Steve Shovlar

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.

I did. Kerr and Starke well past their sell by date.

Getting a deserved hammering.

Bye bye Kerr.

What bike issues?

We are very lucky to come away with the points tonight. Edinburgh were on a 5-1 in two heats when one of their guys had an ef. Really they should have won but luck shined down on us. If we ride like that tomorrow at Berwick we will get spanked. We were outgated for the first half of the meeting. Seems the whole team is infected with “clutch hand”. The loss of Polis was covered by Grahn, who is crap and likely to be junked, and Palovaara, who scored 19 points. A gem at reserve with 7 rides. For Poole Lawson was good, Tobias exceptional, Rowe good, Cook very poor, Kerr poor, Starke did a job, and Richings a vast improvement on Marson scoring an important 2. Kerr just doesn’t look like our second heat leader. Castagna was miles behind but passed Starke, not difficult, then was about 40 metres behind Kerr but still caught him on the line. Diabolical riding. He really needs to get his act together. I really want him to and don’t dislike the guy but he seems to lack and spark at all at the moment. Tomorrow at Berwick we know if you don’t gate you are stuffed and we could be well adrift. Kerr needs to step up for us to have any chance.

OK enough. Kerr has to go. Enough already. Utter crap.

Polis withdrawn. 21 point max incoming from Palovaara?

Only reason Poole are level is because Edinburgh had two EF’s when on clear 5-1’s. We are not at the races! Victor Palovaara is a great signing for Monarchs. Won his two heats so far by a literal mile.

Kerr took three laps to pass Wood. Shocking stuff.

First 3 heats Pirates keeping up their form of being completely outgated.

Truly excellent from Anders Rowe tonight. You can really see the improvement from him. If he avoids injury can really see him become an out and out heat leader and 8+ rider. He made some superb passing manoeuvres and fully deserved his first 15 max, with the help of Lawson who slowed down to allow him through. Richings was an improvement over Marson and scored a good point beating Kennedy. Kerr had his best meeting so far, Thomsen battled as did Cook. Starke won his first but went completely AWOL before getting a point at the end of the meeting. Scunthorpe were poor. Worrall battled for not many points. The reserves were decent as was Mountain, but oh dear Lambert and Allen. Harrison was ok. So finally a decent performance but let’s see how we do on Friday and Saturday up north.

Sorry r&r had more important issues occupying my mind.

Not going to make much of a difference. He is not likely going to bother the scorers. Can’t do any worse though.

Poole re-arrange next weeks meeting due to football clash. Good move! https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/25155902.poole-rearrange-harbour-masters-meeting-due-europa-league-clash/

Completely forgot this event was taking place. Just watched it this morning. First impressions. Did they forget to advertise it? Virtually no one there. A real issue. Belle Vue have hosted the British Final for quite a few years now and clearly the locals don’t want it anymore. They simply can’t be arsed to come out. Time for the event to come further south or try a different venue. But countering that was the racing last night which was excellent, and ended in a final which was top drawer. There’s no doubt that the track is the best in the UK, but if fans don’t come out what’s the point? Are we going to be embarrassed by a really small crowd at GP this summer? I hope not but let’s hope it’s not a repeat of the empty stands we saw there last year for the WTC or what ever it was called. Thought it was Bewleys to lose but Lambert had other ideas and won it well in the end. Great final.

There’s making up the numbers and making up the numbers. Seriously, Matt Marson is a better speedway rider than me. I have never put a leg over a speedway bike and ridden one, in all my years. Yet I would have contributed the same as Marson, had I been number 7 in the Poole team. You don’t get a,point for finishing tailed off by 100 metres, or a lap behind. Marson knew he was well out of his depth at this level and it didn’t do him or the team any favours. Ritchings may or may not do any better but he can’t do worse. Riding for Poole brings more pressure than riding for nearly every other club, and rightly so. Riders should know they can’t have a couple of dodgy meetings. Kerr must know this and get his act together quickly. Starke needs to show some fighting spirit. Tick tock…

Have to say for the first time in many seasons, Matt got the team building wrong. Had serious doubts before a wheel had turned but it’s clear to see that Starke, although hitting his average, has little to no drive and aggression in his racing today, and Kerr has been completely unreliable. We need to look overseas for a young rider on the up with some real aggression and ability. They are out there.

I’m not sure posting that I thought Gilkes had a broken arm is “dangerous”. The fall didn’t look too bad from where we were sitting and we all expected him to get straight up. Clearly after a minute we all recognised it was more serious than that and when the ambulance came out we knew he had hurt himself. It took quite a while to treat him on the track and get him inside the ambulance, where we could see he was in pain, on a drip and taking oxygen. There wasn’t a single person in the stadium who didn’t applaud Dan and wish him the best. Let’s see what the official statement brings. Hopefully not season ending.

First of all well done to Oxford. They started on fire and left us for dead out of the gate in the first half of the meeting. What looked like an innocuous fall for Dan Gilkes turned into a very long break. He sort of slid off, but went over to his right and I believe, though not confirmed, put his arm out and broke it. He was on the track for a very long time and when moved, on an ambulance stretcher, was on a drip, breathing oxygen and holding his arm close to his chest. Let’s all hope he has a speedy recovery. The delay was frankly ridiculous. No county ambulance available. So the casualty had to be taken to hospital, 5 minutes away, then it too a while for the patient to be handed over before it could return. Pirates worked their way back into the meeting but Kerr’s throttle went the wrong way when on a 5-1 in heat 13. It ended up with us needing a 5-1 in heat 15 to force a draw, but Masters got a big roller and to the dismay of the crowd the ref let it go. Lawson got by on lap 3 but it was too much for Cook. A few thoughts. Kerr is a terrible signing so far. Just not good enough. His bike packing up on the final bend cost us a draw, then he was picked of by an excellent McDiamond like he was standing still, then in heat 13 shut off when on a 5-1. The rest blew hot and cold. Believe changes will happen to this side, and I am not talking Cairns. Special mention to McDiamond. Spoke to him before the meeting and he is a level headed young man and could be a future top Aussie. Very good signing who won’t be at reserve for long.

It should and we can all go home. Oxford better team tonight anyway.