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Post by schumi on Oct 31, 2008 12:20:55 GMT
SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter has suggested that Travis McGowan may well feature in the Robins' team plans for next year. The Australian joined the club from Reading last winter but endured a torrid time as he battled back from serious injury sustained in his home country. After struggling for long periods, he was dropped from the Swindon team in September in favour of Sebastian Alden - only for Alden to then break his collarbone in a crash at Coventry. McGowan was recalled and promptly put in one of his best performances of the season as the Robins were heavily beaten at Lakeside in the semi-finals of the play-offs. Now he will be available for 2009 on a low average, and champions Poole have already hinted that they would show an interest should McGowan be on the market. Rossiter said: "I know that if we don't use Travis next season there are plenty of clubs who will happily take a punt on him with his low average. Having already chatted with Matt Ford at Poole about who we might and might not use, he would almost certainly take the chance. "Travis has never been a top line rider, but I do believe he is capable of averaging between seven and eight points a match. "I am not saying he is definitely in at this stage, but those two good meetings late on show that he is still a very much better rider than we saw in 2008." www.speedwayworld.tv
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2008 13:08:05 GMT
Right little austrailia they're going to have down Swindle way next season. As much as some/most Swindon fans have berated Trav's performances this season (and tbh rightly so) he is a much better rider than his average suggests and has got to be worth another shot for a Robins team place next season. He could turn out to be the bargain signing of the year.
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Post by schumi on Oct 31, 2008 15:16:48 GMT
I'm wondering whether it's going to be worth Swindon's while to have Leigh Adams back next year. With no other top line riders who can match him left in the UK, he'll win all of his races, but you can't improve on that. I know what he brings to the team, and think he's a great rider, but I think Swindon would be better off sacrificing him and using the points elsewhere.
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Post by schumi on Nov 4, 2008 9:23:13 GMT
Leigh's confirmed, but what's the issue with Hauzinger? From: www.swindonadvertiser.co.ukALUN Rossiter has set his sights on persuading Leigh Adams to extend his glittering speedway career by another season - as he pulls out all the stops to bring home the Elite League title his inspirational Robins skipper craves.
Adams begins the second and final year of a two-year deal next March when he leads the Abbey Stadium outfit in 2009.
It was thought the 37-year-old would call time on a achievement-littered career after that, but the Australian hero has already been tempted to extend his Grand Prix commitments by another year, with the 2009 world championship set to conclude in Melbourne, the capital of his home state of Victoria.
And, after lifting the Swindon Advertiser Robins Rider of the Year award for a fifth successive year, he hinted that he could yet be tempted to prolong his Blunsdon career too.
“I would hope Rosco would be trying to keep me, it would be nice to think that but we will have to see what happens. I would hope that I could still come up with the goods again,” Adams told the Advertiser on Saturday.
Team boss Rossiter seems determined to answer that call, aiming to strike a deal with their star man - Robins all-time leading points scorer - to don the Swindon kevlars in 2010.
Rossiter told the Swindon Advertiser: “I know people are saying that maybe next year is going to be his (Adams) last year, but I think we might be able to get another year out of him.
“He might finish off the Grand Prix next year, especially with the last one being in Melbourne which would be a great swansong. But I reckon we could have one more season out of him here.’’ Adams, who has enjoyed three spells at the Abbey Stadium, has lifted top-flight British titles with both the Poole Pirates and now-defunct Oxford Cheetahs.
But despite a Grand Final appearance and two semi-finals in the last three years since his return to Blunsdon in 2004, the Liddington-based rider has never lifted the crown in Swindon colours.
Rossiter admitted: “The worst thing about not winning the league in the last few years is that we’ve got so close and Leigh is the one that we’re all really trying to win this league for.
“He’s got the (all-time Robins points) record and he’s got better with age, in my opinion.
“He was nursing the team a bit this year. He took the role on and really enjoyed it and saw these kids looking up to him.’’ Adams and Croatian teenage sensation Jurica Pavlic are the only two Swindon riders definitely tied down to a return in 2009.
The Blunsdon management’s team building will start in earnest after the British Speedway Promoters’ Association conference later this month, where the team points limit will be determined.
Swindon, who held their annual dinner and dance on Saturday, are also trying to tie up a deal with King’s Lynn for the services of Australian youngster Troy Batchelor and while there is next to no chance of Austrian Manuel Hauzinger returning next year, other issues remain unresolved.
Batchelor, Mads Korneliussen, James Wright and Seb Alden are those whose futures are to be decided, while Travis McGowan may prove an attractive proposition because of his reduced average.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2008 19:31:03 GMT
I can only think one of two things has happened here. a) This interview was conducted a couple of weeks ago as there are a few references to the Aussie GP, which has now been confirmed as a non-starter, and it also states that only Adams and Pavlic are confirmed, although we had confirmation that Gathercole will be in the team last week. or b) Rosco has finally really lost the plot. The jury is out.
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Post by schumi on Nov 4, 2008 20:36:23 GMT
I think the newspaper article was dated either today or yesterday, if that helps.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2008 21:02:21 GMT
I think the newspaper article was dated either today or yesterday, if that helps. I've no doubt the article was recent, but, as I said, it looks like the interview that the article is based on is a little out of date.........unless of course you are hinting that my scenario b) comes into place?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2008 21:11:43 GMT
It's from The Adver, explains everything!
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Post by admin on Nov 4, 2008 21:30:00 GMT
Leigh's confirmed, but what's the issue with Hauzinger? He's a waste of time, effort and a race suit. I can't think of a single British club that hasn't had an issue with Hauzinger while he's been contracted to them (usually that his manifold injuries that disrupt his racing in the kingdom seldom prevent him from riding on the continent).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2008 21:49:17 GMT
Rosco was not a fan of his attitude, for sure.
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Post by schumi on Nov 17, 2008 20:50:16 GMT
From www.speedwayworld.tvSWINDON co-promoter Gary Patchett believes the Robins could be amongst the first clubs to declare their line-up for the 2009 season. The Blunsdon outfit, play-off qualifiers for the last three seasons, are still chasing an elusive Elite League title, but already have two riders confirmed for the next campaign. Leigh Adams and Jurica Pavlic had both been pencilled in before the end of last season, and Patchett says he was happy enough with the points limit of 39.90, and with the asset base that he and colleagues Alun Rossiter and Terry Russell will be able to call upon. He said: "We got what we wanted points limit-wise. You have a voice at these conferences, but you are only one of a group, so you never quite know. "We had some plans for the team we wanted to put together and we can now move on with those plans, which will probably revolve around our own assets. "I wouldn’t think it will take us very long. You are probably looking at around two or three weeks. "But we will have a competitive team again, make no mistake. We’re not coming to make up the numbers."
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Post by schumi on Nov 28, 2008 14:07:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2008 15:45:37 GMT
So he could be another forced out alongside Pedersen, Kasprzak and Nicholls.
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Post by admin on Nov 29, 2008 20:36:03 GMT
Could Swindon be about to ruin their team building by signing unSteady? They were among the scrumage to sign the massively over-rated Simon Stead last season (it seemed to be collective insanity as five or six promotions battled for his signature) and if they do sign him this season, down the drain go their hopes of ending that title drought.
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Post by admin on Dec 4, 2008 14:55:13 GMT
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