Oxford v Poole v Oxford; Weds 25th and Fri 27th Sept

[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.

Edited October 11 by Bojangles

[SaddlebowRoad]

23 minutes ago, Bojangles said:

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.

good post

its almost certainly confidence related 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

good post

its almost certainly confidence related 

A rider lacking confidence does not pin it round the air fence for 4 laps infront of the opposite no1, there is more to it than confidence or age, you can tell by the way he rides the bike he has the ability and the speed and is pretty natural on any bike 

Edited October 11 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[therefused]

1 hour ago, Bojangles said:

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.

probably didnt fancy the poole track (who can blame him)

[Youhave2minutes]

3 minutes ago, therefused said:

probably didnt fancy the poole track (who can blame him)

It was the league title at stake. Was he not hungry for it

[SaddlebowRoad]

26 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

A rider lacking confidence does not pin it round the air fence for 4 laps infront of the opposite no1, there is more to it than confidence or age, you can tell by the way he rides the bike he has the ability and the speed and is pretty natural on any bike 

you have raced a speedway bike i havent

however id argue that making the gate and having fresh air (board scraping or not) is quite different to being in close proximity to others entering bends 

if youve had a recent crash involving others it could make a rider reluctant to mix it when riders get close to eachother 

id argue that balls and confidence can be two different things 

[Youhave2minutes]

7 minutes ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

you have raced a speedway bike i havent

however id argue that making the gate and having fresh air (board scraping or not) is quite different to being in close proximity to others entering bends 

if youve had a recent crash involving others it could make a rider reluctant to mix it when riders get close to eachother 

id argue that balls and confidence can be two different things 

Balls!🤣
This is speedway not basketball

Edited October 11 by Youhave2minutes

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

28 minutes ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

you have raced a speedway bike i havent

however id argue that making the gate and having fresh air (board scraping or not) is quite different to being in close proximity to others entering bends 

if youve had a recent crash involving others it could make a rider reluctant to mix it when riders get close to eachother 

id argue that balls and confidence can be two different things 

You need balls ride a bike you need confidence to race it, crashes do make you weary and the longer your career the more that weariness grows but pretty much you are over it when you get your next race win, nobody wants to crash but if this is in your mind especially in your early years of your career then you need to ask yourself should I be doing this ?

[Trackrat]

3 hours ago, ruckerroo said:

Trackrat is in padded cell no2, arthur54 has been in no1 since 2014, he only gets out when face and baracus come and collect him 

Why are you insulting me? Please mind your own business.

[BackInTheDHSS]

14 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

You need balls ride a bike you need confidence to race it, crashes do make you weary and the longer your career the more that weariness grows but pretty much you are over it when you get your next race win, nobody wants to crash but if this is in your mind especially in your early years of your career then you need to ask yourself should I be doing this ?

I've never raced a speedway bike, but have competed in road racing to a semi decent standard....and I would say this is mostly true in my experience. However (and it's a big however), I would say this very much each to their own. There's no one rule fits all in this sort of situation, so questioning whether he should be 'doing this' is crazy at this stage of his career.

For example, my old mate Josh Brookes struggled massively with the mental side of riding a bike after a crash in 2004 (in his early 20s) and it took him a good six months to finally get over it afterwards. Went on to win the British Superbike Championship and compete in the World Superbike Championship.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

31 minutes ago, BackInTheDHSS said:

I've never raced a speedway bike, but have competed in road racing to a semi decent standard....and I would say this is mostly true in my experience. However (and it's a big however), I would say this very much each to their own. There's no one rule fits all in this sort of situation, so questioning whether he should be 'doing this' is crazy at this stage of his career.

For example, my old mate Josh Brookes struggled massively with the mental side of riding a bike after a crash in 2004 (in his early 20s) and it took him a good six months to finally get over it afterwards. Went on to win the British Superbike Championship and compete in the World Superbike Championship.

I’m not questioning him if he wants to ride,he should be asking himself these questions, what I’m seeing and I know other in the sport are see it too isn’t a rider who lacks ability or speed, it’s a rider who clearly has some sort of mental block in certain races and it seems to be when he hasn’t got fresh air infront of him, because of the shortness of a speedway race and most of it happens in the first 15 seconds speedway is a massive mental sport and it is bloody hard to commit to a first corner but not only is he not committing in some races he is visibly shutting off, maybe he can sort this problem in time but anyone will tell you in any motorsport, when you ride not committed is when it comes to bite you and you get hurt, I don’t know if he has had any big crashes so far and he is carrying an injury but strangely when I carried an injury I seem to ride better but I also know a big crash can take a while to get over, I had a big one at Sheffield in 96 and that stayed with me for the next 16 years, I was always weary when I went back there but I had my biggest crash at Newport and it never bothered me going back there 

