KiddlyKestrel

I would boo our so-called top rider regardless of how good or bad he was scoring!!!!!

Welcome back Liontamer!!! Don't worry what the others say. Opinions are what opinions are. In some peoples eyes they might be really nasty remarks and slurs on names but they are only opinions. What were these jokes though, I must've missed them. Were they barred aswell?

I find it hard to agree with you Rob, you know that, but your first line is spot on. This divine right to be anywhere should be taken away from them all except the defending world champion. Is it not feasible to get all the qualifiers out of the way by the end of May and then run the GP's every other week thereafter?

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone in this topic. Just calling it the way I see it. A little vitriolic it's true but purely my point of view. In reply to tomcat, yes I have taken the time to talk with Scott in the past and even then he came across to me as brash and arrogant. I've also seen him stuff a rider in the fence at cycle speedway too even though the races were purely for demonstration purposes his supposed competitive nature was still very much evident! It seems my fellow posters on this topic seem as annoyed and bitter towards me as they are to Sayfutdinov, Ashley Holloway and anyone else who's name is not Scott Nicholls. Continue to support Nicholls if you like but when I see calls for backing our boys he's one that will get cheers, only jeers.

no Nicholls for GB either!!! and the Ruud-boy for Sweden what's all that about?

The fact it is not obvious to everyone is because we are entitled to our own opinions. The fact that it is obvious to some warrants the comment and opinion. I only wonder what Chris Harris' opinion would be?! The way I see it, and thats all it is, Scott Nicholls has always whinged and moaned when he is on end of a wrong doing yet still goes and does it himself to the next rider. Take this latest incident with Sayfutdinov, he rides the man out and out he knows where his opponent is as he's looking sideways not forwards, he may aswell of just hung him up on the fence. There have been other victims of this not neccessarily dirty but hard riding too, including his own fellow countryman and teammate Chris Harris. Now how many times has Nicki or Hans done that to Scott and he's bitched about them. What goes around , comes around and you've got to be able to take it aswell as give. He's not the British No.1 anymore again IMO he never really was.

This monkey will forever be on our backs, it doesn't make our opinions mean any less. Daniel King was useless on Thursday at Swindon. No doubt he will be better at the EoES but it still won't be enough to get GB into the Race-off yet alone the Final. If he struggles to beat young Sedgman, will he get any closer to Adams or Zagar

Scott Nicholls is a waste of space. Plain and simple. As Snyper says before he thinks he's better than he actually is. This has always been the case, his arrogance is beyond belief. In my opinion the support of British speedway fans is wasted on this rider.

I'm too young to have ever seen him ride, but know only too well the high regard that my dad held for Brian Brett. My dad is one of those lucky fans to have seen and known the likes of Brian Brett, Colin Pratt, Clive Hitch and of course Broady and Briggo. When he speaks to Broady or Pratty, he would sometimes ask for the welfare of Brian and it is this side of the sport that I treasure the most. Broady's night the other week was a memorable, magical evening, what a shame we couldn't have had a night like that for Brian Brett. May you rest in peace, Brian.

the only time i ever saw Richard Pettman was back in the spring of this year. he was on tv, BBC1 weekday morning, Under the Hammer or something like that. he'd bought a house at auction and was doing it up for renting out to students in Canterbury. quite a few puns were made at speedway's expense, like race against time and so on.

Hi-oh joined Eastbourne in the winter of 91-92. 1992 was the year when Swindon finally got relegated to Division Two and one of the matches that sent them down was a clash between Arena and Eastbourne. Brian Karger (having been dropped at Swindon mid-season) and Bo Petersen riding for Arena and Hi-oh and Peter Nahlin riding for Eastbourne. if memory serves correctly Eastbourne needed a win over Arena to stay up and the riders involved in a last heat decider were those previously mentioned. without doubt Andrew Silver was one of my teenage heroes and one race i remember most vividly was in 1987 when he after tracking down Eriksen and Stekkers (Wolverhampton) for two laps rode straight through the middle of them coming out of the fourth bend. the roar from the crowd was one of the loudest i've ever heard at Blunsdon.

yes the Doug ellis is the same man. another thing that confuses me about speedway in Birmingham are the exact locations of the tracks around Perry Barr. i know Hall Green is the dog-track in the south of the city and that the Wheels complex has now got Stock-cars. but it appears there were two tracks around Perry Barr. would i be right to assume that the athletics track at Alexander Stadium is one of them?

