Bojangles

I don't meant to be harsh, but it feels like most of you commenting on Ashton Boughen have literally only seen him race at Poole. I've watched him for two seasons now, and shutting the throttle off when people are near him has never been an issue in the past. It's clearly because he has been riding while injured and doesn't want to aggravate said injury, surely? You've only got to look at his recent form to know something is amiss - you don't go from scoring a maximum at Redcar to riding like that at Poole in the space of a month for no reason. I will agree that Ashton is a bit of an enigma. When he's in front he looks like a million dollars, but when he's behind and doesn't fancy it, he cruises around at the back. On occasions he's come from last to first at Oxford, riding the high line and looking sensational - but there is the other side of him where you can clearly hear him shutting off the throttle coming into the bends when in last place. There is absolutely nobody around him when he does this, it's just something he does, and I don't know why. But at the end of the day, he's 17 years of age, this is only his second full season in the sport and he's still learning his way. Give him time, because he's certainly not afraid of other riders around him or mixing it up when needs be. He just needs to learn the best way to do it.

Had Starke already ridden for Workington in the playoffs? I didn't know. I wish somebody had mentioned it before you on this thread...

Surely you realise it's more than just a co-incidence that these crashes keep involving him, though. Do all these riders turn into Vinnie and nobody else? There's plenty of other situations where somebody has turned into them (slightly, that's all it was) and they have the ability to sense the danger and take the necessary precautions. Vinnie just goes at 100% and (to be honest) doesn't seem to care about the consequences. As the guy who started the thread said, he's had six crashes in his last three meetings. That's not just somebody being unlucky is it?

Jackanory, jackanory. Give it a rest.

You lie, Matt Ford lies. Same difference.

Jackanory, jackanory

I didn't mean Starke specifically, was just using him as an example. As I said, I like Jody and think he's got a good future, but there must have been a better option for a playoff final against a very strong team.

Firstly congratulations to Poole. They were the class act of the league throughout the season, and worthy winners. Another masterclass in team building. A lot has been made of Peter Schroeck's poor decision in the first leg, but an arguably even bigger blunder was not finding a suitable guest for Atkins/Roynon. Relying on Jody Scott was an awful decision, I don't think he beat an opposing rider over the two legs (bar Thomsen when he had bike issues). I like the lad and he's going to improve, but he's just not Championship level yet. Surely a decent guest wouldn't have been too hard to find for a final? Oxford had Paul Starke at Poole in the league and someone like him taking six rides instead of Scott could have been the difference. Poor effort from Schroeck in my opinion. He has had an absolute stinker in this final. Anyway, congratulations to Poole again. On to the KO Cup now.

If being hit in the head impacted his performance at Oxford, he shouldn't have been allowed to continue.... let alone be racing tonight.

I was there, crash was right in front of me. He was down a long time and was heavily limping once up.

Poole have to be favourites if Oxford use Gilkes and Scott. Cameron Heeps has only scored 3 in each of his visits to Poole this year Ashton Boughen is not fully fit Dan Gilkes doesn't like Wimborne Road Luke Killeen is unlikely to be fully fit after his crash yesterday Jody Scott struggles to score points at home, let alone away Masters and Nicholls can't do it all.

True. But that one was just too ridiculous to ignore!

I'm all for a bit of propaganda, but it has to be believable! Masters is far from virtually unbeatable at Poole. He's done two meetings there this season and scored a whopping 16 (paid 19) from 11 rides. That's a rather underwhelming match average of 5.82 (6.91 inc. bonus).

Here's a novel idea. If they want to pick the likes of Kvech and Huckenbeck (which is ridiculous by the way) as they have GPs in those countries, why not have only 14 permanent riders and have 2 wild cards at each GP? It means every venue is guaranteed to have two riders, and then there would be at least one extra space for a sensible regular wildcard pick.

Think it also depends who Oxford get in as guests. Gilkes (who hasn't excelled at Poole in the past) and Scott are probably not going to score many points either.

Richard Palmer

Schroeck was interviewed at length during the Under-19 Championship today. Gave the usual spiel about how proud of the boys he was, happy with a 12-point lead etc., etc., but never once mentioned anything about heat 12. Either he is keeping quiet, or he still doesn't realise his mistake. I'm going for the latter.

Not too sure why some Oxford fans would behave that way. From my experience, it only seems to be when Poole fans visit. They do seem to have this way of rubbing the Oxford fans up the wrong way - probably due to their success to be fair, jealously does weird things to people. Personally I love the Poole meetings, always a great atmosphere and always good friendly banter. A good rivalry is what makes speedway great, and there doesn't seem to be many bigger than Poole-Oxford at the moment, despite Oxford's recent return. Anybody making gestures to kids needs to have a word with themselves.

Lee Harrison in for Sam McGurk and Jamie Etherington in for Ben Trigger. Expect Vinnie Foord might be a doubt as well after yesterday's crash. Parking available at the stadium for those travelling by car.

Biggest ever Oxford crowd? Crowds were literally three times the size of that in the Hans Nielsen days in the 80s. Not even close.

To be fair, Harris would never be one to jeopardise a future guesting opportunity.

Problem is, (most) Poole fans think they are going to win every meeting...and they do not like it when they don't.

I'm disappointed in Schroeck's poor management, but that's Poole's biggest loss of the season. I'd have taken 51-39 before the start. Bravo Sam Masters. Well done Dan Gilkes as well, 8+1 is decent return from four rides.

Might put it on Killeen though!

Quite hard to predict how the second leg will go. Oxford's two visits to Poole this season have been a 49-41 win and 61-29 loss - somewhere in the middle most probably.