SPEEDWAY: It's not over yet - Rosco

6:00am Tuesday 11th September 2012 in Sport By Andy Warren

FRIENDLY FIRE: Alun Rossiter, right, and Poole boss Neil Middleditch ahead of last night's meeting FRIENDLY FIRE: Alun Rossiter, right, and Poole boss Neil Middleditch ahead of last night's meeting

SWINDON Robins boss Alun Rossiter is convinced the race for top spot in the Elite League is not over despite his side’s 49-41 defeat at title rivals Poole last night.

A masterful ride from Piotr Pawlicki in heat 14 and a timely 5-1 for Pirates stars Chris Holder and Darcy Ward in the final race of the night made sure the home side secured maximum points from the battle of the league’s top two, while the Robins returned to Wiltshire with nothing.

The result sent Poole five points clear at the top of the table, meaning victory at Birmingham on Monday will be enough for the Dorset side to earn the right to pick their play-off semi-final opponents.

But the Robins still have two meetings left to ride, and Rossiter believes they could still finish the regular season on top of the pile ahead of their rivals.

“There is an awful long way to go yet, and there are two meetings to go and we just need to see what happens,” he said.

“The Poole meeting has gone now, and all our focus is on the Lakeside and Birmingham meetings because there is no need for us to keep dwelling on this one now. We are still looking for top spot of course and it is not all over, and even though the ball is in their court they can still make a mistake and we can get in.

“If they get in there of course they get the pick, and both teams still have to go to Birmingham and will be going there to try and get four points.

“It is a tough place to go so neither team can take anything for granted.”

Pawlicki produced the performance of the night as he sliced his way between Dawid Lampart and Jason Doyle to win heat 14 and set up his side’s victory, and Rossiter insisted there is nothing his riders could do to stop the teenage Pole. “We knew it would get tough at the end, but that is the frustrating thing because we were there and it was in our hands and it was taken away in heat 14,” he said.

“I can’t blame Doyley or Lampart at all because they rode their socks off, but that is racing and at the end of the day I am frustrated now but I can’t be frustrated with the riders because the conditions weren’t brilliant.

Last night’s meeting at Wimborne Road was interrupted by wet weather which forced racing to be suspended for 40minutes, and Rossiter believes conditions made things tough for his side.

“The track was very very slick and it was probably the worst I have see here, especially with the rain coming in which made things difficult,” he said.

“There was no material there to grade back and help at all, but there is no excuse at the end of the day because we knew it was going to be hard.”

Comments(17)

Rovin Robin says...
7:41am Tue 11 Sep 12

Great photo.. All is not lost We can still do it..

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swindonspur says...
8:07am Tue 11 Sep 12

I thought we weren't going to carry passengers this season? I saw one last night with my own eyes. Deadline for changes is tomorrow. Will anything happen? Last night proved this stupid theory that Stead is on a low, false average. Even if he had scored 3 or 4 last night we would have taken a point. I was embarrassed for him watching him struggling to pass the awful Kling and Masters. Even the Poole fans were laughing when Masters beat him saying they couldn't believe it.

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oldlegtrailer says...
8:51am Tue 11 Sep 12

Swindonspur is right - As much as I hate to say it Stead should now be rested for the rest of the season and a replacement brought in. Preferably someone who can win races. But who is there who can live with Holder/Kasper/Ward and now Pawlicki
How they ended up with 4 heat leaders, 3 being world class God knows - we were lucky last night not to have gone down by 16 or more. Lets face it our guys cannot consistently run with the likes of them bad with passengers its 2nd spot if we make it that far. I can see Poole v Peterborough final if we are not careful

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swindonspur says...
12:51pm Tue 11 Sep 12

You are right oldlegtrailer, we were lucky to only lose by 8 last night. Poole threw away at least 6 points with falls. Surely its a worth a call to our assets like Zengi and Pavlic asking them to come in for the rest of the season. Stead's replacement would be at reserve and would surely score a hatful. Its money to them at the end of the day so would benefit both sides. But with the deadline looming tomorrow I just can't see anyone coming in now.

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swindonbob says...
5:27pm Tue 11 Sep 12

I'm afraid the "Rose-tinted glasses", now have to come off! I think Simon is a great guy but now I have to concede he could cost us dearly.

