Club News

Champions All

The big prizes continue to head down to Harbourside....the latest being the British Team championship following victories against Wednesfield and Leicester in the semi and final of this long running competition. For match report see fixture page. Only disappointment was the heat 16 crash involving Chris Roberts in which he incurred a broken ankle....an injury which will unfortunately sideline him for the remainder of the season.

Poole has a new British Champion....Arron Morgan was the outright winner of the British U.16 Final at Norwich with clubmate Matt Mildon joining him on the podium after finishing in the bronze medal position. With Aaron Smith in 5th place and Will Bristowe featuring strongly, it was a great day all round for the Seaview racers! Thomas Reed made his Senior final debut notching a creditable 13 and he was one of eight Poole finalists in the Championship weekend along with Callum, Kieran and Hayden in the U.10's and Kristina in the Womens & Girls.

Biggest threat to Poole aspirations in the U.16 Final was expected to be Jack Harrold but when Arron left him for dead in heat 1 things were off to a good start and continued that way with another 4 points from the back in heat 6 and an even better pass on Jake Read in heat 10. Crunch time was a gate 4 in heat 14 with Matt on 3 and Will on 2. Trouble was they were all so determined to beat each other that they forgot about Zac Payne on 1 who couldnt believe his luck to win from Matt while Arron had too much to do to get more than a 3rd after tangling with Will!

Meanwhile cooly and quietly Aaron Smith was having a great final with three wins and a second from 4 starts giving him a great chance of a rostrum but a hard gate 4 to finish. When all riders had completed 4 races, it was odds on Ashley Hill for the title with 15 and a gate 1 to finish, while Arron M looked to have blown it back on 14. He duly won his 5th race from gate 1 to finish on 18 and had to sit and await his fate with little expectation of the drama to follow.

Next up was heat 18 with 3 rostrum contenders featuring Jack Harrold winning from Matt and with Aaron S 4th giving all three riders a 16 total and a 3-way bronze medal race-off in prospect. Ipswich hope Ashley Hill sped from the gate in the title deciding heat 20 with Poole supporters' prayers looking to be unanswered, but no-one reckoned on a brilliant pass by Will Bristowe on the back straight which shocked the Suffolk rider to the extent that he dropped back to 3rd giving him 17 points and leaving Arron a clear winner!

More drama to come in the third place race-off as Jack Harrold sped away from the favoured gate 1 and was almost the length of a straight clear as Matt dealt with the challenge from Aaron Smith. He then set about the task of reeling in the Welshman and by lap 4 was on his back wheel before timing a perfect inside pass on the final bend which brought the house down.

It was a brilliant day for all four Seaview riders with Arron a deserevd winner, Matt and Aaron looking set to go for a Poole one-two in 2012 and not forgetting Will who struggled to score 6 points from his first 4 races but ended up the heat 20 hero with that well timed win.

Britsblog

Poole riders will be in action in all four British Individual competitions in East Anglia over the Aug Bank Holiday weekend and news of their progress can be found right here....
Under way in the U.10s at Hethersett and Haydn Rowles gets off to a brill start with a 20 max in his semi......Callum Smith and Kieren Hoare join him in the final with scores of 18 and 15 in a tough second semi....three Poole musketeers in the final....superb stuff. Ciara Harris scores creditable 7 in her very first competition.

Next its tough racing in highly competitive Girls championship qualifiers which sees Kristina Mines make it through to the final while Cerys Glover finished just a point short and will line up as reserve. Jesse Harris had a really tough draw and also just missed out.

U.10 Final won by hot fav, Jack Chaplin from Ipswich. Callum Smith finishes 5th with 16 points a point ahead of Kieren Hoare who was 6th with 15 and with 12 points Haydn Rowles was th...great performances from the young Poole trio.
Kristina notched 7 in the rain delayed Girls final won by Horspath's Livvy Horsley who also picked up the U.16 crown.

Sunday sees Senior and U.16 qualifiers and semi's with Thomas Reed, Pete Young, Leyton Glover, Arron Morgan, Arron Smith and Wil Bristowe all in action.
Good start to day 2 with Matt Mildon and Arron Morgan through to the Junior S/Final.
Leyton Glover does well to make it to the Senior S/Final in a tough line-up.

Hethersett U.16 semi sees Matt on 18 points and Arron on 19....both safely though to tomorrows final. Good news too in the other semi at Harford Park as Arron Smith scores 16 to finish 3rd while Will B overcomes a dubious first race exclusion to just make the final cut by the skin of his teeth. All four Seaview boys in Monday's U.16 final...brilliant stuff.
Finally to round off a good day, Thomas Reed gets through to the Senior Final after a hard fought round at Harford Park.

Julyblog

Mindless - With 48 hours to go before the crucial BTC quarter final match with Norwich, mindless morons have ripped out all the wiring for the starting gates. Fortunately the damage was spotted in time to arrange the necessary repairs and thanks to Neil Garnett and Fraser, its all OK for the big match which will be followed by part 1 of our Summer GP - which will feature two events....Girls and U.14's.

Juneblog

Stat-attack - As we approach the mid-way point of the season, the chance to draw breath and
take a quick look at our rider stats up to the end of June shows that as with 2010, the numbers are again very healthy with an overall total of 110 rider names in action on the track since March, 72 of whom can be classified as "regulars" while the balance are "occasionals". Girls account for 30 of the overall total in contrast to the one or two in action ten years ago. Around 50 riders have represented the club in the first 4 BYJL events. The Senior/Youth squad from which teams are selected for League and Cup competitions numbers 20, four of whom are not locally based but nevertheless have their primary registration with the club. The huge organisational challenge posed by these numbers can only be met by the part played by parents and friends...... but with the club on target to successfully defend its British Club Championship title and through to the national rounds of the Wosskow Brown BYJL, all the effort is well worth it.

Re-union - Tatnam Tigers.....Fifty years on! Harbourside is the venue for a very special cycle speedway re-union on July 10th when members of the famous Tatnam Tigers team will meet up at the track with around a dozen of their former riders set to attend. In addition to club sponsor Dave Tarr and Club Secretary Pete Barnes, those planning to attend are Robbie Frampton, Andy Bright, Alan Nippard, Colin Carter, Dennis Lilly, Dave Watkins, Ray Coward, Gordon Day and Mike Holmes. Following the success of the famous Gem Pirates in the post war period, the Tigers competed at national level through the late1950's and early 1960's and this will be the first time that so many of them have met up since those days. Their attendance has been timed to coincide with the British Team Championship quarter final between Poole and Norwich.

Summer Grand-Prix - To celebrate topping the South West table and hence qualification for the national rounds of the BYJL, the Club is promoting a special Grand Prix event for younger riders. Due to the number currently taking part in Clubnight racing over the past couple of months, it has been decided to run the GP on two dates using a similar age split now imposed at national level. So on Sunday July 10th (3.30) after the Poole v Norwich BTC quarter final, its U.14's U.16's and Girls in action and on Tuesday 12th (7pm) its U.6's U.8's U.10's and U.12's. Each event will comprise a series of qualifying races with the top 4 points scorers making it to an A Final. There will be trophies and momento's for every rider thanks to our sponsor - entry is open to all but names should be listed on the entry sheet on the clubroom noticeboard or given to a club official.

Riders Averages - The latest Premier League race averages show the following stats for Poole riders competing in at least 2 matches up to June 5th: Thomas Reed 3.63 Greg Gluchowski 3.27 Tom Colling 2.70 Pete Young 2.56 Sam Hearn 2.56 Arron Morgan 2.23 Matt Mildon 2.12 Leyton Glover 2.00 Aaron House 2.00. (Also rode for 1 match only - Dean Hook 3.5 Rafal Dulinski 3.00 Marcin Paradinski 2.20 Pawel Cegielski 1.5 Luke Armes 1.00).

Congratulations - To Club Coach Ben Donohue and Natalie on their engagement.....seems like the banner rolled out from an upstairs window during a family B-B-Q containing the words "MARRY ME" along with the traditional request (on one knee) did the trick for Ben! Nice touch from the Irish International!

Action - Copies of "I Like Dirt" our highly received Clubnight film are now available from the Clubroom at just £5. Not only do you get the finished and edited version as featured on Vimeo and UTube, but all the original unedited footage! Also available is the full edited 18 heat version of our recent Premier League match against Wednesfield with a special 50% discount for club members! Have a look at the UTube footage of three sample heats to see what you will be getting for your money...and dare to disagree with the "we wuz robbed" report after looking at heats 10 and 18! Just search UTube with "Poole v Wednesfield". Thanks go to Rob Haywood of Venture Video - these are professional HD jobs and well worth having.
Update...all sold out on June 7th Clubnight - more supplies will be available for 14th!

Clubroom - Few would argue that  Poole enjoys one of the best track locations but it does come at a price. Being in the middle of a park, toilet facilities are only possible through the use of a small pumping station which the club itself is responsible for. Recently, this unit required replacement leaving very little change out of £750. Fortunately, although no grants are available to help meet the cost,a contingency fund is set aside for just such occasions. Visitors may care to bear this in mind next time they spend a penny at Baiter!

Apologies - to all those people who attended the England v Rest of the World international challenge match at Harbourside expecting to see World Champion Lukas Nowacki leading the ROW team. Lukas had a long standing agreement with event organiser Pete Barnes to race in the match and for him to withdraw his services just two hours before the match was hardly the behaviour we would expect from such a respected and high profile competitor. Unconfirmed sources suggest he spent his day sightseeing around Dorset !

May Newsblog

Coming soon - "I Like Dirt" Poole Clubnight was filmed on May 17th and a promotional video is to be produced and posted on UTube and other internet outlets. A DVD will be available containing an hour of original unedited material as well as the professionally produced finished film priced at £5.00 and available from the clubroom canteen. Watch this space for further info. Once again the Clubnight rider count was over 60 for the fourth consecutive week!! Update - see top of Home page for lihk to "I Like Dirt"

Coming soon - exciting details about our mouthwatering Whitsun weekend race programme featuring two days of top class international action featuring UK's to most prestigious individual event, the ADE GALE Laurels on May 29th with Junior and Senior racing, followed on Bank Holiday Monday by an England versus Rest of the World showpiece team event. Newly crowned World Champion Lukas Nowacki will be in action along with a host of top names. A special presentation of riders who competed in the USA in the recent World championships will be made to BC Cycle Speedway chairman Colin Docker. Riders present will include World Ladies champion Laura Watson who will take part in a series of races for top girl riders........watch this space for more news!

