Fourentee

Be prepared to go into the next league? Do you seriously have any idea how flat-out desperate they are even to get a sniff of the next league? The whole concept of running Dudley is to prove to local authorities that the demand is there, to help facilitate finding somewhere they can call their own and move up the ladder. But they're a stand-alone club and there will always be a different thrust to their approach when compared to, for example, Scunthorpe, with a Premier League set-up running alongside. As for Roynon, presumably the target of your Elite League jibe, you, me and the whole world know that what he needs after a devastating series of injuries is time on a bike to rebuild confidence. There's not a Heathens fan around who doesn't want him to disappear at the end of the season, much as they love him -- because that means the job is done and he can make progress. And while we're at it, this year Dudley are running such gnarled veterans as Perry, Morris (both local to the area), Ritchings and Greenwood (the last-named tipped by Roynon as a potential trump card before the season started. How did he know? Because he took the trouble to stay on after the Coventry/Wolves match and watch his Dudley reserve in a series of second-half races instead of clearing off for the long journey home. Roynon, incidentally, has such a lack of commitment to the Heathens that last year, when sidelined by injury, he took in the away match at the Isle of Wight to root for the side. Not a bad effort for someone based in Cumbria). Incidentally, when Dudley have finished killing the concept of the development league other promoters will have to do without the turnstile money from their travelling support. Just a thought. OK, that's me done (and I don't even support them!).

Not the way you spell the second one, they don't!

Straight from the heart. I doubt anyone could have put it better.

Build it and they will go. I watched last year on a night when they were slaughtered at Monmore, walked out to apologise and were cheered to the echo. And if they ever get their own stadium...

Yes, for different reasons probably the worst two you could have selected! As posted elsewhere, give it another go when Mildenhall are in town and the racing is likely to be far more competitive. As to your other post concerning the "at least the Heathens are back on track" view, I'm sure the club stands a much better chance of securing its own venue in the long term by being able to point to the sizeable crowds, high media coverage and passionate support engendered merely by running in the third tier rather than trying to go from a standing start.

A poster on the Brum thread mentioned that the Wroclaw match was a rain-off restaging. That being so, presumably Birmingham should take preference. Edit: Going purple in the face now after holding my breath.

Agreed. He clearly tried to put the bike down in an attempt to miss Holder but couldn't quite manage it.

Chucking it down when I arrived at work at 6.10am. Cleared up mid-morning-ish, but still a lot of surface water on the roads and pavements.

Must be the excellent Teesside supporters of the 70s then (or their descendants).

The big question! Shame there's no film; a slo-mo sequence might, just might be the smoking gun for the ref!

Am I looking in the wrong places? Can't see those posts on either source. Edit: Forget it, through now as new posts.

Lindgren, of course, qualified for this year's series through the Challenge rounds.

Some biographical details here. http://www.cradleyspeedway.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/riders/markrobinson.htm Edit: No less a luminary than Jan O Pedersen was asking after his performance today!

Hope you enjoyed that, Kev, and have dried out now.

Not raining at the moment (in city centre). But very grey. One of those where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't! Track held up very well last night and as a rule of thumb if Doc and Co can get on it early enough during the day (as today) then it should be OK. But I'm not promising... Edit: Put it this way, Kev. You'd feel bad if you made the journey and it was off. But you'd feel even worse if you didn't and it was on...

Match definitely on, according to text just received from club chairman.

Looked utterly innocuous, didn't it? Simple error, out of shape, gentle slide. Salutary reminder to us terrace experts about just how dangerous a sport it can be. It wasn't lost on me that Luke Priest, who knows all there is to know about major injury from a smash, was one of the first riders on the scene.

Broken bone in his back. But got his voice back! http://www.dudleyheathens.co/news.php?extend.411

That's correct.

Dudley +4, surely? Five dropped at home (a loss and a brace of two-point wins), nine gained away (two three-point wins, a draw and a narrow defeat). http://www.speedwaygb.co/nltable11.html

From my viewpoint Blackbird may have just clipped the kerb, straightening him up and into the Dudley rider. Just one of those things. I think the booing may have had more to do with the contrast in speed displayed by Blackbird when getting up after falls, depending on where his partner was in the race at the time.

Hugely impressive from Heeps but on a tiny point of order he has ridden the circuit before, having done a few post-match laps last season. Very different from competitive team racing, of course. Tipped by Ty Proctor last year as one to watch. A very good performance by Mildenhall last night, well done to them.

As mentioned by other posters, let's not get on the lad's back and expect too much, too soon. He's clearly a talent (Ty Proctor was raving about him last season when he came over for second-half rides) and is also very pleasant (as is his dad, who I spoke to last year and at Lynn the other week). But easy does it. Give him time.

Actually I was referring to Ipswich...

Ipswich v Dudley? Getting above themselves a bit?