Steve Shovlar

He was in blinding form last night and seemed to like being out wide in the dirt, where others feared to go. Fully deserved heat 15 along with Brady. Track times were generally 3-4 seconds slower but the track certainly improved through the meeting. Opposition were dreadful. No fight at all, although they did manage a heat win over Buck and Hans, who should have been excluded at the tapes for not being ready. The Poole pair spent the race getting in each others way. For Poole. Holder was a class above. Never troubled. Ellis looked like a heat leader. Some good passing moves. Joint rider of the night. Buckowski is a rider not in form. Doing his usual throwing the bike about but not the rider he was at the start of the season. Poor form abroad as well. Kurtz rode very well. Again like Ellis got heat 15 and joint rider of the night. Andersen was not impressive. Should have been excluded in the heat he ran a last, and didn't have forward speed. Bjarne was very slow. He gated but just couldn't maintain his position and was picked off. Father time has caught up with his career. Newman was battling as usual. Ran a last when a cover came off his bike and was picked off on the last lap by Auty. For Leicester. Summers was poor. Did pick up a win in one heat. Wozniak was pretty invisible. Starke doesn't look the rider that did well for us a season ago. Klindt got a couple of wins, one from a big roller referree Willie Ditchington let go. New ref? Auty was gerally poor but got one win in heat 12. Palm Toft didn't ride as well as last time he was here. In all Leicester were absolute garbage and the Poole Dolphin marching band provided more entertainment in the interval. A great crowd turned up due to Matt Ford doing his job, with all season ticket holders given a very nice Poole Pirates cap to placate the moaners. So its a showdown at High Noon next. Got to worry some of our boys will find the Belle Vue track too big and fast for them.

I saw the crowd during heat 15. The main stand was mostly empty. First bend closed. No one on 3rd and forth bend. Back straight must have been very busy couldn't see. Not making it up only repeating on here what I saw.

I do worry about some Poole riders complete lack of speed. Both our reserves have scored well but lack speed. Bjarne went from 1st to 4th twice tonight. A mobile chicane and not good enough. Hans and Buck also both look very slow. They could be found out in the big wide open spaces of Belle Vue.

So what happened Belle Vue? Did you allow complacency to rear its ugly head? Where were the fans? The place was empty. Belle Vue top of the league in a conurbation of 2.5 million and no one there. Worrying.

Well that one was a boring one sided affair to be honest. Very large crowd, vu bloody vu vu zallas driving many of us mental. Not much to say the scoreline says it all.

What a terrible crowd at Belle Vue tonight. A couple of hundred at best? A brand new stadium with hardly no one there. The promotion need to be working on getting fans through the turnstiles. In comparison tonight Poole was packed out with a huge crowd. This result cancels out Pooles loss on Monday. A win at Belle Vue would put Poole top, for a few hours at least.

Whoop whoop!!!!!

Massive crowd in the stadium. Rain all around us. Fingers crossed.

Extremely humid and muggy. Like walking through a large greenhouse like Kew Gardens. Dry right now. Lots of rain coming over the channel though.

Raining in Parkstone but only light. Just clipped the edge of the cell which has stopped the cricket at the Rosebowl.

4.45 pm. Still dry looks like the first rain skirted either side of the town. More to come later though.

Still dry in Parkstone in Poole but clouds are very threatening.

Looks like it could rain in the next hour. Need it to pass through and not cause too much damage to the track.

Suprised he hasn't called you a speedway no nothing and he was talking about you with his mates and they said you have very limited speedway knowledge. That's the usual line.

Forecast changed to heavy rain around 6 pm tonight. Very heavy rain over France heading for the Channel Islands and then on up. Hope it misses.

Seems people are starting to realise what I said weeks and weeks ago. Poole are not favourites for the title. I don't think we ever have been but for the bookies who made the odds based on Poole's reputation and not a lot more. And some on here who lack speedway knowledge. Poole are one of the better teams but I said months ago we have journeymen who are happy with their 7 points in Poland, 7 points in Sweden, 8 points in the UK. Adds up to a tidy sum at the end of every month and by riding safe without too many risks its a nice little earner. But its funny how people on here's attutude changes because we were turned over on Monday. I called it before a wheel had turned yet quite a few were still saying Poole by ten! Think we will do OK on Monday with a loss and a win which will give us second in the league at the time the playoffs start. Which means a trip to Wolves and probably the end of our season. Not because Wolves are a better team than Poole but because their home advantage is massive and our boys nearly always struggle around this track. Wolves could be through before the second leg is run. Back to Monday and I think Poole will do better than they did at Swindon.

Not with this guy sorting out those northern bad guys. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvtlcl3tdacp5if/Photo%2023-08-2016%2C%2020%2019%2035.png?dl=0

Forecast is currently good for Monday. Settled weather over the country.

Massive advertising opportunity for Belle Vue. Get a designer to knock up a High Noon like film poster featuring a gun totting Zagar and Holder, and plaster 'em all over town. Ya here me boy?

Howdy Partners! I hear those pesky Pirates are a' ridin' into town and they ain't here for no picnic. They here for a rootin' tootin' shootout and ain't takin no prisoners! It's gonna be a hell of a hoedown! Ya hear me boy? (spit) Cause when the going gets tough, the those Pirates are gonna get going. High Noon on the 29th August and it's a battle between the Champs and pretenders to the crown. So head 'em up and move 'em out. Get there early the place is gonna be rockin! Yeeha! https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvtlcl3tdacp5if/Photo%2023-08-2016%2C%2020%2019%2035.png?dl=0

Where is this speedway racing that Stevebrum does every Monday taking place at?

We shouldn't be talking about changes or anything. The team this year is the team this year and we should stick with it through to the end of the season. If it ends in the semis then so be it. The season is not over because of one defeat at Swindon when the robins were desperate for the win to keep their playoff hopes alive. If we have to go to Wolves for the playoffs we can beat them over two legs even though they have strengthened up. Keep the faith.

He has been poor in Poland the last month. Kurtz had one good ride but just got outgated and was chasing shadows. The track was extremely slick and Holder and Newman were trying every line and getting nowhere. The Swindon riders once in front sat on the fastest line and that was that for most of the time. Lets see how we get on next Monday at the favourites before writing our chances off. If we get smashed well we can't win it every year, can we?

Just got back and have to say we deserved nothing out of that. Beaten consistently out of the gate on a track where passing was difficult at best with many heats spaced well out. I said before the meeting that Swindon fans were putting their team down and they could win this and so it proved. Gate 4 a massive advantage the first half of the meeting and we win the toss and chose 1 and 3, meaning we had four heats on the bounce mid meeting with the useless 1 and 3. Couldn't live with Swindons gating and were then just chasing shadows. A very poor performance but it happens so time to put it behind us and move on to Wednesday and the visit of Leicester.

Dreadful from the gate turd of a meeting. Swindon owning us out of the gate. No chance of Holder passing.