Great Central

I think that in that race if memory serves me right, Cook was trying all he could to stay behind Edberg to give Edinburgh a TR opportunity. It was case of who could go slowest and Edberg won just.

Tomorrow sees the Mildenhall Fen Tigers clash with the IOW Wighlink Islanders in the 1st leg of the KOC semi- final replay, with the 2nd leg being held in the IOW on Tuesday. The first attempt to get a result saw a 90-90 draw over the two legs after an enthralling meeting last Tuesday. The Islanders have been further hit by injuries, with Brendan Johnson ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury after a bad crash on Tuesday, but welcome back captain Ben Hopwood. The Tigers are without their captain Dan Halsey for this meeting but he will be back in time for the meeting on Tueday. Who will win this time round? The weather looks favourite unless the forecast is totally wrong.

It is great to see Steve back to the form that he was in last year.

Definitely not a tactical laydown because no rider would lay their bike down at that speed if it wasn't necessary to avoid a crash but a 'tactical staydown' maybe. Brendan Johnson cleared the track in heat 1 in more difficult circumstances and from a similar position.

Those are the dates shown on the BSPA website. The advantage swung from one team to the other throughout the meeting and with both sides suffering bad luck in various forms it would have been hard on the losers but they do it all again starting Sunday. The Islanders await news on Brendan Johnson who was involved in an awful crash last night and has a suspected broken collarbone. It is hoped the news of the x rays is more positive since the IOW are already down three riders with various injuries. It will be tough if the outcome is decided on rider availability.

Well the weather was better than fair, and Steve Worrall was a superb choice of guest, riding better than I have seen him ride for ages. Much more like the Steve Worrall that we know he can be. The Islanders put up a good fight holding their own until heat 10 but lacked real firepower towards the tail end of the meeting against a strong Dudley team. Wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome but I thought the referee made the wrong call at the start of heat 4.

To be fair it is a little academic as we really should have picked up more points to take us comfortably into the play off's. Lets look forward to some challenge matches and watch Redcar's pain from afar Couldn't be helped but Edberg and Nemo's injuries have cost us. Lets wait and see what happens in the winter although I do hope if we have a PL and EL we go PL, can't see it but, then again I've never supported an EL team to be honest so I may even like it.

The meeting which was due to be held today has been postponed due to the bad weather on the Isle of Wight. No re staging date announced yet. 2nd leg is at Mildenhall on Sunday.

Yes our "home fixture" against KL is scheduled for this Wednesday after the EL match. The Stoke Spitfires match is on Thursday apparently after the NL match. Busy time down there at the NA. Well spoted on the Adam Extance score which I have now corrected. Enjoy the STR today.

Thanks to Phil Spence for getting the match report onto our website before setting off on his cruise. A difficult 2013 MDL season came to a close for Long Eaton on Saturday evening, as they suffered a narrow home defeat at the hands of reigning champions MK Knights. Lee Geary and Adam Extance both performed well, but the unlucky Adam Portwood had "one of those nights" while MDL Grand Prix winner Lee Springthorpe bravely turned out for two rides despite having a fractured hip (!!). "Springy" aggravated his injury when he laid down his machine to avoid hitting the grounded Arron Mogridge in Heat 3, and was clearly in considerable pain, forcing him to miss out on his third scheduled ride. - Get well soon, Springy. This result leaves the Invaders at the bottom of the MDL and with us having to ride our last home fixture away at King's Lynn on Wednesday, it is likely that we will remain there, however as always the riders put in maximum effort. It was a blow losing Springy however Adam Portwood showed what he can really do with a storming last heat victory. Invaders (17): 1.Lee Geary 3,3,1 = 7 2.Lee Springthorpe 1,1 = 2 3.Adam Portwood f,ret,ret,3 = 3 4.Adam Extance 1,2,2 = 5 MK Knights (19): 1.Conor Dwyer 2,3,2 = 7 2.Adam Sheppard 0,1,1 = 2 3.Arron Mogridge 3,0 fx = 3 4.Danno Verge 2*,2,3 = 7+1 Heat Details: Ht1: Geary, Dwyer, Springthorpe, Sheppard (fell, rem) 4-2 / 4-2 69.0 Ht2: (Awarded after Portwood fell) Mogridge, Verge, Extance 1-5 / 5-7 No Time Ht3: (Awarded after Mogridge fell) Geary, Verge, Springthorpe 4-2 / 9-9 No Time Ht4: Dwyer, Extance, Sheppard (Portwood ret) 2-4 / 11-13 71.3 Ht5: (Portwood replaced Springthorpe) Verge, Extance, Sheppard, (Portwood ret) 2-4 / 13-17 71.5 Ht6: Portwood, Dwyer, Geary (Mogridge fell, exc) 4-2 / 17-19 69.5

And who said speedway was just 4 riders going round a track!! Well done to all in the 'box' for keeping up with the scoring. It makes the TR rule look like childs play!!!

