rabbit

What a meeting - that final has a hell of a lot to live up to. Think it will be packed there tomorrow for sure. Just goes to prove what I've always said - that Poole's track will dish up great racing when it's slick and that the lines are there if the racers in the sport have the balls to go for it and use their heads to find the lines rather than just play follow my leader. Still can't believe AJ's move - that goes down as one of the most aweseome passes I've seen in the sport since I've been following it. Knew he'd do well - he's like a home rider round Poole unlike a certain Aussie I won't mention! So an Aussie free final and I bet the Poles couldn't beleive how much support they had in that last heat . If anyone was in two minds about tomorrow they should get their ticket today. Forget the size of the crowd last night - it was never going to be full with no British interest - but the Final is a different story. Can't wait!

Latest at 6ish...still sunny and baking hot. Hope they've been watering that track all afternoon!

Ooh dipstick - my first compliment of the day ! Think you might need to read the forum guidelines me old mate - attack the post not the poster!! Besides if you want to be picky about the English language you might want to check your dictionary for the spelling of the word 'meant' before you start on the rest of us!!! Anyway, the riders you've mentioned with the offending 'y' at the end of their names have been known as those nicknames in the sport for years. Maybe you should tell Mr Havelock he's not allowed to market himself as Havvy anymore...

Uh oh - someone needs a chill pill!

Still hot n sunny. Latest radar shots on the weather sites don't show anything around this area - mostly to the north and east and moving north...

Think you have to look at form around the Poole track - if it was at Oxford I'd agree Travis would be a good choice. But around Wimborne Rd - of all the Aussie's they could have picked, Boycie is probably the best of the bunch - having ridden for Poole for so many years he'll know the lines to take and the set ups etc. Now watch me have to eat humble pie when he has a mare tonight...

Still dry down here....

Now there's a surprise! Hmm, that's will have just upped the Aussie strength a bit more if he gets in...

I saw a posting yesterday by the Poole webbo that the teams didn't have to be declared until after practice. Guess they should be out sometime after 1pm. Pretty heavy practice session still going on when I left work - track looked like it had been watered well and the riders had been practicing for about 45 mins by then.

Now now Phil! Some thing odd is going on with the tickets. When I looked online a while ago there were none for the grandstand - it said sold out. When I looked yesterday to order my tickets, there were suddenly seats available in several blocks in the grandstand seating section. So was it sold out or not?

Dave the Mic...great posting! Couldn't agree more. Whatever happens on Saturday I hope that no-one moans at any of the riders or accuses them of 'losing us the meeting'. Take it as read that they will all be giving 110% and if we win, then amazing and if we don't it's down to a better team beating us rather than any one rider not trying or letting us down.

It would have to be Boycie if anyone was going to come in. Of the riders not riding he has to have most experience of the Poole track of anyone out there and he's not exactly unused to World Championship events. I'd be more than happy for the Aussies to leave their team as is....

Nice one Middlo - great performance by the guys on Monday and we know that whatever happens on Saturday they'll be giving it their all. Good luck for Saturday - you'll have plenty of support and one hell of a wall of noise behind the team that's for sure!

Well I wasn't going to bother going - thought I'd sit and home and watch on TV. But with the Brits in the Final, good weather forecast for the weekend, the great atmosphere that I know there'll be ...I've booked my tickets for the Final this morning. And judging by the amount of time I had to wait on the line to get through I reckon there's a lot of people doing the same. For anyone booking now you can pick the tickets up on the day. Sounds good to me and saves the hassles of waiting on the post! Bring it on!!! Just got to remember to take the sunglasses and to put a couple of brewskis in the bag and we're set.

Expect those pics will go up today Richtea. As for worrying about the standing having seen where those stands are on the 3rd/4th turns, there is still plenty of standing space with pretty much the whole of the 4th turn free and like you said loads of space on the 1st bend.

The Official Poole site has a couple of pictures of the temporary seating going up at Poole on the 3rd/4th bends (scroll down the homapage and then click on the images for larger shots). Looks quite good - from what I've heard the stands going up on the 1st and 2nd bends will be bigger still and are due up in the next day or so.

