STEVEHOLS54

Well I was there as well. Amongst watching a good side hammer Workington i did go to check in on our assets ;-) Track looked good with plenty of dirt on it to encourage good racing. Yes its a technical track but it always has been. Hasn't stopped some good riders doing well on it over the years. Last night other than Proctor and new into reserve Mason Campton the rest were pretty dire. Klindt's biggest impression was his warm up routine in the pits. Plenty of arm swinging and seemed more like a Danish League match as was was having plenty of fun sitting with his Danish team mates and what looked like some DK pit crew. They seemed in good spirits which bode well for the night. Unfortunately for him and them it went downhill quickly against a fairly young/classy and enthusiastic Lakeside side. A team that encompasses all that I want to see at Poole - Exprerienced riders/Exciting young established talent/Up and coming young talent/Fairly new young talent out of N/L. Anyway I digress. First ride he was already behind when he fell - NOT an E/F Even Bowtell had kept him at bay until then !!!! Second ride he was with them into first bend but was third behind Morris and Zach W and it was already painful to watch - Third ride was an E/F. He made the start but was already behind when it happened. he was substituted in his 4th ride by reserve Mason Campton. If I didnt know differently I would have said he was dumping his Champ av to get a good conversion into a Prem side for next season but of course wont happen as on last nights performance he will have a low enough av at Poole. Bottom line is he was one of many of the away team who couldnt ride the track. Even Bewley only scored 3 from 5 rides and that was partly lucky as Morris broke the tapes in last heat so went back 15 metres. Still managed to get past Proctor who then packed up. Not the first time Bewley has not done well at Lakeside when in N/L was similar. As for our other asset. Newman had a paid max and did well although what should have been our other asset Ellis was his partner in 3 races and looked much faster. Was way ahead of Kyle by nearly the whole straight when his bike packed up. But Newman was good at mixing up with the away team to allow his partner to streak off for the win. Good in the team and was pleased to see Kyle going well. Has a never say die attitude which good for moral and seems happy in the pits. Managed to have a few words with Jon Cook while he was tucking in to what looked like a box of chicken and chips between races and threw in a couple of throw away lines about how Ellis seems a much improved rider and how Poole let him go. He said well they did have the opportunity to sign him as an asset. Didnt push it too far as didnt want to be seen asking to many personal questions. Newman for me looked a lot more committed than Klidnt, but perhaps Klindt will come into his own more on different tracks to Lakeside. He needs to as his last couple of meetings for Workington have been poor. All Workington's 3 Danes were poor. Obviously not a track to the Danes liking. Anyway let's hope we get a different Klindt riding for us. Like the one who scored a max in POL recently and also did some good points in DK.

Had the pleasure in watching Lakeside Hammer his club last night and he was dire to put it mildly. How this guy can ride a max in POL on Sunday and ride as he did last night is crazy. However the point is my comments are in ref to what he will earn at Poole (probably) compared to DK as he wont have all the commuting costs. Remember it was his poor Champ form that got him into Poole last season anyway on what many deemed a bargain av on the points conversion av Champ to Prem. Bottom line was he couldnt ride the track. Think he will do better at Poole. If not then Poole really do have a problem.

Wasnt leading us into multi exchanges for 2019. Was more reacting to comments about building a team around core riders who should be the main basis of your team going forward. For me the first 4 would be your ideal base and then build around it. Of course future league structure would play its part as would if say Woryna was to break into SGP would he want to come back to UK. Plenty of factors to consider. Of course this season is an important factor. But hopefully Matt can look at these 4 as his main stay of the team going fwd. Yep 2 meetings to go as acording to SGB website (in clause 16 of therukesI think it states) the 23rd is the last day of the month for qualifying av to be applied the first of the flwg month. Good news that as chances are maybe Klindt and Woryna in reserve berths for July ?? Thats my lot now off to see how out assets perform at Lakeside tonight ;-)

