jbell1995

I suppose we should look ahead towards next season and hope that our fortunes will change. One thing that may well change will be Saturday night racing in place of Tuesday’s (except for Grand Prix nights) in the hope of a crowd boost with families etc. Team wise? God only knows! Mark and Garry will be hard at work sounding off ideas with riders I’d imagine. From last season? Realistically I can only see Barker, Pearson and Trigger remaining so it’ll need another rebuild. Pearson was really impressive when he came in towards the end and Trigger was scoring a little more consistently as the season went on and Barker needs no justification really. As for other riders, it’ll be interesting what others think…

Anyone fancy us to overturn this huge deficit? More to the point, anyone know who’s at #1 for the Gladiators tomorrow? Looking forward to seeing how the new track works out tomorrow evening in the company of my fellow Gladiator supporters and the Bar Bandits on Bend 2

Really not sure continuing the meeting without red trackside lights is a good look for the sport. Doesn't sit right with me that, not saying anyone is to blame but safety must be paramount and only using the tower exclusion lights is dangerous particularly for flag marshals away from the home straight

Well the great escape couldn’t be pulled off but that was a really positive night for Plymouth Speedway. Good crowd, track in good shape and there was some very good racing particularly early in the evening and a good team performance from the Gladiators. Everyone contributed to the win. Jacob Hook putting in a lot of laps after heat 15 too to learn more about the track. There’s a real togetherness about this group which is pretty exciting. Get the No. 1 position sorted and this team might just make a few people look silly this season

I’m happy to do it again Fozzie, I did it at Birmingham away last season for the Glads

Looks like R/R at #1 for the Gladiator's. Makes perfect sense given the riders could use every bit of track time available to them and it’s unnecessary to bring a guest down given the expenses that would be involved. Will be good to see the team in action tomorrow after a really, really promising night at Oxford on Wednesday

Bends 3+4 have been widened and banked, home straight has been widened as a result I think

It is, club confirmed on social media at the start of the week, tapes up at 7pm tomorrow

What a performance from the Gladiators last night. This will be a bit of a shock to those who haven’t given the team a chance this season as you’d think this side are only going to get stronger as the season progresses once the No. 1 position is sorted. I’m used to poor refereeing decisions in football but it’s a real sour taste in the mouth this morning when it would appear Thompson did get past Nicholls on the line for what would’ve been a 45-45 draw and then a superheat

Sadly because it fits an agenda used by a minority of the people on this platform. Sadly, this minority won't be happy until they see another club fold and close, without realising the knock on effect of such a decision. It would leave an entire region, not just a city/town - the whole of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Gloucestershire without a team. Just let that sink in for a minute? Millions of people without a team to support, they'd rather that happened than see the Gladiators make a good go at things. I really feel for Mark, he's constantly getting battered from all sides (including by riders from other clubs!) despite doing what he can with what he's got. People are more than entitled to their views I get that, hence why we are on a public forum discussing it however most of the time, it's not constructive, it's not helpful and it's hurtful what people say about the Gladiators.... However, it's us against the world and we're going to embrace that!! "No one likes us, we don't care... We are Plymouth..."

Excellent reply Arthur haha

Meeting called off. Unbelievable, fans already travelling. Very poor. Clear with the weather forecast this was always going to happen!! Bang out of order… Oh wait… Plymouth were away? Oh it won’t fit the agenda of most on here, I’ll keep quiet then

I’ve edited it to save confusion. I would argue that it clearly states in the original post this is the fixture on Friday at Scunny and I was clearly mentioning the home fixture in devon

Meh, might as well just make it one big thread haha.

It’s going to be a tough night for the Gladiators (if this goes ahead!). Coming up against a race ready Pirates. Never the less, the Bar Bandits and many other Gladiators will set off from Devon in a few hours to get behind Garry and the team

The second leg at Plymouth on Saturday is already postponed until the 20th. No surprise. The weather in Devon has been biblical since the end of last summer, 100’s of mm’s of rain falling monthly. Before those try and blame the Plymouth promotion for that, I quote you what the clerk of the course has said at nearby Newton Abbot Racecourse after they’ve had to cancel their first two meetings with the track having standing water now for a prolonged period of time. There’s no guarantee they will be ready for May 8th but they hope to be fit for racing. Even without the track renovations - this meeting wouldn’t have gone ahead. Mark can’t control the weather. Just the gladiator’s second meeting of the season this. There will be a good level of support from Plymouth there on Friday to get behind the team.

