TotallyHonestJohn

Honestly Micheal Breckon had a nightmare in the referees box, when Jason skittled Aarnio and Kus in heat 3 and wasn't excluded was a shocker although Jason made me laugh with his comment to Christian Henry in the pits waiting for the restart when he said "they lent on me so a had to send them didn't I". Also in there haste to repair the air fence one of the track staff stood on poor Matej Kus whilst lying prostrate on the track with a leg injury and subsequently he was pulled from the meeting but the best laugh was when announcer Barry Wallace on seeing the Red exclusion light spinning said over the mike "hang on; don,t fill your programme in yet I think the ref has pressed the wrong button I will just ring him up and check" on the Aarnio exclusion in Heat 8; honestly PMSL but you knew then it was only going to go one way. Steve Worrall Josh Auty and Jason all put a shift in and the other three had a go and had their moments supporting the main heat leaders; also the 3 points Danny Phillips got might have been gifts but you have to stay on the bike and finish the race to get those points so fair play to him. It's a pity Scunny have been robbed for large parts of the season of their top riders due to injury as I believe they could have been in the play off mix with this team if they could have fielded their regular seven for the bulk of season rather than relying on guests and R/R. Good side when all firing together but hasn't really had the chance to develop this year. Newcastle on the other hand gave this one away to my mind Ludvig had night to forget and looked a rather forlorn sight in the bar afterwards and definitely not his usual self and in total contrast to his meeting the week previous when he got a 15 point maximum, then of course losing Kus after not getting beyond the first bend of his first race also had a major impact and notwithstanding the referee it all adds up to a disappointing evening and leaves a somewhat bad taste in the mouth. Well done Scunny got the job done in a professional manner and like to old advertisement said "Just like the Murphy's I'm not Bitter" (well not much anyway; two bob bit referees in a professional sport) (Oops sorry just slipped out Literary Tourette's) Regards THJ

Honestly Its a bit of a moot point now as the season is coming to a conclusion without much issue (but the usual panic) however if the drinks night comes off this Friday at Scunny with the riders and the promotion (and anyone who attends) ask Rob what the catalyst was for the pulling of the Friday meetings and I think you will find it was a Sunday meeting that tipped everything over the edge where a team who had a guest booked in to ride at No 3, and if that rider had been injured in either of his Friday or Saturday meetings (which were designated race nights for his own club) would have meant the club he was booked in to guest for on the Sunday would have had to run with a National League rider due to the fact that they were having to use 3 guests and R/R and there was absolutely no one else available. Crazy but true. Also I think you will find that Scunny have utilised their second race day twice this season although I do agree that they have just got on with their meetings and been fortunate that they have not been in a position where their fixture list has been pulled and required meetings to be rearranged. On the Keyboard Warriors comment (which I had to Google for a meaning as I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not) (and its not) its okay leaping to the defence of your club and/or promotion but if there are mitigating circumstances why a side haven't been given the opportunity to fulfil their fixtures and others are willing that side do not to conclude those fixtures by sticking to a hard cut off point is a tad unfair, then expressing contempt at the cut off point being extended and again not accepting the reasons of why that side couldn't meet their fixture obligations, so the "defence clause" works both ways, and again in my honest and humble opinion to me it devalues what you are trying to achieve which to my mind is getting the best 4 teams from over a season of fixtures into a play off competition. (is that not what the whole season is about?) Finally on this can I add that Rob Godfrey supported the application from certain promotions (plural) to extend the season slightly to give the opportunity for clubs to get these rearranged fixtures in before the new cut off date. So Rob isn't the pantomime villain who some try to paint and what he does is; in general; for the best interest of the spot and I would suggest anyone to talk to him as he is a genuinely nice guy and quite approachable IMHO. Also he listens which is a great attribute. On the meeting and as a selfish point I was pleased the the tapes played up at the start as we were running late due to an accident and would have missed the first heat but due to the "knicker elastic" playing up we saw the full meeting and once the track dried out from about heat 8 or 9 there were a couple of fantastic races with the outside line working really well and although stating that Klindt hugging the inside line in the first race when the track was still wet (from the heavy showers experienced) wasn't bad either and I still haven't found out what the time was for that heat although from the centre green Rob announced that it had looked quick. Comets were gating and found that outside run in the drier dirt to their liking and Scunny were having to graft to get the passes in also how close was Kyle Bickley to getting a "big scalp^ and I spoke to Steve Worrall straight after that race and he had a chuckle and said "that was nearly embarrassing" and complimented Kyle's riding and track sense and Steve for one was definitely relieved when he finally got past young Bickley, and what a cracking race heat 15 was; Jensen leading for what seemed 3 and 9/10ths laps and getting caught on the run in for a draw that Scunny didn't really deserve but fair play they got stuck in and got the draw to make the return leg an interesting affair. I also need to comment on the Keyboard Warrior jibe; Honestly after 12 posts PMSL (once I had read what it meant that is! Doh!) Oh and when I came in and had a chat to a few friends from Scunny who stand by the tapes and I had asked if they knew some of the Scunny "Keyboard Warriors" so I could be introduced and have a craic unfortunately they didn't know any of the main protagonists so the opportunity to meet up was lost, however in the bar I had a good craic with the three Wolves fans who were on their 102 meeting of the season and still counting. Brilliant... Regards THJ

