Poole Pirates 2021

[ray c]

On 2/14/2021 at 12:09 PM, Skidder1 said:

Well done to Poole reserve Ben Cook who finished 4th (engine failure) in the NSW Championship final with 12 points behind Poole assets Jack Holder (1st) and Brady Kurtz (2nd).

at least the stadium is going to be used for something else track and trace not sure when it starts though ?

Edited February 15, 2021 by ray c

[SteveLyric2]

Plymouth v Poole home and away in round one of the KO Cup.

[scottyfan]

6 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

Plymouth v Poole home and away in round one of the KO Cup.

WOW .... What a surprise......NOT!!!!...

[SteveLyric2]

17 hours ago, scottyfan said:

WOW .... What a surprise......NOT!!!!...

It was done geographically to cut down on too much travelling!!

Winners meet Eastie or Kent!

[cityrebel]

1 hour ago, Skidder1 said:

It was done geographically to cut down on too much travelling!!

Winners meet Eastie or Kent!

Very sensible, if the country opens up in different tiers.

[SteveLyric2]

Poole taking the cautious approach and not scheduling their first Home competitive meeting til end May.  Maybe a couple of 'challenges if rules allow, with fans..

[cityrebel]

19 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

Poole taking the cautious approach and not scheduling their first Home competitive meeting til end May.  Maybe a couple of 'challenges if rules allow, with fans..

Very sensible.

[Ghosty]

On 2/18/2021 at 12:36 PM, Skidder1 said:

Poole taking the cautious approach and not scheduling their first Home competitive meeting til end May.  Maybe a couple of 'challenges if rules allow, with fans..

They may be paying the rent per month

[SteveLyric2]

4 hours ago, Ghosty said:

They may be paying the rent per month

per meeting!!!

[Arthur54]

Looks like 25th May for Pooles first home meeting is looking good 

[SteveLyric2]

On 2/22/2021 at 4:16 PM, Arthur54 said:

Looks like 25th May for Pooles first home meeting is looking good 

..or even the 26th May!!!!

 

Edit: In the updated fixture list Poole now have a 'reserved' date on 19th May.

All fixtures before 17th May now rescheduled.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Skidder1

[STEVEHOLS54]

Was  a bit surprised Keleher didnt post on social media re his performance in the Darcy Ward meeting on Saturday.

Hardly inspring - 3 points from 4 rides - a win in a B final against 4 nobody's and then disqualified. He beat not one rider of any note in those 3 points beore the B final where he rode against riders all below him and none of any stature.

When you look at the decent riders scores including young riders with potential like Jedd List it does make you wonder. He is not a youngster (27 plus) has been riding bikes for years in one shape or another. I do hope his riding for Poole turns out half as good as his media sites portray both himself and his website. But suppose with the promotion its all about asset building. Below is the scorecard it took days to get.

Before the diehards say its only one meeting, please look at ALL the decent riders scores as well as those with little to no experience like Jedd List. 

 1. Ryan Douglas (3,3,3,2) 11 + 3
2. Zaine Kennedy (3,2,3,3) 11 + 2
3. Jason Crump (3,3,3,3) 12 + 1
4. Nick Morris (2,2,3,2) 9 + 3 + W
5. Jordan Stewart (2,2,3,3) 10 + 2
6. Justin Sedgmen (3,1,2,3) 9 + 1
7. Rohan Tungate (2,3,2,1) 8 + 3 + 0
8. Declan Kennedy (3,1,3,1) 8 + 2
9. Kye Thomson (2,3,1,2) 8 + 1
10. Jedd List (3,1, W, 3) 7 + 3 + D
11. Jacob Hook (0,2,2,1) 5 + 3 + 2
12. Mitch Cluff (1,3,0,2) 6 +1
13. Jake Allen (1,2,2,3) 8 + D
14. Connor Bailey (2,0,2,2) 6 + 2
15. Cooper Riordan (0,3,0,1) 4 + 1
16. Zane Keleher (0, W, 1,2) 3 + 3 + D
17. Cordell Rogerson (2,1,1,0) 4 + 2
18. Kane Lawrence (1,2,1,0) 4 + 1
19. Flynn Nicol (1, W, 2,0) 3 + 0
20. Joel Coyne (1, W, 1,1) 3 + 2
21. Moz Brown (0,0,1,0) 1 + 1
22. Broc Hall (0,1,0, U) 1 + 3 + 0
23. Aaron Jackson (1, U, 0, D) 1 + 2
24. Bailey Viner (0,0,0,1) 1 + D
25. Josh Coyne (1) 1

