IronScorpion

Tried & trusted team towards the end of the season could have played a part in the decisions. Before his injury Jorgy, in 2012 was riding to about a 7.5 ave, Palm "Tree" after a poor 1st half of the season when his bikes were sorted, about 7. Bring in Richie on 5.78 would have meant a 3 point reserve instead of Irving. It was also stated that Richie had signed for Lakeside, a friday night track, so bringing in loan fees for our usable assets seemed the way to go.

If Ryan was on borrowed machinery, that should give him an idea of the level of equipment he needs to suceed(of EL 2nd string/PL heatleader standard) which would cost a lot of money. Gary Irving, also, knows the level of equipment he needs after borrowing bits off Rusty Harrison. It worked for "Palm Tree" to get decent equipment/tuning standard & the riders have to step up as they are Champions now & there to be shot at.

Many thanks, Rob, & glad post#97 was wrong. A very good chance for most, if not all, to improve their CMA but they will be taking points of each other when racing. We knew our track & facilities were good & is this our 2nd honour in 3 years for "track of the year"? Well done to all involved who go out of their way to help the Scorpions. Someone might correct me but was Ryan Douglas the lad that had a spin after a friday meeting & Rob asked him to try out at a forthcoming amateur meeting but couldn't as he was spannering up north for someone? Rob saw his potential then so it all helps having the amount of friendly meetings to cast an eye over possible Scorpion/Saints riders. Many thanks to all our guests in 2012, none more so than our mid-season signing Nick(glad we saw improved EL scores to justify your decision to join us. At the AGM, i would have liked to have seen the abolishment of the t/r & brought back t/s & also, a new rule where riders that stay at a club the following year get a reduction of 2-2.5% in their CMA to keep fans happy in supporting their team(this year it didn't matter as we kept 6 of our 7 but it would have been nice to see it happen for the sake of the fans of other clubs that have to support new riders every year).

This change of announcement could be due to the fact that there has not been many changes at the AGM & Rob's team that he was hoping for has been fulfilled. Bring on 9pm & 2013. Let us hope we can defend our Champions title with most of "our team" of 2012, minimal injuries to see the true impact our team can have(not using guests), better weather & more support. Just a memo, again, Rob. An extra step on the lower level & 2 on the upper level in the terraces would help the viewing of the action, for those that are are short in height with 6 footers stood infront of them. Broken down brickwork held in place by a frontage of bricks, topped with concrete would be a cheap option. See the council/demolition firms for cheapest option. R Worrall's signing for Lakeside, a friday race night track, buts a block on your team PWWM.

Sorry Rob. I repeated post #97. Maybe heresay, facebook, twitter or people posting to throw others off. Like i said, we will know after the AGM Michelsen is a rider that Rob asked to ride for us towards the end of last year. He has performed well in the World U21 series & has signed for Dakarna in Sweden & Slangerup in Denmark.

It is all speculation but if Rob only wants 1 or 2 changes and he knows of Ash's personal reasons of not riding in 2013the team could be somewhere near Auty 8.09 Howe 7.89 Masters 7.43 /Michelsen 7.00 Jorgensen 6.42 Toft 5.21 Irving 4.00 Young/Nielsen 3.00 I am certainly hopeful of 1st, 2nd or 3rd with the the top 5 but minimising lasts has been the way to go this last season. 1 or 2 changes is what Rob & myself was hoping for as the nucleus of the 2012 is there but we will see who is available after the AGM. To sign for the 2012 PL Champions must be a good selling point.

