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Seeing as this meeting doesn't count towards the averages and can't be used for fiddling, it's official - Poole are officially the worst 'best side on paper' ever.

Going to use them for collections, doubles the money

I think you're burying your head a little bit here, Back in the 70s the wage was around £50/60 a week, and petrol was 6 bob a gallon ( 30p), I could take the wife and the kiddies, buy 2 programmes, drinks and burgers all round for less than a tenner. The night was full of enjoyment and exciting races that kept everyone interested. Looking back at a 74 programme that cost 1 shilling (5p), here were 23 races starting a 7.30 pm on a Saturday night against Hackney, (we lost 36-42.) The tenner probably equalled a 1/6th of your weekly wage, but we had nearly 3hrs of enjoyment watching 23 races. The same day out now is very different, with considerably less to watch, A lesser program, perpetually drawn-out to make it last does nothing to enthral the fans. Everything you buy, you pay through the nose,. Petrol £ 7/ gallon, Admission £18 a head, Programmes £3 each Drinks £3/4 a throw. Before, it was excepted as a normal price for a night out and each believed they received VFM, not any more.... It would be wrong to pin all the blame on costs, for the sport was much different then, the Bike were slower and the competition was much closer. Missing the gate wasn't the be-all importance then as it created more excitement. Every race was competitive and closely fought. Today's super fast bikes, that cost the earth, produce a different race from the ones we use to watch. All the low torque engines have been replaced with high revving ones. Exhaust and tyres play their part . The throttles now are either open or closed, very little control how there once was. The emphasis has moved from the rider to the bikes, meaning far more follow the leader races, and these don't pull in the punters. You only have to look at the dwindling number over the years to see the effect it has had. But nobody takes any notice of these facts and continues in the same old pattern. Regardless of how you dress it up, the sport today is not working. and unless they address the important issues of Costs, VFM and excitement, the sport will continue to die ...

Batch is gonna love the track buster serves up if this is on

"British Speedway's Premiership will be ran on two fixed nights on Monday and Wednesday to avoid clashes with Championship clubs" "British Speedway's Premiership will now be ran on three fixed nights, Monday and Wednesday and Thursday which will now clash with Championship clubs" "Riders must not get off their bikes at the tapes and prepare their start area".... "Riders can now get off their bikes at the tapes and prepare their start area"... "We won't be using rolling averages this season".... "We will be using rolling averages this season"... "To me Barry".. "To you Paul"... "To you Barry" "To me Paul".... "To you"... "To me"... "To you"... "To me".... etc etc etc for the next six months... British Speedway, sponsored by Chucklevision...

Just in case anybody needed it confirming, the Pole at reserve for Poole is absolutely hopeless. Beyond poor and totally disinterested. At least Woryna had his moments albeit not setting the world alight. Sundstrom out of control most of the evening and very poor also. Kildemand lucky to not be excluded for planting Wright into the first bend fence too but karma came back to bite him when he fell on his own when Wright returned the favour on turn 3. Poole certainly were very ordinary. For the Rebels, our star performers were our reserves. Wilson-Dean all action as ever and what a little find Jeppesen seems to be. Give him a few meetings and he looks like he could be very handy. Jack Holder leading the way superbly in an all round team effort from 1 to 7.

Oh by the way , well done Somerset on a good solid all round display, every rider with at least a paid win. I should imagine Gary and Deb are well chuffed.

Love the way Poole followers (hardly supporters) slag off young James who is starting his career at his local track. Shocking! Just why Holder doesn't or won’t ride for this team seems to make sense now.

Hats off to Robert Lambert and the rest of a depleted KL team. Well done.

Haven't you got your own team thread to post on?

