Spot on Sir!
I did many years track prep at Cleveland Park (Middlesbrough) under Tony Swales in the late 70's. We'd start watering the track with hosepipes at about 2 in the afternoon (whatever the weather) whilst continually tyre packing - tractors and Tony's huge mobile home. I'd then be one of the rakers during the meeting (we only ever had 6 at Middlesbrough) pulling the sh(ale) back into the centre for the tractor to distribute wherever, after every heat without disturbing the flow of the meeting.
Though maybe now at my age I should be thankful for the 'toilet breaks' after every 4 heats.
Yes, and more rides. Can’t understand the decision to give Heat 15 to a Guest (Well done though Tate, you did everything asked of you) when you've got a debutant in your team who scored the same amount of points (technically more if you count bonus points) and should be seeing as much track time on his new track as possible.
Please tell us what brings you to this unsolicited opinion?
I'm sure if you scour the forums for hours you might find the odd quote here and there, but ask the fans and you'll find we're quite happy with what we've got (and hopefully more so at the end of the season).
Great result for the Bears under the circumstances but let's remember that Poole won both their matches at the EA last year and whilst we came from 8 behind in 2021 to win, it was by only 6 points. Couldn't be set up better for Saturday night.
Yes people are very interested in this, but we're a quiet, reserved bunch us Bears fans.
Currently raining but not heavily and my expectations are high for the meeting tomorrow but being merely a fan and knowing nothing of the state of the track who knows? I'm sure the Bears promotion will keep everyone in touch.
I agree with Boz (unsurprisingly). Once the track settles and the outside line is there Jake will be one of the best 2 pointers in the league. No disgrace in failing to score against more established riders. Danyon and Connor both showed signs as the meeting progressed. Jason was a bit 'rusty' but it was good to see both him and Connor take a spin after the meeting closed. Heat leader trio is the best since 1981 and I reckon barring injury Erik will be a top man.
The future's bright, the future's Bear shaped (but I ain't saying we'll win anything, hoping yes but this is going to be a team worth watching - just wish we had some kind of home track advantage!)
James Shanes' average at the EA is just over 5 points (5.07 from 6 matches) and that should improve riding regularly at the best track in the country. Decent 2nd string with the 3 heat leaders.
Just with regards to track grading, I used to work on track prep with Tony Swales at Cleveland Park (Middlesbrough) during the 80's for many years. I was also 1 of 6 track rakers (remember them?). We would pull back the shale from the outside of the track into the inside and the tractor would do 2 laps of the track to distribute this shale after EVERY heat of the match. No-one complained then about track grading.
And On last nights match I'm glad I kept all the Get Out Of Jail Free cards when I threw out my old Monopoly games.