Leaderboard

I’d sit this one out Lisa. A Poole fan criticising someone else’s track is like a homeless person criticising your curtains.

The lads 16 and just took his first ever win in the championship against Lewis Kerr, I think he’s more than entitled to celebrate!

Given the current circumstances surrounding Oxford, I think getting the meeting on was the top priority. A rain-off could have been disastrous. Yes, the track was pretty awful, but let's just be glad Oxford are actually coming to the tapes at the moment. Some perspective is needed I feel.

Ashfield, tomorrow night. 7:30PM (UK time)/10PM (Tehran time). The forecast does not look good. Prediction, should this go ahead: Glasgow 49, Berwick 41, me to cringe at least four times when the presenter says ”Lively Leon Flint” and the announcer to give the wrong time twice, incorrectly confirm the score four times and say the wrong rider won the last race six times. All of which will be supplemented by music more suited to an 80s gay disco than a sporting event.

this is half the problem with the sport, being portrayed as a family sport, we need to step away from that, especially now families have been priced out of it, sell it as what it is, an extreme sport

Who the hell does this fella think he is? Transparency, and Accountability, indeed.... He will be seeking Credibility and Integrity next.... Then, before you know it, he will be after meetings being ran with Jeopardy and Consequences, which could even end up givng the competitions Prestige and some larger financial backing... A slippery slope, this.....

King's Lynn were doing so well... and then the season started 😂

Bad idea. I remember seeing Sam Ermolenko getting sucked off in Prague.

If anybody runs into a Northamptoningham fan at King's Lynn can you explain to them why they've not been knocked out of the Knock Out Cup if they lose 😁

Special mention to Joe Thompson, looked like he was going to pick up his scoring drought where he left off last season early on at Belle Vue but then since has showed some real signs of progress 👍👏

Result does not shock me. Results like this will happen all season. And as I've said previously elsewhere. This will be a good close season where everyone has a chance of a top 4 or even finishing top. Why is this??? Well because all teams look crap. So gonna be a good season

Spoke to him at Poole last week, has had it with this forum

And he is quite "scathing" in his comments around the "PR" and "Lack of leadership" on the issue... The Speedway Star is certainly delivering some quality publications, consistently....

Rain was guaranteed so the track was prepared slick it’s what all teams do these days. It was a poor watch but given the current conditions at the club I think supporters are happy they have a team. I don’t think a Poole fan can really talk about preparing a track for racing after the track that was deliberately prepared slick in the playoff final match against Glasgow. Racing that night was shocking on purpose and not due to iffy weather.

Poole fortunate that Riss is unavailable.

That wouldn't be the same Mr Bowes who was gonna be a world beater for the pilots 🤔. As I've said before your welcome to him and he is showing his true worth 😀

One of Cooper's favourite tracks, finished 3rd in the U19 final beating a certain Mr cairns in the process, also done many more laps in the British youth championships. Something Poole fans know nothing about, as they don't put on youth meetings, just splash the cash to get the young ones to sign up 😲

The trouble with you doing this (and we’re all guilty of it at times) is you’re looking at it through your Lynn spectacles. You’ve looked down the scorecard and picked out one score from a rider that you think should have improved on his tally, and yet ignored that Ben Cook scored paid 15. Yes, it’s a poor performance this time around from Kvech who is usually better than that, but you won’t get paid 15 from Cook every week either so if you took four points off him and added it to Kvech’s score then nobody would bat an eyelid and it’d look about right. With my Ipswich spectacles on, I look at a combined 11 from Lawson and Musielak and I’m disappointed with that and would hope that would be improved upon next time, and the same for a 3 point return from Bangs. I’d expect improvement there also next time around. What ifs is an impossible game to play and we can only deal with what IS. As has been said before, you could ride 10 meetings on the same track with exactly the same riders and not get the same scoreline twice.

Don’t worry they’ll be saying it again after we’ve been battered at Belle Vue next Monday 😁

Which is why you keep a highly knowledgeable track curator who knows how to deal with theses issues with off-season work and during season maintenance, something which has been sorely missing since Jonanthan Swales left Redcar IMHO.

Along with learning UK tracks ,the lad is adjusting to also being over here on his own at a young age. Considering 1st race was Armadale, second was a wet Ashfield and third an extremely slick gate and go Shieldield he has still managed to score points, but time will tell if he can add to those points each meeting as he settles both on and off track.

