Gemini

What's up? Have you just found out you can't sleep four in the car after all?

I hope you are successful in tracking down some riders and loads of fellow supporters. I know Shoddy on here was a very keen Halifax/Kenny Carter fan. How about putting another post in the Speedway Discussions area because you might get more of a response in there?

Brilliant magazine and very interesting reading. It's great to read about things "behind the scenes" as the Speedway Star very rarely publishes anything remotely controversial. In view of some of the opinions on the forum about wrapping the riders in cotton wool and don't dare criticise them, it was interesting to read Bernard Crapper's way of dealing with Simon Wigg. "Just tell someone else, in his earshot, that he was useless! That ploy worked a lot and he'd always go out and prove me wrong." Can't wait for the next issue.

GP2 Prague....Saturday 29th May at 7am. GP3 Wroclaw....Sunday 6th June at 7.30am. GP4 Cardiff....20th June late night??? GP5 Copenhagen....Sunday 4th July at 8am. 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.

Glad I don't hang around the pits then. Actually Steve I think you will find we were mostly dismayed at Nicki's nostril clearing antics with his fingers, not so much the spitting. You tell me one other rider in the G.P's who does this then I might believe you that they all do it.

Try the park'n'ride on the way to the bay. It's nice and quiet up there. Not that I've done it myself but 4 years ago Pawprint spent about six hours in the camper van sleeping off all the walking she did around Cardiff during the day time.

I wasn't that daft to get up for 7am on a Sunday, even to watch Speedway. I have to get up at the unearthly time of 6.30am during the week so I like to have a bit of a lie-in at the weekend. Yes, I taped it but you're right - it was all rather boring.

Anyone watch this? I was really disappointed Julia Bradbury wasn't doing the interviews etc. as she had a good rapport with the riders last season and is a lot better than Sophie Blake (?) in my opinion. I always used to keep the Channel 4 G.P programmes because they were different to the normal Sky coverage, but now it's just run-of-the-mill highlights condensed into an hour. Okay if you don't have Sky but now not worth bothering with if you do.

We're not too far away then as we will be in N3, row 9, along with some other forum members. Here's hoping for another sunny day like last year as we will be out and about all day tiring Pawprint out so she can rest her weary paws in the hotel room while we're at the G.P. Shouldn't think there will be many others around with a Black/White Collie so if anyone spots us please say hello.

You're right there. I don't know where on earth people got the idea from that he is anything other than a paragon of virtue.

I'll be watching the G.P's very carefully in future.

Prefer something just a tad more refined myself. Even Pawprint has better hygene manners and always leaves the room if she wants to stick her hind leg in the air to lick her bum.

Thanks for that 21stCH. I agree with Rabbit I think a lot of people are a bit "tetchy and over-protective" about Nicki and any comment on him seems to incur a strong reaction. As I posted before I would have said the same things if it had been Mark Loram or Greg Hancock, as I am pretty neutral about Nicki, but I still remain to be convinced they would do the same things he makes a habit of.

We'll just have to agree to have differing opinions about this. If you think it's immature to comment on what was part and parcel of the Sky T.V. show then so be it. I would have said the same if it had been Mark Loram or Greg Hancock, but strangely enough although Mark had a cold I didn't see him blowing his nose with his fingers or spitting. When celebrities get to the top of their profession they should be someone to look up to, but that's just my opinion. You have yours, but I wouldn't call your opinion pathetic. Let Nicki carry on spitting, farting and snotting out his nostril contents to his heart's content, makes no difference to me but it won't make me respect or admire him I'm afraid.

So will I, with Summit and Pawprint.

Why is it not Nicki's fault? He knows the Sky cameras are all over the place and everything is filmed live. He chose to remove his helmet before heat 13 to spit twice knowing the cameraman was there, did two impressive ones before the semi-final, which anyone would have been proud of as they must have gone at least 3 feet, and then of course there was the nostil clearing whilst standing in a group of people including Alun Rossiter and the girl with blue headphones. He is our World Champion and I want to feel proud of him and no...I am not a Nicki hater. Just don't admire him very much. Anyway back to the racing. I don't know why there was such an issue about the tapes rising fractionally later on the inside because in 21 races - before they were checked - the rider on the inside in Red gated first on eleven occasions so it couldn't have been that much of a disadvantage. It seems to be pretty normal for a couple of the gates to be better than others in any meeting and in this case it was gate two (Blue)which was the worst. White gated first in 8 races and Yellow twice. Some good design Helmets on show and I particularly liked the Gold coloured ones belonging to Bjarne Pedersen and Hans Andersen. I was impressed with the attitude of Jason Crump, especially when he went to find Greg Hancock to sympathise with him after he was eliminated. Even then he got no credit from Tony Millard who said it was the other way round. I agree with all those who thought Tony Rickardsson was very lucky, but I would still prefer to see four riders in a race so didn't really mind the all four back decision. I think Tony Steele got it wrong though when he stopped heat 10 because Crumpy was already remounting. Rickardsson definitely had problems so was very lucky to get another chance in the re-run, when he should have been excluded for not being under power at the time the race was stopped. Some great racing and I hope the track at Cardiff is that good.

Phew! That would be an enormous undertaking and I can't see it ever getting off the ground, but good luck if anyone wants to try. I've got a photo of Charlie Barsby and Bryan Elliott. Never heard of them? That's what I mean! There are thousands of riders out there who have ridden in official fixtures. Perhaps it would be best to just pick a decade to start with - like 1990's to 2000 and then work backwards to Norbold's day.

Ah! At least my old memory is not playing tricks and I got the right people so no injustice done there. I'm sure you were all little Angels last year and will be this time as well.

I don't watch football so it doesn't bother me what they do, but I do watch Speedway and I don't particularly want to see our World Champion acting like some down and out tramp. Sorry but I can't imagine Greg Hancock or Mark Loram for instance doing this. No wonder Nicki has got loads of spots on his face. It's not a one off thing as last year he used a dirty cloth to blow his nose and then immediately wiped the sweat off his face and head with the same cloth. My god! No wonder I always keep away from the pits when at Speedway meetings so I can keep my rose tinted glasses on. Men ey?! Who'd have 'em.

We Gemini women notice things like that Addy. I dread to think what Nicki must be like with his personal habits if that's what he does when he knows the cameras are there. I remember him doing a similar thing with a dirty piece of cloth in one of the G.P's last season as well.

Don't worry about it Sir Matty - you're probably safe and I've got the wrong person and the wrong place. I thought it was dgm, Charles, Jay etc. who were wandering round the corridors late at night.

Enjoyed the GP tonight and would give it 8/10. Nicki Pedersen gets 10/10 for artistic impression for his spitting and nose blowing, using one finger on each nostril. Very clever as there must be an art to doing this and presumably he has to make sure the wind is blowing in the right direction. I live in hope there might be a sudden change one night. Not sure what to make of Tony Steeles decisions as I felt Trick was lucky to be allowed in the re-runs, but at least it meant we saw four man races so it wasn't an anti-climax, which sometimes happens when a top rider is excluded. Well done to Leigh Adams.

Are you making your poor children suffer the Grand Prix again Joanne? I thought you were going alone this year.

No thank goodness. I've heard all about your exploits last year.

True but it will be interesting to see which, if any, riders give the practice a miss. Can't see Lukas Dryml and Lee Richardson, for instance, deciding they'd rather ride at Peterborough the night before a G.P.