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There you go, officially more shale! https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/23569935.danny-ford-track-conditions-poole-pirates-wimborne-road/

It was easy to predict. Both Turner and Trigger are no match for Newman and Roynon at reserve. To be fair Turner did give it a go and led Poole riders Roynon and Zach Cook in a couple of his heats but had no chance of retaining his position. Simply picked off. Trigger was always last out of the gate and tailed off. It really was one way traffic and must have been frustrating for the travelling Plymouth fans on the first bend. After 3 heats it was all over and but for a surprise 1-5 for Barker and Gilkes, only Richie Worrall put up any kind of resistance. Teams are all built to the same points limit but these two sides are really chalk and cheese. And what on earth has happened to Kyle Howarth? He has throughout his career always scored well at Wimborne Road but tonight he was appalling and a shadow of the rider he once was. Before a wheel had turned this year I fancied Plymouth to safely make the playoffs, but it’s looking unlikely. Morley might score ok at home but away? I see three issues which I are difficult for the Plymouth promotion to cross. The first smaller problem is location. It’s out on a limb and means lots of miles to get to every home meeting. Some might disagree. Clearly Richie Worrall does and drives down from the NE for every home meeting. The second is the track. Not an easy track and you have to be fast out of the traps otherwise you are chasing shadows. The third is crowd size. Last night there wasn’t a big crowd. Perhaps 5-600? Yes Poole again for the third time this season so the Plymouth fans are sick of the sight of us.The club has to be run on a very tight budget. Combine the three and it’s difficult to attract riders of a certain calibre. Yes I want my club to win but thrashings are boring. I want to see the opposition put up a good fight. And well done to Kyle Newman on a superb paid maximum tonight. He really is on great form.

Maybe get MF to guest team manage as he just got Poole to 64!

Buster refusing to pay Tungate what he wants currently

Bit like another couple of Antipodeans in their early days over here. Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger Have to sift through some dusty old files to see if they got any better.

Handsome animal - very fitting where replying to me

Top two well under performing for a few meetings now and still winning meetings - I would say it looks ominous for the rest of the league when Worrall and Lawson hit form.

An update: my wife's interested colleague has managed to sort out her domestic issue therefore does not have to return home. So, they're going together tomorrow. The colleague is "very excited" about the prospect of watching speedway for the first time. And who wouldn't be? You do wonder! On that basis, you'd never try anything new.

Fancy people saying saying no to something they don't know what it is! At least have a look on YT first

You’re right of course, but it isn’t a surprise seeing as the Peterborough supporters have been kept in the dark over just about everything all winter and probably long before that. This is a general problem across the board in our sport although Peterborough seems an extreme case. Communication between the club(s) and its paying punters should be far far better than it is.

I never really understand this though - it’s a bit of a well known ‘secret’ so why not come out and say we have signed Tarasenko but just waiting on approval? It makes them look silly by just saying nothing and then when the announcement comes it’s already a huge anti climax as everybody knows.

From what I heard Oxford wanted to go PL but were turned down and told they could only go CL at the highest. No doubt in the best interests of the sport. I myself am totally happy with CL which I've always thought is the best league for variety and competitiveness. Plus in the latter years before we were shutdown the Conference league was very enjoyable and the Chargers in the NDL both last year and this are great value for money.

Interesting feedback from my wife and her colleague, who went this evening, whilst working for a week (and next) in Birmingham. From their hotel, near New Street, to the stadium, it was four stops on the train and a five-minute walk. The Gloucestershire-based colleague had seen speedway only on TV, and was particularly impressed with the quicker pace of a live, untelevised meeting (i.e. no pregnant pauses between heats, which, ironically, is something speedway's remaining regulars tend to moan/worry about). Both enjoyed it - despite Birmingham being generally uncompetitive and it getting extremely cold by the end. My wife did say the home promoters took to the centre green to apologise for the weakness of the team and assure supporters something would be done. Both will be in Birmingham again next week, concluding a fortnight's assignment. Had Brummies also been at home a week today, they'd have revisited, which is a good sign. Remember the days when, barring bad weather, speedway clubs had a meeting every week between the end of March and mid-October?! My wife was a little puzzled Birmingham's 2023 pin badge(s) still hasn't arrived. Did the start of the season in March/April take the club by surprise?! Neither my wife nor her colleague has access to a car whilst working away, which rules out a trip to Monmore Green next Monday. They'd have been happy to go, if getting there (and back), from Birmingham, after a day in the office, were easier by public transport.

