STEVEHOLS54

Whoops made a typo. Apologies it should have been a P not a *. Happy to engage in sensible debate with any forum user but not with somebody who deliberately incites a negative response with their constant digs & jibes at anything Poole. Feel free to carry on with it as you usually do and I am happy as a Poole Supporter to engage with supporters/fans who genuinely have a decent point or opinion positive or negative to make. Happy to continue to bore you and maybe with luck you will stop looking in

Also for the Track*rat. So it would be okay to lay ourselves bare to those teams who have stacked their top 5 like Leic/Redcar just because we have decided (partly due to circumstances), to go down the strength in depth route and we are still 0.97 under the official team limit. Don't forget we have 3 riders on 4 and 1 just over. There are plenty of young Brits signed up in this league and it may well be that those who have not made it so far, find there way into teams as they may start to empty some of these riders as the season progresses and with the first GSA's end May. Let's see how loyal some of these teams stay to the young Brits if results not going as they want.

From the man only one letter short of having a more apt username suited to his comments and attitude towards anything Poole. Poole had 8.97 points . I think you will find had they been able to secure originally planned Hansen on 5 or Bjerre on 5.87 then for sure they would have signed any Brit from Morley/Hume/Kinsley/Bowtell etc. With those dropping out they decided to go down the Aussie route which to a degree is a risk but surely not as risky as signing a 5 point unknown Dane who would struggle to get 2/3 (like history tells us in recent seasons) and a N/L quality Brit. Personally I think Keleher is better than any of those named above or a young unknown Eastern European/Scand and we get a 4 pointer in Cook who could be anything but has beaten decent riders in Aussie and at 22 still has potential. If he got a GSA of 4 this season then job done for a first season.

Doyle in his first season in top league with Poole had a GSA of 4.76 2007. Only had 2 Poole meetings in 2006. He was 22 near enough and ridden for 2 seasons at IOW in lower league. When he left Poole I don't think anyone would have said that was a future World Champ. Blessed with gating ability but always got overtaken. Maybe he is an exception as not many become WC with his background, and developing into such an aggressive (and top rider). None of those traits were apparent/visible in his earlier career. However a shining example not just to young Aussies but also young Brits that there is always a chance to get to the top even when you are bout to turn 30. If the likes of Josh Mac/Keleher and Cook get to half of what Jason has done, and in Champ then for me job done. Even if only 2 of them make it still job done.

Josh Mac should maybe more compared to the development of Jordie Stewart. His first season in UK 2018 Stewart achieved 4.09 GSA - rolling av. 2019 achieved 5.74 and looks promising. Didn't this guy sign for 2020 for Swindon on a no doubt converted average making him 3.59 or even if it is 4, an attractive reserve signing in Prem. Josh Mac came in well after season start after Work didn't start. Was a reserve but finished at number 2 for Sheffield. Probably learned a lot and who knows a Prem team like Swindon could take advantage of the rules again come 2021 if he is an improving rider (or maybe Sheffield as they own him).

Maybe you misread my post and Clive's reply (as he wants full name disclosure). I think Clive is implying that we could have a young Brit already in our own team i.e Stefan Nielsen at reserve come end of May and first GSA sheets.

Look at this way. Poole have 3 riders on 4 (Keleher/Macdonald/Cook) and 1 rider just over 4 in Nielsen. 3 of those qualify for a reserve berth with a good chance Nielsen may qualify come the first GSA's of 2020. Now just for this exercise look at a Keleher/Mac pairing at reserve against plenty/most of the other Champ reserves. Factor in each reserve can have up to a max of 7 rides incl taking some of the other reserves rides. I would hope from Poole perspective that this is an area Poole could score plenty of points at least in the early part of these season as many of the young (and not so young) reserves in other teams are finding their way. Heat leaders are important but strong reserves who can pick up extra rides can also win you matches. Especially against many of the reserves named by others.

