Soundbites: 5th June 2004

Tony Atkin

"I've been injured before - but not right in the middle of a season. The last time I was out through injury was at the end of September and I only missed three meetings. I am due for another X-ray a week on Wednesday and I will know a lot more after that. But I've set myself a target of being back in action by the first of next month."
Tony Atkin of the Newport Wasps

"We only found out when we received a fax saying Norbert had crashed. It didn't say exactly when it was but that once the break was discovered it needed to be operated on. It is a blow but we will be using the rider replacement facility and will wait for Norbert to recover. He will still be coming to the club unless a better option comes to light."
Peterborough boss Trevor Swales on injured newcomer Norbert Magosi

"We need to carry our fantastic home form on and start to win some away matches if we are going to have a chance of a really good league position. Neither match will be easy, as away wins are always hard to come by in speedway, but we have a good team here and I'm sure we can come away with something from the weekend."
Reading team manager Ivan Shears on this weekend's tour to Workington and Newcastle

"None of us could believe that he was going to race again. It takes some bottle to come back from an injury like that and race as well as he did. It was unbelievable that he went out in his first race for ten weeks and won it in what proved to be the fastest time of the night."
Carl Stonehewer on Simon Stead's surprise comeback

"I'm looking very much forward to the challenge in Glasgow. I'm ambitious and really want to succeed but know I'm on a learning curve."
New Glasgow Tiger Eric Carillo

"On the way home from our southern tour I met up with Eric's mentor, former world champion Sam Ermolenko, and we agreed terms in principle. We have struggled at reserve this season, so to bring in a rider of his quality is a timely boost as we begin our assault on the Premier League title in earnest."
Glasgow promoter Stewart Dickson on the signing of Carillo

"I'm so chuffed, it was brilliant. We were under pressure, but there was such a great team spirit and the crowd helped as well. What a night."
Buster Chapman after his King's Lynn Stars defeated Reading on Wednesday

"We have nothing to prove to people. We should be booed when we don't ride well, but we should be loved when we win. That is the nature of speedway. You have your ups and downs."
Poole skipper Zorro

"It is far too early to write us off purely on the basis of losing one home meeting. Admittedly it wasn't a good sign, but our league programme has only just started, who knows what might happen."
Rory Schlein of Edinburgh

"I had a practice at Hull on Wednesday and my knee feels up to it. There will be no easy time to come back and I just need to get out there and start racing again."
Robbie Kessler

"Having had the best part of a week to think about it, Edward decided we are too far away from his home. I believe he said the same thing to Workington."
Newcastle boss George English on Eddie Kennett

"We have been knocked back and told that using Billy Hamill is out of the question, as is trying to get him changed from a grade five rider to a grade four rider."
Colin Pratt - He wanted to replace Janniro with Hamill

"There was a bit of tension between myself and Scott. This happens in the heat of the battle sometimes. We have talked about it together and we are both professional in our approach. We have the best interests of Ipswich at heart. We both want to win races and we both want Ipswich to do well."
Hans Andersen on Scotty Nicholls

"I don't want to speak to soon - because the season isn't finished yet - but you would think we could not have any more back luck than what we have already had this year. Poor old Rosco has had a real baptism of fire, but that's speedway and it was great for him that we got that Coventry win."
Leigh Adams

"Last year at this time we were struggling. We were bottom of the table and we stayed there, now we are at the top and we have to hang on to the placing we have already gained."
Hull promoter Eric Boocock

This article was first published on 5th June 2004