Honestly Tony Jackson rang every possible rider who 1. fitted the missing rider's points average limit 2. riders who were not racing that night and appeared to be available and 3.ultimately (and thanks to him) Dale was the only rider who was "available" to (and wanted to) do the meeting. So even on Glasgow's preferred race night Workington still had difficulty in obtaining a rider with Championship credentials to replace a rider (Dan Bewley) when they were allowed a facility. So they went, sucked it up and fulfilled the match . However when certain other clubs had difficulty in obtaining guest riders they choose to pull the pre-agreed meeting of three other teams, whose first choice race night wasn't a Friday, to allow these Friday clubs a bigger pool of riders to choose from but this was on their chosen race night. Not exactly cricket is it Regards THJ

Honestly Your not wrong, however cooperation, or lack of it between promotions is one of the main factors here as to why we are at the cramming stage of the season, most accept and understand rain offs its part of the game, but you can drive a bus through the rule book and although most of the "Rules" or guidelines are made in good faith there are always promoters who want to bend them to the nth degree to suit their own situation or ignore them totally and run the gauntlet; and who knows they might get away with it. I think this used to be called cheating in the old days but it goes on all the time and no matter how much moaning is done it falls on deaf ears, when its gone they might listen then? Oh to late then I suppose, never mind we had a good run. Its just not the British way to do things really is it, fair play and sportsmanship and the likes, Eh! okay call me an old romantic. Regards THJ

