Soundbites: 10th July 2006

Harrison	Harris

"I said when I came here last season I wanted to ride for Ipswich for two seasons at least This club is the most organised one I have ever ridden for. I love riding for them. If I ever ride in England it must be for Ipswich Witches - they are the only team I want to ride for. The fans are good, the club is well run, I am really happy here and I am already thinking about next season."
Piotr Protasiewicz

"It's not a nice way to get an extra league point, especially as Craig's a good friend of Newcastle speedway, and this is the first time I've done this during my 10 years as manager. Winning this protest could be very important towards us reaching the top eight for the Premier League playoffs."
George English - Newcastle got the bonus from Mildenhall when ineligible guest Craig Branney's points were removed.

"Jordan is a Plymouth rider and we would love to use him regularly. Unfortunately the grading scheme means we would have to lose maybe Tom Brown or Lee Smart to fit him in. Tom and Lee are doing their job so, unfortunately, we can't fit Jordan in at the moment."
Plymouth boss Mike Bowden. The Devils loaned Jordan Frampton to visitors Mildenhall and he top scored for them.

"My game has to be upped. But I am very positive in the sense that everything is against me at the moment. I haven't been getting the results I want and have not being able to get the equipment going. My genuine belief is that things will only get better because they can't stick at rock bottom for much longer. When I joined Poole I made no fancy promises about getting 10 points every meeting. I just said I would do my best and I will not stop battling to do that in the workshop or on the track."
Shaun Tacey

"I have begun to view other options open to me and already have had a couple of offers to move the team elsewhere in East Anglia, next season. Nobody wants to leave West Row but I need to give my riders a proper track to race on and Sunday brought the matter to a head."
Mildenhall promoter Mick Horton

"It's brilliant to qualify for the final, it's what I came out here to do. Before I came here I had set myself two goals - the first was to get into the GB team, the other was to get through to the qualification final for next season's GP. I've done both, which is absolutely great."
Chris Harris

"I think he has a few personal problems back home in Sweden, but in the last couple of weeks he was showing us that he didn't really want to be here. You could see that from his performances. He was travelling to and from Sweden, when really he should have been back here a lot more and it was affecting his form."
Alun Rossiter on Seb Alden who has quit Swindon

"I'm no quitter and I have absolutely no regrets about taking over the club. It's been an amazing challenge, and still is, and I remain determined to make it work here. It's a great club and the loyal supporters are wonderful, they have been behind me all the way. I just wish there were a few more of them!"
Aaron Lanney the Oxford promoter

"I've never experienced anything like it before but I've never experienced anyone like Rusty before. We were well warned about him when he signed for us in 2005. But he had an exceptional year. However, there hasn't been a match this year he hasn't found fault with. We can't put up with it any longer. Enough is enough. I think we now know what the problem has been with this team this year. Maybe it's been staring us in the face and we've waited too long."
John Campbell who has axed Rusty Harrison from the Edinburgh team after he withdrew from the meeting on Friday

"I was left on my own. We all agreed not to race, until one member changed their mind and wanted to ride. The track was dangerous. The riders knew it and the crowd knew it. Both teams robbed the fans. What they saw wasn't speedway. They paid £12.50 - they may as well have watched cows in a field. I couldn't entertain them on such a wet track and I didn't want to get injured. Where is the limit of safety? I stuck by my guns - everyone else didn't. I'm sure the fans didn't like what I did. I'm here to earn a living and a lot of people will understand that."
Rusty Harrison's side of the story

"Crump was immaculate and Screen rode his heart out. Kenneth Bjerre also did much better than on his last visit to Ipswich and I was pleased with James Wright. Simon Stead had a disappointing night with two points but he rode hard and was worth more. But Ipswich are fourth in the table, one place behind us, and they are no mugs."
Ian Thomas on Belle Vue's 52-43 defeat at Ipswich

"Now - that's more like it. That was a good result against the League Champs, and it wasn't a bad meeting to watch either despite the rain. The track has been worked on all week this week and it's paid dividends with it really standing up to the weather so well. The lads of both sides really deserve a big pat on the back for getting on with the business of racing the full 15 heats and not bowing down to negative whinging - it really made a refreshing match to be at."
Peter Waite after a rare Bandits win on Saturday

"It was even better than I expected. It was a brilliant performance. In the last three weeks the lads have exceeded my expectations. I thought we could be in the top five or six but they have proved they are better than that. They are riding as a team."
Brian Havelock on Redcar's win at Stoke

"We were beaten by the better team no excuses. They did a job on us and we are out of the cup, but not through lack of effort."
Tim Stone on Newport's heavy home defeat from Sheffield

This article was first published on 10th July 2006