MrMungo

Dudley website is wrong. The Kerr thing is on several Facebook pages. Irving posted earlier that he injured his shoulder and is going to have to rest for a bit.

Dudley are back to full strength whilst Mildenhall are bringing in King's Lynn's Lewis Kerr for Heeps, and Terry-Daley continues to replace Nathan Stoneman, who's out for the season. Stoneman will be a big miss as he top-scored back in May (was it?). Bates hasn't ever seen the place before, so Mildenhall might struggle a little at reserve, I'd expect. Both teams are already through to the Play-Offs, so could well be a dress rehearsal for later in the season when the trophies are decided. Personally hoping for an injury free match, and a better atmosphere than on Sunday.

Now, now, Aljack, that is not strictly true. They won a match last month. They have several matches before the end of the season, so might get another win soon! I do really feel for Taylor. He was putting everything into it on Saturday night, but it's just not happening at the moment for him. And sometimes when you try a bit too hard, you make mistakes. It can be a vicious circle. He's been an unfortunate victim of the averages, but it happens sometimes. Speedway can be a funny sport at times. Sometimes success is penalised the following year, and it works the other way round, too. If you have an injury-ravaged season (like Taylor has) one year, you end up with a low average, which is often made to look silly 12 months down the line. Chris Schramm is another rider who I feel is in a similar position, and will finish the season on a far lower average than he should do. Both could be key riders in 2013.

You enjoying the Start Tarts, Alan?

Spot on. If/when a clutch goes wrong, they are expensive to replace. My own personal pet peeve is when referees/supporters seem to want to get a meeting over and done as soon as possible, so they can get home 5-10 minutes earlier. After a restart, I think a minimum of 2 minutes should be given to allow the rider(s) to sort out any issues. And if a rider is fallen, he should be given more time to clean out the chain, sort out the clutch, fuel up again, etc. I've seen it happen far too often. A rider falls, not given enough time to get everything sorted, and then the bike lasts 30 metres.

Perry didn't have his arm in a sling when he first turned up, but he did have it in a sling later on. I'd imagine he will be fine for Tuesday, Phil - certainly the impression I got. Nice post, by the way.

It's a good job you're not a King's Lynn fan, Aljack. The National League side has a number 1 with a 5.79 average! You'd have kittens! Think Tungate is the best man for the #1 jacket. He has that something about him that makes you think he will cope with it a little better than some. Hopefully the move will help young Poole find some confidence and begin to score more freely again.

Which Mildenhall rider would that be? The only person I saw who went up to him was Robert Branford, who Irving then pushed aside, despite being on crutches himself!

I can understand the frustrations, but there's a right and wrong way with dealing with such frustrations. Swearing at Michael Lee doesn't impact just him. He can deal with it fine, but others who haven't got his experience can't. It's not just Michael Lee and Chris Louis who run the club at the end of the day. Greenwood will struggle a bit. But sometimes riders learn more from a bad meeting (or 2) than scoring freely (from reserve, for example). I'd guess (from seeing what I have of him) that he will struggle a bit for a few matches, but will come good again when he's back at reserve. It's a big step up. Don't think he's been on a bike for a few weeks, so in fairness to him, that may have impacted his performance aswell. Ritchings has a fair bit of experience and should adapt well in the top 5. From memory, he wasn't outclassed in any of his races. Good starts, good first bends, but lacked a bit of speed so was picked off a few times. Garrity a Scunthorpe asset?

Off the top of my head, other highlights were: Nielsen's third to first in heat 4. Irving's third to first in heat 5. Nielsen trying to fend off Bekker with a slowing bike in heat 6 & failing. Couple of good scraps between Nielsen and Irving with the former coming out on top on each occasion. Ritchings had a few good battles and probably unlucky not to score a few more. Halsey also involved in a few good battles, and had his best meeting for several months, IMO. Bates recovering after a shaky start to record 2 very impressive wins. Heat 13 was magnificent until the last bend. Garrity and Irving passing and re-passing about half a dozen times. Tremendous commitment from both.

Chris Louis wasn't there. He was with Ipswich up in Glasgow. There were tears because of all of the abuse from the Dudley lot. And there was an awful lot of abuse. Too much. Odd comments here and there are tolerable, but yesterday was far too much. I can only comment on what I saw and the only screaming I heard from a home fan was when a Dudley chap was trying to get into a fight when surrounded by kids. It was a horrible atmosphere with most people on edge, and an atmosphere I hope I never experience at any Speedway track again. As for the racing, and to answer your questions, Ritchings was on the pace and involved in a few good scraps. Greenwood wasn't.

There were some complete clowns on the 2nd bend. They turned up drunk, rowdy and abusive. It's never a good combination. Not a very good meeting in that sense. Just glad everything went through without any major mishaps. Best wishes to Jason Garrity and Gary Irving. Was a horrible crash and delighted to see both riders get up, although Irving's shoulder injury and Garrity's hand injury may keep them off a bike for a little while. Don't think you will find a more committed race between 2 guests this year!

It was supposed to be Garrity, but he's ruled out now.

Was given oxygen at the track, too. Hand was in a bad shape from what I was told. A very nasty crash. Hope he recovers quickly.

I'd expect Stoke are confident of already being in the Play-Offs. IOW have a good chance aswell, and will require a very impressive run of form by either Rye House, Scunthorpe to stop them.

Isn't there an unattached rider list? That's pretty much the same thing I'd imagine.

It may not matter to them, but it might matter somewhat to their opponents if they can still get into the Play-offs.

Blackbird is definitely third in the averages which rules out Garrity for R/R. From memory, Nielsen has 8.65 average, Blackbird 7.01.

That's been the case for a good couple of weeks. Machin in this week's Star seemed rather unimpressed by it all though! Said he had written to the BSPA basically asking him to be excused and was awaiting a response.

Is Haines riding?

I've always thought of it as the "minimum wage" in our terms. The PL @ £30 per point thing is a new one to me. Even the reserves would get around £40 per point, some a bit higher. Hawkins V Lambert is very much like for like. They will potentially both have awesome meetings from time to time, but also some poor ones. Ultimately, they're both solid 5 pt men and I don't see that changing a great deal in the near future.

The former...

You don't really believe that do you, Shadders?

I can't see it being close. IOW will have too much strength in depth. IOW to win 55-37. Can see Oliver Greenwood take a liking to the track, and wouldn't be surprised to see him score double figures.

What has that got to do with it? Injured or not, he would have been unavailable.