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

[PhilTheAce]

just woke up, fell asleep at heat 7. what was the score in the end 🥱

[ruckerroo]

Onto leg 2 , the 3-4 battle will be huge I think .  Pooles all round strength should be enough tbh .

[old bob at herne bay]

9 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. 

 

That wasn’t the question. 
 

I know what happens today. That is and has been evident in speedway at all tracks for as long as I supported speedway. 
 

Should the sport not move on and introduce independent track prep overview for 2 legged finals ? ? 

[Colinspeedway]

11 hours ago, bill94d said:

It has to be better than tonight. I feel doubly robbed. I paid 19.99 for what I thought were the 2 legs of he final. Only to discover that I had to pay another 9.99 to watch tonight. What was my 19.99 for? BSN need to come clean about what people are paying for. In any event the track was awful, and despite there being a good chance of better racing at Glasgow I feel well and truly ripped off by some underhand marketing. Quite apart from only being able to watch on my iPad, with only sound on my Sky Q box. Really p****d off and BSN have to make amends before I open my wallet again.

Not bsns fault about the track. Poole is one of the worst tracks in the Championship for passing. Usually BSN are pretty clear with what matches are included in each package but I have the full package so not sure what you are referring to, but if they have made a mistake then get in touch with them? When I had an issue in the past they sorted it out swiftly. 

[old bob at herne bay]

1 hour ago, Steve Shovlar said:

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. 
 

 

Of course Steve is correct. Always been the same. Majority of the home “crowd” would like a 5-1 in every heat , or better still both away riders failing to finish for a 5-0 

Most probably don’t even bother to check the away results. Just want to go and see the home team thump the opposition every week.

I have only suffered such boring “racing “ for one season that I can remember, when Hackney went unbeaten in one season , and every home meeting was a foregone conclusion. The announcer would gleefully trot out how many consecutive 5-1s blah blah blah. Embarrassing. Found  ourselves hoping that our riders would miss the start to give the chance of some RACING. 

Nowadays with modern tyres engines and tracks passing is almost an extinct art. 
 

The modern speedway supporter is clearly seeing something I have missed if they turn out in large numbers every week to watch the processional stuff served last night. 
 

Enjoy the second leg Steve, you will win on aggregate, but hope you see some passing.

 

 

 

[PhilTheAce]

i thought poole had the best support????  ipswich blew them out the park in ther final

[SJA]

3 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

i thought poole had the best support????  ipswich blew them out the park in ther final

I was at both, and Ipswich had more people in a much bigger stadium. However, many of the Ipswich fans around me were "questioning" where these people were for the rest of the season. One thing that impressed me was the amount of Lions fans at the fixture, which had you believed the media was all done and dusted.

I thought it was standard Poole fodder last night. Slick track, set up to suit the home riders and supporters. Poole always strikes me as a club where from a fans perspective winning is more important than the quality of racing. I think this is different to other clubs including Belle Vue, Leicester, Scunthorpe and Redcar where the fans are  more than happy with a meeting with lots of passing rather than the result.  What cannot be questioned is Poole's business model, are they possibly the only track in the top two divisions to turn in a profit?

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, SteelShoe said:

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.

Speedway has always been about "winning at home" to maintain crowd levels.  

So much so, you can even bring in riders on higher averages at home to replace any of your missing riders....

And, teams will regularly be happy to ride away on nights their best riders are missing as it doesn't impact their home income...

You get very little financial reward, nor any major national publicity, for winning any UK Speedway competition, therefore, having a winning team at home, and hopefully turning a profit by doing so, is the No1 aim for the promoters. 

And being able to "filli your programme in" after turn two, lap one, is something that has happened the majority of time in the thousands and  thousands of races I have watched in the past five decades... 

Edited 4 hours ago by mikebv

[Youhave2minutes]

Was bang on with my prediction of 51 - 39 with the first leg. The Title will be won by Poole as the second leg prediction of mine is Glasgow 49 - 41.

[Neila]

1 hour ago, SteelShoe said:

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.

Steve I think you have forgotten that the mighty Poole were well beaten at the GT tyres northside arena and the comets beat them on aggregate,  the same as the comets did to Glasgow 😁  anything can happen yet, this tie is far from over

[mikebv]

12 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

i thought poole had the best support????  ipswich blew them out the park in ther final

To be fair,...

Poole have got several "big" meetings in just a few weeks given the finals they are in, and probably still had as least as many as Leicester did at their final leg...

And it was the first leg, not the second leg with your team already 4 points ahead...

And they rarely go 27 months, never mind 27 years, without winning....

[Bagpuss]

1 hour 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.

There's a middle ground though. Give the riders who want to entertain and race something to work with without making it 'easy' for them. Poole are a very good team and dont need to completely doctor a track to win, and I wouldn't put it past them winning the second leg too on a track which will most likely provide plenty of lines and passing. 

[Roger Jacobs]

2 hours ago, Steve Shovlar said:

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. 

As much as everyone loves to criticise Poole - and Mr Shovlar 😃 - he has hit the veritable nail on the head. Very few, if any, Poole fans would have left the stadium last night thinking it was a poor meeting - the Pirates won, and have given themselves a great opportunity to claim another trophy.

If Glasgow win by 14 points on Friday night and it's all from the gate, will their fans care about the quality of the racing?

Do whatever you need to do to send the home fans happy. And that really is all that matters.

Edited 3 hours ago by Roger Jacobs
Typo

[Steve Shovlar]

41 minutes ago, PhilTheAce said:

i thought poole had the best support????  ipswich blew them out the park in ther final

There’s no doubt Ipswich had a humongous attendance at the second leg. But where are these people in a normal league fixture. Ipswich as a town support their sporting clubs. And they came out in unprecedented numbers against Leicester. Biggest crowd I had seen since the huge crowds at Poole in the early 2000’s. 

[szkocjasid]

Most of the comments defending the track seems to be suggesting Poole could either have a track that allows passing or a track that allows them to win easier. Is it not possible to have both, do the Poole promotion not think their riders are good enough to win on a track that allows passing?

I'm not saying make the track designed for Bomber, but if Poole riders can't pass either, what if Glasgow gated better? 

I would've thought a track that allows for no passing takes away the home advantage cause anyone can win? Were Poole just extremely confident they had the best gaters / knew the best set-up to get round the first bend in front?

[Robinh88]

Poole dont care, they compete to win at all costs. Winning alone will get enough ppl through the gate.

 

I remember Rickardsson had issues with the track.

[WRDukes]

Setting aside the debate about the track can we all not agree that it's great to see that a certain Poole fan is now fully recovered from their latest bout of the 'deadly' virus?

[Gambo]

10 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. 

Do they?

Better check your facts. Lions v Witches Final. No price increase!

[foreverblue]

37 minutes ago, Neila said:

Steve I think you have forgotten that the mighty Poole were well beaten at the GT tyres northside arena and the comets beat them on aggregate,  the same as the comets did to Glasgow 😁  anything can happen yet, this tie is far from over

Well done Comets, why aren't you in the final then as you are obviously the best team?

[Roger Jacobs]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

That wasn’t the question. 

I know what happens today. That is and has been evident in speedway at all tracks for as long as I supported speedway. 

Should the sport not move on and introduce independent track prep overview for 2 legged finals ? ? 

The big question is: would independent track prep overview (whatever that entails), make any difference?

More importantly, the whole point of home advantage is that teams generally setup their track to suit their riders - and even they don't always get it right.

Why should anyone say the track has to be prepared differently just because it's the Grand Final?