Welcome  Newly crowned South Australian junior champion Shane Bentley arrived on May 11th for his "annual" visit and was straight into the senior training session next day. There were a few raised eyebrows when he outpaced a number of the first team squad! Shane will be in action in the Junior Laurels on Whit Sunday and again next day for the rest of the world team against England. Also back on the track was Chris Roberts having been given the all clear after his recent operation. Well down on fitness level afer his long lay-off, Chris hopes to be be ready for match action in a couple of months.

Busy Times  No sooner had our USA contingent returned home, reflecting on their "World Championship" experience there is hardly time to draw breath as our hard working logistics team plan another trip "abroad". Its April 30th and the club heads for Wales to sample the delights of the East Newport polotrack for round 2 of the BYJL. The rider tally was an impressive 32 complete with a convoy mixture of family cars and club minibus - after an early 0800 rendezvous in readiness for the noon racemeet start. There were around 100 South West competitors in action which was far and away the biggest of any region - and as with round 1, roughly the same total as the Midlands and North put together! Time for a proportional representation debate?? It was well after 11pm by the time the van returned to Harbourside - see Juniors page for details of the successful results.
 
No laying in bed on Sunday morning as by 10am circuit preparations were underway for the Premier League matchup with Sandwell. All was in pristine order within a couple of hours but after all that effort, sadly the Midlanders arrived with just 6 riders which meant 6 races with them tracking just one rider. Apparently some of the missing names were offered free travel for the match but still declined, a fact lost on some! Not a good promotional situation, especially seeing a number of our regular and more discerning supporters drifting away by the interval. Lost revenue for us and credibility for the sports so called showcase.

Mayday Bank Holiday Monday saw a round of SWL matches fixtured as the minibus took off to Exeter minus a few first team regulars due to the demands of the 3 day schedule so our rapidly improving young guns get a first team call-up. How brilliantly they responded to outpace a full Devon side in a match which will have worked wonders for their racing development and hats off to K&K - the two Kevs, Lowman and Lowey for steering the team to victory. Ten out of ten for all the riders turning out for both teams as most of them had raced on Saturday or Sunday....or both! (See results page for match report).

Time for a rest? Not a bit of it. Tuesday arrives, so it must be "Clubnight" the busiest event of all. Numbers have been increasing in recent weeks and this week is no exception with 64 riders - 48 boys and 16 girls. To get through the schedule, they divide up into 5 age/ability groups so they all get their 4 races in the two and a half hour session....thats over sixty races in all. Phew!

So thats 32 in action on Saturday, 15 Sunday, 13 Monday and 64 Tuesday, not forgetting our hard working support team of around 20 and all the families helping with travel to the away venues. We must be doing something right. Now maybe time for a rest? Just till Thursday afternoon when a visit from Hamworthy Middle School is due with another 15 potential new recruits followed by Senior Clubnight, the British Under 10's at Harbourside on Saturday afternoon and a certain trip to Premier kingpins Horspath on Sunday. May is here. Onwards and upwards!

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World Championship Newsblog

Leyton Glover, Arron Morgan and Kristina Mines together with Pete Barnes have made the trip over to North Carolina to compete in the Worlds at Edenton. Arrived safely on April 16th despite storms and tornados sweeping the area. Welcome to the USA. Sunday 17th said hi to Poole's Torun trio messrs Cegielski, Dulinski and Paradinski who are all hoping to make a big impression in the senior final as well as the World team cup currently held by the Aussies. Monday 18th Arron Morgan takes silver in the North Carolina open with 19 points, just one behind maxi man Paul Heard. Kristina notches a creditable 8.
Tuesday 19th and its heartbreak for Arron who has to go off for hospital treatment after being taken ill with sickness and breathing problems.

Meanwhile the World Junior qualifier goes on without him and Leyton nets 4th place with 16 and Kristina gets a very good 10 points. Leyton's good form gets him into the England senior team for the 1st test between England and the Aussies. Leyton scores 11 points but England go down 87-85! Leyton in action again in the first round of the blue ribbon event, the World senior champs. Tough going and he scores 12 from 5 rides. Next day and a complete change of fortunes in rd 2....top scorer with 18 and ahead of two world champions, Pudney and Harris and the current European champion Paradzinski - wow!
Now for the semi's. Arron returns from hospital with new medication and the hope of riding by the end of the week. Leyton at it again as top scorer (14) for England as they beat Poland, Scotland and USA in the World Team Cup eliminator.

Arron back in action for England in the World Junior pairs on Friday...thats great news...but they lose to Australia by a single point in the very last heat - drat! Arron was fit enough to ride in the Senior championship repercharge and makes it through to the semi-final on Saturday along with Leyton. Top stuff.

The big names turned up the heat in the semi's as 6 Brits, 6 Poles and 4 Aussies made it through to the Senior final on Monday. Sadly, Leyton and Arron with scores of 10 and 11 were short of the cut-off but as they were amongst the youngest of the 32 semi-finalists surely their time will come in this competition and they did exceptionally well to get as far as they did. What it does mean is that both of them can concentrate 100% on the World Junior Final which is also on Monday - good luck U2!! Good luck also to our three Polish finalists in the senior event - the Torun trio of Pawel, Marcin and Rafal. Maybe a word of encouragement also to our two former Seaview boys Brad Hoppo and reigning champion, Daniel Pudney.

Easter Sunday saw a double success for England in the World Team Cup matches. Arron (15) and Leyton (12) will be bringing home winners trophies following victory against the USA in the Junior competiton
and the same goes for their senior counterparts who outscored Poland and Australia in the Senior event - both England teams managed by our very own Pete Barnes - ably supported by the Barney Army, we hear!

Big day Monday and the Girls event on first with Kristina finishing in 4th place with 11 points.....well done girl. Next up was the Junior Final. Aussie Joel Chadwick dominates with a max 20 showing what an exceptional talent he is. Be good to see him in a Seaview shirt in 2012! Leyton came in a creditable 5th with 15 but Arron on 14 with a race to go could have done with a proper ref in the middle instead of Rodney Trotter. Clearly chopped and then legged off by Joe Kemp, ref stops race and amidst multi-national protests, excludes....Arron! What a prize pl*nker. After all the health issues that Arron had to contend with, its the last thing he needed.

Poles to the fore in the Senior final with Lukasz on his posh bike taking it in a run-off with our own recent signing - Torun superstar Rafal Dulinski who took silver. Cheers Rafa! Ex Poole star and defending champ Dan Pudney won run-off for third against up and coming Aussie star...you've guessed it, Joel Chadwick. Now what was that shirt size again?

Spring 2011

As the first Premier League match of the season at Harbourside approaches, members have been busy with last minute preparations. The clubroom has been spring-cleaned, canteen scrubbed and re-stocked, new toilets finished and fascias and guttering replaced. The track has been extensively graded and watered, lines painted, grass cut and starting gates refurbished. Many other behind the scenes tasks have been completed. Cycle speedway clubs like Poole could not survive without the volunteers who give freely of their time and energies....we salute these unsung heros! The fruits of their labours will be there for everyone to see as the tapes rise at 2pm on the 27th.

The brighter and drier days of March have enabled the track to settle down after the ravages of winter and three weekly training sessions are now in full swing with allcomers on Sunday mornings, and league squad riders on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in their quest to be fit for the SWL which starts on March 20th with a tough away trip to Horspath. One week later, the Premier League kicks off with a visit from Sheffield who are sure to be amongst the frontrunners in the new campaign with star man Andy Angell in sensational form in the opening events of the season.

Following the good news about Aaron House for 2011, the Poole PL squad face up to the new season minus their talisman Gavin Wheeler who is spending a year working in New Zealand but promising to be back for 2012. The remainder of the squad will be as per 2011 and there are great expectations from the rapidly improving squad of young riders who added to their growing list of honours during the winter when they picked up the British U.19 team cup.

Winter 2010/11

Congratulations to Aaron Lowey on his recent wedding to Jenny House at the end of February. Setting aside normal convention, Aaron will adopt the surname of his new bride's family - so for the 2011 season we are pleased to announce that Aaron House will be a regular member of the Seaview Premier League squad.

The Club plans to hold a social evening at Champs Bar in PooleStadium at the end of February along the same lines as the highly successful Presentation Night. This time the theme will be "The Season Starts Here". Update......Saturday February 26th from 7.30 - entry just £2.00 to include buffet......spread the word!

Winter work on the track is now almost complete with just drain clearance to complete and starting gate refurbishment to be finalised.
Meanwhile a programme of improvements and maintenance in the clubroom is continuing, notably a complete upgrade of toilet facilities!

Autumn 2010

The season ended at Harbourside Park with a floodlit individual event which was won by local favourite Gavin Wheeler in a closely fought Grand final which also featured Steve Harris and Neil Hollebon together with the surprise packet of the night Matt Mildon who received the biggest cheer of the evening when he scorched through to finish runner up.
The big guns all took points from each other as Hollebon outpaced Harris in heat 4 before the Horpath star became the only rider on the night to lower the colours of Wheeler. Steve and Gavin notched up 19 apiece to take their places in the grand final where they were joined by young Mildon who included 2 wins in his 15 total. A four man run-off was required to determine the fourth finalist featuring Tom Colling, Jake Williams, Sam Hearn and Neil Hollebon with the Hellingly star shooting from the gate to win.
Big smiles from Gav Wheeler in the pits meant he had drawn gate one from the hat with Mildon on two, Hollebon on three and Harris slightly less than chuffed with a four. Sure enough Wheeler hit the first bend ahead and with Hollebon and Harris battling side by side on the exit of turn 2, which left the tinyest of gaps for young Mildon to squeeze through. Wheeler knew he could not under- estimate opponant less than half his age as he stuck like glue to his back wheel for the four laps.
Apart from the top names, the event provided an opportunity to showcase the other members of the Seaview Senior and Youth squad and there was plenty of action for the crowd to enjoy. There were also some lively demonstration races from some the growing band of Poole Clubnight riders. Guests for the evening were Speedway GP star Chris Holder and World U.21 champion Darcy Ward who presented the trophies and could not resist a few laps of their own to add to the entertainment.
Scorers:
Gavin Wheeler 19, Steve Harris 19, Matt Mildon 15, Neil Hollebon 14, Sam Hearn 14, Tom Colling 14, Jake Williams 14, Arron Morgan 13, Luke Armes 13, Chris Shylock 12, Rob Haywood 11,Dean Hook 9, Harry Boucher 9, Marcus Warwick 8, Will Bristow 8, Arron Smith 8.

