Bagpuss

Lots of Brit bashing on here as expected but I thought it was a good job well done by the Brits. Should have won on paper and did so with a fair bit to spare in the end. Russia were excellent entertainment and JD showed what a great rider he can be on good kit. Hancock apart the USA were a shambles. Personally don't think GB have much chance of winning the final but the good thing is that the team is full of youth this year which makes things a bit more unpredictable and gives hope for the future. Like others I can't really understand Nicholls' comments about finishing top three. May well be realistic but sounds defeatist, if the riders don't think they can win it (unlike me!) then why bother riding? Possibly the BSPA press office misquoting again? The race off should be very interesting tonight and won't surprise me if its a better meeting than the final.

Agree that he was very unlucky tonight but that is sport for you, ups and downs. I think we will have to agree to disagree lupus Can't beleive I am defending Nicki P

I'm by no means Nicki's greatest fan but I think people are being a bit hard on him here. These are GP's and the racing is cut throat stuff! Accidents will happen. If he had cut up the inside cleanly and won the race (which could easily have happened) then we would all be saying what a fine ride it was. The margins are like fag papers at this level.

Personally I don't think he is good enough, as he has consistently shown since being in the series. However I agree that he gets slagged off far too much on here. No need for people to join the hate campaign. If you don't like him then support someone else!

Precisley what I was getting at iris123

I believe there will be two Brits seeded through to next years series and they will be Nicholls and Bomber Loram too old, Richardson lost it, Stead not ready

Wouldn't disagree with that at all pal!

So was Andersen not still leaning on Nicholls when they entered the corner? At the end of the day its a GP and nobody in a Semi Final is going to shut off, and with the track as wet as it was somebody was bound to come a cropper, just happened to be Hans Classic 'six of one, half a dozen of the other' for me

MrMungo! A rather blinkered view for a man of your considerable speedway knowledge Did you not see Andersen leaning all over Nicholls in an attempt to stop him going past? Or did you ignore that bit? As Kelvin Tatum said, Andersen's body was 'in completely the wrong position' going down the straight As I have said on the main thread it could have gone either way and Scotty was unlucky on this occasion, after getting lucky in Lonigo. Andersen could also have felt hard done by if he had been thrown out, but thats speedway And if nothing else these two characters make for great viewing when they meet on track

Both decisions were 50/50 for me. Of course the racing is hard! Gordon Bennett, its a World Championship Nicholls and Lindback were unlucky this time but their turn will come

Andersen, Sullivan and Holta I reckon. Although it would be nice for Bomber and/or Steady to finish in the top three

I thought (as Kelvin Tatum rightly said) that the Pedersen / Iversen one could have gone either way, but for me the Nicholls / Zagar incident was pretty clear cut. Scotty's move had reckless and desperate written all over it after he cocked the previous corner (?) up and without doubt he caused Zagar to fall. But hey you need a bit of luck now and again and I'm pleased to see Scott on the rostrum as I'm sure is his No.1 fan shooting star

At that level there is a very fine line between dirty and hard racing. Thought Mr Steele got both major decisions wrong, I would have excluded Pedersen for taking away Iversen's leg and Scott for wiping out Zagar but there you go, thats speedway

Definitely deserving winners, well done to them. GB had a good go after a bad start and whilst never looking likely to win they deserve credit too. As do the other two teams for playing their part in a very very entertaining meeting

To be fair the heat 18 incident was one of those which could have gone either way. And I think the vast majority of people would have replaced Steady with Louis for the final if they had the power to, indeed many were suprised that he wasn't in the original five as he is the form British rider. It is soooooo easy to be wise after the event

Heat 18: as Hans said himself, what goes around comes around

Looks like Mr Andersen's naughty manouvre on Thursday had started a trend! At least the GB boys are only chopping across half the track and not from the kerb right to the fence

Well you have come out with some pretty astonishing stuff on this forum my friend but THAT takes the biscuit However your post would make a great dictionary definition for the word chauvanist

Woah! I don't think the track is that bad tonight, could do with a little more shale perhaps. As pirate paul says our gating is dreadful. Hopefully we can pull our socks up and get back in contention

Its called having your TV and computer in the same room In any case Sky had so many poxy commercial breaks that there was plenty of time to do both

As I said, it was mainly because of the practice! Not blaming the track staff at all.

I thought that but didn't want to say it I think it was more to do with practice to be honest.

For me Andersen's move on the third bend was not fair, but there you go, its all about opinion isn't it! Its a pity he has to do that now and again because he is a damn good rider and I would have him in my team every time. I think people are being a bit unfair on Scott, he was quite obviously riled (as I would have been) and it was all a bit of a storm in a tea cup to be honest Choosing their line is the right of a rider in front I agree, but there has to be a limit and for me that is reached when that rider chops straight across an opponent to stop them in their tracks. If Nicholls had not shut off so promptly a nasty accident could have ensued Isn't it time you were going to work MrMungo

Job done, although GB's gating tonight was atrocious and we are fortunate that it took Poland so long to get 'dialled in'. Unfortunately due to practice and scorching weather the track was poor tonight (I'm not a fan of blue groove racing) although there was some decent stuff early on. Hopefully the track will be grippier on Saturday to give us more of a chance, however if it is not I would consider replacing Stead with Louis who would have loved it out there tonight

Yep, they have both overstepped the mark regularly too