Steve Shovlar

Crescent girl wrote: Bandits have Tom Brennan and Ricky Wells as their guests, plus r/r for Leon Flint.

So cannanyone confirm this is the Berwick lineup for tomorrow? 1 Jackobsen 2. r/r 3 Pijper 4. wells 5 Summers 6 Andersen 7 Brennan

Met office shows a different forecast. Lighter rain tomorrow over the country. If the meeting was today it would have gone ahead.

Spoke to Dougie at the stadium who said they dont use covers anymore because no one is prepared to help pull them on and off!

We are at Wetherby services on the way up. Knew tonight was not likely so no big deal. Hopefully catch the gp tonight in a pub of if not will stream it on my ipad. fingers crossed berwick have covers as likely to cop a big shower or three tomorrow. Rain meant to slowly die down tomorrow evening and less rain on Sunday.

Not sure we will get much tomorrow night, but will be disappointed if we don’t have some success.

Poole teams for the tour: at Edinburgh: 1 R.Schlein; 2 J.Edwards (Guest); 3 S.Worrall; 4 S.Nielsen; 5 D.King; 6 J.Wright (Guest); 7 D.Hume - Team manager Gary Havelock at Berwick: 1 R.Schlein; 2 J.Edwards (Guest); 3 S.Worrall; 4 S.Nielsen; 5 D.King; 6 J.Wright (Guest); 7 D.Hume - Team manager Gary Havelock at Newcastle: 1 R.Schlein; 2 A.Bowtell (Guest); 3 S.Worrall; 4 S.Nielsen; 5 D.King; 6 Z.Cook (Guest); 7 D.Hume - Team manager Gary Havelock

Not going to Edinburgh if it’s off. Heading to Berwick. Any pubs showing the gp?

He won’t be likely to get an average this year due to only 3 away meetings left after this weekend. Do playoff meetings count to official averages? If not he will start next season the same as this. Rob and I have just made the call to go for it tomorrow, even though the forecast is pretty dire. If it’s rained off there’s always the pub. Do any pubs in Berwick show the speedway GP ?

I was always a fan of top tier. Was disappointed when we announced we had dropped down. But now, would I prefer being in a 6 team league or a league double the size, when there is a tiny difference between the leagues in terms of strength? A full strength Poole with Basso and Ben Cook could go to Kings Lynn and win fairly easily imo. Lets see what happens this winter but I think the Premier will amalgamate with the championship in some form or another.

Misses Pirates meetings this weekend and might not be available for next weeks meeting against Redcar.

I called it a howler as soon as King won the toss and called 1 and 3. Never give the opposition 1 and 3 in the main 2 heats.

He could well end up at reserve after he gets an average if Ben Cook can continue the form he showed before his injury. Poole will always have a scoring reserve.

I didn’t mean it to come across as arrogant. Given gate four failed to produce a single heat winner, winning the toss and choosing 1 and 3 was a howler. Win the toss and choose heat 15. If the other team then choose 1 and 3, you get 1 and 3 in 13 and 15. If they choose 2 and 4 you get 1 and 3 in heat 15, if it works out that gate 4 is a dead gate. Given the strength of Edinburgh’s heat leaders and the fact that they choose their best 2 in heat 15 off the best gates, 1 and 3, gives them the potential to score 13 to 5 in the final 3 heats. Luckily Schlein managed to gate in heat 13 off 2 to give a 3-3, but couldn’t repeat it in heat 15 off a slick track. Both King and Steve Worrall were nowhere off 4 in heats 13 and 15. Certainly more thought was required after winning the toss and considering the opposition it pushed the odds in the monarchs favour to salvage a point given their top end strength.

