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Well we must have gone to a different meeting last night, cause I see a totally different race than the one you are describing. Sitting up in the royal box looking down onto the track you see anything quite clear . That heat 15 was the all important race, tension was ripe, The tapes go up with Riss on 1 and Batch on 2 make decent starts, But it is Musielak who creates the problem, immediately he gates he moves LEFT squeezing Lambert. Robert has nowhere to go and is squashed into Batchelor. all 3 are tangled way before they get to the corner. It was amazing they didn't all go down. eventually Musielak freed himself and shot across Lambert's bows, taking his front wheel completely. By that time the bikes were controlling the men. Robert veered off into the safety fence at some speed , thankfully he was OK for the rerun. All the talk of blaming Batch was ridiculous, he was a victim of the situation as much as Lambert was. If anybody was to blame it was MUSIELAK who moved into Lambert. I thought the abuse Batchelor was getting, was related to comments he had previously made about the club and the walking out he did last year, but if it was by fans and Posters thinking he was to blame for the accident then they are all wrong..... Batchelor did nothing wrong...... Strange meeting this. Swindon arrived with a scratch team made up of weak reserves and RR, Lynn on the other hand were a heatleader missing. Initially it seemed to be plain sailing for the Stars, but it soon became apparent this was turning into a gate and go extravagancer. When Niels got injured the emphasis changed. Swindon appeared to have more race winners and riders who could get out to the traps. We were hanging on to a 2 point lead. only the exploits of Robert and Riss were keeping us in the match. Then came Heat 15 (above) I can understand the excitement of the fans, and the relief to reach the final, but one has to feel sorry for the Robins, if they had a full team they would have won, no doubt One thing that became obvious last night was, Although we are not a one man team, without Lambert we are short of race winners when it matters.... When Niels pulled out we were in trouble,. Yea, we got there, but only just......

Basically as the title says, i would like to wish Stuart all the best for his retirement, been a great servant to the sport a really nice bloke and a great help to many younger riders that have come through, including my son. Thanks Robbo.

I dont post here very often now. Always degenerates into utter claptrap. Its just plain stupid for anyone to think this tie is all but over. The 2nd leg will be just as close and hard fought. There wasnt a single Poole fan I spoke to before the meeting who thought we would get to within 10 pts of Somerset! In the end, Richies puncture cost us a well deserved draw. SS was stood behind me and between racing Tatum came out of the commentary hut and was freely chatting and enjoying the banter with him. As for Middlo and the fist pump, I agree with him. Before Ht15 started, all of those around me settled for stopping Somerset getting a 5-1. To only lose by 2 pts in the end was an excellent result. Would have bitten your arm off for that result before the meeting, yet, was a tad disappointing to actually lose. Its half time and I am sure both sets of Managements will be geeing their riders up for the 2nd leg. Very very slight advantage to Poole.

Not being a track man I am no authority on how to prepare a race track. To the naked eye, I thought the track looked perfect, smooth, with evenly spread of shale. allowing for multiply racing lines. But unfortunately the racing was dire . After the first corner the riders were well spaced out, more like follow the leader than actual racing. The most important part was the start. I think the biggest problem with the sport is that the bikes are way too quick, and every rider is riding full throttle. Don't think you can blame Buster for that... What you can blame him for, is the tractor racing we had to endure. I too was aware of the time wasting. 8-40 we have done well and had 8 races when it was decided to have a 15min track grade. I asked then is this the interval, but it was noticed the First Aiders were still on the track. We then had another 2 races when it is announced the interval will be taken after heat 10, when we had another 20 mins of track grading. Sitting/Standing around on a cold night for 35mins is not the way to enthral your supporters.. Won't they ever learn... ???

This non completion of fixtures is a farce.....and running the National Trophy/KOC matches before the League fixtures doesn't help matters....but 'I/we' (other forum members) have already mentioned this.....but I doubt that the BSPA will take any notice!

Well for me watching the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 / 10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more! I salute you Somerset for preparing a stage suitable for racing of the highest calibre. The hard part is how to make every meeting as meaningful as this one was.

