The Prodigal Returns

It had been a funny old week as Arkwright said in Open All Hours. Tales of gloom and despondency on the BSF Uncle Len losing his patience with the punters and young Mitchell saving himself at the last minute from a meeting with the back straight fence. So after all that everything appeared to be set for the Rebel army to ride into town and take a win away from creaking fortress Hoddesdon for the first time. Well how wrong can you be? Two Heat wins yes TWO is all the league leaders managed as The Rockets showed they might yet turn the season around to at least a respectable level. A cracking paid maximum from the skipper who went within half a second of the track record Jordan back to form after the Byker nightmare and Nelson at last giving a glimpse of what he can do. To cap it all Heat 4 (now up for viewing at http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Sport/Speedway/Beaming-Boxall-sends-Rebels-packing-23052011.htm ) marked the return of Steve Boxall looking as good as when he left with a Championship Medal in 2007. The Boxmeister reeled off 2 more wins and was unlucky to get the rough end of a clash with Cory Gathercole in Heat 13 which robbed him of a perfect comeback.

Time I feel to put whatever went on before Press & Practice Day firmly behind us and move on. Its a long time since I've seen a broader smile in the pits afterwards to say the lad is up for it is a massive understatement. As usual it wasn't all plain sailing with Luke injuring an elbow in a horrible looking crash that took out most of the second bend fence once again Mr Gathercole was involved. Hopefully unlike quite a few 747's at the moment our one will be flying shortly as there's a busy weekend coming.

KO'd By The Toon

Hmm an interesting night on Saturday to say the least! Plenty of action before the meeting with Uncle Len receiving a decidedly mixed reaction from the terrace when he tried to explain the nature of Jason Doyle's departure. One thing is for sure though, fighting back in public rarely wins any friends. If the arrangement was as stated and nothing else was on then fair enough but in these days of Facebook Twitter etc its important to get that message out to start with and not leave fans days to speculate and make up their own stories. Its a long way from 1971 when you could rely on the fact that Speedway Star and the local paper only came out once a week so you had plenty of time to get your story straight. Now if you decide one night to have a sausage instead of your traditional fish and chips it can be on twitter before the chips have come out of the oil!

A KO'ing by The Toon was fairly predictable after the 39-39 at home which once again saw our reserves let us down. Little Ben is a lovely lad who is polite enough to shake your hand every time you interview him but for his own sake the time has come for him to take time out. It can't do your confidence any good constantly coming away with less than a handful of points and we must have reached the stage that if its allowed to continue he may never achieve what we hope he is capable of. As for Nelson well in the words of Forest Gump "you never know what you're going to get". Unfortunately for the lad though the poor performances are outweighing the promising ones about 4 to 1 at the moment. On Saturday he looked totally bemused when he fell on the first bend and the crowd yelled at him to get off the track as Luke was leading Stuart Robson. On the subject of the 747 he may have his critics but you can't fault the lad for effort and personally I'm glad to see him back in form.

Predictably someone has snapped up Jason Doyle, Newport's gain will almost certainly be our loss, all we can do is wish him good luck and say thanks for getting us out of an almighty hole at the start of the season. Who knows what we'll get from the returning Steve Boxall Sunday's performance looked promising but he'll have to get back to his 2007 form pretty quick to calm down the fans I've not seen an atmosphere like Saturday's since the last days of the Russell Empire!

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

First the good news 4 points from two meetings with Ipswich shouldn't be sniffed at, quite why we had to have two meetings on the same day though escapes me. Didn't make it to Foxhall but heard the crowd was massive but certainly think the attendance at Rye was down on what it would have been on a normal Saturday night. Lets face it who can afford to shell out over £30 on admission money plus petrol plus food etc all in a day.

Now the bad yet another injury to the Rockets answer to Frank Spencer it seems in the words of a wise old blues man who's name I've forgotten "if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all". Quite how many more injuries Luke can take is anyone's guess but we wish the lad well and hope he's back soon.then to Heat 13 on Monday night and Jason Doyle's dislocated shoulder. Must say he managed to get off the track swiftly in what must have been agony but looking at John Sampford's face in the pits afterwards told the story. Finally we have a top rider who for me was just running into form and suddenly its back to pouring through the averages to try to find a guest. On that note hats off to James Holder who was sunning himself in Poole on Monday afternoon when he got the call from Mr S and unlike some others who'll remain nameless volunteered to drive up and take his guest rides.

Finally the ugly and that had to be Morten Risager's crunching meeting with the fourth bend fence. Commentating on racing is great but there is a real downside when you have to talk through an incident like that, my mind immediately flashed back to a similar one in the late 80's involving Hackney's Andy Galvin. Thankfully Morten walked away with just a finger injury, a pretty severe one I'll admit but it could have been so much worse.

So its off to Berwick and Glasgow with half a team...... wait a minute that's the phone ringing and its John Sampford surely he's not sunk that low down the averages!!

Three Points & Two Broken Ribs!

