This year is my first full year of watching Speedway since 1991. I aim to get to 2 meetings a week but this may not be possible. We shall see.
| March | ||
| 18th | Workington Comets Vs Newcastle Diamonds (Challenge) | 55 - 35 |
| Not much passing | ||
| 25th | Workington Comets Vs Belle Vue Aces (Challenge) | 40 - 50 |
| Another poor meeting. Great to see the famous Aces body colour again though. | ||
| 27th | Reading Racers Vs Isle of White Islanders (PNT) | 43 - 47 |
| Bad result but decent meeting. | ||
| April | ||
| 7th | Arena Essex Hammers Vs Reading Racers (PNT) | 48- 42 |
| I had trouble seeing what was going on. Arena need to invest in better lights. | ||
| 8th | Eastbourne Eagles Vs Ipswich Witches (EL) | 48 - 42 |
| My first ever visit to Arlington and the first time I saw Tomasz Gollob ride. Poor racing though and mad tractor driver. | ||
| 17th | Reading Racers Vs Swindon Robins (PNT) | 43 - 47 |
| I think the Swindon fans thought they had won the league ! Talk about excited. | ||
| 22nd | Eastbourne Eagles Vs Belle Vue Aces (EL) | 55- 35 |
| The Aces are poor this year. | ||
| 23rd | Newport Wasps Vs Reading Racers (PNT) | 47 - 42 |
| My first visit to Queensway Meadows. We almost won this | ||
| 24th | Reading Racers Vs Exeter Falcons (PNT) | 52 - 38 |
| A win at last ! Young Chris Harris was impressive. | ||
| May | ||
| 1st | Reading Racers Vs Newport Wasps (PNT) | 46 - 43 |
| Shane Colvin won this for us. 12+1 from 6 rides. | ||
| 15th | Reading Racers Vs Arena Essex Hammers (PNT) | 57 - 33 |
| Our biggest win so far. Its obvious Arena have problems though. | ||
| 20th | British Final at Coventry | Chris Louis |
| My first ever British Final and only my second visit ever to Coventry. I last went in about 1988. Good racing considering it rained all the way through. Hail Chris Louis our new national champion ! | ||
| 22nd | Reading Racers Vs Berwick Bandits (PL) | 50 - 40 |
| Good performance from Armando. Only dropped 1 point from 5 rides. | ||
| 29th | Reading Racers Vs Sheffield Tigers (PL) | 45 - 45 |
| D'oh ! We should have won this but we threw it away. | ||
| June | ||
| 5th | Reading Racers Vs Swindon Robins (KOC) | 43 - 47 |
| <groan> | ||
| 12th | Reading Racers Vs Newport Wasps (PL) | 46 - 44 |
| Clewsy had a mare. We should have won this a lot easier. | ||
| 18th | Overseas Final at Poole | Sam Ermolenko |
| Hot day and a big crowd. Sam was head and shoulders above all the other riders. Some good racing too. Pity that no Brit got on the rostrum though. | ||
| 19th | Reading Racers Vs Stoke Potters (PL) | 47 - 43 |
| Christ, we almost threw this one too. Still, at least last heat deciders keep the interest going. No good for picking up bonus points though. | ||
| July | ||
| 1st | Workington Comets Vs Reading Racers (PL) | 51 - 39 |
| 'Mando and Morris are to thank for keeping the score respectable. Emiliano Sanchez was guesting for the injured Wester but only scored 4 points from 4 rides. | ||
| 2nd | Glasgow Tigers Vs Reading Racers (PL) | 49 - 41 |
| My first ever visit to Ashfield. I like the track which is a nice shape and plenty of dirt on. As at Derwent Park the day before only 'Mando and Phil managed to win heats but Lee Dicken who was a guest did a little better than Sanchez the night before with 7+1 from 5 rides. | ||
| 8th | Premier League Pairs Final at Workington | Workington |
| An absolute farce. Rain had made the track into a soggy mess and the meeting should never have started. In the end it was shortened by 10 heats. A home win kept the marras happy but I don't think the Workington promotion came out of this debacle very well. | ||
| 17th | Reading Racers Vs Newcastle Diamonds (PL) | 43 - 47 |
| A dissapointing result for Racers fans but it was obvious early on in the meeting that we were going to struggle. Bjarne Pedersen was class and is a real star. Fellow Barrow lad Grant MacDonald got 4 from 4 rides for Newcastle. | ||
| 21st | Arena-Essex Hammers Vs Reading Racers (PL) | 49 - 41 |
| A half decent meeting at Arena ! Even had some passing. We were never going to challenge but tac subs by Phil, Armando (16 points) and Clewsy kept the scores respectable and gave us a chance of the bonus back at Smallmead. | ||
| 24th | Reading Racers Vs Glasgow Tigers (PL) | 43 - 47 |
| Probably the best meeting so far this year at Smallmead, it's just a shame about the result. Some great races involving Les Collins, Phil Morris and Paul Clews. Interesting to see Mark Courtney too. A rider that I first saw in 1977. | ||