See Josh G has JUST scraped in to the POL Champ semi finals. I say just. He was fortunate to get into to one of the weaker quarter finals. God knows who planned these as their is one meeting with so many tasty riders in it, but suppose that must have been as the straws were drawn. He scored 7 from 5 rides and qualified in 8th after a run off against Czaja. Suppose its all about qualifying and it is his first real season over there so a lot of tracks new to him. Sure he will be pleased either way. Woryna comfortably qualified in 5th in his meeting with 10 points. The Pole who is not as good as he thinks he is i.e Gomolski is out as scored 7 points in same meeting in 9th but only one race win where Gala on same points had 2 wins. Having said that those above him compared to the Josh G meeting were as below. Think Josh was fortunate as he would never have qualified had he raced against this lot. P.S: Not copied over so well. Last 2 numbers are meeting total. Spaniak meeting jut started and scored 2 from first ride although opposition doesnt look much. If he doesnt qualify from that meeting in top 8 it would highlight just how bad his form is. 1 15 Dominik Kubera 3 3 3 3 2 14 2 6 Bartosz Smektała 3 3 3 1 3 13 3 8 Piotr Pawlicki 1 2 3 3 3 12 4 5 Tomasz Jędrzejak 2 3 2 3 2 12 5 10 Kacper Woryna 2 2 3 2 1 10 6 9 Paweł Przedpełski 3 2 2 2 0 9 7 2 Krzysztof Buczkowski 2 1 0 2 3 8 8 4 Adrian Gała 3 3 1 in 0 7

Come on they are not all like that but yeah take your point ;-) Hopefully your boy Mountain will do well.Hope so as want Lakeside to win but want both our Poole assets - Klindt and Newman also to do well. To heck - Just a good nights racing will do :-)

Yes but promotors such as Matt Ford knew season start he had no DK clashes as he didnt use Andersen or Klindt. KL used NKI and Lambert surely knowing they could lose for some matches if and when meeting clashed (dont forget DK is a smaller league though and they start later). If Chapman has decided to race Wed and also accepted other clubs fixture lists then he must have approved the possibility of losing some of his riders in such situations. As for Klindt at Poole then either there is a min fixture clash as he is resigned to start in under 2 weeks or he has agreed with his DK club to give up in favour of Poole as he is based in UK with his family - doesnt have all the commuting costs and gets more meetings in UK which must give him more than his DK earnings ??

One of the frustrations of being a Poole Supporter (by the way for many years) based near Chelmsford - Essex is that I don't get a chance to see them so much. A 3.5 hour drive is a bit of a ball breaker. Thankfully I didnt attempt it this week as would have seen my backside ;-) However that does not dampen my love for the Pirates or my enthusiasm for the sport. Having been pressing home my comments/thoughts re using these young N/L riders and having a combo of 2 of these under 20 in each side - add existing established young riders and top off with the experienced guys. (Not all these ultra expensive top/top riders based abroad). Well tonight I am more than happy to spend my £17 entrance fee for a meeting at Lakeside only 23 miles from where I live, where I will see the kind of Speedway I am trying to advocate partly. Firstly I get too see our returning asset N.Klindt - Hopefully will have a gating day at Lakeside as we know not an easy track - Also get to see another asset in Newman who dont expect too much from these days to be honest. Add into the mix experience such as Lawson/Proctor/Bach/Campton - add established young talent such as Morris/Ellis/Jensen and also exciting youngsters such as Bewley/Wajtknecht and topped up by youngsters who have been in N/L such as Mountain (Lakeside guest) - Bickley - Bowtell. Now that is certainly a well spent £17 entrance fee - Ok add £3 for the program but I dont give a damn as this is the mix of talent i want to see. A mixture of Experienced/Established good young riders/Young talent coming through. Maybe throw in a snack from the burger/hot dog/chippie van and a pint and its speedway utopia Who needs GP riders and it cost the promotors a fraction of the cost. Its nights like hopefully tonight that you think there's hope for the sport yet. Also no rain planned and I checked both BBC and Met office. Fingers crossed.

To me. Poole and Aussies in the main have been a good mix and that's where I think they should build the base of the team. My idea would be to use the 4 Aussies they can get immediate access to next season. IF Chris's visa/permit issue can be overcome that is, and surely we will know one way or the other on that score by the end of 2018. Kurtz lives in one of Middlo's at home apartments (or whatever you call it) and probably has bike facilities there. It worked for Darcy and so far has been good for Brady. Chris is near enough local and I thought Jack may live with him when in UK. That should be the real backbone of the team for 2019 in my opinion. Josh I am a bit uncertain as I know he lived way up North but now he is also a POL citizen will he be spending more of his time in POL ??? If he is then i question if he is a good backbone of the team factor if he is whizzing constantly between POL/Poole/His Northern base. Has this also been a contributing factor to his not so good UK form this season. Try flying UK/POL a couple of tines a week (as he was doing as he wanted to keep constant practice in an attempt to break into POL with his new POL Licence). I know top riders do some cross border travelling but its still a hike travelling country and journeys to & from the airports alone can be a pain in the backside let alone the flying. Factor in also travelling to your UK Northern based home. Think he had conditioned himself to the regular routine in UK of both Prem/Champ and always had home to go back to after meetings as plenty of his rides were in the North even when he was guesting. Diff Country commuting each week must take some toll even if he did give up Champ. Even then a down side as he is not racing on the track every 2/3 days like he has done well for years now. For me it should be C. Holder/B.Kurtz/J.Holder/K.Woryna (if Matt feels he could be the next Janowski - his comments not mine)/Josh G ?? and then add 2 others. For me going to keep banging the drum to factor in 2 N/L youngsters under 20 per team. Based on restructuring the League of course. You can maybe also factor in Klindt who although a Dane lives in UK with his family and will continue to be committed to the Prem/Champ (or one big league if it was restructured). In effect that MUST surely save money using plenty of your own assets as the only one you have to pay costs for riding in UK are for Woryna. The rest qualify as living/based here. Anyway as usual just airing ideas/opinion.

