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Campaign For Real Shale - Speedway 2018

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    Went to Swindon v Poole last night, my first club meeting for six weeks (though I’ve been to the Cardiff GP and Ashes Test Match in that period) and first Premiership fixture since Rye House closed.

    Swindon had to get a win to keep alive their slim play-off hopes having slipped from first to fifth after a run of four defeats in five previously in August. They just about did so, clinching a 47-42 win in heat fifteen.

    Not an outstanding night’s racing but a big, supportive Bank Holiday Monday crowd and plenty of incident made it very enjoayable and really brought home what I’ve been missing since the Rockets closed, especially as Bomber Harris was riding at five for Poole.

    Still no news on a return for the Rockets next season, though rumours Lakeside Hammers will be borrowing the track for their late season fixtures due to ongoing issues at Arena-Essex.
    Last edited by Ray de Galles; 31-08-2018, 11:10.

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      Lakeside Hammers Club Statement

      The Lakeside Hammers will complete their push for this season’s Championship silverware at the Rye House stadium, after one last farewell to their Essex home on Friday 14th September.

      This follows final confirmation of the decision to close the Arena Essex Raceway to all motorsports at the end of year.

      “We have acted swiftly to ensure that the Hammers can continue racing not only this season, but for the foreseeable future” said club owner, Stuart Douglas.

      “We had a one time opportunity to take the club to Rye House, a stadium with superb and ever improving facilities for the speedway fan, and it’s one we are excited to embrace.”

      “Our ongoing discussions with Thurrock council and other sporting partners for a sports hub the town both deserves and needs will continue apace, whilst we can now enjoy a stadium designed for Speedway, with the race night availability needed to both race and compete” he added.

      “Since Chic Woodroffe first introduced the speedway to his racing oval in 1984 this club has seen some tremendous highs and lows.

      The final speedway meeting on Friday 14th September will be a night to commemorate all those memories, and to invigorate ourselves for a brave and bright new future.

      The fact that it happens at a time when we have one of the potentially most successful teams to race in the Hammers colours is cause for great excitement for all fans old and new, all able to enjoy the rest of the season with us at Rye.”

      The new chapter starts immediately after the Arena farewell, as the very first fixture of the Hammers in the House takes place the next night, on Saturday, 15th, when the club host Newcastle

      Hammers Co-Promoter Jon Cook continued “It’s going to be a fantastic weekend not only for the Hammers’ fans that can take in both meetings, but also for the Rye House fans after the early end of their season.

      On the team front the lads will be well practised. Our track man, Ken Driscoll, who is fast establishing himself with riders as one of the best in the business, will be working in tandem with the lads to make sure we quickly establish a home track advantage”

      We have an opportunity to be racing to the end of October and the boys know they are in a team that’s capable of winning trophies.

      We would like to thank Warren (Scott) & Steve (Jenson) at Rye for making this possible and look forward to creating a team over time within an ever improving facility that provides the opportunity to take on and beat the rest and best of British Speedway”.

      BMR’s Steve Jenson said, “Both BMR owner Warren Scott, and myself, are absolutely delighted to see league Speedway return so quickly to Rye House, and we welcome the Hammers and their supporters to our stadium.

      We hope that the return of Saturday night action will also be well received by Rye House fans, too, and that they will come out in force to re-create the real party atmosphere we enjoyed in the early part of last season, as well as to build for the future.

      The Hammers have a host of exciting riders in their ranks, including of course, our own Ben & Alfie, and they are still very much in the mix for the treble so we can all expect a fantastic conclusion to the season.”

      More news regarding the Farewell to the Arena and Hello to the Hammers in the House will follow in the build up to the weekend of 14th & 15th.

      Fixtures are already agreed for meetings against the Peterborough Panthers on Sunday 23rd and Saturday 29th and a reserved Play Off date of the first Saturday in October.

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        That's not good news for the sport in the southeast and goodness knows what it'll mean for a Rye House revival in 2019.

        Is there much of a crossover between the support for each team. According to google maps it's around 30 miles between the tracks.

        Edit - I've just realised they've got Saturday racing. Exactly what the Rockets wanted.

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          Well, that’s because they’re in the lower division which allows it.

          It’s glass half full/empty, bittersweet stuff really. Good to see racing back at the track and the Hammers continuing but hard to see it as anything but an indication that Rye House Rockets aren’t going to be making a return.

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            Race of the season? ;

            https://twitter.com/btsport/status/1037646673412083712?s=21

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              Wow!

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                Last ever meeting at Arena-Essex on Friday and the Hammers begin their fixtures at Rye House with a double-header on Saturday. Will definitely make the former, possibly the latter depending on family commitments and when I get away from Wimbledon's home game ;

                https://twitter.com/Lakesidehammers/status/1039160687279448064

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                  Did you go to Arena Essex on Friday RdG? I've got tickets for the firecracker in November which will be the last ever banger racing meet at the track and it may end up being the biggest banger racing meet Britain has ever seen.

