Grachan

Well done Troy Bachelor for his excellent win in heat 10. All hail the mighty ones.

Swindon getting a right tonking here. What on earth is going on with the track? Can't be much fun standing on the bends. Thanks for the link. EDIT: One bloke with a hose pipe? Seriously?

In which case they weren't aware of it, which is different. The current immigration red tape in this country is totally draconian. I hope they get it sorted soon.

Really? That was a silly thing to do.. It's their own fault if that's the case.

Who writes those website reports? It reads as though Chris Holder is a child and will get a free Easter Egg!

I remember Finn Thomsen scoring about 21 for Wolves at Swindon, and Wolves winning. I can't remember the exact score and exact result, but it could be another case of that.

Possibly the John Davis situation in 1975. He signed for Reading, so Oxford could use a guest for him. So they used John Davis as a guest for himself.

Don't you just love the new, strict immigration rules that the country was clamouring for and were put in place.

Ah right. Apologies. I thought he was an idiot. My mistake.

He was originally in the Swindon side, but opted out to ride for Sheffield instead. I don't see how he could be allowed back in now. I don't think any new rankings will give Poole any better options. They already have a choice of anyone on the list as far as I know.

What makes you think poole's reserves are going to be any worse than Swindon's? Could be 0-0 in both reserve races.

I noticed that with some riders and wondered the same thing. My guess is that they opted out of the draft initially.

I've not looked at the new format properly, but one thing that struck me watching on Monday was that in some races you had a really strong Poole pair against a weaker Coventry pair. then, in the following race there was a weaker Poole pair against a stronger Coventry pair. so you had a Poole 5-1 banker followed by a Coventry 1-5 banker. That seemed a little out of balance. The draft rider thing seems ok in principle, but having these guys riding in all 3 leagues makes it a bit of a farce because the format makes reserve points vital yet teams will be missing key reserves a lot. Maybe long term, though, it will encourage teams to sign up British juniors as their own assets so it could end up positively as long as the system is stuck with for a long period of time. I think having youngsters at reserve is a good thing. It's reserves, after all. And better than the glory days so many people hark back to, when you used to get fat old baldy guys down at reserve.

Don't forget, also, that Harris is in there partly because a few riders decided not to be. And he can't be blamed for that. Don't forget, also, that Harris is in there partly because a few riders decided not to be. And he can't be blamed for that.

So ,was Darcy Ward not in the Poole team at the start of the season? The first Poole team showing Chris Holder on the BSPA website is from 24 March. The season began on 9 March. That's why I looked on here instead. Darcy Ward is clearly announced on the BSPA website as having signed for Poole back in December 2013. So at what point was Chris Holder put into the side in his place? Was it before 9 March? The news that Poole were using Holder for Ward was put on the Swindon website on March 25, which is more than 2 weeks later than the start of the season. Clearly they re-declared with Holder to use him in the Elite Shield. But Ward was in the original side at the start of the year. We all know that. At least most of us do. I'm not desperate at all. Why would I be desperate to prove Poole correct? It's just that that's how it is.

How have they broken the rules? I want to join the anti-Poole brigade, so somebody give me the justification please.

You want me to keep digging? OK, give me a spade. I'll keep digging. Dig, dig, dig (sorry, childlike again and I do know how you hate that)... CLANG!! Oh! What's this? This is the original Poole team according to the Completed teams thread., Poole (completed) 1. Darcy Ward. 9.07 2. Maciej Janowski 6.95 3. Josh Grajczonek(d/u) 4.48 4. Vaclav milik. 4.00 5. Shamek Pawlicki. 7.15 6. Kyle Newman 7. Lee Smart And this is the rule on where a facility can be granted: 16.5.2 Where an absent Rider has either (a) an assessed MA, or ( b ) has been approved in a team’s declared line up at the start of the season then a 28 day Facility may be granted at MC’s discretion .

It seems to me that you don't know the way it works. The rule is about re-declared riders is clearly there so a team can't announce, for example, that they are signing Greg Hancock when they have no intention of using him, then using a guest in his place. Hence there is the option for the rule to be over-ridden in genuine cases such as this.

Yeah, but your post was edited 10 minites later, so for all we know, m'lud, you made the original post without having properly checked your facts first. Because your point in that post indicates you didn't realise Ward was in the team. Anyway, I don't really want to spend all day in a "nyah nyah di nyah nyah" anally retentive discussion on the rules with people who are probably convinced Poole cheat because they have got engines on their bikes. As far as I can see, Darcy Ward is in the Poole side so they are entitled to a guest. I'm sure the rule being quoted is there to prevent dubious signings being made by a team by taking on riders who are not going to ride for them and then using a facility. This is, quite obviously, not the case with Darcy Ward and Poole. So one would expect quite reasonably that they would be allowed to use a facility.

And you put that Poole's team is there in black and white and made it clear that you thought Chris Holder is in it. But he's not. So back atcha smarty pants. .

Ah right. Just as well they're trying to get Chris holder then.

I didn't realise that it didn't matter what I think. Sorry about that. Thanks for putting me right on that score. With regards to Holder being declared, I didn't realise they had actually declared him in their side. Even so, I THINK (I use those words because I don't want to come across as a know-it-all, as I can see how from other people's posts how bad that looks sometimes) that it is irrelevant. Because the team declared on 4th April (that's last Friday which I THINK was before Saturday, when Ward got injured) has Darcy Ward at number one.

Aren't they always?

Blimey, it's all kicking off in here innit? People saying they're not just being anti-Poole but, come on, you know you are really. You love it. So, what's the issue really here? Was Holder in Poole's declared 1-7? I don't think he was. I think Swindon and Poole just agreed that it made sense for Poole to use him in the Elite Shield. No problem there. Fine. Ward is still number one I think. If he's injured, Poole can use a guest. No problem there. Fine. If Poole can use Holder instead then that's better if he fits in. Much better than guests. Better for the sport. No problem there. Fine. So, no problems then. So that's fine then. Glad we sorted that out.

It's true. There's always those who shouldn't be there. Last year it was Woffinden. Smolinski this year. It devalues the whole thing.