Main Man

Result does not count and meeting will be re-run> I understand it was Danno Verge who went to hospital but his girlfriend had posted on facebook that he was ok.

Last few spaces available for Sunday 21st session.

K O CUP MERCIA VIKINGS TAKE 1ST LEG CUP LEAD –BUT IT’S AN 8 POINTS LEAD AS RESULT AMENDED!! The Coventry CITY GEARBOXES Mercia-Vikings returned from local rivals Leicester on Saturday night with mixed feelings as they secured a good first leg lead but lost Andy Braithwaite with a broken collarbone. The result had to be re-amended after the referee had disqualified Vikings skipper Martin Knuckey after he won heat 4 due to not having a rear wheel disc on after he had to hurriedly swap wheels when racing two rides in succession having discovered a slow puncture in his original tyre. This ruling though has been amended for 2013 and Vikings co – team boss Laurence Rogers immediately appealed the decision but once a race has been declared it cannot be changed on the night but the SCB acted swiftly and amended the race to its original finishing positions with Knuckey as race winner. This amends the meeting result to Leicester 14 Coventry 22 and not 16-20 giving the Vikings an 8 point cushion for the home leg and putting them in the driving seat to meet Long Eaton in the semi-finals of the MDL Cup. The Vikings though will be without Andy Braithwaite for a while after the Vikings No. 3 crashed whilst leading heat 2 suffering a collarbone break. The three man side then got on with the task in hand with 16 year old debutant James Shanes shining with a paid 9 score which would have been double figures but for coming to a halt when mounted on team mate Nick Mallett’s bike in heat 3. The youngster produced two astounding rides winning his debut race from behind in heat 2 with a superb round the boards pass of Lee Springthorpe and then in heat 5 repeated the same move to ###### victory on the line from home skipper Ben Holloway. Nick Mallett , racing for the first time in five years with just one practice session in the winter rode steadily after hitting mechanical gremlins in the pits. Skipper Knuckey starts the 2013 season then with a 12 point maximum that sets him up well for his National League debut for Coventry Storm on Tuesday night (9th) against Dudley at Wolverhampton. The City Gearboxes Vikings started with an opening 4-2 heat win and never lost the lead with two drawn heats plus a further 2-4 heat success and ending with a maximum 5-1 from Knuckey and Shanes in heat 6. Leicester Lion Cubs 14 1. Freddie Owen 0 1’ 0 1 = 2+1 2. Ben Holloway 2 2 2 = 6 3. Lee Springthorpe 2 2 1’ F = 5 +1 4. Alec Wright 1 N N = 1 Coventry CITY GEARBOXES Mercia-Vikings 22 1. Martin Knuckey 3 3 3 3 = 12 MAX 2. Nick Mallett 1 1 0 = 2 3. Andy Braithwaite f/x N N = 0 4. James Shanes 3 R 3 2’ = 8 +1 Ht 1 : Knuckey Holloway Mallett Owen 2-4 2-4 70.75 2 : Shanes Springthorpe Wright Braithwaite (f/x) 3-3 5-7 74.50 3 : Knuckey Holloway Owen Shanes (ret) 3-3 8-10 72.55 4 : Knuckey Springthorpe Mallett Owen 2-4 10-14 73.6 5 : Shanes Holloway Springthorpe Mallett 3-3 13-17 6 : Knuckey Shanes Owen Springthorpe (fell) 1-5 14-22 70.47 2nd leg at Coventry Friday April 12th

will pass that on and edit it as this was the report sent to me !

how old is bike and engine ?

Reigning champions Milton Keynes put in a powerhouse display at Scunthorpe and showed newcomers Castleford the level they have to strive to reach. Though they had a disastrous start in heat 1 when the unlucky Conor Dwyer fell but thankfully the initial diagnosis that he had broken the same arm proved not to be the case. However Conor was not able to resume racing and was replaced in his other two programmed rides. Castleford had their own problems with Liam Rumsey on new machinery notably slowing until he blew an engine in heat 6 though limping home for a point. Highlight of the evening was the previously unbeaten Max Clegg reeling in Nathan Greaves for the first two laps of the race before making a spectacular pass around the outside in the dirt to claim a 9 point maximum. Castleford 15 Liam Rumsey 2 1 1 4 Lee Springthorpe 1 0 1 2+1 Max Clegg 3 3 3 9 Freddie Owen 0 0 0 0 Milton Keynes 21 Conor Dwyer FX n n 0 Sam Woods 3 1 2 2 8+1 Nathan Greaves 2 3 2 0 7 Danny Phillips 1 2 3 6+2

MDL K O CUP 1st Round 1st Leg ..Thursday April 4th Redcar Bear Cubs 23 Stoke Spitfires 13 REDCAR : .................................. ---- STOKE : 1. Dan Phillips 3 0 2’ 3 8+1 --------- 1. Shaun Tedham R 1 N 1 2. Luke Crang 2’ 3 3 3 11+1 -------- 2. Stefan Farnaby 1 0 1 2 3. Ryan McDonald 1 0 2’ 1 4+1 --------- 3. Emerson Jones 2’ 2 2’ 6+1 4. No rider ........................................---------- 4. Sam Ward 3 1’ N 4+1 Ht 1: Phillips, Crang, Farnaby, Tedham(ret) 5-1 5-1 2: Ward , Jones, McDonald, Phillips 1-5 6-6 3: Crang, Jones, Ward, McDonald 3-3 9-9 4 : Crang, Phillips, Tedham, Farnaby 5-1 14-10 5: Crang McDonald, Farnaby, Ward (ns) 5-1 19-11 6: Phillips, Jones, McDonald, Tedham(ns) 4-2 23-13 2nd Leg at Stoke Sat April 13th

Steve is not coming over > We have a 2nd half at Swindon on the Thursday whilst Gino is at Ipswich as well. We head for Germany on April 25th for the U21 WTC arriving back Mon 29th before the UK tour part starts on the Thursday. Team wise Gino will captain the side with Chris Thomas, Rocco Scopellite, Jamison Dilkey along with Scott Campos (who has an American dad and grandad) whilst we are adopting young kiwi Hayden Sims as a honourary American. Brent Werner will be doing some of the tour whilst Shane Hazelden fills in for Scott Campos at Buxton. There may be one more addition to the tour party which I am awaiting confirmation of.

