Leaderboard

Midsummer brought a determined Poole side eager to make up for their KO cup thrashing by the Rebels earlier in the season. With former riders a plenty, a close match was in the offing. A big crowd listened intently to Garry May’s explanation to the incident involving Charles Wright before the meeting got underway. It was fair to say he received a reasonable ovation afterwards. The Meeting burst into life in heat 6 when BWD held off both Szczepaniak and the sluggish looking Brady Kurtz to regain a slender lead for the Rebels. Jake Allen looking fast and furious on what used to be the “Charles Wright racing line” suddenly came to an abrupt halt with a rear tyre puncture whilst second, before some gutsy riding from the impressive Kacper Woryna brought the Pirates back into the match. Woryna’s 5 points in the previous match here paled into insignificance as he simply attacked the track like he knew it inside out. His victory over Jason Doyle was won fair and square much to the delight of the Pirates large following Jack Holder was once again in magnificent form and looks the real deal at the moment. To think in the last few seasons he has looked ordinary at best around the OTA, but he appears to have sewn the circuit up completely now. Doyle joined his Aussie colleague up front with an exquisite inside pass on both Kurtz and an equally sluggish Josh Grajczonek in heat 13; and this particular partnership is giving Somerset some heavy artillery in the latter races now. Allen continued with his wretched luck hitting a huge rut which suddenly appeared on the third bend, before he crashed heavily to the ground he was narrowly and skilfully avoided by the following Linus Sundstrom and Kurtz, saving Allen from certain injury Sundstrom, along with his two Polish team mates kept the Pirates in contention, but in essence, Poole huffed and puffed and were fortunate to steal a point A word also for debutant Nico Covatti who was in the mix throughout. His spectacular all action style will soon make him a fans favourite I am sure. Covatti himself did provide a moment of amusement in the bar during the rider of the night presentation. Whilst Jason Doyle was taking Q and A from a packed clubhouse, meeting announcer Rod Cork not recognising the new signing, mistakenly approached the Argentinian born racer and asked him if he had a question for the Somerset skipper. Covatti, looking quite surprised, looked up and asked the world champion, “How did I do?” bringing much hilarity from the Somerset faithful.

What is th problem with the website? No match report from Glasgow, no mention of Ty's injury, nothing about this Saturday - it's like looking at a website for a business that has closed down or is about to. It makes you wonder. It's no suprise there is so much crap talked on the forums because we aren't given any official facts. It certainally doesn't look like they're trying to encourage people through the gates.

This team just keeps surprising me. credit to Bacon and MPT, stunning form, well and truly take my words back about Tom, proving all the doubters wrong and fair bloody pay!

Just as you start to get interested once again in the Stars, and get some momentum, this happens. Another meeting with almost half the riders missing. Can't be arsed with it anymore. I'll be happy when/if we win but gone are the days when I sit glued to updates/twitter awaiting heat by heat updates when we are riding away. I don't even care too much whether we win or lose at home either as long as it's entertaining. Poor management has done this to me, both at the club and in the wider sense of those that run the sport. The execution of the fixed race night policy just sums everything up for me. We select Danish riders who cannot ride on Wednesday's in the UK a lot of the time, and then we also have to ride on Thursday against teams when our riders are already doubling up with their Championship clubs.

It's what happens when you change the Thursday fixed race night to a Wednesday. It's about time the BSPA showed some actual leadership and stop pandering to two or three clubs every year.

Im hearing that Edinburgh actually made an official complaint about potential undue influence with the offering of sweets to the ref

who ever done the championship fixture lised , should be sued , boiled , and fed to chickens ..

We are indebted to Mason tonight. Well done lad, saved us from slaughter

Interesting to hear that Charles Wright’s brother James who has acted as his mechanic this year thought that Charles was “totally out of order” towards Garry May.

Why don’t you bring Poolepiratesfanatic into your conversation too? You never know you might all disagree!!

I cant remember seeing Garry May ride, but as a manager hes won: Premier League Champions - 2013, 2016Premier League KO Cup Winners - 2013, 2015Premier League Cup Winners - 2012, 2016Premier Shield Winners - 2014, 2016Premier League Fours Champions - 2014Premier League Pairs Champions - 2013, 2016 And Sam Masters won the PLRC whilst Garry was manager. Im sure there are plenty of teams that would love their manager to be as fruitful.

