Dickie Head

So Birmingham senselessly dump Zach Cook. How will he react? Disillusioned or dynamite. Watch out Bears!

Zach’s better off out of it. It must be costing a fortune to keep the Brummies going with two Poles and now Freddie on the payroll. I wonder if they will survive. Zach will be an attractive proposition for other Premiership clubs. Good luck to him.

I believe heat 13 was stopped because Ben Barker was deemed to have moved at the tapes although Ben Cooks flip obviously attracted the attention.

If tonight’s gossip is right, Batchelor will replace Brennan. Gladiators will be without both Covatti (injured) and Newman (wedding). Quite how they cover that remains to be revealed.

Slightly off topic, Covatti and Brennan are entered for an individual in Krsko (Slovenia) on Sunday.

If Brennan is needed by Gdansk (which seems very likely after he was top scorer last meeting) I wonder if Poole might offer a guest booking to Tate Zischke who’s in good nick and has been to Plymouth already this year. If not Sedgy wouldn’t be a bad shout.

Garry May only needs one meeting out of Covatti who then goes AWOL and Plymouth get a full facility (albeit on a temporary basis under the 2024 regulations).

If Nico is unscathed after tomorrow’s (Monday) SGP qualifier at Abensburg (a meeting also featuring Tom Brennan) then there is no reason why he shouldn’t make his Gladiators debut on Wednesday.

Hope they have resolved the starting gate and red light issues seen at the last meeting.

All the talk about transponders. Does anyone know if they were actually being used in this meeting?

Also happening. Oxford United in play-off action at Peterborough and in a good position. That could take quite a few off the gate.

For example Kyle Newman or Dan Thompson. R/R too risky.

No they don’t. The technology that the BSPL invested in isn’t robust and needs further work so not in use at present.

Jim McGregor is responsible for allocating meeting referees on behalf of the SCB - that’s a fact.

My understanding is that whilst the tracks have installed the equipment, there remains a technical difficulty whereby the individual transponders fitted to bikes are not yet able to fully communicate with the recording hub. Similarly the automated tape release system that was supposed to be introduced this year is not yet operational. A reliable source indicated that, rather than invest in the tried and tested GP system, the BSPL bought a cheaper alternative that has proved unreliable and negotiations between both parties to find a solution are ongoing.

Any reason why all the Championship sides show their team declarations on the British Speedway website, but the Gladiators list is blank?

https://poole-speedway.com/news/view/2024-03-26-previewing-poole-wessex-marine-pirates-v-oxford-monarch-cheetahs-friday-29th-march

I thought riders had to have had at least one official team meeting in the season to be entitled to a guest or R/R. Mr Doyle hasn’t. Please clarify for me. Thanks.

Did Sam Hagon and Freddy Hodder do demonstration races and if so how did they look?

Thought that was a BSN meeting, not Pirates TV stream. Might be wrong.

Sorry if I’ve missed it, but will the Brummies have a team practice before taking on Oxford?

Looks like Isle of Wight ran a successful mixed discipline meeting last Saturday with the senior speedway part won by Chad Wirtzfeld. Taken from Facebook.

IOW Facebook showing another winter meeting set for 20 January. Similar format to that held last week. Good luck to them.

There was a multi-discipline meeting last Saturday on the Isle of Wight which, according to their website, looks to have been well received.

Nice quick trip from the Midlands to Devon on a summer Saturday afternoon!