Poole v Glasgow, 15/10/25, Glasgow v Poole, 17/10/25 Championship Final

[mikebv]

5 hours ago, False dawn said:

Fixing a track to suit the home team is one thing. Advertising an exciting sport in a boring fashion on a televised fixture is quite another. If Poole think they did anyone a favour this evening, they are more than a bit deluded. 

It wasn't a "televised fixture" though was it? 

It was streamed by a streaming service that pretty much only Speedway fans know about...

Non Speedway fans watching would be as rare as hens teeth...

A crap meeting, or a great meeting, neither would "destroy" or "save" Speedway, as only Speedway fans, who will have seen thousands of gate and go races at their own tracks, or on TV, will be watching...

Poole won, (again), and that seems to be the main problem for many non Poole followers...

However. Their fans went home happy, so their promotion did their jobs well...

It is their business to run how they see fit to bring the punters in... 

And, given their crowd numbers appear as good as any in the country, they seem to do it pretty well..

 

 

[Ben91]

Riders moaning about the track, regardless of whether it is bad or not, comes across as sour grapes. Especially if it’s one of the most experienced riders out there and in a meeting of this magnitude too. Smacks of excuses. 

Doesn’t sound like there was much racing to speak of but it’s Poole’s prerogative how they set their track up. Remember the objective of sport is to win, entertainment is a by product. Frustrating for fans if there is no entertainment and bad for the sport overall, these crunch meetings are the ones you’d expect this to happen in though when there is the big prize on the line. Win at all costs. Perhaps in future finals are raced at neutral venues over 15 heats. The sport probably isn’t popular enough to justify that now though sadly. 

[FishersGate]

The only thing Neil cares about is winning. He doesn't care about passing or pleasing the neutrals. He's had this mentality for years and its the reason why his teams are always so successful. I don't think Neil or any Poole fans would swap any of those trophies for better racing. I certainly wouldn't. Poole have an elite winning mentality and quite frankly they laugh at everyone moaning about the track,  they do not care one bit. 

[mikebv]

29 minutes ago, FishersGate said:

The only thing Neil cares about is winning. He doesn't care about passing or pleasing the neutrals. He's had this mentality for years and its the reason why his teams are always so successful. I don't think Neil or any Poole fans would swap any of those trophies for better racing. I certainly wouldn't. Poole have an elite winning mentality and quite frankly they laugh at everyone moaning about the track,  they do not care one bit. 

And in the semi final of the 2nd tier's flagship tournament, Glasgow turned up with THREE guests...

I would suggest that this is far more brand damaging to the sport than any gate and go racing ...

And Bomber got just four points that evening, not winning any races....

The track wasn't very conducive to passing that night I presume? 

[lbw]

It's the morning after and time to enjoy me celebration flat white ☕ and a couple of biccies that I nobbled from me room 👍🤩

I don't care about the Poole track although I do admire the ones that serve up good racing entertainment. 

It's easy for folk to criticise the track but I'd like to see anyone try and prepare one. Expect all the Poole track haters to turn up Monday morning at 730AM donned in overhauls and boots, oh u must bring ur own tractor with sqiudly thing attached!

And also, sorry I forgot, a ton of dirt which is going cheap on Amazon! 😆

[SteelShoe]

9 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

Can't see Glasgow pulling back 12 points. Poole big favourites, of course it's not an impossible task, but a very difficult one facing the Tigers.

The performance on Friday of Mr Consistent Lawson is the major contributing factor for me, another 14/15 points and it is Pooles title. My heart wants to see the Tigers do it but as a 7 they need to lift it to another level to achieve it.

[foreverblue]

1 minute ago, SteelShoe said:

The performance on Friday of Mr Consistent Lawson is the major contributing factor for me, another 14/15 points and it is Pooles title. My heart wants to see the Tigers do it but as a 7 they need to lift it to another level to achieve it.

And if that happens you would imagine most of those points would be won from the gate.

[foreverblue]

7 hours ago, LisaColette said:

Exactly. He thinks every track should be prepared for him and if it isn't just has a paddy these days. Probably an age thing ( which i can say as born in the same year lol.)

He only scored 4 points at Edinburgh too, what excuse did he give for that dire performance.

[SteveLyric2]

7 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

The performance on Friday of Mr Consistent Lawson is the major contributing factor for me, another 14/15 points and it is Pooles title. My heart wants to see the Tigers do it but as a 7 they need to lift it to another level to achieve it.

I just hope that Rocketman rushing away before the rider interviews at the end doesn't mean anything serious at home!!?

[SteelShoe]

9 hours ago, mikebv said:

But....

If the Tigers had won, would it have been a good meeting? 

And?

Would the many fans, not just Glasgow fans, moaning about the racing still come on and say they were disappointed? 

Or..

Would Speedway have been the winner? 

So many have said that they never have seen a good meeting from Poole, yet paid for a stream covering a meeting from Poole....?

no they would have said the Tigers outgated the Pirates in the majority of heats.

[Steve Shovlar]

It was clear when I arrived that all the dirt had been taken off as per instructions. It was obvious that we didn’t want Bomber blasting around the outside. Why would us Pirates fans want to see that last night? Seriously? Armchair fans in Bognor Regis or Cleethorpes might be wanting it but not the fans in the big crowd at Wimborne Road. We want to see Poole rides crossing the line in heat advantages. 

The Poole management made the call to give themselves the maximum opportunity to come away with the biggest lead possible. In that they were successful. Let me say this. The crowd were up for it and I doubt any left frustrated over poor racing and no entertainment. They left buzzing after pulling out a decent lead. And that’s all that matters. 
 

