Steve Shovlar

Considering Andersen never rode again last season bar one aborted effort, it is safe to assume that Lindback coming in was a genuine injury replacement. Woffinden on the other hand was Wolves strengthening up for the playoffs and the sole reason the rules were changed in the winter.

Not sure why you are quoting Lindback. He was bought in as cover for Andersen who had a season ending hand injury caused coincidentally by one Max Fricke at Leicester. Think you should use the Wolverhampton/Woffinden swap as the example. Brought in to replace Kylmakorpi with the sole purpose of strengthening before the playoffs. That is the very reason the rules were changed. Not Lindback for an injured rider.

Very unfortunate for Fricke and Belle Vue to come after the cut off date. R/R only option for the rest of the season or until Fricke recovers enough to ride. There is no facility other than R/R, though the way the team are riding he can be covered pretty well. No 28 day injury replacements are allowed at this stage of the season.

Great meeting tonight. Best one of the season. Nice to see Bjarne ride like he did for Poole years ago. The old dog still has it in him.

It would be silly to ride on a dangerous track in a dangerous sport. In retrospect a ride through the tapes in heat 13 would have been a better option but I doubt that entered his mind in the heat of the moment. Buster Chapmans behaviour has now alerted the top riders and he could struggle to attract anyone of quality next season. Suprised Jonathon Chapman hasn't made a comment about this whole debacle.

Personally I would open the whole league up and get rid of the points limit completely. Teams can sign any rider they want. But every team should have 2 young British reserves plus a Brit in the top 5. The other four riders can be whoever the club wish to sign. Sure, some teams would be stronger than others, as they are to a certain extent in Poland. Clubs would have to cut their cloth in respect of the revenue or sponsorship they can muster. Take for example Leicester v Belle Vue. Leicester. Dudek Lindgren Kildemand Llung King Bates Newman Belle Vue Bjerre Fricke Woffinden Thorsell Harris Bewley Smith Of course some teams would be weaker but when a big team come to town the crowds should be big and profitable. The underdogs beating the team of stars. What could be better? When Grudziadz beat Zielona Gora or Wroclaw the fans love it. Grudziadz are not the fashionable club in the Polish top flight. We would need BT to sponsor the league but time to ditch the played out points limit and go the way of the Poles. Just my opinion.

The forecast hasn't changed for days with rain forcast for all day tomorrow. Have to feel for Worrall if he ends up with not having done enough meetings to get a new average before giving way to Brady.

Crash in the Swedish league tonight between Fricke and Vaculik. Been a fair delay in the meeting. Hopefully not serious for either rider.

Wouldn't say it was petty. More spiteful and vindictive.

I dont believe Kings Lynn fans ever accepted Chris Holder. His form was never as good as 5 years ago and it was a case of comparing him to Iversen from the off. If it was Iversen that had refused to ride I am surr more KL fans would be blaming Chapman for the disgrace of a track. End of the day neither side come out of this smelling of roses but Chapmans behaviour is disgraceful, considering he is the one who caused the problem in the first place.

Where has all this Poole want to sign Holder or Batchelor come from? Neither were ever in Pooles plans this season. The team we have is the team we have, after Brady returns, and if its not good enough this year so be it.

Already made other plans. Chance of this going ahead with the current forecast is not good.

I have said on the previous posts that Holder could have handled it better. He could have come to tapes in heat 13 and ridden straight through them. No 28 day ban. But Chapman is to blame. Imagine working in a factory in the metal press. Boss says the guard is broken so watch your hands. Be quick with the press or your hand will get squished. You say sod that, I am not using it. So he shouts out to old Bert who takes your place. You are suspended then sacked. Oh, and you can't work again until next March. How do you think that would go down at a tribunial? Basically that's what has happened.

If it had been on a Friday I would have tried to be there but had business today on the Devon Riviera (Torquay to be precise) and had no chance of getting there in time, not that I missed much. Pooles problems are very easy to see. We just don't have the riders in the team to beat the oppositions heat leaders. Meaning heat advantages are rare. Tonight the perfect example. I believe things will improve once Brady returns but even if we make fourth we will be whipping boys. Unless of course the whole thing is one elaborate ruse to blindside the opposition into thinking choosing us is a simple two leg victory. I wish that was the case!

