CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY OFF FINAL - SCUNTHORPE v POOLE v SCUNTHORPE (2 & 7 October)

[szkocjasid]

14 hours ago, Fozzie4388 said:

All prices gone up £2 by looks of it

 

14 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Not unusual but a p!sstake nevertheless.

Will continue to happen unless fans boycott the higher prices.

[ASpeedwayfan]

I think Poole win comfortably. Even if Lawson is struggling with engines after losing a couple lately. Can’t see Scunny winning any races bar Picko and maybe Harrison? Poole could get 60

[szkocjasid]

1 hour ago, ruckerroo said:

How the hell is hook at n3 

Because number 3 doesn't have to be a heat leader.

Scunny often have their weakest second string at 3 & 3rd heat leader at 4.

[eric i]

Scunny could really of done with Hook been out for the season, coming back from injury after hardly riding all year, straight into the playoffs on a track hes not dialled in on. Jenkins or R/R  would have scored a few.

Good effort by Scunny, it won't be enough, Poole will win by at least 20 probably 30 at their place.

What did Godfrey say in the programme, is he selling up? is that the track or the speedway club? 

[szkocjasid]

1 hour ago, Youhave2minutes said:

Shouldnt even be in the team

I will give Scunthorpe credit for making a signing, far too many clubs just use guests.

[tyler42]

You can't have two riders at home not performing and expect to get enough pts to take a comfortable lead to Poole. Scunthorpe did really well with the other five riders, but, to keep both Hook and Ablett heat 12 was a certain 5-1 to Poole. Surely Howe could have changed things around a bit, to stop that from happening. Such a shame, if those two had contributed, it could have been a bit more exciting next Wednesday. 

[foreverblue]

2 hours ago, SilentLurker said:

Great nights racing to be followed by 15 heats of blue groove FTG in the second leg. Think most people will be giving that a miss. Wonder how low the BSN viewers will be…

Yeah I wouldnt watch it, waste of your valuable time. Hopefully like you many BSN viewers will give it a miss so we dont have to put up with all the moaning.

[TheWellBehavedWorrall]

What a great evening of speedway. That was a really enjoyable meeting. Well done to Scunthorpe for preparing a track for entertainment.

A good win for the Scorpions but Poole are just too strong. Ten down after six heats and the momentum with the home side, but credit to the Pirates; they respond when the chips are down.

Felt like Rushen’s win in heat ten was massive for Poole. I think we’re so accustomed to his performances, we forget he’s only 16. Incredible.

I defended Cairns against Redcar, but heat eight was outright cheating and the referee failing to address it was unacceptable. Well done David Howe for highlighting it on BSN before the last heat. It didn’t look good for Middleditch; he just stood there looking at the ground, speechless.

Looking forward to the second leg and praying Poole prepare a track worthy of a grand final finish.

[geoff100]

12 minutes ago, TheWellBehavedWorrall said:

What a great evening of speedway. That was a really enjoyable meeting. Well done to Scunthorpe for preparing a track for entertainment.

A good win for the Scorpions but Poole are just too strong. Ten down after six heats and the momentum with the home side, but credit to the Pirates; they respond when the chips are down.

Felt like Rushen’s win in heat ten was massive for Poole. I think we’re so accustomed to his performances, we forget he’s only 16. Incredible.

I defended Cairns against Redcar, but heat eight was outright cheating and the referee failing to address it was unacceptable. Well done David Howe for highlighting it on BSN before the last heat. It didn’t look good for Middleditch; he just stood there looking at the ground, speechless.

Looking forward to the second leg and praying Poole prepare a track worthy of a grand final finish.

What did cairns do?

[Catalan]

9 hours ago, Youhave2minutes said:

Won’t buy second leg

That is your prerogative

[M.D]

7 hours ago, geoff100 said:

What did cairns do?

Heating his rear tyre up near the start line.

[Wee Eck]

24 minutes ago, M.D said:

Heating his rear tyre up near the start line.

The cad. And dangerous too with these tyres. According to Lightcap, the track was really slick so maybe Will was just trying to wear away some of the nobblies so his tyre would slide across the shiny surface?

[TheWellBehavedWorrall]

8 hours ago, geoff100 said:

What did cairns do?

He was warming his tyre before heat eight which is an illegal action, as deemed by not just the sport of speedway, but FIM.

The rules on it are black and white: if you do it, you’re excluded. Cairns did it and wasn’t.

He subsequently won the race and until heat fourteen, it was the only time any rider had done so from gate three.

Like I said, I really rate Cairns and found him pure entertainment against Redcar. We could all argue until we’re blue in the face about whether or not he gained an unfair advantage, but the rules are very simple; it’s illegal.

Here’s the incident:

Edited 22 hours ago by TheWellBehavedWorrall

[geoff100]

16 minutes ago, TheWellBehavedWorrall said:

He was warming his tyre before heat eight which is an illegal action, as deemed by not just the sport of speedway, but FIM.

The rules on it are black and white: if you do it, you’re excluded. Cairns did it and wasn’t.

He subsequently won the race and until heat fourteen, it was the only time any rider had done so from gate three.

