vog

Awful meeting. Buxton managed to stay on more than Stoke to win the 3 points.

He looks a completely different rider. He will be disappointed in himself losing out to Branford in heat 15, which is a measure of how far he has come. His gating has improved 10 fold, and he looks smooth and is riding good, intelligent lines during a race. He was always a trier, and he has added that little bit of extra ability. Definite trump card for us.

So, not a bad meeting. For Stoke, Birks was in a class of his own, Reade improves from week to week, and Atkin and Pickard were both solid. Walter looked quicker, and Carr impressed me a lot. Took the first ride to figure out the track but attacked it and got points that his efforts justified. Bit more experience and learning how to gate will see him do well. For Buxton, only McKinna and, to a lesser extent, Branford really showed any form. Priest started with a couple of seconds but faded, and Felton perked up in his last ride. Neale doesn't look ready for the NL unfortunately and his bike sounded awful.

Stoke's team is built around their top 4 scoring heavily and Ben Reade chipping in from reserve. Upto this point, we haven't conceded 50, but haven't scored 50. Missing Richie cost us at the IoW (His rides tallied 3 points) and the injury to Pickard hasn't helped. On a normal day, you have to fancy Atkin, Worrall, Birks and Pickard to score around 35-40 between them, leaving the reserves and number 4 to pick up a few points. I still think that, so long as Stoke are within a couple with 3 heats to go, we will win most meetings. Hopefully Liam Carr can come and score a couple of points and turn a team who is very nearly there to a team who will challenge at the top. Either way, I can't see us having many defeats that don't result in us gaining a point away from home.

he has raced there twice, but the track is open for practice most weeks if memory serves. And yes, being thrown in at number 4 would be tough for him, but he knew the position before he was signed. It seems to be a confidence thing at the moment, as his style looked good, but he wasn't quick enough out of the gate, and seemed to shut off very early in comparison with other riders (Including reserves that he came up against) As I said before, a spell riding second halves consistently and amateur meetings would do him the world of good, but its a costly endeavour.

Hype is in the nature of press releases. I'd be worried if Malcolm came out and said "We have signed Rider XYZ, but we don't expect him to do anything. He had an injury, isn't ready and we are just throwing him to the lions" Still, maybe next year after he gets rid of the rustiness!

I think we all wanted Rhys to do well, but it wasn't the fact that he wasn't scoring that was the issue, he just looked like a rider who needed some time under his belt, and having it at number 4 in the NL isn't the right way. Given a season riding competitively in the MDL he has a chance to put himself in the shop window, and I wish him the best, but he was half a lap behind at times at Stoke.

3 home and 3 away are needed. Thus far, we have had 1 away. NL meetings only as far as I remember. If it is, and then 7 days from that, his first meeting in the main body (Assuming no postponements) will be the July 7th meeting against the IoW.

So, Stoke take on Buxton this weekend home and away. With Rhys Naylor having been dropped and his replacement found in Liam Carr, it will be interesting to see how the meeting goes. Line up's for both meetings (From stokepotters.co) Stoke: 1) Ash Birks 2) Jaimie Pickard 3) Tony Atkin 4) Liam Carr 5) R/R (Richie Worrall misses both meetings due to U21 World Cup) 6) Ross Walter 7) Ben Reade Buxton: 1) Rob Branford 2) Richard Andrews 3) Luke Priest 4) Dean Felton 5) Adam McKinna 6) Michael Neale 7) Ryan Blacklock At home, I think Stoke by about 8. Away, no idea.

On the IoW meeting, we would have won had we had Richie, of that I have no doubt (His rides gained 3 points...) Nice to see Ash step up, Jamie seemed to look good for a couple of rides then tail off when his arm injury flared up, and Tony and Ben were both good. Unfortunately, the two 3 pointers only scored 1 between them, and that was (And will continue to be) our downfall. On the subject of Rhys, it's a shame, but it seemed to have been coming. I wish him all the best as he has a nice style, but needs to get some confidence back. Maybe some rides in the MDL will help that. He is still young and can still go far if he puts the effort in.