I refer you to my earlier post where I talked about an ideal world and acknowledged that we don't live in one of those

Stoneman at Edinburgh I think?

Watched tonight’s stream. What was LR thinking of when he wasted a tactical sub ride in heat 5 against the leagues best rider and not to even use his number one ! And ironically Sedgmen could have ridden anyway as R/R also not using R/R at 2 seems daft too and then using 4th top scorer in the nominated heat when he hasn’t ridden for 5 heats. Unbelievable

No surprise really. In an ideal world both of those clubs would be racing at the highest level in the UK but we don't live in one of those unfortunately.

Tweet got deleted pretty quick !

Scott Nicholls is 45 and certainly didn't look stale with Sheffield at foxhall the other week. Mind you what a sad sight the the once great Hans was trying to get round the track.

He shouldn’t be taking any rides. Absolute joke to British youngsters.

Erm no. An Additional rider is if you are running Rider Replacement.

Henry has come on leaps and bounds this season. Plymouth's loss and a big gain for Oxford, lovely young lad too, always ready for a photo with fans or signing autographs. The young Oxford fans seem to have taken to him, maybe something as simple as the Boxer celebration along with a fair bit of exciting on track action is something they like.

I am aware what PC said in his book. I am also aware of what was demanded of Chris Morton and David Gordon. And the steps taken by Chris, the late and much missed Steve Casey and others, including Ian Corcoran, to reach an accord with PC. Don’t forget that this is the same PC who claimed that he was involved in the design of the track at the NSS, having been consulted by Chris Morton when the complete opposite was the case. The truth and PC’s recollections are at odds here too.

Shame Sheffield are riding at home otherwise I’d have tried to get their whole team to guest in place of our lot Think I’ve seen Sheffield win at the AFA more times in the past two seasons than Lynn

...that's not what was implied in his book from what I recall?

Pairing King with reserves would soon get you in to a position to use a T/S!

Thought Armadale Devils had changed their name to Edinburgh Monarchs Academy as they wanted to develop young riders? Shocking that they've kicked a young kid out, so that they can build Dad's Army with Roynon, Clegg and Wood.

Where has anyone said that Barry Ayres or any other ex Belle Vue speedway rider has to pay to get in? The previous promotion at Belle Vue refused PC’s 100+ list of people he demanded had permanent passes. Instead, they said that any former BV rider just needed to call in advance and they’d be admitted free of charge. I gather the same invitation is extended by the current promotion. Part of the reason for this is that stadium entry is tightly monitored by Manchester City Council under the (dreaded) health and safety rules, so no one gets into the stands without having a ticket, even one issued free of charge.

Plenty of ways Eurosport could still show the GP if they wanted. I'm not sure of tennis timings but Saturday is listed as the Men's doubles final 4.30pm-7pm and then it's only highlights after. If it finishes in 2 sets then the GP could probably still be shown live. Could that final even start earlier if the Women's final before finishes quickly? If not, then have it at 7pm with delayed coverage. Or stick it on Quest/another channel. Even without affecting the schedule of other sports highlights/repeats, there's the option of repeating it on Monday 1am-4am. Instead it's an hour of the GP highlights, followed by an hour of the last Premiership meeting and then an hour of GP again which is pointless.

This looks to be the place https://thewinnerspub.pl/en/home/ however you need to be aware that the GP in Poland is not on TV but only on Discovery + and Eurosport player.

I'm sure they will be be made very welcome. Gates / pits open at 6, meet the riders etc, racing starts ar 7.30.

HERE'S YOUR TEAMS! This time next week..! TICKETS ON SALE NOW bit.ly/poole-speedway-tickets We're just 7️⃣ days away from what is certain to be an epic night! Here's your Poole and Belle Vue line-ups, for one night only! POOLE: Artem Laguta, Kyle Howarth, Steve Worrall, Danny King, Richard Lawson, Ben Cook, Zach Cook BELLE VUE: Matej Zagar, Tom Brennan, Rory Schlein, Charles Wright, Chris Harris, Kyle Newman, Norick Blodorn

I don't think we've had one at home this season ???

