Great Central

Dangerous it certainly was not. It had dirt on it and therefore needed riding with a different technique. Not the rubbish or bust style shown by Ipswich in the first two heats. The track man is fine but just looked a bit peed off seeing all his good work go to waste.

Obviously a miserable night weatherwise so only the real diehards attended but it was a real pity that more didn't attend last night to see a cracking nights racing, spoilt only by Ipswich's insistence on riding on a slick track. Nearly 20 genuine passes, not including passes when riders fell, but it was heartbreaking to see all the dirt being graded off the track after heat 2/3. The knockers of "no passing at BP" seem to have gone into hibernation. I accept that one good meeting doesn't make a season but despite the rain, the track needed watering with 45 mins to the start so it wasn't a wet track catching the Ipswich riders out. The Leicester riders didn't seem to mind the dirt but I think it cost us a point grading as hard as it was done. What we did see though was an entertaining meeting and fair play to the riders and referee for getting a move on after the very slow 1st 4 heats.

Mike, On a positive note it looks like you had no problems with traffic or parking!!! I really don't know why it is but NL racing seems destined not to attract the attendances that it deserves down in north Norfolk. When it was Boston riding there, there was an excuse, but since that time the crowds have been very poor and racing has really only been made possible by the generosity of the Chapmans and the sponsors. As you pointed out there was no EL racing this week so why didn't the crowds come flocking to the NA last night? From the updates it seemed like it was all action and without this level of racing would the likes of Kerr, Knight, Jacobs etc be making the progress that they are doing. Of course not. Keep plugging away Mike since there are still some exciting teams to visit the Arena and you may yet see the 1000's that you expected last night. Martin PS Hope that James Cockle makes a speedy recovery - not what the Young Stars wanted at this stage of the season.

Mike, There two grandstands on the start straight either side of the refs box with plenty of seats. Hope you have a good first visit to Leicester. It looks like being a good meeting. Martin

I take your point but Buxton is not Ipswich or the IOW. He is a very talented rider but a maximum on his first visit is outstanding.

Didn't look too uncompetitive to me!! The issue is that Buxton do not yet have a strong team and still have 4.47 points to play with. Putting Chris Widman in at 2 would only reduce that to 3.98 if my maths are correct and that is not enough of a jump to make any real difference. Buxton have put together a team of youngsters who are being given the chance to develop so there may well be some big defeats on the way, but who would have anticipated Adam Ellis scoring a maximum on his first visit to Buxton?

Looked to be a good session yesterday with plenty of track time for everyone. Difficult to keep the track good in the drying wind but Glyn and Kevin tried hard to keep it very rideable. Good to see quite a number of spectators watching the action - obviously missing their fix of speedway.

Chris was only guesting last Sunday, as he is tonight, which is good for him. It shows that he has not been forgotten but he can only guest in this pair of matches since they are "friendly challenges". Tyler is in the declared Buxton squad so please give him a chance to show what he can do at a higher level of speedway than he has been riding so far. It will be a tough opening weekend for him so please give him some support.

No I was aiming my comments at the 3 point reserve position.

I feel sorry for Trevor Heath who will now probably turn his back on speedway and concentrate on grasstrack after being persuaded to come back into it. I thought that Trevor looked much better on Friday night and seemed to be getting back to some form but I suppose that is speedway. The 2 reserves are travelling about 300 and 200 miles each for their home meetings. Not sure if that is sustainable in the current climate but fair play to them if they have to do it to get rides. Ironically there is rider right on the door step who could have slotted in though to do a similar job??

That is a pity because Rob beats Blackbird in a great race. Hope that you can get it working.