The sad thing is, like I said the other day and commented on last night at the speedway, that nobody wins in all of this. It's comes across as playground stuff from both Charles Wright and Garry May. Everybody loses.... Charles Wright loses as he no longer has a job at Somerset. Garry May loses as his reputation takes a massive dent with the handling of sacking a rider(s) via text message. The Somerset team performance loses as we've sacked last weeks top scorer. The Somerset fans (most important of all) loses as we lose our longest serving rider and most entertaining. The only person who stood to gain from all of this was Claus Vissing but even he now loses as he is so far out of depth riding at no.3 he failed to score last night. If we had had Charles Wright last night, or frankly anybody who would of scored 4 points or so we would of blown Poole out of the water, along with Jake's misfortunes. I hear a few people stayed away last night because of the events of this past week which I'm surprised at. I'm first and foremost a Somerset supporter and all I want is to be entertained on a Wednesday night with good racing and see my team win. Against a better side who weren't carried by their star reserve, we probably would of lost last night and got entertained alot less in the process without Charles. Sad situation all round.

That's if Jack had wanted to be at Poole tbh it's not a given.

Listening to Garry Mays interview it suggests an apology from Wright to May was all it would have took to restore calm.

Enjoyed the meeting last night. Belle Vue deserved the win and TBH it should have been an even bigger win but for some unfortunate falls. 100% commitment from both sides. Impressed with the ref, who after the delays with the sun and air fence was putting the 2 minute warning on about 5 seconds after the race had finished. That really should be the norm. As has been said, this defeat has coming coming all season. Be interesting to see what the management do now. Personally I would just like them to be honest and upfront with the fans. If they can't afford to make changes, then tell us. We can then just enjoy the racing. No need for false promises, that just leads to disgruntled fans.

With the way campton rode for ipswich in several guest appearances at the back end of last year I harboured some hope that he may perhaps be a full time witch this season - proved once again tonight that maybe should’ve been the case!! Great to see nico back flying again tonight! Roll on next week with a bit of momentum....oh no wait joke fixture list year 3 weeks to wait....again!

Brilliant stuff from Mason tonight at Ipswich.

they could have got a better one , but sarj was already riding . 13 big ones for our k10 rider . thanks Glasgow ..

Well done Mason!

we dont need a rain off on Saturday . or it will be another 2 weeks wait for a home meeting . hands up those who have a back up plan if its rained off ! mason with 13 points @ ippo and no heat 15 for him ! where are all the knockers now ? .. 3.3.3.3.1 inc tac ride .

This is just one in a long line of many. I don't buy into the don't panic mantra of the owners, this team will come good when the evidence is overwhelmingly otherwise.

Fair play to you, Stevebrum. I have enjoyed reading Rob McCaffery's posts but I feel he may have rather over-reacted to yours.

A tacky sub by Glasgow against howarth and kurtz who had a 5-1 in there first race. Gimme strength

He isn’t beating what is in front of him. Nearly all riders are in front of him!

Not all riders only get paid for points.

I was asked if I was concesionary rate at Glasgow, This was a couple of years ago. I'm only 57 now! I did have a massive paper round tho

Because it's away??

And so the continual silence continues !!! Why run this season when all that's happening is the demise of Workington Speedway sadly... Blaming the Fans all the time for not coming through the gates , what the hell do you expect when there's no interest keeping the fans up to date with whats happening, having to find out on Facebook from other teams who your bloody teams gona be . Management won't read comments on here in fear of getting slated well use the Commercial Manager you have , give a little bit and you will reap the benefits. If Dan's not available , we need a guest , whatever the hell it is, TELL US !!! You would get a hell of lot more respect than saying nowt. Instead of hiding away , say it as it is , hey it's tough luck for us but at least we KNOW what's going on. You need Fans/Promotion singing from the same hymn sheet otherwise your in trouble . Looking on that thread about away points/home points , Workington are in a position to top the league if we win all our Home Meetings , pick up some more points on the road if we drop a few at home but its a massive possibility of reaching the play-offs , yet look at the sad situation we find ourselves in I fear this will be the last season for Workington Speedway.....so lets go out on a high !!!!!!!

Local derbies, less travel money for the riders, bigger crowds, clearly you don't understand how speedway works at all.

Blimey meeting day, nearly forgotten what that is!! Anyways, it might be sunny, but it's very breezy and the wind is cold, so any hardy souls venturing to Foxhall tonight, be prepared to wrap up. I know if any hardy Edinburgh fans come, they will think it's warm, but us Suffolk softies, on Suffolk day no less, know how chilly it is!!

