jbell1995

Nico Covatti is confirmed as the No. 1. It’s clear from the comments on every signing that all was not well in the pits last season, too many personality’s but this year, Garry clearly has assembled a team who he thinks are going to graft and fight for every point. It might not have the team of names and stars like other teams but Plymouth won’t be push overs. Plenty of room for improvement on averages across the course of the season and us supporters, as long as we see the team fighting for everything on the track then that’s all we can ask for. Us Bar Bandits will be right behind the team once again making our voices heard at home and more importantly away. We can’t wait to get out and support the Gladiators in 2024 and good news, we’ve some new songs planned for you all to hear at your respective tracks ;)

Right, let's get this back on track - No talk about other clubs, other sports - Just the Gladiators... We know that Mark wants to run on a Saturday night next season, realistically from last season who remains? Barker is a certainty. Pearson impressed towards the end of the season? Who else returns?

I suppose we should look ahead towards next season and hope that our fortunes will change. One thing that may well change will be Saturday night racing in place of Tuesday’s (except for Grand Prix nights) in the hope of a crowd boost with families etc. Team wise? God only knows! Mark and Garry will be hard at work sounding off ideas with riders I’d imagine. From last season? Realistically I can only see Barker, Pearson and Trigger remaining so it’ll need another rebuild. Pearson was really impressive when he came in towards the end and Trigger was scoring a little more consistently as the season went on and Barker needs no justification really. As for other riders, it’ll be interesting what others think…

So that's the end of the faint playoff hopes at the end of what's proved yet another challenging and disappointing season for the Gladiators. A team assembled at the start of the season with so much hope and expectation that for whatever reason just never seemed to click. Yet again, injuries have played a huge part in the season along with a very poor stop/start nature to the season with how it was structured. Massive thank you to everyone who has guested for us across the year. Of course, there are some people on here who have a very strict agenda against Plymouth Speedway. One can only presume this is due to the distance you'd have to travel to see your team race (As an Argyle fan, it's never easy having to travel such long distances so I can sympathise to a point). People will always have their prejudices towards the track because it is different to anywhere else but I'm sorry, personally the joy and thrill of motorsport is that you don't race on the same track configuration every week. If we all raced on a 300m round oval then it would be boring week in, week out. Some of the racing at the Colosseum this season has been excellent. Even Tuesday night, threw the face of adversity, plenty of the crowd declared that as their favourite meeting for some while and credit needed to go to both sets of riders as everyone put it on the line. There's been some strange, peculiar bashing of the promotion as well. As someone who's had a hand in the day to day running of a recreational, successful sports club within the city, I can appreciate the tough, difficult job that Mark Phillips has. No promoter wants to lose money. No promoter wants to deliberately mislead supporters just to earn a quick bit of cash. People do need to remember at times just how difficult a job it is to be a promoter and absolutely nobody wants to call meetings off willingly just before meetings are due to start. As we are all aware, speedway as a sport is on borrowed time in the UK. There's no light at the end of the tunnel and every week there's another rumour circulating that another track is due to close for various reasons. We as supporters of the sport and of our own clubs have a duty to do what we can and the constant mudslinging and negative press that not just Mark but other promoters up and down the country receive are only going to drive people away from the sport and equally put off future investors because if they see what treatment promoters receive, why should they invest? This is a critical time for British Speedway as we move into 2024. The waters are choppy and the visibility isn't good. I for one, hope there's Championship racing at the Colosseum next season and I can't wait for the new season to begin.

First visit to Perry Barr last night with the rest of my fellow Bar Bandits. Fair play to Birmingham who got the job done last night. One thing you couldn't take away from the Gladiators last night was everyone was putting it on the line for the badge. Thanks to Rory Schlein, Simon Lambert and Matt Marson for their efforts. Rory was a pleasure to watch along with Simon's never say die attitude to fight for every point. Credit to Marson as well because we all accept it was going to be a tough night for him but actually in his third and final ride he wasn't that far off the pace at all and looked comfortable on the bike going around that track. Credit to Garry May, Mark Phillips and the riders for coming over to the dozen or so Bar Bandits on Bend One/Two to show their appreciation for our support last night. Shouldn't go without a mention there were other Gladiator fans dotted around Perry Barr last night too. Crowd didn't look any better than a busy night at the Colosseum and I was somewhat disappointed with how flat the evening was. Lovely to have some Brummies fans wish us all the best and safe travels home post the meeting last night too.

