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Post by coombes on Jun 25, 2023 16:20:37 GMT 1
Fridays meeting in the BSN Final against Poole is the biggest of the season. While the BSN Trophy probably ranks behind the KO Cup and the Play Offs, it's still an achievement to win it.
However I believe its has greater value for the club in getting the monkey off our backs- we've not won a national trophy under the Facennas other than a solitary, and perhaps fortuitous, KO Cup win some years ago. Its not that we choke in important two legged meetings but we do stumble quite often. A trophy win would give the team.a boost ahead of tough league matches in July.
A solid win on Friday would be a platform to defend at Wimborne Road on the gate and go track with the ripped up starts and possibly a corridor out of bend two.
We're certainly as good as Poole. Chris and Marcin are a stronger opening pairing than Worrall and Rowe at Ashfield. Chris seems to go well at Poole and was a one time Pirate while Marcin was OK in his meeting there. The battle between the three and four pairings will be pivotal. The Cooks go well at Ashfield but surely Tom and Claus have their measure. Might be different at Poole where Tom has had some mixed times. His performance may be critical, as will Ben's. He had a tough time there last year, getting a hot reception and feeling the weight of being at number one. From memory Poolesreserves Newman and Roynon don't go well at Ashfield so we should match them here, though away looks problematic and TM Brown needs to think about how to match up Ace and Lee.
Oxford beat Poole 52-38 and a similar score would be good. Let's send the monkey and the Pirates packing. Above all let's hope the weather plays ball and there's no repeat of last year.
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Post by Pail Merk on Jun 26, 2023 16:15:42 GMT 1
A good summary, coombes.
The key to success at Ashfield will be keeping the Cook brothers quiet. If they’re ‘on it’, the Pirates have four heat leaders and will be difficult to beat. Newman and Roynon offer bags of experience, but Lee and Ace can do a number on them. Results show that we’re a solid side, so a 12/14-point lead could be defended at Wimborne Road.
The weather forecast is well dodgy all week and plenty of rain is due on Friday. Perhaps this’ll make an early call off more likely. Fingers crossed it gets brighter.
Not to worry. Mon the Tigers. Intae them.
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Post by tyretrax on Jun 26, 2023 23:10:00 GMT 1
Maybe Poole will need to draft Nathan Ablitt in as guest videographer incase the meeting gets abandoned like last year.
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Post by ragdoll64 on Jun 26, 2023 23:50:50 GMT 1
Maybe Poole will need to draft Nathan Ablitt in as guest videographer incase the meeting gets abandoned like last year. Lol…….seems to be his second job. He did have another VERY close look at the track last week during the Scunthorpe abandonment……
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Post by tyretrax on Jun 27, 2023 15:19:13 GMT 1
Maybe Poole will need to draft Nathan Ablitt in as guest videographer incase the meeting gets abandoned like last year. Lol…….seems to be his second job. He did have another VERY close look at the track last week during the Scunthorpe abandonment…… Track must have been too dry for him.
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Post by coombes on Jun 27, 2023 16:06:30 GMT 1
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Post by coombes on Jun 29, 2023 12:36:19 GMT 1
Meeting off. We have blank Fridays on July 14 and 21 and Poole are due up on July 28 for a league meeting, so it looks like we have plenty of scope. July 14 looks the least favourite with the Brit Junior two days later, but having Poole two weeks in a row wouldn't be great either. But we've been down this road before with riders getting injured before a big tie. Let's hope this doesn't happen again. A Poole rain off could see us have to go without Ben and Claus unless Poole v Birmingham on July 26 is rearranged. Getting messy now.
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Post by coombes on Jul 1, 2023 8:13:57 GMT 1
Some suggestion that Oxford are reluctant to commit to a date in July, possibly due to Masters Polish commitments.
Converting our league meeting against Poole on July 28 into the restaged BSN Final seems a bad idea on a number of fronts, not the least being the World Team Cup being held in Poland that weekend. Five man teams, so Woffinden, Lambert and Bewley plus two others. Harris and Brennan are likely to be under consideration along with King, Wright and the Worralls. Eight Championship teams are riding in league meetings on that Friday so practically no viable guests available to cover the two who get picked. Really youve got to hope it's not Chris or Tom. Sorry guys but Tigers really need you!
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Post by coombes on Jul 3, 2023 15:59:18 GMT 1
Meeting off. We have blank Fridays on July 14 and 21 and Poole are due up on July 28 for a league meeting, so it looks like we have plenty of scope. July 14 looks the least favourite with the Brit Junior two days later, but having Poole two weeks in a row wouldn't be great either.
But we've been down this road before with riders getting injured before a big tie. Let's hope this doesn't happen again. A Poole rain off could see us have to go without Ben and Claus unless Poole v Birmingham on July 26 is rearranged. Getting messy now. July 21 for the BSN Final so Pirates will be up on successive weeks. Not sure what this means for restaging the home meeting v Oxford but there doesnt seem to be a free Friday. Sundays may not be possbe depending on Polish fixtures, certainly for Masters, so possibly Tuesday August 8.
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Post by dirtywhensecond on Jul 3, 2023 19:38:58 GMT 1
Early forecast isn't looking great for the rest of the week
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Post by coombes on Jul 3, 2023 20:12:38 GMT 1
Friday looking the best right now. Saturday and Sunday far less so. Let's hope we are ok. A rain off against a fellow Friday night track is particularly bad news.
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Post by dirtywhensecond on Jul 4, 2023 20:19:22 GMT 1
Weather forecast looking a lot better.
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Post by coombes on Jul 5, 2023 8:47:17 GMT 1
Tonight's the night! I reckon we need to score at least 40 to have any chance in a fortnight. A 10 point differential is just about doable. 6 or 8 would be great but, 12 a big ask and 14 game over. It's important we get off to a good start in the early heats. We need Chris to beat Lawson, anything but a 5-1 against us in heat two would be good, Tom and Claus to stick it to the Cooks before Ben leads Worrall home in heat four. Let's hope we can make the gate on the often unforgiving Wimborne Road track. Go for it Tigers!
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Post by benbulben on Jul 5, 2023 9:42:21 GMT 1
It is a huge monkey to remove. We first went to Wimbourne Road in 1952 and in 24 visits we have won 0. Not even a draw. Lost the lot and mostly it has been a damn good hiding. Closest we have come was a four point defeat in 1970 when Jim McMillan scored 14.
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Post by coombes on Jul 5, 2023 12:00:16 GMT 1
We got 30 the night I was there. BoJo 14 and Monk 12 which didn't leave much for the rest of them. History certainly not on our side but an 8 point defeat would be most acceptable.
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