Najjer

Will mean 3 guests and R/R. What a joke for a home meeting that is.

There is no doubt crowds have been up at Somerset this season in comparison to the last few years too.

Surely that just proves the theory even more that the riders were wrong - as the meeting continued, be all means far from being a classic but there was still some decent racing. Not just follow the leader.... and best of all 99% of the fans would of gone home happy after seeing a decent meeting and 15 heats of speedway too with next to no delays. Certain riders nowadays will always moan it's too wet, it's too dry, it's too slick, it's too windy, it's too sunny, blah blah blah. Fair play to the ref who got the call spot on.

Contrasting attitudes to that of Allen, Wright, Worrall, Fricke and Lawson who just got on with it and got stuck in. Too many modern day speedway riders want a track like a snooker table and will throw their toys away if it's anything less than perfect.

....and that was his best effort of the night too! Shows how poor he really was in his previous 3 races.

I'm going to assume because Somerset would be missing Grajczonek and Wright who both ride for 2nd division clubs on a Thursday. It wouldn't be within our interests to go to Swindon missing two riders who rode for the club last season. You can add Cameron Heeps to that list of Thursday tracks in the 2nd tier too.

Perfect summary that. Lemo has always come across as a wet weekend and his comment sums up what's wrong in part with speedway. The referee got a lot wrong last night, but telling the riders to get on with it and pushing the meeting through certainly wasn't one of them! Fair play to him for that.

Use a tear off then.

He might not of been overly happy about the situation, but it didn't take him long to give up. Most other riders (Sedgmen apart) gave it a real go and should be applauded. Steve Worrall for the Aces leaves with the most credit, he was brilliant, really got stuck in and very fast. I really like Craig Cook and always look forward to his visits at the OTA but last one was one to forget for him.

Everybody loves a pantomime villain and a character - but what's charactistic about giving up in your last 2 races with 2 laps to go and then in heat 13 with 3 laps to go? I'd of been livid if I was a Belle Vue fan and travelled from Manchester to watch that display from him. He was the reason they didn't get a point.

The correct helmet colours were worn during heat 8 - it was the referee who made the mistake during all of that saga. And with regards the phone - I'm going to assume Cook.

Reminded me of an instance a good few years back against Stoke. Glenn Cunningham had fallen on bend 4 and no red lights came on and he was left stranded on the track and got taken out by Ben Barker when they came back around again. Difference was Cunningham was stranded after falling, Cook was just being an absolute tool.

What a pleasant surprise to get a full speedway meeting on tonight. 20 minutes up the road from the track we had 3 hours of constant drizzle before 7 o'clock - and was great to see racing continue beyond heat 10 too! Very enjoyable meeting too even with the constant rain during the match, just goes to show it can be done in rain.... well, everybody can except Craig Cook! God knows what the referee was playing at. Made some right howlers throughout. It amazes me how a referee at the highest level can't tell whose who out on track. Made the error of mistaking Heeps for Kerr in heat 8, not once but about 5 times after checking with the pits too. What was more ridiculous was that the referee thought it was Kerr on track, then the riders would of been off the wrong gate and wrong helmet colours... yet he let it go! It seems that one got sorted in the end as the scores read out at the end were then correct - but he missed that Smith replaced Wajchtnecht later in the meeting and scored a point too. Things like this shouldn't happen as it effects averages and all sorts but hey ho. For the Rebels, this has to be the best that Jake Allen has ever ridden our place. He revelled in tricky track conditions much like Charles Wright who was also superb. Big shout out to Richard Lawson too, another solid outing and already proving to be a big hit at the Oak Tree. Josh had a big off night but more than covered by the rest of the team. For the Aces Bjerre and Worrall impressed.... Sedgmen and Cook really didn't. Is Sedgmen always this bad? He should be hanging his head in shame. He might not like the rain but a shocking showing. Once the rain came down Cook wasn't interested once he missed the gate. Hopefully got fined for his antics when well beat by Lawson and Wright and he practically parked up on the outside of turn 4, just moving out of the way before Lawson came round to lap him. The reserves were never really in it either, but more experienced riders like Sedgmen and Cook let the Aces down - especially Cook who normally flies here. Sidecars next week hmmmm.... think I'll give that one a miss!

Equalled up by Fricke, Cook and Bjerre against Grajczonek and a beaten up Lawson - should be a close one, can see Belle Vue edging it though if Worrall comes to the party too.

Not me.

Utter madness. Can only assume Doyle's commitments and the World Cup have played havoc with rescheduling it, as well double uppers.

Absolutely spot on. All this nonsense about the track sweating is exactly that, nonsense. The track is better 'sweating' than it is being 6 inches deep in water that's for sure! Most tracks are banked in some way or another from the outside in, gravity will always take the rain to the infield if the tarpaulin is layed flat on the track if there is enough banking. An alternative is having it fixed to the top of the fence and having it pegged on the infield about 4foot inside the white line so all the running water remains a distance from the track. This can then be rolled up with tie backs holding it in place, or simply just dropped down behind the fence. With air fences nowadays it's not like it's going to block anymore of the view anyway. It's the same old thing with speedway... instead of embracing something new and a potential solution, it's always just try and find an excuse why not to do it. To say it's too expensive for some tarpaulins, tie backs (if they went for that option) and tent pegs is just utter bull$hit! The straights are even easier to cover than the bends are your sheeting will lie square to the outside fence.

That well known invention called 'tarpaulin' - readily available on ebay (I bought some myself the other day!) and other places. I seem to remember I priced it up for a speedway track when someone said it would cost too much and it was around the £2,000 - £2,500 mark from memory. Hardly ground breaking.

Not sure when Scunthorpe was called off today, but does that mean Lewis Kerr comes back into the side if he can make it?

The Championship have new average, whereas the Premier League don't. Somerset signed Lewis Kerr on his new Scunthorpe average and not the average that Poole had previously signed him on. Tungate currently is still on 9+

Only 31% uneducated? I'd have thought it'd have been much higher than that!!

Do you not go anymore?

I've said that this season too - It'd add something extra to the end of the 2nd leg if the scores are close and add importance to nearly every race.

The track was in mint condition tonight, best it's been all year and Charles Wright would of revelled on that. He'd of been much better value than the 5 points R/R got.

To be fair Harris and Nicholls put on a good show, Nicholls especially. Had masses of speed in his bike but just couldn't gate for love nor money but pulled off some brilliant passes on the Rebels. For the Rebels, what a transformation. Heeps and Lawson both massively impressive, both seemed to have the track sussed out already as if they've been riding the place week in week out for years. Lawson had to be the rider of the night, lightning out the starts, very clever rides making it impossible to pass him and when he was behind made a few passes too. Thumbs up all round from me. Looking forward to see how we get on tomorrow night.