Hackett

The attendance will be 40,000 whether there are less people attending Cardiff than last year ............BSI attendance figures Having been to Poland last year for bydgoszcz , I personally feel that the novelty factor at Cardiff is starting to wear off.

Congratulations to bomber a deserved winner !!!! Well done to David Howe for taking the wildcard spot for Cardiff, I remember seeing him at the Slovenian SGP a few years ago and he was competitive but his career had stalled badly. Got a severe bout of Oxforditis last year and questioned his ability and his will to carry on in the sport, so pleased for the guy. Edward Kennett rode well and was unlucky in the final having to battle with Nicholls who was testing an engine and could not gate for toffee but was by far the hardest rider in the 1st turn !!!!!! Edward had 4 of those before dropping into 4th place. Allen and King were competitive and Bridger will of gained experience from the meeting although may be a little disappointed not to of made the runoff heat. Stead was a major disappointment - Summed up his season really - Promises much but flattered to deceive. One decent race and then could not get to grips with a track he used to ride week in and week out. Screen may of been suffering from injury but looked off the pace as did Havelock who is slowly getting back to fitness after his serious spill. Feel sorry for Tai Woffinden who managed only a couple of laps would of been good to see him get 4/5 heats in for experience albeit he being an australian.

Exactly .... this is the longest series of the SGP with 11 rounds ... Ok so Nicki P has got a lead on the rest of the riders but there is a long,long way to go. Plus was it not stated by Crump on monday that lonigo is a strange sort of track and quite dificult to pass on. Nicki Pedersen has been excellent for Eastbourne home and away this season. YET amazingly despite his dominance he has not looked as quick round Arlington as he did last year. So there could be even more to come from the Eagle. However he looked much quicker than the other SGP riders ... but a lot of the SGP riders look to be struggling. Crump was struggling all meeting with setups / machinery and considering the pace he had (Holta / Crump ) match race i would imagine he grab a final spot with both hands despite being 12 points down on Nicki. Yet over 10 meetings I would expect Crump to believe he can make that up ... Hancock was excellent as ever and rode the right lines to dominate nicki apart. Adams looked good in spells but out of the dodgy gates did not look quick enough. The Great British hopes, Nicholls did not look quick enough or gate well enough and if he has broken his thumb I would expect him to be struggling to even ride in the next round. Bomber gave it his all and will be satisfied with his debut as a Full Time rider in the SGP but will need to get a series of starts to make an impression. He was in contention on 1/2 but on the graveyard gates struggled. Lindback was woeful ... barely managed to look more on the pace that the Italian reserves ... If he dont knuckle down and hit the ground running in sweden / Poland could be along old season. Jagus was the best of the Poles looked quick when he had fresh air in front of him but seemed to struggle when at the back. But an excellent effort from the Pole and with Wroclaw next round must be hoping for another good return. Gollob and Hampel were ok in spells and both will be looking to make an impression on May 12th. AJ like Gollob did ok but did not pull up any trees .... Bjarne and holta both seemed to just have one of those meetings ..

Should be quality ... looking forward to this SGP ... Going courtesy of Ballinger Tours // fly out from stanstead Fri am and return Sun eve. Wife is with me but hopefully she will have too much vodka and goto bed early. Those getting their early can you stand on the track and ensure OO dont take the dirt off

1st CRUMP, Jason 20 25 25 25 20 25 16 14 11 181 2nd HANCOCK, Greg 5 20 20 16 13 9 12 4 25 124 3rd PEDERSEN, Nicki 25 14 16 4 6 9 11 6 18 109 4th JONSSON, Andreas 8 5 10 20 7 9 25 7 16 107 5th ADAMS, Leigh 10 7 11 6 12 16 18 12 8 100 6th ANDERSEN, Hans - - - - 25 18 20 25 4 92 - Already qualified 7th ZAGAR, Matej 9 18 4 9 4 10 4 20 11 89 8th LINDBÄCK, Antonio 9 2 6 8 16 4 3 18 20 86 9th HAMPEL, Jaroslaw 4 16 8 18 2 4 10 16 7 85 10th GOLLOB, Tomasz 18 9 18 7 3 7 4 6 4 76 11th NICHOLLS, Scott 9 9 5 8 8 20 8 - 9 76 12th PEDERSEN, Bjarne 5 6 7 12 18 10 8 2 7 75 Gollob and Hampel likely to have a big big meeting in Bydgoscz so should jump a couple of places ..... Nicholls has sworn if he does not qualify he will not ride next season. So that will be interesting to see how that situation goes because looking at the scores he is going to need a final place. Bjarne Pedersen may be a Wild Card but may have to sweat for a place. He is immediately replaced by another Dane Hans Andersen but in all honesty there is not a great deal of top class riders out there - SO I can see Bjarne getting nominated again. Should Hampel / Gollob have the big meeting in Poland that will be 3 poles in next year , so the WC may go to Freddie Lindgren who is probably ready to make the next big step up.

