BWitcher

Yeah he gets roundly booed at most tracks.... What is it about him you can't stand Orion?

Of course. As was Billy Hamill. Wolves/Cradley clashes, now they would have made good tv for Sky. Seeing the 4 americans Ermolenko/Correy/Hancock/Hamill do battle was something else. And throw PK in there in the latter years too.

A simple way to finish 3rd for sure. As it was, he made a brilliant 1st turn to secure 2nd and but for an amazing move by Hancock, would have won the GP. Had Holder been of gate 1 he would have done exactly the same thing.

So you think he would have had a better chance if he had turned hard, scrubbed off his speed and allowed Holder and Hancock a free run around the outside on the fast line? He would have been 20 yards behind before turn 3!!

How? Did you watch the other races in the meeting? Without doing what he did Pedersen would have been swallowed up down the straight as the other two would have had far more speed out of the corner.

Its clear the years since Cradley closed have mellowed my thoughts, but I do hope Greg wins the title this year! Never, ever thought I would say that back in the mid-late 90's!!

Guys.. its quite simple.. they were both not going to give an inch. Neither was at fault and it is fantastic to see such full blooded, committed racing like that.

Get a grip. Its a GP final, in the most prestigious GP event of the year. Pedersen did nothing wrong either running of the final. He rode hard, as did the others. As someone else said, Holder tried to come across him, Pedersen was having none of it. NEITHER of them were at fault. Agree that race should have been pulled back in the first instance and also that should have been all 4 back.

No he wouldn't. Pedersen had next to zero chance of winning the final from gate 1, he rode a superb 1st turn to give him a chance to do it, and in fact managed to get 2nd place. No complaints from the other riders either. Don't understand how some are moaning to be honest. Thoroughly enjoyed that meeting and there was some absoulutely fantastic cut throat racing.

As I mentioned above, a number of riders tried for a long time to get visas to race in the GP qualifying round in Russia last year to no avail. If Russia wishes to play silly beggars with regards to visas, then they should expect the same treatment in return. Clearly, that is what they are getting.

As has been said, 6 riders missed out on GP qualifying last year because of issues getting visas into Russia.

Correct. And Harris caused the race stoppage. Pedersen made contact and moved Harris off the line. A move done time and again throughout the history of speedway. Harris, having been moved of his line had 2 choices. Continue, and likely be overtaken by 2, perhaps 3 of the other riders in the race (incidentally a choice Hancock made earlier in the meeting.. and he got back on the gas and battled his way back to get a pt). Or, choose to get off the bike. Harris chose the 2nd option, caused the stoppage of the race and was rightfully excluded. Anyhow, I think we are going round in circles now, so likely best the two camps agree to disagree!

That call could have gone either way for sure. Yet, once again a big difference. Lindgren lost control in that bend, he didn't in FULL control gracefully slide of the back of his bike as Harris did.

In trying to defend Harris you've just provided the perfect argument why he was correctly excluded. "I do think Harris dropped it" you say. Argument over. End of. Harris dropped it. You say Pedersen did a similar move to Hancock, and Hancock stayed on. Correct. Because Hancock knows this the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Its a tough sport. There should be no place for divers. And as for claiming that Gollob and Crump have never barged their way past anyone, thats just ridiculous! Gollob does it as much as anyone with his inside dives especially into turn 3. There's been a consistent theme through this thread, and its one of bringing up Pedersens 'character' and using that as a reason to exclude him. His character should have nothing whatsoever to do with the incident. As I said before, for those of you struggling to see the difference.. Lindgren.. Knocked Off. Harris and Pedersen for that matter.. Dropped it themselves. Its quite obvious.

Bit harder to 'slide off' on the straight

Totally agree about the rest of Nicki's actions, thats who he is and will never change.

Except he didn't knock anybody off. Pedersen was rightly excluded in his other races.

And here we have a voice of reason. Freddie is far from a fan of Pedersen's. They have had numerous 'incidents' down the years.

Point 1. Hasn't stopped many a rider throughout the history of the sport doing it. Point 2. Hasn't stopped many a rider throughout the history of the sport doing it. Point 3. Irrelevant, he wouldn't be thinking about that at the time. Point 4. You've not watched Harris all that much then. He has history for this.

So Nicholls should have been excluded in the British Final in your opinion? Its a contact sport, those who think it isn't need to wake up. Nicki forced his way through yes, I have NO argument against that. However, I do not believe he knocked Harris off. Harris made that decision himself, to get off the bike. Therefore he was the cause of the stoppage. Correct decision in Heat 19 too. Lindback dove inside, had the line and Pedersen needed to read it and cutback. Anyway, there will always be controversial decisions in the sport, its what makes it fun. We'll just agree to disagree!

?? Which happened on the straight. The front wheel was down, hence Pedersen entering the corner on the inside. Tough to do that if he was 'lifting'. Simple fact is, the contact did not cause Harris to fall.

A second is a long time in speedway. Contact causes you problems immediately. Contact does not cause you to fling your right leg into the air, and then gracefully slide of the back of the bike. Harris knew what he had done, hence when he was excluded there was no reaction from him as he walked back to the pits. The bane of speedway is riders taking the cheap option and sliding off at the slightest touch. The best races you often see riders clatter into each other without coming off. You must be of the opinion Scott Nicholls should have been excluded last Monday then?

Manchester Paul was talking about the Holder incident, i.e. he agreed Pedersen to be excluded after seeing the replay. As for Harris, correct decision by the referee. Yes, there was contact. Did the contact cause Harris to fall? No it didn't. It barely even unsettled him as you could clearly see. Harris then chose to take the cheap option and lay it down in the hope Pedersen would be excluded. GP racing is a tough sport.

A non-contact sport? Do you ever watch 1st turns????

Harris would still have chosen Wolves over his home track. Nicholls may well have done so too