Great Central

Glad that you enjoyed it. Mimmo enjoyed it as well and put in a similar report to yours and it is just a pity that more spectators didn't go and watch. Not sure what these boys have to do to gain more support. Two falls only last night and both riders cleared the track early enough to prevent a race stoppage occurring - EL/PL boys please note. Thought the referee, officials and riders did well to keep it moving in good time and heat 14 was an absolute cracker. Yes they weren't going as fast as the EL riders but who cares when all 4 riders were in the mix for 4 laps. Pity Adam Mc didn't make it since Buxton may well have turned KL over last night but well done to Adam Portwood. Got the call to ride at 4.30 in the afternoon and turned up on time. Tough task for Adam to get anything out of the meeting since he hasn't had that much racing this year and whilst he does 2nd halves and amateur racing there is quite a bridge to cross to get up to speed even at NL level. Mike, excellent post again and how you just love your speedway at this level. It is a pity that more don't feel the same way. I looked for you last night but you must have been hiding!!! I hope that you weren't up in that warm ref's box again whilst we were freezing at ground zero. Hopefully the gloom and doom existing in speedway right now will evaporate over the winter and NL racing will bounce back a bit next year.

Forecast was looking slightly better this morning. Fingers crossed - at least we will have some Buxton support if you are there.

Buxton should be at full strength apart from r/r for Rob Branford. The weather forecast doesn't look too good though but there is still time for the forecasters to change their minds!!

Never had these problems last year - it must be you!!

Nice gesture from Martin yesterday when he sent Chris a message on Facebook apologising for taking him out. I am sure that Martin is wondering how it all happened so quickly but to think of the innocent party in all of this trauma is really good of the lad. Well done for your sportmanship Martin. If anyone has seen the photo in Speedway Star today, I think they will agree that the Buxton fence did a superb job in stopping Martin and his bike.

Because I did it in a word document this morning before I went to work and haven't been able to post since due to pressure of work. Any more questions?? Ht 1 Felton, Atkin, Stokes, Greenwood (ef) 5-1 Ht 2 (rerun)Widman, Blacklock, Woods, Knuckey (d) 5-1. 10-2 Ht 3 Stokes, Knight, Felton, Priest 1-5. 11-7 Ht 4 McKinna, Kerr, Blacklock, Woods (ret) 4-2, 15-9 Ht 5 Felton Priest Greenwood Woods 5-1, 20-10 Ht 6 (rerun)Kerr, Atkin McKinna (frem)Woods (ns) 3-3 Ht7 Widman, McKinna, Knight, STOKES (tr) (Frem) 5-1, 28-14 Ht 8 Knight, Atkin, Blacklock, Woods 3-3, 31-17 Ht 9 KERR (tr) Felton, Priest, Woods 3-6 34-23 Ht 10 Stokes, Atkin, Priest, Knight ( ret) 3-3 37-26 Ht 11 McKinna Widman Kerr ( Ex 2m -15m), Greenwood 5-1 42-27 Ht 12 Knight Priest Blacklock (frem) Woods (ef) 3-3 45-30 Ht 13 Atkin McKinna Kerr Greenwood 5-1 50-31 Ht 14 Stokes Felton Widman Knuckey (ns) 3-3 53-34 Ht 15 Kerr Atkin Widman Stokes 3-3 56-37 Results from Buxton Twitter – no times unfortunately

Have sent you an email with the results on the attachment.

Thanks for the news. It could have been a lot worse since he went through the fence very hard. Some lovely photos on Conkers website - looking through them there were a couple of near misses.

Speedway Service at Kings Lynn - 01553829197

Laurence, Martin went straight on exiting bend 3/4 and took Chris into the fence. Martin went through the fence and had to be treated for a suspected broken arm. We had to wait for the County ambulance to arrive and the transfer took a long time to complete. I hope that he recovers from his injuries quite quickly. Once racing resumed, the riders got on with the meeting and it was completed in quick time. Lots of accidents this year at this level of racing, and the next level down.

Weather looks great up there with no fog. Good webcams at the Cat and Fiddle, and Flash Stores show ideal conditions(except the temperature!!)

It was a great meeting. Apart from one race where Dan Greenwood lifted at the gate, he looked really good all night as did many of the other riders. The Leicester promotion, track staff and crowd did the lads proud. I know that Laurence was determined to ensure that the meeting flowed without interuption and that it did. There were a few falls but with the track a little bit tricky after rain all morning, it still produced a superb racing surface after only a few heats. I can't imagine how much time and effort Laurence and Kelvin put into getting all the sponsorship etc organised but all the riders came away with quite a nice package so again a big thanks to those guys. You may be right on the numbers. When I got there at 6.15 the car park was filling fast, and was full by start time, and the stands looked reasonably full. As you say some PL teams would only expect that level of support and it shows the passion for speedway in Leicester and surrounding districts. Those people that stayed away thinking that the meeting might be a marathon, or that the racing would be below par lost out on a good evenings entertainment.