Delay to heat 2. Two min warning came on quickly even though trigger was back to back. Mark Phillips then walks out onto the track holding a red flag to stop the start procedure with three riders at the tapes. Strange situation. Announcer seems to think it’s a protester haha

4-2 Brummies bowtell, trigger, Kerr and Howarth packed up when leading B3 L4. Was going to be a 4-2 to the Glads. Gutting. Trigger was excellent in third the whole way as Kerr tried everything go get past him but couldn’t

I’m here if needs be? Plymouth fan?

Really interesting fixture this. It's a glorious day here in Plym. Sun is hot so it'll be a nice night at the Colosseum. Gladiators line up is all change. Edwards is a strong replacement for Gilkes I would suggest given he scored 10 last week and will have Worrall/Howarth alongside him for two of his rides. Reserve battle will be interesting. Complin usually likes Plymouth, Pearson was strong last week. Trigger is improving every week and was on the pace last week. Piper is the unproven one. Likely a big crowd, whenever Harris is in town it often is as plenty make the journey up from Cornwall to see him and the Plymouth crowd like him too. Tight affair but Plymouth's advantage of R/R is stronger than Tiger's given Plymouth's rides can be taken by: Howarth, Worrall, Edwards, Pearson and Trigger. I'd suggest the first four will take those rides whereas mentioned above, only Vissing can take a RR for tigers from their main body. Complin could be a busy boy tonight! 48-42 this one for me

The Bar Bandits are delighted to announce we have secured an evening with club promoter Mark Phillips and team manager Garry May on Friday 24th February at the GWRSA Club in Laira here in Plymouth. Doors open at 6:40pm The evening’s events will get under way with an introduction and background about the Bar Bandits followed by a quick update from Mark and Garry on the season ahead before we go into a Q+A session with both of the gents. There will also be a raffle during the night with some excellent prizes. There will be ample parking at the venue for those wanting to drive. We must stress, as the Bar Bandits we are providing this evening for all Gladiator and West-country speedway fans with ALL money raised on the evening going straight to the Plymouth Gladiators. For all those wishing to attend, just so we can get an idea of numbers for the event, please can you all drop us an email on the details provided at the bottom of this post. We are more than happy to answer any questions if you’ve got any. We would be delighted to see as many of you as possible down in Laira later this month for an evening that you won’t want to miss as we move ever closer to the season. So get the news out there, spread the word amongst your friends/family who might not see this. Let’s pack the club out and raise as much money for Mark and the club as we can! Address of the venue: GWRSA Club, Mullet Road, Plymouth. PL3 6TD Email: thebarbandits@gmx.co.uk

Never before has a truer word been spoken. If people want to discuss and debate any other situation involving bickering between the two clubs then create a thread for that. let’s just focus on the Gladiators and what side is announced for 2023 first of all Interesting to see what signings are announced in the coming weeks

Richie Worrall confirmed for 2023!!! great first signing

I’d be surprised if Gilkes isn’t with the Gladiators next season

He’s a trier and goes well at home, it’s a no-brainer

Our season is over. Time to look ahead to 2023. The crowds have held up on the whole across this season which is good. Team wise for next season? The starting point should be Bowtell, Gilkes and Morley. From there it’s anyone’s guess. Barker is unbeatable around the Colosseum and if allowed back in the Spring he would presumably keep his place on an average of 8.00 but I won’t add him to the list just yet as we don’t know the plans… 1. 2. Morley - 5.07 3. 4 5. 6. Gilkes - 4.67 7. Bowtell - 4.39 Total Remaining- 27.87