Grand Final:
1st Gavin Wheeler 2nd Matt Mildon 3rd Steve Harris 4th Neil Hollebon

Referee:
Mike Legge

Summer 2010

FINALS WEEKEND UPDATE

Poole riders faced long journies to compete in the 2010 British Individual Championships in three age categories -
Under 10's - George Newman had the longest journey of all as the youngest BIC event took place at the picturesque Hessle raceway in Hull (Saturday). George set out with two clear targets and he achieved both...firstly he came thought the pre-qualifiers to make it to the final and secondly he wanted a top ten finish. Another tick in the box here too as he scored 13 points to finish a very creditable 6th overall. Well done George!
Under 16's - Arron Morgan and Leyton Glover both raced their semi-finals at Bury and led the list of qualifiers taking the top two places - Leyton on a five ride max and Arron on 17. In the final, lady luck deserted the two boys in their opening race. with Leyton and Arron leading comfortably, the referee needlessly called it back when the tailenders crashed and it all went wrong in the re-start. Leyton ended with 11 - scant reward for a rider of his undoubted talent while a respectable 14 from Arron must put him in with a major shout in 12 months time.
 Seniors - It was tough going for all three Poole reps in the senior semi's with Gav Wheeler (14) at Stockport and Tom Colling (13) at Bury just squeezing through to Mondays final by the tightest of margins. No such luck for Thomas Reed at Bury who only managed 9 points and failed to make the cut.
Monday's final saw Gavin finish in 4th with 16points after an agonising fall in his final race when holding second place and 3 points which would have given him a run-off for the title with eventual winner Mark Boaler. Tom Colling had his best Senior final to date finishing 6th on 14 points.

QUALITY COVERAGE!

Dorset Life Magazine are preparing a feature on the Poole/Seaview club courtesy of local reporter Paul Burbidge.
Due for publication in the October edition, the article will feature action shots from regular Harbourside photographer John Burge. Writer Paul, who is an experienced reporter and broadcaster, visited the track to watch the SWL encounter between Poole and Horspath which went down to the wire with a last heat decider! Highly impressed with what he saw, we look forward to reading the article and await the publication with interest.

DAVE ROLLS BACK THE YEARS!

They say 50 is the new 40 but Dave Murphy raced like a teenager to scoop the British Vets 50+ silver medal at Winchester Road after battling through against a talented line-up. In fact a win in his final ride would have put him in a run-off for the title with eventual winner Mike Burgess, but fellow vet team mate Colin Wheeler had his own agenda taking the race win to underline his success in the 60+ group. "Smurph" finished level on 17 points with 2009 champion Dennis Hubble from East London and needed a race-off for the higher rostrum place. Having shown Den a clean pair wheels when they met earlier in the heats, Dave underlined his supremacy with another faultless 4 laps to take a well deserved runners-up trophy.

BIG DAY AT HARBOURSIDE

A double bill of British Club Championship racing takes place at Harbourside Park, Poole on Saturday August 7th with the final two rounds of the 2010 competition providing the ideal shop window for the very best of cycle speedway.

The eagerly awaited Womens event sees hot favourites Leicester seeking to win the trophy for a fifth consecutive time but they will come under intense pressure from challengers Ipswich who have finished runners up in each of the last four years. Wednesfield, Horspath, Sheffield and hosts Poole complete the final line-up which gets under way at 2pm. The event provides the latest showpiece for Girls racing which has steadily grown in popularity in recent seasons.

A host of top names contest the Senior Championship and there is sure to be cut throat competition in the semi-finals as clubs compete for one of the four coveted final places. Defending champions Birmingham will face Premier League leaders Horspath and home favourites Poole in the curtain raising semi-final at 11am followed at 1230 by a head-on clash between giants of the sport, Leicester, Wednesfield and Sheffield with Ipswich in the mix for good measure.

The senior final will provide the climax to the racing schedule at 4pm which will also determine the 2010 British Club Champions based on performance in all seven competitions through from Under 10's to Vets. With Grand-Prix style points scoring the aggregate table shows Poole currently holding a clear lead ahead of Ipswich with Horspath, Sheffield, 2009 champions Wednesfield and Leicester next in line.

A gala family day is promised with trackside stalls, novelty competitions, face painting and entertainments and a full refreshment service throughout the race programme. Ample free parking space will be available adjacent to the track.
Dont miss the action or the fun.....its all absolutely free!

TRAVELLING FAR & WIDE

As the season hits mid-summer, Poole CSC is certainly clocking up the miles. The highly successful but exhausting first round of the British Youth & Junior Grand Prix proved a challenging ordeal for the 35 strong Poole CSC party who headed off to Manchester for the marathon 10 hrs 20 mins long event (for result see Junior Scene page). Thanks from the riders go to the Mums and Dads who fixed all the travel and to club sponsors Dave & Darren Tarr at Seaview Coaches for their valuable sponsorship of this event.

No sooner did they return from Manchester than thoughts turned to the epic drive to Poland for the 2010 European Championships with Leyton Glover, Arron Morgan and Matt Mildon venturing by road while seasoned campaigner Thomas Reed opted to fly! Good luck to this talented quartet and watch this site for up to date news of their progress. It would certainly come as no surprise to see TR get a rostrum place on finals day.

An equally long epic journey awaits Ben Donohue and Sam Hearn over the weekend of July 24/25 as they complete their sponsored ride from Lands End to Harbourside Park in aid of a cancer charity. With one overnight stop in Devon they are due to arrive back at the Poole track at teatime on Sunday 25th - no doubt weary and not a little saddle sore!
Why not be there to welcome them "home". This is a highly commendable project by Sam and Ben who are great ambassadors for Poole cycle speedway.

Finally and closer to home, the club has decided to stage an afternoon of junior racing at 2pm on 25th July at 2pm featuring riders from Southampton Exeter and Poole in a fours match with some GP style races for all the Tuesday Clubnight crew who are all on open invite to race.

TESCO BAG PACKING

Good publicity and some welcome funds provided just reward for the two dozen+ club volunteers who took part in the Tesco bag packing event at the busy Fleetsbridge store on June 25th. Riders busied themselves at the checkouts as the late afternoon surge of shoppers welcomed the assistance. A presentation display with an "Archie", and information leaflets drew plenty of attention and a number of likely recruits encouraged to visit the track for a Clubnight trial.

CHARITY RIDE CHALLENGE

At the end of July, Ben Donohue and Sam Hearn will take part in a sponsored ride from Lands End to Poole to raise funds for a cancer charity. When the local newspaper visited Harbourside for some pre-ride publicity shots, Ben and Sam enlisted the support of around 50 riders from the highly popular Tuesday Clubnight session.

BRITISH CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2010:

After four rounds of the BCC Poole hold a ten point lead over their great rivals Horspath with a further three events to go. Points awarded in this competition are 25 for a win, 20 for runners up, 18 for third place, 16 for fourth, 14 for fifth, 12 for seventh and 19 for 9th.

So far Poole picked up the full 25 for winning the Under 19 event at Ipswich on April 24th and a further 20 after finishing runners up in the U.16 final at Wednesfield on May 15th. June 19th saw two Poole teams in action at Horspath with the Under 10's picking up 14 points for fifth place in their tough encounter. At the opposite end of the age scale, the vets pulled off a great second place behind Horspath to pick up another 20 and the top five clubs after four events look like this ; -

POOLE 25+20+14+20 79
HORSPATH 12+14+18+25 69
WEDNESFIELD 10+12+14+18 54
IPSWICH 12+14+12+10 48
SHEFFIELD 10+12+12+12 43

  The next round sees the Under 13's in action at Kesgrave (Suffolk) on July 31st and the competition reaches its finale at Harbourside Park here in Poole on August 7th with the Ladies event follow by the Senior open. That could be quite a day!

2010 BRITISH TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS

The draw for the quarter finals of the British Team Championship provides local supporters with a mouthwatering prospect at Harbourside on July 4th with a match up between Poole and cup holders Horspath. The Oxford club has an impressive record at the Baiter Park circuit and their star studded team will doubtless be full of confidence. Poole has chalked up more victories than any other club over the last 30 years and will be determined to add another and lower the colours of their arch rivals. Make a diary note now....this is a match you will not want to miss.

Spring 2010

The Hamworthy Middle School visit to the track on May 4th was judged a great success by the pupils ....and the teachers who could not resist a few laps of their own! The session started with a series of timed solo laps and finished up with some fully competitive racing with several riders vowing to return to Tuesday clubnights in future weeks.
Everyone entered into the spirit and had a fun afternoon so well done to Jamie Dixon, Stephen Jenkins, Jay Briggs, David Da Silver, Jess Lundon, Katie Hibbs, Charlie Lyddon, Jess Drane, Frankie White, Ocean Swann, Polly Butt and Simon Mulheran. Teachers Miss Howlett, Mr Tait and Mr Graves and Bikit Officer Jason Falconer were highly delighted with procedings and more school visits could be in the pipeline soon.

2010 Rider Review

The pre-season action at Harbourside resumed a month earlier than in previous seasons despite the cold and wet winter weather thanks to the track relaying work having been completed in November. This allowed the planned Sunday morning junior training sessions to go ahead so that the record number of young riders recruited in 2009 had an opportunity to get back into action. By the end of February 35 juniors had sampled the action on at least one occasion with the star prize for a 100% record going to Kristina Mines - so a special thanks to mum and dad for sacrificing the "lay-in" and making the trip down from Radstock!

Encouraged by the early action, the league squad soon made an appearance with former British champs Gav Wheeler and newly appointed PL captain Pete Young looking determined to be fit for opening fixtures. Having lost Ben Mould to Birmingham from the class of 2009 and with Aaron Lowey taking time out, there was a further blow for the senior squad when Chris Roberts was unable to start the season due to family commitments although he could make a mid-season return to action. The pressure was relieved in the opening weeks with the arrival of Pawel Cegielski who was a very welcome visitor for the ealy South West and Premier league fixtures and an instant hit with the youth squad at training sessions.

As the 31st March registration and transfer deadline loomed, the senior squad was boosted with the signing of Southampton based Shaun Woodhouse who is expected to return to the saddle after a 3 year lay-off once he recovers from a shoulder injury incurred in a recent football match. Well known to us here at Poole, he has featured in many epic battles with the Saints stretching back to the mid-1990's and once he gets back to full fitness he is sure to feature strongly in Premier League and British championship action as the season progresses. Shaun is a good mate of Gav Wheeler who was instrumental in arranging the comeback!

POLISH STAR SIGNS FOR POOLE
The liklihood that Artur Poprawski will be unavailable for his usual mid-season visit to England due to college and work priorities meant that one additional Polish signing was made on the eve of the sign-on deadline. What a signing it is too....Gniezno star Greg Gluchowski who is recognised as one of the fastest starters in Extraleague racing. He was due to make his debut on Easter Sunday in the match up with 2009 league champions Horspath - a baptism of fire if ever there was one.

