STEVEHOLS54

I wouldn't knock it as they were top of the actual League and arguably injury cost them in the finals of the Play offs and KO Cup. One could say why change a winning formula as they were on a roll second half of the season. Problem is they have to lose that 1.17 over the limit on last seasons final GSA. Meaning even if they lose NKI they would have to replace with a rider with a max GSA of 6.21. Personally don't think that would be the end of the World IF last seasons other 6 rode to the form they did second half of 2018. Problem is can't see much at that kind of GSA on currenty Final GSA list.. Maybe Bellego at 6.11 but let's be honest he is no NKI. But change/changes have to be made whatever team is chosen for 2019. The sport can be so cruel. So close and injuries at the worse possible stage cost them dearly, plus to add insult to injury they have to shed 1.17 for this season.

No way I can see Cook at Poole. This all seems to have blown up in the last days and only today has it really been confirmed he won't be riding there. His latest tweet only 36 mins ago to confirm it. He seems genuinely upset the way he has been treated. If as mentioned Matt already had his 7 sorted for a while then one would expect Cook not to have been part of that plan. Plus I doubt anyone could have forseen him riding anywhere but BV as he has that club running through his veins. Could all be smoke and mirrors of course but from his tone he seems genuinely upset as is one of his main sponsors who have also gone on to their twitter page about it in the last 40 mins or so.

Remember in previous years in play off meetings against Poole. He had BV blood running through his veins and was totally commited. He was gutted more than anyone when they just missed out winning. If I had been a BV supporter I could not have wished for a more commited rider. Full of raw emotion for BV to do well. It was not just another European Club for him as part of global track riding around Europe. In some ways I kind of hated the guy, but maybe it was part envy as that's the kind of commitment and sense of elation/grief I want to see from more riders when they are trying their best for the team and are GENUINELY gutted when they lose out. For many of the top riders its almost a sense of just another meeting and off to POL/SWE/DK tomorrow so doesn't mean too much. Maybe also being British he has also felt a real connection to the team over the years he has been with BV.

Would have thought Harris had a reality check after the nightmare of Rye last season where he is probably still owed money he may never get. Think Chris is a sensible man. he also runs Chris Harris Racing as a biz with sponsorship packages even down to the youngsters. I think he knows he needs security of a team/s with a regular salary/deal rather than a unworkable guaranteed lump sum arrangement with speedway finances as they are. He is now signed up with Prem/Champ (with no real race night clashes) - he will probably also do his Grass & Long track meetings where he can in UK and abroad, so he can sleep at night knowing he is already sorted for 2019. He knows he is no longer an 8/9 point Prem man riding on the World stage in GP's. He also knows he will be many teams idea of a guest should a team need a rider at short notice for whatever reason. His wife also has a decent job I believe, so security from both sides allied to having a young family probably means Chris learned its more about security than shooting for the stars like the Rye deal that went sour.

Maybe Cook is finding a problem after a failed GP series and part season in POL where he also failed to impress. Don't have all the info but has he failed to find a spot in both SWE/POL with any team ?? - Also no income from SGP this time. Also with his Champ GSA is he outside the scope for most if not all the Champ sides at a GSA of 10.45 because 1) His wage demands may be too high and 2) With the new Champ team limit being reduced from 42.50 to 38 to partly discourage big hitting Prem riders doubling up and to encourage more of the young NL riders into Champ teams to fit the new limit. Perhaps he was factoring all this loss of income into his new salary/deal request. If he only rides Prem then for sure he will be poorer in 2019 one would expect, unless big hitting sponsor pays him plenty.

If Nielsen is Swindon bound then maybe it is Jake Allen. Higher av at 4.56 but MAYBE better potential and would give stronger pairing. Maybe also makes sense if May/Ford already sorted out fixing up some of the Somerset team for 2019 fairly early as they knew in advance they would be dropping to Champ. Was said on here after last night that Matt already had his 7 sorted and just waiting some contracts back (plus one who wants unreasonable terms). Would make a lot of sense getting 3 of them in Covatti/Allen and Holder Jr. Maybe all 3 were sorted (sub contract signing) some time ago as well known Matt tries to finalise things well in advance. Perhaps him and May had talks way before now knowing they were dropping down. I know Somerset had Doyle but easy to forget how well they did all season as a team and only just (and some would say unluckily) came up short. Still Won the KO Cup though despite just missing the Prem Final.