Most of the track seemed to be ok but there was a very soggy patch about 6' square on the exit from the second bend and a similar patch on the exit from the fourth bend. The riders expressed concerns about these after walking the track and the referee asked for some work to be done to try and harden these and agreed to delay the start to give Buxton the chance of doing this. The next 45 minutes or so were spent with a transit van being driven round the track to try to tyre-pack the soggy patches, but this did not seem to have been sufficient time to do this (if this had been an evening meeting, then this could probably have been remedied.) One of the riders I spoke to, pointed out that a rider starting from grid one would need to veer to the right in order to avoid the soggy patch, and that this would force any rider behind him to either shut off, or risk riding through the suspect part of the track. It was then suggested that one rider from each team should ride round the track for four laps to test conditions, Tom Woolley being nominated by Buxton and Leon Flint volunteering to represent Birmingham. Tom took the first lap at a fair speed but carefully avoided the two soggy patches. On his second lap, he tried to drive through the second bend patch only to have his bike lurch to the right and almost cause him to lose control. On his third lap, he tried to ride through the fourth bend patch with the same result. He then returned to the pits without taking his fourth lap, shaking his head as he did so. Before Leon Flint was able to go out for his test, the referee ruled that the track was unfit, and called off the meeting. This decision enraged the Buxton promoter who suggested to the referee that he had only postponed the meeting "because "they" (meaning Birmingham) had kicked-off." The referee replied that he had delayed the start time and felt that he had allowed every opportunity for Buxton to get the match on, but having watched Tom Woolley try out the track, he "did not like what he had seen" and had made his decision on the strength of this. The above is my take on the situation. The comments I have quoted were made either to me or within my hearing. They are not hearsay. I was aware of numerous other reported comments which I did not hear, so I have not included them. I appreciate that many of these were made in the heat of the moment and are probably now regretted. I think it is unfair to suggest that the problems were cause by poor track preparation by Buxton. The track had suffered from the atrocious weather we have all had to endure, and if the report I heard that a flat track meeting had taken place on the track the previous day, then that obviously wouldn't have helped, but I think Buxton did the best that they could in the time available to them. I never at any time heard any rider infer that he would refuse to ride, and when it looked for a time as though the meeting would go on, they all changed into their kevlars. I think most of them were relieved when the match was called off, but had the referee decided that the track was fit enough, then they would have accepted it. As far as the statement from another poster that the track was in better shape that Perry Barr was for our match against Coventry on March 20th, this is debatable, but on that occasion, the riders of both teams and the two team managers all thought that the meeting should have been postponed, but the referee decided otherwise, and all of them accepted this and got on with it. This is my own view of the situation and the developments of the afternoon. I realise that some may disagree, which of course they are fully entitled to do, but I don't think anyone can be blamed for what happened - the bad weather was the root cause of the problems and I think it needed more than just one fine day to get things shipshape.

It's still early in the season - I think Wethers and Wilkinson are doing OK and have decent starts to build on. Robson has simply not been on a bike long enough to assess although I was pleased when he was announced...Rose has, yes, underperformed, but his crash with Danny at Brough Park and his accident riding for King's Lynn shortly after seem to have taken their toll. But for those 2 accidents he might have been working towards #1 - what a shame. Tero looking a very decent rider this season. Can't comment on Ashley as I have run out of superlatives. My biggest concern so far is my favourite rider Ludvig - big machinery problems, but if he's riding in the Swedish league that won't help to make time to sort them...I expect the promoters will give him more time, but he can't carry on scoring only 5 on home shale...

Congratulations Somerset, Jack Holder seems to be on fire atm.. Why the forum eejit has to slag off his latest team is beyond me, especially young Mr Shanes..

Lindgren must have been getting this same dodgy batch for years then, as what I see this year is exactly the same as we have seen since the day he joined us. Promises so much, delivers very little, excuses always given, and never can be truelly relied on when needed.... He is who he is, an enigma, who will score an 18 point max against the odd day his confidence is high at home, will pass the odd star in a race at home and have everyone on their feet..... for that we get average performances at home being beaten off riders with half the potential and sometimes half the age, and away will always score next to nothing...... except Edinburgh and the odd Redcar. Amazingly his engines always work at Edinburgh and on those days he rides Redcar well, every year they always play up at all the other tracks.

It's easy to get the rules mixed up. Shanes isn't expected to do anything other than score the odd 2 or 3 points a match. So he his doing his job.

Oh dear oh dear now some Poole fans saying they knew the team wasn’t good enough lol The poles haven’t done anything like they were expected to. Kurtz is proving he is the weakest number one in the league , Sundstrom is a poor replacement for Hans. Yet they want Shanes out?? A young Brit doing his job!!! The team was built top heavy and it’s failed and Shanes gets stick!!!

Swindon beaten by a 5 man Lynn team, Still like to hear Batchelors thoughts about this crap Lynn team.

Its wonderful that our club has a huge following. Thank you for showing your interest. Of course, we will keep you updated on any developments...

If Poole manage to get Kurtz , Holder and Kildemand in the same team as Josh G and Woryna at reserve then its pretty obvious that they are on the fiddle

Moan, Moan, Moan........................ no change there then!

It makes little difference, Once someone takes the P--s out of you, that's it, as far as I'm concerned he can go to LLLL Who cares !! We have all this media rubbish about team spirit and togetherness. We hold classrooms as a team to form a bonding of people, We have 4 out of the first 5 meeting cancelled, and then you agree to ride with half a team.... What's the point of it all.??....

