salty

If he retains the hunger I think he has a fair chance of getting another 3 Titles. Of the top challengers all bar Andersen are older and I can't see Adams, Gollob or Hancock being able to outgun Nicki over a full season. Crump may still be the closest challenger again next season, but other than that we may have to wait for the likes of Holder and Safjutdinov to mature.

Think you will find there are only 4 picks. I would agree with the 4 you have chosen.

You could well be right, nominations for Nicholls, Lindgren, Emil and Harris would leave us with... 3 Danes 4 Poles 2 Aussies 2 Swedes 2 Brits 1 American 1 Russian. Having said that I think it would be utterly unfair for Harris to get a nomination over any rider who finished ahead of him this season.

Much as I dislike the idea of Nicholls getting another nomination, I guess he probably will. It appears from what we have read in the Speedway Star in the past that BSI want 2 Brits in the series. Even if they go with just 1 it is hard to see past Nicholls, who after all only finished 3 points off 8th spot. You can't pick Harris over Nicholls and it is far too early in his career for Tai. My punt for the nominations - Holder, Nicholls, Safjutdinov and Lindgren (feel sure they will want 2 Swedes in).

Save yourself some money, there is a guy on here who usually does a downloadable racecard for each GP.

I let my sub run out about a month ago (after subscribing for about 9 years). I just found I wasn't bothering to read most issues anymore. The club news was tired, glorified press releases, the feature articles were too few and seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with Leigh Adams, I don't want to know what a great time Bert Harkins has at the Gp's and there was never a critical word spoken about the many ills of the sport. The fact that Rising can write an overview of the Gelsenkirchen fiasco, without mentioning his position in the GP organisation, confirms to me that I have made the right decision to give up on the Star

Having let my Speedway Star subscription lapse a couple of weeks a go, I have not had the opportunity to see their hard hitting critique of last weekends fiasco. Did they give Olsen and BSI both barrels or did another scapegoat come to the fore? Would be interested to know how the affair was covered......

To be honest Derek you could argue (if the conspiracy theories are anywhere near correct) that BSI/IMG DID get things done on Saturday. They had the bottle to engineer a postponement, pocket the insurance, arrange a replacement meeting that will probably be well attended and profitable - and get away with it!

Interesting interview. Particularly when he mentions that nobody even had the good grace to inform the riders that the Saturday morning practice had been cancelled. Should make the fans feel a little better to know that the riders are treated with contempt as well.

I would be very surprised if the Speedway Star was too critical of BSI/IMG. They have their colours firmly pinned to the GP mast and are unlikely to stray too far from the party line (whatever that may be).

Very optimistic. Surely you can't be advocating a return to the old one off World Final? Whilst the argument might have a small amount of merit, it is clearly not going to happen. The FIM having sold the family silver to BSI/IMG are not going to try and claim it back, and at the same time there is still money being made from the current set-up. We can grumble all we like about the GP series, but I can't see much change in the forseeable future. Tracks will continue to laid with minimal shale by a Race Director who seems impervious to any criticism, the main Speedway press in this country will continue to sing the praises of the GP's whilst their Managing Editor is so closely tied to them, BSI will continue to come up with ridiculous ideas like the Super Prix and the crowds will continue to go. My prediction is that the blame will be laid at the local organisers and Gelsenkirchen will be quietly dropped from the rota ( and you will never hear anyone from BSI/IMG mention its name again).

Joke thread. Clearly Smolinski will retain his place in the event and rightly so. If anyone else needed to be chosen all common sense points to Sajfutdinov as he is the double Under 21 Champ and it is now being held on his own track. Holder will get his chance next year.

Don't think the roof does open?

What a farce!!!! Be interesting to see who carries the can for this one! It simply isn't acceptable for Olsen/BSI/IMG to blame the "locals" like they did after Gothenburg. Feel very sorry for all those who made the trip out there. Gollob will be happy about the location for the re-staging though. Hopefully Smolinski gets to keep his wild card spot.

By my reckoning if Tomicek doesn't ride then Kenneth Bjerre should be the next in line. Given the timescale it would make sense to promote one of the meeting reserves.

Crash was at Brough against Hackney and to quote the Speedway Handbook "his life hung in the balance following an emergency operation after a steel wire had penetrated his throat." It goes on to say he planned to return in 1970, but I can't recall hearing of him again.

Not all danes - Erik had a pronounced Black Country accent.

Freddie didn't miss the final through injury - he didn't take part in any of the qualifiers. May well be that he missed a qualifying round through injury. Holder had bike problems, the Aussie who missed his flight was Watt.

But riders like Hancock, Gollob and Adams do qualify each year by finishing in the top 8. What would you suggest? Given that there are currently 11 Gp's it would not be feasible to qualify for them at the start of each season, so it makes sense for that qualifying to take place the previous year. Every rider has the chance to enter that qualifying process and as SCB points out the GP Qualifying Final this year consisted of 16 tried and tested names, rather than the young guns who had all fallen by the wayside by the time we reached the Final (Pavlic owed his appearance to another rider pulling out through injury).

I think Steve Lawson and Tom Owen have been featured already. Good ideas on the non-riders.

My thoughts on last night - Ref got both the big decisions spot on, how anyone could argue different is beyond me. Silly move by Gollob in the semi, but he oh so nearly made a clean pass. Dryml seems to be over-riding imo, just hope he gets through to the end of the German GP without injuring anybody else or himself. The reaction of Millard to the Lindgren/Pedersen crash was appalling. To start banging on about how this could be a boost for Nicholls when he didn't know how serious the crash was (and at first sight it looked a bad one) - unforgiveable. Tatum should know better as well.

Surprised you would see it like that, I thought there was a definite upsurge in crowds in the late 80's when Russell Lanning was in charge. Getting to the Cup Final and giving Poole a run for the league title the following year gave a positive buzz around the place, the presentation was slick and entertaining and the publicity was on the up. On the contrary, before the take over and in particular the last couple of years in the British League I thought it was clear things were on the slide. Having said that I think the pressure from the GRA became more intense and the closure enforced on the Speedway for the duration of the Greyhound Derby was a good example of that attitude. Surely the trigger for the 1991 closure was the ill timed move up to the top flight?

As a spectator throughout the 80's I certainly think there was a marked improvement following the consortium takeover in the winter of 1986. Be interested to hear your reasons for thinking things had gone wrong?

We will have to disagree about the definition of a "closure". They competed in the 1986 league and also in the 1987 one - doesn't make it a closure in my mind. Different promoters I agree, but if anything the 1987 season was like a breath of fresh air and we had 4 good seasons until the move back up in 1991.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with that statement. Firstly I would dispute there was much magic at the end of the seventies. Secondly the move to the National League gave the Dons an extra few years, because it was clear at the end of 1984 they could not exist in the British League. Thirdly the National League years at the end of the 80's were well worth experiencing, with decent crowds a good team and a progressive promotion.