Thought Lindback was excellent value on Saturday and deserved his rostrum place and was unlucky to loose the final. Shame that Lindback, Hampel, and AJ are unlikely to ride in the EL next season.

I wonder if this may be reconsidered if his collar-bone injury prevents him from making the top 8 !! Has a ready made excuse now ... Plus with Cardiff being the Speedway SGP jewel in the crown will need 2 Brits in series. Loram would be popular but would tend to go against the BSI trait ... so I guess it would be between Stead and Bomber .... Bomber out performed Stead in the GP Qualifier so the balance would favour him I guess BUT is Steady more marketable !!!

Congratulations Crumpie on winning the World Crown !!!

Congratulations to Jason Crump on his World Title ..... simply rewards his excellent season, he has been far and away the best rider out of the 16 riders. I understand that in terms of the SGP series he has won the title in the quickest time, which is some going considering TRicks performances last year. Which brings me to congratulating the BSI on not having Hans Andersen in from the start of the series as he should of been !!! Perhaps if he was in from the start they might of had some competition for Crumpie this season and in the last couple of SGPs be interesting to see if BSI are burnt financially in terms of attendances - or lack off.

Come on AJ !!!! 20/1 too good to not have a tipple at those prices.

Think the Wild cards nationality will be determined by the final 8 placings .... however if : Crump Hancock N Pedersen A Jonsson L Adams S Nicholls B Pedersen Gollob Make the top 8 this season - with the 3 qualifiers of Jagus Holta H Andersen The wildcards are likely to be : Hampel - Polish good sponsorship with Red Bull who the BSI must be continually pitching. Poland has 2 SGP's and biggest fanbase. Lindback - Most of the PR around the SGP's have been based on the boy from brazil etc etc. With him being black and offering excellent marketing opportunities and the next generation of Swedish rider and possibly AJ the only Swede in the top 8 - Nailed on for a Wildcard. Zagar - Has mixed it in a number of the SGP's and on his 1st season deserves another shot at the series. It is looking beyond these 3 then the equation gets difficult ..... BSI like British representation with Cardiff the jewel in the crown will they ensure a 2nd Brit. Harris did his chances no harm with 5th place in the qualifier BUT does he have the appeal of Loram ????? PK missed out in the final had a good season generally but has failed at SGP level will they offer him a go at the SGP's again or look at a younger option like Lindgren. Off the other riders in the SGP series Richardson has blown his chances and has continually failed to deliver. Will have to earn his place back in the series by qualifying next year. PROTASIEWICZ like Richardson has had plenty of opportunities and blown it ... Niels Kristian Iversen may get a place he is young exciting and featured in the Danish SWC team and the BSI marketing

As much as speedway fans may like Mark to ride in the SGP series it not going to happen. Unfortunately

Might as well hand him the trophy now , the guy has been streets ahead of the rest of the field. I am going to Bydgoscz so hopefully the top 8 will not all be over by then as well.

Kaj Lukkanen Gufarov Janusz Kolodziej - Early season form suggested he could of been a contender but struggled in SWC. With a good performance may become a consideration due to need for Polish representation and sponsorship .... Michael Max Hans Andersen - Will be in the SGP series next year even if he fails to make the top 3. has to be handed a Wild Card whatever. Chris Harris - With Richardsons' likely demise from the SGP as I cant see him making a top 8 finish. A good performance from Bomber or Stead may see them on the SGP stage with a Wild Card simply to give BSI 2 jewels to their Cardiff Crown. Peter Karlsson - If fit and on early season form PK has a great chance also ... although has struggled a little. Simon Stead - see Chris Harris .... Piotr Protasiewicz - Pentel could be the key but has struggled so badly on the SGP scene unless he makes top 3 - bye pepe !!!! Charlie Gjedde - Martin Smolinski Rune Holta - I understand the meeting is on one of his home tracks so should have a good chance of qualifying. I wonder if he does whether he will become Polish again ...... Wieslaw Jagus Ryan Sullivan Robert Kosciecha Matej Ferjan

I got no problem with Hans Andersen .... He is riding out of his skin at the moment. I think that he can be overly aggresive on the track but every sport has a good guy and a bad guy. It is often portrayed that rider are thus because it sells tickets !!!!!!!!! Previously in speedway it used to be Gollob around the time of the Boyce incident so much so that Sky tried to mention nicknames in commetary and say Gollob rather than Tomasz Gollob as it sounded more sinister ... Crump had it for a while as he was so commited to win and would get frustrated in the pits throwing gloves etc . Nikki Pedersen got mantle passed on to him and now that he "seems" to have calmed down on track it has been passed onto Hans for the moment. Sky Sports always promotes the Brits and is crying out for a Brit winner and Scotty has been the pin up boy of British speedway for a while now ... simply because following Loram dropping from the SGP series, Scotty is the best Brit by a back straight and is portrayed as the good guy. Any rider in the SGP series has to be mentally and physically strong to win a SGP ... I dont care two hoots about riders feuds and obviously there is bad feeling between Scott and Hans from the SWC in 2004 and Ipswich days ... let it carry on it creates a great story and hopefully will create fantastic racing now and into the future. ...