So, tomorrow Stoke take on Scunthorpe in the KoC second leg. Considering how close this was at Scunthorpe, it has the potential to be a great meeting. Teams (Taken from the Stoke website) are: Stoke: 1) Ash Birks 2) Jaimie Pickard 3) Tony Atkin 4) Rhys Naylor 5) R/R for Richie Worrall 6) Ross Walter 7) Ben Reade Scunthorpe: 1) Jerran Hart 2) Simon Allen 3) R/R for Steve Worrall 4) Tom Young 5) Gary Irving 6) Tommy Fenwick 7) Max Clegg For Stoke, R/R is everyone bar Birks, for Scunthorpe R/R is everyone. Could be close, but I think Stoke to win by about 10.

Preview is on stokepotters.co Steve in place or Ash, and not sure if R/R for Pickard or if he is riding.

Cheers for that. I wish I had been able to go, but unfortunately uni exams take priority. Ah well, hope the lads give a good showing of themselves at the IoW tonight!

Set up? You do well with what you have. You are fortunate to have access to a fantastic stadium and have retained a loyal band of supporters from the days of Hamill and Hancock. You do well with what you have!

So, Stoke lose by 5, which considering we only had half a team wasn't bad going! Anyone who went want to comment when they get in?

So, you are saying Stoke are ill equipped to deal with an emergency? Is that it? Last I checked, yesterday you had the paramedic on track within 2 minutes of Jamie's crash yesterday, and they didn't move him as he was complaining of pain in his back. The paramedics do their job, and do it damn well, so don't EVER have a go at them. As for 2 ambulances, very few tracks do it as there is generally no need. We were just unfortunate last night that Jamie needed to go in a county ambulance so the paramedic had to stay with him. 2 ambulances wouldn't have mattered as the paramedic would still have had to wait with him! What you are suggesting is that Stoke, and all other tracks, should have 2 paramedics at all times, which is a ridiculous cost. As for the crowd, we survive on what we have. Bear in mind last night, as has previously been stated, was a cold Saturday, a challenge fixture and going against the FA Cup final. The crowd was potentially slightly down on numbers for Stoke fans, but not by much. I think you give yourselves too much credit, especially given the foul mouthed tirades coming from certain sections of Dudley fans. Frankly, I'd rather them not turn up than watch the air turn blue on numerous occasions.

Crowd looked about average, even taking into account the Dudley following. Could potentially have been effected by the fact that it is our first, team, home meeting since 31st March, and also it was bloody freezing!

Long, drawn out meeting thanks to a couple of falls. Hope both Pickard and Bekker are ok! As for the meeting itself, Dudley looked the more compact team, but Stoke always seemed to just have enough in their 4 riders who were scoring. Birks was pretty good, and Worrall was exceptional, never looking troubled. Ben Reade was the star of the show though, scoring paid 17 from reserve! For Dudley, Webster was a solid guest, but Roynon would have scored more. Reserves looked ok in the reserves race, but not much after. Perry impressed, Morris chipped in, White Williams was steady. Still, 90-90 on aggregate, I guess we take the cup as no-one would have beaten Worrall in a run off

Let me say this again HE DOES NOT RIDE FOR NEWCASTLE. IF they were to get an injury (And I hope that doesn't happen!) then they would use either a 3 point NL guest, or an actual guest (Depending on who got injured) It couldn't be Adam unless Buxton let him be used, as he is signed for Buxton now so their meetings take priority.

As I said, if the choice is Buxton or no team, maybe he felt like he had to ride? I would think Buxton will get a rider, potentially McKinna, although riders such as Jay Herne, Jack Hargreaves, Barrie Evans, Adam Allott etc could all be available. (Although that reads as a who's who of former Stoke riders...)

McKinna doesn't have a club. Newcastle's reserves are the Worrall brothers. As for signing at the first place, if it was Buxton or nothing, I'm not surprised he chose Buxton.

That would be McKinna at Stoke (I think...I'm pretty sure it changes soon to have Birks and Worrall in!) Also, for Tim, and this is no slight against Buxton, but do you think he could make ends meet on 10p per mile? Given that he has a near 500 mile round trip (At a rough estimate), so assuming he gets 30mpg out of his van, he is £25 out of pocket before he races. Unfortunately, maybe the sums didn't add up for him? Just as a caveat to this post, this isn't a slight against Buxton or against Tim, just a potential reason!

Apologies, I have spent the day in Leeds watching my old American Football team play! Was going to rush back, but when I saw the meeting was off early I stayed!

Given the downpour we have just had, and the forecast for tomorrow, I think the weather will be beating both teams.

Like how you're using R/R at 1 and running a 3 pointer at 2 to give them track time? And we changed our declaration, we had it for 14 days, didn't realise it was against the rules.