Could be Skidder playing mind games of course. Am intrigued where the injury concern and fixture clash come into it though. I am sure it will be 2 Aussies as a Dane gets a 5 leaving not enough for even one Aussie. I will stick with my 2 from 3 and let's see what falls out Wed evening. Just hope one is not a "Well that all that was left who wanted to come over" signing.

Of course it may need some thinking outside of the box. Fitness & Fixture clashes could be a young rider who based in DK during the season who received a bad injury in POL in May and dind't ride rest of the year. I know one young Aussie who fits the bill on both of those scores. Young Keynan Rew - Believe only 17 and 2 x Aussie U21 125 cc Champ and 1 x Aussie 250 cc Champ _ Based in DK in 2019 - Signed again for Slangerup 2020 and for Leszno Nursery Club Stainer who also have Young Aussies Lidsey & Gilmore. They have 3 Aussies in total. Broke his femur in May 2019 hence why not seen since but has signed for both clubs for 2020. I reckon 2 from the flwg 3. Keleher/List/Rew.

Saw plenty of it over at my more local track Lakeside so looking forward to seeing it at Poole. More of a variety of riders with plenty of these up and coming young riders from both our shores as well as overseas riders such as the Aussies etc. Yes some of the riders have Champ experience but not a great deal and some have little to none. The point i was making was that riders of the calibre of Josh Macdonald plus hopefully our last 2 riders and even say Nielsen could run up decent scores against these guys finding their way. Could be important if we are found a little short further up the score card. If for example we had say Josh Mac & if we signed for example Zane Keleher (purely example), then I would be confident that against say Gilkes and Ledwith and even when racing against them later in the meeting after the reserve race, then I would back the 2 Aussies based on current ability to come out ahead. That 4 times min per season in league matches. Sam with a lot of the other reserve pairings. If our reserves do pile on points then you have the likes of Nielsen possibly waiting in the wings to swap into reserve or the last of one of our 2 signings. We know from our (fortunate) League win in 2018 the damage strong reserves can do for you against weaker reserves. Definitely come in handy if your 3 H/L are not all performing together which we saw plenty evidence of a Poole the last few seasons.

Good point. If you look at a lot of the N/L youngster reserves, many who are slowly learning and finding their way I think this could be fairly critical. If you look at the SGB 2020 team announcement site and then view all the reserves it really stands out how important our 2 reserves may be in comparison. Let's say we have either Josh Macdonald or another 2 promising young riders who have been recommended from say Aussie (Just saying as an example). These guys could score fairly well if you look at say Bickley/Flint or Thomas/Morris - Kemp/Edwards - Gilkes/Ledwith - The Thompson twins - Lawlor/Jenkins - Palin/Lambert - Rowe Stoneman etc. Josh Mac for example signed on a 4 but finished riding at number 2 for Sheffield. If we sign another 1/2 of that or maybe better calibre young Aussies then if they a\dapt quickly to our tracks they could well score decent points against these young riders (and with Ledwith not so young) , many who may be very good one day but for a lot it is a steep learning curve with a lot of them partly in to get to the 2020 team points limit. Will be interesting to see who our last 2 are but the above will be a factor for sure.

I do hope so Skidder. I kind of get angry that my team - based in an affluent part of the Country should be getting more support/sponsorship if so rightly deserves. There are plenty of reasonable well heeled individuals and companies in Dorset area who should be doing more to support our club. I really hope they do secure a good main team sponsor plus as many smaller sponsors as possible. In fact I am about to enter the said arena with Poole myself for the very first time in my own smallish way. I hope that many others follow as it all contributes to a successful club that also allows us fans to participate in. I live 3.5 hours away from Poole in Essex, but this team is my team of choice and I want to support in a way i can even though retired early (by my own choice). Appreciate not everyone can but there are a good few who could.

it's a bit depressing teams like Peterborough now seem to have 2 main team sponsors recently announced yet we still await news on who (or if) our one will be. I think most teams have sorted their main sponsors. Also on that subject, and please correct me if I m wrong, but I am sure i saw on the Poole website until recently that Medicare Systems Poole were one of the clubs major sponsors for some time. Looking at the site the last few days Medicare no longer have their logo running across the top like the others. Is this another decent sponsor we have lost similar to what happened with some others over the 2018/19 seasons. My apologies IF I am wrong.