FULL TIME THOMAS
Last but by no means least with the senior squad comes the excellent news that Britain's most accomplished youth rider Thomas Reed has pledged his primary registration with Poole with a secondary facility to compete for Exeter in regional league racing. Thomas has been a key figure in PL racing over the last couple of seasons and his addition to the British team and club events is a big, big bonus for the Poole club.

LEAGUE SQUADS

The Premier League rider squad for 2010 looks like this - Pete Young (capt), Gav Wheeler, Thomas Reed, Shaun Woodhouse, Tom Colling, Ben Donohue, Chris Shylock, Dave Murphy plus our four youth stars Sam Hearn, Arron Morgan, Jake Williams and Leyton Glover with the Polish quartet of Pawel Cegielski, Marcin Paradinski, Greg Gluchowski and Artur Poprawski featuring from time to time according to domestic fixtures.

In the South West league, the new management team of Chris Morgan and Kev Lowman will have the services of Pete Young, Chris Shylock, Ben Donohue, Sam Hearn, Leyton Glover, Arron Morgan and Jake Williams from the PL squad plus Luke Armes, Matt Elston, Matthew Mildon and Dean Hook with Harry Boucher, Alex Lane, Sam Harbord and Marcus Warwick expected to improve rapidly in Conference and Division 2 matches.

Winter 2009/2010

The popular Tuesday evening Junior Clubnights will resume on March 9th with all the junior action switching from Sundays. After the wet winter weather there had been fears that the Harbourside circuit may not be fit for use, but thankfully improvements have allowed 3 weekly sessions on Sunday mornings for juniors followed by seniors and some hard fitness sessions on 2 evenings for the League squad. On 28th February, there was a good turn out of local riders for the first regional Youth Academy event. Leyton Glover, Sam Hearn and Arron Morgan will be travelling to Birmingham for a national Academy session on March 7th.

GOLDEN OCCASION!

Olympic cycling hero Sir Chis Hoy added his congratulations to the Poole U.16 British Club Championship winning team at the annual British Cycling presentation dinner in Manchester on February 20th where Arron Morgan and Matthew Mildon represented the club. Arron also received the award for top U.14 rider in the 2009 Wosskow Brown British Youth & Junior League competition. Matthew is a former British Champion at both Under 10 and Under 13 levels and was making his third visit to the prestigious event along with parents Sharon and Martin.

A busy weekend for Arron continued the following day as he met up with team mate Leyton Glover at Wednesfield to take part in the first Youth Academy along with a strong group of the best young racing prospects in the sport. The new venture was judged highly beneficial by all and Chris Morgan who is set to join Kev Lowman as the team management duo for South-West league competition in 2010 was quick to apply a number of the on-track fitness techniques at the Harbourside training session, two days later.

On the refereeing front, its congratulations to Mike Legge following news of his re-grading to International category official which is cycle speedway's top flight. Mike takes his refereeing very seriously and travels far and wide to officiate and the new assessment from British Cycling rightly recognises this. Expect an appearance of one of the clubs top former riders John Carry as a referee this season. One of the key figures in the Clubs record breaking run of British Championship successes in the 1980's and 90's, John has a wealth of big event experience to draw on which should stand him in good stead.

Despite the cold and wet conditions, the Club's decision to make its earliest ever start to the season has been rewarded with an excellent response from the juniors - in the four Sundays up to February 21st there have been around 30 riders with at least one tick on the register and several have not missed a single session. Coach Ben Donohue has devised some fun events as a warm up, then on to the track for a series of lap timings followed by scratch races, handicap events and mini-marathons. Well done to everyone for making the effort and to mums and dads for sacrificing the temptation of a Sunday "lay-in"! The switch from Sunday mornings back to the regular Tuesday evenings will be made in early March.

Pupils from Talbot Combined School have a new favourite lesson - cycle speedway as they spent the afternoon of December 4th having fun at Harbourside....the first of many planned school visits to be arranged by Jason Falconer, the Sustrans "Bike-it" officer for Bournemouth & Poole.
Talbot school racers who took part were - Nimat Raheem, Callum Tuffs, Thomas Hordle, Cowyn Harrison, Dominic Tuttle, Amai Rana, Jordan Vatcher, Callum Wells, Kyle Milsom, Torin Woodwards, Rhys Wells and Ben Third.

The Clubs' annual meeting will be held at the clubroom on Thursday December 3rd at 7.30. It is hoped to finish the formal business as quickly as possible to allow time to discuss future plans. With around 75 riders to accomodate in our Clubnight and fixtured weekend competitions, there will be lots to do in 2010 when the season gets into full swing in March. Parents, family and supporters are welcome to attend along with club members. Presentations will be made at the end of the evening, including the Conference League awards.

Autumn 2009

Despite the gale force winds which lashed the area, resurfacing work was successfully completed on November 14th when one of our club sponsors, Colin Stanley literally 'rolled up' to put the finishing touches to the two bends which have consumed around 5 tons of our precious stored Edinburgh shale. Most effort has been concentrated on the 1st/2nd bends which were quite badly worn to the base in places. Wally Buczak and his intrepid team were pleased with the final outcome and now the weather can take over and play its part in readiness for what looks like an even busier 2010.

Draft fixtures and league line-ups will be available in a few weeks time so keep checking back to this site for all the latest! Club representatives are due to conduct talks in the next fortnight aimed at launching a high profile event for our thriving junior membership which is sure to make those busy mid-week clubnights more popular than ever.

The final 2 on-track sessions of the season will be on Thursday 29th October for general practise and Tuesday 3rd Nov for Junior coaching. Weather permitting, track repairs will take place on Saturday 7th November when it is planned to lay 4 - 5 tons of new shale on the most worn areas along the racing line. This will be rolled in and left to weather for around 8 weeks. Early in the new year, practise sessions for younger riders will operate on Sunday mornings through until 2nd March when Tuesday clubnight's will re-commence.

The end of season Clubnight proved to be a busy affair at as around two hundred people turned out to race or enjoy the action on a balmy autumn evening at Harbourside. In addition to the 40 or so regular racers, it seemed like the dads could contain their enthusiasm no longer as they had been itching to get out on the track for weeks if not months. Quite a few of them certainly did not hang about on the track. Maybe a vets evening is called for in 2010!

The final home matchday of the season proved to be another busy one on the track what with the South West league match against Swindon and the Junior club championships amounting to a 3+ hour event involving 46 riders! It was also another busy day in the canteen and how lucky the club is to have such a great team of "mums" in the clubroom whose efforts make the biggest single contribution to the finances of Poole Cycle Speedway. Fitting therefore that "sons of mums" should be the ones to make a presentation to each of them as a token of everybodies gratitude.

The long journey to Sheffield was rewarded in the best possible way for Ben Mould and Arron Morgan who won the BYJL Grand Prix awards for U16 and U 14 age groups respectively. Arron was already assured of top spot having won every A final in the previous 3 national rounds but Ben had a tougher route to the top of the podium when he finished 4th in the A final - forcing him into a run-off with Sandwell rider Matthew Smith. Ben made no mistake in the tiebreaker and came home a worthy champion. Congratulations to both riders and to Thomas Reed who dominated the U18 group and also came home with the silverware. What price all three riders in the same premier league team in 2010?

September got under way at Harbourside with an invasion of 160 riders from all over Britain for Round 3 of the BYJL competition with 7 competitions ranged from U.8's to U.18's and a dedicated Girls event. In perfect conditions, the 8 hour race programme showcased the most popular event in cycle speedway and one which will ensure its healthy survival.

Although Poole were not one of the 6 clubs competing for team honours, several club riders were competing in the individual competition including Charlotte Cox who scored 10 points in the U.12 event. Aaron Morgan was already a clear leader in the U.14's and his confident victory in the A Final secured top spot for 2009 with one round of the competition still to go! Ben Mould underlined his recent success as British Champion by leading home his main rivals in the U.16 A final while the B Final was won by Leyton Glover who was in top form on his home circuit.

This was truely a marathon event and special thanks must go to everyone who worked so hard to ensure the success of the day....none moreso than the ladies behind the canteen counter...as they say in a certain credit card advert - their contribution to the day......PRICELESS!

Summer 2009

Ben Mould was crowned British Under 16 champion at Leicester on August 31st after a terrific final which also included Sam Hearn, Leyton Glover and Thomas Reed. Ben won four of his five races in confident style, dropping his only point to Thomas who finished 4th after disappointingly moving at the tapes in his second race. Sam won one of his heats but could not quite re-capture his 2008 form while Leyton earned appreciation from the crowd for his never-say-die style. Charlotte Cox and Jess Lamb qualified for the Girls/Ladies final at Bretford but hopes of another rostrum place for former champion Jess were dealt a cruel blow by a hotly disputed exclusion.

Mid-August has witnessed the magic of fifty at Harbourside - that was the number of riders on track in a marathon clubnight session which ran for over three hours. With another 150 or so parents and casual spectators watching, the place was as busy as a weekend raceday! A special come and try it for the Bernados organisation the previous dayattracted a further 30 recruits....busy time.
And talking of the magic of fifty, what about that 19 point performance for evergreen Rob Haywood for Southampton against Hellingly! Rob is currently loaned out on secondary licence to help the Saints out and seems to be coming right back into form. Same goes for Dave Murphy of similar vintage who led the Seaview boys to victory as skipper up at Great Blakenham. With over 70 years racing experience between them, these guys are as good as ever.

The British Youth and Junior League national round at Sandwell was the victim of wet weather as Ben Mould and Leyton Glover (U.16), Arron Morgan (U.14) and Charlotte Cox (U.12) were all in action. Charlotte just missed out on a final appearance and Leyton could have progressed beyond a C final but for a tapes infringement. Ben did make the A Final but had his back wheel wrecked whilst battling for a place. Honours were therefore left to Arron who followed up his win at Norwich with another outstanding success at the rain soaked Tividale circuit. He missed the gate completely in the A final with a massive wheel spin but then proceded to pick off the other 3 finalists one by one to set up a commanding lead in his age category. With the next round here at Poole in September, locals will have a great chance to see him in action!
 
The South West riders championships at Southampton proved a happy hunting ground for riders from the Poole squad with a runners-up trophy for Sam Hearn in the U.16 Final after a nailbiting race-off with eventual winner Mark Carmichael. Thomas Reed outpaced Ben Mould for 3rd place. Gavin Wheeler dominated the senior event with three wins with Thomas Reed and Tom Colling joining him on the rostrum.
 
Rostrum places for two Seaview riders in British Championships at opposite ends of the competitive age spectrum have seen Dave Murphy and Matt Mildon step up to the mark to collect their trophies! Dave was in action at Bury in the Vets 50+ event and took the third place award - a feat equalled by Matthew at Kesgrave (Ipswich), in the Under 13 competition. Cngratulations to both riders.
 
