21st century heathen

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.

We've only had light rain so far and that won't have caused any problems with the track. The radar suggests some heavier rain is possible/likely, but I would be very hopeful that with the weather having been soooo dry of late that the track can take it. After several hours of moderate rain yesterday the track staff still had to water the track before the Wolves v Swindon meeting, and Monmore does take the water well these days (and has done for many years now). A short delay, if required, to allow time for falling rain to stop would be acceptable as far as I'm concerned because I genuinely don't expect the track to become unridable. It's a cracking looking line-up at this level and very tricky to pick a winner, or for that matter to pick a general finishing order throughout the field.

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.

One could argue it would have looked a lot worse to have a spread out crowd that was on the low side for a big meeting. The crowd on Monday was no bigger than we're getting there for the Dudley Heathens meetings. Thankfully the riders felt that was enough and showed plenty of determination to achieve the honour of being named British Champion. Quite right. 10/16, or 18 with the reserves, is impressive. I was just trying to remember what I had counted rather than actually counting again in my head.

Sorry mate, can't agree. And I, like you, admit to being an EL snob (although I am watching all 3 leagues this season). We weren't cheated of anything. Rico and Tai failed to qualify because they weren't good enough on the day. I have no problem with that. Do you think the GP Quali Final should be seeded to make sure all the best riders are in with a chance or are you happy with the Qualifiers being run? Hmmm... Perhaps in this day and age you have a point, but as I said there were fans from all over the country rather than just locally from Wolves, Heathens, Brummies and Bees. I would like to see more PL action too, but I don't for one minute think there will be more than 2/3 a season at the moment. In years to come? Perhaps, but I won't hold my breath. I wonder whether Sky would consider more PL speedway through the early summer when there is no league football taking up half its schedule? It wasn't absolutely perfect but there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it. It was grippy and riders and machines are not really used to it so it took some of them a ride or two to settle (Allen for example was better later on - though unlucky in heat 1 in my opinion when squeezed out). Monmore is more technical a lot of tracks and you have to turn the throttle both ways which some riders don't like to do. It's almost a case of slow down a bit and you'll go faster. Turn two catches out much better riders than the like of Clews, Frampton, Lanham etc. No disrespect to these guys, they're good at what they do. For example Lanham is best known for being able to pootle around the curb on a slick track. The fact that he drifted out on a grippy track was no surprise to me. Ryan Sullivan, for example, never got the hang of Monmore and even when Dryml was flying in the GP he was crap at Monmore. KK can't ride it unless it's slick and he makes the start. Zagar, likewise. He actually pulled out of his first two rides at Monmore and then was flying later when it slickened off. AJ and Rico aren't great there and openly don't like it. What I'm trying to say is that although it appeared to have a couple of patches that were a bit dodgy, no doubt caused by all the heavy rain, most of the mistakes seen were due to either riders that aren't very good at Monmore or riders riding too hard. I think I counted 8 past and present Cov riders in the field. Who says British clubs don't invest in British riders?! A significant factor, but I still agree with having semi-finals. And having them at the lesser riders preferred track type makes for more open semi's, which can only be a good thing. Hall was never going to beat King at Monmore but he was there on merit after doing a good job in the semi. Even the bookies knew he had no chance. King was 50-1 to win the meeting even though he had to come through that run-off. Hall was 500-1. So he had poor equipment and rode poorly.

Thanks for the info on the first bit. Could well be that both contributed but the bike definitely didn't sound right and Ed seemed reluctant to rev more than the bare minimum to keep it running. When he rolled passed on one lap (3 I think) it was almost as though it was rolling on tick-over (which I know it wasn't). He must have been concerned about a potentially big repair bill. It may be the bent foot rest was why he initially backed off. Well, my post was rather long so perhaps you forgot what I had said at the start by the time you got to the end. We had heavy rain late PM Sunday and I acknowledged that it looked as though there may have been 'soft' spots that were giving the riders more grip than they wanted. It definitely didn't have any more dirt than normal (to look at from the terrace). I'm with you in that passing solely due to rider error on a poor track is not the best but this was not the case last night. Most, if not all, of the incident after the first couple of heats was due to riders making mistakes that had nothing to do with the track or riders that are not always the best at Monmore. Bomber's crash was due to the track in one sense but I maintain my opinion that he was risking it by going in so fast and tight on a grippy track. The last Monmore meeting was good by the standard generally seen on Sky but below average standard at Monmore. Understandably, given as soon as the meeting finished it peed it down for 12 hours straight, it was prepared with rain in mind. I think they are supposed to be sat on the bike not just in contact with it. Could by a myth or the rule could have changed though. I'll have a look. Why should Woffinden and Rico been seeded? They had their chance to qualify and blew it. Congrats to the lads that knocked out a couple of big names. Bit harsh on the PL lads.

