Skornicki is not 100% yet and Wolves have bigger fish to fry with the POs just around the corner? Anyone that buys a ticket up front for this or the ELRC needs their head read!

Tom Jones, Rob Brydon, Ryan Giggs, Griff Rhys-Jones, Charlotte Church, Catherine Zeta Jones, Cerys Mathews, Neil Kinnock, Terry Jones, Aled Jones, Shawn Brown - your boys took one hell of a beating!!! Superb meeting with lots of passing by the Heathens riders and a cracking result. Totally unexpected but very welcome indeed. As for Evans' comment about giving a lower order PL team a run for their money at Monmore there are two things I would say. 1) I think he was only half serious. 2) He may have a point. Giving a team a run for their money is not all about the final result. At Monmore I think Smart and Evans could win races against some PL heat leaders, and the rest of the lads can be quick enough at times to at least give the lower order PL riders one or two things to think about. We'd get thumped in the middle order though.

Don't get ahead of yourself mate. The lads have still got to go out and do the business on track. Remember the Mildenhall fixture at Monmore? ---------------------------------------------------- Another comeback on the road and three welcome points. Just imagine where we would be if the lads could get going from heat 1. Looks as though Richard's withdrawal was nothing more than a precaution which is great news.

That fixture is listed as Wed 8th on the Dudley website. http://dudleyspeedway.com/fixtures10.php Only the KOC fixtures are listed as later than the 12th.

A further thought occurs - Try to announce it with a minimum of a full year notice, preferably more, if you want any significant numbers to travel from Europe. A lot of people plan their holiday a year in advance to get decent prices and to give themselves time to save the pennies.

I think the most realistic way of this coming off would be to effectively have a mini-series in Aus and NZ before the European season gets under way. It would be more cost-effective (shipping of all equipment) for the riders to travel for say four meetings (for eg) rather than a one-off. Run them every two weeks in Jan and Feb before everyone heads back to Europe in Mar/Apr (depending on where they're riding their league racing). It would also be more attractive to European travellers to go all the way to either Aus or NZ for a couple of meetings rather than for one.

Question - Are you still classed as working if you're not paid but have your 'costs' reimbursed?

WOW!! I know that Rye were significantly weakened but I was only joking when I mentioned the sort of score line required to go top. I genuinely didn't expect such a big score. All the lads were in great form and all clicked on the same night. We have a very solid looking line-up and they all delivered a top performance. In that form we'd have beaten anybody so hopefully the Rye lads put it down to experience and don't let it affect them ahead of the next meeting. Smart - In complete cruise control most of the night. Had to turn it on at the last to pass Hughes and was forced to work all the way to the line to stay ahead. Good to see him looking out for Dyer. What I particularly liked was that he wasn't interested in the individual glory of heat wins and backed right off to allow Dyer to lead their first two races together. He allowed Dyer the whole track and just covered him from behind which is smart (forgive the pun) riding with an inexperienced team mate when you're not under a great deal of pressure. He left Dyer in heat 10 but the Aussie was well clear in 2nd and under no pressure anyway. Dyer - Good gating generally (missed one by about a week and a half though ) and looked smooth, comfortable and quick. He's improving quickly and looks like another young Aussie to look out for in a few years time. He's got a great style when he's really on it as well. He deserved heat 15 but it was a shame in the end that he didn't 'bank' the first maximum in British Speedway. Perry - Pah! Gating tart. It's not often 'Fred' can't pick them off when he makes a poor start but we saw it once last night. He slipped up in his second when an okayish start left him boxed in for a lap and stuck at the back. Ironically a really bad start would have probably resulted in more options on the first lap, but that happens. He was all over Mason like a cheap set of kevlars for the full four laps but missed out by half a bike length on the line. His gating in his other riders was better than his average and if/when he finds the key to more consistent starting he's going to become an even greater threat, even away from home. He looked very comfortable and quick in his three winning rides. Andersen - His best home performance for a good while. He didn't look as quick as the rest of the top five but made good starts and managed to string together a lot of laps without any mistakes. He even made Hughes work extremely hard for a rare away heat win. What I was really happy with, despite the fact that Hughes got him in the end, was that he didn't let the extreme pressure force him into a mistake. That's important from Jake. Don't give them anything easy. Make them do it the hard way and if they pass you then take the points and don't fall or make a big mistake that puts you at the back. Evans - Terrific start at home for him and he looked determined to put last Wed behind him. There's nothing to complain about if he is only dropping the odd point to the visitors number 1 (would have been 2 points dropped if Hughes hadn't fallen in heat 13). And he had the balls to face the fans in an after meeting interview and apologised to the travelling support for his poor score at Poole. It's extremely rare you'll hear a rider come out and make an honest apology like that. Top marks and a it was well appreciated by the crowd. Morris - Great night for Ash. Top and tailed his night with very easy wins looking quick and comfortable while leading. Challenged for 2nd in his second outing having come through to 3rd. Great effort in that ride. Almost overdid the effort and came close to blowing it but recovered well to take the odd point. Solid third in his third ride to. Scored in every ride which should give him increasing confidence that despite dropping to reserve he can get on terms with the middle order riders. Franklin - Similarly Rich had a great night. Coming through a couple of times as required but made much better starts in a couple of rides which was good to see. Very solid night for Rich and just dropped a point to Hughes, who he actually led briefly. For the visitors Hughes obviously led the scorers but didn't help himself or the team by falling twice. I'm not sure there was more than a point in it for him in heat 1 but he had two points in the bag in heat 13 so at least 3 points slipped away there. That apart he looked quick at times and kept the Heathens on their toes, and ruined a handful of maximum hopes while he was at it. Mason was the best of the rest as he took a point away from both Perry and Mason. None of the others were able to take any points from the Heathens and rarely did it look as though they had anything like that pace required to challenge. On a positive note I would generalise that the Rye lads rode the track ok and weren't all over the place falling in every other heat.