The Poole Under 16 team has won the final of the British Club Championship at Newport after a close fought match with Sandwell, East Newport and Ipswich. As a result of a couple of early tapes exclusions, both suffered by Leyton Glover, Sandwell gained the initiative and at the half way stage they were ahead of the pack with 24 points with Poole second on 21.
 
With a 15 point haul out of a possible 16 in the next four races, the Seaview side moved on to 36 and led the West Midlanders by a single point. In deteriorating wet conditions, Ben Mould and Leyton Glover took 3 points apiece in heats 13 and 14, before Poole finished with a flourish with a fine win from Sam Hearn in heat 19 and another from Aaron Morgan in the final race of the day, stretching the lead to three points ahead of their nearest rivals.
 
Scoreline: Poole 50 Sandwell 47 East Newport 38 Ipswich 23
Poole scorers - Ben Mould 15, Sam Hearn 14, Arron Morgan 14, Leyton Glover 7, Matt Mildon dnr.

British Youth & Junior League - National Rounds
 
Congratulations to the following riders who were in action at Norwich;-
 
Under 14's
 
Arron Morgan A final winner
 
Under 16's
 
Ben Mould A final 2nd
Leyton Glover B final 2nd
 
Whit Weekend....Results
 
ADE GALE "LAURELS": 1st Daniel Pike 2nd Lee Aris 3rd Gavin Wheeler
 
Scorers: Daniel Pike 18, Lee Aris 18, Gavin Wheeler 17, Chris Timms 17, Steve Harris 15, Craig Marchant 13, Aaron Lowey 12, Andy Angel 12, Craig Norton 12, Leon Yelland 11, Adam Stephenson 10, Darius Pilas 10, Ian Grange 9, Chris Roberts 8, Dave Murphy 6, Aaron Morgan (res) 4, Mark Boaler 2 (withdrew inj).
 
 
Junior: 1st Thomas Reed 2nd Lee Smith 3rd Mark Carmichael
 
Scorers: Thomas Reed 20, Lee Smith 19, Mark Carmichael 17, Ben Mould 16, Paul Heard 16, Ryan Hoyland 14, Jamie Brown 13, Sam Hearn 12, Matt Smith 11, Jake Williams 10, Leyton Glover 10, Richard Hayes 10, Liam Parker 10, Kieron Parr 6, Sam Dart 5.
 
U.13 Club Championship
 
1st Ipswich 2nd Wednesfield 3rd Kesgrave
 
Semi final 1: Kesgrave 46, Horspath 46, Exeter 45 Sheffield 34, E.Newport 26
Semi final 2: Wedsfield 46, Ipswich 46, Poole 45, Southampton 19
 
(See BCF Web site for full photograhic coverage of this event in four action packed galleries. The crash sequences in Gallery 4 are particularly interesting as it offers conclusive evidence of the worst of the refereeing howlers in heat 6 of the second semi which robbed Poole of a deserved place in the final and a probable silver medal.....at least!! )
 
WHIT PREVIEW
 
Whit weekend is traditionally a busy one at Harbourside Park with the annual Laurels individual event staged in memory of that great club stalwart, Ade Gale. But before Sunday's event, we have the added pleasure of staging the British Under 13 club championship featuring some of the best young talent from around the country.
 
The whole programme kicks off at 1230 on Saturday May 23rd with the first semi final of the U.13's event with Kesgrave, East Newport, Sheffield, Exeter and Horspath battling for a top 2 placing which would qualify them for the final.
Then at 2pm a strong looking second semi sees Ipswich, Poole, Southampton and Wednesfield take to the track. The top two teams from each semi will line up in the grand final at 4pm.
 
On Sunday, the action gets under way at 1pm with the Junior Laurels which features a wealth of young talent with hot favourite Thomas Reed lining up along with Exeter club mate Sam Dart. Paul Heard from Birmingham should be a rostrum contender as will Mark Carmichael from Horspath. Norwich duo Liam Parker and Kieran Parr and the Sandwell trio of Scott Millward, Lee Smith and Matt Smith will be in the thick of the action. Jamie Brown and Ryan Hoyland make the long trip from Sheffield while closer to home, Southampton's Richard Hayes and Poole quartet Sam Hearn, Leyton Glover, Jake Williams and Ben Mould could all spring a surprise.
 
At 3pm on Whit Sunday, the grand finale to the weekend will be the Ade Gale Senior LAURELS sponsored by Read Fabrications and what a mouth watering prospect with former British Champion Lee Aris and current champion Gavin Wheeler going head to head. Riders aiming to upset the two big guns will be the Leicester threesome of Craig Marchant, Daniel Pike and Leon Yelland and Hull's promising Adam Stephenson and Andy Angell.
Darius Pilas has been in lively form for Sheffield in the Premier League and the same can be said of Chris Timms from Birmingham. Steve Harris and Mark Boaler both have excellent track records for Horspath at Harbourside Park and either is capable of a rostrum position. The line-up is completed by Ian Grange and Craig Norton from Norwich and locals Dave Murphy, Aaron Lowey and Tom Colling.
 
In addition to Read Fabrications support for the senior Laurels, thanks also go to C J Glass, Archie Wilkinson and Sea View Coaches who jointly have ensured that every competitor will receive a trophy momento.
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
A Poole team made the long journey to the North East on May 2nd to compete in the British Under 19 team champioship at Hull. A tough semi-final against pre-event favourites Birmingham and Sheffield saw the Poole quartet just 4 points short of gaining a place in the final. Three of the team are still under 16 so chances of progressing in that event at Newport on July 11th look promising especially as Sam Hearn is hoping to be available for that one.
 
Match details - Birmingham 53: Sheffield 45, Poole 41, Astley n/k. Scorers - Jake Williams 12, Ben Mould 12, Arron Morgan 9, Leyton Glover 8.

April 2009
 
News on the injury front towards the end of the month suggests that Aaron Lowey could be back in action by mid-May following a nasty hand injury in the home PL clash with Great Blakenham. The 2009 skipper broke two fingers in his left hand in a crash with former team mate Adam Peck. Chris Roberts is slowly recovering from an operation on his ankle to correct long term injury problems. He hopes to be racing again in due course but is cautious about a target date at this stage to give the op time to heal.
 
The absence of these two key Poole based senior riders from the PL team has coincided with a disappointing run of early results although matches have all been close and entertaining. Young guns Sam Hearn and Ben Mould have responded well to racing at this higher level and with Arron Morgan, Leyton Glover and Jake Williams all excelling in the South West D1 in the home match against Exeter, prospects for the future are looking bright.

March 2009
 
First this month we have news of a new arrival in the Shylock household following the arrival of a son, Daniel for Isa and Chris who weighed in at a healthy 8lb 4oz. Congratulations from us all. Chris has been mixing his paternal duties with pre-season training along with the rest of the riding squad in rather cooler conditions than the lads in Aussie where the competition has been very hot indeed (for further details see the Spokesman online website).
 
February 2009

AUSSIE BOUND!

A dramatic snow storm across Baiter Park threatened to disrupt the departure of Poole's 3 cycle speedway musketeers at the start of their epic journey to South Australia to compete in the 2009 World Championships. Despite local road chaos, Jake Williams, Leyton Glover and British Junior Bronze medalist Sam Hearn headed off to Heathrow along with club mates Kev Lowman, Karol Wlodarczyk and Artur Poprowski to link up with the 50 strong touring party due to touch down in Adelaide on Sunday morning. Watch this page for news of their progress along with other Sea View riders from around the country including new signing Ben Mould, Dave Murphy, Thomas Reed, and British Champion Gavin Wheeler who will be one of the main threats to World Champion Marcin Szymanski who puts his title on the line in 3 weeks time. Also in action will be 2008 silver medalist and current Adelaide resident Jessie Lamb who lines up in a world ladies event.

January 2009

BEN SIGNS ON THE LINE!
The club is very pleased to announce the signing of top Welsh star Ben Mould, who joins on a full transfer for the 2009 season. Along with his great friend and rival Thomas Reed, Ben is regarded as one of Britain's brightest young stars and this move reflects his desire to reach the very top. He joins the Premier League squad and looks forward to racing at that higher level. "I hope that racing with great riders like Gavin Wheeler, Aaron Lowey and my mate Tom Reed, I will be able to improve my team skills and my all round racing ability" enthused Newport based Ben who is preparing for the World Champions in Australia next month.
 
There was some excellent news for British Junior bronze medalist Sam Hearn recently as he received a late call up to race for the British Junior squad in Aussie following the withdrawal of Matt Haddock. This is a huge vote of confidence for Sam who was one of the most improved young riders in Britain in 2008 and he thoroughly deserves his selection, commented Pete Barnes who is wintering in his usual Adelaide abode!
 
Surprise news from South Australia as the new year broke concerned our other Poole ex-pat, Jessie Lamb who has qualified for Scottish nationality and lines up in the World Cup for her newly adopted country. Jess has been training regularly since her arrival in Adelaide last September.
 
As the countdown to the "World's" begins, Sam - along with fellow clubmates Jake Williams and Leyton Glover have all been training hard and had their first spin around a very wet Baiter Park on January 11th. Twice weekly sessions under the lights are planned from now until departure. A number of other members have shown interest in breaking their hibernation early to join them and Aaron Lowey has more deatils on his Facebook page.
 
October 2008
 
The end of the season family BBQ evening was a roaring success with food, fun and novelty races enjoyed by all on a fine and mild late October eveing at Harbourside Park. Here is a sample of the action.....

September 2008
 
With just one Premier League match to race at Sheffield on October 5th, the latest league averages have just been released -
Div.1 Artur Poprawski 3.23, Thomas Reed 3.15, Chris Roberts 2.91, Gav Wheeler 2.84, Tom Colling 2.68.
Div.2 Jake Williams 2.94, Kev Lowman 2.88, Sam Hearn 2.85.
 
With 6 wins and 5 defeats, Poole are just a single point ahead of Great Blakenham who should pick up both points at home to Horspath which means that Poole have the daunting task of picking up a point at title chasers Sheffield if they are to hold on to 3rd place in the final table!
 
In the South West, Poole are still in the running for the Division 1 title and the outcome could very well be decided in the home match on October 12th against East Newport who currently occupy second spot in the table.

August 2008

BRITISH FINALS WEEKEND
A fabulous 3 days of British Championships saw packed houses for the four titles which were keenly contested. On Saturday 23rd, James Clanfield qualified for the Under 10 final and Holly Morgan received a trophy for 3rd place in the U.10 Girls event. Jessie Lamb battled through superbly to take the silver medal in the Ladies final but was not quite able to match her gold medal success of 2007.
 