How about Steffan Nielsen as possible second reserve on 3.67 IF Covatti is senior reserve at 4.70 - Total reserves 8.37 which is 2.27 lower than our reserves finishing GSA for 2018. A good chunk of what we need to save for 2019,but not arguably as strong as our finishing reserves for last season. That's assuming Nielsen can stay away from injury. Many were impressed when he came in for his stint prior to injury last season, and perhaps impressed enough to be invited back ?? Scunthorpe ride Fri and other Champ teams ride Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun so no fixture clashes. Also won't cost a Kings ransom one would assume, such as flying in a foreigner. Just a thought. Still wondering if any reasonably large big name in the frame bearing in mind the rumour posted on Poole Forum by one party today that maybe Jack Holder not signing ??

Not done enough in Prem for me yet to warrant anything special. He needs to show his POL form consistently to prove he worth more money. Even then these guys would be deluded to think UK can pay big bucks.

Some thoughts on this. Covatti - Senior reserve means he could go Shanes (or not reading above) - Maybe a young Australian like Stewart or Pickering or another Young Aussie (well 23) Allen who would all be on lower than Covatti so it's a little ambiguous. Could be another young foreigner below in the 4/4.5 range. Or even a left field signing like Todd Kurtz who wouldnt be expensive living with Brady in one of Middlo's accomodation's. Ref Chris Holder. One again not so clear. Doesn't actually say he won't be racing UK which would have put closure on it. Doesn't Chris have to go back to Aussie anyway to race in Aussie Champs if he wants to qualify for the GP play offs again as no chance he will IMO get a Wild Card again. If Jack is racing UK he could still get a joint house/flat share rental arrangement. We know he had his UK House sold stc but still doesn't clarify his situation as to racing. Maybe Woryna is the rider with unrealistic demands ?? - Could also be Jack who is now an up and coming POL EXL rider. We all know Woryna gets paid plenty as he is the star of Rybnik. Not proved himself enough yet if it is him to warrant super star money in our Prem. Same applies if it was Jack. Hope it's not Brady who probably benefits from cheap lodgings from Middlo and also has Todd benefitting from sharing with him. I'm ok with Covatti but still more questions than answers on rest of the team.

Good & interesting point. With supposedly little money in the sport, I am sure Matt will need as much money as possible close season, also with the main team sponsor still not sorted. Would have thought even 100 advanced Season Tickets would yield around £20/22k. A decent signing announcement would sure accelerate that process you would think. Would also act as a gentle nudge to sponsors for 2019 with the annual xmas do about to come round.

Would be good to give us a decent first signing announcement (besides Brady) rather than further down the team, as we might have a better insight into Matt's thinking on team make up.

Maybe to act as driver & mechanic to get him to and from meetings as well as mechanic for him. Would make sense.

If the rider turns up maybe its James Shanes as he only lives local ;-)

It's simple - don't read them if difficult on the eye. I try to cultivate interesting Forum discussion on my team - i.e Poole. Yes I keep repeating it but it's in respect of trying to get people to engage with team ideas rather than the situation many would like to have seen Harris/Kurtz/Woryna/Graz/Jakobsen & Klindt all back or the majority of that team at least. How do you juggle the balls but stay within the limit. The only name probably not thrown in is Worrall but on 5.60 you won't get much change out of that. Maybe I expect too much from the Forum. The idea is to keep meaningful discussion among Poole fans and any other Speedway fans who want to comment during the dark and quiet close season. Thanks anyway for reading even if it does send you to sleep ;-)

Not so irrelevant if you were on a 5-1 with your team mate though huh ??

And your point is ????? For the purpose of the Poole 2019 Forum (which believe it or not this is...) it is a worthwhile discussion point that MAYBE a combination of Harris elevated GSA allied to the current team being 2.64 over, left Matt in a difficult position that he had to do some surgery on the team anyway to make it competitive (hopefully) for 2019. Maybe if Harris had not had his GSA uplifted and IF the team were not 2.64 over perhaps he would have been retained. We will never really know. Much as some wanted him back I think those 2 factors certainly didn't help. But it's part of forum chat which is better than the crap being aired on who won the league nonsense that's been going on last 2 days. Also many would have liked most of the team retained from 2018 but sure needs some work to get it down to within the limit so something has/had to give on team selection and still does. Again sensible forum discussion.

Hopefully will be a good signing for Pbro and suited to their big track. I feel he would not have been so good for Poole 2019 on overall team make up with his elevated GRI due to Rye results being deleted, but yes was a decent signing from July having overcome any early season set up problems. It's good to see him sorted and with it being only a 2 hour drive from home in Telford on hopefully decent roads also puts him closer to home. I think if he had stayed at Poole he would have had some good days, but I am not convinced he was the way forward for the team although always grateful for his efforts in helping the team become Prem Champions in 2018. Will always be a good team player this side of 40 and hopefully beyond but just feel he would not achieve his uplifted GSA from season start in Poole for 2019 and that's my opinion. A lot happened for Poole in the last 3rd of the season which would be difficult to replicate with a squad built around his higher appointed GSA and with the team also having to lose 2.64 whole points on top.