30/03/2013 Cup match off after Adam Roynon crash The MDL K O Cup match between the City Gearboxes (Coventry) Ltd Vikings and Leicester Lion Cubs at Brandon on Friday night was postponed following the lengthy delays after the Adam Roynon crash in heat 14 of the main meeting. Thankfully Adam has reported that he will out of hospital in 10 days ---and our best wishes go to Royno for a quick recovery. A new date is being worked on for the Cup match with next Saturday's away clash becoming the 1st Leg now.

It is for riders with own equipment at the moment but we hope to develop the opportunity for those without eventually

Pity about the weather robbing us of the Coventry meeting Friday and the practice Sunday but an amazing response already for the next one on Sun April 21st with 25 riders already booked in so this looking like having the FULL sign on very soon. Augers well for the summer (!!) sessions hopefully.

And of course when Mich was at Cradley we had the Anders Michanek column in the Mail as well (wonder who helped him with that!!??? )

Yes Rich --very welcome . Might get you to buy a raffle ticket for the Storm Coat that City Gearboxes have sponsored and are raffling one off with proceeds towards the Storm team

Just had message through that unfortunately with the weather against us Sunday's Training Shool / Open Practice at Coventry is OFF. What a pity as we had 40 riders booked in and it would have been a really good session. Bookings coming in quickly for next one on Sunday April 21st so if you want to get your name down txt me on 07510768392 or07801429304 or e-mail : laurencerogers@blueyonder.co.uk

Thanks Tony for stopping my brain whiz round trying to remember the Mail seller at Cradley --yes Alf Ferkins and his daughter ...always had my copy ready for me so they could get a good plug from me on the tannoy!!

Many thanks to TNM Designs who are sponsoring and providing the body colours for the MDL GP.

We would like to find a sponsor to back a set of race jackets for the MDL GP which can be used in all the rounds. The Sponsor's name would take the top of the race jacket ...any interested parties can e-mail: laurencerogers@blueyonder.co.uk or txt 07501768392

Full for Sunday and April 21st filling up already!!

After issuing an invitation last week to all 2nd string riders, MDL Grand Prix series organisers Laurence Rogers and Kelvin Lapworth have received a very positive response and now have 8 riders confirmed who will have priority to enter all rounds of the series. "The feedback myself and Laurence have received back from the riders and management alike has been very good and I think this is shaping up to be a very interesting competition. The riders all seem very excited about taking part and with the added incentive of a place in the MDLRC for the series champion I'm sure the racing will be very competitive. The main aim of this competition is to develop the 2nd string riders in the league and by racing against riders of the same standard it will help to boost their confidence which is very important". An extra date the series calendar has been added with Rye House offering to host a round on Saturday 27th July. "Although we have the 8 confirmed priority riders we would still welcome entries from those wishing to be first reserves. Not everyone will be able to ride in every round so there will be plenty of opportunities available". Confirmed Riders 1. Adam Sheppard (Milton Keynes) 2. Lee Springthorpe (Stoke) 3. Freddie Owen (Stoke) 4. Danno Verge (Milton Keynes) 5. Conor Mountain (Kings Lynn) 6. Nick Mallett (Coventry-Mercia) 7. James Shanes (Coventry-Mercia) 8. Haydon Ball (Long Eaton)

speedway or football??? speedway every time!! You can watch the highlights of the match later ---probably better doing that anyway!!

i do believe so - our sponsor Gary Drinkwater of City Gearboxes (Coventry) Ltd has offered one of the team coats we have had made with his kind backing with the winners name on in a raffle with all proceeds going to the Storm team. The coats are really smart and will also be provided for the Mercia-Vikings squad and management.

Bit of both as we have a mixture of riders with different agendas booked in

Just amended times for Sunday as been informed we have to finish at 1.30 so we will start at 9.30 and have 4 hours on track. May be able just about to squeeze in a few more bookings as holding one or two which need confirming. Already getting bookings for second session on Sun April 21st!!

almost full for next Sunday --amazing response within hours of announcing it.

Coventry commence Training schools on selected Sunday mornings Following on Coventry’s aim to bring on young riders by entering the National League in 2013 with the Coventry Storm along with a continuation of the Midland Development League with the City Gearboxes (Coventry) Ltd Mercia Vikings, comes more news. Commencing this coming Sunday (March 24th) the club are holding a series of training schools at Brandon aimed at not only giving youngsters track time but developing riders for the Vikings and Storm then eventually the Bees. The sessions will have a sign on time of 9am with the aim to be out on track from around 9.30 until 1.30pm. The cost will be £35 and day licences will be available if required. Bookings can be made , as the numbers will be restricted to allow as much track time as possible, by texting 07510768392 or 07801429304 or e-mail : laurencerogers@blueyonder.co.uk The dates when the schools can be run are determined by other activities at the Stadium especially any car racing on the Saturday night and a full list will be released soon but the next session planned after 24th March will be Sunday April 21st at the same times.