Hot favourite Thomas Reed won the U.16 final on Monday 25th with a faultless maximum but the surprise of the day was Sam Hearn who rose to the occasion to take the bronze medal despite riding competitively for just 12months. Aaron Lowey won a race in his first ever British senior final but it was his Premier League team colleague Gavin Wheeler who stole the limelight to regain the title.

Club members are busy preparing for the biggest event to be staged at Baiter Park in 2008 with no less than four national titles to be contested over a hectic 3 day bank holiday weekend. The full timetable is as follows;-
 
Saturday August 23rd
 
1230 British Under 10's Pre-qualifier
1500 British Womens Final
1630 British Under 10's Final
 
Sunday August 24th
 
1300 British Senior Pre-qualifier
1430 British Under 16's Semi-final
1600 British Senior Semi-final
 
Monday August 25th
 
1200 British Under 16 Final
1500 British Senior Final
 
The Sunday events in the Senior and U.16 competitions will be replicated at Southampton with 50% of entrants racing at each location.
 
Poole/Seaview Coaches riders will be represented in all competitions -
Under 10's - Aaron Dennis, Ashley Pope, Harry Ryan, James Clanfield, Jae Dennis, Matthew Pope, Holly Morgan and Niall Instone.
Ladies - Jess Lamb (2007 Champion)
Under 16's - Arron Morgan, Jake Williams, Aidan Hedgecock, Matt Mildon, Sam Hearn and Matt Elston.
Seniors - Ben Donohue, Dave Murphy, Aaron Lowey, Chris Shylock and Kev Lowman.
 
The club was pleased to welcome Tina Knight together with family members and work colleagues of Derek Knight from Flight Refuelling for the presentation of a memorial bench in his name in appreciation of one of the all time greats of Poole Cycle Speedway who lost his toughest battle - with cancer in 2007. It is hoped that former friends and riding opponants will take a few moments to admire this new addition at the clubroom during the forthcoming British finals weekend and remember a true sportsman.

June 2008

Well done to Matthew Mildon and Arron Morgan for their brilliant performances to take the winners and runner-up awards respectively in the British Under 13 Championship at Newport. Matthew has progressed superbly from his national Under 10 success and his dedication to racing over the last 3 seasons without a "home" track, travelling up from Weymouth once and sometimes twice a week has paid dividends. By contrast Arron has only been riding a few months and is the latest success story from the Tuesday clubnights and has taken the sport by storm at this age category. Both riders have also benefitted in no small measure from 100% support of their parents.....so a big pat on the back there too.
 
Congratulations to Jake Williams, Sam Hearn and Aidan Hedgecock for making it through to the national U.16 rounds of the Wosskow Brown BYJL after finishing in the top six of the regional competition.
The mid-season rider registration target of 50 was passed in May and by the beginning of June the total was up to the 60 mark so congratulations to all concerned. Nice to see the familiar face of Sky TV personality Dave Lanning at the Harbourside track recently where he was full of praise for the standard of racing and quality of presentation of the Ade Gale "Laurels". It seems likely that a former team mate of Ade from a few years ago could be moving back to Poole to live in 2009 and he has already "reserved" a place in the Premier League squad and he wants good 'riding chum' to get back on a bike to join him.... so watch this space! On the subject of moving, two times Laurels winner Marcin Szymanski will be moving back to his home town of Wroclaw at the end of the 2008 season but he is keen to race in the prestigious event at Poole in 2009 where he hopes to make it three wins in a row.

May 2008
 
ADE GALE LAURELS UPDATE - Reigning World Champion Marcin Szymanski and 2007 British Champion Lee Aris head a highly competitive field of riders in the 2008 Ade Gale Laurels on Whit Sunday - dedicated to the memory of one of the all time greats of the Poole club. Former British Champion Gavin Wheeler will also be in the line-up along with Chris Roberts and Aaron Lowey, his premier League team mates. Former Poole riders making a welcome return include Adam Peck and Craig Marchant with tapes up for this senior meeting at 3pm
 
This event will be preceded by an equally talented 16 rider field for the Young Laurels trophy with the cream of Britains youth and junior talent on display including the best of the South-West, Thomas Reed, Tom Colling and Dominic McCrae, Sheffield starlets James Brown and Ryan Holand and top East Anglian Josh Brooke. Ben Mould flies the Filton flag while the highly talented Wednesfield duo of Dale Peace and Tom Haddock are sure to figure highly. The event will also provide an opportunity to measure the rapidly improving young local riders including Luke Armes, Jake Williams, Aiden Hedgecock and Sam Hearn.
 
Tough luck on Andre Cross last week who has suffered a broken ankle while riding for Sittingbourne speedway at Weymouth in the Conference League. Although he has yet to race a team match for Poole in 2008, he was being lined up for a few fixtures in the near future. Those plans are obviously now on hold. Best wishes for a speedy recovery from everyone at Poole, Andre.
 
U.16 British Team 4's at Norwich: Semi-final 1 Hethersett 50, Gt.Blakenham 42, Poole 42, Sheffield 24. Scorers - Jake Williams 14, Sam Hearn 11, Matt Elston 7, Aiden Hedgecock 5, Leighton Glover 5. In the run off for a place in the final, GT.Blakenham won the toss and Dan Osborne took gate 2. Jake Williams passed him from the back and promptly fell off leaving the team disappointed.....moreso taking account of some very poor refereeing earlier in the event but for which the run-off would not have been necessary.

April 2008
 
LATEST....Junior Clubnight was cancelled on April 29th due to a waterlogged track and will be re-staged on Thursday evening, May 1st when the senior squad will be travelling to Winchester Road for a return challenge match against Southampton. Congratulations to Artur Poprawski who notched up a full maximum score in his Polish League fixture for Rawicz at Czestochowa last weekend.
 
Southampton visited Baiter Park on Thursday 24th April for a training match against the Poole senior squad...result Poole won 92-87. (Chris Roberts 20, Aaron Lowey 18, Ben Donohue 15+1, Sam Hearn 15, Luke Armes 9, Aiden Hedgecock 7, Alex McLeod 5, Leyton Glover 3). Jessie Lamb and Kev Lowman rode at reserve positions for the visitors and scored 12+1 and 9 respectively. Meanwhile Junior clubnight sessions on Tuesday evenings have gone from strength to strength with the track and facilities now running at almost full capacity, such has been the response. Hats off to coaches Ben Donohue and Kev Lowman for their efforts.
 
Andre Cross was involved in a four man run-off for the minor placings in the Hethersett Charity Cup on 19th April. Despite the handicap of a grid 4 draw, he took second in the race and third place overall in the meeting. For full details and photographs have a look at Spokesman on-line.
 
Team manager Colin Sutton faced a last minute battle to assemble a competitive team for key trip to Premier League favourites Leicester on April 13th. Already without the holidaying Thomas Reed and London Marathon bound Tom Colling, the absence of captain Chris Roberts comes as a further blow and the loss of their points scoring potential will be impossible to cover despite the size of the riding squad for the competition.
 
Chris Shylock and Richard Clanfield were back in training on April 15th but both reckoned they were several weeks away from match fitness. Lack of a fully fit senior quartet has unfortunately ruled out a late entry into the Euro club championships at Leicester.
 
NEW SIGNINGS.....The April 1st signing-on deadline saw a last minute flurry of activity with the addition of several new names to the Premier League riding squad...and one or two familiar faces too. Boosted by the outstanding form already shown by Thomas Reed in his opening PL matches against Horspath and Gt.Blakenham, the club has signed fellow Exeter star Dominic McCrae on a secondary licence. Dominic was only headed home once in his recent visit to Baiter Park for SWL action and looks to be another gilt edged prospect.
 
Another name added to the squad is that of East London rider Stephen Jarvis who also joins Poole on secondary terms. He is another huge junior talent and will be aiming to match his great rival Thomas Reed within the next 12 months. Steve's father, Martin Jarvis is a long term friend of the Poole CSC management team and was delighted at the news of this latest family "association". Steve could be a trump card at places like Norwich and Great Blakenham where he races regularly for East London.
 
One familiar face added to the 2008 list is that of Pawel Cegielski with his transfer from Filton completed with just hours to spare before the deadline - and special thanks to Mike Burgess for his cooperation in speeding the paperwork through. Pawel, who made many friends during his 2007 spell in SeaView colours, currently has a 3 month spell in the army to complete but promises to be back in action later in the season. He could be joined by another old friend Marcin Puk who raced for Poole back in the 1990's along with Pawel Kozlowski now a regular in the powerhouse Sheffield team. Marcin who competes for the Gniezno club in Poland, is keen to renew his association with the club with some top level racing in the build up to the 2009 World Championships.
 
APOLOGIES; Red faces all round after the discovery (too late) that Poole were due to race at Newport in the SW Conference on April 20th at noon prior to the quick trip across town to race the Eastenders. The problem was that the S.West did not submit the region's final draft of fixtures to British Cycling in time for the copy deadline hence the fixture did not appear in the Handbook - which is the bible as far as organisers are concerned. True the revised fixture update came out on a separate sheet of A4 but not really good enough. Now the club is faced with a separate trip (at what cost) in September for the U.18's to race a match which they cannot win....as the league have already awarded the points to Newport. That's how to encourage young riders!

CIRCUIT UPGRADE.....Club members and visitors alike will be relieved to say goodbye to the infamous "Baiter puddle" as the car park gets a complete makeover as part of the ongoing upgrade work. Colin Stanley and his team were busy resufacing the area on April 9th and the finished job which includes a new gulley devised by Dave Dominey should ensure that the flooding problem suffered over many years is now very much a thing of the past! Next job please...

March 2008
 
LATEST....The long delayed delivery of shale was successfully laid on the Harbourside Park track on Easter Saturday with the dedicated track gang working in bitterly cold conditions with snow showers a constant threat.
28 tons of new material was tipped and levelled in just two hours and the rest of the day was spent grading and rolling in an effort to get the track in good shape for the opening home Premier League fixture against Great Blakenham on March 30th.

CHAMPION SIGNINGS FOR SEAVIEW
Poole/Sea View Coaches have received a major boost on the eve of the new season with the capture of former British Champion Gavin Wheeler and fellow Southampton star Tom Colling who will race Premier League matches for the club in 2008. Together with Thomas Reed, the latest signings will add considerable firepower to the PL squad as the club aims to improve upon their third place in last season's table.
 
The loss of ex World Champion Dan Pudney left us with a huge gap in the squad remarked club coach Colin Sutton, but Gavin is just the rider to spearhead the campaign with the complete range of skills to compete in top flight team competition. Tom and Thomas were both unlucky not to finish on the rostrum in last years World junior final at Poole and they both have bags of potential at this level.
 
Artur Poprawski vows he will be back in regular action mid-season on completion of his studies while Pavel Cegielski hopes to do likewise after a spell in the army. The experienced duo of Dave Murphy and Andre Cross will once again be squad members along with all the Poole based regulars who finished the season in 2007.
 