| 29th | Grand Prix of Great Britain | Martin Dugard |
| My first GP and I have to say that it was better than I thought it would be. The atmosphere was brilliant but not quite as good as my only other World Final at Bradford in 1990. I was a bit worried what the racing would be like because people had said how Coventry was very slick but there was plenty of passing. A Brit rider won as well. Great day out. | ||
| 31st | Phil Morris Testimonial | Craig Watson |
| Biggest crowd I've ever seen at Smallmead (approaching 2000 apparently) and was good entertainment. Pity about the GP riders pulling out but all credit to Todd Wiltshire for turning up. Highlight of the night was the sidecar races with Speedway riders as passengers. 'Mando's penalty miss also desreves a mention | ||
| August | ||
| 6th | Premier League 4 Team Tournament | Sheffield |
| I was a bit dissapointed with this after attending last years meeting. The atmosphere seemed to be a bit lacking, perhaps due to the absence of Newport and their noisy supporters. The groups were a bit mis-matched too which meant that all the best teams were in semi-final one. The big surprise was that Workington finished last in this group. Exeter were awful. | ||
| 7th | Reading Racers Vs Hull (PL) | 39 - 53 |
| Hull were far too strong for us. We had R/R for Matt Read which didn't help either. | ||
| 14th | Reading Racers Vs Arena-Essex (PL) | 57 - 33 |
| First home win I have seen since 19th June ! The Arena riders were not interested. The track seemed to be causing a lot of problems for both teams and several riders were just two-wheeling around. | ||
| 21st | Reading Racers Vs Swindon Robins (PL) | 32 - 58 |
| Massacre. We only had two heat winners all night. Swindon reserve Mark Steel got a paid maximum. Worst meeting I have seen at Smallmead this season. | ||
| 28th | Reading Racers Vs Exeter Falcons (PL) | 46 - 44 |
| A brilliant meeting. Some good racing and a last heat decider which went the right way to put a dent in the Falcons title hopes. Roger Lobb made a pratt of himself and later on in the week was banned from Speedway for taking drugs. | ||
| September | ||
| 4th | Reading Racers Vs Workington Comets (PL) | 39 - 50 |
| There was an half-hour delay after heat 1 to regrade the track after some riders complained. This left a really slick track upon which there was no passing. The meeting was utter garbage. | ||
| 9th | Workington Comets Vs Hull Vikings (PL) | 46 - 44 |
| Boring meeting with no passing until heat 13 which is one of the best races I have ever seen. Pity the Comets won. | ||
| 11th | Reading Racers Vs Isle of White Islanders (PL) | 48 - 41 |
| Quite good meeting until they graded the track ! Nice to win last home league match of season. | ||
| 17th | World Team Cup Final at Coventry | Sweden |
| Beat the fuel crisis but only just. Attendance was obviously affected which was a shame. Had a great seat too. There was some great racing but sadly the track had a dodgy 3rd bend which was to prove decisive. Overall though I think Sweden were worthy winners. Australia were dissapointing. I just hope they sort out the track for the ELRC. | ||
| 18th | Young England Vs Young Australia (Test match) | 49 - 39 |
| A great pity that the weather was not kinder for this Test Match. Probably shouldn't have gone ahead but full credit has to go to the riders and staff for putting on a show in such bad conditions. Highlight of the night was Mark Steels' ironic version of his trademark celebration after coming second in heat 4 when only 2 riders finished. By the end of the meeting Australia only had one rider left. All the others bikes were waterlogged ! | ||
| October | ||
| 2nd | Reading Racers Vs Newport wasps (Severn Bridge Trophy) | 50 - 40 |
| The Racers trailed 49-41 on aggregate going into this end of season challenge match. There was lots of changes with Justin Elkins (!) coming in at 7 for Colvin and darren Andrews an emergency no. 2. Elkins proved to be Readings hero. After 7 heats Reading were 8 points down at 17-25 but they slowly clawed there way back until by heat 11 the score was 31-35. reading blew the wasps away in the last four heats with three 5-1's and a 4-2 to win 50-40 and take the trophy on aggregate ! A great ending to a dissapointing season. |
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Last Updated 18th October 2000