Poole Quay 7

Thanks for the heads up that the meeting is on Sky...... I wasn't aware!

Good luck to the Brummies in this meeting and I hope they go on to have a good season and prove a lot of people wrong.

I enjoyed watching that.....Many thanks

I totally agree with the above comment. I'm hopefully looking forward to some real ding-dong meetings this season between Kings Lynn Stars and the Poole Pirates - provided both teams avoid injuries.

Speedway: Middlo's hunger and desire as strong as ever By Ned Payne HUNGRY Neil Middleditchadmits his desire to add silverware to Pirates’ bulging trophy cabinet is as strong as ever as the 2014 season draws closer. Since taking over prior to the 1999 campaign, the team manager has secured 13 honours for Poole including fiveElite League titles. And Middleditch’s motivation remains sky-high as he prepares to launch another title assault in April. He told the Daily Echo: “My enthusiasm for Poole never wanes. “I keep repeating it over and over again, I’ve been a supporter, a rider and a manager and I’ve loved every aspect of being involved. “Matt Ford is a fantastic promoter with the same passion for Poole Speedway as me and that’s a key factor. “It’s not just a business for Matt, he’s got a passion for the club and that’s why he demands success and we like to give success to the fans. “We never want to stop winning. I want it every year and if we don’t make the final this year I’ll be disappointed, but I know that if we don’t, it won’t be through lack of trying.” Middleditch believes the 2013 Elite League win - Poole’s second league title in three seasons - was the club’s most impressive triumph. And the 57-year-old vowed that the fighting spirit shown in that campaign will be present once more in 2014. He said: “Last year was a fantastic season and was probably our finest win. We never gave up when perhaps some other clubs would have thrown in the towel. “Matt and I said we would always put a team together that would entertain the crowd and we did that. We made some changes because of injury, got to the final and won it. “We’ll never give up and that will be the same this season. Pirates will be there for sure.” Middleditch has been impressed by certain line-ups that his team will face in the upcoming campaign, but insists it is difficult to judge who will challenge for honours at this stage. He said: “Belle Vue and Swindon have assembled good teams, but they are all good teams out there. “We need to go two or three weeks into the season when things will have settled down and then we can get a good gauge on who is going to be there or thereabouts. “There are some teams with top riders, but it’s the back-up they get which is going to be key.” See today's Daily Echo for our 12-page Pirates' preview supplement, including team poster.Article.... http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/11088707.Speedway__Middlo_s_hunger_and_desire_as_strong_as_ever/?ref=ar Speedway: Skipper Ward has every confidence in Pirates' young guns By Ned Payne BULLISH Darcy Ward has thrown his support behind Pirates' class of 2014 and insists youth will be no barrier to success. Poole will launch their defence of the Elite League title on April 9 using a septet that has an average age of just 22. While skipper Ward admits the Wimborne Road outfit have in recent campaigns benefited from possessing a rider seasoned on the world stage, he is confident that this year's incumbent can produce the goods. Ward told the Daily Echo: “We've got a very good team again this year. I think we're missing maybe one veteran, as in one other good GP rider which in the past would have been Chris Holder or Greg Hancock. “It's going to be our first season without someone like that so it will probably be a test, but I think we will be alright. “The sport is young so it's good to have young riders. We're all pretty determined but we don't want to overdo it. We will just be cool and get settled. “Przemek Pawlicki rides around the world and is very hard to beat and so does Maciej Janowski, so I feel, for this league, we have two big-hitters there. “I've seen Vaclav Milik ride pretty well in Czecho and Josh Grajczonek had a good season last season and, at reserve, we are pretty strong for the format we have this year.” Ward is relishing the chance to fulfil the role of captain at Coastal Aluminium Poole once more and has pledged that he will focus on making sure new boy Milik settles in as soon as possible. “Besides him, I know the rest of the guys so if they ask me questions then I'll tell them the answers and I'm sure we'll bond with Milik and get him comfortable and sorted,” said Ward. “It's not that hard a job being captain, it's just about being friendly when someone is having a rough night and I Iook forward to trying to take home another title as captain. “Besides the middle of last year where we were bottom, we've always been there or thereabouts. That's always a good positive for the team and is why we have such a successful club.” Article... http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/11088689.Speedway__Skipper_Ward_has_every_confidence_in_Pirates__young_guns/

"Ex-rider Jack Lee shock choice for top Speedway job at Birmingham". "The ex-rider will officially take over as top-flight Birmingham's new team boss this morning after 18 years at Cinderella club Buxton. He's a shock choice to take over from Phil Morris, who quit last November after leading the Brummies to the Elite League Grand Final. Lee has only ever managed in the third tier but Brummies' co-promoter Graham Drury said: "He deserves a chance." The Oldham-born Lee, who will also carry on with the weekend Hitmen, got the nod despite a host of big names being in the frame. Drury added: "When I was looking who I wanted Jack ticked all the boxes. "He knows the rulebook, he's a nice guy and has a good relationship with the riders. "There were a lot of people interested, including ex-World Champions but it's a chance he deserves and I'm very confident he'll do a good job." ARTICLE..... http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/other-sports/370301/Ex-rider-Jack-Lee-shock-choice-for-top-Speedway-job-at-Birmingham Good luck and best wishes for a successful season Jack and the Brummies!