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oldlegtrailer says...
5:41pm Tue 11 Sep 12

I think he may do well with a rest. A double up role next year would maybe do what it did for Doyle. He still fails to make the gate but when he does he is still quick. Perhaps Rosco will get the Kevs back on

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morris 1 says...
7:06pm Tue 11 Sep 12

Okay lets look at this sensibly Steady might as well stay in the team even in the play offs until the end of the season - what is the point of bringing in anyone else at this late stage. You cannot blame him for last nights defeat, take a look at the rest of the team's score, they could have all done a lot better.

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GalaxyMan says...
8:49pm Tue 11 Sep 12

Yes they could have but Simon could- and should- have done better from Reserve.
The point is to at least attempt to replace one badly failing rider with someone better.
I really don't understand why anybody would be against trying.

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swindonspur says...
10:04pm Tue 11 Sep 12

morris 1 wrote:
Okay lets look at this sensibly Steady might as well stay in the team even in the play offs until the end of the season - what is the point of bringing in anyone else at this late stage. You cannot blame him for last nights defeat, take a look at the rest of the team's score, they could have all done a lot better.
Yeah Morris, Kildemand and Lamps were awful last night. The defeat was their fault for sure. Steady was nearly the match winner with his defeat of Eklof in heat 2. Hard luck on him and shame on the rest of the team for letting him down.

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mancrobin says...
10:44pm Tue 11 Sep 12

Some of these comments are a bit harsh. Poole might be in box seat for now but they have 3 or 4 riders who can really perform. We have 7. As Roscoe says, there is a long way to go here folks, so let's not throw the towel in yet.

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GalaxyMan says...
6:34am Wed 12 Sep 12

Who's throwing the towel in? Nobody here that I can see. Quite the opposite.
I'm disappointed to read Simon saying his groin was playing him up. It didn't seem to be an issue last Thursday.

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oldlegtrailer says...
9:26am Wed 12 Sep 12

If Simon's groin was playing him he should have gone sick and we could have got a guest in or used one of our other riders? This was too important a match.

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Les7153 says...
12:32pm Wed 12 Sep 12

All of you people are there blaming Steady, then its kildermann & doyle, but has any one of you looked very closely how many our No.1 is scoring. I am sorry to say but I do not think Hans is a true No.1(injured or not). If you compare him to other No.1 riders we have had minus Nicholls he just does not compare. I realise we had a legend in Leigh Adams but even on an off night he would score double points whether it was home or away. This does not happen with Hans. I suggest we stop blaming individuals and say the whole team is not performing. Rosco it's down to you but at the present time the league title is just a dream, we are not consistant enough.

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oldlegtrailer says...
2:57pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Lot of truth in what you say Les - but with the exception a very few e.g Holder, Ward, Nils KI, there are no 10pt men around any longer. The days of the 10pt men are over, the few about are more interested in GP'S or being European based. Who could you bring in better than Hans who would want to come here.

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morris 1 says...
6:32pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Personally I think we were very lucky to get Hans - he is up and down like the rest, but certainly gives 100 percent. We need to support Rosco ( yet again he has done a fabulous job after last season) by getting behind him and all the team for the play offs. We have seven riders with their own individual personalities, but bind together as a team and if we keep sending them negative thoughts it will show on the track. The lads know what they have to do and I believe they will do it.

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swindonspur says...
1:26pm Thu 13 Sep 12

morris 1 wrote:
Personally I think we were very lucky to get Hans - he is up and down like the rest, but certainly gives 100 percent. We need to support Rosco ( yet again he has done a fabulous job after last season) by getting behind him and all the team for the play offs. We have seven riders with their own individual personalities, but bind together as a team and if we keep sending them negative thoughts it will show on the track. The lads know what they have to do and I believe they will do it.
Great post. Hans is 5th in the EL averages at the moment so how anyone can say he has let us down is beyond me. Leigh was a one off and we can't judge all our future number 1's by his standards.

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gruntfuttocks says...
6:47pm Thu 13 Sep 12

instead of wasting your time writing negative comments about simon stead, why don't you do something positive and lobby the BSPA to find out why simon, who is a BRITISH rider, that only rides in BRITAIN is not allowed to double up for another BRITISH club when FOREIGN riders that ride in three other countries as well as BRITAIN are allowed to double up. they seem to have lost sight of the words BRITISH, SPEEDWAY and PROMOTION.

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