lucifer sam

I notice that Racers & Royals was very selective in which part of the rule he quoted. Just gone and looked at the FULL rule, and this is what Racers & Royals decided not to quote: 16.5.1 A Team may utilise a "Facility" to cover the absence of a Rider(s) who: C is recalled with prior notification, by his FMN for compulsory International or National Championship duty. Now then, haven't the ACU told David to miss the Scunthorpe meeting to ride on international duty? Looks perfectly legal to me. All the best Rob

EDITED as no response no longer needed - as David Howe has now answered himself. All the best Rob You never leave your bedroom in the first place. All the best Rob

It's not illegal, and it's been known about for some weeks All the best Rob

A facility has been granted, and that's that - end of story. All the best Rob

Best of luck to Lewis in his recovery. Good rider, with a good attitude. All the best Rob

Blimey, is this what normally happens with the Glasgow threads – that they’re overrun by slightly gloating and mocking Monarchs fans? And there was me thinking the meeting was between Glasgow and Scunthorpe. All the best Rob

What negative comments? From one person? Ash generally hasn't done too badly at all this year, considering the injuries he's come back from. He remains a popular member of the Scorpions' side. All the best Rob

JOSH RETURNS FOR CRUNCH FIXTURE FOR SCORPIONS JOSH AUTY is all set to return to the line-up of the FluidAir Scunthorpe Scorpions, as the Scorpions tackle the Peterborough Panthers in a vital Premier League encounter at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening (7.30pm). The 23-year-old Yorkshireman has been ruled out of action for the last three weeks, following an operation to have his appendix removed. Scorpions’ promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have Josh back. “He and Ashley Birks were forming a really formidable middle pairing at numbers 3 & 4, before he had to sit on the sidelines for a few weeks. Josh can’t wait to get back going again.” Friday’s meeting will be a tough test for the Scorpions. Both Nicolai Klindt and David Howe have riding commitments elsewhere, and the Scorpions bring in two guests from Australia - Redcar’s Hugh Skidmore and Sheffield’s Taylor Poole. Team manager Dave Peet said: “Nicolai’s official average for the month of August is 7.05. That rules out the No 1 from virtually every other Premier League club. “So instead, we’ve done what we consider the next best thing, by bringing in Hugh Skidmore, because he often rides around Scunthorpe like a No 1. “Taylor Poole has recently started flying recently, and I’m sure a lot of people saw him knocking up the points from reserve in the recent televised meeting at Sheffield. We’re hoping he will do the same for us on Friday.” Although Peterborough are currently in eighth place in the Premier League table, some 12 points behind the fourth-placed Scorpions, they do have six matches in hand. In fact, comparing home points dropped to away points won, both teams are currently +4, as indeed are Ipswich and Workington. With Edinburgh (+19), Somerset (+13) and Berwick (+12) all looking safe, it would appear the foursome of the Scorpions, Panthers, Witches and Comets are battling for the final three play-off places. With the Scunthorpe vs Peterborough Knockout Cup match at the Eddie Wright Raceway in May ending as a 46-44 win to the Scorpions, another close encounter could be on the cards on Friday. Peet added: “Peterborough were very good in the cup match around here, although one of their star performers from that occasion, Ulrich Ostergaard, is missing this time around. “It’s important that we hit back, after not taking any points in our away match at Glasgow on Monday. The Panthers are one of the teams we are battling with for a play-off spot, so this is a very important meeting for us. “Our home form has been excellent recently and we need that again, so that we can take the three points that we need.” Admission prices for Friday: Adult: £15.00 Student/OAP: £13.00 Child (10 – 17): £5.00 Child (0 – 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-17) Match Programme: £1.00 Expected teams for Friday (English unless stated): FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Hugh Skidmore (Australia), 2. Thomas Jørgensen (Denmark), 3. Ashley Birks, 4. Josh Auty, 5. Ryan Douglas (Australia), 6. Matt Williamson, 7. Taylor Poole (Australia). Peterborough Panthers: 1. Lasse Bjerre (Denmark), 2. Lewis Blackbird, 3. Ales Dryml (Czech Republic), 4. Aaron Summers (Australia), 5. Rider replacement for Ulrich Ostergaard (Denmark), 6. Joe Jacobs, 7. Nicki Barrett (Denmark). Peterborough Panthers at EWR Ave Ave Best Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Performance Nicki Barrett PL 1 3 1 0 1.33 1.33 1 from 3 rides (2013) Lasse Bjerre PL 7 35 57 2 6.51 6.74 13 from 6 rides (2014) Lewis Blackbird PL 15 65 85 13 5.23 6.03 15 + 2 from 6 rides (inc 6 pts T/R (PL (2013))) Ales Dryml PL 1 5 6 2 4.80 6.40 6 + 2 from 5 rides (2014) Joe Jacobs PL 2 7 3 0 1.71 1.71 2 from 4 rides (2014) Other Notes Nicki Barrett Made his Premier League debut for Berwick during the 2012 season. Signed for Peterborough in June to replace the injured Oliver Greenwood. Lasse Bjerre 2011 Danish Under-21 Champion. Member of Denmark's World Under-21 Team Cup Championship Winning Team in 2010. Member of Ipswich's Premier League Fours Championship Winning Team in 2011. Qualified for this season's World Under-21 Individual Championship Finals. Recently named as a 'doubling-up' rider with Wolverhampton for the rest of the 2014 Elite League season. Lewis Blackbird 2013 Scunthorpe Scorpion. Member of Mildenhall's National League KO Cup Winning Team in 2011. Captain of Mildenhall's 2012 National League side, which won 5 major trophies at that level. Member of Dudley's 2013 National League Championship, Pairs and Fours Winning Teams. A Fast-Track Reserve with Eastbourne for the 2014 Elite League season. Ales Dryml Has competed in the Speedway Grand Prix Series and has represented his country in the Speedway World Cup. 2012 European Champion. Won the 2004 and 2007 European Pairs Championship with his brother Lukas. Member of Oxford's 2001 Elite League Championship Winning Team. Member of Poole's 2003 Elite League Championship and KO Cup Winning Teams. Joe Jacobs Member of Mildenhall's National League KO Cup Winning Team in 2011. Member of Mildenhall's NL Championship, Fours, KO Cup and National Trophy Winning Team in 2012. A Fast-Track Reserve with Wolverhampton for the 2014 Elite League season. Also riding in 2014 for Mildenhall in the National League. Peterborough Panthers' Results at EWR 26 May 2014 KOC L Scunthorpe 46 Peterborough 44 (stats courtesy of John Eyre)