Iggy you're more than cynical than me... Jacob pretty much confessed about the tactics used in the first one, however i don't think Bjarne helped out Nicki in the semi at all... he might have done by the end of the race but he didn't look around, not once.

i suppose you'll want to add Ivan Mauger and Ole Olsen to that list aswell... And Anders Michanek as well. thanks for that Norbold, i wasn't sure whether to put Anders in or not.

Grow up. You call Nicki immature, now ^THAT^ is immature. as SullyRox said its over now. hopefully Nicki will carry on developing as a rider, regardless of being World Champ he is still a little immature, he still has plenty to learn. IMO he's still not quite the finished article, i mean could Jerzy Szczakiel really be classed as the best in the World in 1973 or likewise Egon Muller in 1983. Leigh Adams will probably never win the World Championship but in my opinion he's still a better rider than Nicki. The best rider in the World is still Tony Rickardsson, he doesn't need the title of World Champ to prove it. to be fair it wasn't quite Crumpy's to throw away, if he'd have gone to Hamar with a ten-point lead, then yes maybe.

i suppose you'll want to add Ivan Mauger and Ole Olsen to that list aswell... seriously though congratulations to Nicki. what more can you say, the A final you had to be in it, to win it... did he really bottle it though? a desperate Crump driving hard into the third turn in the semi, you see it week in, week out, sometimes you can get the verdict, sometimes you don't. was just one of those things. Jason will still be crowned World Champ one day and who's to say he won't equal TRick and Ove's five wins... maybe even still be the greatest... who knows...

who's to say that when Nicki and Crumpy meet in the early stages it won't be decided then. either of them are capable of taking each other out of the meeting, after all what's one exclusion for dangerous riding... it's gonna be good. personally being a Swindon fan i think Jason Crump - World Champion is more pleasing to the ear than Nicki Pedersen - World Champion, but Cheetahs fans how the season has changed. you could've had the World Champion this October, nevermind eh? having read the crystal ball (sorry!!) Speedway Star here are my final predictions. i reckon IF Crumpy finishes third in heat 21/22 and IF Nicki finishes fourth in heat 21/22 it would pave the way for a well-deserved victory. IF Leigh Adams wins the Final ahead of A.N Other and TRick this would be a perfect result for every true Speedway (sorry!!!) Swindon fan. Overall result 1st Leigh Adams 143 2nd Jason Crump 141 3rd who really cares, but it would be good to see a run-off anyway between TRick and Nicki who would then have both finished on 139.

go Rosco, go Rosco...

well the lower order this season has mainly been made up of double up/down riders so that shouldn't create too much of a problem...

this looks a kind of 'double-negative'.... so are you saying that the squad should have been the above mentioned and some youngsters? the aforementioned five have IMO had their day and it our chances won't be harmed all that much harm if we sent the kids there. however, i'm not Middlo and in no way will i even turn round and say 'i told you so'. my support goes to the lads , best of luck and let's see what we can do.

i'm inclined to back you up on this one. we're going to struggle like hell to win this tournament and doing a 'Denmark' in my opinion would have been a good move. all dogs have their day and all but Barker, Screen, Norris, Stonehewer and Havelock should not have been included in this squad. another problem here though is the fact that the younger generation have been given the cushion of the double-up rule. if this hadn't of been implemented in the first place i think you'll find that the likes of Stead, Harris, Allen, Neath etc. would probably now be setting be the pace for the likes of Barker, Norris and Havelock to follow. the sport in this country is again in need of a big shake-up and the first thing that has to go has to be the farcical double-up/down situation.