THE DEAN MACHINE

Boughen Shutting off again going into first corner

He says speedway cannot be turned into a circus, moaning about everything from the ref, the fans, Vinnie foord and his dad and how hostile it is at Poole, he doesn’t talk about his own incompetence

last weeks meeting was everything speedway needs, Peter shroeck’s comments in the star is everything speedway doesn’t need

As I said before, it could have something to do with his ex working for a GP sponsor, interesting that both his ex and his current girlfriend were both at the gala the other night, bet that was an interesting few hours

That’s fair enough

In every match I’ve seen on BSN this year he has done it

I’m not making this assumption after 1 meeting I’ve seen it in a few meeting now and im not the only one who is seeing it

I’m not questioning him if he wants to ride,he should be asking himself these questions, what I’m seeing and I know other in the sport are see it too isn’t a rider who lacks ability or speed, it’s a rider who clearly has some sort of mental block in certain races and it seems to be when he hasn’t got fresh air infront of him, because of the shortness of a speedway race and most of it happens in the first 15 seconds speedway is a massive mental sport and it is bloody hard to commit to a first corner but not only is he not committing in some races he is visibly shutting off, maybe he can sort this problem in time but anyone will tell you in any motorsport, when you ride not committed is when it comes to bite you and you get hurt, I don’t know if he has had any big crashes so far and he is carrying an injury but strangely when I carried an injury I seem to ride better but I also know a big crash can take a while to get over, I had a big one at Sheffield in 96 and that stayed with me for the next 16 years, I was always weary when I went back there but I had my biggest crash at Newport and it never bothered me going back there

You need balls ride a bike you need confidence to race it, crashes do make you weary and the longer your career the more that weariness grows but pretty much you are over it when you get your next race win, nobody wants to crash but if this is in your mind especially in your early years of your career then you need to ask yourself should I be doing this ?

A rider lacking confidence does not pin it round the air fence for 4 laps infront of the opposite no1, there is more to it than confidence or age, you can tell by the way he rides the bike he has the ability and the speed and is pretty natural on any bike

That is correct he can and he doesn’t do anything wrong but the fact remains he was the one who turned into foord

Definitely faking his EFs, wouldn’t really talk to anyone, kept himself to himself, not what you would call one of the lads ,after a EF when I asked what was the problem was he would just say sorted it but he never did anything to the bike, you couldn’t depend on him to win a meeting for you as you never knew when his EFs would strike but when he was good he was really good, I often thought why is he doing it but as I’ve learnt the mind is a strange thing and maybe he didn’t know he was doing it

I raced with Justin at Weymouth, very complex character

But the difference is Hagon isn’t shutting off, as I posted elsewhere there is a difference between losing and shutting off, every rider sufferers a confidence loss at some point in their career but this usually results in trying harder, getting frustrated, trying different things and blaming everyone else but yourself but never shutting off

Don’t think you understand the mental aspect of speedway, young or old he has the ability and the speed but shutting off is different to coming last, he doesn’t like riders around him and it’s clear to see, will he get over that ?Well it’s retired many top riders in the past when they don’t want to mix it, I’m not criticising the guy, I’m just pointing out he has an issue it’s up to him how he remedies it

And in that race he looking across as soon as he left the start seeing where the others are, Thompsen left a bit of room not a lot but some but boughen had already decided not to go for it, he does look a natural on a bike when in infront but it’s clear for everyone to see he is shutting off going into first bends even at Oxford and he has got to get over that

If you know anything about speedway then you will know kasprazak wasn’t/isn’t known as a journeyman, he is known for being a very non dependable rider who when in the mood can beat the best but when he isn’t he goes missing and doesn’t race often frustrating fans, this is what boughen does, last night he was brilliant in one race beating Lawson using the fence then in other 3 rides shuts off and is nowhere and it’s the shutting off that is the concern, that is the trait of someone who doesn’t want to be in that situation, he is making good gates then shutting off,his shutting off caused the crash with cook, can’t see why this needs explaining to you but there you go

No wonder the sport is on its arse with posts like that

The air fence has just been sold, make of that what you willl

What happens in other crashes is irrelevant to the point about last night crash with Scott,,the fact remains Scott turned into him, yes he is wild but every crash has to be judged on its own merit, with you’re logic foord should be excluded for every race he is in where there is a crash

Tried to explain this last night, watch it frame by frame, Scott is the one who turns into foord, once they got tangled up the crash was inevitable but too many people are either caught up in the emotion or just bias to see what actually happened

I do however think there should be a test for some fans before they can access social media

No

I wasnt saying he is like a journeyman like kasprazak, it’s the point about him wining a race beating the best and then shutting off in his next ride and goes missing, it isn’t a slight lack of confidence it’s a massive lack of confidence,as I said there is a difference between losing and shutting off, shutting off is a sign you don’t want to be there and for a rider so young that’s a problem, what I see is a rider who doesn’t like to be in traffic, is a world beater when he gets fresh air but gets frightened when anyone around him

I’m not on his case, he has everything of the kasprazak about him, wins by beating the best and then shuts off next race, doesn’t matter if he is 17 or 57 there is clearly a confidence issue, there is a difference between losing and shutting off going into first corner and that is confidence