Will make for an exciting second leg then!

What i would say Bob is what a great advert for British speedway that was last night tense hard fought racing riders gave everything game on for the second leg.

Jackobsen for me showing his guts and bravery swung the meeting with his heat win.He never looked quick but rode some great lines and really dug in.A really good team effort even Worrall was unlucky there was some good racing but the track at times is puzzling the inside was working then there was grip outside and Doyle in heat 1 looked slow good meeting though enjoyed it.

I have to rate it as the worst meeting I have seen at KL. In 12 races out of 15 there was nothing of note after exiting the 2nd bend 1st lap ( now common everywhere ). Purely processional. I can only assume that Swindon agreed to use Scott Campos sight unseen because it was a disgrace parading such an obviously unfit and out of shape rider as competitive. He then proved that on track. After quite a number of years, he could not turn the bike properly. Any other.young rider would have benefited from the experience. There was no sense of urgency by the promotion to "get on with it" and there was 35 minutes of tractor racing during the match ( I know I measured them ) which resulted in slower races immediately after and no closer racing. Buster is delusional that his track magic during a match improves the whole presentation of it or gives better racing. It's a pity if the salvation of UK speedway means more scenes as in heat 15 with fans brawling over Rollerball speedway! It's what Rossiter said before that point that was most despairing - that promoters were also arguing heatedly over 2019 and he had no idea what was happening or how to prepare for the changes that were coming. He made it clear that he was against further dilution of team strengths, but that is obviously what is likely to happen. He also said that it was a "make or break AGM" ( where have we heard that before?). It has been repeated for many years! Finally ( I promise ) I came home feeling that, that is me finished with live speedway in the stadium, to watch the BT match which showed without a doubt that if you prepare the track fairly for racers to race on - they will. I rate that match as one of the best I have seen in 60 years of watching. Passing in every heat by daring men on their flying machines, inside and out 10 /10! As good as anything you can see from Poland or Sweden. Of course, it involved two teams eager to go for it and win the league, every team member on both sides had a moment or two! Put that on, on a regular basis and you could hold "lost" fans and attract new ones, I feel sure. That really was speedway racing at it's best. And made me eager for more!

Interesting debate on the radio yesterday about trialing the new cricket 100 ball format to try to bring in new cricket fans. They are investing £200m a year! Aggers was on the radio and he thinks it wont bring in any new supporters and will probably alienate existing fans. Cricket obviously has a lot more money than speedway to invest but will be interesting to see if it works.

A fist pump on a job well done last night nothing more nothing less I thought you was better than that

Always the cautious serpent aren't you Gavan protecting your own words....It's not for anyone to throw it away. Was a tough meeting and the second leg will be as tough. I'd imagine ALL Poole fans/management were surprised at this result. So did Somerset throw it away? No. It was a close tough meeting and this league this season has been close for all bar Leicester (don't know what went wrong for them). ps. Steve Shovlar has had a short ban thanks to ?????. He asked me to pass on my love to you all. X

I really do think that the Birmingham Riders and Management wish they hadn’t refused to ride at Buxton earlier in the Season, If they had have ridden they would now be in the Play Offs, As there League Fixture was changed to a Trophy Meeting, But what I don’t understand is they were prepared to ride on Sunday when it WAS Dangerous,

That is exactly what I miss. If Speedway had that kind of atmosphere week in week out the sport would thrive. It needs tension and rivalries. Everyone gets involved and the kids love it. It's what creates memories and love for the sport, 9 times out of 10 the actual racing is easily forgotten. Night's like tonight is when I wish I was there.

Read what Halifax Tiger says about speedway at Workington, been some excellent meetings this season and last. I've been to Newcastle once, the track seemed ok on that occasion.

