Soundbites: 5th August 2005

Ashworth	Zagar

"Zagar was a cut above everyone else. No matter what anyone of us done, we would still not have been able to catch him because he was simply flying tonight. He is such a talented rider. He just sits on the bike and lets it go anywhere he wants. Matej is a brilliant rider. He has been flying all season. To be honest, I don't know what he is doing playing around in the Premier League. I think it is time for him to step up into the Elite League now."
Ricky Ashworth on Matej Zagar - Zagar won Poole's individual meeting during the week

"Jamie (Robertson) was very upset by Terenzani's attempt to stuff him in the fence and we weren't happy either by Terenzani flicking his back wheel at Richard Juul in a later race. A home official told me Jamie had every right to be aggrieved so while we've told him to stay calm we won't take further action."
George English on Jamie Robertson and Simone Terenzani's fight at Hull on Wednesday

"The first operation was to assess and repair the damage, and the second was to do a skin graft. It's likely that I will have to go into hospital for a third operation. I have no feelings in my fingers and my wrist is numb."
Carl Stonehewer - Facing a third operation

"He was going very well for us but this is a bad injury. He will be out for the rest of the season and I don't know about next season. He's young so he will heal relatively quickly, but it is an extremely bad injury. It's too early to say whether or not it will be career-threatening. It was a very bad break of the thigh, as the bone came through the skin. And there is some leg injury further down."
Exeter promoter David Short on Ben Barker - Barker has a compound fracture of the thigh and has broken his lower leg

"Naturally we'd have preferred to have kept hold of Tomas for a while longer as he was really beginning to come into his own in the Premier League but, quite honestly, Poole made us an offer we simply couldn't refuse, as they say."
Islanders' boss Dave Pavitt on the sale of Tomas Suchanek

"I am very lucky to be joining Poole because when I started my season I wanted to go to England. I didn't think about Elite League, only Premier League, so it was a great surprise for me when Poole came in. I would like to score more points than the 3.00 point average that I come in on and will try my best. My aim is to score the most points that I can. It will not be easy though. The Elite League is harder than the Premier so it will be tough."
New Pirate Tomas Suchanek

"We had a lot of ground to make up after the heavy defeat at Edinburgh, but I still thought we could do it and we must look at this as a point lost. In the race for league honours it looks fairly certain that it's between Rye House and Berwick, but we want to get close up there as well and these bonus points are important."
King's Lynn manager Rob Lyon on their failure to take the bonus from the Monarchs

"It is a controversial booking but I'm sure Magnus (Zetterstrom) will be hailed a hero instead of a villain if he can help us win the Premier Trophy. I was very impressed with the professionalism shown by Magnus, who bases himself in Sweden. He said he rides speedway to win things and is delighted to stay over two extra days to try and help us win the Premier Trophy. He knows that he was involved in a controversial incident at Derwent Park when he clashed with young James (Wright) but he says that has gone now and he wants to be seen in a different light doing his best for the Comets. I have no doubt we have a very good guest for the team in both matches. He is actually sixth in the Premier League averages, directly behind Stoney - the man he is replacing."
Graham Drury makes an unexpected choice of guests for this weekend's Premier Trophy final

"Realistically, we have no chance. I am very disappointed at the moment. I can only use what my riders give me and I don't think all my riders are giving me 100 per cent. You put a lot of time and effort into it and then you see some of the efforts. It is very frustrating. I can only reiterate, I can only do as much as my riders give me and I don't think all of them are giving it 100 per cent."
Alun Rossiter no longer believes that Swindon can reach the play-offs

"We expected to get through to the final and Australia put up a really gutsy effort considering they didn't have Crump. We wanted to win the Race-Off, but the main thing was qualifying. I had no qualms about taking the joker ride and it was a great feeling to get all six points, just as I did in Event One."
Hans Andersen - Looking back on a job well done

"I'm surprised Wimbledon have let James go, but his place there has come under pressure by them signing Grant McDonald. But their loss is our gain and we are delighted to have him on board. He's a talented prospect who has got a good record at this level and he'll definitely enhance our title bid. It was important to get a new face in because Danny Hughes is not going to be available for a number of meetings between now and the end of the summer ."
Brian White on Weymouth's capture of James Clement

"The win gives us a platform. It might be an old cliche, but we're taking one meeting at a time, and putting in 100 per cent effort. We ride well enough as a unit to finish in the top eight. With a bit of luck we could finish in the top six. That's our aim, as it would be nice to go well in the play-offs, and not let that trophy slip away too easily."
Paul Thorp after Hull's win over Newcastle on Wednesday

"Every year we try to bring in new faces to the Scottish Open with a view to signing them. If Nielsen or Klindt, in addition to Rafal Kowalski, our Polish visitor, show fantastic ability, we'll sign them. Nielsen wants to ride in the UK again and is also anxious to show what he can do. No one knows how good he is. Henrik Vedel is a new Dane who joined Newport Wasps and scored six points for them last weekend. Nielsen and Klindt for sure are a class above Vedel. And I have brought them in with a view to see if they can do a job."
John Campbell - Using the Scottish Open to cast an eye over Anders Nielsen and Nicolai Klindt

This article was first published on 5th August 2005