Wackie

Not my favourite rider but a worthy champ, congratulations Christ Holder. Overall, what a great GP series, one of the best ever? 2013 could be even better if they do the organisers do the right thing with their wild card picks.

Gollob? He seems to have lost some of his edge this year. Greg seems to be enjoying his speedway too much at the moment and still a contender, reckon he'll have another year, possibly two in the GP's.

Hold his own what though? Do people honestly think he's capable of a top 8 finish next season if he's given the sympathy Brit wild card? Who'd he better over the series to achieve that - Holder, Hancock, Pedersen, Sayfutdinov, Ward, Gollob, Hampel, Iversen, Jonsson?

Woffinden capable of a top 8 finish in the 2013 GP series Oh, that's brightened my monday afternoon. And why would British fans prefer to see MJJ in the GP's rather than Woffinden? Well, Woffinden doesn't exactly strike many as being red white & blue through & through, and also maybe because MJJ doesn't come across as being a complete knob.

I don't think Sky have as much clout with IMG re the GP series as you give them credit for. They only buy the rights to broadcast the GP's just as the broadcasters in Poland, Sweden Denmark etc. do.

Wouldn't make any difference to me who he rode for. But if it was between Holder & Ward, or Holder & Woffinden (I know, but it's only an example ) I'd prefer Holder to win.

I'm thinking probably Holder, but hoping the pressure gets to him and naughty nicki gets his 4th world title.

Apologies, didn't realise it was out of context, I didn't edit it either as you have my post, just quoted your last scentence which read to me like a statement from you!

Sums up my thoughts exactly. Very good advice, Woffinden definately needs to keep his ego in check. But it's not just fans he's upsetting, it's other riders/team mates too. He's already indicated that he might not be bothered to ride in the EL next season, in effect turing his back on supposedly his home country, yet we're supposed to try and help him become the rider he could turn out to be. Sod that! I'm sure there's more deserving and more grateful young British riders out there who'd benefit more from assistance than Woffiden would. Why? If world finals were won on the 1 off meeting formula, we'd probably not of had a rider through the Inter-continental stage for the past 3 years. Should think ourselves lucky really that we're pretty much guaranteed a British rider as a wildcard at Cardiff, 'cos there's not a Brit who deserves to be in the series proper. Shocking innit! But just goes to show how much Woffinden is disliked by many.

Hope that another isn't Woffinden for the sake of having a Brit in the series. Honestly, we can do without one, they'll still be the token Brit at Cardiff for the fans with the meeting wildcard. Holder seems to have grown up this year, maybe it's down to fatherhood? In which case, let Ward carry on being a knob off track, we don't need him breeding, one of him's more than enough! That might have been the case 5 years ago, but Matej seems to have lost his way a bit recently. That said, if he's in the mood he'll be an exciting addition to the GP's. All in all, the 3 qualifiers couldn't have been any better for the series. Hopefully if the permanent wildcards are given to Ward, Hampel, Vaculik & MJJ there's nobody in next years series who you'd pick out as a complete duffer.

Woffinden was in the GP series in 2010, scored 49 points in total. IMO he's still not ready for the GP circuit and would fair no better than Harris. There are many better and more deserving riders out there worthy of a GP place, unfortunately non of them are Brits, but then we don't have a god given right to have a rider in the GP's, and in all honesty it wouldn't make much difference if we didnt have one at the moment. We'd still get the token Brit for Cardiff, but that's pretty much all we deserve.

Would track or support staff be outside the stadium 30 minutes before tapes up flogging complementary tickets? And why would they have about 200 of these tickets in sequential order, are IMG that generous with their freebies?

We did the same 2 years ago, and brought complementary tickets off some bloke outside the stadium wearing an IMG lanyard! It did cross my mind that IMG were selling off the complementary tickets cheap just to generate a bit more income.

I too was a little disappointed that there wasn't any mention of Rico during the meeting, but was impressed with the #RICO stand in the middle of the fans zone in the city centre, along with the tribute in the programme. Wasn't expecting a colleciton as I don't think these are sanctioned at FIM events, but a minutes noise at Rico's home grand prix would have been an amazingly fitting tribute, a similar tribute for Marco Simoncelli at the Valencia MotoGP round last november was spine tingling. I do think British Speedway needs to do something lasting to pay tribute to Lee, maybe installing the Richardson Trophy for the team who finishes top of the league before the play-off's?

