Steve Shovlar

Current forecast for Wednesday is diabolical. Heavy rain all day. Rest of week not great either. A week today for the second leg? https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcn8db1mu#?date=2023-10-18

Bailey as a reserve / second string at the very best. That’s about it. Championship heat leader Bailey is not!

No interview broadcast on the stream as far as I heard.

Sweden ride Tuesday and Thursdays so how is he going to ride Premier league?

They want wooden spoon?

Not complacent at all. Confident.

We should be ok. Both Cooks are in low averages. Lawson keeps his low by working on it. Rowe just over 5. Bring in Cerniak and Dominic Kubera on 5 point averages and we will be fine.

Interesting that Ryan Douglas said he is leaving Scunthorpe because he wants to upgrade. What better place to ride than Poole, where he loves the track? Douglas is a good rider in the Championship and aspires to progress, but he has limitations as have been on display in the Premier league this season. He already rides Poland in league one and won’t get a spot in the Extraleague. May as well come south and ride for Pirates.

Rarely do I say, “in the bag”, but on this occasion I think we have it won.

Interesting Workington moving up. Hope they have a streaming service for away supporters because it really is out on a limb! So Craig Cook at number 1?

47-43 take that all day long! Well done boys! Feel more than confident. Unusual fact. Not a single 5-1 either way in the whole meeting.

The advantage of gate 4 is a joke. Some great racing but gate 4 is two bikes up into the first bend most of the time. And finally in heat 13 Worrall breaks the run. Cracking heat though!

You were saying? Ben from the back!

Pirates hanging on in there. Gate 4 a massive advantage so far.

BSN charging £11.99 for BSN subscribers?

Yes I know that. I have a lot of friends who are big sports fans but think only one of them is actually looking forward to watching it. I love sport myself and watch many sports but rugby isn’t one of them. Tried to watch a match with England recently when a player got sent off for accidentally clashing heads with an opposition player. A nonsense call, as are so many of the rules in that sport. Hard to watch and even if it didnt clash with the speedway I wouldn’t watch it. I know it has a following and some like it but it doesn’t have a decent following compared to the footy. If I as given free tickets for Twickenham I wouldn’t go. But that’s just me. Rather watch footy, cricket, speedway. Same goes for American Football. Attended a match once at Wembley New England v Tampa Bay. Was boring and nearly left at half time.

Do people in any great numbers watch rugby? A fraction of what watch the football. Yes a lot more than watch speedway but probably wouldn’t affect the crowd by more than a handful.

I am out tomorrow until late afternoon/early evening. Ordered the live stream. Does it work until midnight like the Edinburgh one? Can I watch it after the event?

So all roads lead to Glasgow on Sunday at 6pm, when the super strong Tigers take on the Pirates. With Vissing fit but likely to not ride, Glasgow can use riders on form to more than cover. Complin tonight showed what he can do around Ashfield and will probably get 6-7 rides in the first leg. Pirates job is to keep it tight and the last time the two teams met here ended in a two point win to the tigers. However, since then Glasgow have strengthened up with Tarasenko coming in, making them favourites to win the title this year. But Poole never give up and even coming into the final as underdogs, will fight for every point and try and retain the title. The odds might be stacked but we will fight all the way. Should be a great couple of matches. Bring it on!

So Glasgow come down to Wimborne Road with a huge 14 point lead. Pirates fans can almost give out a sigh of relief that it’s not 22-24 points, as it was looking to be heading that way after heat 8. But like the champions they are, Poole rallied well and actually won the second half of the meeting by a couple of points. But make no mistake, 14 points is a huge lead and defendable. If Pirates don’t start on the front foot it could all be over by heat 11. But there is a chance. Glasgow are clear favourites and who can stop Bomber in the form he showed tonight? He rides Poole well and if he is backed up by Tarasenko and Basso it will be enough. We need all the boys to be on their best form straight from heat 1, like Glasgow were tonight. Can Pirates pull off Mission Impossible: Back From The Dead?

You have me very wrong. I congratulate Glasgow on their win. But if I point out that the signing of Tarasenko completely changed Glasgow from playoff candidates to clear favourites, it seems to upset their fanbase. When it was clear for all to see.

No I certainly don’t think Nowak would have scored very many if any. He was woeful at Poole in the BSN final. Tailed off by miles.

Because it’s the reason you won! With Nowak you wouldn’t have got past Oxford.

https://x.com/speedwayscunny/status/1712532278885151149?s=61&t=l14JvJT3cunCJmzJVpSrKA

I have mentioned it from the day it was announced and have been proven to be completely correct. I have always said Glasgow didn’t break the so called rules, so why are Glasgow fans so tetchy about it?