Leg Trailer

Like most sane people I found the atrocious refereeing decision to exclude Woffinden made a mockery of the meeting. How one person can be allowed to spoil a race in the way this Polish referee did, in 2018, with all the available means of video replay and the extra transparency that would normally achieve, is beyond me. I know poor referee decision making is outside the remit of Phil Morris and Graham Brodie on race nights, but the fact such respected men are being forced to witness such appallingly bad refereeing without being in a position to influence such behaviour is a sad indictment of where the sport is currently at, therefore some form of enhanced accountability for these referees needs to exist and exist fast! The whole issue of whether Tai Woffinden was ready to race boils down to semantics and personal interpretation. Put simply, the rulebook needs amending to remove the possibility for a referee to piddle their own interpretation all over the rulebook without cause for reproach or a second set of eyes. Graham Brodie shares the same box as the referee on race nights and would be an ideal candidate to stand as a form of Match Umpire, a man to whom the race night referee can confer or more importantly the man who could perhaps prompt a rethink? Just a thought. I don't like to poke fault with a system without offering a pinch of a suggestion as to how things could be improved and to be honest it's only the odd rogue ref who needs this form of babysitting thankfully. Obviously a flaw in the vetting process is responsible for the fact he was allowed to influence the evenings entertainment in the way he did. And don't get me started on that Start Marshall. Unbelievable pedanticism. Sadly, the starts are killing this years GP. Simple as that. This ridiculous new rule of no moving at the start has stifled natural gating talent and more importantly the momentum of the evening. A once much loved element has been zapped from the sport but more sickeningly has now turned most GP's into a bore. The time wasted everytime a race is pulled back because a rider dained to fart at the tapes makes each GP a marathon affair for everyone watching. They will drive potential new supporters of the game away in droves by persisting with this diabolical new rule. Ironically, matches were smoother affairs in the days of tape touching which was understandably eradicated due to the delays it caused. But now they have taken a retrograde step in allowing no movement whatsoever! I mean, who on earth approved this utter nonesense?! Bring back tape touching and the meetings will be more entertaining and smoother than is currently the case. Yes, that's how absurd it has become! Lastly, back to last nights referee Mr.Artur Kusmierz. A Polish referee excluding the British leader of the World Championship in a race where two rivals to the Championship also race and they happen to be Polish too? Hmmm. He would arguably be on a sticky wicket should Maciej and Tai have tussled in a racing incident where one rider fell but to exclude Tai in the circumstances he did is downright criminal in my book and a sad reminder of how farcical speedway can be when in the hands of an immature referee. When moments like this occur I find myself head in hands, saddened to admit that speedway still stands just one small step up from acts like wrestling in terms of acceptability as a serious sport. Sort it out now, FIM! You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a tragic biblical manner.

Geoff Godwin was my grandfather and I have a photo of him with Varey after their round of races. Sadly it's too big a file to upload here but PM me with an email address and I will be more than happy to share.

Disappointment for Russian fans then?

Gone for £5 EW on Hancock and £10 win on Emil. Both at 12/1 with Coral.

.... so no doubt he'll be "feeling very second hand" after that!

For a safe bet I always say that Hancock each-way every GP and you won't be disappointed. Seriously tempted to whack a few quid on Emil after the last GP display but sadly don't know enough about his general form to know if this is wise? Or for a looong shot, maybe a tenner on Bomber for a grand return?

And then of course we have Kelvin "clearly" Tatum....! On a slightly different note - how many times can Leigh Adams say "yanno" in one interview? Last week I counted 22 times during the half time chat.

Jonsson followed in on his bike - dreadful smash - my thoughts are with Jonsson and not the bets/wins/wrongs. That looked bad.

Thanks Rob.

So who's yer money on folks? Anyone got the odds??

Has anybody seen the odds for this weekends GP yet?

There was an excellent shot of Ott in the Speedway Star around 1990 where he looked like Peter Craven, leaning the bike over - the caption said "The Wizard of Balance", just like Craven..... assume you have that one?

Got some old photo's of Ken up in the loft - think he was mates with my grandad who rode pre and post war.

I think Hancock will win tonight. Anyone know the odds?

Anyone know if there's any betting available with the major bookies for tonights meet?

I backed Anderson to win at 8/1. Hello £80!!!! Have you guys checked out this months edition of Maxim where Sophie is parading in her slinky's? Comes with a special wipe clean cover too...

Hi folks and a happy new year to you all! Does anyone know the latest odds on this weekends GP in Poland? What are your predictions? Think I shall have a wee flutter on this one! LT.

There is already more than one ref ready to supervise the meeting but more than one for the meeting itself would surely only breed disputre amongst themselves and prolong a meeting? Anyway, this particular ref was the reserve because the original referee (whose name shall remain anonymous) was eerrr..... withdrawn. Anyone else hear this news or am I the only one? I'm not prepared to spill the beans on the whole story if nobody else knows because it ain't good for the ref involved.

The referee was appalling but rumour on the street is that he stepped in at the last minute to replace the original referee who was, lets us just say, excluded from the meet. Shall not elaborate any further as what I heard could be quite libellous if incorrect.

No other rider at Nikki Pedersens level has the same complete disregard for the other rider's safety. If it had been an Aussie he speared last night he'd have been picking himself up off the pits floor and he'd have bloody well deserved it too - the dangerous dirty b*****d! PS: Could not believe how Havelock and Loram made light of it in the studio either. He coulda killed Bjarne. You just don't do that and Gary and Mark know this.

Sod it - let's have a tenner on Lindback to win!

My bet is on Rickardsson for this weekends GP. That guy looked on fire during a recent SKY televised meeting. When it comes to long term professionalism there's Mauger, Neilsen and Rickardsson in my book. Out of the 3 mentioned above I would say that Rickardsson also possesses the firey 'do or die' mentality beyond what either Mauger or Neilsen had too.

Well I couldn't tell what was going on as the cameras averted the scene on Sky Sports. As for riders getting back on the bike after being knocked out, it happens, not saying it should but it does. Tony fell on his head, jamming his chin down on his chest which is a very common way of getting knocked out. What looked like a very nasty accident had a happy ending and rather than sit here discussing whether Tony was unconcious or not I think we should be thankful we're not discussing a tragedy because from where I was sitting it sure looked that way for a few agonising minutes.

And we know that he wasn't unconcious do we?

Milking the moment as usual That is just the kind of ill informed and pathetic statement a typical terrace dweller with little first hand experience in behind the scenes activities, would make. Any rider who falls will make the effort to move because they know their loved ones will be watching and crapping bricks that they're down. As for the medical support at Prague...... I seem to recall having this discussion last year. Once again certain posters jumped down my throat and accused me of being racist, believe it or not! These countries have inadequate medical facilities and are unused to dealing with the likely occurance of serious rider injury. Last year Lucas Dryml almost lost his life had it not been for the quick actions of his father in running on track and pulling his tongue out his throat. The medical staff at the hospital were totally appalling, allegedly.