Like I said, I really rate Cairns and found him pure entertainment against Redcar. We could all argue until we’re blue in the face about whether or not he gained an unfair advantage, but the rules are very simple; it’s illegal.

Here’s the incident:

That cant be ht 8 looking at the scores!

[False dawn]

28 minutes ago, TheWellBehavedWorrall said:

He was warming his tyre before heat eight which is an illegal action, as deemed by not just the sport of speedway, but FIM.

The rules on it are black and white: if you do it, you’re excluded. Cairns did it and wasn’t.

He subsequently won the race and until heat fourteen, it was the only time any rider had done so from gate three.

Like I said, I really rate Cairns and found him pure entertainment against Redcar. We could all argue until we’re blue in the face about whether or not he gained an unfair advantage, but the rules are very simple; it’s illegal.

Here’s the incident:

At the risk of repeating myself, surely the starting marshal has a part to play here. He could not be completely oblivious to what was going on and could have brought it to the referee's attention. Yes, maybe the referee should be aware anyway. But all officials have a responsibility to ensure fair play.

[False dawn]

15 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

That cant be ht 8 looking at the scores!

I think it was a replay.

[TheWellBehavedWorrall]

42 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

That cant be ht 8 looking at the scores!

The screenshot was from when BSN replayed the incident, just after Howe’s comments before the last heat.

[TheWellBehavedWorrall]

33 minutes ago, False dawn said:

At the risk of repeating myself, surely the starting marshal has a part to play here. He could not be completely oblivious to what was going on and could have brought it to the referee's attention. Yes, maybe the referee should be aware anyway. But all officials have a responsibility to ensure fair play.

I don’t think that’s fair on the start marshall and for what it’s worth, discussions like this are a byproduct of cheating.

In its very fundamentals, the start marshall is responsible for several preparation factors, but enforcing the tyre warming rule is absolutely not one of them.

The finger should be pointed at Cairns and the referee; not the start marshall. That’s entirely unfair.

Edited 21 hours ago by TheWellBehavedWorrall

[Steve Shovlar]

Finally got home at 3am due to road closures and the need to stop for a coffee. In future can our opposition finalists live a bit further south please. Very inconvenient for us to be expected to travel so far. 😩 6 hours.30 mins going up and 5.30 coming back.

Had a quick chat with Tai Woffinden on entering the stadium. Wished him the best for his future and his testimonial today. Never was a fan of his during his career but he came across as a decent chap willing to have a convo. Hope he gets a good turnout today.

Onto the racing. As expected in the early heats, there was only going to be one side in it and so it proved. Scunthorpe had their setups bang on and in heat one when Mountain rocketed from the tapes I knew we were going to find it difficult. If it had been Pickering I would have felt better but even though Cairns was second and Cook was nibbling Pickering back wheel, it was obvious what was going to happen.

Pirates were on the pace but only after the first 50 metres and by then it was too late. Lawson had a bit of a mare and was left for dead by riders he really should be beating in Ingram and Harrison. Ingram in particular looking like a top heat leader. Quite hard and borderline dirty on Lightcap in his albeit successful attempt of getting through in one heat. Lightcap laying it down would no doubt have resulted in Ingrams exclusion but it would have been extremely dangerous.

With the scores 29-19 it was extremely concerning, but then Pirates rallied. Rushen and Kerr gated in front of Pickering and it took Pickering two laps to get into second, which gave Cooper 5 metres more breathing space to get over then line. The team got better out of the starts and a 5-1 closed things up. Howe then made a tactical error not swapping Ablitt for Ingram and then the same vice versa the following heat which allowed the pairing of Hook and Ablitt in the same heat, and bang, it was game on. Only 4 points in it.

It was then apparent that we couldn’t lose by more than 16 with three heats left. Then Cook and Lawson popped out to keep Harrison at bay and the lead couldn’t be bigger than 12. The feeling of relief was starting to appear. Heat 14 and Rushen took the lead but Palm Toft who had been unbeaten all night knew the fasted lines and picked off the youngster on the third lap. But we couldn’t lose only lose by ten. Would I have taken that before the meeting?

Heat 15 and Pickering and the unbeaten Palm Toft was looking formidable, but Cook split them, meaning Scunthorpe come to Wimborne Road with only an eight point lead. Pirates fought hard and what could have been a Scunthorpe/Glasgow lead ended up half the size.  Relief. 

Scunthorpe have de field all the odds to make the Grand Final. No one realistically thought they would finish anywhere other than the foot of the table. They have proved everyone wrong. They are formidable at the Eddie Wright Raceway. The racing dished up on this circuit is top notch. Just a shame they struggle with crowd size and atmosphere. The effort by the management is clear to see. The crowd last night was decent though quiet. Perhaps there were a lot of people in the stadium who came along for the first time and didn’t understand what they were witnessing. The Centre Green mic man didn’t help getting the place buzzing if I am honest. At Poole the roof would have been blown clean off the grandstand those first 7 heats.