OK so eating places and watering holes. Here goes…if anyone else knows of any good ones I’ve missed out just add them. This is by no means an exhaustive list! I’ll do the list starting from the stadium and getting further away. Makes it easier to think of. If you leave the stadium, turn right and head past the Barclays building (the big monstrosity) and walk towards the big roundabout you’ll see the George pub on your left. Traditional pub but not a great deal of room although you can sit outside and inhaled the exhaust fumes. Chilli’s – bar and Mexican food. From the George cross the roundabout to the NatWest bank and take a right. Chilli’s is about 100yds walk past the rows of shops. KFC – dead opposite Chilli’s. The KFC is close to the bus station which has a few food places (chippie etc) Lighthouse Arts Centre - next door to Chilli's– has a couple of café’s inside and out. Dolphin Shopping Centre. Not much in here other than a decent sandwich bar opposite Littlewoods (if you walk past the KFC and head back towards the stadium there’s an entrance to the Centre by B&R textiles – Mixed Fillings in just inside opposite Littlewoods. Can recommend the Indonesian Chicken! Go through the Shopping Centre following signs for the High Street for everywhere else. Go through Falkland Square, over the railway crossing and keep walking! First stop – Burger King on your right just before the road cuts across the High Street. Lord Wimborne – Wetherspoons pub. Decent eating place and likely to be child friendly. Directly opposite MacDonalds is the entrance to Sainsbury’s – go up here and the pub is on your right. Usually busy with shoppers but is pretty big. The Rising Sun – Thai / Oriental. Go past MacDonald’s and over the road crossing. On your right is a church – there’s an alleyway on the left side of the building. Go down here and the Rising Sun is on the right. Not that cheap but really good food. Seats outside and very nice place. Can get busy with us office workers at lunchtimes! Back on the High Street and a couple of buildings down from the church is MacDonalds on the right. Further down the High Street – Yates pub on the left. Gets very busy in the evenings. Food during the day and not bad. Another pub opposite – not sure what it is – Old Harry maybe. Not one I usually go in so don’t blame me if there’s sawdust on the floor. Tandoori Nights – Indian funnily enough. Again further down the High Street on the left. Firm favourite on a drinking session. Then quite a gap – carry on down to the end of the High Street and cross the road into the Old Town. The Hogshead should be right in front of you. Alcatraz – Italian restaurant opposite the Hogshead.Very good food but also gets pretty busy. Taj Mahal – Indian - next door. Again good choice and another on the night out route. Carry on past the Hogshead and there’s a few seafood and French restaurants along the road on the right, and Kebab and Chicken places on the left. Follow the road round and you’re on the Quay. Plenty of pubs and eating places along here with seats outside, including the Jazz Cafe and I think there's a big Brewer's Fayre place for families. LaLupas – Italian restaurant. On the right handside of the Quay if you come from the High Street. Las Magueritas – cheap and cheerful Mexican – again on the right hand end of the Quay. Oysters on the Quay – new bar heading left as you leave the High Street. If you keep going left towards the Dolphin Quays (the big apartment complex – you won’t miss it ) there’s chip bars and seafood outlets. I know I’ve missed a few and there’s more hidden away down side streets but hope that’s a help. Will confirm some of the pub names – it’s all usually a bit hazy by the time I get that far down the High Street on a night out!! Any questions – just yell!

If it's any help to people coming down to the area I can put together a list of the decent pubs and different types/best eating places in Poole and how to get to them from the stadium. Might save some time even if people are just coming down early in the day. Let me know and I'll put something tgether. Think it was a wasted opportunity in this weeks Speedway Star not to actually help out the people coming down to Eastie and Poole with some info!

They re-name it and call it a wine bar but I still wouldn't go there But they do the horniest Chilli this side of Mexico!!!

You've got plenty of choice sirmatty. Depends what sort of places you're after - there's the usual Wetherspoons, Yates, Hogshead stylie places, flasher yachtie places on the quay, and your traditional pubs every 50-100 yards from the middle of the High Street down to the quay. Or if you're not fussed about walking more than you have to there's the George near the roundabout by the stadium or Chillis wine bar about 100 yards round the corner. One thing you never have problems with in Poole is doing a pub crawl... If you're at the Premier Lodge it's about a mile and half from Poole town centre and the stadium just to warn you in case you were thinking of staggering back!

Before everyone gets carried away from what I've heard there's going to be 2 temporary grandstands and the 1st and 2nd bends and 2 or 3 on the 3rd and 4th bends. The standing is supposedly limited to the 1st and 4th bends as Steve says. The 4th bend terracing is a lot better than it was before and has a slight slope (I should know I stand there every week!) and the 1st bend is sloped also. If they're going to put grandstands in theres not going to be a great deal of standing room that they can sell anyway ( and on the 4th bend especially it's a walkway through to the new stand and food/bars/toilets etc) so I can't see people being stuck miles at the back.

Barker? Don't you mean Floppy, SCB? Thank God Screenie has had a change of heart. It was great seeing David Howe and Chris Neath get the chance on Monday, but it proved they're not quite ready for the international big time just yet. Not sure about the Eastie rounds (agree with VV maybe Barker) but would think Havvy is likely to get the nod at Poole - although if Rico does miraculously get fit again then Middlo's got a tough choice between him and Screenie later in the week.

Hell they were good meetings - filled terraces, baking sunny days. British Final day was an event - it meant something. Top 6 or whatever through to the next round of World Championship qualification. Like it or not fans are only interested in events that mean something i.e the next stage on the road to entry into say the GPs. Just the title of being British Champion doesn't seem enough nowadays I'm afraid - not to the majority of supporters.

Should be a great meeting - just hope it doesn't get uber-competitive. We're two weeks away from the SWC and touch wood, not doing too bad on the you-know-what score for Team GB this year. Not even going to say the 'i' word in case I jinx 'em!

Brilliant news! His form over here at least has been sensational and the call-up for Sweden in the SWC had to be in the offing. To get the wildcard for the GP is a bonus and hope he shows the form that we know he's capable of (Ipswich excepted maybe )!!