I agree. I think they do already something like that in Rugby. How about the Jack Young Shield for the table topping team? All the best Rob

Give over and move into the 21st century. All the best Rob

John Posh Bloke managed to lose £500,000 in 16 months at Reading. All the best Rob

Well done Glasgow, sounds like a good night for the Tigers and a bad night for the Scorpions. All the best Rob

Just remind them they finished one place behind a Scunthorpe side missing two of its top three in the fours yesterday. The Edinburgh website is even in denial about it, claiming they finished "joint third". Er no, it was Scunthorpe third and Edinburgh last in the final. All the best Rob

Robert Lambert was blocked from coming in, because it was blatantly against the rules. All the best Rob

Hope that Pavlova turns out to be a decent signing for the Tigers, but also hoping for a Scorpions win. I think it'll be a close meeting. All the best Rob

Well, I enjoyed it. Some pretty good racing. Well done to Somerset on the win and Worky on second. And well done to Scunny for pipping Edinburgh to third place, despite having Scunny having two of their top three missing. That Monarchs lot are over-rated. All the best Rob

How do you work out that finishing 4th is the same as finishing 7th? All the best Rob

So did I. I needed a 5-minute break, before heading around and driving back to Oxford, so went to look at the track. Very wet and third bend totally underwater. I've seen the Scunny track staff perform miracles (2012 play-off final springs to mind), but getting that back into shape was even beyond their capabilities, especially given there was still rain in the air. The track staff were starting to pump the water off the third bend, but there would not have been a raceable track by 7.30pm. Scunny do have an excellent record in terms of rain offs; Rob Godfrey and his track staff are the best in the business when it comes to that. Only two rain offs at home during the whole of 2013 (both non-official fixtures, not a single official meeting was rained off in 2013), and only two so far this season. If they can get the meeting on, they will, but last night that just wasn't a possibility. The heavy showers were hit and miss last night. It was peeing it down in Gainsborough on the way up, obviously very wet in Scunthorpe itself, I drove back a different way and it dry on the M180 just down the road, but then once I got on the A1, it was raining so hard, I could hardly see. Very frustrating for everyone. I got home 7 hours after I started off, without seeing a heat of speedway. But I'll continue to take my chances in travelling up to Scunny (wouldn't have bothered if it was an away meeting), because I know they'll do their upmost to get a meeting on. All the best Rob

I have to say that I agreed with the ref. Kim Nilsson totally lost his rag. Krcmar performed a hard move on the previous lap, and Nilsson saw red. He decided to get his revenge and dish it back out, but got it completely wrong, and bounced Krcmar off the fence! It did cross a line and I think the exclusion was warranted. It was foul riding. An analogy would be an incident in football, where one player commits the foul, but then the other player then retaliates and ends up with the greater penalty. Jim Lawrence took this philosophy and I believe it was the correct one. Had Nicki P done what Kim Nilsson did, they’d be a lynch party out for him. All the best Rob

Yep, it'll be a toughie, perhaps even more so after Berwick's defeat at Ipswich last night, because the Bandits will be wanting to show that result was a one-off. Two very solid sides, both with a trump card at reserve! Really looking forward to this one. All the best Rob