Assuming both would be replacements for say Spaniak/Josh G then I question if Matt really wants the addl expense of nett one Pole for the rest of the season. Matt must be hurting financially pretty hard this season with all that's gone on and meetings cancelled etc, so lets say its Woz. The cost of having say 2 bikes - engines - technical support - flights in and out - accomodation - wages etc. He is doing better since his swap to Gorzow from Leszno and seems to have improved his form so far in POL. Woz for Spaniak I would go for as he is a better rider than Gomolski. Problem is that assuming we keep Worrall and the rest of the team we only have 5.58 to play with (taking Spaniak out of the team with Klindt coming in). Unless of course Matt was planning to can Josh G which would fit him in. Matt may not be in a hurry as next meeting is 2 weeks time plus next cut off for GSA's is only 23/6 meaning he can use the current ones effective from today to work around. Footnote: Matts article in the Echo today shows how badly the Holder situation has hurt the club when you look at all of the assets he could have had available.

Hope the Club is not draining his personal situation Wouldn't surprise me the way the sport is going.

I hope for his sake he has as it takes some of the pressure off the income situ at Poole. I really do hope that something can be salvaged from the mess that is 2018 on the team front (incl the CH saga) - track front and the horrendous rain off front as that has had the main bearing on Pooles track issues. We need some fair weather - some team stability and a decent run of results to finish at least mid table. Anything else for me will be a bonus. I never predicted Poole would walk the League but like many, I never dreamed that such a team of POTENTIAL talent would bomb so badly. Anyway despite all the issues and problems still plenty of exciting racing available and hopefully positive team results. After last season thought we had enough problems & bad luck but this season trumps that (so far).

Difficult one to gauge. He's only 17 but in his 3rd season in N/L having ridden for both Cov and Plymouth in 2016/17 before Plymouth this season. Kemp has been a bit of a revelation and may have been 2nd/3rd in Brits under 19 final at Ipswich had he not had a retirement. But even so 10 from 4 completed rides for a 15 year old was still good. Kemp of course scored that crazy 21 point max a week earlier at Mildenhall and easy to get carried away expecting similar a week later. But remember he is only 15 in his first season, where even Atkins who may not be a World beater is in his third. But fair play to the lad he beat Kemp twice. Kemp did miss a meeting at Kent earlier in the week to do exams so maybe that was still on his mind. I was even going to go from my home in Chelmsford just to see him that night at Kent but my Wife wanted wining and dining that night. Good thing she did as only found out when checking the results he didnt ride and was scrubbed late due to the exam situ. With Jenkins also being injured previously at Birm it would have been the 2 exciting riders i wanted to see both missing. Wouldnt have been a happy bunny for sure :-) For me if Atkins is going to make it he is perhaps more of a slow burner looking at his scores even if he did turn over Kemp twice at Mildenhall last weekend. P.S: Kemp scored paid 18 max from his 6 rides at Plymouth 3 weeks earlier were Atkins scored only 9 from 5. Amazingly though they never met over the 11 races they competed in. Shame. Would have been interesting if as it seems Kemp was on fire that day at Plymouth.

Exactly. Even more reason for a rethink on how we construct our sport going forward after the end of this season.