What an excellent meeting with some close racing from the youngsters of the MDL. Riders were lined up ready to leave the pits as soon as the previous heat had finished. I don't think there was false start all night, only two races stopped due to fallers not clearing the track and 23 races run in 2hrs 15 mins with a 10 minute stop for the medics attending to Danny Phillips who took a nasty tumble on bend 4 Well done to Leicester for staging the meeting who were rewarded with an attendance of about 600 - 700 spectators, and well done to Laurence Rogers and Kelvin Lapworth for pulling it all together. A huge thanks to all the sponsors, and finally well done to Dan Greenwood who won the meeting in fine style, being beaten just once in 7 rides, Ollie Greenwood for his 2nd place and Liam Rumsey riding the Leicester track better than ever to get a superb 3rd place. The trophies were really good and the lads kept their race jackets. I am sure that Laurence will have a bit more to say about the meeting later.

I went for the steak and kidney pie, just to warm me up a bit and it was red hot!!! Nice change though to have pies on the menu. Good to see that the promotion have recognised some of the problems and are seeking the fans views on what could be changed. Hope that they also put out Feedback forms at the play off meetings since I fear that next Friday will have a poor attendance. I hope not since there are 23 races for a tenner, but they will need to get a move on to complete it on time.

Mike, you do try really hard to get the Norfolk fans motivated for NL, and Amateur racing which in the Open classes is often like NL racing and I hope that you get some success. Have the Stars finished their fixtures altogether because if they have, some of those supporters will be craving to watch NL racing by the beginning of October!!! There are enough winter Wednesdays in front of the television without starting in September. I don't know if you will get up to Buxton on the 3rd October but if you do, then watch out for those tarts in Bakewell. They can often lead one astray. Martin

On current form it should be Dan Greenwood, Oliver Greenwood and as a spoiler, possibly Tommy Fenwick although I have seen Max Clegg perform really well recently on tightish tracks.

It is nice to hear such positive comments about your visit to BP which reflects well on those who built the stadium and continue to keep it up to a high standard. For somebody that clearly supports Birmingham, it must have been a real luxury to see the riders so close.The track does need some work and I thought that last night with the newer shale, riders were able to use more of the track on the bends, something taht the old shale didn't. As for your comments on the 16 year that Coventry tracked, it just shows that when you are an Australian with connections, the speedway world seems to open up before you in the UK.

Kelvin, my view differs somewhat from yours but I don't want to detract from your efforts and those of the other TM's who put in a lot of time and money to run this level of speedway, by turning this into a tirade of criticism, so I will avoid that. It is true that it has been a huge success in that more teams have enrolled into the league, and the AJL was started on the back of the success of the MDL last year however that has produced a shortage of riders that could be allocated to each team. Last year, riders were associated with teams and an excellent team spirit was established, certainly in the Long Eaton squad but this year teams have sometimes tracked three riders, and I think that most riders have ridden for at least three teams this year making it impossible for spectators to associate themselves with "their team". The rule changes did not help that cause one little bit and were inconsistent with last year. It was exactly the same in the NL when the number of teams dropped and the points limit stayed the same causing some riders to be squeezed out of the league. The rules have to fit the circumstances and clearly HQ at Rugby is currently out of touch with the number of available riders coming through the ranks right now. This has led to teams tracking two NL riders, riders with NL averages above the agreed limit, and rules being being adapted to suit circumstances ie deducting points gained by an ineligible rider but not giving the opposition the full benefit of the deducted points. To my mind it has become a bit of a farce. The positive news is that we have a different team in the Final and the performances of some riders has certainly improved to the point that some have moved up to NL standard. Thanks to the promoters that take the gamble and costs to stage these meetings, however it would be appreciated if the main meetings could be run in a timescale which allows the MDL meetings to take place. Too often the races are rushed through or cancelled because of delays in running the main meeting leaving the lads facing unnessary expense and no racing. Enough for now. Thanks for the experience and all the hard work needed to keep this going. Martin Widman Steve, I note from the LE website that you are resigning from the position of Long Eaton TM. That is sad to hear but fully understandable in the circumstances of your workload and also the increased aggravation in the MDL this year. Thanks for all your support to the LE set up and the team will miss you a lot. Your dedication and hard work have been appreciated by all.

If you are going to make that kind of statement maybe you need to say who!!!!!!!!!

The MDL needs several rule changes judging by tonights meeting at leicester where LE's team manger had to ride because he couldn't get find any more riders.

I thought that I had been at a different meeting to eveyone else until I read this posting. Atmosphere was great as always, and I thought the presentation was good, it was the lowest crowd ever in my opinion. With huge swathes of empty seats they couldn't even keep the 4 lap Mexican Wave going. I thought the racing was poor apart from maybe 4 or 5 races but the 2nd semi was probably one of the best races seen at Cardiff. Very poor track preparation for good racing to be seen. It may have come across better on television and hopefully I shall be watching it later to see if it did. Holder deserved the win. Best rider on the night but feel for Scottie who was leading his heat until Crumpie fell and missed the start in the re-run.

Will there be any updates for this meeting?

TMW was thinking about supporting Scunthorpe at Workington on Saturday night but I think that you may have blown that opportunity now.

Richard, I agree with your sentiments about giving the young lads track time but the rules are the rules as determned by the BSPA(this year) and deducting the points scored by the rider does not necessarily right the wrong eg Scunthorpe win a heat on a 5:1 and one of the riders is Danny Phillips who came 2nd so loses two points. The opposing team still lose 3:1 whereas it should be 3:3. No more debate from me on this one. Martin

Lawrence, Unless Scunthorpe NL team declare a new line up before the meeting on Wednesday, it is my understanding that Scunthorpe are tracking an illegal team for this meeting ie 2 NL riders which is against the rules of the MDL. Martin