The season will start on Sunday March 9th with a SWL match against league newcomers Exeter, giving local supporters an early opportunity to see Thomas Reed in action along with some of his new Premier League team-mates. NOTE - starting time 11.00am
 
After a wait of around 2 months, the club has been advised that shale for the planned re-surfacing will be arriving on Tuesday 11th March with wet conditions at the Edinburgh quarry blamed for the hold up. With the next home match at Harbourside Park not due until March 30th, this stage of the upgrade programme will take place on 22nd.
 
Update: Artur Poprawski and his racing pal Marcin Paradzinski (Torun), were in Poole over the weekend of March 15/16 to set up arrangements for their vacation visit when they will be living and working locally. Artur was a big hit with riders and supporters alike in 2007 and says he is looking forward to his return after college closes down for the summer. Marcin, who was unlucky not to finish on the rostrum in the 2007 Worlds, will be a more than capable replacement for clubmate Pavel Cegielski who has the little matter of 3 months army service before he can don the Sea View shirt once again. Artur and Marcin took the opportunity for some early practise laps on the Harbourside circuit before joining their future team mates for the trip to Horspath - see results page for news of their racing.

February 2008
 
Training sessions are now in full swing under the lights on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Harbourside Park in preparation for the new season with the South West curtain raiser against Exeter scheduled for March 9th. Added significance will be provided to this match with the appearance for the Devon club of their outstanding junior star Thomas Reed who is set to race in the Premier League in Poole colours in 2008 - see picture gallery update.
 
With a string of titles to his credit as an outstanding junior rider, he was the top British performer in the World Junior Championship last season and only a whisker away from a rostrum place. Welcoming him to the PL squad, team manager Colin Sutton rates the young Devonian as a future British Senior Champion while proud father Mark hopes that 15 year old Thomas can develop his team riding skills at this higher level.
 
After the loss of 5 key 2007 PL squad members Dan Pudney and Brad Hoppo who have returned to Australia, Adam Peck who has also returned home to race for PL newcomers Gt.Blakenham and Polish duo Lukasz Jozwiak and Pavel Cegielski, Poole are seeking to bolster their riding strength further and hope to announce news of additional signings shortly.
 
Work on the Borough of Poole funded £30,000 circuit up-grade is nearing completion but has been hampered by a delay in the supply of shale from Scotland with scheduled re-surfacing already 5 weeks adrift of the target date.
 
Dave Murphy looks to be something of a trendsetter following his recent marriage to Ewa with Kev Lowey set to follow suit shortly when he ties the knot with Sharon while later in the season, Chris Roberts and Emma will also be setting off the wedding bells. On the coaching front, Kev Lowman and Ben Donohue have embarked on their British Cycling qualification while finally its congratulations to Mike Legge on his elevation to refereeing's top tier as a grade A official.
 
.....................................................................................

SEASON 2007

August 2007
 
Jessie Lamb is the new British Ladies Champion after scoring a faultless 20 point maximum at a rain soaked Horspath circuit. With a mixture of skillful passing and powerhouse starts, Jess outclassed the opposition and reaped the reward for months of hard training at Baiter.
 
August 2007
 
Congratulations to Dave Murphy on his third place in the World Vets Championship in Czestochowa, Poland after a run-off against Wednesfield rider Kevin Marson. Dave handed over the title to Leicester's Norman Venson who passed Dave Frith of Coventry in a run-off for the trophy.
 
July 2007
 
Chris Roberts will be competing in the World senior championships in Poland this weekend along with reigning champion Daniel Pudney and Brad Hoppo. With a very strong home country representation including Poole assets Pavel Ciegelski and Artur Poprawski, Poland are threatening to overun the competition this year and provide all the rostrum places. They have already signalled their intentions by winning todays World Best Pairs with a 7-3 win in every heat...except that against Aussies Brad and Dan!
 
July 2007
 
Its just a week until the World Junior Championships are staged at Poole and there is no let up in the racing schedule as the Harbourside Park track will see a double header of team racing this weekend. On Sunday afternoon at 2pm, the visitors will be the Hellingly Lions from Eastbourne who come in search of South-West League points and this will be followed by a Premier League challenge match against Coventry who include a couple of their top Polish riders in the line-up. With the Senior World Championships in Poland just a couple of weeks away, a number of the Poole seniors will be in action.
 
June 2007
 
The Poole team was just a point away from 3rd place in the British Women's Team Championship at Exeter yesterday - a great performance considering that apart from Jessie, the other 3 girls had never ridden in any sort of race before whereas all the other riders were regular competitors. Jessie Lamb raced to 4 impressive wins and will be one of the pre-match favourites for the Individual event in a few weeks time at Horspath. Other scorers - Henny Olofsson 8, Jo Poore 7, Jess Fredrickson 6.
In the U.19 competition, Luke and the two Jakes all battled gamely but failed to make the cut for the final in a high class semi line-up.
In the next round of the British Team Championship on July 8th Poole have been drawn away to local rivals Southampton in a repeat of last year's round 2 match giving the team the opportunity to avenge the highly controversial defeat 12 months back.
 
June 2007
 
A busy weekend with plenty of travel is in prospect with Poole competing in the British Ladies Team Championship for the first time as they make the trip to Devon with Jessie Lamb hoping to lead the team to victory at Exeter. Fellow Oakmeadian Ladies rugby players Jessica Fredriksen, Joanna Poore and Henny Olofsson have all been busy adapting to the intricacies of cycle speedway and are looking forward to the event. Before anyone asks...all the girls qualify for British nationality! Also on the way to Exeter on Saturday, are Luke Armes, Jake Williams and Jake Burns who compete in the British U.19 Individual championships. On Sunday, the Sea View team riders trek up to Yorkshire for a Premier League match against newcomers Sheffield. Spirits are high after last week's stunning victory against Horspath but there will be no room for complacency in Sunday's match as the opposition have strengthened their squad with a sprinkling of Polish and Aussie riders. Sound familiar?
 
May 2007
 
Artur Poprwski joined his Polish clubmate Karol Wlodarczyk in Poole today where he will spend the rest of the 2007 racing for the Sea View Coaches team. The highly rated 19 year old P.E. student from Poniec in western Poland was one of the shining stars in the 2006 European Junior Championships and is currently a prolific scorer in the Polish League. He could make his first team debut as early as next Sunday in the difficult away fixture at Oxford against reigning Premier League champions, Horspath if Ben Donohue fails to recover from a hand injury picked up last week.

May 2007
 
The Whit weekend sees a busy schedule at Harbourside Park with two days of top international action starting on Saturday afternoon (3pm) with the first of this year's 3 matches between England and Poland. Our own Chris Roberts and Adam Peck have been called up for the England team which also includes ex British Champion Phil Howells (Leicester) and the current British Champion Lee Aris (Wednesfield). Matches between these two nations always produce an abundance of incident and excitement and an extra edge this year following a 2 - 1 series win to the Poles in 2006.
 
This Sunday afternoon (noon), we stage the Ade Gale Laurels in memory of one of our greatest ever riders and what a field we have put together for the occasion including the top Aussie and reigning World Champion, Daniel Pudney, top Brit Lee Aris and arguably the top Pole...perhaps even the most in-form rider on the world scene Marcin Symanski. Add 2006 trophy holder Shaun Woodhouse for good measure along with twenty more quality riders and it all adds up to the best senior event of the season. With a Junior Laurels and Young Guns to complete the picture, it is sure to be great day's racing.

May 2007
 
Sunday's home match against Leicester provides the toughest home track test of the season for Poole after relatively comfortable victories against Norwich and A&T. With only Premier League pacesetters Wednesfield and reigning champions Horspath sitting on a 100% record, it is important for Poole to grab the league points to keep their title aspirations on track. The East Midlanders pack in the experience from 1 to 8 and will be equally hungry for the points. Expect a tough match in the Division 2 encounter also as Leicester have a wealth of young riding talent to call on.
 
April 2007
 
Congratulations to Brad Hoppo and partner Lee on the birth of Emily Zoe who was born in Poole Hospital this morning at 8.24am, weighing in at 8lbs 4ozs. Brad was duly given the day off from racing!! Best wishes go from everyone at Poole CSC.
 
April 2007
 
Premier League racing returns to Harbourside Park this Sunday (2pm) with the first ever appearance at Poole of Manchester based PL newcomers Astley & Tyldesley. The Poole team will be selected from the same line-up that went down by a sizeable margin at league leaders Wednesfield last weekend plus Lukasz Jozwiak who returns to England today and Karol Wlodarczyk who is steadily returning to match fitness after several seasons out of the saddle. Captain Brad Hoppo could well be a non-starter as partner Lee is currently in Poole Maternity Hospital awaiting the birth of their first child.
 
April 2007
 
Poole Cycle Speedway Club was saddened to learn of the death of Derek Knight after a long battle with cancer. A founder member of the club Derek proudly carried club colours from 1975 into the 1980's and captained the first British Team Championship winning Poole team in 1982. Derek was a fine sportsman and held in high esteem throughout cycle speedway. Our thoughts are with wife Tina and family at this time. The match day programme for April 22nd will contain a short obituary.
 
April 2007
 
The finishing touches are being applied to the Harbourside Park circuit this week as the countdown begins to the opening fixture on Easter Sunday (2pm) when Poole/Sea View Coaches take on Norwich in a Premier League match. With the track completed, most of the attention is currently focussed on the clubroom upgrade which is expected to be finished in June and will feature a dedicated first aid room, secure bike store and hospitality room.
The senior squad for Sunday's curtain raiser will include Richard Clanfield, Aaron Lowey and recently arrived Karol Wlodarcyzk who is back in Poole colours this year 7 seasons on from his last spell with the club. Chris Roberts is well on the road to recovery and may also feature.
 
March 2007
 
The focus of activity swings from the circuit refurbishment to racing this weekend as the season gets under way at Coventry with a tough Premier League fixture. The ranks of senior riders have been swelled by the addition of two highly accomplished riders Lucasz Jozwiak and Pawel Cegieski who join us on secondary registrations from Filton. A warm welcome is extended these two Polish stars and also welcome back to World Champion Dan Pudney who flew in from Adelaide this week to start his second season at Poole.
 
There was further good news for the club this week with the news that Sea View Coaches have extended their sponsorship for a further season making it one of the longest continuous contracts in the sport. Poole Leisure & Recreation department have approved an additional grant of £10k to complete phase 2 of the refurbishment project and to round off an excellent week, an "Awards for All" Lottery fund grant of £6,000 has been received to assist the club with other current projects including "GoRide" accreditation expenses.
 