Now you can see why Poole Bolton stepped out of the Forum with people like the Muppets kind of reply to a lot of his sensible posts. Interesting its another Ipswich Fan who comes in from the side with such a comment. At least Gavan has a good element of sensible input

Your user name probably sums you up. I dont care where he gets his income from. I am just trying to say that I can't see how our club can survive in its current format if it also has to finance a full time promotor as well as take all the hits its had to endure this season. Matt Ford over the years has done a brilliant job and most have viewed Poole as one of the most financially secure and successful clubs. I am just wondering how long it can continue as is if he doesnt have other biz interests to help him. I dont care what those interests are. My point being it all adds cost to a business gong through a difficult time financially. I may be wrong but i thought most if not all other Speedway bosses have other biz interests and Speedway is only part of that. If this is/was Matts main employ then it must be hammering him even more.

Flwg on from Skidders reply to yr question Me personally yes but my situation is not tight like some others. To me whether it is £18 or £15 doesnt matter. Perhaps for some it does. If I can get a decent fix with half decent riders i will pay for it. I would pay the same if i could get a chance to regularly see some of this young N/L talent coming through in conjunction with some of the other talent like the young Kurtz/Holder/Lambert/Woryna to name a few and in conjunction with some of the Champ riders, many themselves up and coming talent like Zach W - Adam Ellis (who also ride Prem). I still think we need to harness the young talent but also not totally lose those who have given us enjoyment over the years like Harris/Nicholls and others. I dont hold all the answers just giving my views. The future of British Speedway for me short term isnt these BIG stars. We cant in the main afford them and we can get plenty of exposure to them weekly on Youtube etc or if you want your big night out book Cardiff GP. Don't worry if these POL teams see a UK talent they will be on to it just like Rybnik have in a tie up with Bewley even if not in the team yet. They are advanced enough to know a good potential rider coming through. I still think there must be a way we can harness what talent we do have and present it in a way that we the speedway public benefit and also get exciting racing. Lets be honest the likes of Holder Jr/Kurtz/Woryna and many other young riders will still have their bloopers as they learn their trade with or without the Doyles/Holder Srs/Vaculiks/KK and others you may want to name. Hence why i keep banging on about taking the N/L talent (let them keep there N/L teams but work around it to get a couple into each Prem/Champ team) add these established young rider and a mix it in also with established riders in the Prem/Champ (Many who double up anyway). If not I really fear for our sport.

Think he had a long lie down in a darkened room as he see's his finances flushing down the toilet week by week this season and with less money then he ever had since the loss of both the Sky money (for the much poorer BT deal) and that lucrative Readypower sponsorship for I assume the much lower Poole Volvo deal ?? There is something I dont quite get and maybe some of my forum colleagues can help me here. I have read plenty that Matt is a full time promotor and as such his full time job is Poole Speedway (thought i read he had sold his hairdressing biz some time ago). I have no idea if he has other biz interests. If Speedway really is losing its backside, and I can fully understand that this season if nothing else with all the rain offs, what must have been a hellish expensive 70th Anniv wipeout with all the costs of the riders and ex stars coming over - hotels - the big bash and costs for arranging it, less sponsorship - no Sky money etc - etc. How the hell can he be staying afloat if this is his main source of income and also paying all the riders wages and related costs. A lot of other promotions have other biz interests incl Rye House who must be struggling but how can Matt do it if this is his main source of income (and sure I read that his wife also gets involved in the office). Maybe someone can enlighten me as I cant see how he can do it with all these rain offs and also falling crowds as they sure aren't attending in the numbers we had when we had those successful teams. That's also not incl the rain off of the normally well attended and lucrative BH meeting against Somerset.

You cant blame them. Can live with that. Speedway is not a lifelong career for most. Getting a career without decent grades is difficult enough. Nice to have in your back pocket if the Speedway career doesnt pan out. I believe even Jack Holder stayed in Aussie one season more than Brady Kurtz despite being 6 months older to get his apprentiship completed before he came over to race in UK. I think most who have a genuine long term interest in the sport would understand that. Also with the N/L and all the meetings available in Prem/Champ (combined) they would miss relatively few in comparison. Many of these guys seem to be able to encompass both unless its actually taking exams themselves.

Lets hope the BSPA can finally see that. When the likes of Matt Ford are feeling the pinch hard. Even more so with what must have been so far a financial disaster this season Reasons for that having been well aired in previous posts. Come on when what was viewed as the most financially rich club in Prem can't afford its own team kevlars ?? I really think it will take the likes of RH (who for me must be struggling fiancially) - Poole (who were for so long viewed as the cream of the crop financially) and 1 or 2 others to sit round this BSPA Annual get togehter and spell out once and for all that its got to be change or we go down the toilet certainly as far as the Prem is concerned. Either that or the blinkered blindly carry on for another 1/2 seasons before the Bankrupcy signs start appearing. If they even get that far.

