Halifaxtiger Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 Mason is in the side as third heatleader. He has ridden in 16 races and has only beaten four opposing heatleaders. Most of his points have come from beating second strings. The problem is that Lakeside is built in such a way that that there are some young riders that have potential but don't yet have the experience to be consistent. The team needs a third heatleader that can give proper support to the top two and is capable sometimes beating the opposing big guns, particularly on his home track, and capable of taking an effective heat 15 ride when the occasion demands it. Not wishing to keep on about Mason, and admittedly it's early season but everything the Kent fans were saying about him last year is proving to be true so far. He's also a 6.50 heat leader. 7 other teams have third heat leaders who have higher averages than that, so he's not going to beat opposition first strings consistently nor should there be an expectation that he will. He's also more than half a point above his starting average at this point and his performance against Eastbourne was far, far better than anything I had expected. Early days as you say but Mason has been a lot, lot better than I thought he would be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East End Fan Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 David Mason is never going to be a Number One and no one should expect that from him. He is very reliable for 6/8 points and every team needs riders like that if they are to win. He is not spectacular, but he replaces that with reliability. He also happens to be very well equipped and good with the young fans so I think the critics should shut up and be happy that he is on our side. I think Kent will miss him this year 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waco Posted April 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 Early days yet but no one should complain about a rider who has upped his average so far ,,yes David is not exciting to watch ,but many including me would have gone with Nathan Stoneman who has shown little as yet,, We will see what transpires with both riders as the season unfolds....Give them a chance......... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E I Addio Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 He's also a 6.50 heat leader. 7 other teams have third heat leaders who have higher averages than that, so he's not going to beat opposition first strings consistently nor should there be an expectation that he will. He's also more than half a point above his starting average at this point and his performance against Eastbourne was far, far better than anything I had expected. Early days as you say but Mason has been a lot, lot better than I thought he would be. As I said its to do with the balance of the team. We have one reserve who shows no signs of making any progress, then we we have a reserve and two second strings who all have potential and deserve to be given a chance but they are all young and inexperienced and cannot be relied on for consistency. This puts a lot of pressure on the top two to consistently score bid points week in week out and to do it in heats 13 and 15 which is no easy task. I would have liked a third heatleader who could give the top two more support, to occasionally beat better riders than himself to take some of the pressure off the top two, not someone who basically only takes points off opposing second strings. In a way the structure of the team reminds me of the 2013 side where almost every home meeting it was down to Peter Karlsson and Davey Watt to go out and win heat 15 to seal the match because the rest of the side were under performing. I think the best we can hope for from Mason is to hold the fort until Hunter, Bowtell and Couzins come on a bit but I really don't see him as a key player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 That's exactly what David's job is, to hold the fort until we can make our own heat leaders. I always recall a quote years ago from when Wembley reopened after the war and there were not a vast amount of riders around, and they wanted to have a really good team so this one guy, might have been Sir Arthur Elvin but I could be completely wrong told another to go out and "make" some good riders. That's what Lakeside I suspect are trying to do, soldier through this season but next year they might have a couple kids ready to really hit the ground running and in the meantime Hunter and Bowtell will only get better and that is hopefully the start of a conveyor belt system. They have the perfect setup their to do that, it's all in the execution as to whether it will be a hit or a miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillipsr Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 As I said its to do with the balance of the team. We have one reserve who shows no signs of making any progress, then we we have a reserve and two second strings who all have potential and deserve to be given a chance but they are all young and inexperienced and cannot be relied on for consistency. This puts a lot of pressure on the top two to consistently score bid points week in week out and to do it in heats 13 and 15 which is no easy task. I would have liked a third heatleader who could give the top two more support, to occasionally beat better riders than himself to take some of the pressure off the top two, not someone who basically only takes points off opposing second strings. In a way the structure of the team reminds me of the 2013 side where almost every home meeting it was down to Peter Karlsson and Davey Watt to go out and win heat 15 to seal the match because the rest of the side were under performing. I think the best we can hope for from Mason is to hold the fort until Hunter, Bowtell and Couzins come on a bit but I really don't see him as a key player. Its not his fault the team was built that way he is more than doing his job so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander15 Posted April 24, 2017 Report Share Posted April 24, 2017 It is alright but what do you expect from your third heat leader? Iam sure I saw you and others mentioned Stoneman instead of Mason who has won one race in four meetings and I think scored at grand total of four from both meetings with Lakeside. I was just saying Iam not sure how you can accuse Mason of not pulling his weight at the minute. I have said before I don't know anything about this league or the riders except for a few but to me so far Mason is doing what I would expect to be honest, maybe Iam wrong. I agree that Mason is doing his job. I wasnt meaning to criticise him. I was meaning to point out that he's done nothing spectacular either and his average is slightly inflated at this point in the season by 1 of his 2 away meetings being at Kent where he's ridden the past couple of years. Also yes I did mention Stoneman and his scores for Kent havent been good but he's still beaten Mason at Lakeside and I saw Stoneman in the U21 semi where he was impressive, from the back, and beat Shanes in a great race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted April 28, 2017 Report Share Posted April 28, 2017 Video of Heat 9 from Hammers' website http://www.lakesidehammers.co/hammers-action-heat-9-v-kent-kings/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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