Guess we'll see when the changes ARE made, I'm betting on a sudden change in form.

Not sure it's particularly bright to have a pop at the fans after scoring 0 from 4 as a number 1. Best thing would be to shut up and sort yourself out. He's on a downward spiral now and isn't the rider he was 10 or even 5 years ago. He's struggling in the league below, so that says it all. The fact he is number one at Rye is probably unfair on him as he's nowhere near that level anymore and the Rye promotion need to recognise that very quickly.

Really? That's asking for average manipulation is it not? Might explain Poole's slow start.

Missing riders have made UK Speedway a joke in recent years.... Injured riders are one thing - however when 3 of your team are known to be unavailable due to other commitments this fixture should have been rearranged. THe BSPA Chairman should be leading by example! The sport has to regain CREDIBILITY to survive. I would like to see any team with missing riders (other than injury) pay £100 (per rider) to the BEN fund. This might help as a deterrent.

Makes you wonder why that in a season of less league meetings that matches are still being run when one team hasnt got its own full team of riders,

I hope tonight's meeting is called off. It's a joke to have half a team missing in only the second home match. It seems most people will be at the Walks tonight including me.

Ditto Chris and you have given the British fans much to cheer over the years & WHO CAN FORGOT CARDIFF IN 2007 - ONE WORD - BRILLIANT !!!

This is one of the things that is my biggest gripe with British Speedway, which is shared by many others too - I highly expect the one over 8 has been sorted out amongst promotors but it isn't ever seen worth while spreading that knowledge with their paying customers. Neil Watson a promoter came on here earlier in the year and told everyone that the rolling averages were being reset and everyone would be issued new averages after 4H and 4A. It now seems that's been changed again and we are back to rolling averages with no explanation again or confirmation, other than new averages being published. Fans continue to be kept in the dark and treated like mugs... probably for fear of them understanding and knowing the rules better than themselves!

I just don't have enough stamina left to go to lakeside again this season.

I think it changed under Labour by Abbott.

Isn't he allowed to comment on a Poole thread? I thought the idea of a forum is that anyone can comment on any thread.

Back in the day of Michael Lee and Terry Betts and that old wooden stadium we had at Saddlebow Road, there were a group of 22 people who religiously brought their Grandstand tickets for the seated areas next to the pit gate, entering the first bend. This group of people attended every Lynn meeting for years and frequently away meetings as well. Where ever the Stars raced that group was represented every time. Everyone was on first name terms, and bantered with each other over their favourite rider. Such was the closeness of that group of people Christmas and birthday cards were and are always sent . The point I'm making, These cards are still sent and it is through them that contact is still there. Through these cards, last Christmas I actually questioned those about their once devotion of speedway and asked their feeling now. I except most have moved on and are now considerably older, but some of them still watch when its on the tele, Quite a few had visited Lynn and didn't like what they saw, Some said their weren't enough races , other said there was no excitement, but all said it cost way too much for them to be interested. Of them 22 people, 4 have since past away, 8 watched it on the television, and 4 more said they read about when possible. Of those one still purchased the SS to keep abreast of the news . Which meant I am the only one remaining that continues to go and support the Kings Lynn Stars... How many other clubs can say of similar occurrence.... The big question here is: If the sport cannot tempt those fans, who once had a devotion , to attend now, What chance has it of attracting new fans who know nothing about the sport..

As BSI named the World Cup winners award " The Ove Fundin trophy" I wonder if any other forum members think that it would an idea if they named the overall Grand Prix winner's trophy after the late great Ivan Mauger, any thoughts

Tell me who this Poole team will beat home or away.....Perhaps they can ride Yarmouth Bloaters every week!!! Worst team Matt Ford has EVER assembled!!!

So based on only Ellis & Batchelor upping their average, surely Rosco will ditch Davey at reserve.

Well Lambo is flying.. as was Lewis, and Ty banged in some points.. Good from the Stars tonight. With CC scoring 3, I think they did well.

Don't think Doolan should ride at 2 with such a weak 3-4 pairing.Only my opinion!!!

You can't control the weather, or can you? As for the 3 riders missing,Well that's a shame. If we had run 5 meetings and then the 3 Danes went missing for a meeting,it wouldn't of looked so bad i guess ? I know it's not ideal, but Buster looks to have covered well. Neils and Kasper to miss 1 more meeting and TJ none..I don't think it's the end of the world.

