SteveLyric2

Strange how its not affected James Shanes, who only rode SGBP for Poole in 2017 apart from (like Scotty) a few end-of-season guest bookings in the SGBC!!? James has been allowed to sign for Sheffield - not sure yet if he will be doubling up/down or not?! Must be an 'age' thing or the fact that the Sheffield promoter is now on the MC???!

Giving 'everybody an equal chance' pre-supposes that they all start from the same financial base and all have similar opportunities to increase income/attendance.

Just a quick update (from Facebook) from Starman's Mum, June - Mike has now been moved to ward c4 in Poole Hospital. She also thanks all BSF members for their good wishes.

It was proposed by some of the 'weaker' teams to make the SGBP more competitive, on the basis that if all 8 teams had a chance to realistically compete for the title then crowds wouldn't fall away!?

Aah so there are some improvements then!!!

Starman!! Before posting this, may I request only comments of a very respectful nature! I know many have expressed their opinions about Starman and his posts in the past but would ask at least on this occasion they remain polite. Starman's mum has today advised on one of the (many)Poole threads on Facebook that Starman is currently in Poole Hospital having been diagnosed with a (non-cancerous) brain tumour! She doesn't go into any further detail about the prognosis, but will pass on good wishes from any Speedway fans. Get well soon Starry.

What, no Jack Holder??!

That was apparently CH's demand!!!! But MF told him to do one - except no other club can afford to have him so rumour has it that CH has backed down and will sign for Poole (could even start as a 2nd string!?!) with his brother going to Somerset?

Yes dropped in the SGBP as part of the agreement to only use one 8&over. Not sure if there is a Brit rule for the Championship?

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but is Kim Nilsson on his way back to Leicester?

Poole were given permission to talk with Pawlicki, before the 9 point rule was brought in!!

Although to be fair its a struggle to get you to pay £17 or £18 admission on a regular basis!!

Szczepaniak will start at reserve on 4.54 (2% year-on-year reduction from his 2013 4.93 average) 4.93 - (8% of 4.93 = 0.39) = 4.54 The big question now is will Woryna be the 2nd reserve (not confirmed by MF) or will he ride at 2, allowing Shanes to return plus a decent 7+ pointer?

Bates must have been hacked. He would hardly renege on the two clubs owned by his family!! Unless of course there has been one hell of a family bust-up??!

Your profiling of Poole's sponsors is a little sexist, ageist and quite far off the mark, Steve!!! Lol

All glories are in the past, I thought that would be obvious!! No one will sign a big name rider without the cost being sponsored or a decent TV deal agreed, so the knack of building a reasonable team will come down to using more 'journeymen' or so-called 'ringers' in the hope that they will all perform consistently and improve their average accordingly.

Giving them away is not the issue, getting a decent value from anyone is the problem!! The Sponsors Dinner is due to start at 19.30 so I guess there's a chance that the two names will be leaked before the 2x Poles are officially announced later in the evening - unless MF intros them right at the beginning?!

2 Poles for Monday!!!! (but not Wozniak as Flagrag suggested it might be - or so I've heard!!)

The only averages not in the public domain yet are for those riders that didn't ride in 2017 plus those that need a re-assessment. All the final 2017 averages are on the BSPA website in the relevant section and have been for a few weeks --- SGBP clubs, SGBC clubs, etc.

...and there I was thinking that Swindon had just paid out for the full transfers of Ellis (more than Poole were prepared to pay) and Wajtknecht!!

....but accepts that the sport cannot just drop it!!

Jack was not the only family member to 'give attitude' in certain circumstances!! And I don't mean James!!! Matt proposed him for the BSPA MC at the AGM!!!

A good move for James Shanes. He was approached by both Sheffield and Ipswich (and possibly others) during the season just gone but had too many diary clashes with his Longtrack and grasstrack commitments to take either club up on their offer. No surprise that Sheffield came back in for him - especially now that MF and Damien Bates are now 'best buddies'!! ;-)

At Poole the Music man who works hand in glove with the centregreen presenter tries to give each home rider 'his own' recogniseable music track which is played after a win. For the presentation parade of riders, we have a version of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' theme. On the lap of honour parade for the winners at the end of the meeting 'Celebrate Good Times' is used. A good mix of older and newer music - somewhat reflecting the mix of fans!!

My post above about the PR company was taken from the Business News pages of today's Bournemouth Echo. It appears on facebook too in the 'Speedway around the Bend' group