Riders are individuals. Some like plenty of dirt, some like slick tracks. Some like ploughed fields. Very few like grippy tracks. Chapman provided a track deemed by some riders as dangerous. Lambert and Huckenbeck also refused to ride remember. Chapmans fault for the whole sorry mess. 100%. Shame he is too proud to man up and apologise rather than blame riders who put their lives on the line every time they go on track.

Halifaxtiger, what was the crowd like compared to last Mondays tenner admission?

I said neither Holder or Batchelor handled the situation on the night well. But nothing takes away the fact that the root cause of the problem was Buster Chapmans track prep. Fast times don't mean a safe track. It means the track is grippy, and clearly too grippy for some riders that night. Chapman prepared it, so therefore he is responsible for the meltdown on the night. Rather than hold his hands up and apologise to riders and fans, he sacked two riders who refused to go out in dangerous conditions at a time when they cannot find another club due to cutoff. That to me is just petty vindictiveness. Whilst some may applud his stand, none of this would have happened if he had done his job properly.

Only one person to blae for this horrible mess. Step forward BSPA Chairman Buster Chapman. It was Chapman that made a track deemed dangerous by half the riders at the meeting. So when two of them, who went about it wrongly imo, refused to ride, he sacked them and made sure they couldn't work again in the UK this year. You work for a construction company. You climb up the scaffold on the outside of a tall block of flats. The scaffold sways all over the place as you work on the 22nd floor. Sod this, you think. I am not staying on this and quickly come down. The boss says get back up there and carry on working. You refuse saying it is unsafe. So he sends you home for the week. A week later you return to discover he has sacked you, oh, and you can't work for anyone else either until next year. Hahaha. Completely illegal and the construction company would be dragged through the courts and heavily fined. But as there is a cutoff date, Chapman has made sure two riders cannot work again this year in the UK, and all because he himself produced a track unfit for purpose. Petty vindictiveness from Buster Chapman. Completely disgraceful from the Chairman of the BSPA. HOLDER and Batchelor or not innocent. They should have handled it better. But the blame can only be laid at Chapmans door alone. If the track had been prepared properly none of this would have happened. Seems to me he has sought revenge from a problem of his own making.

Agent Worrall doing a good job tonight for Belle Vue. Pooles problems clear to see. No heat leader capable of beating their opposition equals no chance of a heat advantage.

I would like to remind you that "our management" have dominated the sport for the past 15 years. To say they are pathetic and never learn is quite frankly a stupid thing to say.

His form in Poland mirrors his form for Poole. All over the place. Certainly helped today with his partner pushing riders out of the way. Nasty tumble but seems ok.

He has to be in it to win it. At the moment he has won it as many times as I have. And if he keeps up his selfish and arrogant attitude to British speedway he will end his career viewed as a pariah. All very sad and a waste, but he has never been a team player.

But surely having gate pick in the semi was giving advantage to Poland? It was an un needed red light. The race could easily have continued and if Janowski had been in a scoring position, which looked unlikely after the first bend, the result could have been altered. The Aussies were well clear and without the call back would more than likely smashed inthe 5-1. The Swedes would then have picked the favourable gates. I thought it stank the meeting out.

Rob why are you trying to big up Woffinden who has stuck his fingers up at British fans and British speedway? Wouldn't have him anywhere near teamGB until he apologises to British fans and asks to come back. And Roscos should have booted him out of the pits last night at the world games. No right to be there.

Well Poland won it but it was a complete scam in heat 21. With the Aussies gone the ref decided to exclude Janowski after a lap who was at the back to give Zmarzlik another go. Stank the meeting out to be honest. Disgraceful stuff from the ref who clearly wanted Poland to make it through. Sorry but that's how I saw it. Lambert is completely out of his depth at this level, as are all teamgb riders at this current time. Even unhead of Russians and Germans who ride lower league here fair better than our sorry bunch. Richie Worrall would have done better than King or Lambert, who were worse than useless. I have a Dudek paraglider, made in Poland.