[Duane]

Sure it wasn’t the E final? Nick Morris won the B final before jumping the start in the A final & being excluded.. 

[STEVEHOLS54]

2 hours ago, Duane said:

Sure it wasn’t the E final? Nick Morris won the B final before jumping the start in the A final & being excluded.. 

Indeed it was an E Final which puts into perspective how bad his performance was.

Lets hope there is more substance to this guy than just flashy social media sites and a snazzy website. I was not impressed with him even in the 2020 Aussie finals before his injury and think we have signed him more on maybe hype than perhaps ability. But suppose he is a club asset which is the most important thing for Poole it seems similar to the totally untried Ben Cook in UK.

I worry how we will stack up against the likes of Leicester who look a really strong top 5. maybe we will be relying heavily on our 2 reserves to outscore heavily against riders such as the Thompson twins. Leicester top 5 of Douglas (almost unbeatable so far in every Aussie meeting) Morris (surely will get back to being the 8 plus PREM rider he was 2 seasons ago), Howarth - Proctor & Bates looks strong.

Our top 3 look ok but below that will be interesting.

[ray c]

24 minutes ago, STEVEHOLS54 said:

Indeed it was an E Final which puts into perspective how bad his performance was.

Lets hope there is more substance to this guy than just flashy social media sites and a snazzy website. I was not impressed with him even in the 2020 Aussie finals before his injury and think we have signed him more on maybe hype than perhaps ability. But suppose he is a club asset which is the most important thing for Poole it seems similar to the totally untried Ben Cook in UK.

I worry how we will stack up against the likes of Leicester who look a really strong top 5. maybe we will be relying heavily on our 2 reserves to outscore heavily against riders such as the Thompson twins. Leicester top 5 of Douglas (almost unbeatable so far in every Aussie meeting) Morris (surely will get back to being the 8 plus PREM rider he was 2 seasons ago), Howarth - Proctor & Bates looks strong.

Our top 3 look ok but below that will be interesting.

hoping danyon hume will come up trumps deserves a chance and a bit of luck .nasty crash at poole in the under 21 final in 2017 in which he broke is arm 

[STEVEHOLS54]

2 hours ago, ray c said:

hoping danyon hume will come up trumps deserves a chance and a bit of luck .nasty crash at poole in the under 21 final in 2017 in which he broke is arm 

Have a sneaky feeling we may be relying quite a bit on Hume & Cook to score points against weaker/less inexperienced reserve riders. There are plenty of these young guys finding their way in these reserve slots. Cook is not a newbie and has held his own against some mid order Aussie riders and Hume is a proven N/L H/L with scope to improve. Still fairly young and missed some time with injury. 

Incredible to think a rider younger than Cook i.e Zaine Kennedy who has regularly scored well in Aussie and just missed out on their U21 title some seasons back (as well as scoring so well at the weekend) has missed out (so far) on a UK slot. I wanted him for a while to be at Poole but the Fords seem all about trying to sign new assets. As Kennedy is not as asset it seems they don't want such riders. I assume also about saving money as no loan fees to pay. Who would I rather have at 4 points -Cook/keleher or Kennedy. On ability and age I would go for the latter but let's hope I'm wrong.

[SteveLyric2]

11 minutes ago, STEVEHOLS54 said:

Have a sneaky feeling we may be relying quite a bit on Hume & Cook to score points against weaker/less inexperienced reserve riders. There are plenty of these young guys finding their way in these reserve slots. Cook is not a newbie and has held his own against some mid order Aussie riders and Hume is a proven N/L H/L with scope to improve. Still fairly young and missed some time with injury. 

