Steve Shovlar

It’s Middlos job to make those decisions and I had called it before it was announced. A no brainer. It could happen a lot to James this season if the other reserve is doing better. Part and parcel of the sport.

Of course the move needed to be made. If Shanes had been left in and run a last, then Fricke had won heat 15, Belle Vue would have got a point. The move took away the threat.

Looking forward to coming up for this one next Monday. Weather now seems to be settling down and the current forecast for Monday is a dry day in Manchester. This has the makings of being a real thriller. Belle Vue have a decent looking lineup and will no doubt be a strong force around the NSS. Poole come to win, and there’s no reason to believe that we can’t come away with something. Cook will no doubt be back at number one and will BV will book a guest for Steve Worrall or go with r/r? Belle Vue Cook Starke guest or r/r Tungate Fricke Etheridge Bewley Poole Kurtz Woryna Grajczonek Sundstrom Kildemand Szczepaniak Shanes. Thoughts?

Belle Vue wouldn’t have had a better chance. Makes the win even more enjoyable. They won’t get another chance this year. Pirates will be dialled in by the next few meetings. Pirates top of the league. Happy days!

Well just got back after going to the after meeting press conference. A new innovation for Poole this year and very good even with the teething issues of a mic cutting in and out. Perhaps next week then can set up so the radio mic the riders are using has a clear line of sight to the receiver? Anyway onto the meeting. A very good first night crowd turned up on a mild night. A chat to a couple of riders before hand brought up the issue of a spongy track. On viewing it, it looked ok but I wasn’t walking on it. Not the greatest of meetings. Other than Brady and James, the team were like an away team, with us having no home advantage. Both Kacsper and Linus said after the meeting they didn’t know the racing lines and it showed. Well until they had taken a couple of rides. After heat 6 Poole became dominant and any hope Belle Vue had of taking anything out of the meeting vanished faster than Bachelors van out of the stadium after heat 13. The track was smooth but spongy and heavy. It will certainly improve and with a dry week ahead should be much better next week for the visit of Swindon. Oh, and the return of Batchelor. On to the riders. For Poole. Brady. Worst number one in the league? Blitzed everyone. A class above and not troubled. Said after the meeting this year he is concentrating on his away form and as a number one, avoiding any really bad meetings on his travels. 10/10 Kacsper. Was second in his first ride when Starked locked up in front of him. Took avoiding action to end up at the back. In his next he rode all the wrong lines, but then got it right with two superb rides. Said in the conference it will take him a little time to find the best way around but was disappointed in his performance. 7/10 Josh. Battled in every heat without looking like he would win one. His gating let him down. Was disappointed in the conference. 6/10 Linus. Solid throught and improved as the meeting went on. Got his first win in Pirates colours. 7/10 PK. Woeful in his first with Shanes coming through on him into the last lap. Then had a couple of aggressive wins. 6/10 Mateusz. Led heat 2 by a straight before having an ef on the back straight of lap 4. Battled all night and rode defensively when he neeed to. Would have scored paid 9 on his debut but for the ef. 6/10 James. Not his best night, but he tried in his three rides and saw off Bewley in heat 2. Will have better meetings. 4/10 For Belle Vue. Batchelor. Taxi for Troy. Rubbish and I didn’t type rubbish. Didn’t fancy it one bit. More of the same next week please! Starke. Rode well all night. Fast trapping in the early heats and then rode sensibly. Deserved heat 15. 7/10 Lawson. Rode well for a win in his first but then went awol. 3/10 Tungate. Very poor. Gated in heat 7 but Kildemand got by after a lap. Other than that, like Lawson, went awol. 2/10 Fricke. Battled all night. Had the fastest time of the night. Beaten by Brady twice and Linus, but always in the mix. 8/10 Etheridge. Gifted a win in heat 2 when Mateusz’ bike packed up, then not close to a point. 3/10 Bewley. Nowhere in his first but then rode very well in his other heats. Made a good pass of Kildemand up in the inside off bend two in heat 4. 7/10 A reasonable opener. Not the greatest in the way of racing but the tension was there as Belle Vue took a decent lead, only for Poole to come on strong from heat 6. Unfortunately for Belle Vue, the chance was there tonight to get something out of the meeting. With 5 of the Pirates not knowing the fastest way around and not yet dialled in, plus a spongy track not conducive of much passing, we could have come a cropper. But a poor guest for Cook in Batchelor took away any possibility of a shock result. As the weeks go by Wimborne Road could well turn into a fortress.

Big crowd coming in. Long queues. Been told track is a bit spongy. See soon enough.

Where’s that?

Perhaps Buster is the ultimate weather forcaster. Looks like rain about to hit Kings Lynn.

Schlein and Batchelor are about the same around Poole. Good on their day.

What paper? the Echo says 10-14 days.

That’s a patched up Belle Vue side. Not suprising given Cooks now a dad. Congrats to him.

Latest weather. Hazzy sunshine, mild, no threat of any rain. All good to go.

Yuk! I personally don’t rate that chippie at all. Chez Fred in Westbourne the best chippie in Dorset.

So basically the answer is not that the track can’t be sorted, as it probably can be, but that some fans might not turn up as Champions league football is on TV and it was a bit damp earlier on. It Sets a bad precedent.

Woryna is saving himself for tonight.

Looks like a close home win. Hope there’s a big crowd for tonights meeting.

Completely agree. If there was no rain on the day the meeting went ahead. In fact I have experienced heavy rain at Poole in the morning and no issues with the meeting later on. A call off on a dry day just never happened and I don’t believe for one second this meeting could not go ahead. All day in improving conditions and Buster couldn’t sort it out? Await usual apologists remarks about me not being in Kings Lynn blah blah blah.

If the carpark is flooded perhaps he should get out there and fill in the pot holes? The swedes can relay a track in two hours. I know Buster Chapman can get a total write off of a track relaid very quickly. Seen him do it.

It’s on!

A complerely dry day forecast today. Buster was known for getting a track in order within a couple of hours. In fact I have been to Lynn where it has bucketed down, then he’s been out on his tractor and got it raceable again. Has he lost his appetite? Genuine question.

Buy a program you tight git.

Don’t think you can pay by card. Cash only. Decent food inside stadium? No. Not in my opinion.

Well the forecast is for a dry sunny day. The meeting is going ahead and we can finally look forward to some racing this evening. Belle Vue fans can travel down in the knowledge that this time it isn’t going to be rained off. (Tempting the gods there) Looking forward to seeing the newly laid track in action. Hopefully no teething problems. It has had extra time to bed in. Looking at the teams this should be a Poole win. But being the first meeting and with only Brady and James really familiar with the track, it does raise slight doubt. The team practiced at P&P a few weeks ago, and perhaps will have another session this afternoon? Would make sense to do that. Roll on tapes up. First 300 kids through the gate get a free easter egg.

Strange circular glowing disk seen in the sky above Poole. Throwing off some type of radiation which seems to be warming atmosphere. Seen it before but it seems a while ago.

Nah, qualified without doing a test. Waived straight through.