According to most near the first bend Batch didn't turn at all,quite intentionally to squeeze Lambert up.Disgraceful move really which could have ended up very bad for Lambert.How he walked away from that i will never know.He was tossed around like a rag doll before clattering into the fence with his bike.Boy his adrenalin was pumping in the re-run though,the atmosphere from the fans come to life there and then.Like S.Lambert said the atmosphere was like a boxing match for ht 15 keep it up. Well Batch not bad for a sh*t team eh.Topped the league,ko cup final and the play-offs to look forward to.No wonder you were the last one to leave the pits a tad embarrassed i would think

It's only half-time and still plenty to do. Now is not the time to get cocky so let's give Somerset the respect they deserve and treat the next leg with the same 100% effort. But great effort so far guys just keep it up!

Probably waiting for permission from him to run

I'm a Comets fan and have no problem with Glasgow's signing of Cookie as it made a lot of sense for them at the time. It was an opportunist move, appears not to have broken any rules and is one a few other promoters probably wish they had thought of first. I think the problem is no-one is sure of the rules any more, including some of the people responsible for making them! Cookie seems to get a bit of stick, but as in other sports opposition fans very rarely boo a poor opponent. Furthermore he has been down to DP a few times this season where he has been seen helping and offering advice to our young guys Dan and Kyle. As far as I am concerned he is always welcome at DP. I know he is likely to visit DP shortly and rack up a lot of points, but surely we all want to see the best riders competing against each other. It's just a shame we won't have our full team out - I would have loved to have seen Cookie and Dan going head to head. Hopefully the rest of our team will be fit and maybe, just maybe we can finish the season with that bit of elusive silverware.

I only discovered speedway and Arena Essex in 2006 but was hooked straight away. In that time I have been privileged to watch the likes of Andreas Jonson, Adam Shields, PK, Davy Watt, Richard Lawson, Lewis Bridger and of course the Late but great Lee Richardson wear the hammers colours. Add to that Darcy, Chris Holder, Crumpy, Nikki P, Tai, Scott Nichols, and other greats riders for the opponents. Far too many Hammers and opponents to mention them all. My main memories, where do I start. First is probably the meeting with Swindon just 5 days after Lee Richardson died. The immense sadness of the occasion was obvious but the way the club pulled together was incredible. The memorial meeting to Lee at the seasons end with a packed Arena and a line up to do the man proud is another. Swindon again in 2008, and our only home league defeat of the season when a young unheard of Croatian by the name Jurica Pavlic turned up and having never seen the place before promptly banged in a 7 ride max that had the Hammers fans applauding. Any meeting involving Darcy and Chris Holder together was always memorable, and the meeting where Coventry beat us (2011?) and their fans were gloating on the way out, only for the meeting to be awarded to Hammers as Eddie Kennet had tampered with his silencers.... And then of course Friday, v Glasgow. Pulling up in that great big car park for the last time it finally dawned on me, this IS the last time. Going to the same window at the ticket office and paying my money to the same lady, Buying my last coffee and cake from the ever smiling Rose in the diner, and then taking my position on the stock car track and chewing the fat with the same faces who have become good friends for those years. Debating what artefacts we could nick from the stadium, ( I eventually decided against a urinal - Mrs E would not be impressed) and then having watched another great meeting, doing the track walk a scooping up some shale which now forms part of my garden. It was then goodbyes and promises to keep in touch (We live far and wide) and to try to get to Rye House when we can. The drive home was a sad one, having driven down the long drive to the roundabout by the services and then a feeling of sadness as I left. I will miss the old girl. She was never the most attractive of venues but she has given plenty of pleasure to many people, and she was rough around the edges but had a certain charm. ( Sounds like a few women I have known over the years). She provided great entertainment, and she will be missed. Thanks for the memories.

Don't make him cry but.

What are you going on about? Said Poole deserved their result and then said they shouldn’t throw it away now? Plus if you are insinuating that I got him banned think again. Yes the man is a troll who inflames people with his posts , but I’m 42 not 12 and never seen the need to report anyone and being 100% honest Shovlar hasn’t used derogatory word against me anyway. If he has used words the mods ban you without anyone reporting you, I’ve called people numpty and been banned

Advantage Poole!!! Gavan rather quiet?

I must admit I always have that sinking feeling when I see the name of Chris (rerun) Gay in the programme!