Yes. It rained heavily at times throughout last week and we had torrential rain on Sunday afternoon/evening. In fact the latter part of the RAF Cosford Air Show had to be cancelled due to the rain. I assume it was too dangerous to fly low and there was no point in them going above the cloud base. It often seems to rain at the Air Show but I don't remember it being called off due to downpour before. It looked as though there were a couple of soft patches giving more grip than expected at times and then perhaps the riders hitting a less grippy patch was catching them out slightly. Track prep was fine though. There was no more dirt than usual at Monmore. He had a machine failure on the first lap and had to nurse it home. That said he got off the bike before the line and technically should not have been given the point. Also, technically you could make a case for Scott not racing and could have been discluded. Both would have been a bit harsh and taking the rules literally though rather than applying a little common sense. Nonsense. The track was fine. Not a single rider, that I know off, had a bad word to say and not a single comment on the terrace around me about the track. If you aren't entertained by passing in virtually every heat I suggesting following another sport. Harris cause his own problems. He went in too fast and too tight given that there was plenty of grip down low. He held his hands up to just getting a bit more grip than he wanted. Read above and Bridger was riding like a nutter on a rocket last night. Very fast but far too impatient and desperate to succeed. I said to the person I was with that Bridger was going to either pass or crash as they headed for the 3rd turn in that heat because he was very lucky not to crash going in there on the previous lap. Terrible looking crash and I'm glad he walked away but it had nothing to do with the track. As above. There was a good interview with Scott in the local paper last night. The gist of it is that he's not interested in the GPs this season, he's happy just riding league speedway and is enjoying his racing for the first time for a couple of years, the nights off are family time and they don't even watch speedway at home, and he was desperate to regain his British Champion tag last night. That was more important to him the wild card. Ben was interviewed at the track before the semi last night and basically he surprised himself because "This is a track I normally hate and I don't think I've ever scored more than 5 here before...". It's amazing how many riders hate Monmore for a couple of years and then something finally clicks and they're away. Most recently Freddie Lindgren is the most obvious rider to have hated Monmore at first and I think everyone has seen how he can ride it now. Zagar is class but can't be bothered sometimes. He admitted giving up on Sky last season (Swindon v Eastie when he said there's no point carrying on when you're a long way behind?) and just a couple of weeks ago he gave up and pulled off the track at Monmore twice. Barker will never give up. I reckon if you told him there was 3 points in it for him he'd race you to the van after the meeting!! As above, Scotty was desperate to be crowned British Champion again and wasn't bothered about the wild card. The crowds everywhere are much lower than back then, not just for this meeting. Although it was a poor crowd for such a meeting. It doesn't get much more accessible than Monmore. Just a few miles off the M6 in the Midlands. There were fans there from such far flung places as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ipswich and Eastbourne (as well as many in between of course). As I've said earlier in the post anyone not entertained by that meeting needs to look at following another sport. Sky have shown PL and I'm sure they will again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In case anyone was still left wondering - I though it was a great meeting to watch live and look forward to reliving it when I can sit down and watch it. Well done to Bomber for a clean start in the final while the other three fell over each other. Gutted for Scotty as I'd like to have seen him win it. He was closing on Bomber in the final but was far to far behind on the first lap. Barker did better than expected and congrats to him too. D King can be good value at Monmore when he's on it, but I didn't think he'd go quite than well. Kennett inconsistent as expected, Robbo I said should be good value as long as he stayed on and so it proved (cracking race v Bomber), Stead a touch short of what I expected, Allen about where I expected although could have been a semi for him if he hadn't been squeezed out in his first, Wright didn't really do much of note for his points but did okay and Lanham was prety much the same, Bridger I said needed to keep a cool head in my pre-meeting comment and sadly he failed to do that but had good pace, J King was much better than expected and a big congrats to him on what I think is a great result for him, Clews and Schramm battled away but I was slightly disappointed with Tully in the end and especially after a strong opening ride, and Frampton was pretty anonymous despite winning a heat.