So how many times do you see a Premiership footballer go down like he's been hit by a small juggernaut roll round in pretend agony and then get up when no ones looking? Saturday night after we finally broke the home hoodoo, (thankfully the water cart only made its mark after Heat 8!)there I was talking to the 747 who nonchalantly told me he'd been riding for a couple of weeks with two broken ribs. Now I know a few people had been getting on the boys back about some sub standard performances but surely that puts it into a bit of perspective. Not much racing on Monday Leicester came into it after the Heat 8 soaking which certainly brought Richard Hall to life! But at least we got a much needed win with everyone getting at least a paid victory. Little Ben didn't have much luck, you have to be tough to mix it with Mr Graversen and it looked as if he had his front wheel nipped away on the third bend to me.

A tough one coming up on yet another Bank Holiday Monday. Before the start of the season I tipped Ipswich to take the title and despite Somerset's cracking start I don't see any reason to change my mind. not too impressed with the 7:45pm start though that will keep me up until the early hours making sure the match report appears in Thursdays Star. No rest for the wicked but at least I won't be typing with two broken ribs!

Victor Meldrew!

Well there could be only one reaction to Saturday night "I do not believe it!" After the boys returned from South Wales with all 4 points like a lot of people I thought the season really does start here. A 15pt max for Jordan and young Nelson flying it all looked in place for a comfortable home win. A look at the BSF will show I wasn't the only one. We were anticipating an evening as sparkling as a Steve Webb shirt but we ended up with a tour round Primark! How can a team fall apart so convincingly on their own track? Fair play to Newport and particularly Anders Mellgren a bit of misfortune might have turned into a big advantage there but we know we should still of been good enough to beat them. Talking to Jordan afterwards he made the point that at the moment the top 3 are carrying the team and looking at a few stats its hard not to agree. Between them Ben, Luke and Ritchie have had a combined total of 80 rides from which they have returned only 2 wins. When you consider that one of those was gifted by Mellgren's one error of the night on Saturday and you can see where part of the problem is.

We know all three can do better than they are at the moment. Luke is coming back off yet another nasty injury, Ritchie is adapting to a new team and Ben to a whole new way of life in the Premier League. With all that going on you need a bit of consistency and hats off to the top 3 in doing a pretty good job in providing it. That though also puts a lot of pressure on Nelson. When he performs (at Newport) we do well when he doesn't (at home on Saturday) we don't. All that said its far too early to push the panic button but it must be said Uncle Len wasn't tucking into his fish and chips with the usual gusto after the meeting on Saturday.

Who's Your Money On Now?

Funny old week particularly for a couple of the Premier League favourites. Must admit like a lot of people I had Ipswich down as the team to beat I thought they had the right balance of youth and experience while in Kevin Doolan they have a rider I rate as highly as anyone in the league. Big shock then to see them turned over at home by Somerset who seem to have taken on the mantle of "team to beat". Perhaps our narrow defeat at the Oak Tree wasn't such a bad result after all?

Newcastle were another of the pre season favourites and their chances have been hit for all the wrong reasons. Having followed a club that has occasionally made Casualty and Holby City seem decidedly boring the Toon fans have my sympathy after losing Rene Bach. Following his super show in the World Under 21 Team Cup around Hoddesdon I had him down as one to watch this season, there's no doubt he'll be a big loss on Tyneside. As for the Rockets two more defeats but a few positive signs Ritchie Hawkins seems to be getting things together Team Manager John Sampford tells me his struggles have been down to the new silencers. Nelson is also beginning to get there the fact he hasn't ridden in a team in his life has proved a big test and is probably the reason why he's yet to earn a bonus point. Here's hoping the skipper is fit for Saturday as I think we're going to need him.

Talking of Saturday's last weeks turned into a bit of a damp squib for me. Having witnessed a cracking meeting from the Dream Team in 2010 it was sad to see a side so lacking in obvious talent. The old guys did their best but the rest certainly have a lot to learn.Hard to judge quite how good the Hawks are until they get some real opposition. while the racing was poor the evenings undoubted highlight was provided by Steve Webb's choice of footwear which he proudly displayed to me in the pits afterwards. Top man Webby just what we need to pull in the punters a few more characters.

Where Was I Last Saturday?

Believe me you really don't want to know. Suffice it to say I missed my first home meeting through illness in 7 years and I was sick as a parrot. Sick being the operative word but that's enough of that! So what happened? Well according to my good mate Camera Ken from T2TV the best meeting in years. I'm sure he wasn't just saying that to make sure sales were hit when news of my absence from the commentary box got around! The action sounded fast and furious with a strange Heat 2 costing us in the end. I've said here before that Nelson is a really exciting talent but I hope he learns to stay on the bike long enough for us to appreciate it. With Little Ben finding the going a bit tough there's extra pressure on our new Aussie to be the steady one who'll consistently notch a few points hopefully that message will get across in the weeks to come starting at Scunny on Friday night. Returning to last Saturday at least I have a decent record when it comes to home defeats in the last 7 years I've missed every one except last years thumping by Edinburgh in the KO Cup. So at least I can assure myself its not me. Well either that or I used up my supply during the dark dark Russell era of the late 80's early 90's.