SteelShoe

Fortunately the weather gods spared us after spells of fairly heavy rain earlier in the day. The double header was always going to be demanding on the lads especially so after the away meeting at Scunny the night before. Unfortunately for the Diamonds they caught the Comets at there freshest. Only Tero who was very competitive throughout and to a lesser extent Matty Wethers rode anywhere near there averages. Matty Kus in particular was very disappointing. Any Diamonds fans would have felt pretty low watching the overall team performance on what was a very good track especially so in the first meeting. The Comets were all pretty hot in the first meeting but the Bears tested us fully in the second meeting before a 5-1 from Rene and Mason in heat 14 seen us over the line and allowed the fans to relax. Ben Barker and 2017 Comet TJ were particularly strong but there was good support from Jonas Andersen and Carl Wilkinson who looked a different rider in the second meeting. The Bears definitely deserved a point. All the Comets contributed in both meetings . Big thanks to guest Aaron Summers who done an excellent job on the night and made sure it was mission accomplished with regard to getting the 6 points on offer.

That's a blow losing Ty . R/R not ideal on the night of a double header especially having a guest in already. Gonna take a determined effort from the whole team. Hope Aaron Summers has one of his better nights. Redcar in particular have riders who could make life difficult. Not a night for mechanical gremlins.

Yeah, Ty didn't seem himself over the weekend at all. His body language at Armadale in particular was not ideal from the team captain. His non appearance in heat 13 which as yet is unexplained tended to show little regard for us travelling fans whom had spent time and money to make the journey to support the team. Hope it was just a one off because generally his attitude to his racing has been excellent. Like you say it may well be some race fatigue because with all the guest bookings as well as scheduled fixtures he has undoubtedly been a busy man .

Don't think so as not guesting for injured No1.

Thanks for coming up bellevueace pleased you enjoyed it.

Entertaining meeting that was close throughout. It could have been a banana skin for the Comets with Nicolai who is usually very professional falling well short of his usual high mechanical standards and skipper Ty not at his best. The rest of the lads showed great spirit to help blunt the sharp spearhead that is Wells, Worrall and Riss. Rasser showed a fantastic attitude to his racing tonight as indeed he has all season and along with Rene was hugely influential in securing the 3 points. Huge credit must also go to young Kyle Bickley whose 3 well earned points secured the 3 match points . Great to see him on the pace and riding with greater confidence, skill and belief. Nice to see Cookie working with him on his starts after the meeting top man ! Most entertaining rider for the Monarchs was Josh Pickering who easily had his best meeting at Derwent Park. On the night the Monarchs certainly deserved a point but if all the Comets had been firing they would have been denied it. Just hope the lads can keep the racing sharpness and mechanical integrity over the remaining matches as it would be great to do it for Club and Dan. Great to see an appearance from Gary Stead who looked in great shape in spite of scoffing in Wetherspoons !. Enjoyed the music tonight keep up the good work. Thanks to the Monarchs fans who made the journey think you will have felt better than i did at Armadale last night. Up the Comets !!

Yeah but you really cannot feign season ending injury so in that respect it once again seems like speedway rules hurting speedway clubs. Just look at the issues clubs have had getting guests this season. The ability to sign a replacement rider in such clear cut circumstances is the most common sense option. Of course this depends on whether the right rider is available with an average not higher than the rider whom said rider is being brought in for as an injury replacement.

Yeah, an intransigent rule when you cannot replace a rider with a season ending injury. Not surprised it's just so typical of the apparent lack of common sense that appears to prevail. Personally i would go with guests where possible. R/R longer term could ultimately prove detrimental. Horses for courses.

That is indeed the blessing in all of this Fromafar your quite right.

Latest update on Dan from Comets website confirms his injuries as : broken left femur (5 places) ; broken upper right arm and broken left wrist. Following a 7 hour operation on Sunday his injuries have been pinned and plated and doctors are pleased with how it went. They hope to get him up on his feet in the next 24 hours.

Fantastic posy Hoggy thank you for that.Ifs it's any consolation you were clear, concise and very professional in the face of adversity so thanks again.

Please don't assign any blame for this at the door of Workington Speedway . By all accounts saturday leading up to the meeting was very challenging to say the least. The rules are in place and its not Workington's fault that for whatever reason those rules would have been breached. Its incumbent on team managers and to a point riders to be familiar with the rulebook on such matters. It appears Tony Jackson did.

Spot on from the heart post Liz, with you completely !

I'm up for that geoff, its all of our club after all .

Yeah appreciate that fact and have edited the paragraph. I was a bit surprised at this seen as the Sheffield meeting is still outstanding.