Honestly Bear with me on this and it's not that I disagree with you however there are numerous mitigating facts and circumstances to this fixture fiasco. The whole idea of the reduced number of fixtures was to save promotions money, it was also to give promotions a chance to run one Home meeting one week and an Away fixture the next. The reference was home/away fixtures work in other sports especially football. However what I don't think was fully appreciated is other sports tend to have squads or pools of participants/players that they can call upon, football teams have large squads of players so teams can readily bring in a replacement for anyone injured or unavailable. Speedway in this country does not operate in this manner (although it does in Poland with squads) and when riders are not available there is a clear dislike for teams to run with a Guest or Rider Replacement for unavailable/missing riders by promotions and fans alike (unless there is a serious injury then people tend to accept these facilities more readily, which I have never really understood) However Poland has had a major impact for all the reasons outlined in other parts of this forum which I wont go over again here and although it might not seem like it there was a valid reason and some methodology for the approach taken (its your call as to whether you think it has worked or not, I know mine). When organising meetings at the start of the season the majority of the promotions met in Rugby before the season kicked off to organise their own fixtures and sort out who they would ride against and when. (in previous years it was left to one promotion to sort out the fixtures and this left some promotions unhappy). So for Workington Steve Whitehead took himself down to Rugby to arrange all of his clubs fixtures. Steve had to avoid 3 Saturdays due to the stadium being used for two music events and one Rugby League event. He was approached by other promotions who gave him their preferred option on when they would like to come to Derwent Park, he did not have to twist any arms up backs to force anyone to attend when they didn't want to; and ended up with 6 or 8 Fridays (cant remember the exact figure now) rather than Saturdays to run meetings which included the 3 forced changes, Workington were under the opinion that everyone was happy and had been accommodated on nights of their choice and Workington were happy. It was then decreed that Workington could not run on Fridays due to a shortage of riders and the bulk of their fixture list had to be rearranged and this is where the problems started as clubs who had happily arranged Fridays were now reluctant to come on Saturdays as some of their riders would not be available due to other commitments and they were not prepared to race without a full compliment of riders, so that left Workington in the lurch and after they had been forced to used Dale Lamb up at Glasgow due to a lack of riders on Glasgow's preferred Friday night; was a bit rich. Although Glasgow hadn't done anything wrong it just happened that Dale was the only rider available, but did it devalue the result any or rob the fans of any entertainment that night? Consequently other clubs whose official race night was Friday who had also had issues obtaining guests expressed there frustration and clubs whose race nights were not Fridays had all there second race day meetings pulled (Workington were not the only ones impacted by this decision). So Workington not being able to run the mutually arranged Fridays and the reluctance of some promotions to agree new fixture ended up in Workington having run only 2 home fixtures by the end of June. The dreaded Double Up/Down riders and Poland were the main issue I believe and of course rider availability, so not really the race night again in my view. As for anyone hoping that clubs miss a Play Off series due to not having the correct amount of fixtures need to remember that this has already happened to a certain extent. Workington have been in the position where due to the weather they were denied the opportunity to get to the play off final. In 2012 the year Newcastle were top of the league and Scunthorpe won the Play Off, Workington did not fulfil their final away fixture against Edinburgh. A meeting they may or may not have won however Scunthorpe who had their full quota of matches run; went through to the final against Somerset; and the rest as they say was history, however to me it devalues the whole process and that doesn't happen in any other sport either. Personally I would much prefer to see teams in finals who are there on merit. What's the glory if Kings Lynn beat Belle Vue only for the Somerset/Poole meetings to be washed out from now to the end of the season? Do Kings Lynn say they are play off Champions? Probably yes but again me personally I would run until December if needs be to get to the final outcome. There are always exceptions in any sport (more so in Speedway) but a rigid cut off date that means a team that could possibly end up in the bottom half of the table going to the play offs honestly can not be right, is it? Surely? Regards THJ

Honestly Dave £16:50 for a concession at Edinburgh and I can think of a few different choice words other than Strewth! Took a half days holiday and headed off with anticipation on the 270 mile round trip from Cumbria to "The Dale" for this meeting, topped up the tank with £53:00 of fuel just in case and away we went. £18:50 to get in so times that by two (£37:00) and two programmes £6:00 then the parking £2:00 Very little change from £30:00 for grub and 4 pints of Tennent's. That adds up to around £128:00+ for one and a half hours of so called entertainment. That doesn't include the near two and a half hours to get up there and the same back and for what. To watch a Workington team who quite frankly came across as wanting to be anywhere else other than "The Dale". The meeting was torture. So approximately 8 to 10 hours out of my life that I will never get back let alone the cash wasted. To say we were disappointed is an understatement but the Edinburgh team can only race against whoever is out on track. So a very expensive night for not much entertainment that's for sure. But it does need both teams to play their part. However it gets better, the following night at Dewent Park an Edinburgh fan on paying his £13:00 concession to get into the ground stated "what an expensive spot this is" and when I pointed out a concession into "The Dale" was £3:50 more at £16:50 he said "no its not" I said "yes" he said "no" and it turned into a "Chuckle Brothers Sketch" honestly I PMSL, the old boy, I assume, was a season ticket holder at "The Dale" and either didn't realise what they pay up there for a concession or their season tickets are dam good value for money. Whatever, I would have been interested to hear if he thought he got value for money after watching the return meeting in Workington as I can confirm that this meeting at Dewent Park was one of the best meetings I have seen there in the last 10 years of attending and credit has to got to Steve Lawson for getting the track "right" and the Edinburgh team for coming with the right attitude, what an advertisement for Speedway and in total contrast to the previous night. Costs well £16:00 times by 2 and a dozen pints of Coors £36:00, programme £2.50, parking £2.00 and a burger at £3.00 and the worlds biggest Kebab Wrap at Maryport Pedro's on the way home for another £4:00 (you need something to soak up the drink) and of course the obligatory raffle tickets and other sundries at the track so around another £80+ spent, which I would happily double if the entertainment was to match meetings like this week in and week out... To you, to me, to you, to me, Regards THJ