SCORPIONS FACE STIFF TEST FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions face one of their toughest tests of the season at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday (7.30pm), with the visit of the in-form Berwick Bandits. Berwick currently sit in fifth place in the Premier League table, with matches in hand on all the teams above them, including fourth-placed Scunthorpe. The Bandits have won four of their six away matches, before visiting Ipswich on Thursday night and then Scunthorpe on Friday. Their only two league away defeats have both come at Newcastle. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “Berwick have picked up a high number of away points – which means either they’ve been extremely lucky, or more likely, they’ve been extremely good. “We have to be on our guard, and firing on Friday night, because we do need the three points from this meeting against the Bandits.” Josh Auty is unlikely to be fit to return, after having his appendix removed a fortnight ago. The Scorpions will again use rider replacement in his absence. With the issue of the August Green Sheet averages, Thomas Jorgensen and David Howe swap positions, with Thomas moving to No 2 and David down to reserve at No 7. Howe has an August Green Sheet Average of 6.04, but such is the strength of Scorpions’ top six, he will still ride at reserve. It’s only a fortnight since Howe scored a paid 18 point maximum against Rye House at the Eddie Wright Raceway. Godfrey added: “The way we constructed this team, we knew we would always have one very strong reserve. Up until now, it has been Ryan (Douglas) or Thomas (Jorgensen), but this month it’s David Howe’s turn to ride at reserve, which is incredible if you think about it, because he’s such a class act and it doesn’t seem that long ago that he was the No 1 around here. “It couldn’t have happened at a better time, because as David demonstrated with his 18-point maximum a couple of weeks ago, he’s now showing form. Thomas was a star performer at reserve, but there’s no reason why David can’t be just as good.” Friday’s fixture takes place on the same weekend as Berwick’s visit last season, which means it is one year on from Ricky Ashworth’s serious accident at the Eddie Wright Raceway. Ashworth’s seemingly innocuous fall onto the track led to the Salford based rider eventually spending 91 days in a coma. Godfrey said: “One year on, Ricky still remains very much in our thoughts at Scunthorpe – and I’m sure it’s the same at Berwick and Sheffield. We wish Ricky all the best in his long road to recovery. We haven’t forgotten him, and we will mark the anniversary of the accident on Friday.” There are 24 heats of action in total, with a nine-heat second half, including a Midland Development League match between Castleford and Belle Vue. Admission prices for Friday: Adult: £15.00 Student/OAP: £13.00 Child (10 – 17): £5.00 Child (0 – 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-17) Match Programme: £1.00 Expected teams for Friday (English unless stated): FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Nicolai Klindt (Denmark), 2. Thomas Jørgensen (Denmark), 3. Ashley Birks, 4. Josh Auty R/R, 5. Ryan Douglas (Australia), 6. Matt Williamson, 7. David Howe. Berwick Bandits: 1. Claus Vissing (Denmark), 2. David Bellego (France), 3. Steen Jensen (Denmark), 4. Matthew Wethers (Australia), 5. Kevin Doolan (Australia), 6. Liam Carr, 