Steve Shovlar

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18634443.pirates-committed-poole-stadium-despite-greyhound-uncertainty/

Really? I don’t recall a single Poole fan or fan of any club happy with Coventry closing down. No speedway fan wants to see a club fold, regardless of being arch rivals or not.

Well it didn’t improve. Sending out two kids in heat 14 summed it up.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz! What, seriously, is the point? Ostravia are are not exactly a weak team, but having such a powerful team As Torun in the second division means there is no real competition and it renders the league a farce. The reason a points limit is so important to give a levelish playing field. This is not entertainment and as a sport it’s seriously a joke.

Poole Speedway owner Matt Ford is urging for "calm and patience" amidst the on-going speculation with regard to activities at the club's base, Wimborne Road. On Wednesday, the speedway's landlords, Poole Stadium Ltd, part of Gaming International announced that they were entering a consultation period with their staff that could result in redundancy adding "whilst no definitive decision has been taken on the future of the business, given all the circumstances that we face with Greyhound Racing in Poole, it is appropriate to commence this process of consultation now." In respect to speedway operations at the venue Ford has admitted "at this moment in time we haven't had any contact from our Landlords to tell us about any changes in the plans for Poole Speedway to be running although we are of course aware that many of our friends that are associated with the Greyhound racing operation and whom we work with at the stadium, are facing difficult times and our thoughts are with them as they receive this heartbreaking news." "As far as Poole Speedway is concerned I would ask people not to read too much into this , we are at the beginning of August and don't plan to open until the end of March, although we have voiced a thought that if possible we might look to run something in January and possibly February. I did try to contact George Edwards of Poole Stadium Ltd about 10 to 14 days ago to explore that but unfortunately he couldn't take my call at the time and we are not reading anything in to that other than the fact that he and his team would have been very busy at that point in dealing with their business issues. Also, with the current situation regarding stadia occupancy in the UK due to the Covid-19 restrictions there was probably little they could do anyway as the stadium needs to remain closed to public attendance." "That said, we have every intention of running in 2021. The stadium was left to the people of Poole to remain a sporting venue and we have the team's premium sport which is as important to Poole as AFC Bournemouth is to Bournemouth and so we expect to be coming to the tapes next year just as we would have this year had it not been for the pandemic virus. We will be working with the landlords and if necessary, BCP council over the coming weeks and months to ensure that one of the biggest worldwide brands in speedway - the Poole Pirates - will continue to flourish in 2021 and beyond. So I would just urge everyone to avoid rumour mongering, stay calm and we will be back with more news on the longevity of the club as and when we have it." https://www.poole-speedway.com/news/view/2020-08-06-ford-pleads-for-fans-to-stay-calm-amidst-stadium-speculation

I should imagine if Gaming International are closing their greyhound operation at Poole, then they could well be in breach of their leasehold with the council, which could then be forfeited, revertInginto council hands to be re-offered to another leasee. As Matt Ford said on Radio Solent, speedway will not be affected and will be running next season. Might not be greasy burgers available from the outlet in the back straight stand though!

Good move by Kildemand.

Lampart 100% at fault. A good meeting. Lots of tough racing. Much needed.

Too old for that!

Not as good as many think fast gear, no fear, not a lot of idea. He’s been fast tracked but out of is depth on night like this.

Looks more than 50% at Lublin.

Think Chris Holders the better rider of the two. Certainly the more exciting rider and was longer at the top. For the majority of his career Doyle was a second string.

Doyle is not young. Peaked a couple/three years ago And is slowly in decline. Will have the occasional excellent meeting but certainly looks past his best.

Meidzinski spins it in the same spot as the youngster a couple of heats ago. Great reaction by the rider in red to lay it down.

This is Latvia, not Poland. They might have let everyone in.

Got high sided and knocked out by the look of it.

Well they are putting up a fight, which looked out of the question earlier. A lack of interest from Meidzinski and Musielak, plus an ef for C Holder has brought them back in it. Can they pull off a major shock?

Young F Gusts having a go. Never heard of him before but a neat style. One to watch.

True but this really is men against boys. Like Poole taking a full strength team to Plymouth. Though Plymouth would put up a better fight. Teams should be forced to put out teams of a certain strength. OK Torun are very strong and will walk the league but Daugavpils are weaker than a British championship team.

This could well be a rout. Why points limits help stop one sided thrashings.

Madsen is the best rider in the world at the moment. Fast, skilful and determined. Favourite to be WC which he would have won before but for injury robbing him. Think you need to reassess your opinion. It is not correct.

A nasty coming together and really just a racing accident. Andersen determined to take his place in the rerun. Quite a good meeting. Tungate looked revitalised and Kurtz found it quite easy compared to the extraleague. Three pretty good meetings today and so far more enjoyable than the top flight.

Very. Suprised Andersen got up from that. Walaseks foot went through the spokes. Think he is worse off of the two. One very tough old rider is Hans Andersen.

Nothing wrong. Ref embarrassed.

Very enjoyable meeting.