21st century heathen

Yeah, big shock!!! Wonder who else will just fail to turn up? There's still no headline story about the meeting on the BSPA website. It's tucked away in the Super 7even Series bit and someone has been updating it. The only change missing is this latest one with Richardson pulling out. Seems to me that our beloved leaders are trying to slip all the changes in under the radar by not highlighing the changes with a headline story on the meeting. How dumb do they think we are?!! http://www.british-speedway.co.uk/elrc.html

Because this is an official fixture and he should keep the date clear in his diary. Unless he had no intention of riding well enough to get an invite and despite not being a number one he's surprised not to have been poor enough to miss it!!

So he was under the impression it was a 9 rider field, or as LS said that we have a 16 club league?!! Sorry, but that's just another poor excuse from one of the top riders.

...and so it begins!! Fair enough. I'll certainly make a point of taking it back if he does turn out.

That's an horrific injury. Reminds me of the one Scott had several years ago as well.

Maybe the BSPA are busy handling all the "I can't make it" calls.

Tomasz Michnicki was the rider in question and he was dreadful. One of the worst professional displays you will ever see, and bare in mind that at the start of the season I saw Joel Parsons fall off in 6 of his opening 8 rides for Coventry!!! Michnicki fell on his own on the first turn of his first ride but was invited back in an 'all-four' decision (the first of many crap refereeing decisions on the night). He then fell and got the boot in the re-run. In his next two he struggled to slide the bike properly and gave up, not finishing either race, and in his final outing he again struggled badly and eventually crashed and was elbowed from the re-run. ---------- More importantly - Early reports track-side were that the noise tests with the new silencers went very well and that noticably lower readings were taken in the local area. More news on this is to follow, as the results are properly analysed I guess. And for those stato's out there interested in race times - Ben Taylor won all three heats with the new silencer in race times of 60.9, 60.8 and 61.3. The main meeting had heat winning times ranging from 59.8 to 62.0. So the silencer made no difference to the speed of the bikes. In fact Taylor's quickest two times were only between ½ and 1 second slower than Lyon's heat wins in the main part of the meeting. I'll post more about the meeting tomorrow, but for now the result was Lemon, Lyons, Herne, Clews. Kerr and Wells were 3rd in thier respective semi's and Priest (who replaced Gathercole - I'll comment on that farce tomorrow!!) and Sweetman (with bike problems) were 4th in their respective semi-final's. Bunny crashed out of the meeting after a very heavy fall when he chain snapped (or popped off) on the 2nd turn of lap two in his 3rd ride. He was able to walk away but it was a very heavy fall so I imagine he'll feel pretty second-hand for a few days, but no report of any particular injury thankfully. Birko was crap and Harrison did nothing noteworthy.

I thought that when I saw the title. But such is 21st century speedway that we don't actually have a place for test matches. It's certainly worth highlighting, and it does look a cracker (more instead of pointless fillers please!!), and needs to be seen by the whole forum rather than hiding away in the EL section. Leave it with me.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ind...t=0&start=0 http://www.coventrymotorspeedway.com/news.php?extend.1014 http://www.british-speedway.co.uk/ I'm sure the Cov and BSPA websites will carry updates this week. ------------------------------- *edit* So now that the PO finalists are known, who will be the first to pull out?

Another for Emil please.

I'd be amazed if Zagar turns up.

Cheers mate. My team has been badly let down by its manager not naming the right captain. I dread to think what the maximum potential has been compared to what I've actually scored. Hey-ho

Davidsson was no surprise to me. Had it been slick he would have been flying to a double-figure score. Once I saw a bit of dirt on the track I knew he would be no threat. The same with him at Monmore tonight. If it's got plenty of dirt on he'll be crap, then probably get a maximum next week. Bjerre was a little unlucky and fortunate at the same time. He packed up while leading but was very lucky that the pack scattered behind him and somehow they all got through without riding straight into him (a minor miracle). And he was also wiped out on the first turn of one heat. It was a nasty crash that must have shook him up but he was lucky to be able to continue without serious injury and still has a chance to qualify by right through the GPs. So what about Bridger? The age gap is hardly huge. Roynon would be up there with Gustafsson too had it not been for two terrible injuries in the last two seasons, though I accept many will say there's no proof of that without him having actually proven it on track. I assume you're taking the wee wee? He introduced the ref as "...and our German referee from, well Germany...". After that I tuned out, as I usually try to do. --------------------------- The crowd was a little better than I expected but it was by no means huge. There were less than some of the Bee's biggest meetings of recent seasons (the three '07 finals immediately springing to mind). The racing was decent, and nothing more. I didn't find the pace particularly hot. The times were about normal. There was certainly plenty of dirt on the track but I wouldn't call it particularly deep and/or heavy. Bomber was a bit unlucky off the outside in heat one as the elbows were flying in to and out of the first turn. Thereafter he rode well enough, although not forcing a way past Walasek was a little frustrating (cracking ride under pressure by the Pole though). Zorro and Holder were a cut above. Hampel went about his business and deserved his place. Lindgren paid the price for a single poor ride and wasn't up to the form shown this season at Brandon. Pepe could so easily have gone through but for a fall (everyone lucky to get up from that one) and rode well. The few below this were never in contention but nicked a few points here and there in decent enough rides. The pick of the also rans for me was Meidzinski and I couldn't believe he hadn't got more when I totalled the scores. He always seemed to be in the thick of the action. The worst performance must have been by Pavlic. He was completely anonymous throughout. Overall, I found it an entertaining evening/night and the crashes certainly added to the overall spectacle. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt but my God the elbows were flying at times, and a few dodgy right turns here and there. Dryml (though I thought he was rather unfortunate to be excluded from the re-run of one heat when it looked as though he did not start the fun and games that time), Lindgren and Nemo all guilty at one time or another.

