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Just seen a tweet that he is not riding for Poole tomorrow against the Bloaters as personal issues remain unsolved. Strangely they are solved in Poland

2 miles from the track is close enough I think We had a week or more of hot dry weather, so presumably the water table went down a bit. There was heavy prolonged rain most of yesterday, I don't think there was much, if any, overnight There have been a couple of sharp showers today and one about 15-20 mins early evening. Five or so years ago there would have been no question that the meeting would have gone ahead and been reasonable competitive but times/engines/riders have changed and the latter certainly don't like the damp. I can see where promoters are coming from nowadays in that financially to call off early might be wise but as g13webb says the meetings have to be fitted in later in the season, with the associated financial implications. It's a dilemma and one I'm delighted I don't have to wrestle with. My ideal answer would be to detune the bloody engines so that racing is reliant on rider skill, including the skill to ride in most weather conditions, but I realise it's a pipe dream.

Coventry were a good example of that with a bit of manipulation by Rosco keeping Pawlickl at reserve!!!

It is a shame for Holder really re-his passport visa etc. To think if his Great Grandfather hadn't been such a robbing old goat he could have been English and not needed one to ride here.

C'mon SL get your washing out,the shower from Dorset won't arrive until about 17:30-18:00

9 EF's one night at Swindon. Probably the uluckiest team ever that night. Still feel for them now.

that is a good signing for workington . always puts on a great show and never give up . welcome to the marras .. a cracking move from the worky management . international star wars day cant come quick enough now .

Good News

I'd been a strong campaigner in the past for track covers, so I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one Trees. Easily done with tarpaulin sheets and not at a great cost either when the investment is spread over future years too. If it's going to pee it down after 7 o'clock though, nothing you can do about that and the meeting will be lost anyway but quite often meetings are cancelled due to excessive rain in the days building up to the meeting which could be prevented.

If Holder appears after 4 h and 4a and replaces Shanes then we all know what has gone on. But surely won't happen. Its too corrupt even for Fraud.

Poole have pulled some tricks in their time but if this turns out to be true it would be the lowest of the low and drag speedway into the gutter. Match fixing is frowned on in any other sport, why should speedway be any different

Oh god, don't open up the can of worms that is the difference between "raceable" and "rideable"

I was in Manchester last evening on a business trip so went along to this meeting and see the NSS. Had a good evening, meal in peter craven lounge, grandstand seat. Early rain drained away and there were some fine races. Only KK any good for rye house. Chatted with a couple of BV fans who were good company. Back home in Poole now looking forward to Thursday with the Pirates.

Ooops! Yarmouth.

Ford seems to be the best promotor in terms of finding ways around the rules, or as some say, using them to the full. Don't always work first time around. He takes no prisoners.. I think Matt Ford Fan is his son

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1944049679002275&id=129552893785305 Dan the man's heat 15 win

Ivan's chosen records were Joseph Maori Girls Choir - Pokarekare Ana Herb Albert - Lonely Bull Jim Reeves - Distant Drums Dick Van Dyke - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Oliver - Consider Yourself Roger Whittaker - I Don't Believe In If Anymore Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire Herb Albert - Tijuana Taxi Interesting selection and his luxury? Box of family photos. Speedway on Desert Island Discs? Wouldn't happen in a million years now...the roaring seventies speedway's last 'Golden Era!'

Best reserves, or just one reserve who can mop up, will win a team the league. It needs changing.

NBJ was the difference, fair play to him.

Of course you can. I won’t mention signing Miedzak on a 5.57 average for a few months who increases his average above 8 & then KK comes in as an replacement.....oops I just did.

Looking at the Rye House team tonight, Wolves should have won that.

Just spotted last weeks star in tesco with Ivan on the front cover so thought I'd treat myself, must say I'm impressed with the new look and will be getting a copy tomorrow of this weeks. May even start getting it again on a weekly basis. Well done to everyone at the star

If its like the Poacher up in Lincolnshire it's possibly the bahnrekord which I believe roughly translated from German is road or in this case track record

Meeting already started(sorry) live here

The Comets have signed Bradley Wilson Dean on a short term contract to cover for Mason Campton. It's on the Comets site.

With the amount of rain offs we have had BT certainly made a good call in deciding not to televise any meetings until June

The days of Rye having any kind of home advantage went with the adverse camber years ago. I'm less than a mile from the track, bright skies at present. It has tried to rain a couple of times in the last few hours but nothing to put a meeting in jeopardy has come down. Forecast is good from now, the next rain predicted in Hoddesdon a 30% chance at 12pm tomorrow afternoon.

This really is a catch 22 situation for any promoter really. Yes, it can be called a good decision because IF it does rain then it will be proven to be correct but also IF it doesn't then Chapman will be sitting there with a very red face. A few miles away from the track and so far we've had a couple of short, sharp showers today, so as it stands right now then the track would be fine. Dont like this cancelling meetings just because there COULD be some rain later though....... It rains a lot in this country and if every time there is a little bit of a "dodgy" forecast they are going to cancel a meeting many hours ahead of the start time then they are going to find that there will be a lot of meetings to squeeze into a very short time period at the end of the season! Looks like Lynn and Chapman have gone from one extreme to another with their rain call offs!