Poole’s top three is almost just as strong as Edinburgh’s. Very little between them. Edinburgh just edge that. The difference though is in second strings and reserves. Poole with Ben Cook and Danyon Hume are far superior to Crang and Greives. Ben Basso comes into the side and I feel confident it’s an upgrade on what we have been using. Certainly will do better than Lawson. Watching him on YouTube shows a young rider who looks fast and has passing ability. Will need time to settle though. Ben Cook has been badly missed but Pirates have kept on winning. 9 in a row. Such a shame he is not able to come back into the team for this weekend. Will be missed. With Poole having quite a few home meetings to run, I am expecting us to go top 3 very shortly and possibly top by playoffs as long as we avoid injuries. With our riders doing well, they are in demand for guest bookings and doubling up.

They probably signed him on the strength of his one good performance this year. He was woeful tonight. His best ride was heat 2 when he shoved out Hume on bend one, sending Hume well adrift. Hume gave chase and on the ladt bend pressurised Craig enough to get through on the line. Other than that he was nowhere.

I have mentioned him Ray.

Just got back. All very, very easy for Pirates with the meeting all but over by heat 8. Edinburgh are a three man team and managed a bonus point by having the luck of losing the toss. Danny King chose 1 and 3 which gave Edinburgh 1 and 3 in heats 13 and 15. The problem for Poole with that is that not one heat was won off gate 4 all night. Never seen the gates so lopsided as this. Will also say the track was not as good as it has been this season, with an issue on bend one, which was quickly addressed, and something coming out the back straight of bend two which caused Pickering to Buck and rear, allowing Schlein through, then the same happening to Shclein in a lap latter returning the compliment to Pickering. Rory said after the meeting that the track only had one racing line tonight with no grip on the inside, allowing riders to go wide and not be caught. A very good crowd in on a lovely evening and a small group of Monarchs fans made themselves heard at the end of heat 15 when they got a point. Good for them but it means nothing in the scheme of things. Poole were a class above and are two riders short at the moment. For Poole. Schlein rode well. Outgated in heat 15 and impossible to do anything. Rider of the night. Guest Buckley tried hard but found it tough. Ben Basso comes into the team from now on. Can’t expect much at first. Steve Worrall rode well but had two poor rides….when off gate 4. Stefan Neilsen battled but had a t/r against him in one. Had a decent battle with Pickering in heat 14. King was good until heat 13, when off gate 4. Zach cook did his job when guesting for his brother, as did Danny Hume with one great ride to beat Richie Worrall and winning heat 8. For Edinburgh. Masters was good as expected. Rode better when it slickened off. Lawson was poor. Only beat guest Buckley and was tailed off in his other rides. Thomson was ok. Seemed fast at times. 4 paid 5 is ok. Pickering was Monarchs best rider for entertainment and clearly loves the Poole track. Lots of battles and never gave up. Good effort. Richie Worrall was good and improved when the track went slick. Knows his way around poole so no surprise he scored well. Luke Craig was completely out of his depth. Greaves did very little either, two second places and 3 lasts. Not sure I can see how Edinburgh can seriously challenge for the title with their current lineup. Certainly Leicester look stronger and so do we. Having said that Edinburgh will have their home advantage on Friday and I expect them to beat us in the return. So Pirates continue to March up the table and with Cook back hopefully next week we should be looking very good indeed.

No live stream. Big crowd coming in bunch of Monarch fans decamped next to us. Should be fin!

A shame our new Signing Basso isn’t riding tonight. Forecast is good. Should be a cracker.

Absolutely. He posts the same line all the time. Clearly doesn’t understand a track can be fixed, bumps and holes can VE taken out to produce a very good race track. Agree with Mikebv that it was slicker last week, the first time this season. But no bumps or holes.

Doubt this guy has been to<Poole. Our track is in excellent condition. Fast, smooth and a racers track. No hiding place for riders who fate then hold everyone up. They get picked off.

Wrong yes. But heat 14 stank to be honest. For the Leszno riders to be so tailed off against Zagar was ridiculous. Cracking meeting though. Fricke was excellent as was Pawlicki.