Sky really are starting to take the piss with their GP replays. I know they can't control the weather & rain offs, but surely they could have some sort of magazine programme they could show in these instances rather than replaying a meeting many British speedway fans were at only 2 days ago! Those who weren't there would have also probably watched it live or caught one of the replays already shown. Really am re-considering my sky sports subscription for 2013.

I wonder how many complementary tickets IMG issue then, cos we brought tickets off a tout outside which were for the upper tier in middle of 3rd/4th bend and marked "Complementary". Paid £15 each (cheaper than an EL meeting!!) and speaking to the people around us they'd all done the same. We chose 3rd/4th bend, but had the choice of upper tier seats pretty much anywhere around the stadium! Moved down to the middle tier 3rd bend after 6 heats cos there were plenty of empty seats down there too, and you felt closer to the racing. W

Really? Must have come across better on TV, cos although the cardiff experience is enjoyable, the racing was dull. Only after Hancock & Gollob were out of the equation. About 8000 under? Thought it looked the lowest crowd at Cardiff for a good few years. He's a huge bike fan. Often visits MotoGP races and joins the Eurosport commentary team.

I didn't either Tracy, probaly because it was directly at a camera lens. I'll admit I've been converted! I'm now a fan of Nicki Pedersen after the past couple of months of watching him in the GP's and SWC. He'll give an honest answer/opinion to questions asked of him, and generally livens up meetings in some way shape or form. Not completely a fan of his riding sometimes, but he's a character within the sport & there's not many of them around these days. How dull some meetings would have been this year without him, it's a shame the EL can't tempt him back to liven that up too.

Ooops, can you tell I work in finance and have been having a sneaky look at the forum whilst at work this afternoon

FFS!! When will people get their heads around the fact that Denmark didn't break any rules saturday or cheat!

Why contratulate them? Cos they scored the most points in the final! Plenty of discussion going on on the SWC Final thread about the wrongs & rights of the joker. This thread is for congratulating Denmark on a string of fine performances which saw them deservedly life the Ove Funding trophy saturday night. Viva the red & white revolution!

Isn't gamesmanship part of sport? There was nothing dishonest in what Pedersen did, he was simply using the rules, or gamesmanship if you prefer to try to help his country win. Who's to say Crump wasn't happy to sit behind Pedersen and not try his best to beat him, same difference if you ask me. But you're correct, the precedence had been set by Pedersen as he was so hilariously blatant about what he'd done, and as I effectively keep saying, well done that man for showing how uncredible the rule it is for the sport. Sport shouldn't be about rewarding losers, and thankfully in this instance it didn't have a bearing on the overall result.

Why only show the last half a lap in the vid? Why not show the whole race in where Pedersen was constantly checking where Crump was and which lines were being ridden? Although even in the short video clup you've posted a link to, it's still evident he was doing this. I've never been a Pedersen fans (although my views are changing, he's a character the sport needs atm), and have seen him riding dangerously out of control, on this occasion it's my opion that he wasn't putting any of the riders or indeed himself in danger. As for giving the green light to future nonsense, the only nonsense is the rule itself and what Pedersen did last night was highlight that. If (and it should be) the rule is now thrown out of SWC, or at least the race off & final, Pedersen should be given the equivalent of a speedway knighthood! People who don't think the Aussies would have done the same need a reality check too. Crump was gutted Pedersen finished behind him, and repaid the favour in the very next heat, or do you believe Davy Watt really did have bike problems?

Rubbish!! I've just watched it again, Pedersen was right out by the fence when he slowed, he'd looked behind on bend 2, 3 & 4 on the last lap & knew how far back Crump was, he was never going to catch him or get close enough to have to take avoiding action. Jonsson was full on the gas until the line as well and was riding the inside of the track all race. I'm not saying using the rules to your advantage like that is right, but when the rule is nothing more than a gimick designed to reward losers, I'm glad Denmark exposed it for what it is. What was dangerous was ht17 when you had 2 riders slowing to avoid picking up points. Again, can't blame either the aussies or danes in that race, they again were trying to use the rule to benefit them, hopefully the situation won't ever happen again as last night should have been the final nail for the joker (and going off on a tangent, Tatum!! what a tool!!!)

Seems to be lots of discussion about the wrongs & rights about last nights SWC final, but no thread dedicated to congratulating the Danish team! So, Congratulations Team Denmark! A brilliant display from a team encapsulating youth and experience. No last places throughout the final, young guns doing GP stars up like kippers and tactics which showed the joker rule up for being the idiotic idea it is! Thoroughly deserve world cup champions. Great to see too that there is a new guard emerging. For a while it lookedl like the future years in the GP's would turn into the Holder/Ward show, but...... the danes are coming!!!