There has been changes made to suit teams in 2011 then changed again in 2012. If a rule is changed then it cannot be amended for 3 years. Too many changes makes it hard to explain to newbies interested in our sport. (Take football & the offside rule!). Make it simple & easy to follow- no bending of the rule. These are my choices for 2013; Team building at 42. 14heats x 3pts. Riders staying at clubs to have 3% reduction. This would be better for fans to follow their favourites rather than stop watching their "team". Cut off date to remain for League Winners. This gives positions for the following competitions. Play-Offs to decide League Champions. Top 4 via KO-1v4 & 2v3 Premier Trophy via KO. 5v12 6v11 7v10 8v9 then 5/12 v 8/9 & 6/11 v 7/10 etc Do away with Tactical Rides( i have never liked them) Use of Tactical Sub if 8points behind using riders only below a riders CMA being replaced. Use of Tactical Gate Switch if 8 points behind. Only swap 1&3 for 2&4 & not any 2 gates of choice. Use of above 2 rules only between hts 5-12 at any time but only once each. Reserves to have 6 rides maximum except for injuries during meetings when 7 will apply. All 4 back after unsatisfactory start back to start line. Practice starts done when entering track so should know of set-up correct. Video cameras at start line. (Even GP's are not inline with finish giving false impression. Maplins do cameras(similar to Johnny 5's eyes) & recorders so affordable. Penalise rolling at start. Riders MUST be still. Anticipating start is generally riders reactions to starting magnets being released-not punishable. Scoring System(as i have posted pre 2012) 3pt home win by 12 pt margin. Away 4pt win by 8pt margin. The rest of the system is ok. A teams better riders(normally 1 & 5) have too much say in deciding meetings(hts 13 & 15). No EL rider in NL. If good enough for EL then TOO good for NL. Too many posters putting on forums about Roynon(very good rider who's had far too many injuries) & also R Worrall(at start of season but hardly mentioned now).

Your pick Lewis will, i hope be somewhere not far from the final line up. Auty 8.09 improved by .6 & would still double up for Birmingham(Morris situation proves need to ride EL & PL) Howe 7.89 injury curtailed his improvement but a snip on his CMA(Probable d/up again wth K/Lynn or Leicester-home club if going EL) & depending on other commitments. Jorgensen 6.42 improved by .6 7 probably more to come Toft 5.21 Got to be back as his improvement in the 2nd half of the season was a joy to behold. His CMA is still carrying some low scores so, again, more to come. Birks 5.59 improved by 1.6 & easily adapted to captains roll & becoming 2nd string. These last 2 places are hard to pick as 1 3 pointer keeps Toft/Birks probably swapping as the 1st reserve. The other place could be between Skidmore, Sanchez, Bunyan as has been proved this year, the riders need to score well when riding away.

There is, also, as expected, Richie at Lakeside as posted in the Lakeside 2013 thread(contract signed). Friday night track so a loan fee will be forthcoming. It says expected to be a CMA of 3, with a CMA of around 6 after a few meetings(roling average),others posted converted PL of 3.47.

If memory serves me correct, when Somerset rode at the EWR late August, Howe had tried to come back from his injuries which proved unsuccessful & we were looking into getting Masters to replace Howe or continue using r/r. Debbie Hancock was "intervewed" by Rob on the centregreen near the pits & the issue of the work visa was brought into question. Apparantly, Somerset refused to allow Masters to ride for a rival club that could jepardise their chances of success on the work permit. He would have had to re-apply for a new permit, hence him only being allowed to take guest appearances.

Bring on 2013 with, hopefully, most of this team staying together, as it's the little tweaks that can bring the greater results. We knew we had to lose Tom(CMA of 5) plus 1 other to make way for 2 changes & unfortunately it was Tero. Bringing in Morris & a "tune up" for Toft worked wonders but it could have been so different. Eric, if the result is in doubt, wether it's for 1st, 2nd or 3rd, it has to be re-run in the eyes of the referee. His/her decision is final interpretting the Speedway Rules 2012.

