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i know the new co promoters are having to quickly find their feet but it would have made sense to make sure the grader was actually available before announcing in the press that said grader would be in action during this fixture break

Thank goodness for that .......i initially wondered if it was turn 2 at Poole.

I suggest that the BSPA ,BT Sport Poole Speedway do us all a favour and switch the TV match to either of Kings Lynn v Ipswich or Swindon v Belle Vue.

As a first time visitor to Ashfield, I have to say that it was an enjoyable evening. The promotion have clearly devoted a lot of time, money, effort and love in bringing the stadium into the 21st Century. Signing the stadium all the way back to the motorway junction made it far easier than expected to find the track. It would be fair to say that the racing got better as the meeting went on, with some cracking races e.g. Iversen v Lambert and Covatti v Aarnio. My impression of the riders; Berge - V. poor. Not interested and comfortably beaten by Bickley in Heat One. Tungate - Three exclusions and one point. Enough said. Andersen - Evidently took a chance on his shoulder, but after struggling in his second heat, he wisely decided to withdraw. Cook - 15 point maximum. Not quite as electric from the gate as I expected, but controlled and super quick when behind or in front. Smektala - Biggest disappointment of the meeting for me. Apparently didn't practice and rode like a novice in his first two heats. Two heat victories and a last - another Polish gating tart? Aspgren - Biggest surprise of the night but a deserved qualifier - comfortably held off Iversen, Lambert and Holder in his first three heats. Aarnio - Battled hard all night, with great races against Covatti, Nicol and Thorsell, but not enough speed to trouble the top scorers. Iversen - Controlled and ruthless. Got better as the meeting progressed - cracking race against Lambert in Heat Fourteen. Nicol - Impressive. Looked quick and took a deserved third to first victory in Heat Eighteen. Moi - Pleasantly surprised. Only one point from his first four rides, but he looked better than expected. Took Iversen from the back in Heat Seventeen before being repassed. Probably needs more meetings either in Sweden or UK to progress. Lambert - Two comfortable heat victories and three second places. Looked quick and deserved to qualify. Niedzwiedz - V. poor. Still surprised he was selected by the Polish federation. Never got to grips with the track. Easily passed by Moi in Heat Three. Covatti - The best of the non-qualifiers in my opinion. Attacked the track and looked quick. Not afraid to mix it - e.g. race against Aarnio. Holder - Not quite enough. His bikes didn't look quick enough - held off Aarnio in Heat Thirteen, but comfortably beaten by Cook and Lambert in Heat Twenty. Riding his brothers bikes as at the SoN? Smetana - Decent UK debut. Went somewhat backward as the meeting went on and the track produced better racing. Thorsell - Disappointing. Gone backwards since I used to regularly see him ride for Wolves. Comfortably passed by Nicol and Aarnio in Heat Eighteen. Biggest positive of the night - having the pleasure to speak to a range of speedway fans over the course of the evening; especially the two elderly Glasgow fans sat next to meet in the grandstand. Genuinely nice people, welcoming, knowledgeable and very tolerant of my over excited five year old!

Just as well it`s not the day before as he would have missed his Polish championship semi-final

Ellis deservedly named as rider of the month for May.

I understand, and wouldn't want him at Eastie and you're probably right, but if he does ok for Redcar other factors could have had a hand, starting at 1, track, management etc. Glad Eastie have the other Birmingham cast off by the way, think he'll do a good job for us in place of Tom Brennen in his correct position at 3 or 4.

Yeah the irony is that when promoters cheated, riders took bribes and illegally used nitro we had big crowds. Can't help wondering how things would have panned out if we had had social media in those days. Throw in the fact that narrow tracks produced poor racing and then we wonder where it all went wrong.

What would be the point of track covers, if as you say "it's fine here" at the moment? (assuming the "here" you refer to is Gorton?) If the latest weather forecast is correct that it's now 80%+ going to pee down at 7pm and 8pm, again what would be the point of track covers? Do you think they can race on top of track covers? In view of forecast heavy rain from 7pm and 8pm onwards, and a depleted Mildenhall team, I'd suspect it works out for the best to postpone and restage with a full team on a nice dry day.

How very dare you!!!!

How do you 'fluke' a top 3 place in the final? Surely you must 'fluke' your way through the other qualifying rounds as well. That's a lot of fluking. If riders can't beat those you deem to be an 'embarrassment' then they don't deserve to qualify anyway.

Riders alway say that they are happy to ride for such and such team they are just happy riding `anywhere rather than being left on the shelf

Barker could fall out with himself

I agree. He is a Reading fan who has moved to Swindon and who posts regularly on the Swindon Robins Facebook page using his real name.

Nobody has sufficiently explained how davies has attained that average. Interesting. You would assume that Bailey would’ve appeared in the declaration once those two’s averages go up! Phillips has achieved that from 4 meetings also. All NL riders get a new average from the first 4 league meetings of the season if they ride in all 4. Phillips has 31 points from 17 races.

Seb Fraction

Deffo right call Bob. Started raining about 6pm and not stopped

When Google Translate started changing his name when going from Polish to English He's definitely still Loktaev (or Loktajev or Loktajew, however you want to do the cyrillic conversion)

Errr. When? He wasn't in Peterborough's (or anybody else's) in 2018 or 2017 when they visited Newcastle. The last time I can find Ostergaard at Newcastle was 21/08/2016 when he scored 2+1 from 4 rides. Hardly earth shattering. He may have guested since for someone but I couldn't see or find any instances.

rubbish happens. Harris has been knocked out, got back into the Challenge and qualified in previous years I think

Was on the ferry between Helsinki & Talinn a few years ago and there was a lot of people catching the ferry and stocking up in Estonia.