 

[SteelShoe]

8 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

So on Friday we are all promised a meeting of 'great racing' at Ashfield! So what will the forumers be saying if Poole come away with the win, again?

Poole have proven they can compete anywhere in the Championship this season. I've watched them break a few Redcar hearts at the ECCO Arena in the last 2 or 3 weeks so I know how tough a task the Tigers face but they can do it. If Poole win again then I'm pretty sure they will earn the due respect.

[foreverblue]

7 hours ago, SilentLurker said:

The track was set up for nobodies liking though… Anders Rowe found that out when he was all over the back of both Glasgow riders until he went wide and went backwards. 
 

The track is embarrassing to the sport. Old ‘arry must have been thinking what have I got myself into here after being bored out his mind watching that dross.

 

Anders is not the best gater but we have a team that are generally good gaters so we set up the track to suit them. Glasgow knew what it would be like so cannot have been a shock and anyone buying the stream knew this too so why should anyone be disappointed. 

[SteelShoe]

8 hours ago, LisaColette said:

No, tracks can prepare it however they want it. If Poole want it super slick because they know the Glasgow riders will hate it then that is up to them. 

Other fans been moaning about the Poole track since 2010, so they probably given up and just do it to what they want. As everyone will moan whatever they do. 

 

Do Poole have the wrong mindset here though?. Speedway shouldn't be all about winning right?. Speedway is about excitement from which comes entertainment, that entertainment is created from a number of variables the biggest by far being the excitement generated by riders racing and passing each other over 4 laps. Preparing tracks with the sole intention of quite simply outgating the opposition knowing races will be all over after lap 1 turn 2 just reinforces the view shared by many people that in speedway you know who is going to win after the second corner. This is just one of the reasons detrimental to more fans wanting to watch.  Beware self interest and shortsightedness.

[PersonalResponsibility]

I'm no fan of Poole's, and it's hardly controversial to say the track is far from what it used to be, but there have been way more boring meetings than that last night. There was still at least a handful of passes and that is a handful more than you'd get at some other places.

It also gets a bit tiring listening to Harris whinge on about tracks being "diabolical" because they aren't 2ft deep in dirt. He's done it before on BSN with Leicester. You're a former GP rider in the Championship, a slick track shouldn't prevent you from beating Tobias Thomsen. It's a PO final, the track is set-up to win a meeting, not an exhbition to watch Harris flying around the outside of reserves.

Overall, I think Poole will have enough. Kerr and Cook at 3/4 will probably see to that. Neither are very exciting, but they'll find their way to 7-9 each and that will probably be enough.

[TracksideView]

9 hours ago, SteveLyric2 said:

So on Friday we are all promised a meeting of 'great racing' at Ashfield! So what will the forumers be saying if Poole come away with the win, again?

The best team won, pretty simple.

[SteelShoe]

49 minutes ago, foreverblue said:

And if that happens you would imagine most of those points would be won from the gate.

Rich is a very slick gater like his Dad was. Couple that with the experience he has gained over the years and he is probably at the peak of his powers. West Cumbria has produced some very good riders who have generally benefitted other teams.

[TracksideView]

8 hours ago, LisaColette said:

Dan T says we can prepare it however we want it. 

Everyone puts the price up for the final. Been happening for years.

Exactly. Thank you for proving my point. Doesn't matter how they prepare it, you'll still moan and whinge about it. So may as well have it how Poole riders want it. 

Nothing like a bit of Poole arrogance and ignorance to prove everyone's point. Your track and its prep is a disgrace, so take your blue tinted glasses off, tell Ford to save his rider bonuses money and to spend it on material and track staff that have at least some clue in what their doing, because quite frankly a blind dog could ride around in a tractor for several laps scrapping every bit of dirt off it. 

[SteelShoe]

11 minutes ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

I'm no fan of Poole's, and it's hardly controversial to say the track is far from what it used to be, but there have been way more boring meetings than that last night. There was still at least a handful of passes and that is a handful more than you'd get at some other places.

It also gets a bit tiring listening to Harris whinge on about tracks being "diabolical" because they aren't 2ft deep in dirt. He's done it before on BSN with Leicester. You're a former GP rider in the Championship, a slick track shouldn't prevent you from beating Tobias Thomsen. It's a PO final, the track is set-up to win a meeting, not an exhbition to watch Harris flying around the outside of reserves.

Overall, I think Poole will have enough. Kerr and Cook at 3/4 will probably see to that. Neither are very exciting, but they'll find their way to 7-9 each and that will probably be enough.

Gonna be interesting watch which teams 3/4 pairings comes out on top for sure.

[Bitza]

1 hour ago, FishersGate said:

The only thing Neil cares about is winning. He doesn't care about passing or pleasing the neutrals. He's had this mentality for years and its the reason why his teams are always so successful. I don't think Neil or any Poole fans would swap any of those trophies for better racing. I certainly wouldn't. Poole have an elite winning mentality and quite frankly they laugh at everyone moaning about the track,  they do not care one bit. 

Bearing in mind it's the final, I'm not too bothered by the lack of over taking either, it is the result that counts for Poole fans (just as it would have been for Tigers fans had they won). Sorry for those who paid good money to watch the stream, cos you miss out on the atmosphere and tension. 

Track prep is very much part of the sport and not really worth analysing every time there's a streamed meet at Wimborne Road. Just hope the Glasgow leg lives up to people's expectations. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Bitza