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                    Yeah, I went. A good crowd and event but the meeting was hugely delayed by two big crashes (thankfully neither seriously injuring the riders) and quite a lot of faff which meant I was still there at 11pm (with racing having started at 8pm and me having got there at 6:15pm to get a good spot in the limited back straight enclosure on the stock car track to get close enough to the racing).

                    I finally had to give up on a rerun of heat 15 to try and make the last sensible train home (although two seperate ubers let me down so I had to get a car all the way home anyway). The Hammers won 50-40 in the end and clinched a play-off spot with one win in their double-header at Rye House the next evening before losing 40-50 to Peterborough (their likely play-off opponents) in the second half of the meeting.

                    I didn't bother with the Rye House meetings, wasn't in the mood to see another club race there just yet. I'll get plenty of opportunities to do so though, it now looks like the Hammers and Peterborough will meet each other six times over the remainder of the season in the two-legged semi-finals of the Knock-Out Cup, Championship Shield and Play-Offs.
                    Last edited by Ray de Galles; 17-09-2018, 11:24.

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                      The SGB Premiership play-offs start this evening, Somerset Rebels v Poole Pirates on BT Sport 1 at 7:30pm.

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                        Great meeting tonight, well worth catching up with if you can. Somerset a lot less of a homer track than I remember and loads of passing most, if not all, heats.

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                          Peterborough's forthcoming fixtures, it's like a World Series schedule :

                          SEPTEMBER

                          Sat 15 Lakeside (At Rye House) 8.30pm

                          Sun 23 Lakeside (At Rye House) 2pm

                          Sun 23 Lakeside - HOME 7pm

                          Sat 29 Lakeside (At Rye House) 7pm

                          Sun 30 Lakeside - HOME 5pm

                          OCTOBER

                          Sat 06 Lakeside (at Rye House) 7pm

                          Sun 07 Lakeside HOME 5pm

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                            Fricke, Cook, Doyle and Holder at it again in another Heat 13 from Belle Vue;

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                              Plymouth have said that they might close this winter if the third tier is watered down again.

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                                Originally posted by HeavyDracula View Post
                                Plymouth have said that they might close this winter if the third tier is watered down again.
                                Yep, the costs of moving up are too great. Mark Phillips has stated that to run in the championship we'd be looking at something in the region as follows:
                                Rider loan fees in the region of £10K to £14k
                                estimated rider signing on fees of £15k
                                rider weekly wage costs of £7.5k
                                standard meeting costs of £2k

                                With gates averaging around 450 and no major sponsorship there's no way it can be afforded and he doesn't want to run in a weakened third tier. I can't say I blame him.

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                                  How is the third tier to be weakened/watered down? A loss of more meaningful clubs or something else?

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                                    Lowering the points limit, which squeezes the middle order out of the sport and replaces them with untested 3-pointers. That tends to benefit the bigger clubs who “persuade” the best kids to join them while in no way breaking the pay structure, honest.

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                                      The second legs of the Play-Off Semi-Finals were tonight, Kings Lynn v Belle Vue and Poole v Somerset.

                                      A much delayed pair of meetings due to a nasty crash and injuries at Wimborne Road but I urge you to see the end of the broadcast at least, the final heat between Poole and Somerset is absolutely astounding.

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                                        Bomber doing THAT for THEM proves there is no just god

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                                          I know, I thought of you as he did it, knowing you would have been far more conflicted than I was.

                                          What a fucking ride though and, much as I despise Poole, what he did and the reaction to it in the stadium shows the life in the sport and should be shared.

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                                            Here’s the race in question, both sides level after 29 heats of the two legged semi-final then this :

                                            https://twitter.com/bomberharris37/status/1047219125016309760?s=21

                                            The man is a marvel, doing exactly what he did in the 2007 British GP that got me in to the sport.
                                            Last edited by Ray de Galles; 02-10-2018, 23:16.

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                                              That's some race. Even knowing the outcome I still wasn't quite prepared for his move on the inside as it looked for all the world that he was going to take the outside line.

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                                                Eight years ago today, Coventry Bees won the Elite League title, away at Poole Pirates. The Poole promoter ordered the hot water turned off in the away showers, cancelled the customary fireworks celebration for the winners, and was heard threatening that Coventry would never win anything again. That winter, several rule changes were hastily brought in that penalised the champions (as well as one other team, Peterborough), and Coventry withdrew from the league. An eleventh hour compromise brought them back, but their owner - tired of speedway's politics - sold up by the end of the year, although he retained control of the stadium. The new owners struggled to win over the fans, and by the end of 2016 the previous owner had sold the stadium to property developers and the Bees were homeless. Was it all worth it?

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                                                  In a tenser climax to the GP season than expected, Tai Woffinden clinched the World Champion title in the semi-final of the Torun meeting after being pushed all the way by Bartosz Zmarzlik. He also then went on to win tonight’s grand final to top it off.

                                                  Britain’s first ever triple World Champion, quite amazing.

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                                                    Excellent.

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