EnglishRoundabout

Sim sure he will be quite happy speaking with like minded in mates........

The alleged “one line” OTA produced some superb racing again tonight. At the half way point it looked like the meeting could have gone either way. Once again, Craig Cook looked very fast and blasted to a victory over Jason Doyle in heat 6. Its a very long time since Doyle has been beaten by the length of a straight. Cook looked on fire. Interestingly after passing Holder in heat 4; Cook waved sarcastically at The Aussie on the way back to the pits as Holder went to shake his hand Another spectacular first bend pile up, similar to one which occurred a few weeks back, this time involving BWD and Doyle sent Rebels fans hearts in their mouths as both riders were sent hurtling into the air fence. Incredibly, both men eventually got to their feet and walked back to the pits. Doyle looking decidedly dejected with life and BWD resembling a chimney sweep rather than a speedway rider, his face blackened with shale. The Rebels seemed to raise their game in the face of adversity and began to increase their fragile lead. Cook’s luck ran out after his first bike suffered the gremlins in the pits, so he jumped on his second bike, which then failed at the start. He was without a functionable bike for heat 15. Jack Holder, once again in irresistible form around the Somerset track, literally ‘smoked’ heat 11. His exhaust appeared to be emitting more and more smoke as the laps went on. Rebels fans were left praying that he would complete the four laps as thick smoke poured from his machine. A faulty lead which leaked oil onto his exhaust proved to be the problem and prevented the Aussie taking part in heat 15. Heat 15 proved to be another cracking race with the revitalised Jake Allen producing a scorching last to first victory. The young Aussie, using both outside and inside lines to pass, hunted down Max Fricke, before executing a perfect inside pass. His joyous punching of the air salute as he crossed the line, showed how much his victory meant to him. On this performance, the Rebels look in terrific shape for the second leg at Bellevue, but also the up coming play off 1st leg against Poole. “We will smash em” roared a pumped up Garry May in the after match interview, where he confirmed that Jason Doyle will be fit for that match.

He had his supporters on here mind.....when he and I disagreed (which was pretty regular) often it was “Shawn this or Shawn that” from other posters Always found him arrogant.

The great Leigh Adams described Somerset as “ a great fast race track”. He broke the track record there and said afterwards, “ I had a blast riding that track”. That’s good enough for me

Wasn’t a fan either.

I will offer a different option. Why is there pressure on Somerset? There’s no pressure on them. They are in their second season in the top flight. Remember last season when most people said they had assembled a championship side? The Rebels narrowly missed out on the playoffs. This year, apparently they assembled a top heavy team due to Jason Doyle’s presence in the side. As with every team at the start of the season, the play offs were the aim. However, this team of racers built by Garry May, now have an excellent chance to get to the final. There is no pressure on Somerset at all. Everybody at the OTA is already celebrating a superb season, a season which in all honesty has proved way above expectations in reality. Lose to Poole, then fine. The coffers have been boosted, appetites wetted for next year. Beat the Pirates, then the whole speedway world will be willing them on in the final. Lose the final, then they will be congratulated for a team that in 2002, were racing on a virtually ploughed field, to a team that contested the final of the very top tier.

I guarantee there won’t be one racing line. It just isn’t like that at Somerset, and if they even considered doing such a thing, it would only be detrimental to the Rebels. Somerset riders want all racing lines available. Allen BWD and Holder prefer the outside line, Lawson, Summers and Doyle the inside. Trust me Shov, if there are multiple racing lines, we are in for an absolute cracker of a meeting. Don’t fall for the Garry May tongue in cheek “ we doctored the track” rubbish. You are the king of the wind up, surely you didn’t fall for Mr May’s wind up on TV?

Is the fact that this thread is up and running and started by another poster causing you some discomfort? Start some ballacks conversation on the Peterborough thread Jeremycorbynfan.

And Jeremycorbynfan on the championship thread.

Yeah right. About authentic as a Donald Trump handshake.

Smith has had plenty of opportunities and is unlikely to improve. At best he will reach a similar level to another former Swindon reserve...Nathan Greaves.

KKS has been doing the same thing for years. Provides consistently wrong information whilst purporting to be “in the know”, match predictions, proposed changes to team/averages etc....( see Poole Pirates thread wanting Middleditch axed/Sundstrom replaced under the Mattfordfan guise) .and the same old grammatical errors. Currently Jeremycorbynfan on the Peterborough thread (where KKS was born/hatched).

I can see a very fired up Robins for this match. Robins to win by 6.

Good old KKS...... same old , same old......

Yes but Fred Flange, I’m not the one populating most threads with spats with other posters, and rarely being on topic.

I have just had to scroll to the top to check that I am actually on the Somerset thread. If you aren’t going to discuss Somerset topics guys can you use another platform to air your views please.

There are plenty of protected species in the back straight bogs, trust me. They will never be demolished!

Poolepiratesfanatic, Gater1, KKS, and taking you back a few years kingbatchelorspeed, michaeljepsenjensenracing......and many others.

He was in his bedroom with Jeremycorbynfan last night.

