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I'm flabbergasted that peolple are still referring to GI, by some flying pig miracle, building a new track as "positive news" We don't want these parasites to have any connection to the club whatsoever! Anyone worth their salt would refuse to attend and line that b****** Osborne's pockets and it would be a matter of time before he would be looking to put houses on the new land. If GI are our only option, I would rather we stay mothballed!

Of course it’s all about the racing, and the riders.  Bengt Jansson - ‘Benga’ or ‘Banger’ -  was pure class and to think that a Hackney rider was within a ride-off of becoming World Champion frankly beggars belief! He once finished with an end-of-season average of 10.26 - a cool Swede in his yellow leathers. Garry Middleton, a one-off, who never rode harder than the night he won the Golden Helmet at Hackney. Can’t remember who he was against, but he was the underdog, and the fans loved it! Slender little Zenon Plech, a real full-throttle merchant, crazy, mad, frustrating, spectacular, the original Polish wonder kid, who at his best was just amazing round Waterden Road. We enjoyed that he didn’t gate consistently -  he would square off the corners, especially the last bend, and ‘find’ his way through on the inside at great speed. Little Davy Morton and his chequered leathers. Loved gate four at Waterden Road as he would blast round the first and second bend banking and come out in the lead going down the home straight. Our No 8 from Crewe, he came into the side in May at reserve, and by July was beating the Great Dane Ole Olsen not once but twice! Bo Peep - the immaculate and exciting tall Dane Bo Petersen. He could pass at The Wick up the inside, or hanging spectacularly off the side of the bike roaring round the outside - great balance. Unusually for us, he always had the best of equipment thanks to his sponsor Ivan Henry, and one season actually topped the league averages for a long while -  I cannot think of any other Hawk to manage that. He once had to be physically restrained from attacking Danish captain Olsen after Ole had purposely run the young whippersnapper up into the first bend fence! Then there were a few youngsters who had their moments: Un-sung Steve Lomas, resplendent in his green leathers, coming third in the final of a star studded end of season Champions Chase in 1974 and relegating the great Swede Anders Michanek into last place! He had beaten the likes of Terry Betts, Martin Ashby and Simmo in the heats. Dave Kennett, known by the Plough Lane followers as ‘Killer Kennett’, but 'Davy Crockett' to the Hawks faithful, who hugged the white line and woe betide anyone in his way. He had the most scary of crashes early in 1973 when he and the promising Allan Emmett roared through the third bend fence together whilst team riding. Did they lock handlebars? It was a terrifying high speed crash, his bike, which was write-off, flying over the fence, sparks and all.  Although he walked away reportedly with just cuts and bruises,  many felt that he was never quite the same rider after that. The Fireman Geoff Maloney in his black leathers was promoted up from Rayleigh and had a grin as wide as the Blackwall tunnel. Especially the night when he beat Peter Collins, guesting for Wolves, twice on his way to his one and only Hackney maximum.

If that's the case it's pretty low!

The sort of humour that people with a football mentality, such a Shano101, clearly can't comprehend.

He won't admit to who he used to support or who he supports now, he just likes to wind up Poole fans. 

Not a lot of genuine racing, with the grippy inside line providing the quickest option - as proven by random heat winners and last places. Gate 4 was the veritable graveyard, with Nicholls (Heat 3), Howarth (8), C.Holder (10), Woffinden (13), and Ellis (14) the only riders to defeat an opponent - Ellis the only one to beat both opposition riders. Sayfutdinov and Jenkins were ahead of Gilkes when Woffinden fell in Heat 4, and then Gilkes rode four solid laps to defeat Sayfutdinov in the rerun. 12+2 points in total for Gate 4, and no heat wins. 34+2 for Gate 1, including 9 heat wins. Some good riding to manoeuvre for position on the first lap, and good defensive riding - although anyone behind had to work really hard to stay on the rider ahead and mount any sort of challenge. Pickering's round the outside effort for most of Heat 14 was entertaining - I've seen videos of him doing that at Armadale with much more success. Sayfutdinov forcing his way under Howarth off bend 2, lap 3 was the only pass beyond the first lap that I recorded - although I'm one of many who thought Harris had caught Woffinden asleep on the run to the line in Heat 6. It was Sayfutdinov who took Woffinden wide on bend 4 of the final heat, with Woffinden then slowing down, shaking his left hand - so they must have clonked handlebars. Very interesting to hear Woffinden say the track was "absolutely mint" - from an entertainment point of view it was not. A good and satisfying win for the patched-up and recovering Witches.