I, too, witnessed 30 heats of the play-off final on the two best & fair speedway tracks in the PL. Admittedly, i expected better racing at the OTA-my first visit, on friday but wether the cold weather(3'C) or the track prep(where was the shale?) changed any advantage/disadvantage that both teams could have got,i don't know, but, for me, the hard work was done on friday, a deficit of only 5. Last night, everyone was on tenterhooks as no one got a grip of the meeting, with the swings one way then the other, excitement was at a premium. A few dodgy moments around hts 7-9 with refereeing decisions & team decisions playing on my mind. In ht 7 the ref awards the ht where Morris could have got 2nd, ht 8 a re-run when Newman took out Birks with unexpected grip on turn 2, Davies well behind, should have been awarded but then Davies wins the ht-sods law. Heat 9 where Bunyan was struggling in his 1st 2 rides & could have got his 3 out of the way & from gate 4 could have got a good start but brought in Toft Where there was an unsavoury incident when Vissing forgot to turn left & from gate 1 took out Tofts front wheel after gating from 4. It also could have given them a chance for a t/r later but it didn't pan out that way. It then swung one way then the other on aggregate & it looked like a mechanical was going to decide this but, no, it came down to a last heat decider when Auty & Morris team rode well, which i have said before is hard to do on a wide track like ours, to keep Hall in 4th & giving the Somerset the win. A BIG WELL DONE to Rob, Gail & Richard for what has been difficult decisions to make throughout the season. To the riders, 1 & all including, at times, some dodgy guests, to the track staff & all backroom staff at the club, MANY THANKS. A truely memorable season finished off by what some fans saw, A Shooting Star. We did you proud Kenny & thanks for watching over us.

A great result last night that does give us a chance & we should be favourites but Somerset are more than capable of also keeping it close. The chainn breaks cost us but by my working out we got 7 points but could have got 11. The downside to that was we would not have used a t/r making the score possibly 45-45. The weather played its part as not many riders would have a set up to ride at a temperature of about 4 degrees C, god it was cold. Could not see across to the back straight as they have awesome lighting to the track but sod all for the fans(filling in the programme was a mare. The scorpion fans were, also, about making a noise on the home straight, before & after the start line. Well done to the Scorpions for another great night night leading to a better afternoon on sunday. Hope the weather changes to make another decent, raceable meeting.

On scanning through the latest SS, it seems 2 of our assets are bound elsewhere. If true that Neilsen is Ipswich & Mildenhall in 2013, it now states that Wilko would prefer to be at Redcar, again in 2013 repaying the faith put in him & sticking by him(his score early season did not do him justice) & also repaying his new "guiding sponsors" Motive who are also helping Ulrich Ostergaard & our own Dan Phillips. Oops! sorry for the wrong company & for putting me right

http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Somerset&action=display&thread=10562 8 points from 5 rides, to me, is not excelling. I think Rob had a guest penciled in incase we made the final

Tunnel vision, sour grapes, bigger picture & not common sense spring to mind about some posters

The weather has played a big part in procedings throughout the year so there will not be rules to account for the decisions made this last 10 days in the EL & PL. When there have been individual meetings & riders are tied the result of the race when they faced each other denotes the top rider. Obviously, similar in the team events. Edinburgh could not finish top of the group so it boiled down to the results of Scunthorpe & Workington. A win apiece but Scunthorpe has the greater aggregate score so go through. It, also, sets the stall out for future, similar occasions. Common sense has prevailed towards the end of a rain affected season. Let us hope it does not happen again.

Where have you been all season. Nearly all the teams have changed their line ups due to injuries or lack of form. We made ours through an injury to Tom Armstrong Plus 1 other to accomadate 2 incoming riders. IF you have been reading the forums or Speedway Star, you would know it was going to be Tom & M P Toft but their CMA's changed so we could not bring in the 2 riders we wanted. Therefore, we had to let Tero go with Tom. At that point, MPT was still strugling for form with his bikes not performing so he had an engine tuned by a top bloke & has never looked back. Fiddling-don't think so, Manipulating-again, i don't think so just a bit of tweeking to the team personnel.