The Bris have been hammered for not being hard enough .... Scott on Greg was hard but fair racing. If he let him through all and sundry would be asking why he did not close the door. Scotty may not make it to be World Champion but he is whole back straight better than the other Brits at the moment.

At last a decent track and we get a good SGP .... a number of good races and a Brit on the rostrum. Congratulations to Crumpie because that is his 2nd World Title in the bag !! Excellent race in the final pressuring Hans into mistake and then gone !! 25ts !!Pretty tough on Bjarne but thats SGP racing. Nicholls was fortunate to make the final. Zagar was going slow into the corner and went down pretty easily but he was in front and certainly touched by Scotty. However over the course of the year they tend to even out over the course of the season. As for hoping he gets "wiped out" considering the accident to Ales Dryml and Luke Priest recently you should hang your head in shame. IMO your know better than the thugs who threw bottles at the Danes. Hans Andersen was excellent value again and made a mockery of the BSI / FIM ...by competing superbly and showing if he was in the series Crump may of had a serious contender.

"What goes around comes around" I believe were his words Thurs ..... Now I think HA is having a superb season and was harshly treated by BSI and FIM for saying the tracks were pee poor amongst other things. But was it not him who went down with barely a touch by Crump at Cardiff 2005 ??? Plus on a couple of occasions at SWC and SGP last season he hit the dirt without being touched ... HA riding in England so long you may of come across the line "Pot kettle , kettle pot "

Congratulations to Denmark over the course of the meeting they deserved the victory !! Their team strength was greater than opposition. DENMARK - Nikki P and Hans Andersen were dominant and forceful. Bjarne and Gjedde picked up points and good support. NKI a SGP rider and the poss weak link picked up the victory when the chips were down. SWEDEN - Seemed to struggle especially PK and Max yet still claimed silver. AJ was quick and rode well. Lindback seems to be heading in the right way and claimed a couple of deent wins. Lindgren did ok without pulling up any trees. AUSTRALIA - Crump was excellent again and just his will to win cost him and the Aussies. Sullivan and Adams seemed to struggle. Expected Adams to be dominant on an EL track but he was someway off top form. Wiltshire did wel to come back after the crash in heat 2 !! Mcgowan think the occasion was too much for him TEAM GB - Nicholls showed he can mix it with the best but needs to get his gating sorted. Excellent performance and lead from the front. Loram , Louis , Harris gave there all but none of them could gate and missed out. Richardson like his season was inconsistent. As for the facilities absolutely dire ... putting a burger van in and 5 portaloos does not warrant rubbishemead as a SWC venue FACT

Team GB were just not good enough FACT !!!! Nicholls proved that he can mix it with the big guns and the positive for him is that if he maintains that style of riding he will guarantee his SGP place next season. Richardson like his season was inconsistent on one of his former tracks. Loram is a racer and gating is not his strength thus struggled in the SWC Final. Louis strangely could not gate and just struggled throughout meeting .. Harris - Missed the start and that was that. At that level you cant afford too .... then in last two rides at least competitive. As for Floppy he has struggled with his engines all season and not been the dominant force .. he has been. But he is comong back from a head injury and no doubt confidence a little low with e/f and the alike. His last Smallmead visit was a 4+1 return I believe.

Crump was the rider to get Australia in with a chance !! All SWC he was only headed by Richardson until the last heat !! The guy just wants to win !!!! Lets be honest what is 2nd / 3rd in the World Cup NOTHING !!! Although I have to say I was quite happy as TEAM GB got 3rd and it disappointed a number of the Crump fans who must be the most irratating in the sport !!!!

I did not see that ?? Was that at the end of the meeting ??? I had already left .. but if I had seen it I would have a word in the mugs ear who threw it !!!! Either that or take a photo of the mug and send email it to Reading / BSPA or on here to shame the muppet.

As for the track and rain ..... having seen what they did to that Swedish track a couple of years ago when they dumped hot shale on the track and 30 minutes later they had racetrack that was spot on ... I have no sympathy. Sorry but this is the pinnacle of the sport as a team event .. if BSI / FIM (I care not ) want the sport to appeal to the masses this is one major opportunity. I fear this has been all done on the cheap and we are likely to be cheated ... time will tell.

Kevin Coombes is excellent at Eastbourne ... !!! His lack of knowledge for bends 3/4 is because he is in complete shock having walked on the track and tried to find some dirt. As for supporting Team GB and getting the crowd behind them sobeit tournament is in England so get used to it !!! You got a Danish track as well.

With the threat of Thunderstorms and the Danish liking for slick tracks .. dont expect anymore shale down.