Steve Shovlar

Expecting a battling and thrilling meeting on a superbly prepared water saturated track against our rivals for the title. Glasgow come as one of the favourites for winning the championship and are stacked with quality riders. Harris loves the wide open spaces of Wimborne Road and as always is a real threat. Howarth is always very quick. Hagon is a top youngster and had a year at Poole. Smith has done many laps around here and Harrison is a battler. Flint can score a few. And then I woke up. 57-33. Dust from heat 3 regardless of track prep. 35c tomorrow.

Bowes very unlucky looked good until the fall apex of bend one and two causing slight issue combined with low sun. bloody cold and waiting for paramedic to return

We are extremely lucky to have the best two 16 year olds in possibly the world riding for Poole this season. Perhaps Beau Bailey could be argued but he made the mistake in turning down the Pirates for bigger things and has struggled to get as many rides as he had hoped. Last season Will Cairns showed flashes of his ability but after a good first ride it was followed by a couple of zeros. That has changed this season when Cooper signed. Now Will knows he had to up his game and bring his very best to every heat. He can’t have Cooper having a higher average, and Cooper is thinking he has to have a higher average! Both driving each other on, whether intentional or not. The result is us Pirate fans are loving every minute of the season. As 16 year olds they are bound to have off nights, but so far it’s been very exciting. Both will end up in the top 5 with Kyle and Bowes at reserve, but that’s not a bad thing. What we are witnessing is the strengthening of TeamGB, two you lads who will bring ten up a very dull GP series in years to come and both could be the next Michael Lee (hopefully without all the dramas), or Mark Loram. As long as they don’t get distracted by life outside speedway that often happens to talent as they want to be out with their mates etc, things could get very exciting. Us Pirates fans need to make the lost of it. The way they are progressing, Poland, Sweden and the top flight will take them away from us pretty quickly.

Well the Pirates defied the odds to pull out a great win, without Coops and Bowes. OK we benefitted from the loss of Fraser but zero points for Coops rides. Have to say that Cairns has come on leaps and bounds from last season. Looks a seriously good young rider. The addition of Rushen has given the two lads an extra internal battle to come out on top. Thought Redcar were poor especially Jenkins who was woeful. They just didn’t have the same battling fire under them that Pirates did. Special mention for Kyle who never knows when he is beaten.

Cooper would probably score roughly 8. His replacement won’t score. Big swing in team points.

The loss of Cooper is a massive blow for this meeting. Had us down for a win but not now. Will still get the stream but is that rain nearby going to save us? Not this time.

Shouldn’t have dropped Championship in the first place.

Nasty crash heat eight as Killeen lifts on final bend. Rushen nowhere to go, then Richings falls. All up except Killeen. Medics with him hope he’s ok.

Ben Cook is at every Poole meeting home and away (other than fixture clashes) so ridiculous he dropped Championship racing. He is there, why not earn?

Understandable that the track was lightly watered because of the threat of rain, but Lee Kilby said no rain since mid afternoon. Bowser out again. Not really doing much though.

Dreadful dust billowing in heat one.

Where are people parking now?

Darcy was not a genius at Lakeside. He hated the place and scored very badly there. 4 points in one meeting I attended.

Take a bow Nikolai Klindt. Impervious. Never led. Had the perfect setup, rocket launched from the tapes and was away and gone. Track tonight suited him. Too slick, underwatered and perfect for a gater of his magnitude. Some good racing though. Our reserves were tremendous, and Kyle battled from the back. In contrast, other than Klindt Redcar were abject. Long journey back for their travelling fans.

Feel sorry for Dan but we can’t have two passengers. Hope he gets fixed up in a Championship team elsewhere. Scunthorpe certainly need strengthening. Kyle has been brilliant this season and never deserved to be dropped for a rider who hasn’t shown that he could do better. Sure Kyle will have bad meetings but all second strings do. If he just manages to keep up what he is doing everyone will be happy. Bowes does need to start showing some improvement in his form. There’s always pressure riding for Poole and he has to show why Matt Ford signed him.