SteveLyric2

Its strange how polarised opinions are on here. Many on social media are saying how good the meeting and the track was on Thursday - admittedly they may have been comparing it to the first 2 home meetings this year, but a little bit more material and better consistency at home will see improvements all around, although I'm not sure how you can improve much on a 20 point win?! Maybe we will see on Thursday.

So a much bigger win than expected for the Pirates in front of a smaller than usual crowd, no doubt as a result of Good Friday's dustbowl and 2 home defeats. However as I try to be a 'glass half full' kind of person, at least the Pirates have learned how to gate again - and even when they didn't the likes of BK and NBJ in particular showed there is more than one line around the Poole circuit. BK top scoring with 14 points despite the 'Gavanism' that he always goes missing in the latter heats!! Yes there were some processional races but as a Poole fan at least Poole riders were leading most of them. (The meeting sponsor's choice of Jack Holder as Rider of the Night was a little surprising to most, but no doubt to build his confidence a little!) In truth I was a little disappointed with how the Aces fell away as the meeting progressed - Fricke was his usual dependable self; Kenny started ok but then.......?! and not quite sure what was up with Steve Worrall who was firmly put in the shade by brother Richie who recorded his fastest time ever around Poole so no track problems for him (probably be the reverse on Monday?!). Also not quite sure of Lemo's logic in putting young Bewley in heat 15?! His scores went 3;2;1;0 in his programmed rides?! As for the track, it was certainly better prepared than Good Friday. It was being watered right up to 7pm in bright sunshine and a stiff breeze, despite the threat of rain later on - which arrived around heat 13, although agreed it did look a little bumpy in places. The meeting was sped through quite quickly with only 2 re-runs due to starting infringements. The meeting was followed by Weymouth Wildcats v Milton Keynes Knights (18-18) in the first of their 6 Southern Development meetings at Poole.

Its quite overcast and quite breezy today with the risk of a shower or two later (depending which forecast you read), so any watering will need to take account of changing conditions.

Heat 16 at the Oaktree last night - won by Jack Holder! They drew for gate positions.

Despite Somerset tracking 2 established Premiership heat leaders, one of which was being touted heavily as 'should have been Poole's number 1' during the winter!!!

Starke and Jenkins in for Covatti and Busk Jakobsen. (Covatti rides for Somerset) Bates in for Groubauer.

So new co-promoter Danny Ford rings the changes - or at least the riding order - for this first home league meeting. The Aces have gone well at Wimborne Road in recent years and are looking strong again in 2019 so I reckon a close one again 47-43. Poole: 1.Holder; 2. Worrall; 3. Klindt; 4. Grajzconek; 5. Kurtz; 6. Covatti; 7. Busk Jacobsen

Who will Nicholls replace at Peterborough then?

All the security protocols suggest a different pin number for each card!!

I wonder what sort of 'red carpet' welcome Buster will lay on for Batch?!

Poole have big queues of season ticket holders/sponsors on their separate entrance!!

You're very quiet on the Swindon v Ippo thread Gav?! Nothing to say about the defeat? No excuses?!

Not at all. I wouldn't dare have a go at a track/meeting that I had not seen myself. There have been a couple of comments on social media from riders and others that the track is not the same as when it produced great racing when Panthers were last in the top league. I am merely looking for a non-biased view if there is such a thing.

Aside from the final result, I'll be interested to see any 'impartial' views about the track prep and racing.

Not trying to defend the indefensible - I thought it was abysmal. In fact the worst 2 home meetings at Poole that I've seen for a long time in very different conditions but I shall also continue using my 3 season/sponsors passes for the rest of our home fixtures. Some on here were talking about apologies, so I was merely stating the facts that apologies on behalf of the management were announced over the tannoy, so that those directly affected ie the fans that were there, could hear it! Very little point in stating anything else to a wider audience in the media or on the website if they weren't there!! There are clearly already enough ' negative fans' to put the proverbial boot in to speedway in general as it is!! The track was watered heavily overnight - fact! The track was still being watered when I arrived for 10.00am - fact. However in the very hot sun it did not bind the 'thin' shale that it appears we are still using - and it was the worst dust I've seen at a daytime bank holiday meeting for some time - there is always dust in the hot sun but this was the worst.

Apologies were given over the tannoy.

It would surprise me!!

....not forgetting the current track record holder as well!!

How about an apology from the riders who didn't want the track watered once racing started?!

Unfortunately it says a lot about so-called Poole fans when it takes the Swindon manager to publicly back Jack Holder and for people to get off his back so early in the season! See facebook .

Not much chance of him being at Poole - not if his main sponsor has anything to do with it!!

It worked well enough last season!

So which available heat leader(s) would you suggest are signed?

They have no opponents cos all the other six teams are already racing!!

Except when there's a long tradition of clubs riding on certain Bank Holidays!! No issue with Leicester having priority for their evening meeting at Redcar - just questioning how long it would take to get to Redcar from Poole, with most of the holiday traffic going in the opposite direction?