Isn't Ben the older brother of Zach ?? If he is then nowhere as good as Zach and would leave well alone. I assume he want's to come over with Zach who will start at Somerset. I think Ben is only capable of beating lower quality Aussie riders who are not good enough for UK. I would have both Kennedy & or Keleher over Ben Cook. Keleher has been bleating that he is ready for Uk for a while now and his latest post indicated he thinks he may have lost his chance after a couple of zero point rides and then an injury in his last ride early in the Aussie Champs. Has a high opinion of himself I think. But has it decent backing/sponsors . definitely was on Poole radar imo and maybe still is but is a risk as we didnt get to see how he performs against the decent riders.

Does anyone know IF there were any updates on 1) How the Promoters may be progressing on those last 2 team slots. I know they said they were taking their time but just wondered if there was any update for fans from last night. 2) Similar question on the Team Sponsorship question. Heard the odd rumour (and only that) but with many teams on the SGB site having announced their team sponsors already would be good to see how that's progressing. Last night was good news on the team kevlar front for me. As for the joint team managers, will hold off on comment and lets see the results which will prove if it was a good move or not. If the team are not good enough away (or at least competing for a minimum of one point) , then no doubt the forum will be awash with comments. Hopefully the same if they do perform. Appreciate the season is still 2 months away but would be good to get an update on how things are going, especially with all the others done an dusted.

Correct, although Hume has been announced in Leicester N/L team for 2020. If both of those were announced as our last 2 then for sure Poole would be in the brown stuff. They have 8.97 left by my calc and hope they use wisely. Greaves has been around a long time and never really pushed on. Hume would be an option imo just to finish off if we sign a 5 pointer and even then would you be better off with Morley who signed up with IOW in N/L so a better option maybe. Just opinion of course. I would hope Poole would try to be more creative in those last 2 signing to create as strong a reserve pairing as possible between Josh Macdonald and the last 2 signings.

Considering all 5 of our named signings were known well in advance by many on this and others teams forums, well before Poole announced them, are there any sensible rumours out there as to who our last 2 signings may be ?? Some of us have indulged in comments re 2 Aussies at 4 points each or one plus a N/L heat leader. Not so much re a Continental/Scand rider plus a N/L heat leader other than say Kvech who some feel doesn't want UK (which i tend to agree with). We kind of know Hansen said no due to allegedly not being able to find a mechanic. Normally at least some of the Forum contributors have their ear to the ground on what might be cooking, but in this case with all the known options kind of already signed up its gone relatively quiet. Unless of course Poole may not have made much progress ??. Perhaps Wed evening will give us an insight if this is the case if no riders are announced or positive comments are forthcoming out of those 2 major announcements which are allegedly to be made.

I think you come back to what is the best mix IF you do have 8.97 points left available. We know Kennedy is available as he was not happy at missing out at Sheff with the move up. Him plus N/L heat leader is a poss option. As are 2 Aussies. That could give us a strong reserve pairing if its a combo of say either Josh Mac/Zaine Kennedy or someone of the potential of Gilmore if he was interested. The other option is a 5 point European/Scandinavian rider, but possibly may struggle if he is not one of the established World U21 youngsters coming through like a Kvech/Hansen/Jeppesen plus again a N/L heat-leader/Champ reserve like Morley/Hume/Wood or even Bowtell. My thoughts are more sold on the 2 Aussie option IF none of the decent young Euro/Scand riders don't want to come over. Kennedy at times looked decent in his first season (his FB page which has a good few of his races shows that and he was Sheff rider of the season). It's not easy finding the right riders or mix for those last 2 places so lets hope Poole are in an advanced position to sort it.