Because it’s not on live because they have more important sport to show !! It is live on Eurosport player and Discovery+ from 17.55 UK time.

Hope your'e not doing the "team talk" GUAB?

Toms had a few poor armadale meetings now think help him without weakening any pairings. Plus Tom is clever enough to dovetail whatever lines Claus is riding

So the powers that be decided its a great idea to have 2 matches against the same team,and local derbies at that, within 2 weeks of each other .Great

Clouting drops to reserve after tonight which will help them.

Always managed to get wet fingers in Worky..................

Hi Mike, my frustration wasn’t aimed at Plymouth at all. The did nothing wrong but the ref was incompetent imo. Plymouth are decent side and wish them all the best after tomorrow.

Because they organised it , invited just the ones that lived near the hosting tracks and brought in a GP rider to compete against a second halfer , a fun rider and a novice. Not that the SCB knew the standard of two of them as they ( he ) had never seen them ride but just checked they had a race licence. The ladies, all of them, deserved better. Wonder how many will be at Redcar for the final round ?…..enough to fill a race ?

My wife is away working in Birmingham this week with a bunch of fellow lawyers. She likes an occasional outing to speedway and plans to watch this match. She had hoped to persuade some of her colleagues to join her. The only one who was keen, who likes Moto X and whose husband watches speedway, can no longer attend because, in her husband's unexpected absence, she has to dash a hundred miles home to sort out a domestic matter. I'm told none of my wife's other colleagues - 10 of them! - have any idea what speedway is, and back-heeled the idea of going to Perry Barr in favour of yet another evening eating in a Birmingham city centre restaurant. Says a lot about speedway's profile now. Quite often, I meet people - especially twenty and thirty somethings - who haven't ever heard of speedway. Still, one more on the crowd tomorrow!

Here's one. Barry Ayres rode 12 matches for the Aces in 1986 (18 in all, 1984-86). Ove Fundin rode 12 matches for the Aces in 1967. Could you imagine supporters requesting that Mr Fundin should pay to get in and queue up with other fans at the admission gate? No? So why are the likes of Barry Ayres any different?

Exactly- Although a so called channel of motor sport might have decided to show at the earliest opportunity it as ‘ delayed live ‘

I know its a bit outrageous but could also try putting some shale down !!

100% Correct...and it's so unprofessional...and they wonder why fans vent they're frustration..

Some cracking racing... Track staff did a great job given the dry, slightly windy conditions.. Track had both an inside and outside line which allowed passing.. Not seen Doyle so down on power before, even when leading the Aces riders he was blocking them more than moving further away from them.. Lidsey, Rew, Kurtz, Bewley and Emil absolutely top class entertainment... And Charles Wright did a "special" in Ht 14 to block pass Rew brilliantly.. Proper "hard riding" as Emil had done to Kurtz earlier.. One gripe is the No7's.. No disrespect but why are these lads riding in the top league? Can't be good for them.. They need ring fenced positions in Div 2 as they often dont bring much to the meetings other than racing against themselves.. Run in the topl flight with six man teams and share out the money not spent on the 7th roder on the six that do.. No other sport makes it compulsory to include "youth team" level competitors to go up against world class level opponents, so in such a technical, specialised sport as Speedway it makes it even more of a poor idea.. Norick once again continues to impress and is developing nicely, and Ben Barker rode his whatsits off as usual for minimal rewards.. You would certainly not feel £24 is too much to watch entertainment like this.. Roll on next week to watch Artem...

How good a driver are you.!

It is really good to see two young Brits up there near the top . I would never have imagined it ten years or so ago when it was just Tai W. Genuinely think Bewley, Lambert, Woffy and whoever else they pick have a good chance in the SWC. Who will be the 4th rider though? Is it back to 4 riders plus a reserve/u21?

When Doyle retires, he would make a wonderful track curator. Even while riding, he spends so much of his time closely inspecting the tracks...