Oh Please...... Not this subject kicking off again Don't know what is worse this or the ongoing track issue from last night. Have we really got to wait another 2 weeks for the next home meeting before we can kick this subject into the long grass

Well my cards are Kemp/Flint and Jenkins. Be interesting to look back at say the end of the 2019 season to see how they are progressing. At least we know the N/L will still be around but in what format the Prem/Champ - who knows ;-) I say Jenkins because he was looking so good prior to his injury at Brum (hopefully back in next 2/3 weeks) and also looked good as late guest for Poole V Bloaters meeting (the kind of poor mans 70th anniv meeting).For a guy who is only 17 in Aug a return of 4 plus 2 bonus from 5 rides was a decent effort. Many thought he looked quite good.

Interesting bit of Speedway Trivia. According to his website. Thomsen is now 24. Got on his first 50 CC Speedway bike at 3 - Yes 3. That's what his website says. Man do they start them young in DK. Maybe why a lot of them seem to look like going places when young but then taper off - I use MJJ and M.Bech as examples, as remember how they burst on to the SGP scene as 16/17 year olds. 50cc, (1997 – 2004): 2 x Danmarksmester 5 x Fynsmester 6 x Klubmester 80cc, (2005 – 2010): Individuel verdensmester Holdverdensmester Holddanmarksmester As For Gomolski. If he rode nearly as good as he seems to think he is then indeed would be a good signing. For me, there lies the problem.

As a side issue I see Josh now being a POL Citizen is now riding in the POL Championship Quarter Final on Friday at Krosno. Could we be emptying 2 Poles looking at your comment above ;-) Personally would be surprised if Matt were to empty his team Captain and fork out for 2 lots additional costs. At least Josh is resident (sometimes) in UK where both named would come with flights/accomodation etc. Interesting post though.

Its perhaps easy for people like us on the outside looking in as take me for example. I look at plenty of stats and results and Kemp has jumped out although I know he is also using his head/brain when riding. Incredible for a 15 year old. But in reality I have no idea how long some of these guys have been on a bike. Some started earlier than others so although on the face of it young. One who started at 7/8 may be ahead of one starting at say 10/11 even if on face value both riders may be only 15. BUT I dont want to take anything away from these young up and coming lads. We all mature at certain things at different levels and some get there quicker than others - some get to a level and dont push on and some come along steadily and then burst on to the scenes. Even Lambert was giving me some concern. He was the next BIG young Brit and now is starting to actually show it. See he won a German Open meeting today. He broke into KL Elite team at 16 but there were doubters starting to appear in respect of his terrible gating - his attitude etc. Even I was having some doubts as he seemed to explode on to the scene but not push on. Probably some of us were too impatient as we tend to compare young Poles who always seem to be ahead of us but its an unfair comparison. But lets not forget he started riding in 2008 (10 years ago when he got his first licence) and got around the min UK Speedway age rules by having contacts in Germany where he could race under aged. So when he hit the UK scene as this exciting looking 16 year old, he already had some years having raced overseas. I am not knocking Rob as he is the short term future of British Speedway, but he didnt just walk into the sport at 16 but at 10. I only mention Rob as an example as many of us dont know how long some of these young 15/16 year olds have been on speedway bikes of some nature. But ultimately at the moment we do have plenty of talented youngsters coming through and I for one want them to get asap exposure to also riding against better riders or even top class so they can have mentors in the pits giving them advice on how to ride certain situations even if they only have limited exposure to riding against them in order not to kill their confidence. Hence I for one would like to see a league set up where maybe 2 of these guys go in per team so they can ride against riders of approx equal capabilities for their tender age and also too learn when teamed with some good young or experienced talent to get track craft and riding experience. A kind of mini Polish Team exercise.

Good question as the Poles think they rule the Speedway World. Well suppose in reality they do..... But the Poles know how to organise and make sure any meetings take place over a FRI/SAT/SUN in both EXL and Nice 1. They know how to run the sport within the agreed days but let's be honest. They chose those days so the rest have to work around them anyway. Also if you only have 14 regular League matches plus a max of 4 for the play offs between 7/8th Apr and the play offs in Sept much easier to plan I suppose. That's only half of our League season. In effect they get one more day for half the matches we have. You are right though. In comparison overall we are probably fourth behind POL EXL/SWE Elite/Pol Nice 1. Fortunately we have the Danes behind us but probably only just....