Steve Shovlar

Just played catchup and the decision to exclude Cook was appalling! Where on earth is he meant to go when Etheridge was locked up and out of control? Ref completely bonkers decision and did Etheridge even bother to come over and apologise to Cook after he caused the smash that wrecked a bike?

Looking forward to a good tussle. Pirates to run out winners but Masters always puts up a fight and Killeen is no slouch. 51-39ish.

Poland won’t be able to stop British riders plying their trade in Britain. Unless they are employed full time, the riders are self employed and it would be a restriction of trade. Would never stand up in court. the Polish league could say we are not going to employ these riders who refuse to obey us, but again that would be discrimination. And would Polish clubs tow the line when there are British riders they would want in their team? They could test the waters but Kurtz, Holder, Doyle and a few others could refuse the rule or demand a large wage rise which covers their loss of earnings.

Battle for young top Pirate has heated up a notch after tonight’s British Final. Wills will not like Coops coming to his home track and getting all the plaudits, especially as he had a bit of a duff meeting. It will just make them go even harder at it, to the benefit of us fans.

Was hat the blonde presenter? Thought she was good, confident and was never flustered. Where does she come from?

Thought is got better as the heats went on. Shocking crowd though, well empty. Management should have done something about that. Give tickets away if you have to. Lambert in another postcode. Always going to win it and did. Well done to Charles Wright after a tough season. The tears were very raw and real. Special mention to Coops who smashed it for a 16 year old. Mistake in the final choosing white. Red would probably have got him a podium place. Huge for the sport having him and Cairns (Kerns as Kelvin kept calling him) coming through. Great it was on ITV. The whole country could have watched that.

Ref forgot to put 2 mins on and it was probably only put on when he was waiving frantically to his pit crew. Went on for an age and the BSN commentators said he was in overtime. Still you make your own luck and Edinburgh had it with Cluff and Poole didn’t have any with two important EF’s. Cooper Rushen in his interview on BSN that Edinburgh had their setups dialled to perfection out of the starts and Pirates were playing catchup.

Slater Lightcap won rider of the night with 47 % of the vote. Only scored 3 but was very entertaining. Deserved more.

What a self inflicted defeat for Pirates. First of all well done Edinburgh. They took advantage of Poole’s misfortunes. Ref helping by giving Cluff bout 4 minutes at the tapes when his bike fell apart. Lightcap having an ef while on a 5-1, then Eddie doing the same on a 3-3 cost us the points in the end.

Thought the track last night was extremely smooth. It was slick as expected. Watering regularly with a new bowser, which didn’t imo put down enough water even though the driver was going slow. Needs to come out at a faster rate. By the time the tractor had done a lap it was evaporating. Bigger jets required! Racing wise it was OK. A few good heats. Brennan a good guest. Morris and Jenkins both excellent guests. Lightcap a very decent first meeting with no last places and battled well. Nearly got the better of Brennan but stayed low allowing Tom to blast around him.

Pirates badly weakened with the missing Will Cairns. Pain to have riders continuously missing meetings but something it seems we have to put up with. Slater Lightcap could well struggle on his first ever visit to Edinburgh. This is going to be another close one. Hopefully Kennett won’t be knackered after 4 minutes of work and will take extra rides, provided Havelock gives him the nod.

It took Rob 3 and a half hours to get through yesterday. All roads in New Forest and surrounding areas gridlocked. Hope any fans and the riders have made alternative routes otherwise they could be stranded.

If he doesn’t do well, he’ll be nicknamed Snoozer Nightcap.

ITV4? You will have that channels regulars complaining that this bike rubbish is stopping them watching the 47th repeat of Minder, Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) and Department S. Glad it’s being shown somewhere.

That’s killed all the conspiracy theorists stone dead! An American riding for Poole. Been a while. Welcome to Poole Slater Lightcap.

Cooper certainly doesn’t need to calm it down at all. He is a very exciting exuberant 16 year old with tons of ability and aggression. Just what is needed to make it to the top. What he does lack is experience. An experienced rider last night would have sat behind Battye pushing enough for Battye to be more interested in Cooper than he would Hagon. The match would have then been won. But Cooper is an all out racer and doesn’t want to be beaten. He also probably didn’t have a clue what the score was and what he needed to do. That’s the job of Havvy. Do you think Havvy would have told him before the heat? The attempted pass on Battye wasn’t dangerous. He just clipped him. The right call to exclude. By the way the kicking out on Jye never happened. I have seen the video.

Yep. Four and a half minutes of intense physical riding would completely knacker any fairly fit 40 year old. So much so they are completely spent. And it’s not 4 and a half minutes in one lump. Come on what a load of bollocks.

It only got away through an inept manager. Heats ten and 14 were screaming for manager inputs. But it’s a big fail.

How to defeat from the jaws of victory. Havvy, thank you for your services, bye bye. To bring in Hagon in heat 14 when KENNETT was unbeaten, is criminal. And we had it won in heat 14 but no instruction for Rushen to sit and get the point? Hilarious failure. Well done Berwick. Havvy. The door is over there.

Worst meeting of the season last night by the proverbial mile. Track looked very slick when I saw the track on entering. The track staff watered the track just before the meeting started which perhaps showed not enough had been put down during the day. It was a constant issue through the meeting and the water bowser struggled to keep the dust away. Racing wise it was rubbish. You could see riders busting a gut to pass but virtually impossible. Cairns and Rushen and Dan Thompson trying hard but getting nowhere. Cluff gated and sat there comfortably, having his best ever meeting at Poole. A shame as the place was packed.

Harrison for Cook cost us massively. Plus wood in place of guest Kennett. We were never strong enough to challenge a home team dialled in to their home track.

An appalling meeting but Plymouth can only beat what is put in front of them. One pass the whole meeting when Rushen battled past Gremek. A good crowd was treated to a race to the first bend. And people criticise Poole? Harrison for Cook was always a major fail. Wood was dead wood. If you didn’t gate you were stuffed. What we can take out of it is that even a weakened Poole team can run a team close away from home and will win over two legs. But being fair, well done Plymouth. Did their job. I have no gripe towards them.

Poole were slagged off on Wednesday for a crap track but yesterday at Oxford conditions were abysmal and tonight at Plymouth it’s pure gate and go.

Glad to see a decent crowd at Plymouth tonight. A shame we are not full strength. Next season priority should be Poole not some foreign club.

A shame we are so weak tonight. Harrison for Cook is not good. Wood, well the lad is a tough guy but will he threaten the scorers? Think we will come up short after last nights lethargic performance. Will be watching as always.