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Well we must have gone to a different meeting last night, cause I see a totally different race than the one you are describing. Sitting up in the royal box looking down onto the track you see anything quite clear . That heat 15 was the all important race, tension was ripe, The tapes go up with Riss on 1 and Batch on 2 make decent starts, But it is Musielak who creates the problem, immediately he gates he moves LEFT squeezing Lambert. Robert has nowhere to go and is squashed into Batchelor. all 3 are tangled way before they get to the corner. It was amazing they didn't all go down. eventually Musielak freed himself and shot across Lambert's bows, taking his front wheel completely. By that time the bikes were controlling the men. Robert veered off into the safety fence at some speed , thankfully he was OK for the rerun. All the talk of blaming Batch was ridiculous, he was a victim of the situation as much as Lambert was. If anybody was to blame it was MUSIELAK who moved into Lambert. I thought the abuse Batchelor was getting, was related to comments he had previously made about the club and the walking out he did last year, but if it was by fans and Posters thinking he was to blame for the accident then they are all wrong..... Batchelor did nothing wrong...... Strange meeting this. Swindon arrived with a scratch team made up of weak reserves and RR, Lynn on the other hand were a heatleader missing. Initially it seemed to be plain sailing for the Stars, but it soon became apparent this was turning into a gate and go extravagancer. When Niels got injured the emphasis changed. Swindon appeared to have more race winners and riders who could get out to the traps. We were hanging on to a 2 point lead. only the exploits of Robert and Riss were keeping us in the match. Then came Heat 15 (above) I can understand the excitement of the fans, and the relief to reach the final, but one has to feel sorry for the Robins, if they had a full team they would have won, no doubt One thing that became obvious last night was, Although we are not a one man team, without Lambert we are short of race winners when it matters.... When Niels pulled out we were in trouble,. Yea, we got there, but only just......

Basically as the title says, i would like to wish Stuart all the best for his retirement, been a great servant to the sport a really nice bloke and a great help to many younger riders that have come through, including my son. Thanks Robbo.

I bet at your age you can't even remember the last time you had a semi If the Comets make the play off finals I shall try my hardest to get up and support you.

There's nothing like a bit of variety to pull the punters in.

I dont post here very often now. Always degenerates into utter claptrap. Its just plain stupid for anyone to think this tie is all but over. The 2nd leg will be just as close and hard fought. There wasnt a single Poole fan I spoke to before the meeting who thought we would get to within 10 pts of Somerset! In the end, Richies puncture cost us a well deserved draw. SS was stood behind me and between racing Tatum came out of the commentary hut and was freely chatting and enjoying the banter with him. As for Middlo and the fist pump, I agree with him. Before Ht15 started, all of those around me settled for stopping Somerset getting a 5-1. To only lose by 2 pts in the end was an excellent result. Would have bitten your arm off for that result before the meeting, yet, was a tad disappointing to actually lose. Its half time and I am sure both sets of Managements will be geeing their riders up for the 2nd leg. Very very slight advantage to Poole.

One of the major cancers affecting british speedway is the farcical way in which the published league fixture list is ripped up by some clubs on a whim. Is it any wonder hardly any fans travel away now.? Booking an overnight stay even a week in advance has proven to be a very risky thing to do as some clubs treat potential visiting fans with potential long journeys with utter contempt. One wonders if any clubs will ever arrange any formal away travel ever again... I cannot imagine any credible sport allows individual clubs to cancel fixtures like we have to put up with. Totally unprofessional and the fact they are allowed to do it so regularly sums up the awful lack of governance of our sport. To be honest I don't think they deserve us fans they still have. This season has been so awful with so many fixtures still outstanding which was totally avoidable. The whole prevalence of self-interest by so many clubs is galling and a major reason why the sport is losing fans.

You got to admit though it as been more pleasant on here this morning

Not being a track man I am no authority on how to prepare a race track. To the naked eye, I thought the track looked perfect, smooth, with evenly spread of shale. allowing for multiply racing lines. But unfortunately the racing was dire . After the first corner the riders were well spaced out, more like follow the leader than actual racing. The most important part was the start. I think the biggest problem with the sport is that the bikes are way too quick, and every rider is riding full throttle. Don't think you can blame Buster for that... What you can blame him for, is the tractor racing we had to endure. I too was aware of the time wasting. 8-40 we have done well and had 8 races when it was decided to have a 15min track grade. I asked then is this the interval, but it was noticed the First Aiders were still on the track. We then had another 2 races when it is announced the interval will be taken after heat 10, when we had another 20 mins of track grading. Sitting/Standing around on a cold night for 35mins is not the way to enthral your supporters.. Won't they ever learn... ???