Totally agree. I had the pleasure of chatting with PK some years ago at Poole and I have been a fan ever since!.....Top man who I hope has a great and safe season at Lakeside Speedway.

This implies he will be replaced regardless. Show me a team or promoter that won't replace a struggling rider so why single out Matt Ford? Shame you couldn't wish Lee well in the first post.

I think some of the remarks on here are really unfair towards Lee Smart when the guy hasn't even been given the chance to perform for the Pirates yet. I'm sure Lee knows and has been told the score at Poole and what is expected and I'm sure the guy will give us 100% and that is all we can ask for. As I've said all along, good luck to the man and I hope he can grab this opportunity to be a success.

Oh my, when we think of Steve and how he posts on other threads - then that will raise a laugh or two on here

You are tying yourself up in Knots now. I have clearly showed how you don't practice what you preach and if you can't accept that then that is your problem - just as is your problem with "people from the South Coast".... which as an admission, is an embarrassing and sweeping statement to foolishly make.

Fri 18-Apr H Poole Swindon League (A) Fri 18-Apr A Swindon Poole League (A) http://www.poolepirates.co/fixandres14 I guess it must be 11 or 12 (TBC?) at Poole with the return at 7.30PM? Looking forward to the meetings already!

Posted by "Crazy robin" on 25 January 2014 - 02:03 PM......On the BIRMINGHAM THREAD Steve Shovlar, on 25 Jan 2014 - 11:38 AM, said: As a Wolves fan almost single handedly drags the name of his club through the mud with his constant trolling. "Coming from the biggest troll of all. Over 27 thousand posts. What a hypocrite you are" No of course CR..... That is something you would never do would you would you! And to think you go around accusing me of having " holy than thou views" and someone else a " hypocrite "

I refer you to the answer I previously gave. However, If you feel you must have the last word then please do so. I'm sure it will be as predictable as all the rest.

I guess you must of been looking in a mirror when you thought up and wrote that poor retort

Coming from Mr Grumpy who likes to give us his slant on sarcasm that's quite funny.....And no reference to teenagers this time...Well done

After years and thousands of posts of irrelevance on other teams threads we have this.... Oh the irony.

I said " decent " not earth shattering.

Lee Smart starts his season scoring a decent 10 points for National League newcomers Devon against Kent. Best wishes Lee for the forthcoming season in the Poole Kevlars Result details here.... http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.23994

I was going to put this in the Poole 2014 thread but it seems appropriate in here at the moment and it's good to hear from Lee Smart himself. Good luck Lee. LEE Smart has given his backing to new rules designed to allow promising British riders to become established competitors at Elite Leaguelevel and beyond. The 25-year-old was recruited by Pirates under a new draft system in December and will operate in the bottom two alongside Kyle Newman. Smart is one of the individuals the British Speedway Promoters' Association hopes will profit from a revamped race format in which reserves will race each other twice in a meeting. Reserves will also avoid an opposing side's top three in any of their programmed rides. Swindon-born Smart told the Daily Echo: “I think the new rules will be alright. It obviously gives the reserves more chance to score points, but then again racing against the top boys would have been quite nice as well. “It's swings and roundabouts. We needed to do something and it's trial and error at this stage. They seem to have done something and let's hope it works. “I support it. I think something did need to be done because British speedway was getting left behind. The trouble is that you don't get enough track time in Britain, so hopefully it will help. “Once we've got a month or two into the season we'll find out whether it is working or not. “Fingers crossed it will because I know people have put a lot of time and effort into it.” Article From Daily Echo continues.... http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/speedway/piratesnews/11054924.Speedway__Smart_gives_backing_to_new_rules/

I see no reason to change my earlier predictions so as always, good luck to ALL teams and wishing the riders a safe season.

So out in fact that the Oracle known as Stevebrum - actually didn't include Eastbourne Thanks and fair play though Steve for including Poole.......Even if it was through gritted teeth

Indeed Bagbuss. Just blowing away the winter cobwebs and getting ready in anticipation for the forthcoming season

Thank you old man. I haven't been called a teenager for a long time! The constant references towards Steve Shovlar as like " a besotted teenage girl with pictures of Matt Ford on his bedroom wall " etc, etc are in-themselves, utterly childish and the amount of time you spend on a Poole thread makes the above statement rather strange to say the least! Perhaps you might just accept that not everybody is consistently grumpy like you appear to be.

I did have this poster on ignore, but to be honest, I missed the daily, unintelligible ramblings that often and unintentionally, end up as hilarious posts as he backtracks on ill-thought out observations! 1, Deluded if he thinks Wolves will be champions but then nothing new there...... I wouldn't rule out Coventry though. 2, Calling someone else a troll! 3, Spouting "Gunge" on a daily basis doesn't count for you personally then steve!?