This point was made when we were approached by security after we heckled Lee and Ben Trigger by the pits to which security were reluctant and I could understand their reasons but they kept a close eye on him all evening

I can categorically assure you 100% this was none of us plymouth fans. We were shouting to Lee Trigger who was by the pits. Said individual who I referred to yesterday who tried to create a problem was using that word in gesture format towards us

On the Poole Pirates facebook, the situation has been explained as it happened with input from someone who was working in the area of the incident and it all just stemmed from some confusion and mis-understanding. It was nothing more than petty words. I'm not going to say anymore because it takes away from the meeting itself and how proud we were to get behind the group. We certainly weren't being abusive and most certainly wouldn't look to cause hassle or trouble. I'd strongly disagree with the fact our supporters embarrassed ourselves last night. Sure the group like to drink and enjoy their evening but as I stress, we are respectful and just want to have a good time with fans of our side and the opposition. This is one of the reasons we all like speedway because it doesn't have the 'yob' like culture of football.

Just en-route to Berkshire so I thought I would give my thoughts on last night's action. Bar the one incident mentioned above clarifying what happened as we entered the stadium it was a fun evening for us 'Bar Bandits' and 'Gladiators on tour'. The simple fact of the matter was Poole gated in every heat and we didn't and that was the difference. We thoroughly enjoyed Aaron Summers' heat win in 14 and duly celebrated as if we won the match! To be fair to the whole team, everyone gave 100% but sadly we came up against a fired up Pirates side who outclassed us on the night and gave a masterclass in gating. My views on the entertainment differ slightly to Steve's view in the fact other than Summers, there was very little passing and plenty FTG (Which Plymouth get pelters for every week...). On the whole, we came, we made a lot of noise (Respectfully), we had plenty of fun and laughs and we'd like to think the home fans enjoyed our visit. We certainly got a lot of smiles and claps as we gave off our renditions of: "Three Little Birds... Garry don't worry...about a thing... Every little thing... is gonna be alright..." and finally as we left the stadium.. "61-29 we're gonna win 61-29..." on our way out of the stadium to make our way home. All we are, before people get the wrong impression are a group of 12-15 people who love sport and are passionate about the side, yes we like a drink but we know our limits and we don't ever want to cross the line, we don't seek to cause offence or to make any fellow speedway supporter uncomfortable, hence why we tailor our songs to be family friendly and to get a few laughs. We promised to be loud and proud and we were. There was a lovely gesture from Garry and the boys to come over to us at the end and thank us for our support. We will still be there on Tuesday night getting behind the team. Over turning a 30 point disadvantage will almost be a tad tricky but we will try our best and end the season on a positive note.

Hi Lisa, I feel like I should just clarify this before wires get crossed. The 'Bar Bandits' stood on bend two all evening amongst Poole fans and just around from the NID gang by the pits and there were no issues whatsoever and plenty of laughs/banter were had. On entry to the stadium, our group were challenged by a member of the home support as they were allowed to take drinks around to our position instead of walking all the way around the track. Our group did nothing to provoke any violence bar one small, ill-advised comment which was never intended to cause any harm or offence but there was quite a hostile approach taken by said individual who was spoken to by security for his behaviour. We were also spoken to by the security team just to clarify the position and other than this one rather unsavoury incident, there were no such thing as trying to start fights and everyone enjoyed themselves whilst being respectful. (I can 100% confirm this as due to not feeling on top form, I was free from alcohol last night haha!)

According to the club’s Facebook - Tuesday 20th

Meeting OFF. Rescheduled for Tuesday 20th

They speak very fondly of their visit to Berwick. We are looking forward to supporting the team this week

Delighted to say that I’m making my first trip (for speedway) to Wimborne Road on Wednesday evening with the rest of the Bar Bandits from Plymouth, minibus of us coming up to Dorset for what should be a good meeting. Can’t promise we won’t make noise though

Depending on how Redcar get on, Could Kerr guest for MPT?