It's been going on for years. I once bought a copy of the 1967 rules on ebay and it contained loads of typed out amendments, on sheets of paper which were just folded up and put inside the actual book.

Rosco is not too complimentary about the situation in todays Advertiser, saying it's ridiculous that the PL is protected on Thursdays, yet we have teams riding on Wednesdays when they don't have priority, with only Swindon riding on a Thursday.

Since when has anything important been included in the rules? ? They are already changing the rules on the new rolling averages. Nothing is ever clear or actual. Ford has already said he would have used Piotr if he hadn't been reassessed to 9, PA confirmed Piotr had asked for his name to be circulated. Zagar has already mentioned that he had been ruled out of Britain due to being reassessed as a GP rider on a 9. Adams said Woffy was considering a return till he was ruled out by the GP 9 point ruling. Seems to have been dropped after a very short time. As it stands it's yet again open to interpretation what averages riders would come back into the league on. The usual bumblings from the BSPA.

Saddlebow roundabout opened up properly on Monday, currently no other roadworks

The watered down was tongue in cheek. Some racing is very good but those races that hit the spot are few and far between. The atmosphere, the crowds and the general presentation in Poland far exceeds what is offer domestically. That is not how it is use to be. I have been around for far to many years and watched derbies, grudge matches and some fantastic individual meetings at Rayleigh, Wimbledon, and Hackney and latterly at Rye House, Crayford, Ipswich, Kings Lynn and some epic local derbies. Says it all when you’re u went to several tracks each week. It is all a bit flat now and watching Poland reminds me of how good it use to be with crowds and characters. Listening recently to a recording of an interview between Len Silver and one of the London radio stations when the sport was introduced as the second most popular in the U.K. attendance wise and looking back at the world championship with the likes of Michanek, the Americans, Olsen the likes of Louis , Terry Betts, Peter Collins and the atmosphere that was created, then you wonder where it has all gone so wrong and who is to blame. You cannot turn the clock back but many on this forum will confirm that it was very good as a spectacle and now you can take or leave it. It simply has not moved with the times.

Exactly... I find it hard to believe people still hand their cash over week in week out . I no longer do. I suppose it's easier to do so at the showground though.as the racing is normally always top drawer.

Where's he going on holiday.

From the Save Coventry Speedway website. http://www.savecoventryspeedway.com/ THE latest show of support for the campaign to bring speedway and stock car racing back to Brandon has come direct from Westminster.A group of eleven Members of Parliament/House of Lords have submitted a joint letter to Rugby Borough Council, urging rejection of the Brandon Estates planning application.This speculative application, on a site which is not part of the Rugby Local Plan, seeks to destroy decades of sporting heritage and includes no satisfactory provision for the two popular family sports to be relocated elsewhere in the area.The letter not only calls on the Council to reject the application; it also urges them to support efforts to bring the sports back to Brandon.It is signed by a number of local MPs as well as others who have shown solidarity with the unacceptable position all fans of motorsports at Coventry have been placed in, and has been brought about thanks to speedway’s All Party Parliamentary Group.The Campaign Group would like to sincerely thank all of the MPs and Lords who have taken such an interest in our fight, and who have signed the letter, and especially Mark Pawsey and his office for co-ordinating this response.

As previously stated anyone with an admission ticket from yesterday can either use it at any Buxton meeting this season or apply in writing for a refund. This is standard policy at all tracks that are members of the BSPA. Belle Vue's policy has been quoted in an earlier post and applauded as being correct, this is the same policy that we all have to adhere to - Buxton included. I think I have made it very clear that we didn't agree with how things were handled yesterday and yes I was very unhappy as I still am. I have not said that I would not issue refunds although I did say that refunds weren't given on the day which again is standard procedure. I don't have a problem with a meeting being called off ( I have been to plenty of them myself both as a supporter and an official) providing it is done in the correct manner. I have also been to meetings where there has been a delay either before the start or during it for track work. Unfortunately neither the referee or certain parties within the Birmingham camp were prepared to allow this to happen. The saddest thing about the whole affair is that there was little or no interest in this meeting until it was cancelled.

I forgot Starman needs the full explanation!

Why? He scored 15 last time at Lynn on bikes that are almost certainly sitting in Norfolk. There seem to be a lot of comments on Premiership match threads about Polish meetings this year, not sure scores over there are particularly relevant to our league. Not rubbish at all. If all clubs had worked together for the good of British speedway as a whole there would have been no clashes as Premiership fixtures would have been on Mondays and Thursdays.