Hardly 'karma' when he's lost his job through being a berk and then not being a big enough man to apologise. Pretty sure that Vissing & Covatti will prove their worth going forward, and while it's a shame to see a British rider lose his spot it seems he brought it on himself.

For many decades the lower leagues of the sport have been training riders who move up as they progress. This is nothing new and personally I see nothing wrong with it. At the lower level we have the pleasure of watching new young riders learn their trade and steadily improve. I do not think the fans expect riders with ambition to stay in the lower leagues longer than necessary for their learning process. The present BSPA rule which gives a senior club priority when a rider is doubling up is totally wrong. For Donkey's Years it was the opposite way round which, of course, made much more sense. But that was in the days when ALL league members at every level were treated with proper respect. Sadly that is not the case today and the NL is treated shabbily.

KK was struggling at Poole a few seasons ago. He was sent to a sports psychologist. The following season, he came 2nd in the World Championships. He then said he was ok and didnt required further counselling. The next season he was appalling in the GPs. Yet he still refuses to go back and sort himself out. Its so obvious what he needs to do, to everyone around him, except him. Strange guy.

You aren't going because it will be a walkover but then you predict a 2 point margin. Strange.

Photo's from Last Night Somerset v Poole Slideshow Somerset v Poole Slideshow Result would have been more but for Allen's puncture and hitting the hole on turn 3 (think he may have run over a black cat on the way to the OTA)

Still hanging on to my Scottish notes. Gawd knows what they're using up here. Even Ocado don't deliver to here can you believe?

It was only Jorgensen and iversen that mattered originally before rose quit. Jorgensen was our first signing before anything was done. And when an iversen wants to ride in the uk for your team you would be mad not to sign him. Young jasper was just a punt. If he missed a few meetings he was easily replaced. Rose quitting has caused the toft problems. There is a positive vibe at lynn at the meetings and the moaners are in the minority. I hope other people who read the forum realise that.

Been somehow scraping home wins all year. This result was coming. Don’t know how long they will persevere with Max Clegg. The kid can’t buy a heat win.

Credit to BV for the win, it was deserved. Drozdz looked impressive tonight as did Garrity and Tungate sometimes. Hats off to Kasprzak who rode his socks off as did Nicholls (tonight didn't go his away but he gave his all and credit to him for that). In truth we have been walking a tightrope at home all season and this time our luck run out. Time to look hard at the team "and the budget" whilst anyone will want fantasy signings my first consideration is to have speedway at Rye House next year.

Are we the Man utd of speedway because they haven't won anything lately either!

I don't think it's that..Riders don't want to ride for Poole. Money is tight and loyalty is thin.

Not sure it's Middlo. This season Poole's team looked the **. Ford picks the team for me.He looks for riders on bargain ave's. When it don't work out he drops any rider or riders that give him an advantage (as somerset did) Trouble is it wears thin with riders, and in the end it will bite you in the arse..Riders know what to expect.

Good post. Agree with everything. Szczepaniak will only get worse as I mentioned earlier he has been sacked by Rybnik and now he only rides for us (Wish he didn't). Grajczonek thinks he's better than what he is but the fact is Josh is a Championship No.1 and a Premiership 2nd string/3rd Heat Leader. Should never have quit the Championship. I don't understand what people see in Brady Kurtz tbh. He bottles every important race he's in. He is nowhere near the standard of a No.1 rider even in a watered down British league. Linus has only been doing well recently because he is riding in the easy No.2 position. Which is a position made for a 5.00 pointer or a reserve when he moves into the 1-5. Then we have Middleditch which has now become an Arsene Wenger situation at Poole Speedway.......Time to go. Its all good when he's managing teams with Ward & Janowski in them but when he's asked to manage a group of riders of a different standard.....He can't do it. I don't care what he's won because any manager would have won those titles if they were managing the 1-7's we had in those years. Funny how every rider in recent times come on leaps and bounds when they get away from Middleditch. Ellis and Jack Holder are the latest names added to the ever growing list. Get the ex Glasgow manager in charge and let's start fresh. Forget about Chris Holder forever he's average now day's. Ward's accident has affecting him imo and his fair share of injuries maybe catching up with him now. The whole club is shambolic and every single week all we hear is Chris Holder this Chris Holder that when he hasn't ridden for us for 2 years. I saw the whole team falling apart from a mile away. Middleditch is not the right man to take this club forward we need a manager who will actually motivate the riders instead of manager who just laughs and joke's with riders even when they are riding very poorly. This season is not a one off. It's been like this for a few years now. I've had enough of all the BS press. Holder this Holder that. Ford mentioning team changes all the time when he clearly can't get any decent rider to come over. If you can't get any decent riders to come over then don't bother saying anything at all.

