21st century heathen

Yeah, they were all listed initially but do not appear on the issue 1, the first with a riders' average. It could be one of two things I s'pose. Either there is a dispute over a rider's average, though why that would only come to light now I don't know, or perhaps Shane is going to be out injured for an extended period. I hope not. I kinda assumed he was ok, though probably battered and bruised, because nothing had come to light.

Does anyone know why KL don't appear on the declarations page? http://www.speedwaygb.co/issues13/nl13_issue_1.pdf

I think Stoke may have some poor away days but should be strong at home. The top three are a match for any. The Lukes will be fine on their own shale but inconsistent elsewhere in my opinion. The reserves should get dialled in at home and score some useful points as back to the rest but there might well be some tricky away-day's. Great to see Smarty in top form.

I followed on Updates and it seems both teams can point to dropped points here and there so let's not get too picky one way or the other. Obviously, I am delighted to have taken the win but above that I am so happy to see 6 different heat winners and Greaves taking a paid win. That's extremely encouraging for the team as a whole and a huge confidence boost ahead of their home debut. If any of them had had a tough night then it could have been a bit of a case of 'bunny trapped in the head lights' on Tue in front of a big home crowd. As it is they can approach it full of confidence and hopefully enjoy the experience and bag a hat full of points. If I were a Mildenhall fan I be naturally disappointed but not overly concerned. It's just the first meeting and some cobwebs will be blown away. I wouldn't expect the home form to be a particular concern throughout the season. I still think they will be there or thereabouts throughout.

He may not do our PL if he has other league offers. I expect he will have them queueing up abroad too.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Poole race jacket next season!

Perhaps we won a coin toss and Mildenhall were drawn out of a hat? (only half joking) Anyway, it's in the past now so let's just crack on with this season.

I can't remember the exact wording but he stated after the stock cars. On a serious note - some confirmation and clarification of what was meant by the Tweet would be good to read.

You have no idea how fortunate it is for all of us that you added the bit in brackets!!

Why would he not be able ride abroad and for Kent?

Well according to Mr Vasey (on Twitter) Stoke is getting a tidy up - might have been an April Fools though.

And the prize for the longest thread title goes to... Great to see a NL level meeting on at Scunny, and so early in the season too. Hopefully the first of many.

I think he's still hurting over the ommerings our lads used to hand out to him on a regular basis, Louis too for that matter.

General opinion last year was that we competed for it as the holders.

I thought it was tennis that had Slam's not speedway. Anywho... could be a cracking meeting. There's not much to choose between the teams again this season. It could come down to which team's managed to blow away the cobwebs the quicker. I would suggest home win and then it's over to us to see whether all our new boys can hit the ground running at their new home. Good racing and everyone going home in one piece first and foremost, but I'll take the win if it's on offer.

Charles Wright http://www.charleswrightracing.co.uk/ Tyler Govier http://tgracing.weebly.com/ Matt Williamson http://www.mattwilliamsonracing.co.uk Joe Jacobs http://www.joejacobsracing.co.uk/ Brendan Johnson http://www.bdjracing.co.uk/ Richard Franklin http://www.richardfr...speedway.co.uk/ Trevor Heath http://www.freewebs.com/heath-racing/ Ashley Morris http://www.ash-racing.co.uk/ Dan Greenwood http://www.dangreenwoodracing.co.uk/ Paul Starke http://www.starkeracing.co.uk/ Max Clegg http://www.maxclegg.com/index.html Nathan Greaves http://nathangreaves...idhosted.co.uk/ Tom Perry http://www.tpr17.co.uk/ Adam Ellis http://www.adamellis...idhosted.co.uk/ Brendon Freemantle http://www.spensites...k/bfrindex.html David Mason http://www.davidmasonracing.co.uk/ Darren Mallett http://www.freewebs.com/mallettracing/ Lewis Kerr http://www.lewiskerrracing.com/ Shane Hazelden http://www.shanehazelden.co.uk/ Shane Waldron http://www.shanewaldronspeedway.com/ Lee Smart http://www.smartyracing.co.uk/ I haven't the time to really go to town and track down all the fan pages on social media etcetera but above are the websites I could find quite quickly. Please feel free to point out any errors or omissions.

Gutted but not surprised. C'est la vie. There's not a lot that can be done on a day like today. Ultimately it will be better to see the lads go at it on a track that's in good nick.