Just 11 days to go until the first meeting and still no news, doesn't sound promising

I’m not surprised

Nico Covatti is confirmed as the No. 1. It’s clear from the comments on every signing that all was not well in the pits last season, too many personality’s but this year, Garry clearly has assembled a team who he thinks are going to graft and fight for every point. It might not have the team of names and stars like other teams but Plymouth won’t be push overs. Plenty of room for improvement on averages across the course of the season and us supporters, as long as we see the team fighting for everything on the track then that’s all we can ask for. Us Bar Bandits will be right behind the team once again making our voices heard at home and more importantly away. We can’t wait to get out and support the Gladiators in 2024 and good news, we’ve some new songs planned for you all to hear at your respective tracks ;)

Right, let's get this back on track - No talk about other clubs, other sports - Just the Gladiators... We know that Mark wants to run on a Saturday night next season, realistically from last season who remains? Barker is a certainty. Pearson impressed towards the end of the season? Who else returns?

Our season is over. Time to look ahead to 2023. The crowds have held up on the whole across this season which is good. Team wise for next season? The starting point should be Bowtell, Gilkes and Morley. From there it’s anyone’s guess. Barker is unbeatable around the Colosseum and if allowed back in the Spring he would presumably keep his place on an average of 8.00 but I won’t add him to the list just yet as we don’t know the plans… 1. 2. Morley - 5.07 3. 4 5. 6. Gilkes - 4.67 7. Bowtell - 4.39 Total Remaining- 27.87

So that's the end of the faint playoff hopes at the end of what's proved yet another challenging and disappointing season for the Gladiators. A team assembled at the start of the season with so much hope and expectation that for whatever reason just never seemed to click. Yet again, injuries have played a huge part in the season along with a very poor stop/start nature to the season with how it was structured. Massive thank you to everyone who has guested for us across the year. Of course, there are some people on here who have a very strict agenda against Plymouth Speedway. One can only presume this is due to the distance you'd have to travel to see your team race (As an Argyle fan, it's never easy having to travel such long distances so I can sympathise to a point). People will always have their prejudices towards the track because it is different to anywhere else but I'm sorry, personally the joy and thrill of motorsport is that you don't race on the same track configuration every week. If we all raced on a 300m round oval then it would be boring week in, week out. Some of the racing at the Colosseum this season has been excellent. Even Tuesday night, threw the face of adversity, plenty of the crowd declared that as their favourite meeting for some while and credit needed to go to both sets of riders as everyone put it on the line. There's been some strange, peculiar bashing of the promotion as well. As someone who's had a hand in the day to day running of a recreational, successful sports club within the city, I can appreciate the tough, difficult job that Mark Phillips has. No promoter wants to lose money. No promoter wants to deliberately mislead supporters just to earn a quick bit of cash. People do need to remember at times just how difficult a job it is to be a promoter and absolutely nobody wants to call meetings off willingly just before meetings are due to start. As we are all aware, speedway as a sport is on borrowed time in the UK. There's no light at the end of the tunnel and every week there's another rumour circulating that another track is due to close for various reasons. We as supporters of the sport and of our own clubs have a duty to do what we can and the constant mudslinging and negative press that not just Mark but other promoters up and down the country receive are only going to drive people away from the sport and equally put off future investors because if they see what treatment promoters receive, why should they invest? This is a critical time for British Speedway as we move into 2024. The waters are choppy and the visibility isn't good. I for one, hope there's Championship racing at the Colosseum next season and I can't wait for the new season to begin.

First visit to Perry Barr last night with the rest of my fellow Bar Bandits. Fair play to Birmingham who got the job done last night. One thing you couldn't take away from the Gladiators last night was everyone was putting it on the line for the badge. Thanks to Rory Schlein, Simon Lambert and Matt Marson for their efforts. Rory was a pleasure to watch along with Simon's never say die attitude to fight for every point. Credit to Marson as well because we all accept it was going to be a tough night for him but actually in his third and final ride he wasn't that far off the pace at all and looked comfortable on the bike going around that track. Credit to Garry May, Mark Phillips and the riders for coming over to the dozen or so Bar Bandits on Bend One/Two to show their appreciation for our support last night. Shouldn't go without a mention there were other Gladiator fans dotted around Perry Barr last night too. Crowd didn't look any better than a busy night at the Colosseum and I was somewhat disappointed with how flat the evening was. Lovely to have some Brummies fans wish us all the best and safe travels home post the meeting last night too.

Delay to heat 2. Two min warning came on quickly even though trigger was back to back. Mark Phillips then walks out onto the track holding a red flag to stop the start procedure with three riders at the tapes. Strange situation. Announcer seems to think it’s a protester haha

4-2 Brummies bowtell, trigger, Kerr and Howarth packed up when leading B3 L4. Was going to be a 4-2 to the Glads. Gutting. Trigger was excellent in third the whole way as Kerr tried everything go get past him but couldn’t