There's no doubt that, unusually, on the night you needed to be on the fence by the latter part of the meeting. So yes I quite agree that it could simply be that it was the place to be.

He was very good value at PB back in the Spring. I reckon there's a fair few Promoters that will be very happy to have the chance to take another look at him with a view to seeing how he progresses over the next year or two.

Shame about the injuries but a chance to see Birks softens the blow a bit. All three points and no silly slip-ups required for the Heathens after seeing Newport and Buxton do the business in their meetings. 65-25 would put us top (I think) but I'll take anything that gives us all the points.

Okish meeting with some decent races and a couple of crackers. Nic v Ty was the pick of the lot. Nic went from last to first in that one and at that point he was looking very fast and as though he would be a genuine threat to Tai. When it came right down to it though Tai beat Nic by half the length of the straight. Deserved winner. Woffinden - Superb all night. Wolbert - Got better with each ride and was very fast around the fence by the end of the night. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the track had allowed more lines late on. In other words is riding the fence on a small track all he knows or does he have the track craft usually required at Monmore? Can't argue with 4 straight wins though so well deserved 2nd place. Klindt - Started the meeting looking very fast and determined. Lacked that little extra bit to be on the pace with Tai. Beaten to the fast line by Wolbert in the run-off but actually looked faster, but lost ground when he tried to move around the track. Caught back up when he reverted to the wide outside. Easily amongst the best 3 on show. Proctor - A touch below his EL best as he missed the gate against what was lesser quality opposition to normal. Good speed and track craft to pick up points from the back though. Involved in a superb race with Fisher. Was a bit naughty with Masters in my opinion and I'm not surprised Masters had a pop at him. There seemed to real need for him to ride to the fence like that. He had the pass done and dusted but came very close to knocking Masters off. He stropped after finishing second in his previous race and not for the first time this season put a very hard move on someone in his next ride. It's just my humble opinion but I think he needs to chill a bit at times or there's going to be a crash sometime soon. That apart he rode well for a double figure score, but not quite up to the standard of the top 3. Wethers, Fisher and Larsen can all be summed up as one. They all rode well at times and rather like Proctor were well deserving of being amongst the leading pack but ultimately were not on the pace of the top 3. Ingalls and Wells both did a solid job in the middle of the pack with 7 points each. Ingalls should be please to have scored on every ride and was always in the mix but got pushed back to 3rd a couple of times. Good win in the end. Wells stuffed up his first ride with a bad start but then showed he can get out the gate well enough and scored in every other ride. If he can consistently make these better starts there is clearly some improvement in him. Masters was always in the mix for the minor placings and 5 is probably fair reward for the way the evening panned out for him. For what it's worth, I'm sure some will choose to ignore me , he confrontation with Proctor wasn't that big a deal. He gave Proctor a bit of a shove and it seemed to me that Proctor just lost his balance and fell off while standing still. It's not as though it was something along the lines of what Screen did to Nilsen after a race at Hull(?) live on Sky, if your speedway memory goes back that far. Haines was a disappointment for me. I thought he may score better and finish around the 7 point mark. He didn't look particularly quick or comfortable. He even had to get his ass into gear to pass Perry in one heat. Katajisto and Tresarrieu huffed and puffed early on in a few races but generally went backwards as the races unfolded and neither can complain that they were hard done by to end up on 4. Poole was a disappointment too. I expected he might be a bit of a spoiler to the middle/lower order riders but that never came to fruition. He too can have no complaints with 3 points. Perry and Morris were obviously left at the back more often than not but a couple of things pleased me for each. Firstly the fact that they both scored a genuine point was good. Perry looked the better of the two overall as he made reasonable starts and off the top of my head I fairly sure he had to be passed in every ride. Morris can argue his was a better point that Perry's though as he beat Katajisto for his odd point (Perry having beaten Morris for his point). Neither were that far off the pace but every little mistake gets punished by dropping 10m back when you effectively race a league above your current ability. Thankfully neither were embarrassed by being dropped off ¼ lap+ off the back of the 3rd place man. Decent effort lads and most importantly they came through it unscathed ready for important stuff tonight. *edit* Should have said that if Larsen and Wolbert aren't EL next season I'll be surprised. They're ready.

I hard to argue that the system is anything other than ridiculous. We've seen on more than one occasion that a rider can qualify for the semi on 6 points. He could then finish second to make the final with just 8 points. He could win the final to take a total of 14 points from the GP. Another rider could win his five rides for 15 points, take the semi too for 18 points and finish second in the final for a total of 22. The 'winner' takes 14 points toward the championship race and the first loser takes 22 points. Hmmmm... 5 rides each multiplied by 'x' number of rounds would be my preference too.

Tai Nic Ty ...and hopefully 'Fred' can find a point or two somewhere.

Or perhaps the Heathens camp have more pressing matters than a piffling challenge against a bunch of wannabes. Hope our boys are reading this. They're dialled in quite nicely at Monmore now. In five official fixtures at Monmore we've averaged 57 points per meeting. Bring it!!

Just been confirmed on the Cricket coverage that the speedway will be on the red button from 6pm on SS1. *edit* there never was much to choose between Cradley and Wolves. We'll call that a dead heat.

I'm assuming, and hoping, it's now on the red button from the start rather than the first hour on SS1 then the switch.

It's repeated in full at 12:30 tonight (tomorrow morning). If you want to record it then set your timer for that one. It's frustrating that it's on the red button tonight because I tend to watch it on time-slip and skip the adverts. Bit of a slap in the face for speedway but I haven't looked at viewing figures this year. Perhaps it's down.