I assume so, but I wouldn't worry if not. I doubt you'll miss a good race. Most riders that are good at Sheffield but comparatively poor away are awful at Monmore. If Hall beats King fair and square at Monmore it will be one of the shocks of the season. I've got nothing against Hall. It's just that King is the better all-round rider and easily the better rider at Monmore. ----------------------------- I can't see anyone challenging Harris or Nicholls for the title. They're the top two on paper, on current form and based on their Monmore record. On paper Kennett should be third and the best bet as an outside to break into the top two, but his form is rather erratic this season. Stead is having a good season and in his younger years he was good value at Monmore. It could be an interesting battle between these two for the podium, but Bridger another that could challenge for a top three spot (must be in the mood and keep a cool head though). Allen should be the best of the rest as he can be useful without doing anything spectacular at Monmore. That said, Barker should be there or thereabouts as the best of the rest. It's not one of his favourite tracks but he tends to make up for it with sheer determination. Wright and Robo (if the latter stays on!! ) should be next in line. Robo has a good career record at Monmore and if the track is to his liking he could get in the way of a few and take potentially vital points away from higher placed riders. I fancy Schramm to top the chart of lower order ridera, perhaps challenged by Tully for that honour.

Good news as long as enough top NL stars are in the meeting.

Well the MetO forecasters were right so... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I can see the case for both declaring a result to the semi's and for re-running from scratch. Either way it would be hard to argue the decision is wrong so I'll just go with the flow and not moan. That said, from an entirely biased point of view I hope the result stands from the semi and the Heathens go into the final.

Which can be found here.

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.

Ooops amid all the on-track excitement I forgot to say it was nice to meet you. Hope to catch you again next time you're over this way.

Perhaps in a testimonial which should be about larking about and having a laugh more-so than the all-out desire to win. It has no place in a meeting like this. Perhaps P'brgh will turn up with orange and purple helmet colours? It would be comical after all. Must have been Bomber hey Rob?!! ---------------------------------------------- Serious question - Are the riders supposed to be using yellow and black quartered helmets this season or not?

There's something that hasn't been mentioned yet. Riders wearing the wrong helmet colour, and the referee missed it more than once. Hans Andersen even came out in black and white when he should have been in red!!!! Although everyone would seem to disagree I can understand that the ref can form an opinion on the first turn of the final and decide it should be allowed to continue, but wearing the right helmet colour is not about an opinion. Poor refereeing when you combine this with the decision to re-run a heat that was on the last lap, the failure to re-run the final after a terribly messy run to the first turn and the incredibly long time to run the meeting. I believe the final count on riders not finishing a race or barely getting to the line having ridden the last lap so slow was 10, and only Ed needed a lift back to the pits because of a genuine engine failure while leading Pedersen, Crump and Zagar by a mile. Conditions may not have been absolutely perfect and it may not be the most important meeting of the season to the riders but many were just extracting the urine last night. This was the worst aspect of the night as it would be a little easier to accept the lack of good racing if we could have seen every rider giving it 100% in every ride. Peter Yorke hasn't changed, sadly. After the tangle between Zengota and Zagar the Pole's bike was virtually carried off (I assume a buckled wheel because it wasn't the worst crash you'll ever see). The comment was something like 'well that's a new way to get a bike off track' which is a bit silly. And apparently Phil Crump once won the Brandonapolis light years ago. A light year is a measure of distance not time. And I hope 'the song' is ditched and not played over and over week after week. The whole evening was a major let down after seeing a couple of great meetings this season that proved good racing can happen in March. I sincerely hope there were no first-timers there last night.