I wonder if Poole will announce the last rider/s on Wed at the REF meeting ??? The cleverly worded release from Danny Ford mentioned 2 major announcements but was somewhat evasive on any clues in relation to riders, and can't find the news released to the Echo. It may be totally unrelated to riders as we know they use the media to maximum effect if they feel they have rider news coming forth. Maybe it is in relation to the Team Management situation/Team sponsors or also perhaps this new meeting streaming idea that was being mentioned. Would be good to hear how the rider situation is going though. The Aussie champs gave no clue really with Keleher injured and nobody else who may be available impressing. The U21 champ is only one meeting later this month and besides Gilmore or maybe List can't think of any others who might be good enough & available. Hook already confirmed staying in Aussie for 2020. Wonder if Zaine Kennedy back on the radar after missing out at Sheff with their move up ??

That's what i thought some while ago. Although would love to see him at Poole. Seems a similar story with most of the really good Europeans/Scandinavians. I am sure plenty of the not so good happy to come here on inflated av of 5 which they won't get near in their first or second seasons. A look at most of the young Danes who are not top class will tell you that if you check back on recent Champ stats.

If he came in on a 5 assessed av I calculate we only have 3.97 left. Meaning no. That's base don what the FINAL GSA sheets show on the SGB website less the 2.5% reduction for British riders.

I assume he could. But in the 5 meetings he did ride he did only av 4 per meeting. 4.32 at home and 3.5 away. I see on his FB page he has signed up for 4 Leagues in 2020. The Danish - Both 1st and 2nd Div German Leagues & now KL in UK. May not want to take on a 32 Champ season plus KO Cup and poss play offs if he will also do other meetings on the Cont riding maybe for Germany as well ?? I think that's the problem with a lot of these promising young Continental riders. They can get contracts in POL/DK/Ger/SWE (especially with some of the top riders not doing SWE) and not have to fly in and out of the UK on top.A lot of these places they drive to as good road connections as well using local ferries and bridge connections between DK & SWE. Shame we could not have secured the likes of Hansen/Jeppesen/Kvech who are all better riders. Hansen seemed so close but I heard he could not find a mechanic as was ready to come over. Maybe it also only works for them financially for the bigger money in the Prem rather than Champ ??. Even some of the young Aussies we have been talking about seem happy to base in POL/DK and ride continent only before trying to jump into the Prem when good enough.

Can't see it somehow and would be a risky 5 pointer anyway. I see he has signed contracts in Swe/Germany and also in POL Lge 2 for 2020. Add in his interest in Longtrack plus all the U21 meetings as he still qualifies for being 20. Can't see him fitting in UK even if there was interest.

Also on Kennedy, I didnt realise that he was injured at one stage riding for Sheff so missed a number of meetings. Worth looking at Zaine Kennedy Racing FB page and scrolling back, as there are some decent races with him on there going back to Mar/April and he scored both decent points plus beat some decent riders. I can see why they say he is a never give up rider. Think I am convincing myself here that he could be a decent rider given an injury free run.

Think Kennedy was a bit miffed he was not asked back in 2020 after a promising first season, BUT they did move up and with the points conv Champ to Prem they went for the more experienced rider in Kurtz who comes in low with his GSA after the conv. If you look at that video where he overtook both Wells & Pickering at Sheffield and factor in the club must have seen something to make him rider of the season despite only a 4 point first season GSA - The fact he is only 21, I am surprised another team didn't go for him. Could develop like Jordan Stewart or may be anything going forward. Throw him in the reserve slot and consider how he would do against the other reserves named for 2020. If you look at the 2020 Champ teams reserves on the SGP site I think he would beat most if not all of them in most meeting. There are a lot of young inexperienced reserves in their and some not so young, so a rider of his ability could score well and boost confidence going forward. Bearing in mind he also only came over part way thru last season and finished as No. 2 in the side. Just my opinion of course.