TheWellBehavedWorrall

Is it too early to make changes? Will we make the play-offs with this side? Had it not been for Barker’s fall in fourteen and Garry May picking his riders for heat fifteen out a hat, Plymouth would have hit the late 50s. You could even argue with the match won, King and Nicholls strolled heat thirteen. I defended Hodder only days ago, but he’s so far off it. Even worse is our two-times, reigning British U21 champion. Nine rides, two points; one from beating the other and the second from a three-rider race. Utterly abysmal. I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to estimate what Hausl would have scored tonight either. Glaring issues that need addressed ASAP. IMO, of course.

I’m so disappointed in the performance, I can’t bring myself to criticise the track because it’ll appear bitter, but as an event, that might be the worst advert I’ve ever saw for speedway. Any newcomers through the door will have to have suffered a severe brain injury between heats one and fifteen (an almost four hour duration) for them to even consider returning. Well done Plymouth. Solid last night at Ashfield, then head and shoulders above us tonight.

Barker and Thompson in heat fifteen.😂 What an embarrassment. Not only is Garry May taking the piss, but it took until heat fourteen for one of our riders to lower the colours of one of their reserves. Shambles of a night. Changes needed.

The worst thing about this sh*t show is having to listen to Jason Harrold and James Wright filling the gaps with painful small talk.

Surprised by Loftus’ score. I thought he looked good against us a couple of weeks ago. Any news on Castagna? Hope he’s okay.

Don’t be so naive Steve. You know exactly what @Fromafar means.

Great meeting with some outstanding racing. Well done Plymouth. King was on fire. Good to see Nichols back amongst the points, albeit at our expense. Harris has been poor this season, by his own standards. Done in heats one, thirteen and fifteen at home is nowhere near good enough, especially given his Shielfield performance. All to play for tomorrow night. Hopefully we can pull it out the bag.

As I said elsewhere, we (Glasgow) do much so well, but the presentation is absolute God awful. The stadium announcer makes it up as he goes along (times, riders, scores, the lot), the presenter is like a character created by Ricky Gervais and now the commentator on tonight’s stream. Have you heard the guy who does the social media questions? English guy? His questions are longer than the riders’ answers! Yeah, it’s crazy. Harris had it in heat fifteen too. Three riders with mechanical issues in one night. Unbelievable. @THE DEAN MACHINE as a rider, what’s your thoughts on this?

Never mind. Just read there’s been an accident. Could only see ‘WITHDRAWN’ next to his name. Sending very best wishes. Hate hearing of bad crashes.

What’s up with Castagna?

More passes in the first seven heats tonight than in the whole of last season at Wimborne Road.

Astonishes me how many riders encounter bike troubles. Three heats, two riders (Lambert and Pedersen) on zero points due to bike issues. Pedersen - who has been outstanding - didn’t leave the start line in heat fourteen last week. I’m by no means a mechanical subject matter expert, but is it too much to ask a fairly non-complex motorbike to last sixty seconds?😂

Did Howarth slap Pickering about after heat nine?

I was speaking to someone about this at Shielfield; Hausl next season. I imagine we’re very generous when it comes to riders’ total package; we’ll likely throw in generous amounts of flights, accommodations, transport, per diems, etc. in addition to your traditional payment per point. It’s likely why/how we were able to attract Hausl and Pedersen, or Nagel and Tarasenko before them. So if we don’t resign them, do they now have an expectation for returning to the UK which clubs without multi-millionaire owners won’t entertain? Might be why Nagel isn’t back. Who knows? Interesting discussion while an old guy in a golf buggy did four laps of Shielfield on Saturday night.

Hopefully Cluff can complete four laps without falling, or at least avoid causing a 20+ minutes delay while eleven members of track staff try to repair the air fence his bike smacked.

This is brilliant mate. Thanks for sharing. Am I correct in thinking not one of these riders race in the UK in 2026? Incredible to think we bagged Nagel for the second part of 2025 and he’s sitting fifth.

Who are the top ten, out of interest?

There are two things for me with this perspective; 1. I don’t think anyone is expecting full maximums from Hausl, but the minimum expectation is looks even slightly competitive. He done well in heat one at Shielfield, but looked like he’s unfamiliar with a speedway bike for the remainder. 2. It’s a competitive sport; pressure is part and parcel of such environments. Nobody is pressuring him to outscore Harris and Howarth, but the minimum expectation is he’s competitive. I hope he comes good, I really do.

Oh, f*ck off.😂 It was an exaggeration; emphasised by the fact I also said Berwick dragged Reid Battye off a beach. Let’s not lose sight of the point though; he obviously has something about him, given his exploits Torun and Pardubice, so it’s somewhat frustrating he’s looked entirely uncomfortable and off the pace in 90% of his rides.

Let Grmek, like Ivacic, be a lesson to everyone involved in British speedway; never rely on a Slovenian.

I can assure you, I don’t rate him.😂

I can assure you, I don’t rate him.😂

We’re only three meetings in, but agreed; it’s concerning because he doesn’t look comfortable. Missing this weekend isn’t ideal. He needs as much track time to familiarise himself with these circuits as possible. Then again, we’re talking about a SON2 champion and winner of the Golden Ribbon, not a novice. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a bit more than we’ve saw. Somewhat crazy to think Berwick dragged Reid Battye off a beach in Australia and in his first meeting at Shielfield, he’s bullying Kyle Howarth and scoring 15. Meanwhile, we’ve signed one of the hottest prospects on the international stage and he’s looking like he’s never saw a speedway bike.

Didn’t know Flint and Hausl were missing this weekend. Nightmare, especially Flint from a form perspective, but even Hausl in terms of getting track time. Hopefully those qualifiers are on a familiar track and a confidence boost for him, but missing an opportunity to gain exposure on another UK track isn’t ideal. Big meeting for Hagon and Hodder, I think. A disappointing night at Berwick on Saturday, so time for redemption.