I dont think the Tigers will win this one

even when the fixtures are up and running , they are against us !. lol

Agree,the most satisfying meetings are a 49/41 win having got a 5/1in heat 15 to take all 3 points and restricting the away team, although if it's a cracking match, 46/44 is great and gives the away team something for their efforts in making a great meeting.

What is needed is stability. Stability of fixtures, stability of rider appearances, stability of teams. Weekly fixtures have always been a key to speedway success. A season of say 26 dates was and should be the norm. If the racing's good enough and perceived to be of value for money then individuals, challenges and pairs can give a varied, attractive fixture list. There requires a change in mindset that destructively says "Ifg it doesn't take my side one match closer to glory then it's meaningless". We must recreate the desire for a 'night out at the speedway' where the actual format isn't essential. You can't have riders constantly going missing for more lucrative paydays elsewhere. Obviously foreign riders have domestic commitments that must be honoured but right now the feeling too easily seen is "Well, if the riders can';t be bothered to be here then why should i?" Teams - You need to have teams that supporters can identify and care for. It's an essential part ofv drama that you care about the characters and so it is with low-level sport where there isn't the glamour to create a mystique. You also need to think that your favourite rider might still be with you next year. Britain may not offer the cash but it offers the opportunity to race, in a properly planned fixture list, several times a week on wildly varying tracks. We still stage more meetings than any other country. We are the home of league speedway and gave a living to overseas riders for decades. A little more respect is due. We are not somewhere to come when you have no better things to do.We are not somewhere to test equipent or put in virtual practice performances with little commitment to racing. Right now it seems like nobody cares. Until someone does we're going nowhere. If riders have commitments in Poland, with BSI or One Sport then there is sadly no place for them in Britain while they do. Let them go and chase the cash. Leave us to run speedway that people give a damn about.

You assume that all new promotions are full of sustainable ideas and are better than the present members of the BSPA. That isn't automatically the case. Yes BMR have ambition but how much of the planned works on site are completed? I take it the motorcycle dealership is up and running and giving that vital income to the site. Is it? It seemed like a key revenue stream. Something seems to have gone wrong. Is it purely frustration with the BSPA? Ron Russell had great plans and hopes for Rye House too and was far from the hapless fool some try to portray..... Based on getting on for fifty years' knowledge of Rye House speedway, partly professional but sadly from afar since the Silver revival, I firmly believe it needs weekend racing. If I were some stupid nostalgist I'd be arguing for Sunday afternoons. I'm not. If someone had offered me a return to Saturday nights, as at Rayleigh back in the 70-90s I'd have bitten their hand off. Yes, we need a league where we know the riders will give it top priority, except for meetings held by their respective federations. Once we have a pool of riders then we can have an idea of points limits. It has to be about the racing, not the names. The most successful years at Rye House were with Kelvin, Bob Garrad, Karl Fiala, Ted Hubbard, Hugh Saunders, Ashley Pullen and a cast of supporting triers. Nobody gave a damn about their position in the overall world of speedway. They were our heroes and the likes of Barney Kennett our beloved 'villains'. Most importantly they were part of the Rye House family which was a pretty good one to be part of. Remember when you could make money on a challenge match against Canterbury as long as it featured Kelvin v Barney? Now it has to be league matches only, no room for fun, in a fragmented ultra-short, joyless season where the main task is just to, get it completed as as soon as possible and with riders being flown in from around the world. To ride at Rye House? Progress? Madness? No, I don't want the past. I want a future based on the same principles though and which give supporters a proper season full of value for money matches. Is it that too much to ask? Oh I wouldn't mind the white rocket on blue and gold halves back. It wasn't a Len Silver creation but dated back to the founding of the Rockets at Rayleigh in 1947. You wouldn't mess with the Belle Vue Ace or the Wimbledon star. Isn't our heritage worth a bit of respect too?

good points but unlikely that anyone involved in gp would not also be on Polish contracts. I think many would prefer guaranteed meetings in the UK than be part of a squad in Poland and no guarantees. Big decisions need to be made and they will not be popular