21st century heathen Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 The only action in British Speedway tonight sees the Heathens back in league action at Monmore 'Wood'. Following the disappointing performance in the final 8 heats of the 4TT on Sunday I consider this a bigger meeting than it would otherwise have been. It would not be biased or cocky to suggest we are favourites to take the points, especially with r/r for Garrity (gutted he's not able to ride tonight), but the actual performance is now important. The league meeting last week was a little shaky in some areas so I feel we need a very solid performance throughout the team. I think we need to put down a marker as Mildenhall could be building some real momentum at the right time. We should not have to worry about Roynon, Perry, Morris or Bekker when the big meetings come around. I feel we will succeed or fail on the scoring of Greenwood, Ritchings and White-Williams. With that in mind it's these three riders I'm hoping will score well tonight and get some confidence ahead of the POs and KOC Final. It's Perry's last meeting at reserve, thankfully, so that means either Ritchings or Greenwood will drop back to reserve. Perry will be fine in the 1-5 and either of the others will be better at reserve than in the 1-5. There was not much between their averages and I'm not sure who is in line to drop down. I'm hoping that Ritchings has overhauled the ¼ point (ish) advantage that Greenwood held as I feel Ritchings coming in to form will be better equipped to take in the roll of a number 2 (most likely position). Back to tonight. As I mentioned Rye come with r/r at 1 which is not ideal for them, and a let down for us as speedway fans wanting to see as competitive a meeting as possible. Chessell has some Monmore 'Wood' experience under his belt and can be a very quick from the gate. He doesn't keep the rubber side down as often as he should but he could easily prove to be nuisance value if nothing else. Morely, Hazelden and Sarjeant should give our top end and middle order a real work out. There's real scoring potential there and we will have to be on our guard to see them off. I can see there being some great racing between these three and the Heathens riders. I'll be honest and state outright that I've no idea what to expect from the reserve pairing of Tokley and Coles. It's a lovely late summer day today with no threat of rain later so after the even watering the track will have had yesterday I hope for a cracking night of speedway tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waco Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) The Rye team is im afraid very weak .No Garrity and the reserves are training school rookies, Morley,, Sarjeant,,Hazelden , and Chessle will give it their best shot,,,But a huge win is on the cards for Dudley .It would be quite an achievment if the Raiders can get 30 points ..unfortunatly us fans dont pick the team....The man who pays them does...I dont think Hazeden and Chessle have even ridden for over a month...Oh yeh ,Chessel did have 2 rides in the 4s big deal that.... Edited August 28, 2012 by waco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st century heathen Posted August 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 It's true to say that there aren't enough meetings for the NL riders that haven't picked up a PL place. Some of our riders have had the same problem at times this season. Somebody like Ritchings, for example, is a great prospect but just isn't getting enough meaningful meetings. He's just finding his form over the last few weeks, though some blips along the way, and the season's end is nigh! I do genuinely expect some of the visitors to give our boys a real run for their money. They will need to have their gating gloves on though because it will most likely be a hell of a struggle if they give our boys a head start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadders Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) I'm afraid I agree with Waco, it's likely to be a horror show tonight. Give Len his due, he's giving the youngsters a chance, but the NL isn't a training league, the quality has shot up over the years. These days they're expected to race against Elite League riders. No criticism of Dudley. As a stand alone club they have to put out the strongest side available. If Rye House were in the same position I'd expect the same. Edited August 28, 2012 by Shadders 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montie Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 I'm afraid I agree with Waco, it's likely to be a horror show tonight. Give Len his due, he's giving the youngsters a chance, but the NL isn't a training league, the quality has shot up over the years. These days they're expected to race against Elite League riders. No criticism of Dudley. As a stand alone club they have to put out the strongest side available. If Rye House were in the same position I'd expect the same. I not sure if the standard has shot up to be honest,there were more rookies in the 1-7`s this year than for a long time,i honestly think its quite a bit weaker,even stand alone clubs like Buxton and Mildenhall giving some very young riders there first step on the ladder,it does have a development feel to it,and i hope it stays that way,if it turns more pro i feel the likes of Buxton,Scunny,Lynn and Rye would bin it,then the league would fail full stop And with riders stepping up to the PL in the last two years i think its doing a good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadders Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 