Decent result in the Slovenian championship a few weeks back, fair play to Plymouth they are giving things ago. would have been very easy and cheap to have just called Bowtell up again but they’re trying something new and it has to be applauded

Its never boring when you win. I realise losing an entertaining meeting can be enjoyable but sport is about winning. Crowds do not turn up for teams that lose every week.

Proper speedway, done and dusted by 9.05pm to try and avoid the advancing rain. Minimal tractor grading, lets have this every week.

😉

@StevePark explain yourself.

Don't get me wrong Cue it doesn't bother me personally I swear lots myself but for whats portrayed as a family sport with kids under say 15 and for sponsors its not a great look, can you imagine the scenes if Ronaldo was interviewed on Sky Sports after a match and launched into a tirade. As I say his mental strength to come back from looking death in the face and pretty much learning to walk again is massively impressive and he's probably Englands greatest rider ever. This has been done through sheer hard graft as I don't have him down as having the natural talent of riders such as Loram or Screen but at his peak he had a fantastic racing brain for reading where other riders would head on the track. Just feel he could be so much more when the time comes if he decided to give something back to the sport when his riding days are over but given his temperment and the old guard its a marriage that would probably last a week.

It ultimately depends on what the landlords want if Boothby goes under. All we can do is keep turning up and supporting the team.

I really don't get what all the moaning is about. It's surely up to Poole how they prepare their track isn't it? If it's boring for everybody else, what do they care? A home track should have home advantage, if it doesn't, that club is missing a trick. The racing might not usually be great at Poole, but they get good crowds for most home meetings and win more than most - surely what every promotion strives for. Same story for Oxford. Track wasn't great last night, but bet there aren't too many Oxford fans that are bothered today. The racing was dull, but the atmosphere inside the stadium was superb. It hasn't been that noisy (in a good way) for a while.

The Poole track is nowhere near as bad as some make out. If it was, then the place would be empty. Seen plenty of passing this season alone. It’s smooth and constant. Remember that Poole are always strong, so the opposition have to outgate home riders. It’s difficult to pass a home rider who is likely faster and on a track he knows.

Not quite the point the Lisa. You can talk about anything. You can talk about how many five years olds it would take to beat you in a fight, for example. The point is that a Poole fan criticising someone else’s track is similar to Donald Trump suggesting you should watch what you eat or Stevie Wonder questioning your vision.

Enjoyed tonight, good to see some action after all that’s gone on recently. The crowd wasn't that bad, but obviously the weather played a part. The Unipart car park situation was a bit embarrassing, but hopefully sorted for next week. The highlight for me was the Poole reaction when Killeen was excluded and then Wood replacing him for a 5-1 with Masters. I will say for all those complaining about the track, for us to even have any Speedway to watch is something to be thankful for.

Correct and preparing crap tracks that provide little chance of anyone making a pass after missing the gate just makes every meeting a gating competition.

They all should be riding for coppers, it’s the national league not a pension fund

😂

Looks like Tom is starting to show his potential ,he was putting himself about in Poland at the week-end too.Hope he can stay injury free it’s along season.

Great result, Every Rider getting at least a paid win this time. Take a bow Tom Brennan, From Rising Star to No.1 who beat GP Rider Max Fricke 2-1 in a Head-to-Head battle around the AFA is some achievement. Never rated King's Lynn before a wheel was turned and if Jan Kvech continues his downward spiral at King's Lynn then the Stars may even finish behind Northampton once the League gets underway because the Stars tail end is simply out of it's depth at this level. Pressure on young Cooper Rushen is ridiculous and it could hinder his progress and knock his confidence imo.

Should never be allowed for home teams! Huge bugbear of mine that.

I'll watch the paint drying on the boats... should be more entertaining 😉

How has he? He’s simply highlighted something he doesn’t agree with which he’s entitled to do. Who made you judge and jury and decides who can post where and when? Deary me 🙄

This situation highlights the differences on either side of the fence. There's absolutely no way the Oxford management can keep fans fully up-to-date in a Sky News-esque ticker tape style barrage of information. Situations change constantly. So constantly that confusion would be the main outcome, with folks struggling to keep up. What are they expected to reveal? 'We have meetings planned'? A bit bland and unlikely to appease the news-hungry punter. They also most likely won't be allowed to reveal significant details of those meetings. The only thing that matters is whether the club has a future. It's a simple yes or no. On this occasion, happily, it's a yes. On the other side of the coin, fans can feel they're left in the dark, whilst craving updates aplenty. 'We are the lifeblood of the club. We deserve to know'. Well, yes, you do. But you only need to know the end result. The rest, if you're not a company official is, quite frankly, none of your business. It has to be kept in-house. The statement from the management is acceptable in my view. Good luck to Oxford.

