Steve Shovlar

Sitting in a pub in South Shields watching the rain fall outside. Have a feeling we will be heading down south earlier than expected. Its been awful weather nearly all weekend which is a real shame. This inclement weather is bound to affect the attendance which is not what was wanted.

So on we go to Newcastle and fingers crossed that today’s racing goes ahead. The weather has been dreadful to be honest. Looking forward to getting back to the warmth of the south. The sooner we get our 1-7 the better 3 points from 2 guests isn’t good enough. Entitlement? Poole are the biggest club in British speedway for a reason. Even now when we are in the Championship we are still the biggest club. No one has got near us in the last 20 years and that’s why clubs get excited when Poole come to town and when they manage to beat us. Pirates rarely have bad teams and in sport that’s the way it works. There’s no entitlement. We have to earn our wins like any other team. The difference is the club is run to win trophies and titles, not make up the numbers and hope for the occasional success. We should have won last night and we should win today if it’s on. That’s club mentality. No being second best.

Just spoke to Danny King who said we should have won that. But he also said the gate 4 wins, 12 out of 15, made it so difficult on what is a track that is (almost) impossible to pass on. But we will have to take it on the chin and move on. Hopefully very soon we will go full strength then watch out the rest of the league!

Havvy crapped out big time. Poor call.

As I see it we should have won. But Havvy howler of leaving Wright in and King going through the tapes in heat 9 cost us yhe win although there was no guarentee he could have beaten Brennan off gate 4. 12 of 15 heats won off gate 4. In the middle section they had gate 4 and beat us 16-8 off it. Add in Andersen at reserve and it was difficult, especially with Edwards at 2 and next to useless Wright at 6 getting an extra ride. Gate and go with perhaps three passes all night on the first lap. Could fill in program after one lap. Hope for a better meeting tomorrow regardless of score.

Shocking error. Had written hume in the program. Wright gave up third weakely out of second bend. Himd was going well after slow start.

8 of 11 heats won from 4.

First time here. Fast racing but not close racing. Gate and go. One proper pass wells over Hume. King now touches tapes off one in desperate attempt to try and get a result off inside. Just the way it is. Poole on Wednesday was similar with gate 4 dead. Track staff should attempt even gates.

But gates 2 and 4 gate over 1 and 3. 4 huge advantage.

Huge advantage 2 and 4. 1 is a dead dog.

No it was Neil from long Eaton. We have met him at the stadium.

Do we know you Pirateship?

Much better weather so far today. Sunny and wRm though big clouds are building inland. Forecast is for an odd shower but think it will go ahead. Just visited Holy Island and the lindisfarne castle. Lovely place.

You do your club no favours saying it is off and could cost your promotion £££.

Is gappmier riding?

Who can take r/r?

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?