Left this meeting with mixed feelings. Would have been more than happy if someone had offered me a point when 13 points down after 10 having lost our top 'reserve' but ultimately i found myself a little disappointed after we missed the opportunity to register an away win, especially after believing we had the impetus and riders to bring all the points home. Over the first 4 heats we were clearly second best as some of the boys looked like they didn't fancy the track conditions which incidentally improved markedly after just a few heats. After finding ourselves 8 points down after 4 we pulled it back to 22-20 after 7. Heat 8 ultimately turned the meeting back in the Bears favour. After gating on a 5-1 Rene suddenly got straightened up and ended in the air fence leaving Rasmus as the only Comet in the re-run only for the battling Dane to be unjustly excluded following a first bend incident in which Lunna gave him nowhere to go and took him to the fence. The Bears were now 7 up but it was to get even better for the home team as a subsequent 4-2 & 5-1 in heats 9 and 10 which included a Comets tac sub put them 13 points up with 5 heats remaining. From 13 behind i thought the meeting had slipped away from us but the lads responded really well to outscore the Bears over the last 5 heats by 21-9 . A draw would have been a fair result but the missing point precluded that outcome. The Bears look a lot more solid since the team changes and it was noteable that the reserves chipped in with 14 points between them. Of the others Barker and Lunna impressed most hence their inclusion in heat 15. Ex Comet Tommy Jorgensen who has been impressing with Kings Lynn this season will have been disappointed with his 4 from 4 . The Comets will be disappointed not taking the win after supplying 9 race winners but 10 last places ultimately tilted the odds . Dan was stand out especially in his last two races and is a joy to watch, he was well supported by Ty who frustratingly for him finished last in hard fought heats 9 and 15. Rasser continues to be one of our most consistent performers and battled hard for his 7 from 4 tonight which included the exclusion. Nicoloai improved as the meeting wore on and had really got the starts sorted to the point where i expected him coming out for 15. Mason was having his usual Redcar performance until he redeemed himself with the win in heat 14 which helped secure the point and gave us the chance of all 3. I was delighted to see young Kyle battling for points in the latter stages and he got his just rewards with two third places. Rene had a night he will want to forget at a track were historically he does very well, theres no doubt if he hadn't aggravated an old shoulder injury he may well have proved crucial. Hope the injury doesn't keep him out of what is a vital weekend in the quest to make the playoffs. Thought it was a little bit cheeky of the Bears promotion to put a folded racecard insert (containing no other information) inside a rained off Sheffield Tigers meeting program and charge £2-50.

Redcar much stronger since the addition of Jorgensen, Berge and Lunna. Hopefully team Comets will be focused and determined to try and get something from the meeting. Rene usually does pretty well at Redcar so could hopefully be a trump card from reserve. Agree with Taylorj, it will be good to see our full 1-7 in action again and i'm especially looking forward to seeing young Dan back in the big C, hope he has a big one !. Enjoy my visits to Redcar so hopefully the weather behaves itself. Up the Comets !!

Hope you have a great time and we see some fab speedway.

If thats true then thats great Taylorj. It will be great to see the full team race together.

Trouble is because Nicolai and Rene signed for their Polish teams before the Comets then they have priority and because of the crazy no facility scenario for Division 2 Polish teams (Ostrow & Bydgoscz) we could be in the 2 NL rider scenario again . Because Dan rides for Rybnik in division 1 then at least we have a facility . Little use that is though if Rene and Nicolai are missing as well. You couldn't make it up ! . Does the BSPA care ? I think not as its them that are trying to stitch us up by insisting we arrange fixtures previously agreed to avoid these very scenarios. Its completely and utterly shocking !

I thought this one was going to be close and it was for most of the meeting. The track was surprisingly disappointing producing very few passes and appearing to catch a lot of riders out. There was never more than 4 points between the teams until the Comets took a stranglehold with a 5-1 in heat 13 which also seen Rory Schlein taking a nasty looking tumble. For the Comets Rene, Ty and Nicolai underpinned the victory with strong performances. For the Witches who incidentally won 5 of the first 7 heats Cameron Heeps was best on the night but there was good support from Riss, Garcia and Worrall. If Rory Schlein hadn't had what was a poor meeting for him then the Witches would have got something and no one could have begrudged them that. So a good 3 points then in our quest to reach the playoffs. Next up are the Redcar Bears away which will be just as hard fought and is a great opportunity to get some more points in the bag. However, the Bears have strengthened lately so it won't be easy.

Potentially a very close meeting this one, shame Dan is missing again he really was superb in his last appearance at Derwent Park . Hopefully all the lads will be fired up, sharp and determined to cover well for Dan's scheduled rides. The Witches have superb racers in Covatti and Schlein and a top gater in guest Stevei Worrall who is working his way back into top form following injury. Couple this with solid second strings Heeps and Riss and its a very solid top five. Having Rene at reserve is hopefully where we will have the edge so here's hoping he has a big meeting. Kyle is showing signs of getting to grips with racing at this level and hopefully he can get some more very useful points against Garcia and interesting debutant Drew Kemp who much like Kyle hasn't long been sixteen and is very highly rated. Should be a great track tonight after yesterdays rain so get down for what should be a really entertaining fixture from two sides looking for points in a quest to reach the playoffs. Be there or be square. Up the Comets !!!!

Mason has never pulled up any trees at Armadale although his 5 and 7 point hauls last season were an improvement.

The weather played a big part in this meeeting, first of all in how the forecast influenced track prep and then the heavy rain turned the remaining races into a bit of a lottery. I didn't think the last heat was going to be run especially after the time delay following heat 14 with the rain still falling i was a bit surprised when the bikes came out. Before the rain the racing wasn't brilliant but a good few races were close . The Comets built up a decent cushion which we eventually needed because we generally lost our way in the wet conditions . Congratulations to Young Kyle Bickley on his 4 points from 3 rides, he his developing more of a racing edge now which is good to see. We got the 3 points we needed, not sure the Tigers would have got a point if the weather hadn't intervened but they probably deserved it as more of their riders adapted better to the changing conditions.

Good post.