KENT ROYALS 2020

[szkocjasid]

4 hours ago, Islander15 said:

Well that’s how to throw away a league title!

Indeed, it's like they don't want to be Champions!

[Sings4Speedway]

With Kent running out of dates and Berwick not wanting to travel again for a dead rubber match it was always likely to be on despite the terrible forecast. It also had get to 10 heats and call it written all over it but for reasons unknown they pushed on to 15 heats and the drama unfolded. Gremlins galore and riders thoroughly fed up with conditions which had gone past skiddy to dangerous prompting for numerous 2 min exclusions, good riders looking average and average riders looking dreadful (i bet Ryan Mac has enjoyed this southern tour). However champions crowned (effectively)and another NL league title slips away from Kent.

Kent now have to try and promote 4 NDL fixtures with little riding on them throughout cold October and the treat of "lesser" sides on show. A sad end but i fear those few who have handed over £15 to watch NDL at Kent this year will be able to say they saw the Royals only season and the end of the NL as a whole.

 

[teaboy279]

Looking at the table, if Mildenhall don't pick up 4 points at Armadale , then any of the Berwick, Kent, Mildenhall trio can still win the league.

 

If Mildenhall get 3 league points in Scotland, and Kent win their last 4 by a decent margin, then all 3 teams end on 22 points, and points difference will be the decider.

[Sings4Speedway]

Is there a date for the Armadale Mildenhall fixture yet? Whats the cut off for the league? 

If by a miracle that the points difference,  points for and against are the same will it come down to head to heads between the sides?

[old bob at herne bay]

Given the vagaries of the weather in late Autumn / early Winter how many off the remaining fixtures will actually take place ? 
 

As always the key meetings in speedway take place on dodgy rain affected tracks …. There’s little “racing” possible just riding around to stay on and once again the fans are short changed

[East End Fan]

6 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Given the vagaries of the weather in late Autumn / early Winter how many off the remaining fixtures will actually take place ? 
 

As always the key meetings in speedway take place on dodgy rain affected tracks …. There’s little “racing” possible just riding around to stay on and once again the fans are short changed

What a stupid criticism.  These NL matches in late season have been caused by rain offs earlier, not by choice. What would Clever Dick Bob

have done ?  I was at last night's meeting and when I arrived the track looked to be in excellent condition and when racing started we saw

some super stuff from Gilkes and new boy Vinnie Foord. Then rain started to fall, but the meeting went on with no delays until Vinnie Foord

suddenly stopped going into the corner. It looked like his bike packed up and he was hit by the rider following.  All 4 went down but thankfully

they all got up and the referee continued the meeting, much to my surprise. IMO it should have been cancelled at that point but Well Done to

all the riders who carried on doing their best in the pouring rain and the worst conditions I have ever seen.  I guess the referee was dry in his box.

[old bob at herne bay]

East End Fan, respect that you seem to be seeing your speedway through 3 pairs of rose tinted spectacles, and point out that “Clever Dick” Bob  isn’t that clever for stating  the b*****y obvious after seeing half the Kent Royals team pulling out of their rides for fear of serious injury on a track rendered unfit for racing. So much for the referee deciding on track conditions. 
 

I have previously stated that IMO it was a gross error planning to run an NDL team with their opening home fixture ( or was it their second) in late September . Suggests to me that the NDL team was very much an afterthought … but at near CL prices in Kent. 

The remaining fixtures across the NDL are now squeezed into October…. as has been said by others , probably the last we will see of the Royals in this poorly planned 2021 NDL . 

[East End Fan]

16 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

East End Fan, respect that you seem to be seeing your speedway through 3 pairs of rose tinted spectacles, and point out that “Clever Dick” Bob  isn’t that clever for stating  the b*****y obvious after seeing half the Kent Royals team pulling out of their rides for fear of serious injury on a track rendered unfit for racing. So much for the referee deciding on track conditions. 
 

I have previously stated that IMO it was a gross error planning to run an NDL team with their opening home fixture ( or was it their second) in late September . Suggests to me that the NDL team was very much an afterthought … but at near CL prices in Kent. 

The remaining fixtures across the NDL are now squeezed into October…. as has been said by others , probably the last we will see of the Royals in this poorly planned 2021 NDL . 

I actually believe that the policy of running a team in the NL in order to discover new talent for the main Kings team is exactly the right thing to do.

The fact that 5 or 6 meetings earlier in the year were rained off created a situation with huge problems.  Clever Dick cannot explain how HE would have solved the

situation, only says it was a mistake to run two teams with the wisdom of hind sight. Astonishingly, judging from the meeting against Berwick Bullets, in spite

of the difficulties, the process of discovering new talent actually worked and those of us in the stadium were blown away by Vinnie Foord's first two rides on

the track, but then wrecked his bike.  To suggest that he wouldn't ride for fear of serious injury insults him in the extreme and Old Bob should br ashamed of

himself.   Did he attend this match ?   I doubt it.

[mac101]

the way the track rode never really changed from ht 1 to ht 15 and Berwick  didn’t want to come back down for a rain off  even if it could be fitted in it was more the kent riders thought it was going to get called after ht 10 but the rain stopped at ht 9 for a while so both teams carried on it wasn’t really that the kent riders pulled out their rides dew to conditions it was more equipment failure amazing what wd40 can do in these  conditions and some not wanting to dirty their other bike  the same thing happened pretty much in the bullets pits but there  riders helped each other out with  letting them use  their bikes while other mechanics got it going again good to see Len congratulating the bullets riders after the meeting going to be close end to the season

[szkocjasid]

13 hours ago, Sings4Speedway said:

With Kent running out of dates and Berwick not wanting to travel again for a dead rubber match it was always likely to be on despite the terrible forecast. It also had get to 10 heats and call it written all over it but for reasons unknown they pushed on to 15 heats and the drama unfolded. Gremlins galore and riders thoroughly fed up with conditions which had gone past skiddy to dangerous prompting for numerous 2 min exclusions, good riders looking average and average riders looking dreadful (i bet Ryan Mac has enjoyed this southern tour). However champions crowned (effectively)and another NL league title slips away from Kent.

