Steve Shovlar

Great news Edinburgh are sorted for next season. The management must have been working 20 hours a day to find the land, get all relevant planning permissions signed off, an architect to submit stadium designs, company to manufacture stadium, and get the track in place. All going to be done in 9 months. Scotland clearly has a better system in place compared to England where it would take numerous council meetings, planning meetings by the dozen with a complaints process etc and lots of NIMBYS. To get past all that is remarkable so I doff my cap to the Edinburgh management. So pleased to hear the Monarchs will be at tapes for 2023, along with Workington, Eastbourne and hopefully Swindon returning. Great stuff.

No you can’t combine the averages of two riders, say one 6 and the other two, and bring in two 4 pointers. You change like for like or redeclare the whole team back to the starting team building average. That isn’t going to happen. Unless there’s a rider out there on an average below Ablitt who could come in and do better, what’s the point? Can’t think of one. Nathan is trying but too big a jump at this stage of his career.

Not the best of meetings. Since the track has got smooth, we have lost our home advantage and teams come here no with little fear. Very little if my passing tonight which makes it a gating fest. The track seems to have lost the inside passing line. Chris Harris a class above and was led for 2 seconds all night when Lawson charged under him in heat 15 but he dealt with that and pulled away. Special mention to Flint who continued to show his liking for Poole, carrying on from last season when he scored paid 13. Also the young Dane looks impressive and definitely one for the future. The rest looked poor, especially Wells who was given an undeserved second opportunity in heat 14 when tailed right off. The ref made a howler allowing heat 11 to start when the start martial virtually knocked Kemp off his bike. Green light and go when Kemp wasn’t ready. Red light and restart would have been the fair outcome.

Again it must be a Workington thing. Weird and abusive responses when I am all for the track.

Charming people in Workington. Weird.

Where the hell have I been negative?

It’s roughly ten metres from track to crowd. Same as most tracks. The only track with less I can think of is Plymouth, and it certainly feels dangerous for the crowd if a bike flipped over the fence. Would cause injuries imo, no doubt.

Just came back on this thread and surprised my constructive criticism has been taken in such a way. Thought the track looked good and if they go Championship next season I will attempt the very long journey up. But it doesn’t get away from the fact that a safety zone needs to be built in between track and crowd. That safety zone would take the fence to roughly the bottom of the earth mound. Where is the crowd going to stand? Where is the grandstand going to go? Genuine questions that need addressing. My original post was never a pop at the new promotion or work going on.

Now withdrawn from meeting.

Danny says he hopes to ride again tonight. Nasty and fast crash.

He’s up and in ambulance. Holding arm. Hit grip and straightened up.

Horrendous crash Rybnik reserves in heat 2. Red fell and blue rode straight over him no chance of avoiding. Two ambulances on track.

Three home riders in the final. A shame for Dan who got himself boxed in. Tai now Brit number three behind Dan and Rob. Crap camera angles though at starts. Well done to Thompson. Deserved. Enjoyed this GP. Good to see Bjarne involved in the sport.

Yes I will come up if Workington are in the same league, and will introduce myself. So you are saying fans are going to be allowed to stand right next to the track? I somehow doubt it. There has to be at least 8-10 metres between track and where fans can stand. Looking at the photo that would roughly be at the bottom of the earth mound. So the earth would have to be cleared away. Not sure why you have taken offence at the bleeding obvious.

Looking at the photo, the second safety fence would have to fit in around the bottom of the earth mound. So all that pile of earth needs to be cleared away, the trees demolished and a stand erected. Lots of work to do!

You clearly don’t watch Polish speedway every Friday and Sunday. I didn’t need to be there as the camera doesn’t lie.

Robbery? Ref called it not Poole. Pirates were too strong for Lynn regardless.

There was no contact. You are seeing one part of a bike behind the other bike. I am not trying to defend the undefendable. There were some terrible calls last night. Heat 8 when Poole on a 5-1 and ref calls it back as Plymouth rider rolled and ends up a Plymouth heat advantage. Heat 14 when I expected Ben Cook to be excluded. Heat 14 when Poole were called 5-1 when it was almost impossible to call it. In heat 15 I actually expected Lawson steel shoe to fly off and bring down Hans, such was the way the meeting was going. Well done to Plymouth on the draw. Deserved against a mis-firing Pirates team who are not showing what they are actually capable of at the moment.

Sorry I am standing my ground here. Lawson comes in hard under Toft, Toft gives way as can be seen, then he loses it and hits fence. No contact, very hard riding granted, but watch Toft. Gives way then his berm and straightens. Like I said I can understand watching live why the call was made, but video proves it was wrong call.

No he didn’t there was always a gap. I am not saying it wasn’t very hard but at least this shows Toft back wheel hit the dirt berm which threw him to the fence. He saw Lawson, gave a little way, then with Lawson charging under, hit the berm and lost it. In real time it’s easy to see why the ref excluded Lawson, but he and the crowd were fooled by the speed of the incident. No wonder Lawson when interviewed straight after the heat was so incensed.

No he wasn’t rightly excluded For what? Hard but fair riding? Hard move granted and he ran Toft out wide. Toft has a throttle. No contact. In Poland Toft would have gone. I have only just caught up with last nights meeting on streaming as I was having a sensational evening at Ashton Gate watching Elton John along with 35,000 others. What a night. What a superstar. What a performance! Quite a bit on controversy last night at Poole. Pirates starting very slowly again and this has to be tackled. Giving the opposition a head start again nearly always leads to failure. A trainee ref making a huge blunder in heat 8 cost Poole dearly. If a rider moves at the tapes but penalises themselves, for gods sake keep you finger off the button until they have got to the back straight before putting on the red lights. A 5-1 gets swapped with rolling rider winning it. Plymouth had the perfect guest in Howarth and I expected the worst in heat 15. But we’ll done to Lawson in seeing off the Andersen and Howarth with his steel shoe hanging off. Here’s a clip of the crash. As can be seen, no contact although they get close. Palm Toft hits some dirt which throws him out to the fence.

Very sad but so predictable.

Thanks Andy. I will purchase a stream.

No good need to watch it next day.