Incredible to think a rider younger than Cook i.e Zaine Kennedy who has regularly scored well in Aussie and just missed out on their U21 title some seasons back (as well as scoring so well at the weekend) has missed out (so far) on a UK slot. I wanted him for a while to be at Poole but the Fords seem all about trying to sign new assets. As Kennedy is not as asset it seems they don't want such riders. I assume also about saving money as no loan fees to pay. Who would I rather have at 4 points -Cook/keleher or Kennedy. On ability and age I would go for the latter but let's hope I'm wrong.

You seem to be forgetting that Poole's main aim for this season (as it would have been in 2020) is to recoup some financial stability for the club after what happened in 2019!!

Zane and Ben have been recommended by Matt's Aussie contacts so lets wait to see them on track before criticising them from afar! As far as Zane's performance in Saturday's meeting is concerned we don't know any of the circumstances.

[STEVEHOLS54]

2 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

You seem to be forgetting that Poole's main aim for this season (as it would have been in 2020) is to recoup some financial stability for the club after what happened in 2019!!

Zane and Ben have been recommended by Matt's Aussie contacts so lets wait to see them on track before criticising them from afar! As far as Zane's performance in Saturday's meeting is concerned we don't know any of the circumstances.

Skidder - This is a forum where we can share opinion and not just sing the praises of the owners.

I have expressed an opinion and made comments which all are free to respond to negative or positive.

I have also followed the Aussie seasons for a number of years now when we are in our Winter hibernation mode. I follow regular the Aussie sites as well as Youtube and the main Polish Speedway news site which shows all the results/comments and some meeting highlights.

I have openly said that I HOPE that both Keleher & Cook step up to the plate. If they can't do it against a lot of weaker/inexprerienced reserves in this weaker league then they are obviously not of the quality the so called experts make them out to be. Personally I prefer both Macdonald & Kennedy but they are other clubs assets (but both available to Poole).  both of them have UK experience and both had their UK breakthrough initial season. I think both would have progressed and would have been good switching in and out of reserve at this even more watered down level in 2021. We could even have had Ben's younger brother Zack as no Somerset and he is arguably in many Aussie's eye a better rider than Ben. Based on both Aussie results from previous seasons and future ability.

As mentioned I hope my observation is misplaced but based on studying reports/results of these guys my opinion is as it is. Would love to be proved wrong but let's see as the season unfolds.

As for Matt's Aussie contacts - Let's not forget that most of the Aussie NON UK Club asset riders were already signed up & sorted when he signed our 2.  Ben was coming with Zach so made sense and Keleher had been telling all of Europe how good he was for ages before he signed. Let's hope the ability and scoring matches his own hype. 

[Pirate Rich]

For the first time ever I can honestly say that I am not too bothered where we finish in the league this season. Sure it would be great to be successful in our first championship season, but I just want to see some good racing with a Poole team that tries hard and displays that "Pirate Pride".

I have only been supporting the Pirates since 2008 after my local team (Oxford) folded in 2007 and living in Buckinghamshire (100 miles each way) could only get down a few times every year. However, just before Christmas I took the plunge and moved to Poole! So now I am looking forward to being able to walk to every home meeting!

[lewy]

20 minutes ago, Pirate Rich said:

For the first time ever I can honestly say that I am not too bothered where we finish in the league this season. Sure it would be great to be successful in our first championship season, but I just want to see some good racing with a Poole team that tries hard and displays that "Pirate Pride".

I have only been supporting the Pirates since 2008 after my local team (Oxford) folded in 2007 and living in Buckinghamshire (100 miles each way) could only get down a few times every year. However, just before Christmas I took the plunge and moved to Poole! So now I am looking forward to being able to walk to every home meeting!

Hope you enjoy your season as a fully fledged pirate Rich,  I'm very much looking forward to visiting Poole this season to watch my team Plymouth against the pirates. Totally agree about not being bothered about winning trophies for us Plymouth fans we're just happy to be in the championship mind you there is one or two teams i would enjoy beating tbh.