Kent now have to try and promote 4 NDL fixtures with little riding on them throughout cold October and the treat of "lesser" sides on show. A sad end but i fear those few who have handed over £15 to watch NDL at Kent this year will be able to say they saw the Royals only season and the end of the NL as a whole.

Not sure how a potential title decider can be called a dead rubber?

Edited September 29, 2021 by szkocjasid

[Sings4Speedway]

14 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Not sure how a potential title decider can be called a dead rubber?

Ok Berwick have an aversion to travelling full stop (due to costings) and there were no other available Tuesdays prior to the end of October which is the season cut off so even if it was held in November it wouldn't count. That said i hope the Bullets hang on to the title now as they have defied the odds, snapped up the more dependable newbies and gone unbeaten at home

[Sings4Speedway]

16 hours ago, East End Fan said:

blown away by Vinnie Foord's first two rides on

the track, but then wrecked his bike

how many times has that been written this season? the lad clearly has speed BUT how sustainable is the sport with that level of attrition on equipment?

[gazzac]

2 hours ago, Sings4Speedway said:

how many times has that been written this season? the lad clearly has speed BUT how sustainable is the sport with that level of attrition on equipment?

As they say in F1, it's easier and cheaper to make a fast car reliable, than a reliable car fast.

Let's hope thats a similar scenario with Foord before he hurts himself or runs out of money, calming down but keeping the speed.

[cityrebel]

5 hours ago, gazzac said:

As they say in F1, it's easier and cheaper to make a fast car reliable, than a reliable car fast.

Let's hope thats a similar scenario with Foord before he hurts himself or runs out of money, calming down but keeping the speed.

To be fair to the lad, he seems to have come on a lot since those early meetings at Arlington.

[old bob at herne bay]

Apologies to Ford. Not especially picking on him . No bike . I knew that but what about the other Royals who didn’t make the 2 minute warning ? Leaving 3 riders in each race. And you say the track was fit for racing ? ? Pleased that no one suffered serious injury.  Maybe if there was the same enthusiasm to run in wet conditions earlier in the season,  there wouldn’t have been such a fixture backlog ? 

At the very least , Tuesday’s meeting should have been called off by ref after 10 heats. 

Lets hope that next season brings a full season of action with some slack in the very limited track time allowed at Kent. I say again  Running in 2 leagues is not IMO a sensible option with no options of catching up using off nights or double headers. 

 

[Fromafar]

Let’s see how many Refs can persuade the “big boys” to ride in bad conditions though.No Chance,IMO.

[cityrebel]

27 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Let’s see how many Refs can persuade the “big boys” to ride in bad conditions though.No Chance,IMO.

Absolutely, only The NDL would ride in those conditions. The riders rode very sensibly on a saturated track. Why is it that riders with far greater skill and experience would refuse to race, yet the youngsters gave it their all. 

[East End Fan]

15 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Absolutely, only The NDL would ride in those conditions. The riders rode very sensibly on a saturated track. Why is it that riders with far greater skill and experience would refuse to race, yet the youngsters gave it their all. 

It was a credit to every rider. I have never seen the like of it. I think the ref' should have called a halt at heat 8 when Vinnie Foord had what looked like

an engine failure and was ridden into by the following rider, probably because he could not see.  And the stupid criticism on this column of riders who

missed races when it was obvious to those of us in the grandstand that machinery was the reason.  Mulford kept trying to race but his bike gave loads

of trouble,  probably wet through. Every rider a Hero in my book.

[Sings4Speedway]

11 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Apologies to Ford. Not especially picking on him . No bike . I knew that but what about the other Royals who didn’t make the 2 minute warning ? Leaving 3 riders in each race. And you say the track was fit for racing ? ? Pleased that no one suffered serious injury.  Maybe if there was the same enthusiasm to run in wet conditions earlier in the season,  there wouldn’t have been such a fixture backlog ? 

At the very least , Tuesday’s meeting should have been called off by ref after 10 heats. 

Lets hope that next season brings a full season of action with some slack in the very limited track time allowed at Kent. I say again  Running in 2 leagues is not IMO a sensible option with no options of catching up using off nights or double headers. 

 

Obviously at a later stage in the season and due to recent misadventures Foord is running with one bike (there was a time when even NL promotors demanded riders turn up with two). As covered the others were struggling with equipment also, the shale and moisture plays havoc with the basic electrics these machines run on so no surprise they didn't want to play. I have seen some comments of not wanting to dirty other bikes but given the sheer amount of hours it takes to prepare each machine and the knowledge that it will be for one more ride on a track nobody was enjoying it feels like a fairly easy choice. In all honesty the way the NDL has been treated/regarded this season its hard to expect the riders to treat it seriously when nobody else does. 

[Fromafar]

10 hours ago, cityrebel said:

Absolutely, only The NDL would ride in those conditions. The riders rode very sensibly on a saturated track. Why is it that riders with far greater skill and experience would refuse to race, yet the youngsters gave it their all. 

It is questionable whether the meeting should been run when the heat times were 

9-12 seconds slower than the other NDL fixture,it’s obvious there was no racing, just getting round,fans paid good money.