Bitza

Well good result, but apart from Rocket Man, no Pirate really showed any class more a matter of the Bandits being a bit of a shambles. OK Zac did score well but only from the front. Smartie ended up with a good score but only because he was in just about every race. Anders has a medical excuse. Kerr was OK but no real pace and poor Ritchings left stage left through no fault of his own. So my point is Poole need to get much better if they are going to teams like Glasgow.

Well my advice (for what it's worth) to Poole riders would be concentrate on your own race, get that right from the start and it will be plain sailing. Hagon has the potential to come good, but put him under pressure from the off and I think he'll crumble.

Plus Kerr 8+3, and Hagon 0. All looks positive for Pirates on Wednesday.

I see Lawson will be riding for KL, so wrist can't be critical.

As already mentioned elsewhere, Pirates have a couple of potential fitness issues, with the two strongest riders Lawson & Rowe. Richard - wrist, Anders - groin. If the team are all fit it should be a win sufficient to add the bonus point.

Has anyone out there come across any news on Anders' injury/fitness?

Well personally my only experience of a groin injury was with a very nice lady in Bangor, well I say injury it was more of a nasty little rash.

I Googled groin injuries and it seems apparently that the recovery time is 1-2 weeks for a minor strain, and weeks for more serious conditions. Of course this isn't in any way actually based on Anders situation, but it doesn’t really suggest that his injury is going to be insignificant.

Now is it just me, but Smarte seems to be getting alot rides at the moment? I assume it's down to his GSA making him eligible to cover for anyone.

Daryl Ritchings scored 12 +2.

This afternoons WSRA NDL Belle Vue vs Oxford, could be interesting from a Poole point of view, with Cairns and Ritchings competing on opposite teams. Hopefully getting to race each other. .

I've been trying to make up my mind about Kerr, on the plus side he has shown he can be a racer which is always good to watch but he doesn't seem to have the outright speed. I think he should take note of Ritchings approach/preparation and subsequent success. Kerr needs to acknowledge that he needs to be better, to start with he could take some time to test his bikes, looking for improvements no matter how minor, because a number small improvements can add up to something significant. I still think Kerr has the potential to come good, but he'll have to put the effort in.

Thank Lisa, for the Ritchings Reflects link. Here's hoping he continues to improve, he's certainly putting the effort into the pre-meeting preparation and reaping the benefits. I also like that he has shown he's a bit of a racer. He's doing everything he can to make sure he can't be ignored come the end of June.

Poole's problem is that Cook is too consistent, consistently off the pace. As already covered, Starke is exactly what it said on the can, maybe a little more based on his GSA. Kerr is debatable but I personally like seeing him race, and he definitely has potential.

Agree, Starke's not a problem (plus you can see he's putting the effort into his rides) and Ritchings doing pretty much what's expected of him too. Lawson & Rowe all good, with Tobias starting to come on song. Leaving Kerr and Cook, personally I feel that Kerr is getting better as the season goes on, but needs to be more consistent. We all know that Cook can be a great racer, but seems a bit off some of the time for the Pirates at the moment. I think that putting him back at four would take some pressure off him, and help him get back in the groove. Really looking forward to this evening, "should be" a great night.

"Pile on the points" the insightful and canny advice from Matt Ford, just as well Poole had him to advise at the 2nd leg of the league final last year. (intended as humour)

Seems to me Zac's flying in the Premiership and bogging down in Championship. Also heard he has new machinery. The cynical in me wonders if he's using his old machinery for champ rides. This is just a hunch based on nothing but speculation.

Anyone out there willing to post some updates on the racing tonight?

Well that's handy for the Gladiators I'm thinking, Poole will just have to race as ever, they have the talent to win but all riders will need to perform.

It's a bit technical and pretty boring for most but on the off chance that somebody's curious it's because speedway engines operate in a particularly small rev range so they can be tuned in very extreme ways. In this case extreme valve overlap, when inlet and exhaust valves are open at the same time, closing the throttle interrupts the flow of mixture into the engine allowing exhaust gases up the inlet. Anybody still awake?

I remember talking to a tuner (NelsonHarring) from the classic era, and he spoke of some riders complaining about engines not being on song, but when he took them apart typically they had carbon stains up the inlet a sure sign that the problem was actually the riders rolling back the throttle.

Good to see Sam finding some kind of form again, but it's been a long time coming. Mind you pity he found it again when against Poole, re the U21 final well that's racing for you, take the luck when you can. The question of course is can he maintain this level of success?

Kerr may not have delivered early on with the points, but he has a bit of fight about him that I like. He wouldn't have been my first choice but I'm begining to believe he can do the business for Poole. To be honest I'm more concerned with Zac's up & down scoring.

Bang on, he might have only got 1 point but he won it fair and square. Good to see a bit of the old fire from Tobias. Lewis seems to be coming on too. Plus of course Max Rowe.

Or..... given your temporary number seven 4 meetings to show what they can do at this level, make a judgement and take appropriate action as required. Maybe you are just judging this by your threshold for panic, relax!