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I don't know. Atkin has started alright, but Pickard hasn't pulled up any trees as of yet. Plus, last season we had a good top 4 and look what happened. Let's face it, the team's will probably be: Group A Rye: Mason, Morely, Sarjeant, Hazelden. IoW: Hughes, Warwick, Hopwood, Starke Stoke: Birks, Worrall, Atkin, Pickard/Reade Dudley: Bekker, Morris, Perry, White-Williams. From that group, it only takes a couple of riders having off nights from any team and they could find themselves going out. Every single rider there is capable of winning races at Stoke, and have proven it before. Group B: King's Lynn: Cockle, Knight, Lowe, Kerr Mildenhall: Heeps(If Fit), Blackbird, Nielsen, Halsey. (No Jacobs as not sure on fitness) Buxton: Branford, McKinna, Priest, Felton. Scunthorpe: No idea of their team. Steve Worrall, Hart? (Is he still riding?), Young, Jones?. Before injuries, I think Mildenhall would have flown through this group. Now, it all depends on who Scunthorpe send. King's Lynn have enough to progress, and Buxton have 4 riders who can all win races at Stoke (3 ex Stoke riders!). All it takes is for one team to fire on the day and they will go home with the title. I just hope it's Stoke!

Well thank goodness Newcastle aren't racing! However, that doesn't half wreck Dudley's chances. With Roynon, Perry, Bekker and Morris they had a chance. With Perry, Bekker, Morris and White-Williams it looks dodgy for them.

I'm pretty sure that this meeting takes priority over a league meeting? So if a rider is doubling up (Like the Worrals) then they ride here instead? If that's the case, Stoke will probably have Ash Birks Richie Worral Tony Atkin One of Jamie Pickard or Ben Reade.

Providing Reade rides in every league meeting,he will move up for the IoW home meeting in July =]

R/R for Mildenhall will work better than R/R for Stoke, that's pretty obvious. As for the meeting, if Stoke's top 3 + Reade turn up and do well, we could keep it close. Will be interesting to see how Carr goes. Gutsy rider who has some potential. Moving R/R to 2 for us makes sense, as Birks has been on fire recently. Still allows us to put Pickard in heat 1, Atkin in heat 8 and then the weaker riders ride with Birks as opposed to having two reserves out. Mildenhall by 8

Try Berwick in 05: Scott Smith on 6.92 Also that year, Rye House had Tommy Allen on 6.26

The dirt one is an interesting one, as I remember hearing Crabby saying that there was no less dirt on the track last year at Stoke than when he was riding!

Am I gutted Stoke lost? Of course. But to say it was a good meeting, in my opinion, is a stretch. For me, a good meeting should be one where riders use their skills to overtake each other on a pretty regular basis. If I see that, I'm not fussed if my team wins or loses. Yesterday I saw: 12 fallers Numerous riders almost coming to grief on bend 2 (The two that stick in my mind are McKinna and Branford) Experienced riders unable to slide the bike going into bend 3 (Atkin always seems to struggle at Buxton, but McKinna in the early heats was two wheeling in then sliding after the apex) Passes due to rides not being able to control their bikes. Watering of a single line on the inside, which seemed to do more harm than good (And at the time, I commented to a friend that the track was finally settling down when the water was put on and falls happened again) From where I was stood, there was an obvious patch, on bend 2, which was about 10 shades darker than anywhere else. When riders hit this, they were flung towards the fence (See Adam McKinna in heat 7) For me, that was ridiculous, and I took no pleasure in watching experienced and talented riders struggle for 4 laps. But hey, if that's what you enjoy, good luck to you.

Didn't mention the track in my first post, but I did in the updates. The meeting was pretty bad, irrespective of track. Buxton stayed on their bikes better than Stoke did, and neither team seemed to want to win the meeting. Stoke threw away a 5-1 in heat 1, Buxton threw away a 9 point lead, then Stoke should have grasped the meeting and didn't.

From a spectator point of view, I watched as every rider hit the same bit of dirt on bend 2 that caused McKinna, Birks, Reade, Neale, Pickard, Blacklock all to fall. For me, that's not fine. Add to that, heat 13, after Branford and McKinna both almost binned it in the same place, all 3 riders took it easy. The track, from where I was, looked inconsistent.

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?