Well you wont know until after as you dont plan to be there

Another sensible call off. Everyone knows where they stand. The problem of course comes if they run out of dates when they could have run a meeting in damp conditions in front of a reduced crowd......

The local Echo speedway reporter has stated CH will not be riding on Thursday as his personal issues are still not resolved.

holder will be back in the team once the averages change. with the teams poor form and averages going down and Chris being low himself the changes will be coming.

HE tried his very hardest to

With Swindon flying and Poole struggling it's opportunities like these that have to be taken.

Id say that before a wheel was turned this season most wouldve expected the Witches to hit 60 in this one. Now 50 would be delightful and 46 accepted gratefully! Time for the boys to stand up and be counted. Sitting in a corner moping and feeling sorry for yourself is not the way to sort things out. Chin up, chest out, tell yourself youre good enough (because you are!) and then go out and prove it.

I wasn't there on Saturday so not really able to comment too much. Here is my problem, the week before against Glasgow, the track preparation was really good, very slick but that's speedway nowadays, our riders rode it and attacked it brilliantly. So they prepare a track that suits our riders then change it the following week to a track that does not suit them, WHY ? The weather was brilliant there was no forecast for rain, the track could have been watered and packed every day, as there was football on the Saturday, nominal track prep on the Saturday morning until 12.00. Reminds me of the World under 21s meeting, track was spot on, some of the best racing I have seen at Berwick, one week later one of the worst prepared tracks I have ever seen.r

1000 Miles, 3 Meetings, 3 days The weekend ahead could be a major make or break one for Josh Embleton as he embarks on three race meetings in three days. This might not sound like anything out of the ordinary to a lot of Speedway riders and fans alike but when the meetings are about as far apart as they possibly could be in England then you will recognise the task ahead for the likable Geordie. On Thursday Josh will head off for the 7 hour drive down to the Isle of Wight where he will be making his seasonal debut guesting in the National League against Eastbourne. Then he will get the ferry back over and head for Plymouth for another meeting on Friday night again for Isle of Wight. His travelling does not stop their though with a return drip up North and on to Berwick for Newcastle Gems meeting against Berwick Border Raiders awaiting him on Saturday evening. 1000 miles will be covered over the three days and also two days unpaid from work. This all will have to come out of Josh’s pocket with points money and travelling expenses not covering the costs involved. This young promising rider is chasing his dream and this just shows what lengths he will go to for the chance to fulfill it. If any businesses / individuals would like to sponsor Josh we at team nopainnogain would very happily display your logos on our website and of course on Josh race bike etc. This lad is making a huge sacrifice for this trip and it would be brilliant if his fellow Geordies could support him in any way which they could. Good luck Josh and we will all be rooting for you. http://teamnopainnogain.co.uk/ paypal donations - gavin.parr@sky.com

Good heavens NO NO NO It's extra entertainment, with a side benefit of riders learning a bit about track conditions. Include it in the meeting in any way and as your last comment suggests you just bring in more and more complicated rules.

I don't believe anyone has forgotten, but whilst he's scoring like he is, we're all currently quite happy !

It's 70 years to the day that the first meeting took place at wimborne road

Yarmouth Bloaters v Poole Get Yer Coaters

Common sense would dictate that 14 riders all on track at full speed at the same time would be a disaster waiting to happen. hot laps are rider doing laps at full speed in relative safety. I thought anyone with with an iota of sense could see the difference.

If Middlo has lost the passion to get the team going why don't Poole go for Stewart Dickson former team manager at Glasgow? In a lot of people's opinion one of the best managers in British speedway and would maybe relish the new challenge. Was he not going to be stand in for Middlo the other week, I read somewhere that Matt Ford had asked Dickson to take the team as Middlo was on holiday. Yous could do worse

13 from 16 for Freddy is very impressive and probably pays well. Really good to see Nicki have a good start. Love or hate him what a brilliant competitor he remains. Box office.

It does.

Anyone know if there are any tickets left for the Poole end of season dinner dance next month?

Never be as good as fast freddie

I seem to remember the same being said about Adam last year. ( when people conveniently forget he was riding with a broken wrist) Give Davey time, I’m sure he’ll come good. Believe me. For a young rider to be seeing fans calling for him to be replaced isn’t a good thing.

Strange that Poole fans were talking pre-season about how strong thier line-up was and the other teams were just there to make up the numbers. Here we are not even anywhere near the end of April and they want changes. Fickle old lot down Dorset way.

I like the Star, to me it's been in a far better state than the sport for years. The improvements look good to me, on a purely personal level I would like more technical articles about the machines and tracks but realise most wouldn't. The balance at the moment is probably about right for the majority, few , if any, other minority sports get anything near as good as the Speedway Star. Can't understand the gripes about too much Grasstrack or overseas coverage, it's not like you can't just flip past those pages if you have no interest and those who do have an interest appreciate it.