This non completion of fixtures is a farce.....and running the National Trophy/KOC matches before the League fixtures doesn't help matters....but 'I/we' (other forum members) have already mentioned this.....but I doubt that the BSPA will take any notice!

Great ride from Newman remember it well. Also by way of compensation i believe he gave you guys a set of goggles when you came to Poole, generous to a fault

troy is a pantomime villain at lynn. You say things in the press like he did early season then the fuse is lit. Only takes a 50/50 to make things kick off. It’s not hooliganism really. it’s passion and that’s what speedway in this country lacks. I see it as firstbend bunching but 50% of it was a trouble maker who decided to walk out on us with his rock star friend. Ruined our 2017 season. So shouting abuse is fair game. We are allowed to have villain riders. Made last nights meeting worth it

Honestly Brough Park will never be a favourite track of Taylorj however we have had worse weather on a lead in to a meeting to be honest and ended up with a better prepared track to be fair, I think there may have been a little "end of season with nothing much in it for Newcastle attitude" as it took 5 or 6 heats for the track to settle down before we seen any quality racing (which was no different to Derwent Park on Friday after horrendous weather over there; so pot/kettle black?) however the track was spot on for the kids after the Diamonds/Comets match and well done Archie it was good to watch, kudos! Oh and the times in the second meeting which were only 8/10 seconds more than some of the "big boys" were doing on 500cc bikes rather than 150cc says so much and this again sort of says to me that the track after 15 heats of racing then with a good period of grading was in a much better state for this meeting than the first event. Just my humble opinion of course. Regards THJ

Lucky old you. The thought of seeing Peterborough three more times at the concrete bowl fills me with dread.

got to say robbo's retirement deserved a full page on the bspa website ..... not a one liner in the middle of our report come on bspa - this guy entertained us for 26 years with his superb passing and riding skills ...... and he is a top bloke who rode his heart out and rode hard but FAIR lets have a proper tribute for his services to british speedway and I for one - would support a Stuart Robson farewell meeting at Brough ........ a 6 team pairs competition over 15 heats .... come on George and Martin .. Im sure the supporters would back it

I used to quite enjoy my many visits to Arena Essex with the Diamonds. A technical track, it needed to be thought out, and the big blasters usually got acquainted with the fence, particularly the second bend. Most impressive rider I remember from then was seeing Kylmakorpi for the first time, and he rode every possible line with great affect. Great rider and you never knew how he was going to ride. Obviously not a track for the big track fans, but nevertheless a technical track where you needed a brain, not just a fast engine.

Buster rides around for a good reason to him. His back pocket. The breaks give people a reason to spend more money = more for Buster. Track grading has nothing to do with producing better racing unfortunately.

Another Friday night meeting arranged at short notice...no good for me when I don't finish work until 7pm. I just wish that things could be kept simple and meetings arranged on official race nights. I still can't comprehend how we have got to the middle of September and teams are scrambling around to fulfil fixtures that should have been raced months ago.

Well for me watching the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 / 10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more! I salute you Somerset for preparing a stage suitable for racing of the highest calibre. The hard part is how to make every meeting as meaningful as this one was.

Good news Doyle can't win it on his own. I fancy us to win 47-43 just for the tension!

Thoroughly enjoyed the meeting. All riders played their part and it was hard to call how any heat would go. There isn't much home advantage at any track these days and I think this could go either way in the 2nd leg. People seem to be very harsh on Middleditch. I don't think for a second that he punched the air thinking it's all over, only that Klindt kept Holder behind him knowing that the difference between 4-2 and 5-1 in that heat will be huge going into the second leg.

The speedway track was there many moons before the houses were being built, the house owners knew what they were buying and should have taken that into consideration. their solicitors would have done the searches etc during the purchases and would have informed them before they completed. I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever with the house owners.There are many new housing estates from which to choose from in Swindon and surrounding areas.

You are so wrong !! The Ref will never overrule the trackman. once the trackman is doing his work, he will continue until he thinks its ready. A Ref sitting in his warm seat would know nothing about the condition of the track unless he comes down from his ivory tower and they don't do that very often. Only when the trackman has finished, will the ref resume his responsibility .