Richard is a fine rider and a damn decent bloke. Every confidence.

Your eyes are as sharp as that lense of yours! My mistake, apologies!

The OTA bathed in sunshine for the entire meeting is a sight to behold and last night temperatures soared into the 70’s which was a real treat. Brent Knoll looked a treat as a spectacular back drop, blue clear skies with seagulls regularly circling overhead. Despite (for the OTA) the lack of passing, I counted only 7 or 8 passes, it was a tense, exciting meeting and yet another last heat decider. Iversen was in a class of his own. Although matched from the gate a couple of times, his drive and speed over that 15 metres or so into the first turn was the telling point. Not once was he led out of the first and second turns the whole evening. Once in front he settled into the fastest line with ease. It always seems that when a rider is fast and comfortable with the track, they look like they are settling back into an armchair. Iversen epitomised that view last night. The Stars fully deserved their point and looked threatening throughout. With Palm-Toft at reserve and British Champion Robert Lambert in the form of his life, for the first time this season a home loss looked a possibility after heat 13. However, Doyle swapped to his second bike for the clash of the big guns in heat 15 and looked much quicker. At one point he came within a whisker of Iversen’s back wheel on the home straight of lap 3, but had to settle for second best to the flying Dane. Holder kept Lambert at bay to ensure a draw. Holder himself was lucky to avoid injury after rearing alarmingly coming out of turn 2 in heat 4. He did his level best to keep the front wheel down, but instead crashed heavily into the back straight fence. His machine catapulted into the air along side him, narrowly missing him and the following riders. As the red lights came on, Palm-Toft, hot in pursuit of Nico Covatti at the time, clipped the Rebel’s new signing’s rear wheel which sent him spectacularly into the home straight fence. For a second or two there lay two stricken riders on the track and one really did fear for both men. However, what seems to be so typical of speedway riders, both were up and walking back to the pits within minutes. One can’t help comparing what we are seeing on the TV currently with professional footballers in the World Cup hitting the deck at the slightest contact to these steely riders, many of which are very slightly built. Doyle described the reason Holder was up and on his feet so quickly as “he bounces easily!’ Once again new signing Claus Vissing looked very poor. Some derision from some supporters on the back straight was heard as the Dane finished last again in his final ride. Patience wears thin these days, and one wonders if his time is almost up after only a couple of meetings. Garry May will have been watching carefully. Finally a mention for Covatti who is a thrilling addition to the team. He showed his gating skills last night but his remarkable pass of Jorgensen in heat 14 after losing ground initially on the Dane and then hunting him down and passing him on the 4th bend to join Lawson up front not only won him race of the night, but rider of the night also.

Interesting to hear that Charles Wright’s brother James who has acted as his mechanic this year thought that Charles was “totally out of order” towards Garry May.

Why don’t you bring Poolepiratesfanatic into your conversation too? You never know you might all disagree!!

Midsummer brought a determined Poole side eager to make up for their KO cup thrashing by the Rebels earlier in the season. With former riders a plenty, a close match was in the offing. A big crowd listened intently to Garry May’s explanation to the incident involving Charles Wright before the meeting got underway. It was fair to say he received a reasonable ovation afterwards. The Meeting burst into life in heat 6 when BWD held off both Szczepaniak and the sluggish looking Brady Kurtz to regain a slender lead for the Rebels. Jake Allen looking fast and furious on what used to be the “Charles Wright racing line” suddenly came to an abrupt halt with a rear tyre puncture whilst second, before some gutsy riding from the impressive Kacper Woryna brought the Pirates back into the match. Woryna’s 5 points in the previous match here paled into insignificance as he simply attacked the track like he knew it inside out. His victory over Jason Doyle was won fair and square much to the delight of the Pirates large following Jack Holder was once again in magnificent form and looks the real deal at the moment. To think in the last few seasons he has looked ordinary at best around the OTA, but he appears to have sewn the circuit up completely now. Doyle joined his Aussie colleague up front with an exquisite inside pass on both Kurtz and an equally sluggish Josh Grajczonek in heat 13; and this particular partnership is giving Somerset some heavy artillery in the latter races now. Allen continued with his wretched luck hitting a huge rut which suddenly appeared on the third bend, before he crashed heavily to the ground he was narrowly and skilfully avoided by the following Linus Sundstrom and Kurtz, saving Allen from certain injury Sundstrom, along with his two Polish team mates kept the Pirates in contention, but in essence, Poole huffed and puffed and were fortunate to steal a point A word also for debutant Nico Covatti who was in the mix throughout. His spectacular all action style will soon make him a fans favourite I am sure. Covatti himself did provide a moment of amusement in the bar during the rider of the night presentation. Whilst Jason Doyle was taking Q and A from a packed clubhouse, meeting announcer Rod Cork not recognising the new signing, mistakenly approached the Argentinian born racer and asked him if he had a question for the Somerset skipper. Covatti, looking quite surprised, looked up and asked the world champion, “How did I do?” bringing much hilarity from the Somerset faithful.