So much being aired on Poole 2019 Forum as to who won the league last season , it's getting a bit silly. People must be bored to continue this pointless discussion ongoing. We all know KL were the better team on actual league position as were Somerset but ultimately all the record will show is as what is shown on the SGB's own website - Home Page under ROLL OF HONOUR PREMIERSHIP CHAMPIONS: POOLE PREMIERSHIP RUNNERS UP: KINGS LYNN Until the powers that be change anything on the League Format (if they ever would), this is what will be remembered in the records and not who topped the League. If you want evidence of that look at 2010. Poole finished way out on top by 17 points from Wolves and a massive 26 points ahead of Coventry. But Coventry beat Poole in the Play Off Final and all the record show is that Cov were Champs and Poole Runners up. Now can we get back to the subject of Poole 2019 as history is written and behind us now.

Sometimes a simple news article on Poole website can perhaps be a give away. If a rider was not returning you would have thought this article would not have appeared on the Poole Website 2nd Dec. POOLE'S PLATINUM number one Brady Kurtz returned to competitive racing on Saturday night contesting the New South Wales State Championship at Cowr Would hardly seem to be talking about a rider who won't be back next season. Think most of us know he will be back for sure and his GSA is still decent at 7.05 even if it was uplifted due to removal of Rye scores. Would like to think last season was his initiation into globe trotting around Europe (POL/SWE & UK) so will improve for the experience.

Interesting little stat also on Jakobsen. In 13 matches for Poole after he joined in July he weighed in with 16 bonus points. When the team is trying to keep things tight these BP are important. Would have added over 1 point per meeting had BP been incl in GSA calculations. Of course it does help if you have a good team mate also in reserve as a partner :-) Hence an argument maybe to have strong reserves.

I think he is nailed on to return for Poole. No way Matt will have what is arguably the hottest talent coming out of DK (presently) ride elsewhere. Also still on an attractive GSA of 5.04. Plus had that all important first season (well from July onwards) which gave him an idea of what to expect going forward. When you think about it logically, he COULD be the next Nicki P - NKI - Madsen or K.Bjerre being only 20 (not 21 until next May). In a way pleased he is not doing SWE (although think he wanted to). I think concentrating on POL (now in a Nice 1 team so self promotion) - DK - UK and various Junior Tournaments as well as DK Champ etc will keep him busy. Also with UK being mainly Thur with some Mon (Wolves/BV away x 2) he will not be bogged down doing Pol/Sun - UK/Mon - Swe/Tue - DK/Wed - UK Thur plus individual tournaments such as World U21 etc, would be a hell of a sched for a 20 year old Dane coming through. OK Lambert thrived on it but he was used to all the travelling even as a youngster between UK/Germany and rest of Europe. Having said that Lambert did incredibly well last season. I am all for seeing the young next generation with true potential coming through (especially at Poole).. Even if he is not British ;-) Plenty of the same please, be it Australian's/British or whoever is good with me. The same old same old riders such as Harris/Nicholls will always get team places Prem & Champ as they ride out rest of their careers.

Maybe THJ having ridden for Chapman before and seemingly desperate to ride in UK for 2019 (as no SWE team thinks he's worth what he thinks he is worth and only worthy of a POL 2nd Div slot). Perhaps he will fit in to Chapman's cost plans for either Ips/Pet or even KL. Just a thought as would be on a low av and maybe within Chapman's idea of budget ??

Yep I saw the same thing mentioned but that was based on a comment from one party who mentioned he had been visiting over there. Also heard that besides Fast Freddie living there so had Max Fricke moved there but again like the Holder comment don't know if any truth in it. I know Chris has had a tough time with personal situation and no doubt messing around with the authorities as a result, but would be nice to know if he has commited to living abroad and or has excluded riding again in UK certainly for 2019 and if he has sold up to move abroad . Ultimately for a long time he was a legend at Poole and a WC, and much as that was 6 years ago now many wanted him back for 2018 and were glad he was announced on that low 7.16 GSA. Would just be nice to find out what the outcome is for Chris for the future. I would certainly love to see him back again and with Jack but maybe too much has happened for us to see him racing in UK again ?? Someone out there other than Chris must know what his situation is now.

i was thinking similar for Poole the other week but someone corrected me by saying that being a Foreign rider he wold have to be a min of 4 despite his first season Champ av converting to 3.07. Nice thought though as I aired the possibility of having Pickering and or Stewart as reserves :-)

Was thinking similar. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the new owner IMO. Indicates more to me needs/must or it would have been one big messed up league had he not purchased Pet/ipswich to drag them up in order to maintain a 3 league system. Without you two the Prem would have been screwed to put it mildly.