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Soundbites: 1st October 2005
"Money can't buy the sort of enthusiasm we have in this team.
We have had a fantastic team spirit and that passion and determination has pulled us through.
It is the reason why we have been so good away from home - and why we have won the league. "
"We want to go into schools with our roadshow and encourage kids and their parents to come to see speedway for an extended period without paying, so that in following seasons they will want to become paying fans.
Several other speedway tracks look as if they will close next season and so radical action is called for to try and save the sport. If the scheme is a success and we get another agreement with the GRA we will run the scheme in a different local authority area each season, until hopefully we get massive crowds and everyone is happy. "
"One thing is for sure, there is no way I will entertain the idea of continuing at Oxford unless the new agreement is right for Nigel Wagstaff.
I also need to talk to prospective sponsors to see if we can gain some extra commercial
backing. There is no point in even considering continuing next season if that's not forthcoming."
"Coming back to Peterborough sounds very good to me.
I have a great relationship with the Wolverhampton promoter Chris Van Straaten and I am sure
he would be happy to allow me to go out to Peterborough again.
I am obviously a Wolverhampton asset, but it is a few years since they have fitted me into
their plans so I'm sure it won't be a problem.
Colin (Horton)has done wonders at Peterborough. The club was going nowhere and suffering from small
crowds and in half-a-season he turned it around.
He is very ambitious, it is great to work for him and I believe we can use this season as a
platform to better things."
"I am so proud of the whole team and it is such a great feeling to be league champions.
This is such a young side and they have gone from strength to strength this year after a
poor start.
I am so pleased for the fans as well, they were incredible last night, and credit too
must go to Colin Pratt and Peter Oakes, our two team managers. They have worked so hard
for this. It is a fantastic achievement and it makes up for the disappointment of
finishing second two years ago, and then being bottom last year."
"I'm not even thinking of the semi-final until we've got through against King's Lynn.
I haven't spoken to anyone from Berwick about dates but I've had a message from them which
indicates we've got them in the semi-final if we get through.
That suggests Rye House, as champions, have chosen the winners of Sheffield and Edinburgh
so I suppose there is still a possibility that we could have a repeat of the Premier
Trophy final against the Rockets."
"At the end of the day, the racing was terrible.
We were lucky to get the meeting started.
We all agreed to try and get through, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
The track was just getting to quite a good state.
Then the rain came down and saturated it and, in truth, we didn't need much of it to make it unsafe for the riders."
"We really missed Charlie Gjedde again tonight.
We badly needed the normal ten points he scores at Blunsdon.
Unfortunately the lower end did not really function tonight and as a result we were
always struggling.
I hate losing against Oxford but with a full side I am sure we would have won but I doubt
if we would have gone through in the Craven Shield."
"I'm extremely disappointed to have lost my licence.
Okay we didn't have a good season on the track and I was team manager, so that's down to me.
But I had no control over the financial side of things, and that's what's brought the
team down.
I've no regrets about anything I've done in my life.
In hindsight, though, I could've done things a lot better, but you can't just come in
and expect everything to work perfectly.
If I had a second chance at it, things would be different."
"We were well beaten in the away leg, and we knew that we had left ourselves with the
proverbial mountain to climb tonight.
Unfortunately the task proved beyond us but we wish Rye House the best of good fortune
in the rest of the competition and personally speaking, I think they'll go on to win the
Shield."
"I think we have picked the toughest team to race against, but it should also be the most
entertaining.
It will be great for the guys to take on Shaun Tacey and James Wright once again, while
Workington are also allowed to use a top guest for Carl Stonehewer, a rider who usually
struggles around Lynn.
They now have Tomasz Piscz at reserve, a former Elite League rider from Peterborough, who looks
like being a real trump card for them."
"Paul has been very down about it all, mainly because there has been so little progress
since March.
All the treatment meted out so far appears to have had little effect and they are basically
going to start from scratch.
My understanding is that after the operation in October, they will use those external
fixators in his arm again.
It's not a pretty sight, but it's also very difficult for Paul to get any decent rest."
This article was first published on 1st October 2005
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