So onto Wednesday at Poole. Are Pirates fans feeling confident of pulling back the 8 points? We have to be. The threat of Pickering is still there. Top rider. But Palm-Toft, Mountain, Harrison and especially young Ingram are not the riders they are at the Eddie Wright Raceway. Throw in Hook and Ablitt and if we don’t get the job done, the plaudits to Scunthorpe will be fully deserved.

For Scunthorpe, Pickering was sublime. Hit the fence in one heat trying so hard.

Palm-Toft was on the form of the season.

Harrison is clearly one for the future

Hook and Ablitt were abject.

Mountain did his job.

Ingram looks a heat leader at home and a novice away. Time will tell if he can build himself up to have the same confidence away that he has here.

 

For Poole, Cook started slowly but improved as the night went on.

Cairns battles for everything and of course is very raw. Good effort.

Kerr was steady if unspectacular.

Rushen was excellent. Keep battling Coops.

Lawson was very poor by his standards. Five rides and never fast enough.

Newman managed to beat Ablitt but that was it. Not the type of track he can doo much on.

Lightcap was very good. Unlucky in one heat when he was borderline unfairly barged past.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheWellBehavedWorrall]

10 minutes ago, Steve Shovlar said:

Finally got home at 3am due to road closures and the need to stop for a coffee. In future can our opposition finalists live a bit further south please. Very inconvenient for us to be expected to travel so far. 😩 6 hours.30 mins going up and 5.30 coming back.

Had a quick chat with Tai Woffinden on entering the stadium. Wished him the best for his future and his testimonial today. Never was a fan of his during his career but he came across as a decent chap willing to have a convo. Hope he gets a good turnout today.

Onto the racing. As expected in the early heats, there was only going to be one side in it and so it proved. Scunthorpe had their setups bang on and in heat one when Mountain rocketed from the tapes I knew we were going to find it difficult. If it had been Pickering I would have felt better but even though Cairns was second and Cook was nibbling Pickering back wheel, it was obvious what was going to happen.

Pirates were on the pace but only after the first 50 metres and by then it was too late. Lawson had a bit of a mare and was left for dead by riders he really should be beating in Ingram and Harrison. Ingram in particular looking like a top heat leader. Quite hard and borderline dirty on Lightcap in his albeit successful attempt of getting through in one heat. Lightcap laying it down would no doubt have resulted in Ingrams exclusion but it would have been extremely dangerous.

With the scores 29-19 it was extremely concerning, but then Pirates rallied. Rushen and Kerr gated in front of Pickering and it took Pickering two laps to get into second, which gave Cooper 5 metres more breathing space to get over then line. The team got better out of the starts and a 5-1 closed things up. Howe then made a tactical error not swapping Ablitt for Ingram and then the same vice versa the following heat which allowed the pairing of Hook and Ablitt in the same heat, and bang, it was game on. Only 4 points in it.

It was then apparent that we couldn’t lose by more than 16 with three heats left. Then Cook and Lawson popped out to keep Harrison at bay and the lead couldn’t be bigger than 12. The feeling of relief was starting to appear. Heat 14 and Rushen took the lead but Palm Toft who had been unbeaten all night knew the fasted lines and picked off the youngster on the third lap. But we couldn’t lose only lose by ten. Would I have taken that before the meeting?

Heat 15 and Pickering and the unbeaten Palm Toft was looking formidable, but Cook split them, meaning Scunthorpe come to Wimborne Road with only an eight point lead. Pirates fought hard and what could have been a Scunthorpe/Glasgow lead ended up half the size.  Relief. 

Scunthorpe have de field all the odds to make the Grand Final. No one realistically thought they would finish anywhere other than the foot of the table. They have proved everyone wrong. They are formidable at the Eddie Wright Raceway. The racing dished up on this circuit is top notch. Just a shame they struggle with crowd size and atmosphere. The effort by the management is clear to see. The crowd last night was decent though quiet. Perhaps there were a lot of people in the stadium who came along for the first time and didn’t understand what they were witnessing. The Centre Green mic man didn’t help getting the place buzzing if I am honest. At Poole the roof would have been blown clean off the grandstand those first 7 heats.

So onto Wednesday at Poole. Are Pirates fans feeling confident of pulling back the 8 points? We have to be. The threat of Pickering is still there. Top rider. But Palm-Toft, Mountain, Harrison and especially young Ingram are not the riders they are at the Eddie Wright Raceway. Throw in Hook and Ablitt and if we don’t get the job done, the plaudits to Scunthorpe will be fully deserved.

For Scunthorpe, Pickering was sublime. Hit the fence in one heat trying so hard.

Palm-Toft was on the form of the season.

Harrison is clearly one for the future

Hook and Ablitt were abject.

Mountain did his job.

Ingram looks a heat leader at home and a novice away. Time will tell if he can build himself up to have the same confidence away that he has here.

 

For Poole, Cook started slowly but improved as the night went on.

Cairns battles for everything and of course is very raw. Good effort.

Kerr was steady if unspectacular.

Rushen was excellent. Keep battling Coops.

Lawson was very poor by his standards. Five rides and never fast enough.

Newman managed to beat Ablitt but that was it. Not the type of track he can doo much on.

Lightcap was very good. Unlucky in one heat when he was borderline unfairly barged past.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Could you elaborate please, Steve?