Edited October 11 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[BackInTheDHSS]

2 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I’m not questioning him if he wants to ride,he should be asking himself these questions, what I’m seeing and I know other in the sport are see it too isn’t a rider who lacks ability or speed, it’s a rider who clearly has some sort of mental block in certain races and it seems to be when he hasn’t got fresh air infront of him, because of the shortness of a speedway race and most of it happens in the first 15 seconds speedway is a massive mental sport and it is bloody hard to commit to a first corner but not only is he not committing in some races he is visibly shutting off, maybe he can sort this problem in time but anyone will tell you in any motorsport, when you ride not committed is when it comes to bite you and you get hurt 

And you're making all these assumptions after one meeting where you've seen this happen. He should certainly NOT be asking himself whether he wants to ride this early after a crash. You build confidence back up the more you race, and it slowly comes back. If he's still doing this 3/4 meetings into the future, then perhaps he should, but at this stage he should definitely not. You're not human if you don't hesitate in the races immediately after a big crash.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

3 minutes ago, BackInTheDHSS said:

And you're making all these assumptions after one meeting where you've seen this happen. He should certainly NOT be asking himself whether he wants to ride this early after a crash. You build confidence back up the more you race, and it slowly comes back. If he's still doing this 3/4 meetings into the future, then perhaps he should, but at this stage he should definitely not. You're not human if you don't hesitate in the races immediately after a big crash.

I’m not making this assumption after 1 meeting I’ve seen it in a few meeting now and im not the only one who is seeing it 

Edited October 11 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[BackInTheDHSS]

Just now, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I’m not making this assumption after 1 meeting I’ve seen it in a few meeting now 

Enlighten me, which other meetings have you seen him shut the throttle off at the first bend? He did it in the first leg at Oxford perhaps, but....

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

19 minutes ago, BackInTheDHSS said:

Enlighten me, which other meetings have you seen him shut the throttle off at the first bend? He did it in the first leg at Oxford perhaps, but....

In every match I’ve seen on BSN this year he has done it 

Edited October 11 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[BackInTheDHSS]

14 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

In every match on BSN this year he has done it 

Not too sure what motivates you to say something like that as it's simply not true (which races did he throttle off at Glasgow for instance), but there's not really much point in carrying this on. I've seen Boughen racing hard and passing people in close quarters, but it appears you haven't, so we'll agree to disagree. I know a fair bit about riding a bike (like yourself, no doubt), and I have very different views. I certainly don't think it's as black and white as you're making out. The mental side of riding a bike at high speed is far more complex. 

Edited October 11 by BackInTheDHSS

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

4 minutes ago, BackInTheDHSS said:

Not too sure what motivates you to say something like that as it's simply not true (which races did he throttle off at Glasgow for instance), but there's not really much point in carrying this on. I've seen Boughen racing hard and passing people in close quarters, but it appears you haven't, so we'll agree to disagree. I know a fair bit about riding a bike (like yourself, no doubt), and I have very different views. I certainly don't think it's as black and white as you're making out. The mental side of riding a bike at high speed is far more complex. 

That’s fair enough 

[SPEEDY69]

I have also taken the view when seeing Boughen that when riders get close to him, or if he's just a little behind, he doesn't seem to want to get any closer and I've just assumed this will improve with more experience.  There's no doubt he's fast when in front and is able to ride competently but he's only had very limited racing experience I guess.

[Bojangles]

6 minutes ago, SPEEDY69 said:

I have also taken the view when seeing Boughen that when riders get close to him, or if he's just a little behind, he doesn't seem to want to get any closer and I've just assumed this will improve with more experience.  There's no doubt he's fast when in front and is able to ride competently but he's only had very limited racing experience I guess.

As I said in an earlier post, he's definitely shutting off at times, but I don't think it's related to being close to other riders. He does it at the first bend, or in the early stages of races. If he gets out in front, there's no stopping him. However, when he's behind you can often hear him shutting off coming into a bend (it's noticeable enough to have half the Oxford crowd groaning when he does it). Usually, as soon as that first lap is complete, he gets his head down and doesn't do it again - sometimes he goes to on pass people riding out wide, and other times he's simply far behind already to make any impact. It's all very strange. But yes, he's young, and still learning. The fact he's (and I emphasise this) not afraid to mix it with other riders makes him more of an enigma.

[Hilly]

I've seen 95% of Cheetahs matches this season, all home and nearly all away and he's been doing it all season. The only time he doesn't is when he's in front. It appears worse now as as it's happening more often and more people have noticed and are commenting on it.

I'd also be wary of off track issues, this is also not something new. Whether rider mechanics family members or a combination, there does appear to be an attitude somewhere, and seemingly not a positive one.