Pirate Rich

Compared to many on here I am a recent supporter of the Pirates. I started going to speedway in the early 1970's supporting Oxford Rebels as they were then, following the team to White City in '76, then back to Oxford in the lower division and on to the glory years of the mid 80's with the likes of Nielsen, Wigg etc. Poole were always my "second team" looking forward to seeing them at Oxford and always going to see them if I was on holiday on the south coast. When Oxford sadly folded in 2007 I became a Pirates supporter despite a trip of 105 miles each way. Obviously I don't get down there too often, usually managing about 5 or 6 meetings in a season. It saddens me to hear of people who would not support the Pirates in a lower league, do you not realise how lucky you are? Ask the supporters of say, Cradley, Reading, Rye House, Wimbledon, Lakeside and countless other now defunct teams how they would feel about about Championship League racing. I now have my Buckinghamshire home on the market and an offer accepted on a house in Poole, hopefully I will have relocated in time for next season and I will be there to support the Pirates every week.

Anybody heard any team news for this fixture? Will Jack still be injured with his twisted toe/knee?

Hate to be a pessimist but what are the options if Thursday is rained off too?

Like many others on here I am an old fart who started going to speedway in the 1970's. In those days I went to Oxford, a round trip of about 60 miles, my nearest club, and I knew that throughout the season I would see racing EVERY Thursday (barring rain-offs) and I would see the same seven riders representing my team. Maybe one league would get us back to something like that situation? These days I am a Poole supporter, a round trip of about 210 miles, so I look at the fixture list and the weather forecast to decide which fixtures to attend. If we have key riders missing through overseas commitments then I tend not to go.

Could at least spell his name right!! or should that be Wright, or write, or rite.......

Thanks very much

Twitter is down! anyone able to keep us up to date with the score please?

As well as the option to buy tickets online, how about being able to pay for admission at the stadium with a debit/credit card? I am assuming it is still cash only.

I agree that Bomber is on a high average at 7.78 and would be hard pushed to achieve that, but maybe we should look beyond that. He obviously wants to ride for Poole, he rides with passion and other team members have said that he inspires them. If he can get a few more points out of the others with his positive attitude in the pits then he may be worth it, possible candidate for captain?

I'm sorry to see Somerset go championship, been some great matches against the Rebels

I live in Bucks so not as far to go as you Poole residents! Also I've booked me and the wife in to a pub about 10 miles from the stadium, so we can have a meal there and don't have to rush back home after the meeting. First bend sounds good.

I'm making the trip up to watch the Pirates win! Can you Kings Lynn fans tell me what the parking is like at the stadium, are there plenty of spaces? what time it opens? charges? Thanks

Grateful for any coverage, but really annoying that sometimes it is live on freesports and other times it is live on premier sports then repeated on freesports later. The commentator Dave Goddard has grown on me though and seems to know his stuff.

Well what a season it has been, so unpredictable. At the beginning of the season there was so much negativity from some of the Kings Lynn fans about their team, while us Poole fans thought we'd got it right! Personally I think Somerset are the team to fear over 2 legs, having said that, all of the Poole team are capable of big scores, just so inconsistent, if they could all find form at the same time we would be unbeatable!

I sincerely hope that The Robins are around for a long time to come, as an ex Oxford supporter I know the pain of losing your club. I support the Pirates now (don't think bad of me!) which means a trip of over 100 miles each way for me. Living in Bucks I used to have Oxford, Reading and Rye House all within about 30 miles, plus all the London clubs that are no longer with us.

I was under the impression that the track had been sorted over the winter! I'm afraid this sort of thing will keep people away. I live just over 100 miles from Poole so have to pick my meetings, I look for a meeting where both teams are at full strength, when the weather looks good and now I have to worry about whether the track will be fit for purpose!

You don't sound so optimistic Starman !

Thanks Steve, fingers crossed!

Have any of you good folk in Poole seen the track lately? I am planning on coming down on Wednesday (105 miles each way) but dreading another postponement! Just wondering how the track was holding up with all this rain.

What about doing something at the bike night, which I presume still happens on the Quay every Tuesday from about April? I have attended it a few times and never even seen a poster advertising the speedway! Surely it would be possible to have a bike on display at least, maybe hand some promotional leaflets out. There are always hundreds of people there who obviously have an interest in motorcycles.

Surely riders averages will always be distorted unless the team building limit is kept to 45 each year?

I think Hancock would be a big gamble anyway, not knowing how well he will recover from his shoulder injury, these things take longer as you get older no matter how fit you are! Anyone know what average he would come in on as a matter of interest?

There are some great ideas on this forum, I wonder if any of the "promoters" have read them?

I would be happy to see Chris Holder back next season, especially on that low average. We can only speculate what sort of season he would have had for us if he hadn't gone to Kings Lynn, which he said from the start was one of his least favourite tracks.

As a neutral observer I am just hoping for an entertaining meeting with good racing. I don't think Wolves are seriously weakened tonight, as a Poole supporter I know what Bomber is capable of in the play offs! A real shame for Wolves though to be missing their top two, and I think that will hurt them more at home than it will at Swindon. Can understand it if Doyle takes it easy tonight, I was there at Torun last year when it all went wrong for him.