Steve Shovlar

Would be better to think he will have recovered from his nasty concussion by the 25th.

I did. Didn’t turn it up until the riders were coming out for heat one. In fact didn’t see or hear Douglas being interviewed. As much as I like Douglas and think he’s a great lad, he falls into the same category as many who are good, but not quite good enough. A small gap but an important one, sorting those who are at the top of their game with those almost but not quite. Riders like Kurtz, Masters, Pickering, Douglas, Rasmus Jensen, Buczkowski, etc. all ride Polish League but just won’t get the opportunity in the Extraleague, where the money is. Extraleague is virtually a closed shop. The world’s best, backed up with young and extremely fast Poles, with the reserves filled with two u21 Polish juniors. So 2/3 places per team available at best. And a rider like Douglas needs to remove a GP standard rider with his super fast bikes and backup team. Very, very difficult to do. And riders like Hampel can last way beyond their usual sell by date into their 40’s, due to fitness, and being able to afford the best tuners and back room staff. The only way to make a noise is to qualify through the GP qualifying rounds and get into the GP series, then score very decent points, ala Lambert and Bewley.

Glad it doesn’t clash with Vitality, so will be able to attend both.

Leicester at Poole 25th October. See Champ section.

Heard a rumour that Tomorrow the promotion are making a decision about the second leg. I just hope it’s not going to be Saturday as many fans will be at Vitality for the Wolves match and would already have purchased tickets. Saturday night ok if 7.30 to give enough time to get across to the stadium. But would struggle to do it with a 6pm start time.

Excellent bonus meeting. Good stuff.

Sundays are no good for Championship speedway. Most teams have one, two or three riders who are racing in Poland.

Hopefully tomorrow but forecasts have been wrong before. Danny has been very good at giving riders and fans good notice to save on wasted journeys. It’s not like Wednesday is looking dodgy with what time the rain is coming in as it’s forecast for all day.

Forecast hasn’t improved and it currently looks like Wednesday is going to be a washout. No dry days until the weekend, with Sunday the best bet. As. Wednesday gets closer the forecast will increase in accuracy so tomorrow will give a much more accurate and clearer picture.

Fair enough I have the season ticket for both divs but didn’t know this was extra. Spent my money on the Scunthorpe stream instead.

Anyway good to see Workington with ambition moving up and a new track to visit.

I am in the Cumbria club’s paragliding competition based near Keswick every June. Fingers crossed Poole are up in the same week. Only 30 mins from lovely Keswick.

Current forecast for Wednesday is diabolical. Heavy rain all day. Rest of week not great either. A week today for the second leg? https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcn8db1mu#?date=2023-10-18

Bailey as a reserve / second string at the very best. That’s about it. Championship heat leader Bailey is not!

No interview broadcast on the stream as far as I heard.

Sweden ride Tuesday and Thursdays so how is he going to ride Premier league?

They want wooden spoon?

Not complacent at all. Confident.

We should be ok. Both Cooks are in low averages. Lawson keeps his low by working on it. Rowe just over 5. Bring in Cerniak and Dominic Kubera on 5 point averages and we will be fine.

Interesting that Ryan Douglas said he is leaving Scunthorpe because he wants to upgrade. What better place to ride than Poole, where he loves the track? Douglas is a good rider in the Championship and aspires to progress, but he has limitations as have been on display in the Premier league this season. He already rides Poland in league one and won’t get a spot in the Extraleague. May as well come south and ride for Pirates.

Rarely do I say, “in the bag”, but on this occasion I think we have it won.

So we win two trophies this year instead of three. Let’s face it we will win this cup unless something unexpected and dramatic happens. Only 4 points to make up. Yet we treat this season as a failure. Scunthorpe on the other hand were saying before the start of today’s meeting that it was their biggest meeting in years. That’s the difference between what we expect as Poole fans and the reality of other clubs. And that’s meant with no disrespect to the Scorpions who assembled a very good side this year. Of course you are going to get thick morons jumping in trying to mock Poole for not winning every single trophy going, but no club has been anywhere as successful as our fine club in the 21st century. And we all know next year we will do it again, and again Poole will be the team to beat. Another huge crowd expected at Wimborne Road on Wednesday. Douglas will continue his love affair with the Wimborne Road circuit and will be difficult to beat. Kemp will try his best but I don’t believe he will repeat his last visit. Allen and Palm-Toft will battle but we do have the beating of them. Pirates battled for every point today and rode exceptionally well. But for trying to team ride on 5-1’s twice and getting picked off, we could have drawn the meeting. Let’s hope for fair weather, and another trophy in the cabinet. Bring it on!

Interesting Workington moving up. Hope they have a streaming service for away supporters because it really is out on a limb! So Craig Cook at number 1?

47-43 take that all day long! Well done boys! Feel more than confident. Unusual fact. Not a single 5-1 either way in the whole meeting.

The advantage of gate 4 is a joke. Some great racing but gate 4 is two bikes up into the first bend most of the time. And finally in heat 13 Worrall breaks the run. Cracking heat though!