I not sure if the standard has shot up to be honest,there were more rookies in the 1-7`s this year than for a long time,i honestly think its quite a bit weaker,even stand alone clubs like Buxton and Mildenhall giving some very young riders there first step on the ladder,it does have a development feel to it,and i hope it stays that way,if it turns more pro i feel the likes of Buxton,Scunny,Lynn and Rye would bin it,then the league would fail full stop And with riders stepping up to the PL in the last two years i think its doing a good job I feel the standard has improved since I began watching 3rd division racing when Rye House reopened over 12 years ago. Rumour going around Rye House is that the Raiders side is going to be shelved for 2013, probably to reduce costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montie Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Rumour going around Rye House is that the Raiders side is going to be shelved for 2013, probably to reduce costs. That would be a real shame should Rye feel the need to do that,results like the one at Dudley are no good for Rye or the league for that matter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waco Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) What team motivation is there for the riders who could.be much better..I know the likes of Morley ,,Sarjeant ,,Hazelden and Chessle are better than this , The management did not even bother to get a decent guest for Garrity or sign any one to replace Franklin..Looks like Len is losing interest in the National League. an is only hoping to spot a good rookie for the future...The rumours could be right Shads an i fear for the survival of this league..Apart from the very strong well supported teams;;Dudley and Mildenhall ,,maybe stoke,,the others cant compete and with the rest of the promoters losing money.several teams may fold this year.. Could see the demise of this league with Dudley and Mildenhall probably Stoke stepping up to the Premier League,, It could happen !.. Edited August 28, 2012 by waco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadders Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 (edited) .The rumours could be right Shads an i fear for the survival of this league..Apart from the very strong well supported teams;;Dudley and Mildenhall ,,maybe stoke,,the others cant compete and with the rest of the promoters losing money.several teams may fold this year.. Could see the demise of this league with Dudley and Mildenhall probably Stoke stepping up to the Premier League,, It could happen !.. Not sure if Stoke can afford to move up. They lost a bucket full of money in the Premier League. In the current economic climate I very much doubt they would contemplate a move back. Mildenhall's crowds dropped off during their final PL years. I remember some pretty poor sides they put out. Didn't they go through a season losing all but one home meeting, against Kings Lynn? Not sure how their support has held up since they dropped down. Would Dudley contemplate a move up without a track of their own? The support base is easily enough for them to be a PL side. They'd be a welcome addition if they can control the hooligan element amongst their supporters who give the ordinary decent Dudley fans a bad name. Edited August 28, 2012 by Shadders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhoundp Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 It was an interesting meeting tonight, despite the scoreline; Luke Chessell,if only someone could take him to one side, and coach him to stay on his bike, He would easily become a 6/7+ rider in this league, I think he outgated everyone he rode against tonight including Royno, Young Connor Coles, has a nice style, just needs to sharpen up his gating, Ben Morley was competitive, Sarj possibly tried to hard to impress, but whats happened with Shane Hazelden ? came here last season as Rye No1, this year he has a 4.6ish average, and never looked competitive even before his fall. With regards the NL for 2013, lots of rumours flying around at the moment, not with regards Dudley, but will it exist in 2013 ? if so what format, I can see the stand alones being here in 2013, but the Scunnys, KL,s and RH,s must be in doubt, its my guess that due to the horrendous amount of call offs, lots of Teams have probably lost money this season, and will be looking to cut costs, hence the doubts about some existing Teams, there are rumours that PL Teams will have to include 2 NL riders at reserve, again this will input the NL teams, if this happens, i can see the NL points limit being cut again, as i dont see where the riders are coming from, to maintain the existing limit. In answer to would The Heathens contemplate a move up to the PL ?, i think most of the Fans would like to see this, as these Ommerings are all well and good, but as an entertainment spectacle there is a limit as to how much value they have, aside from that, at the moment the agreement we have with CVS, limits us to 16 NL meetings per season, and again there is no room for another Team in the PL. My personal opinion is we should have one more season in the NL, then revue it at the end of next season, as there could well be at long last some progress in finding our own Track . Also again i would be in favour of a change in raceday to Sunday afternoons, this would enable us to run a Team in the amateur league, and coach our own and maybe our Hosts youngsters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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