We, at Scunthorpe, are blessed with having promoters that like to see speedway races, yes races, where you don't have to be settled after the 1st 2 corners to know the result of the race(gate & go). It is about giving the riders the chance to race on decent surfaces, to create excitement for the crowds to see. I know of quite a few people that watch the GP's & EL on Sky but have not seen speedway, live, for a few years. I have tried to entice them to the EWR, more so, our double headers at £16 for 2 meetings(normally £14 per meeting). I have noticed this year that other club have raced double headers & charged about £25/£26 for the 2 meetings that could have cost £15 each meeting. What were their crowds like barring the increase of 2 away teams supporters. Did it bring out the increase of home support. Could we promote the sport more by taking DVD's of meetings to schools for dinner time viewing/after school viewing. Getting the kids their means adults have to bring them to the meetings but they have to be watchable/exciting to bring them back. One bad meeting does not help plus the ever changing rules(what a nightmare explaining that to newbies)

The weather has played a big part in the lateness of sqeezing matches in but also, it boils down to teams not getting matches in where possible. To still have League cup matches to play at this late stage is a joke. You also get a club that does well throughout the season having more matches to sqeeze in. Workington in LC, KOC & play-offs with 3 meetings this w/e & 2 next(hope the weather is kind). We suffered back in '06 &'07 getting our fixtures in, but that was because of an awkward promoter from the SW making things difficult for us. Reguarding guests, it is the nature of the sport that injuries happen. Unfortunately, due to double up/down riders, injuries happen 24hrs before other meetings so guests ARE required. Our top 4 riders were missing friday so we had to use the system in place to get a meeting out of the way. It was only on Sat 15 September that Workington did the same v Glasgow!!! What short memories some people have.

Now THAT was what real speedway is about. Not your GP's or EL gate & go on sky but real racing & passing. I could not have seen that scoreline after being 15-15 after 5 hts but this last 2 months of results have been about scoring points consistantly, not getting lasts. 4 in the 1st 5 did not help but not a single one after that(a team talk maybe-if so, it worked) Josh was not 100%! Could we tell! Even after being left nowhere to go in his 1st ht. MPT, take your hat off son, what a meeting to behold but i thought be happy with what you have achieved after 6 rides, your paid max. But no, as he has done before, he goes out & wins ht15. Rob, get him another engine like this one as he has nailed on a spot for 2013. A big thank you to our guests recently. I have previously posted that some of our guest have just turned up, not to hurt their own teams & take the money, but lately they have raced for the Scorpions & what we could achieve, a bit of history. We already have made a bit this year but, hopefully, there is more to come. Another point worth making, our missing weekend jaunt rider! Will he ride for the Scorpions again? Judging by Robs views on the mike, i don't think he was impressed with his attitude towards the Scorpions, more for his fellow Aussie. Well done Holder for beating Pederson!

I am sory you feel that way but, believe you me, we would rather have had Howe, Jorgensen, Auty & Morris ALL Fit, ALL Season but the nature of the sport brings injuries to all riders at some point.

Howe has been a Scorpion even though he's been injured, he's still been around the boys so i can see another year for David at Scunny. As for Nick. He came to Scunny to ride more & get his sharpness back. He's a Glasgow asset(as far as i am aware) & Rides for EL Swindon. He wanted to ride in the foreign leagues but did not get a spot. These are the contensious issues. We have done well this year as riders have improved their away form & also because of the change in personnel. Take nothing away from Armstrong & Aarnio is was their injuries & averages combined which meant changes HAD to be done.

It could also be that Nick was injured, battered & bruised, declared himself unfit to Rob/Richard in time for them to get a guest. He maybe woke up a little stiff but not as bad as 12hrs earlier & thought he would pass the time away with Rossco & support his fellow Aussie(Holder) at the GP. Perfectly Legal if a true account.

Just looked at riders results for our guests riding at Edinburgh this year & this is what i found. Doolan 14pts from 7 rides Masters 9pts from 5 rides Haines 8pts from 5 rides Obviously decent guests are hard to find at short notice, judging by Gathercole being 16th choice at Ippo, but we have been solid from 1 to 6 so guests must step up to the plate to help us get that bit of history.