Honestly You couldn't be more wrong either Regards THJ

Honestly You could not be more wrong Regards THJ

Honestly Tom Bacon and Kyle Bickley have been with their respective teams since the start of the season To be fair the changes made by Newcastle and Workington were forced upon them rather than either promotion dropping riders, Lewis Rose decided he needed some time out from the sport and went into "semi retirement" for want of a better phrase or description and Mason Campton was replaced by Bradley Wilson-Dean under a facility to temporarily replace Campton who had been injured and once fit; came back into the team. I also agree that Rob Godfrey (RG) can be fiercely loyal to his riders. Furthermore it must be said that the promotions of all three clubs mentioned Newcastle Workington and Scunthorpe do have a good reputation for supporting their riders through thick and thin; and possibly retaining them for longer than is beneficial to all parties when they invariably go through a rough patch for whatever reason; where some other promoters have been known to be a lot less patient and a bit more ruthless. I also accept and agree with the point RG made when he stated it was doing no one any good having Danny struggling in the team, the fans, the club in general, Danny's team mates and most of all the lad himself. IMHO this is probably the best for all concerned and good luck to Danny as its the knock backs in life that make you stronger and knowing Danny he is very pragmatic and will take this in his stride and keep plugging away in an effort to improve. Regardd THJ

Honestly Makes what the Workington Promotion have done in standing by Kyle Bickley all the more laudable and hopefully Kyle will start getting amongst the points coming towards the business end of the season. His efforts at Ipswich made a big difference and were greatly appreciated and it is noticeable that he is starting to get on the pace at Dewent Park as well. Regards THJ

Honestly Got a text off the little fella at 02.21 this morning, After x-rays and an MRI scan he was released from hospital, no fractures or breaks only soft tissue damage to the shoulder and upper arm muscle, he is feeling decidedly second hand and reckons he should only miss tonight's match against Glasgow with a bit of luck. After seeing the speed he was propelled into that air bag I would say he is a lucky (lucky) lad to come away with the injuries he has as it could have been much more serious than it was Regards THJ

Honestly Attempt number 3 at a post!!! I am thinking of changing my name to Totally Controversial John However here goes Firstly I must apologise to all my loved ones, family, friends and Stuart Robson as I vowed that I would never post on here, but here is something totally non-controversial just for the mushrooms. Having been a Speedway junkie from 1968 to 1984 then doing the Army, Job, Family and Kids thing more professionally I was lost to the sport for 25 years coming back in 2009 where I have remained loyal ever since. So that's me!!! The latest position as far as I am aware on up and coming Workington meetings is as follows. it certainly looks like Workington will be using two national league guests against Newcastle on Sunday as the FULL facility as mentioned is only available for the top two leagues in Poland and as Rene and Nicolai ride in tier/league three you don't get a facility. Not great but it is certainly no making or fault of the promotion and not much they can do about the situation, although they have tried. Furthermore Dan will be missing the next couple of Saturdays due to other commitments however there will be a facility for him and I believe Rider Replacement will be utilised Regards THJ