marko

I write this as a neutral, I am not Poole fan, or a Scunthorpe fan, I am Arena Essex, Poole have a history of getting away with things, but Godfrey is no angel either, he was a small part of the reason why the Hammers went out of business. Anyway I digress Video evidence has been used at speedway for some time now and any good referee would have watched that raced and noted down the fact that they might have to look again at the footage before declaring a result. There is no way you could call it in real time whether Cook’s rear tyre had crossed the line or not, it needed to be examined. The ref looked at it afterwards but only after being prompted too by David Howe, and then I suspect they would have only changed their minds had it been like with footballs VAR, not just a error, but a clear and obvious one, had speedway had someone in the pits acting as a overseer then they would not be able to overrule the decision because of that fact, some angles it did others were not conclusive. I think Poole did deserve to be champions but not because of what happened on the night but the fact they finished top of the table. Certainly last night I don’t think Poole cheated, they had a close call which could have gone against them but Zack didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, heck I recall years ago it was something of a in joke that Mick Poole would spend most of the season on the grass at the showground, he was famous for it. In summary, the ref could have handled it a lot better, the refereeing standards as a whole in this country have been very poor to put it nicely.

All season long referees in this Country have been found to be incompetent, tonight was no different. When the headlines following a sporting contest are about the official/s rather than the event itself, you have a problem.

I thought it was illegal if your back wheel touched the white line, never mind going over it

Poole will be bang up for this where as Scunthorpe will say the same old thing of we all start level etc etc, Pickering will have a go but even he might take it easy later if the score has gotten away from them as won’t want to do something stupid and miss Sheffields chance.

Feel sorry for Mitch, he clearly loves to have a blast around the outside but has the two of the worst home tracks he could have in each league to do that. Next season he should ride for Belle Vue and Scunthorpe, he will double his average.

Feel sorry for Mitch, he clearly loves to have a blast around the outside but has the two of the worst home tracks he could have in each league to do that. Next season he should ride for Belle Vue and Scunthorpe, he will double his average.

Sentiment dictates we can’t afford to lose another track, reality suggests it’s going to be a constant struggle to keep a lot of venues open financially. But in the case of Plymouth, if 500 of their fans donated 100 pounds to the club that would pay for a new fence and a bit more. Also my opinion on the track has no bearing on whether it will be around next season, that will be down to your fans or your promoter to find the money.

I thought Plymouth were supposed to be getting really good gates this season? Where has the money gone? seriously though, maybe they would be better off being a Nora track/training track? I’m no fan of it but if you can teach youngsters to ride Plymouth, they can ride anywhere.

And in the days before the internet and streaming you never saw your team race away unless you actually went, home wins were the key as only a very tiny percentage of fans went to away matches unless it was a local derby. Winning at home will always be important to maintain crowds, Exeter was always about winning at home by as much as they can and hoping it would be enough to seal the bonus point which it often was. Certainly under a play off format, winning all your home matches and collecting all the bonus points should see you qualify.

I know people will say Ipswich is a small track but I can remind you that way back in the early 90s Arena Essex was being mentioned about hosting a Grand Prix, the track was given FIM status at one point (might have been 94) and there was plans to improve the stadium accordingly and then Hackney became a thing and the late Terry Russell went for that option instead, with the newly named London Stadium host a GP round in 1995. Its a shame for Belle Vue because IT IS the best track in the country, What i would have liked to have seen is two rounds back to back on the Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday, one in Manchester and the other in Ipswich, thus giving equal opportunity for fans in both the North and South to see a GP round.

I don’t care if Lambert does not want to ride in the UK, why would he want to be part of this circus run by clowns.

Well done Robert Lambert

Trouble is though parts of the sport ARE amateur, maybe semi pro at best but they charge professional prices.

I think Ipswich need at least one reserve who is a real home specialist, this season they have not had that with any rider they have had in that position. If I was in charge, I would be looking at three riders off the top of my head to form the nucleus Doyle, Ellis and Rew.

Sooner they get rid of doubling up the better, it’s a sticky plaster that has been done to death. It will create a rider shortage but that will then force somebody to actually do something about it than pretend it’s not an issue. The league is only being kept afloat by doubling up and riders who would have normally long since retired by now, sooner or later though those riders will have no choice but to call it a day, better to address the issue now than after. And as far as this idea of riders needing to ride to make money, get a job, the only riders who should be full time are the riders who ride in several countries every week. Remember even when the likes of Andy Galvin was dominating the old National League, he was not a full time rider.