7. Matej Kus (Czech Republic). Midland Development League teams: Castleford: 1. Danny Phillips, 2.Tom Bacon, 3. Adam Portwood, 4.Ben Hewitt. Belle Vue: 1. David Holt, 2. Michael Neale, 3. Reece Downes, 4. Alex Wilson. Berwick Bandits at EWR Ave Ave Best Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Performance David Bellego PL 7 29 37 3 5.10 5.52 9 from 4 rides (2013) Liam Carr DEBUT PL MEETING @ EWR Kevin Doolan PL 11 53 85 4 6.42 6.72 14 from 5 rides (2008) Steen Jensen DEBUT PL MEETING @ EWR Matej Kus PL 3 15 27 0 7.20 7.20 17 from 5 rides (inc 6 pts T/R (2012)) Claus Vissing PL 4 11 13 0 4.73 4.73 7 from 4 rides (2012) Matthew Wethers PL 8 31 36 4 4.65 5.16 7 + 1 from 4 rides (2008) Other Notes David Bellego Member of Glasgow's Premier League Championship Winning Team in 2011. Member of Berwick's Premier League Fours Championship Winning Team in 2012. Liam Carr Riding in his first full season in the Premier League with his local club. Also rides for Buxton in the 2014 National League. Kevin Doolan Member of King's Lynn's Premier League KO Cup and Young Shield Winning Teams in 2005. Member of King's Lynn's Premier League Championship, KO Cup and Premier Trophy Winning Teams in 2006. Member of Workington's Premier League Four-Team Championship Winning Team in 2009. Member of Ipswich's Premier League Four-Team Championship Winning Team in 2011. Steen Jensen Making his return to British speedway this season after a number of years away. Made his Premier League debut with Isle of Wight in 2005. Matej Kus Has ridden in Speedway Grand Prix and World Cup Events. 2010 Czech Republic Champion. Twice Czech Republic Under-21 Champion (2008 and 2009). 2008 Czech Republic Under-19 Champion. Claus Vissing Member of Somerset's League Cup Winning Team in 2012. Made his British League debut in 2007 at Premier League level with Stoke. Matthew Wethers Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Championship Winning Teams in 2003, 2008 and 2010. Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Play-Off Winning Teams in 2008 and 2009. Member of Edinburgh's Premier Trophy Winning Team in 2008. Berwick's Results at EWR 04 July 2008 PL L Scunthorpe 52 Berwick 41 04 September 2009 PL L Scunthorpe 51 Berwick 42 23 April 2010 PL L Scunthorpe 62 Berwick 28 25 March 2011 PL L Scunthorpe 56 Berwick 39 23 March 2012 LC L Scunthorpe 53 Berwick 40 27 July 2012 PL L Scunthorpe 48 Berwick 42 02 August 2013 PL L Scunthorpe 34 Berwick 31 (stats courtesy of John Eyre)

Surely Lemo counts as being on official FIM international duty? It's not like he's gone to Poland for a holiday, is it? All the best Rob

Would be very surprised if Gollob doesn't ride in the World Cup Final at Bydgoszcz. A perfect opportunity to bow out of World events on a massive high in his own backyard. All the best Rob

No tricky is not the word, just different. It actually produced some absolutely fantastic racing. And no dust in sight, despite the heat and an enforced 15-minute "sun break". The inside line was probably the fastest last night, if the rider could keep the speed while riding tight. Normally it's the other way around. Both Nicolai Klindt and Ryan Douglas used the inside to pass riders. Mind you, Ryan also went around riders as well - he was properly Flyin' Another fabulous night of racing at the EWR - if you don't believe us, believe the Birmingham and Coventry fans who have posted on this thread All the best Rob