March 2007
 
With most of the senior riders and quite a few juniors having taken the opportunity to put in some practise laps this week, the general opinion on the new track has been very favourable as the springlike weather created near perfect conditions. Meanwhile the countdown to the first home match of the season against Norwich on Easter Sunday sees the re-furb work force quickening their pace as they tackle the miriad of jobs still remaining. Yesterday the final 10 metres of terracing was completed while in the clubroom attention is currently focussed on the new first aid room.

March 2007
 
With just three weeks remaining till the start of the season, two new floodlights have been installed at Baiter Park which will double the lighting power at the circuit - just in time for mid-week training - Tuesdays & Thursdays at 7.30, weather permitting. Much of the current refurb work is now targeted on the clubroom building which is being comprehensively upgraded. Best wishes for a speedy recovery go to Chris Roberts following an operation to rectify a troublesome ankle injury. Frustrated at missing the start of the season, Chris should be back in training within a few weeks.

February 2007
 
The first practice session on the newly relaid circuit is now just six days away as club members get stuck into all the smaller jobs which will complete the refurb job. Although the diggers and dumpers have gone, there is still much hard work to do and the volunteer workforce continues to respond magnificently as it has done every weekend since October 7th last year.....beat that for dedication! At the lighter end of the tasking scale, vets Rob Haywood and Dave Murphy have been busying themselves with paint brushes (see pic), no doubt hatching a plan for their assault on the BCC 40+ 4's event especially now that Andre Cross - another recent work force recruit - is in the squad. A successful track grade took place today and the first practise will be on March 4th at 2pm - weather permitting.

February 2007
 
A new track record was set at the weekend as 30 tons of new top surface was laid in under 4 hours thanks to some great team-work from the 12 man volunteer force. Project leader Kev Lowey pronounced the job a success although it was touch and go towards the end of the session as to whether there would be enough material to finish! The weather cooperated with a dry morning on Saturday 10th but just as the final levelling and rolling was completed, the heavens opened again providing a tough test for the new track drainage. Needless to say it performed perfectly. Attention will now turn to a long list of smaller jobs - inside and out. Fence welding, additional floodlighting, landscaping are on the list plus a host of inside jobs associated with the clubroom upgrade. As for the track....the weather will do the rest.

February 2007
 
Refurb update.......The new track surface arrived on Feb 5th in readiness for laying next weekend. The remainder of the safety fence is 95% complete and work is well advanced on laying the new centre green.

January 2007
 
After a mammoth effort by club volunteers in the past week, the spectator terrace work is now 95% complete. On 15th January, three more full loads of ready-mixed concrete were poured into position and the weather proved to be fine for the "big pour". Extensive alterations within the clubroom are also under way with a new high security bike store, admin office, welfare/first-aid room and hospitality lounge set for completion in good time for the World Championship events in July. Weather permitting, construction of the safety fence can now proceed along with final levelling of the new track base and laying the top surface. There is still a great deal of work to do before the start of the season but progress has been swift thanks to the efforts of members.

January 2007
 
Into the new year and with the resumption of racing only weeks away, riders are stepping up their training activities in readiness for a busy season while work continues apace to progress the refurb at the Baiter Park track. Wet weather over the festive period has put back part 2 of the terracing work by one week but fingers crossed for January 13th when another 3 loads of ready-mixed concrete will be tipped into place around the new bends 1 & 2.
This is the most challenging and time consuming part of the project but will transform the circuit and allow for up to 500 spectators to enjoy the racing.
The next update is expected to carry news of another significant boost for the club so watch this space.
 
December 2006
 
As the year heads towards its close, the hard working volunteer force continues to make good progress with the club's biggest project for over 25 years. Over 50% of the Poole Council grant has already been spent on plant and materials. After restoring the track banking and laying new drainage, most of the recent effort has concentrated on the reconstruction of the terracing which will once again accomodate 500 spectators.
 
Many of the regular home supporters have traditionally chosen to watch the action from the 3rd/4th bend terrace but they will have a new perspective in 2007....first bend action! The starting grid is to be repositioned on the old back straight giving the crowd a great close up of the all important action from the gate. "There were pros and cons about the changeover" remarked project leader Kev Lowey, "but on balance, the majority of members were in favour of the switch".
 
Work will be continuing over the Christmas and New Year period to prepare for the second big ready-mix concrete day scheduled for January 6th. After that date, attention will switch back from the terracing to the track with new surface and safety fence and a miriad of associated tasks to be completed as the countdown begins towards the 2007 season.
 
On the riding front, all the 2006 squad have signalled their availability including Aaron Lowey who is hoping to line up for more Premier League matches after his restricted availability this year. If track access at Baiter Park is limited by works in progress, Colin Wheeler has very kindly agreed to stand by to provide training facilities at Winchester Road in March. With a tough looking PL start at Coventry on March 25th, that offer might come in handy! All PL and national fixtures are now to hand and those for the SWL are expected later this week. Watch this site for full details.
 
One rider who wont be troubled by early season training in freezing weather of course is the current World Champion Daniel Pudney who has regularly been providing Brad Hoppo and team mates with temperature updates from down-under! His training programme steps up a gear or two in the new year as he sets his sights on a successful defence of his title in Poland in July. He is due to fly back to Britain around March 20th.
 
Flying in the opposite direction on December 6th were Eddie Wilkins and family who have emigrated to Perth. Son James was a successful Junior league regular at Poole and Eddie himself was a lively vets and combination team member. Good luck in your new lives from all at Baiter Park.
 
December 2006
 
After 9 weekends of hard graft, the track upgrade project is moving forward at a good pace despite the best efforts of the weather which has been exceptionally wet and windy of late - hardly the best conditions to attract volunteers away from the fireside.
 
Nevertheless, the messiest job on the list - new track drainage - has been completed and the track base has now been levelled and rolled in. Before any more work can be carried out on the track itself, major works to the terracing must be completed since this will involve heavy ready-mix concrete vehicles driving round the circuit to gain access. Three deliveries will take place this coming weekend which will complete 90% of the back straight seating area and the new perimeter path.
 
Attention will then switch to the old 3rd/4th bend terracing which will be re-aligned with the back straight and brought fully up to the same standard. There is still much to do and lookout for the next update for details of one other significant change which will add to spectator enjoyment of the racing at Poole in 2007.
 
November 2006
 
Congratulations to Daniel Pudney who wasted no time in getting back to winning ways in Adelaide by succesfully defending his Australian title on the Le Fevre track where he scorched to a 20 point maximum. Looks like that full season here at Poole did him no harm at all and his thoughts are already turning to the defence of his World crown in Poland in July 2007.
 
Meanwhile back at Baiter Park after another glorious weekend's weather, most of the new track base is in position and the tedious task of levelling and compacting is under way. Blockwork on the spectator stand has been completed by Rich Clanfield and Pete Ross has prepared the shuttering formers. One of the muckiest jobs is the new drainage work which Kev Lowey and his team have almost completed.
 
Next Sunday evening, club members will retire to the New Inn at Oakdale after track work to raise a glass in memory of Ade Gale who died 2 years ago. A commemorative plaque will be unveiled in the clubroom when the circuit refurbishment is completed in 2007, and the project will be dedicated to his memory.
 
October 2006
 
With 4 weekends work under their belts and only one session affected by weather, progress with the track refurb is very much on schedule thanks to a superb effort from club members with healthy numbers attending each work session. Re-alignment of the outside line is complete and 100 tons of stone infill already laid to restore the correct contour with around 25 tons more still required. A completely new track drainage system is currently being laid with bends 1 & 2 now in position. Rich Clanfield and his team have laid over 750 blocks on the grandstand reconstruction with another weeks work before preparations for the re-inforced concrete get under way. Kevin Lowey is planning to take delivery of 30tons of shale top surface in late November.
 
While Daniel Pudney starts to enjoy the comfortable temperatures of his native Australia.....shortly to be joined by club secretary Pete Barnes, Brad Hoppo found himself in the middle of hectic track action this weekend but with a shovel rather than the customary bike. Aaron Lowey enjoyed a spot of home leave from the army by joining in the weekend action with early starts both days straight after reveille. Unfortunately a rather nasty football injury ruled out Chris Roberts from the track team this week....sounds familiar! Another missing face was Dave Murphy's and as if living in Yorkshire wasnt a poor enough excuse......he was actually racing at East London in the London (Old) Masters event. Congratulations are in order to Smurf for a magnificent win despite strong competition from other top vets including Ian & Lee Lawrence, Dave Frith and Norm.

October 14th 2006
 
A full two day sesssion at the track on week 2 saw installation of new drainage chambers, re-instatement of outside line edging which had sunk by up to 15" in places and required 20 tons of stone infill to achieve the correct contour. Track banking on the back straight and into turn 3 will be significantly enhanced as a result. A productive start with the spectator terracing job was made but blockwork is likely to take two or three more weekends. Once again Kev Lowey and Richard Clanfield were directing operations and it was good to see Premier League stars Chris Roberts and Mark Everingham amongst the volunteer force along with the "regulars".

October 2006
 
Work started this weekend on the track refurbishment programme and under the supervision of Kev Lowey, club volunteers have already removed much of the back straight and 3rd bend track and outside perimeter materials together with the remaining sections of original safety fence. The spectator terracing on the back straight has also been demolished and infilled in readiness for the next stage which will be the time consuming construction of a solid concrete replacement.
 
October 2006
 
Reigning World Champion Daniel Pudney flew off to Australia via holiday visits to America and New Zealand today with the promise that he will be back and fighting fit in time for the 2007 season in Poole colours. Dan along with Aussie colleague Brad Hoppo, has been instrumental in boosting the Premier League performance of the team from wooden spoonists in 2005 to a top three placing this term. While Brad is over-wintering in Poole in preparation for his forthcoming "family responsibilities", Dan is spending time back home in warmer conditions with the emphasis on training in readiness for the defence of his title in Poland.
 
September 2006
 
After a year of planning and preparation Poole Cycle Speedway Club is pleased to announce that a complete refurbishment of the Baiter Park Circuit has been given the green light thanks to financial support from Poole Borough Council. Twenty five years of intensive use had begun to take its toll and with the World Junior Championships scheduled for July 2007, the news could not have been more perfectly timed.
 
Immediately following the Poole v Sandwell premier league match on October 1st, plant, equipment and materials will be moved on-site in an effort to complete as much of the heavy work before the worst of the winter weather. Parts of the old safety fence were replaced last winter and the remainder will be demolished and the old track surface removed.
Much of Baiter Park was reclaimed from Poole Harbour in the late 1950's and ground subsidence will necessitate rebuilding of the outside track perimeter back up to its original level to restore the full banking contour of the track. Significant new drainage works will also be undertaken.