Lambert surely has a chance of top 8 as well. Can't see a situation where he doesn't race almost all, if not all, of the GP's (barring him getting injured himself that is)

I said before the season started that Bomber and Bellego would both be a waste of space,,,, and guess what,,, they are and were. Somehow Bomber seems to be getting away with it cos he might have a decent race towards the end of season according to some. He has been blagging it big time

As I stated in my earlier post, the Poole track has been a mess for years and as a result has cost the club sponsors. Matt Ford has been in denial and only now and after the Good Friday debacle and the 840 gate takings a couple of weeks later has he woken up and smelled the coffee. I will be the first to admit that it’s his business and he can do as he wishes but, it has cost him sponsors and some long time supporters. I for one no longer spend any money (other than admission) or, provide any services to UK based speedway..

It's all about opinions. And you've got a lot of 'em! :-) I'm no statto but iirc Ulrich's record round BP puts Tommy Gun's in the shade.

An initial, near the start, in the middle or towards the end? What a tease!

Valid point - certainly Harris would not have been a great draw for Glasgow fans Id expect there was a pecking order with the riders choosing and its likely Wight had Hobsons.....

That wouldn't of suited our "top riders" Cook (who rides for Glasgow) Lambert (knows Glasgow's track after riding in the Championship) Harris (who rides in France). But lets send Charles to a track he has never ridden and see how he gets on. Lambert should of been sent to Germany tonight due to his previous upbringing on German tracks and sent Charles to Glasgow and we could of had 4 riders in the challenge rather than the 3 which I suspect we will. But I hope Charles proves me wrong and qualifies tonight.

Also why dont they look at riders commitments when deciding who rides in which Qualifier, Charles Wright could of ridden at Glasgow or in France and been able to still fulfill his Peterborough fixtures commitment without the need of a guest,

Matt Ford is in denial over the track condition at Poole and has been for several years. He’s lost some good sponsors because they feared for rider safety and, refused an offer from another to buy the shale needed to rectify the problem. The problem goes back at least to the Chris Holder and Darcy Ward era when both would be openly critical of the track..

Are you sure you are at Speedway for other motives? Im sure you were after the details of another away supporter and now the couple and her daughter? Could be misinterpreting it but not coming across in the best light Lenny.

That's fair enough as long as people are allowed to place an advanced bid up to their own maximum limit. (Still would have been better to do it online too)

Rolling averages don’t exist in the NL. It is about interpretation again! It doesn’t say ‘2 per team based on current average’ or ‘2 per team based on initial average’ in order to clarify the impossible difference. However at Cradley they have x3 riders on a 2.00, unless Davies gets a made up average.

I was there and although it was the league decider Hull were up against it and had lost it earlier in the season due to the unprofessionalism of certain riders.

Looks like all three Under-21 Finals will be live on Eurosport.

Which I personally think the sport should do James.. ie. take away any personal attachment to any team.. The sport can be great, so showcase it at an individual level and with national teams.. Run domestic speedway like stock cars do their sport and run regular test matches v other nations.. if it cannot run itself successfully as a team sport, them simply don't as you cannot ever win.. Therefore try something else.. The operating model used is a complete failure, as is validated by the loss of a huge amount of fans over the past two decades by using it... There is though, still a reasonable demand for Speedway when it has relevance.. So make more meetings relevant..

Bit harsh that... coming from a curly one

He's not KKS. 100%.

What would they charge for Gender Neutral?

Not an excuse, but a reason. Anyway as somebody who only ever posts negativity and moaning at least you’ll have to find somebody else to whinge about if (when) Lambert drops the UK next year.

You're making your own rules up! Where has anyone said you have to sack a rider if his average drops? All we're talking about is the rule that you can't bring in another 2.00 rider if your reserve berths are already filled with two 2.00 riders.

As I say, not always the case. Some guests want a guarantee, for a start.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion of course, but I think you’ll be in a minority here. 13 meetings and averaging 4.40. If Kennett doesn’t improve upon that average I’ll be staggered. We’ll see.

Thought this was an interesting (and beautiful) picture from Jeff Higgott. This taken after the meeting, and just shows how much rain had fallen the previous evening and through the early hours of the morning. The track staff did well. The picture btw is taken from the infield half way down the back straight where Bob Ellis parks his tractor.

Good question, would’ve picked him over bellego from the start personally

Same with the change to 2.0 riders, meant the Couzins, O Keefes etc left out in the cold.

All that does is once an unattached rider has 4 meetings and inevitably gets a 2.something average, it stops then being able to ride as an unattached rider! But generally aren’t considered good enough for a full-time place!

I remember Raquel, the dizzy barmaid in the Rovers going out with a speedway rider to make Des Barnes jealous...and daft Ricky Butcher, or was it Troy Pratt, riding for Arena-Essex after a couple of practice laps..and regulars in the 'Vic, calling him Barry Sheene and saying "he thinks he's racing at Daytona"...The scriptwriters obviously did their research there...and Seth and Amos taking a break from farming to have a blast around Owlerton..(or maybe I dreamt that.)

Agree with a lot of that. We've barely got any GP riders left anyway so why are we continuing to ride on two midweek nights like Mondays and Thursdays too? You'll only ever get increased attendances and attract new fans long term if you race on the weekend/end of the week, maybe Friday and Saturday nights - allows people to make a night of it. Football for example is a day out for many, Speedway can't be when it's on a Monday night and most people have work the next day. I guess the only problem is that clubs don't have access to their stadiums whenever they want if they don't own them - but maybe this could be renegotiated?

It was the same meeting Paul. The ref chucked Tom out for arguing before a wheel had even been turned. According to Neil the tape hadn't actually been altered in any way. Neil some how managed to put a length mid section of the tape up his sleeve unseen by the referee and Newcastle management. It's promoters like Neil and Ian Thomas the sport is in dire need of these days.