Steve Shovlar

I just cancelled a week in Italy flying out Sunday and it’s 4 weeks to France. Iffy at best whether I shall go. It’s clean beak and I can feel the two ends of the bone rub together when I move the arm. I am hoping for a rain off.

Watched the heats only, fast forwarded through everything else.

It’s my left collarbone. I can’t change gear. Too much pain to try.

Doubt I can get there. Can’t drive with one arm not working. What an utter cluster f*ck breaking a collarbone is. that will teach me to take up a safer sport. Perhaps cards or monopoly in future!

Not sure I will be there tomorrow. Too much pain and walked to the shop and back was not a good idea. Have to wait and see but doubtful. Nicholls for Brady certainly weakens us. But hopefully we will have enough spare to win.

Cheers. I was due to go on holiday to Italy on Sunday but it’s gone now. Gutted. And have 2 weeks booked 8-22 June in Annecy which is booked and paid for and now unlikely. Could have been worse. The guy I was flying with got a free helicopter ride with broken leg. We hit bad rotor near Lulworth Cove during a longish costal flight along Jurassic coast.

Possibly. But Tungate were mechanical gremlins which should have been avoided and Ellis and Musiliak were actual racing and part of the sport. Swindons reserves are not really scoring, though the effort is there.

Great comeback by Poole. Top of the league!

Just caught up with the meeting as spent most of yesterday in anand e after breaking my collarbone Think last night’s result has shown Swindon to be not as strong as some think. Peterborough would have won that had Tungate been a pro and the ref rerun heat 5. Panthers threw quite a few points away. Didn’t think it was a bad meeting. Just average and the track is better than the old one.

Rubbish.

Gorzow v ZGora 5th May 2019

Having now caught up with the heat, I believe it was simply a racing accident with no blame on any rider. Zagar didn’t do anything dirty, just rode out to stop Doyle coming around him. Unfortunately the rider in white was leaning on Doyle and he was the sandwich filling, straightening up and taking himself and the other rider into the fence. Trouble was the bike gave him a big bash. Wishing a speedy recovery.

Very unfortunate. Speedy recovery.

I hope it is not serious and he is OK to ride tomorrow. I haven’t seen the incident as I am out but we don’t want one of the very few world class riders who ride in the UK getting injured and missing.

Then they need to have a rethink. It’s crap.

We in the affluent south don’t go by bus. You should know that. But there are always many Poole fans at Swindon, as Swindon fans will testify. Adds to the fun of our meetings there.

I believe Ouch was being ironic.

The track needs a blade over it. The first bend was completely relaid last year all the way down but clearly there is an issue with the stability of the actual ground itself as the riders were being thrown all over the place. The grader went over it for a few minutes but it didn’t really solve the issue. Hopefully it will be worked on before next Thursday. The second point is the watering of the track. No watering whatsoever took place during the meeting. Whilst there wasn’t the billowing clouds of dust, after the first few heats the moisture was gone and the track became slick with passing at a premium. We are lucky to have a brilliant race track at Poole which can produce tons of passing. But not while it is prepared as it currently is. The track needs more dirt, and the bowser going around every 4 heats during the warmer nights. As Matt has taken his finger off the pedal things have slipped. The air fence used to be immaculate. Now it has dirt on it from the previous week. Poor visual presentation. That bloody awful “music” the riders come out to? Sort it! Provide the riders with a well prepared track and they will provide great racing. Which will get the crowd excited. Which will increase numbers. Perhaps the bigger issue is the lack of the top stars. They are gone fore the foreseeable future, perhaps they are never likely to return. The riders we have in the league now, bar the odd few, will never be replacements for Ward and Chris Holder, Or Trick, or Loram, or Magic. Their riding skills and ability to make stunning passes are a memory today.

Then why does no one turn up to watch BV? National league crowds!

It means leaving Poole around 6 am.

Pre 1948 don’t count!

Exactly. Looks like BV only have glory hunting fans nowdays. How many years since their last title? A generation ago!

Yet there will be Poole fans making the trip all the way to Manchester on Monday for a lunchtime start. Guess we have fans who follow the team through thick and thin.

Belle Vue have never brought a coach to Poole in decades. Rob B used to organise a mini bus but since he got married that now doesn’t seem to happen. Didn’t see a single BV fan there tonight. But guess they know they were in for a spanking.

Well it was a stroll in the park for the Champs. Expected Belle Vue to put up a good fight but in truth they were never in it from the first two heats. No wonder there were no travelling supporters if they are that poor on the road. Track not good. The first three heats produced the best racing but then it dried out and was pretty much follow the leader. Hose pipes not used once during the meeting for some unfathomable reason. Plenty of track grading going on though and the issue of the first bend bump is back big time. Tonight Poole showed strength in depth. A solid team with only Covatti struggling after a good first ride. How on earth did Holder get motm? Brady excellent tonight. Only dropped one point and some good blasts through. For BV Fricke tried as did munchkin. Bewley struggled as the meeting went on. Fitness? Next week Ipswich in town.