Steve Shovlar

Get in there! woooohoooo!

Get in!

Thinking we are going to come up short but hope not. Harris and Howarth 13 and 15 with Flint in the other two. Thoughts are that we are weaker with no Cook and they are much stronger with Barkers haul tonight. And we have Cairns coming in three weeks.

Rowe blew heat 9 at the start.

Barker already scored way more than Boughen. Go Anders!

Disaster start. Lawson through the tapes and Starke pulls up at the back.

Starke decent tonight. Not up against much and only led for half a lap in his last before he blasted around Ben Morley. Pick of the rest was Vinnie Ford who got a very warm reception, and Richings who battled well. They all met in heat 14 and Starke just gated and rode away from any threat. No idea where Cook is on Friday. But with Barker guesting for Boughen we have no chance and will do well to get to 40 points. Fancy our chances better on Saturday at Workington.

God help us Starke for Cairns. Be lucky to be a few hundred there at best.

Utterly dull GP. I went to this twice in the early 2000’s and it was dull then but time in the city made up for it. The crowd was far bigger back then as well but racing was rubbish. Still haven’t improved it.

Last season at Poole in the KO cup final he smoked Lawson by 100 metres to win his third ride, but was tailed off in his other three rides, throttling right off as he came to a bend. In the playoff final, it was the same, two tailed off lasts before beating Lawson by a straight. If he gets in front he is very fast. The trouble is he is lacking any nerve to physically mix it if caught in a first bend tussle. Whether he can get over these issues or not will determine whether he has what it takes to become a speedway rider of merit. Certainly has the equipment and raw talent but that alone is not enough when there are riders out there who will make up on a lack of talent by having bigger balls. But there could be more to his issues than that. Why throttle off entering bends throughout a race when there’s no one near him?

That can’t be right. There’s never any passing at Poole.

Such an aura that Belle Vue’s crowds have flopped to the few hundreds.

Entertaining meeting with some good racing. Pick of the heats was heat 6. Cluff gated, but was picked off by Thomsen and Lawson. Then Barker spend a lap catching and on lap 4 went around both pirates on bends one and two. Excellent race. The victory was never really in doubt but not helped by Cook having a stinker and Kerr being easily 5-1’d by Trigger and Thompson in heat 14. Lawson and Rowe excellent. Rowe should be at number 5, no doubt about it. Tobias riding well and dropped points when his wrist cable came off. Special mention to Richings. 7 paid 8. Never expected that. Riding far better than Starke.

Well that was a bit ridiculous. Gate 4 was a complete joke and may as well had just the inside gates. Rowe against Frederiksen and Cluff and couldn’t get near them. Eight points to make up which we will do, but heat 13 has me seething, as it would any neutral or Poole fan. We are carrying too many and it’s simply not good enough. Cook was poor, Starke is a mobile chicane. Kerr…well best for me to say nothing anymore. Richings is better than Marson by a distance. Tobias is doing well. Lawson fine, though ran a last in heat one……off four.

Pirates clear on a 5-1 after Harris impedes himself. Can’t have that says the ref and bangs on the red light with Pirates clear down the back straight. Horrendous.

Disgraceful refereeing.

Just hope they get a move on and no silly delays. Want 15 heats not ten.

Haven’t purchased the stream for this one yet as rain is heading in. Will wait to see if it hits. They will have to get a move on to get 15 heats in. Fingers crossed. As for guests, Bomber around there is something else. With R/R it certainly helps Plymouths cause. Just got to keep it close enough to see them off at home. Could well be squeaky bum time over the two legs.

How does Cairns compare to Hagon and Boughen, Killeen?

No Agenda against Kerr. I just expect riders with an 8 average to not be beaten by second strings on a regular basis. So I say what I see. I want Kerr to ride to his average, thats all. Last night hopefully showed he has turned the corner. I look forward to his contribution at plymouth.

Home to Oxford, not great away at Berwick. Just want him to do a lot better than he has so far this season. If he has sorted out his bike issues that would be good news.

Sam was appalling for over half a season last year. No way did he warrant a team spot. But really pleased he seems to be having a few good scores and retained the u21 title.

Glad to see Kerr scoring well last night. Now bring that form to Poole please and we will all be happy. There’s no denying he has been poor when riding for Poole this season and he needs to turn that form around.

Superstars? What superstars?

We deserved that defeat. Shocking performance early in the meeting. Again took 8-9 heats to get going. This time it cost us and comical time in heat 14 when gating on a 5-1 turned into a 4-2 to Berwick with Starke falling on the last bend to gift Berwick the win. Some extremely poor performances from our captain Zack Cook. Mobile chicane. Tobias no better. Just poor. Every meeting this year we start so slow and this time, just like Oxford at home, we ran out of heats. Hagon decided to have his best meeting in months and was excellent. Against his old club? He should be fired up like that every meeting. There’s a talent in there. Hume was good and I have always liked Drew Kemp. He is now beginning to fulfil his potential as a very decent rider.