With Crump carrying an injury I'll take a punt on Emil.

Assuming they all turn up it'll be a cracker. But my guess is that 5 will suddenly pull out without good reason. Some tend to find a mystery aggrevated injury or illness sometime around the ELRC.

Slick - Lindgren, Bjerre, Davidsson. Average - Lindgren, Zagar, Holder. Grippy - Harris, Lindgren, and a random shock.

Short of time today, but can't let this slip by without a quick response. A huge thank you to Gary, predominantly, for being so insistant that this meeting was going to go ahead one way or another. It was a great night for us. Seeing a team represent Cradley at this level has been a long time in waiting and I thought we did rather well. Although, we were robbed of a draw. Two reasons. Either the re-runs that cost us three points or Colin Pratt not taking the chance to use a TR with Cameron. The competitive side of me was not impressed. It's a shame that Reading had such a poor start and that Oxford had such a poor end to the meeting but I thought for the most part it was fairly even and for about 2/3rds of the evening it was a 3-way scrap, though Swindon always seemed to have just a little bit of an edge. Finally, but by no means least I'd like to thank the Robins faithful for turning out and making the evening a success. Gary breaking even on the night depended very much on good local support as there was no way the other three clubs would have enough travelling on their own. The Swindon fans turned out in force when I feared many would save their money for the PO meetings. And a few nice words from Rosco in a quick interview at the start too. So top marks to Swindon all round and thanks to everyone that turned out, made it a success and prompted Gary to announce that the meeting was already pencilled in for next season. Yep, I thought you looked like a serial killer in that picture.

No, that's just the Danes.

So I can expect Oxford to have used 27 riders by the end of the night then.

Unbelievable!!! Up the Brummies for the play-offs. Gutted not to see Ward turn out for the Mighty Heathens. If KL had genuine fears for DW's health and fitness he wouldn't have been taking guest bookings all over the place. So it must be a personal issue, and to not have the decency to say it to someone's face when you've been sat in a meeting with them for however long is gutless at best. It's because of this type of self-interest, personal vendetta and back-stabbing between clubs that speedway is dying a slow painful death. Thanks to Cameron for stepping in and Eastbourne for not being so wrapped up in their own agenda that they don't see the big picture.

From the Swindon website. Thursday 17th September, Four Team Tournament Swindon Robins 1. Leigh Adams 2. Simon Stead 3. Mads Korneliussen 4. Morten Risager Cradley Heathens 1. Hans Andersen 2. Adam Shields 3. Darcy Ward 4. Cory Gathercole Oxford Cheetahs 1. Jason Crump 2. Niels Kristian Iversen 3. Steve Johnston 4. Paul Hurry Ideal Video Reading Racers 1. Matej Zagar 2. Patrick Hougaard 3. Travis McGowan 4. Mark Lemon Referee: Graham Reeve Batchelor in for Crump and Bridger in for PUK (no idea why on the latter). But the important bit is highlighted.

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. Even better. Cheers Sandie/Nikki. (gives me a couple of hours before the meeting to convince you who you should be supporting. )

Cheers mate. I think I'll hope to see a white van with 'International Speedway Rider' on the side and just follow that. Actually, Midland Robin only lives up the road and round the corner (relatively speaking). I'll tail gate him as he passes by and heads for the motorway.

Quick question for them what know. If I follow my sat nav am I likely to get lost and confussed when I get to the new road it doesn't know exists? If so, which set of traffic lights do I turn right at? (thanks in advance)

That would be ridiculous. One good season in the PL over here doesn't make him GP quality. Perhaps Topinka is in with a shout as well? He's had several seasons back-to-back to prove himself at PL level. ---------------------------- I guess many will say this is easy to say, hard to prove but my Dad wanted to come to this and bring my Mom along (speedway fans of old when Cradley ruled the roost). Mom's response - We aren't paying that much!! I'll go anyway as it's rare to see this kind of meeting within sensible travelling distance so I see it as a one-off chance and therefore a one-off expenditure. But 3 of us at £18/£20 would have earned the organisers more money than me alone at £25. I suspect a very poor crowd will turn out.