This meeting is scheduled for tomorrow but will the weather be the winner? The forecast doesn't look that good. Will the Potters claim their 1st league victory of the season, over an Islanders team which will be without Ben Hopwood who is out with a shoulder injury?

Mike, If you need anything from the Long Eaton Invaders please let me know. Martin PS Keep up the great work.

A good win for the Islanders and the final score doesn't indicate how hard it was to get a win after Ben Hopwood withdrew from the meeting with a shoulder injury. Hope it is not too serious. Good riding from all the team but Brendan's riding deserved more than his 3. He was denied another paid 2nd when he punctured when in a safe 3rd place. Great guest in Steve Boxall and Adam Ellis seems to be back to his best.

Tomorrow sees the clash of two teams who both need points to reach the play offs. The weather looks good so far and if the crowd is as big as last week's, it should be a good evening at the Smallbrook Stadium.

Last week the final piece of the jigsaw was put in place when Jean Hubbard, Mick's sister received the Memorial trophy through the post being delivered from the safe hands of its custodian for many years, Alison Cross. With the teams just about finalised, sponsors arranged and trophies purchased, the meeting goes ahead on Sunday after the Leicester v Berwick PL meeting and will consist of a 6 heat MDL style team meeting followed by two individual heats to determine the winner of the trophy. Tremendous support has been received from the Leicester promotion to enable this meeting to go ahead on the 30th Anniversary of Mick's untimely death and with the support of Darrin Hewitt, Steve Spiers and Jean who have worked hard to pull it all together, it is hoped to provide a fitting tribute to Mick.

Mike, Thanks for the great report again of the STR meeting. Saw the picture of the Air Ambulance and wasn't aware of who it had been sent for and really glad that it wasn't needed in the end. Best wishes to both riders for a speedy recovery, but particularly our old friend Rod. Martin

Tomorrow sees the Heathens visit the IOW in the NL clash.The Dudley side has suffered with injuries over the weekend but I am sure we will still see a few supporters(maybe a coach full) travel to support their team. Hope the weather stays fine after all the rain of today.

Neil, I am not sure by picking up a direct quote from Jayne that this answers Islander 15's question. Rule 17.5 is quite clear and islander 15's comment in my view is quite valid. 17.4.3 that specifies a date in the month where the MA's change only applies to EL/PL MA's. Martin Widman

I think to be fair to the KL management, they didn't have much choice. Steve Worrall must have been an overnight decision post his crash at Leicester. Lewis Kerr would have been a late callup to the 4's after Christian Henry's crash at Leicester and Robert Lambert would have been a known absentee when he 'signed' for KL. Not sure about Lewis Rose though. A bit disappointing for the Lynn supporters after such good home performances but it looks like they fought well to get the score they did.

It is Channel 24. They show some excellent sports programmes but I can't comment on the Motorbike Show though.

Also Bates, Rose, Ellis and a few more more. Sounds like a good GB team looming in the future if they all stay level headed and keep up the progress made so far.

Advice taken!!

I am probably wasting my time posting this but I don't think jim the whipper has any clue on the difficulties riders and mechanics have at Kent. Kent are operating under a strict curfew and push the meeting on as fast as they can which means riders are lined up to go out as soon as the previous race has finished. When I was there, 15 races were completed in about 70 minutes which is really motoring. Whether it needs to be as fast as that is another matter but who knows what might hapen in subsequent heats. The other issue is that the pits are quite divorced from the track being up and over a banking and set well back which means that communication between staff/managment in the pits and those directing events on the track is virtually impossible. I don't know the exact circumstances here but maybe an impromptu quick track grade would have given more time for Adam and his crew to complete the work that was required. That is good news about Michael's riding last night. He may well have lined up for Buxton this year but chose instead to concentrate on his college studies. Because there has been no pressure on him, he seems to have improved a lot, particularly with his riding for the BV Colts in the MDL, and other teams that have needed his services. I think that he is also joint leader in the U16 championship at the moment.

What from I remember, lime was added to the track but only down in the area from bend 3/4 to the start line where it was badly affected by the frost and snow, not all the way round. Long Eye will clarify this since he was one of those dispensing the lime. I thought the track was better early on in the meeting but strangely it still seemed to produce passing opportunities when it slickened off.