Exactly. Nobody was moaning March is too early this time last year. We live in a country with a maritime climate. That means lots of wet days throughout the year and very changeable weather. Many parts of the country have had below average precipitation in the first 20 days of March this year. (Philip Eden's climateuk website has the stats) The nearest Met Office weather station to me is in Penkridge, Staffs. My patch of the country is pretty much in the middle of where the EWP (England & Wales precipitation) stats are collated so this site is good one to use to get an overall snapshot of the average conditions in England and Wales. Official stats on the Met Office website show that March is marginally the driest month of the speedway season. There are a couple of months with similar totals but June, August, September and October are by far wetter than March. It's true to say that although wetter it will dry out quicker in June and August but not really in September and October. In fact we'd be better off starting earlier as February is the driest month in this country, and far drier than the wetter months I've stated. (Met Office climate stats used from its website)

Thanks. That's what I needed to see and read. How are cards assigned as the race begins? Does each player draw as required from a deck or is each player dealt 'x' cards randomly at the start? What happens if there is, for example, a long exchange in the bend on lap one and both players play all their cards but the race does not end with a 'finish line' card from the lap 2 deck? Does the race end by default with current race positions applying? Overall, as I stated, I am intrigued and interested in this type of game because of its speedway element more-so than having a long-standing interest in the genre as some members have. I can understand that they would be willing to part with £18 because they know it's the going rate and adding speedway to something that's already of interest is an obvious plus to them. Likewise I can see that non-speedway fans but fans of card-based strategy could relish a new challenge or a twist on an established theme. However, I do think that it's a hard sell at £18 to the wider speedway fan base. What may reap reward is perhaps to have a stall set-up at speedway meetings, with the club's permission of course, with a couple of people actually playing the game so fans can see what it is and how it works. Combine that with a discount on the standard RRP if they buy/order there-and-then and you may shift a few. Finding a way to integrate real riders' names and clubs will be a major plus point to many too. Perhaps a panel on the card compatible with a dry wipe marker could be utilised so the user can assign whatever name he/she likes and change it as riders move clubs or fall in to or out of favour? Otherwise I think you may struggle to even get across to people what the game really is and you probably won't sell many within the speedway community.

I have absolutely no background knowledge on this type of card-based game and I'm not sure I understand how it really works. That said, as a speedway fan I am intrigued by it. Can someone give a brief idiots guide as to how this type of game is played, forgetting the specifics of how speedway has been integrated?

To be fair there isn't time for a long-winded qualification process though that would of course be the most fair process. Whether two semi's could be run at different track on the same day is open to question. But then you have to consider the quality of the field and whether enough people would turn up and pay to see it.

The above is where so many Heathens fans have it so wrong in my opinion. This season's starting line-up cannot and should not be compared with the team that ended last season. Taking the two starting line-ups in direct comparison there's nothing much to choose between them on paper. Forget 2012. Our 2013 line-up is not competing against it. Our concern is beating the 2013 line-ups other teams have. On paper IOW appear to have more potential improvement and Kent will have too if they have got Lambert in the team. We are the equal or better than the rest in terms of potential improvement. Morris should average over 9, Blackbird should be around 8+, Greenwood may suffer second season syndrome but could improve a little, Starke has been a 7/8 point man just a couple of years ago and by his own admission is keen to put last year behind him on a track he feels suits his style better (and we know how much just feeling confident can improve a rider), Isherwood has shown some signs of very respectable form and could easily improve a little, Clegg had a very good first season and could easily challenge for a place in the 1-5 which will spur Isherwood on too (though I acknowledge second season syndrome here too) and Greaves should make an impact and justify being thrown straight into the league as soon as he was old enough. I agree in general with the like-for-like analysis of the Cov and Heathens teams. I'm sure JJ will take to Brandon quickly, Sarj has got more laps around there than most tracks and I'm sure Greenwood will be a match for his namesake (though ours has some experience around there from last season's MDL). At reserve there's a bit of an unknown element but I do favour us the stronger. If Max can make some starts I'd fancy him to settle in good point-scoring positions. Greaves has lots of practice laps around there last year and as long as he stays upright on turns 1/2 ( ) he should be able to put that practice to good use. The second-strings could be quite evenly matched. Johnson will be keen to put his P&P day and U21 experience to bed and could prove very useful back up to the top 3 and Franklin, like Sarj, has got a lot of laps around Brandon to call on, though could be rusty from his time away last year. Does anyone know how Greaves is after his falls on Saturday?

Eurosport's own Twitter feed yesterday stated that it will use the world feed with Nigel and Kelvin for the NZ SGP.

It's felt like a long time coming that we can start to talk about racing but it's just a week away now. And what a way to kick off the season. Though a lower level it's the renewal of one of the sports' great rivalries. Gone may be the days that Olsen and Gundersen led the teams in front of 10,000+ screaming fans but this fixture will still matter a great deal to those in red, white and green. I just hope that Will & Nigel can convey to our current riders just how much it means to win a local derby no matter what outsiders may consider its importance. So what are everyone's thoughts? I have a feeling this could be a very close meeting. With few riders having had much track time it could easily come down to staying upright and keeping the motor running I think. I'll take a stab in the dark and go for 47-43. I'll edit this post with the line-ups when the clubs confirm them.

Please use the Speedway On Eurosport thread for further comment so that all posts on the subject are in the same place and we don't have separate conversations in different places. Thanks. http://www.speedway-...showtopic=72640