As I say, it can still be a great night out... If you go for the racing and not take the team sport angle too seriously.. If they could harness the racing into a "proper team sport" operating model, (like other countries do), then that would truly be a game changer for many who no longer regularly attend, and may also then generate some sponsorship interest from "outside" the sport.. Tom Brennan will be up against the Aces this Monday and has so far this season ridden for fhe Aces as many times as he has for hs own team... That is the kind of thing that makes it more "sports entertainment"....

And Swindon VMCC Moonrakers ran an autojumble at the Abbey on the Easter bank holiday Mondays. Our local cattle Market site runs car boot sales every Sunday, an autojumble 3 times a year, motorcycle training, Lorry park every evening as well a regular livestock auctions, franchises the cafe, and a local motor club uses it for a special test for a car club rally There were similar opportunities available for the Abbey as well as Speedway and Greyhounds, but if these opportunities are not utilised , it is easy to make it look like it adds no value to the community and is not viable

Not sticking up for Osbourne but he has already has a long history in speedway and stock cars but he is a business man and is in business to make money and if speedway was in a better financial position then I’m sure he would be on speedways side

What are you talking about? The track should be prepared for racing. It’s not black and white; prepare it for us or them. Poole came to Ashfield twice last season and won (once on aggregate); an emphasis that 1. We do not prepare the track purely for ourselves and 2. You build strong, entertaining sides that deserve so much better than they get at Wimborne Road.

Paco really should have beaten King in heat 8, he had the chance to block his outside run but was too polite and left plenty of room. I actually thought he rode pretty well after heat 1 and given a few meetings on a track he had seldom ridden he could be solid. Cooper isn't going to fail to beat an opponent very often IMO but we shall see. Pointing fingers at riders one home meeting in is a bit early IMO.

One of the things that has possibly held Tom back a bit (in the nicest possible way) was having Emil and Jason there! Saying that he will have learned a lot so his chance to be a no 1 is here! Wishing him the best of luck as I really think he’s a great rider in the making! He pops out and wins heat one against Fricke which is very impressive! great result for the witches - concerns for the Stars as ever early in the season!

Agreed, imagine if you'd have said 30 years ago that at 48 this young whippersnapper will still be gunning down the Stars in the next century you'd have been carted away by men in white coats!

They had rain mid afternoon and then watered the track twice as the strong wind was drying it out so quickly and then at 6.20ish it poured down for a good ten minutes. Track was wet but one team adapted and one didn't! Klima did an unintentional 180 on the parade lap on bend four and ended up looked directly back at Scott Nicholls I think who was behind him! He obviously learnt quickly what he needed to do to get round though as he was superb last night. In heat one Masters got himself in a pickle on bend two but Danny and Joe seemingly had no issues in either running of the heat. Killeen was a little over excited chasing the Gladiators down into the start of the last lap and came off. I'm no mechanical expert but with 40+ years of watching speedway it looked like they had their setups wrong for the conditions although both teams did their track walks before it rained. Only Anders Rowe didn't fall off or get excluded in any of his rides for a Cheetah's side that I was expecting more from. Tom Spencer was the only Plymouth rider to struggle and he openly admitted that was down to inexperience when interviewed at the end of the meeting after he came out for some extra practice afterwards. Barker rode sensibly for a pretty simple four ride max, avoiding the slippery parts of the track when required to do so in heat 3 but still winning comfortably. That was the biggest win I have seen from a Plymouth team since converting from being a Rebel post covid and it reminded me a little of watching Exeter at the County Ground at times with a home side dominant and an away side not really that interested! Well done to Mark Phillips, Garry May and the rest of the backroom team down at Plymouth for the continued improvement on and off the track for the club. Will be back for more in a couple of weeks time when Glasgow come to Devon, that regular 160 mile round trip to the Coliseum doesn't seem very far nowadays!