21st century heathen

Thanks Bob. Nice to know that the slick conditions were perhaps to blame rather more than bad riding as such. As others have said I was under the impression he had never ridden speedway before. That said, before the season started there was a quote from 'Fred' saying he'd only had about an hour's practice on a speedway bike. I wonder if this has been misinterpreted and he was referring to previous meetings and we, the fans, thought he meant actual practice rather than proper meetings? In any case he came into the season with virtually no speedway experience and has made the switch from grasstrack to speedway very well indeed. It's been a pleasure to watch him improve his track craft at Monmore. At the start of the year all he knew was wide lines and keep the momentum up. He's now learning to turn the throttle both ways and has made a number of inside passes in recent weeks. I would agree with that. Rich needs to get his act together on the road. Not just for us in the short term but I mean for himself and his career in general. I'm sure he is disappointed and is trying though. So chin up Rich. There's always another meeting just around the corner to put things right. That sounds like a contender for cock up of the season. True. But the contrast is almost unbelievable. His home average is 7.81 (8.57) and his away average is 3.14 (3.71). Now he's at reserve he should be turning it around, rather like Ash has. As above though, while he wears a Heathens jacket Rich has my support and I reckon he'll have a good one on Tue. It's only natural to concentrate on what went wrong when you lose and what went right when you win. Some of the lads had a nightmare and have rightly been criticised for it. I haven't seen any comments that are over the top. I think everyone has just been honest in stating where points were lost. There have been plenty of positives throughout the season and I'm sure the lads have enjoyed taking all the praise that's been heaped on them at different times. Equally they need to take it on the chin if they get a bit of stick for a bad performance.

I wasn't there mate but I'd have fancied our boys if there was more dirt on it. The Bournemouth riders must have been asleep if the Heathens were out-gating them. Apart from Smarty, ironically, they are dreadful from the gate most of the time. I've lost count of the number of times Perry has gone from last to first, and Franklin is a different rider on his home track/s. Morris has scored a fair few from the back too. If the track was as bad as comments generally suggest then it's no surprise Perry had his worst meeting of his short career really. A very slick track would be completely alien to him having come from grasstrack.

I reckon the Heathens would be up for a re-match.

Rich has ridden very well at home and he deserves a lot of credit for his performances in those meetings. Equally he deserves any criticism because his away form is shocking. There's no getting away from the fact that it's not just since the crash a few weeks ago. You only have a 3-point average after several meetings if you're consistently struggling. Still, we have a run of home meetings over the next few weeks so we can look forward to some very solid performances by the Heathens if form so far is anything to go by.

Here are the scorers, taken from the Dudley website. BOURNEMOUTH: Mark Baseby 12, Jerran Hart 11, James Brundle 9+1, James Sargeant 8+3, Kyle Howarth 6+1, Danny Stoneman 2+1. Aaron Baseby 2. DUDLEY: Lee Smart 14+1, Jake Anderson 14, Ashley Morris 8+1, Mickey Dyer 6+1, Barrie Evans 2, Tom Perry 1+1, Richard Franklin 0 .

I say that you beat me to it mate. I know Tim Hamblin who does the reports for the E&S so I'll ask him if he could get a line in on the next speedway news that's in the E&S. After losing at Bournemouth last night we could do with nicking a draw at your place if you can find it in your heart to stretch that far rather than narrow win?!! I agree with you. I don't like the play-offs and would rather whoever tops the league take the title. Whether that be Dudley, Newport or even one of Buxton or Bournemouth then so-be-it. Just 3-points separate the top four now but the run-in is somewhat ruined by the fact that ultimately it doesn't really matter what order they finish in as all four look destined for the play-offs, although Rye still have a slim chance with their meetings in hand.