Coventry Bee and MFE, Glad that you both enjoyed the meeting. Welcome to the world of NL speedway which is how you both described it. Riders wanting to get on with the match, no gardening at the start, no going back to the pits when there are false starts etc. I know that Laurence Rogers is really keen on ensuring that riders are ready to go out as soon as the previous heat is finished so hopefully with your positive comments it will tempt a few more Bees fans to come and try it. These lads need your support. Martin Widman

A good opener for NL speedway at Coventry with a big crowd swelled by lots of Dudley fans. Let's hope the Coventry fans turn out in big numbers to keep it at this level. Some good races, some not so good admitedly but no different to any EL/PL fixture. Well run meeting on a chilly evening with riders ready to go when the last race finished and no dashing back to the pits after false starts. Just under one and three quarter hours and all done!! Well done to the Coventry promotion for staging NL racing.

Tim Webster is taking time out due to the current costs of competing and other priorities in his life right now.

Bryn, It was nice to see that David Howe could be slotted into the programme with little disruption. David is a big supporter of the STR and to be able to get him some valuable track time as he has tries to get back to full race fitness after two bad injuries last year must have been a great help to him. He certainly looked on the pace. It was also good to see the sun shining and the temperatures well above freezing for a change. Thanks to all at the STR for arranging such good conditions.. The next STR meeting is Saturday 11th May with a 5pm start and is also at Kings Lynn.

Rob, That was a very nice follow up to the press release. I am suprised that Richard has been able to do what he has done so far and with the amateur meetings getting bigger, and all the other work which he does for Scunthorpe, as well as having a full time job there has to be a limit on what one man can achieve, I am sure that Scunthorpe will find a suitable replacement for the Team Managers role and Richard will then be able to focus a little more on doing what he has done well since Scunthorpe opened. Martin Widman .

Mick, No I saw it on bend 2 as well. Had the track been moved in further, it may have worked even better but I am not going to judge the track on one meeting alone. The shape is what it is and it is down to the curators to do their job. I have seen some dire tracks at the beginning of every season and this didn't fall into that category so my view is that we should focus on the good performances by the team so far and move on. Martin

I did think on Saturday that there were a couple of occasions where the "new" shape had shown passing opportunities that the old track wouldn't have done but I do think that it is unfair to judge the track on one meeting alone. Tracks do not show themselves up in their true light when the temperature is just above zero but unfortunately the expectations of the paying public will have been high. It should be judged after more meetings when the track curators have been able to work without worrying about the ultra low temperatures.

With all the cancellations due to bad weather, the forthcoming meeting on Sunday has slipped under the radar a bit. It is the 2012 Best Pairs event for the Open/Intermediate/Novice classes which has been moved from the 9th March. There will also be Support class races as necessary. Entries should be submitted through Linda Taylor who will be chasing up riders starting tomorrow but there appears to be a shortage of Open Class riders so if anyone wishes to ride in this class please contact Linda. An added bonus is that additional track time has been obtained so that a 1 hour practice session will be run before the main event.The whole meeting will therefore run from 12 until 5.

A huge thanks to the Scunthorpe promotion for inviting a Long Eaton Invaders team to be the first in a series of NL standard challenge matches against the Saints. Richard Hollingworth put in a lot of effort to sort out two balanced teams, and had it not been for work commitments, we might have been able to field a side slightly more representative of the Invaders but a big thanks to all our riders for turning up to ride for us on a bitterly cold day, the spectators who stayed behind to watch what was a very entertaining match, and all the track staff who endured artic conditions on Friday. This meeting was the first full 15 heat match for the new Invaders and was extremely important in keeping the name alive and represents a significant milestone in our plans to get a team running on our own track. Martin Widman

The answer to your question depends on whether you want to buy new ones and to a certain extent where you live. Joe Hughes is a good source for new items or Alan Bellham at Speedway Service.

Sent you a PM last week about the JHR fuel tank - is it still available??

Used to be a great training track at Reading but alas no more. Have you tried Lydd?

I think that the land was being offered by the Council on a peppercorn rent for a long duration(well in excess of 100 years). Planning approval seemed to be in place already. When I looked at the Councils prospectus it appeared that the Council were being very supportive but of course it needed somebody with the cash to make it happen which I didn't have right then!!!.

Wayne, What news on the AGM? Called off until the next practice? Martin