Steve Shovlar

Last season at Poole in the KO cup final he smoked Lawson by 100 metres to win his third ride, but was tailed off in his other three rides, throttling right off as he came to a bend. In the playoff final, it was the same, two tailed off lasts before beating Lawson by a straight. If he gets in front he is very fast. The trouble is he is lacking any nerve to physically mix it if caught in a first bend tussle. Whether he can get over these issues or not will determine whether he has what it takes to become a speedway rider of merit. Certainly has the equipment and raw talent but that alone is not enough when there are riders out there who will make up on a lack of talent by having bigger balls. But there could be more to his issues than that. Why throttle off entering bends throughout a race when there’s no one near him?

That can’t be right. There’s never any passing at Poole.

Such an aura that Belle Vue’s crowds have flopped to the few hundreds.

Entertaining meeting with some good racing. Pick of the heats was heat 6. Cluff gated, but was picked off by Thomsen and Lawson. Then Barker spend a lap catching and on lap 4 went around both pirates on bends one and two. Excellent race. The victory was never really in doubt but not helped by Cook having a stinker and Kerr being easily 5-1’d by Trigger and Thompson in heat 14. Lawson and Rowe excellent. Rowe should be at number 5, no doubt about it. Tobias riding well and dropped points when his wrist cable came off. Special mention to Richings. 7 paid 8. Never expected that. Riding far better than Starke.

Well that was a bit ridiculous. Gate 4 was a complete joke and may as well had just the inside gates. Rowe against Frederiksen and Cluff and couldn’t get near them. Eight points to make up which we will do, but heat 13 has me seething, as it would any neutral or Poole fan. We are carrying too many and it’s simply not good enough. Cook was poor, Starke is a mobile chicane. Kerr…well best for me to say nothing anymore. Richings is better than Marson by a distance. Tobias is doing well. Lawson fine, though ran a last in heat one……off four.

Pirates clear on a 5-1 after Harris impedes himself. Can’t have that says the ref and bangs on the red light with Pirates clear down the back straight. Horrendous.

Disgraceful refereeing.

Just hope they get a move on and no silly delays. Want 15 heats not ten.

Haven’t purchased the stream for this one yet as rain is heading in. Will wait to see if it hits. They will have to get a move on to get 15 heats in. Fingers crossed. As for guests, Bomber around there is something else. With R/R it certainly helps Plymouths cause. Just got to keep it close enough to see them off at home. Could well be squeaky bum time over the two legs.

How does Cairns compare to Hagon and Boughen, Killeen?

No Agenda against Kerr. I just expect riders with an 8 average to not be beaten by second strings on a regular basis. So I say what I see. I want Kerr to ride to his average, thats all. Last night hopefully showed he has turned the corner. I look forward to his contribution at plymouth.

Home to Oxford, not great away at Berwick. Just want him to do a lot better than he has so far this season. If he has sorted out his bike issues that would be good news.

Sam was appalling for over half a season last year. No way did he warrant a team spot. But really pleased he seems to be having a few good scores and retained the u21 title.

Glad to see Kerr scoring well last night. Now bring that form to Poole please and we will all be happy. There’s no denying he has been poor when riding for Poole this season and he needs to turn that form around.

Superstars? What superstars?

We deserved that defeat. Shocking performance early in the meeting. Again took 8-9 heats to get going. This time it cost us and comical time in heat 14 when gating on a 5-1 turned into a 4-2 to Berwick with Starke falling on the last bend to gift Berwick the win. Some extremely poor performances from our captain Zack Cook. Mobile chicane. Tobias no better. Just poor. Every meeting this year we start so slow and this time, just like Oxford at home, we ran out of heats. Hagon decided to have his best meeting in months and was excellent. Against his old club? He should be fired up like that every meeting. There’s a talent in there. Hume was good and I have always liked Drew Kemp. He is now beginning to fulfil his potential as a very decent rider.

I did. Kerr and Starke well past their sell by date.

Getting a deserved hammering.

Bye bye Kerr.

What bike issues?

We are very lucky to come away with the points tonight. Edinburgh were on a 5-1 in two heats when one of their guys had an ef. Really they should have won but luck shined down on us. If we ride like that tomorrow at Berwick we will get spanked. We were outgated for the first half of the meeting. Seems the whole team is infected with “clutch hand”. The loss of Polis was covered by Grahn, who is crap and likely to be junked, and Palovaara, who scored 19 points. A gem at reserve with 7 rides. For Poole Lawson was good, Tobias exceptional, Rowe good, Cook very poor, Kerr poor, Starke did a job, and Richings a vast improvement on Marson scoring an important 2. Kerr just doesn’t look like our second heat leader. Castagna was miles behind but passed Starke, not difficult, then was about 40 metres behind Kerr but still caught him on the line. Diabolical riding. He really needs to get his act together. I really want him to and don’t dislike the guy but he seems to lack and spark at all at the moment. Tomorrow at Berwick we know if you don’t gate you are stuffed and we could be well adrift. Kerr needs to step up for us to have any chance.

OK enough. Kerr has to go. Enough already. Utter crap.

Polis withdrawn. 21 point max incoming from Palovaara?

Only reason Poole are level is because Edinburgh had two EF’s when on clear 5-1’s. We are not at the races! Victor Palovaara is a great signing for Monarchs. Won his two heats so far by a literal mile.

Kerr took three laps to pass Wood. Shocking stuff.