lucifer sam

Rubbish. Scunthorpe is full throttle and smooth, and has more passing than any other track in the UK. There are some outstanding tracks in the UK: Scunny, Somerset, Peterborough, King's Lynn etc. Unfortunately there's also some cr*p ones, where the track prep leaves so much to be desired. All the best Rob

In October 2012, Scunny had a 72-heat amateur meeting in the morning/afternoon and a 15-heat PL play-off match in the evening. Within the couple of hours between the amateur meeting and PL match, the track staff completely transformed the track, and the racing for the evening meeting was terrific. Rob Godfrey and the track staff work miracles with the Scunny track. All the best Rob

The amateur meeting at Scunthorpe on Sunday (Jan 12th) consisted of 103 races. Does anyone else know of any other meetings took place over more than 100 races, or is this a world record? All the best Rob

Ermmm... he was No 6 All the best Rob

I would choose a low number, because in the event of a complete tie between several riders in a GP, the one with the lowest number goes through. All the best Rob

Tai Woffinden. Rode half the season with a dodgy collarbone, and still racked up the GP points despite that. All the best Rob

Steve Worrall, Max Clegg and Danny Philipps? It's rather flattering that Cradley are trying to win the 2014 NL title with the 2012 Scunthorpe Saints riders. Might have to see if I can pop up a couple of times during the season. All the best Rob

Have we done something to upset you, Old Williamson? All the best Rob When did they shut? All the best Rob

The Oxford fans couldn't get a word out of the bloke. And a few years later, we found out why!!! All the best Rob

My subscription copies arrived earlier than usual... on the Tuesdays (Dec 24 and Dec 31). Another good reason to subscribe, I guess. Need to find time to tackle the Gary Havelock feature - this series has been tremendous. All the best Rob

And Erith... nowhere as usual... eh Williamson? All the best Rob

Apologies for that - it was supposed to all go out at the same time (last Thursday - an update to the website did say that the news was now going to be out within the next fortnight rather than the next week), but some computer problems put paid to that. Sorry - we do try to co-ordinate the news between the Telegraph, Speedway Star and the Press Releases, but it all slipped out of sync this time. But let's concentrate on the postivie, which is a very good new team sponsor for the Scunthorpe Scorpions. All the best Rob Peasley (Scunny Press Officer)

A very top heavy team. Might work, might not. All the best Rob

I find the site a fantastic resource. Looking forward to Parsloes third tier site as well. All the best Rob

There wasn't a points limit as such, it was a grading system, based on age as much as averages. It's how Scunthorpe were able to retain the vast bulk of the 2006 team for 2007. Very strange league in 2007. Scunthorpe, thanks to the grading system, put a team together no-one could get close to. The league's best rider (Tai Woffinden) was only a Grade 6, as was Josh Auty. In turn, Oxford had a side which the next strongest - nowhere as near as strong as Scunny, but more powerful than the rest of the teams. It led to some very lopsided scores - Oxford 71 Sittingbourne 21 and Oxford 70 Cleveland 18 spring to mind. And I think Scunny had the best-ever away win recorded in a league match (at Sittingbourne?). I remember being team manager for Oxford at Scunthorpe in 2007. We got battered. I think we lost 35-58. Rob Godfrey came up to me after the meeting, shook my hand and congratulated us on being the best visitors there that season. Grading systems just do not work - and create more of an inequality than a points limit. Having said that, the 2007 Scunthorpe side were a joy to watch, with so many talented youngsters in one team (which is what the grading system rewarded). The current points limit would prevent a team that strong being assembled in the National League again. All the best Rob

Morganbike, very much agree, but just to point out, you've put two seasons into one there. Woffy and Auty were at reserve at the beginning of 2006... the first of two sucessive championships for Scunthorpe. In 2007, it was Joe Haines who started off at reserve for Scunny and ended up pushing Byron Bekker to reserve. Scunny were very strong in 2006 and then almost unbelievably strong in 2007, with the likes of Woffinden, Auty, Tully, etc even better than the season before. Woffinden in the 2007 play-off final was sensational, a barely 17-year-old lad who was not only unbeaten in both legs, but also putting in some very good team-riding with Joe Haines. That's not to say that Mildenhall 2012 and Dudley 2013 haven't been fantastic teams, they have, but for me Scunthorpe 2007 has the edge. All the best Rob

I would say Scunthorpe Scorpions 2007 - awesome team who would have finished mid-table in that season's Premier League. They completely and utterly battered us (Oxford) in the final, despite the fact they were without the injured trio of Josh Auty, Andrew Tully and Richie Dennis. Half a team left, yet they still cruised to the title with ease. How many CL/NL teams have contained a future World Champion (Tai Woffinden) in their ranks? No contest really. All the best Rob

Gustix, The season finishes tomorrow (Thursday October 31st) All the best Rob

Well done Somerset! All the best Rob

Well Lindgren wasn't missing for ANY of them. I don't have a problem with Gollob having one more year in the GP, he's earnt the priviledge of one wild card and he's still box office. All the best Rob

ANOTHER wildcard for Lindgren? I don't think even Harris had this many wildcards. Yet another season of Mr. Dull in the GP series. All the best Rob

Unfortunatley the PA wasn't working properly. I'm glad Dave Hammond is back as an announcer - best speedway announcer ever. Bar none. Plus he and Yorkie bounce off each other so well. Shame we couldn't actually hear them last night though. As for the programme debate, I do understand the need to use up the old programme - no promotion can afford to throw money away. However, I did think a bit more work could have been done on the insert (i.e pin pics of the riders not in the original line-up), plus given it was a 7-month delay maybe sell the programme for £2 instead of £3 as a goodwll gesture to the fans? It would have still left a healthy profit margin for the proggie. A bit of food for thought if the Cov promotion are in need of using such an old programme again. End-of-season fare last night. The two newcomers, Kenneth Hansen and Jamroll provided much of the entertainment. All the best Rob

No Jonsson was not a wild card this season (he finished ninth last year, and therefore took the eighth spot after Crump's retirement).Wildcards for 2013 were: Vaculik, Hampel, Woffinden and Ward.All the bestRob

Whatever happens, it needs co-operation between the two clubs involved. It is only fair that Somerset have the second leg. Really each club needs a home date and also a reserved back-up home date, in case of a rain-off. A workable solution can hopefully be found for what I'm sure will be a cracking final. And then, from next season, the final really does need to be held earlier in October! There were reserved dates in the original fixture list (the second week of October being put aside for the final), these should be stuck to!! All the best Rob

That's pretty much the way it happened in 2012. Scunthorpe (who'd finished 2nd in the league, once place above Somerset) chose to have the 2nd leg. The two clubs co-operated regarding dates. Somerset were allowed to run on their usual Friday night (26th), while Scunny rode on the Sunday (28th), which then become the Monday (29th) once the Sunday was washed out. It was lucky last year that one of the teams (Scunthorpe) could run on any night of their choosing, therefore allowing some flexibility. This year, both teams have restrictions on the nights they can run. It just shows that the Redcar meeting tonight was being held too late, otherwise the first leg could have taken place at Armadale tomorrow night. Really any group matches needed to be done and dusted by October 6th, allowing the final to take place in the second week of October. I did say as much when I first saw qualifying matches being held as late as October 13th. All it needed was one rain off to cause problems and so it has proved. I still think play-offs are a great thing, but teams do need to get on with holding meetings. There does need to be a cut-off for group matches, to give plenty of time for the final. All the best Rob