Was always going to be the team P'boro picked taking into account logistics and who they think will be the best chance they have of winning. After Saturday's result at Rye you can't blame them.

Fans will not want to be continually watching matches against Peterborough,,I suspect the attendances to dwindle....this whole end of season situation is ridiculous the idiots are running the ruination of a once great sport

Maybe that big score at Ipswich the night before took it's toll on his bike and it just couldn't summon up another performance of the like and just gave up the ghost, but like I said it's done and it doesn't matter now, just got to battle on regardless!! Rasmus/Rene were both ill on Sunday and shouldn't really have been riding and Bickley looks like he's had enough for this year so yeah, maybe Doolan did beat more Newky rider's than a couple of ours but unfortunately for us he didn't beat the ones that mattered!!

Cos 95% of your posts on Poole threads are negative and you accuse Poole of things that you wouldn't accuse other teams of if they had done it.

Well his numerous grading sessions will be tightly controlled when BT are there.

Yes they did, the fact that 2 of those 6 riders weren't of the required standard seems lost on you. You're obviously easily pleased in Norfolk, maybe for the next home meeting alongside the excellent promotion of being able to watch a couple of races from the centre for an additional fee, they could chuck in a bucket of fish for those same supporters to toss at the happy clappers such as yourself.

from where we were standing,just below the refs box,musielak wasn't even straight at the gate , and did indeed get across Robert by means of making a better start which may have impeded Roberts run to the corner, BUT, bachelor gated alongside Robert, neglected to turn left and gave him an almighty shove. Dirty doesn't even come close and very lucky not to be excluded for dangerous riding.

Yes collarbone injury from his crash last week. Meetings went pretty much as expected beating Buxton and losing to Mildenhall. If we didn't have such a poor start v Mildenhall it could've been close. From heat 4 onwards we matched them.

Will make for an exciting second leg then!

What i would say Bob is what a great advert for British speedway that was last night tense hard fought racing riders gave everything game on for the second leg.

Jackobsen for me showing his guts and bravery swung the meeting with his heat win.He never looked quick but rode some great lines and really dug in.A really good team effort even Worrall was unlucky there was some good racing but the track at times is puzzling the inside was working then there was grip outside and Doyle in heat 1 looked slow good meeting though enjoyed it.

I have to rate it as the worst meeting I have seen at KL. In 12 races out of 15 there was nothing of note after exiting the 2nd bend 1st lap ( now common everywhere ). Purely processional. I can only assume that Swindon agreed to use Scott Campos sight unseen because it was a disgrace parading such an obviously unfit and out of shape rider as competitive. He then proved that on track. After quite a number of years, he could not turn the bike properly. Any other.young rider would have benefited from the experience. There was no sense of urgency by the promotion to "get on with it" and there was 35 minutes of tractor racing during the match ( I know I measured them ) which resulted in slower races immediately after and no closer racing. Buster is delusional that his track magic during a match improves the whole presentation of it or gives better racing. It's a pity if the salvation of UK speedway means more scenes as in heat 15 with fans brawling over Rollerball speedway! It's what Rossiter said before that point that was most despairing - that promoters were also arguing heatedly over 2019 and he had no idea what was happening or how to prepare for the changes that were coming. He made it clear that he was against further dilution of team strengths, but that is obviously what is likely to happen. He also said that it was a "make or break AGM" ( where have we heard that before?). It has been repeated for many years! Finally ( I promise ) I came home feeling that, that is me finished with live speedway in the stadium, to watch the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 /10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more!

Interesting debate on the radio yesterday about trialing the new cricket 100 ball format to try to bring in new cricket fans. They are investing £200m a year! Aggers was on the radio and he thinks it wont bring in any new supporters and will probably alienate existing fans. Cricket obviously has a lot more money than speedway to invest but will be interesting to see if it works.

A fist pump on a job well done last night nothing more nothing less I thought you was better than that

I really do think that the Birmingham Riders and Management wish they hadn’t refused to ride at Buxton earlier in the Season, If they had have ridden they would now be in the Play Offs, As there League Fixture was changed to a Trophy Meeting, But what I don’t understand is they were prepared to ride on Sunday when it WAS Dangerous,

That is exactly what I miss. If Speedway had that kind of atmosphere week in week out the sport would thrive. It needs tension and rivalries. Everyone gets involved and the kids love it. It's what creates memories and love for the sport, 9 times out of 10 the actual racing is easily forgotten. Night's like tonight is when I wish I was there.