Having not been there to see it myself I don't know whether to be gutted that 'Fred' had such a nightmare, disappointed by a shocking debut for Evans, annoyed by the continuing poor form by Rich (3-point average away ) on the road or proud of the rest for a cracking effort to get back in to the meeting and claim a potential vital point. It feels like another one that got away from us on the road. Surely the win was there for the taking on another day. Hey-ho, we're joint top and I didn't expect that just a few weeks ago. This result probably means we need something out of the IOW meeting and will probably need to beat Newport at home to top the league. Ultimately topping league means little but it would be a nice feather in the cap and a nice bit of positive marketing potential for the club and potential negative media coverage for Dudley Council. Surely if the local tv news/papers/radio report Dudley's most successful sports team has topped the league but had to ride outside the town to do so it would be embarrassing for the Council and may make them sit up and take note (I won't hold my breath though). But all that aside congrats to Bournemouth and a special mention for Sarj. I'm delighted to see him scoring points, even though it cost us the meeting in many respects. Having averaged less than 3 for us I was of the opinion that dropping him was absolutely the right decision. I was also of the opinion that he was giving it everything he'd got and that he was capable of much more, but for whatever reason it was just not working out for him. He was a superb guest for us in our home meeting at B'ham a couple of weeks ago and paid 11 last night is almost half the number he scored for us in all 7 meetings he had in Heathens colours (paid 24 in total). Great effort.

Fantastic gesture. With your permission I would like to copy your post to the Cradley forum. Is that okay?

By NL standards it probably is. Attendances have been good though so having got ourselves into a strong position I think the guys have made the right decision in thinking we might as well go for it now. If it costs a bit more and trims the profit margins then so-be-it. Newport are still the stronger team on paper. Our home league meeting against them could be a cracker and very telling. They're the only team to beat us easily but it was a weakened team that went down there a couple of months ago. ---------------------------------------------- I'm a bit gutted for everyone that made the trip down. But the ref has a job to do and can't take into consideration who has had to travel from where. Safety first etc.

Good news after a night and morning of heavy rain for so many paces around the UK. From the Heathens website: HEATHENS HEAD SOUTH MONDAY 09 AUGUST 2010 DUDLEY Heathens continue their surge towards the National League play-offs with a southern tour starting on Tuesday. The former Cradley club are taking big numbers of loyal fans to the Isle of Wight on Tuesday and then Poole on Wednesday for the meeting with Bournemouth. Heathens hand a debut to Barrie Evans after signing him as cover for the injured Jon Armstrong. Boss Will Pottinger said: "Our big win over the Isle of Wight at Perry Barr will count for nothing as they are a different side on their big home track. "Bournemouth have added Jerran Hart which makes them stronger at the top end of their team so we are expecting two very tough away matches but we'll give it our best shot and look to come away from each meeting with at least a point. "I know there's a lot of Heathens supporters travelling south which should be great motivation for our boys so hopefully we can pick up some points and make it a worthwhile journey for them." ISLE OF WIGHT: Nick Simmons, Lee Smethills, Danny Warwick, Brendan Johnson, Ben Hopwood, Dean Felton, Tom Hill. DUDLEY: Lee Smart, Micky Dyer, Tom Perry, Jake Anderson, Barrie Evans, Ashley Morris, Richard Franklin. I would like to think that the Heathens can continue their run of good form and season-long strong away performances this week. A point from each meeting would be perfectly acceptable, but a win from one of them and the odd point from the other to put us top would be very nice indeed.

No info on the website mate. Contact the club direct would be my advice.

I understand the arguments for and against the various suggestions of names. As long as we maintain the Heathens nickname I think the fans will accept the club as their own. As for the particular point raised at the start of the thread - Meh, old habits die hard. For many it's simply an obvious connection and all too easy to say Cradley but you're right that it's actually Dudley. The bottom line is that after more than a decade we have a team to call our own and to go out and actively support rather than just watching other clubs. I'll take that for now, even if one of 'our' riders wears Wolves kevs.

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...

You are welcome.

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!!

No, not any more. We used to have that rule in British Speedway for many years. But it was recently dropped in favour of the current rule.

Welcome to the forum. Your English is fine. Please feel free to join in. A team may use a 'tactical ride' when 10 or more points behind. The rider nominated for the 'tactical ride' will start from the tapes as usual but he will score double points if he beats a rider from the other team. If the team falls 12 points behind later in the meeting the team manager can nominate a different rider to take a 'tactical ride'. A 'tactical ride' can only be used after heat 4 and may not be used in heat 15.