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THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS, Part 2
Tuesday November 05, 2013
Sometimes being a Rockets fan has been like watching the opening minutes of Casualty. I’m sure you’ve all done it the “I wonder what’s going to happen to them?†game.
Once Young Norman had given the nations plaster makers a bit more work it was hard not to wonder who’d be next. Before the next call to NHS Direct though we had a brief glimpse of the MearKat, to be fair some people probably blinked and missed it but I can assure you the Hatfield lad was back in blue and yellow for a whole three meetings. Unfortunately our chance to compare the MearKat was not a pleasurable experience for rider and supporters alike. Saturday June 8th provided another bad experience if losing at home to Plymouth wasn’t bad enough losing Olly with a broken left arm put the tin hat on a miserable few weeks. As he walked off the track I can remember turning to Camera Ken and saying “I think he’s broken it,†curse of the commentator strikes again! After that another win looked as unlikely as Steve Webb trading in his infamous union jack trousers for a marks and sparks suit, well until Somerset arrived and obligingly lost both their reserves in Heat 2. With R/R back in fashion John was once again left thumbing through the Big Book of Speedway Averages trying to cover the gap left by the MearKat packing his bags. Now we can all appreciate our lads bravery on the track but I must admit young Simon demonstrated a whole new meaning by agreeing to stand down for the good of the team in July. To hit a rare serious note here riders are often very willing to blame everything but themselves so to admit the team would do better without you says a lot about the lad.
Now whether it was during a game of speedway scrabble or not I’m not sure but Josh Grajczonek (47 points if you can fit it across the board!) was a top choice of guest who did a sterling job when called on throughout the season. Another new face was flying Swede Pontus Aspgren who skipper JasonB thought “sounded like a Disney character.†When we got our first glimpse of Pontus he was more like the road runner putting in a number of top performances, paid 18 against Leicester being the best of the lot. Talking to him afterwards he was upset he hadn’t got all 21, now that’s the spirit! The same night saw Olly put in a bid for the Luke Bowen “Frank Spencer†Award after his first ride back from a broken arm started with Lions Jan Graversen running over his recently healed limb. It also saw me drop my clipboard over the edge of the ‘media suite‘ in my excitement. Thankfully disaster was averted as there was nobody standing underneath at the time although I did notice everybody gave that spot a wide berth for the rest of the year! (to be continued....)
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