Read what Halifax Tiger says about speedway at Workington, been some excellent meetings this season and last. I've been to Newcastle once, the track seemed ok on that occasion.

According to most near the first bend Batch didn't turn at all,quite intentionally to squeeze Lambert up.Disgraceful move really which could have ended up very bad for Lambert.How he walked away from that i will never know.He was tossed around like a rag doll before clattering into the fence with his bike.Boy his adrenalin was pumping in the re-run though,the atmosphere from the fans come to life there and then.Like S.Lambert said the atmosphere was like a boxing match for ht 15 keep it up. Well Batch not bad for a sh*t team eh.Topped the league,ko cup final and the play-offs to look forward to.No wonder you were the last one to leave the pits a tad embarrassed i would think

It's only half-time and still plenty to do. Now is not the time to get cocky so let's give Somerset the respect they deserve and treat the next leg with the same 100% effort. But great effort so far guys just keep it up!

Probably waiting for permission from him to run

I'm a Comets fan and have no problem with Glasgow's signing of Cookie as it made a lot of sense for them at the time. It was an opportunist move, appears not to have broken any rules and is one a few other promoters probably wish they had thought of first. I think the problem is no-one is sure of the rules any more, including some of the people responsible for making them! Cookie seems to get a bit of stick, but as in other sports opposition fans very rarely boo a poor opponent. Furthermore he has been down to DP a few times this season where he has been seen helping and offering advice to our young guys Dan and Kyle. As far as I am concerned he is always welcome at DP. I know he is likely to visit DP shortly and rack up a lot of points, but surely we all want to see the best riders competing against each other. It's just a shame we won't have our full team out - I would have loved to have seen Cookie and Dan going head to head. Hopefully the rest of our team will be fit and maybe, just maybe we can finish the season with that bit of elusive silverware.

I only discovered speedway and Arena Essex in 2006 but was hooked straight away. In that time I have been privileged to watch the likes of Andreas Jonson, Adam Shields, PK, Davy Watt, Richard Lawson, Lewis Bridger and of course the Late but great Lee Richardson wear the hammers colours. Add to that Darcy, Chris Holder, Crumpy, Nikki P, Tai, Scott Nichols, and other greats riders for the opponents. Far too many Hammers and opponents to mention them all. My main memories, where do I start. First is probably the meeting with Swindon just 5 days after Lee Richardson died. The immense sadness of the occasion was obvious but the way the club pulled together was incredible. The memorial meeting to Lee at the seasons end with a packed Arena and a line up to do the man proud is another. Swindon again in 2008, and our only home league defeat of the season when a young unheard of Croatian by the name Jurica Pavlic turned up and having never seen the place before promptly banged in a 7 ride max that had the Hammers fans applauding. Any meeting involving Darcy and Chris Holder together was always memorable, and the meeting where Coventry beat us (2011?) and their fans were gloating on the way out, only for the meeting to be awarded to Hammers as Eddie Kennet had tampered with his silencers.... And then of course Friday, v Glasgow. Pulling up in that great big car park for the last time it finally dawned on me, this IS the last time. Going to the same window at the ticket office and paying my money to the same lady, Buying my last coffee and cake from the ever smiling Rose in the diner, and then taking my position on the stock car track and chewing the fat with the same faces who have become good friends for those years. Debating what artefacts we could nick from the stadium, ( I eventually decided against a urinal - Mrs E would not be impressed) and then having watched another great meeting, doing the track walk a scooping up some shale which now forms part of my garden. It was then goodbyes and promises to keep in touch (We live far and wide) and to try to get to Rye House when we can. The drive home was a sad one, having driven down the long drive to the roundabout by the services and then a feeling of sadness as I left. I will miss the old girl. She was never the most attractive of venues but she has given plenty of pleasure to many people, and she was rough around the edges but had a certain charm. ( Sounds like a few women I have known over the years). She provided great entertainment, and she will be missed. Thanks for the memories.

Don't make him cry but.

Just Yes.

Easier said than done. You're gonna need to get jenno off the tractor first!

Poole experienced riders showing their class,Take away Doyle and Rebels are championship Team

Fancying the Pirates to keep this tight

They were and rightly so. I'll never advocate it. As stupid as the rules are, they are not there to be broken. Certain clubs are seasoned at finding loopholes because there are so many of them. This year perhaps BV have got a bit lucky, but we deserve a bit of that for persistently following the guidelines.