Gemini

Yes, what indeed? I hope something positive has been sorted out because wasn't that the cause of all the trouble with the American team in 2002(?) when they had tied with another country to go through to the final? My memory is terrible so I can't remember all the details, but I can recall Greg Hancock getting very upset and he is normally pretty laid back. Loved your little story by the way SL.

I was a bit worried about the Italian team having so many girls....... Daniele, Simone, Andrea. Still in the end they did very well so congratulations to them. I voted Denmark to win the World Cup on the forum poll, but I hope I'm wrong.

What was the weather like in your neck of the woods whilst the World Cup was on yesterday? Here in Leicester it was dismal and dull with heavy rain. I switched on the television to watch it with some trepidation, only to find the sun had been shining all day on the South Coast. So all those forum members who were compaining about the World Cup being held at Eastbourne and Poole, what was the weather like in Sheffield or Peterborough? These seemed to be the favourite tracks suggested. Was it hot and sunny like down South? Let's hope it stays the same for Thursday and Saturday.

That's just typical Richardson though isn't it? He is fine if he gates, but often struggles if he doesn't. Trouble is it will be hard to leave him out of the team purely due to the fact that he can gate, unlike one or two of the others and the final will be a lot harder than the qualifying round with all the best teams in it.

Aren't you just supposed to drive round the block on a test run?

Too true! It's not as though Weymouth are in the Elite League or ride on the same night and surely Poole are successful enough to help out a little club rather than cause any problems.

Ah! Another name from the past. I don't know what he is doing now but several years ago he was in to Bouncy Castles and came to erect one in my son's garden for my grand-daughter's birthday party. Needless to say we recognised him and the conversation naturally got round to Speedway.

You've not gone and bought Mr Shovlar's spare tickets have you?

Mmmmm. Okay. But if the fans are getting wet so will the riders and we all know what that means. Track inspections, rider discussions in the pits because they don't want to carry on, delays.......Not good television.

Agree with what you've said except for the last bit. It won't be at all funny if these big meetings are affected by rain, or even called off. What good will that do? As a Speedway fan surely you will want everything to be perfect for good racing even if you're only watching at home, like I will be?

And I'll second that. Brilliant!

Nor me. I always used to record these to keep because they were a bit different to the Sky broadcasts, but I don't even bother watching any more after seeing the first one.

I'm afraid you have missed the Cardiff one because as Nevsy has said it was shown at the unearthly hour of 3.45am on June 23rd. This week's coverage is the Danish G.P. Looks like Channel 4 have just about given up on Speedway as at one time they used to show the highlights at 11am on the Saturday following a G.P. with a repeat during the week. Now they've got rid of the best presenter - Julia Bradbury - and the sport is relegated to either 7am or the middle of the night. Subject to change...... GP3 Wroclaw....Sunday 6th June at 7.30am. GP4 Cardiff....23rd June at 3.45am. GP5 Copenhagen....Sunday 4th July at 7am. GP6 Gothenburg....Sunday 29th August at 7.30am. GP7 Krsko....Sunday 12th September at 7am. GP8 Bydgoszcz....Sunday 26th September at 7.30am. GP9 Hamar....Sunday 10th October at 7.am.

But is it broke? At least it will be fairer with all the riders having a race off each gate and meeting each other. The system at the moment is open to some manipulation in order for a rider to avoid an unfavoured gate by deliberately slowing down to lose a race on the line. It's worth a try.

I don't think any member of staff is allowed on the track though unless the race has been stopped? Makes sense for someone to have helped Nicki but I'm sure it would have resulted in the race being stopped if there was a member of the track staff running around as well. No doubt rule No. 2999 in the Health and Safety booklet.

Just goes to show I have learnt something during the past 50 odd years of being a Speedway fan. I'm chuffed!

Makes sense doesn't it that they should be commentating on what we are actually seeing on the screen? Makes Tony's mistakes seem even more pathetic though.

It's his weird sense of humour - takes some getting used to.

I think your Dad might be wrong. If he is referring to the 30 yard marker, or whatever it was called, that was just the distance a rider could be pushed if his machine failed at the start. There has never been a rule about keeping straight for so many yards, although I suppose if a rider actually bumps into another the race would be stopped by the referee.

Oh come on...don't go getting all soft on us.

Thank you. I'm sure I have read somewhere that a match has been arranged for Tuesday the 20th, but I can't find it now. Does that mean there will be two meetings that week? Sounds good to me!

See how easy it is to misunderstand things and class a rider you once thought as "clean" to the opposite, which I presume is "dirty." Greg clearly hit a rut which shot him into the path of Scotty. You should now be able to understand how all those forum members who think Nicki P. is a dirty rider have got it all wrong.

Must agree with all that. I love going round the Poole area for our holidays. In fact we are going again in July, after a week on the Isle of Wight. Looking forward to a trip to Weymouth Speedway this time as well. Anyone know what night they ride? We will be in the area from July 17th to 24th.

.... You do like living very dangerously Steve. I think the correct decision has been made to use Eastbourne and Poole as both tracks will get good attendances. Can't say the same if they were held anywhere else, but what do I know? I won't be there.

If you can get your hands on the film "On Any Sunday" with Steve McQueen, there is quite a bit of Japanese Speedway shown.