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Would be interesting to know who was responsible for wording the statement! It was pathetic! Anyway, at least it's all over now, welcome back Coventry and Peterborough.

I agree Tex. Eventually, we will drive out all the top riders completely and end up with a north/south Premier style division. That may be fine for a lot of people and I mean no disrespect at all to those who like Premier league racing, as I'm sure there are many good meetings. Personally, I really enjoyed seeing the top guys like Crump, Pedersen, AJ etc and we've more or less lost them in British racing. With the farce of an Elite we have now and the clowns we have running it, the rest of the best won't bother coming back either. Now we seem to be doing our best to balls up the GB team; it's almost like the target is to make speedway as amateur as possible.

I haven't seen another thread anywhere but apologies if there is one. I read in the Speedway Star that Lee has decided to quit the team. He sites his reasons as not being able to accept the terms expected from team GB, losing out on expenses and the team not realistically being good enough to win anything. According to Lee, team GB want riders to give up their main advertising slot on their racesuits for team use, costing riders money. He also says he was out of pocket by around £1500 after last years World Cup, with no explanation as to why his expenses claims were not paid. He went on to say that realistically, team GB have no chance of winning anything as there is only himself, Nicholls and Harris that are consistantly good enough and that it is hard to see where the next talent is coming from, as we are so far behind the likes of Poland, Denmark and Australia. To me, the future of British speedway seems to be declining by the day.

Didn't know anything about the crash until now. Best wishes go out to Joe.

Thanks for running it again Pete, makes the GP's more enjoyable. Much appreciated mate.

Steve, you are surely now just on a wind up. Firstly you congratulate Coventry, saying you had no complaints, which I pointed out to several posters who were mocking you in your absence and now because Ford has spoken out you have changed your tune. I'm beginning to understand now why so many can't wait to get their claws into you. I notice how you ignore all the posts asking how Poole constantly manage to get riders on low averages or why Screen famously missed a Poole match injured only to score well the very next day. Why can't you just admit that Coventry played the system better than Poole this season? You know that if the situation was reversed that Poole would have done the same. The vast majority of Poole fans can hold their heads up high, Poole have been a fantastic team this season and most have taken the defeat with dignity, including Middlo and Watt. As for real speedway fans, what does that even mean? I consider myself a speedway fan, I'm not sure what counts as real or fake but I'm definately a fan. I also feel Coventry played by the rules, whether we think the rules are fair or not, they were not broken. There are things we all think are unfair but if the rules allow then it's down to the rule makers. I certainly won't be looking at their victory with distain and I would guess that the vast majority of fans, Poole included, will be of the same opinion as me. I've stuck up for you plenty of times Steve but not on this occasion, as I'm not even sure you're being serious and I certainly feel you're wrong.

Sorry to say it Steve but you too are gullible if you believe Ford has grounds to stir it the way he has. He would have done exactly the same if the situation was reversed and you know it. It smacks of sour grapes and it's a shame he couldn't be a bit more dignified in defeat. Rosco has done absolutely nothing wrong. The rules have not been broken. It's the job of a promoter/manager to use his/her skill to find those riders on silly averages and protect them if the chance becomes available to keep the average down. Poole have played the averages game better than anyone over the years, which is why the club has a lot of jealous dislikers, we all wish our clubs were as efficient at doing it! This season, Coventry played it right at the right time and were deserved play off winners. Ford should have kept his mouth shut, it was bound to provoke this kind of response. Many would say that Doyle made an amazingly quick recovery from his shoulder injury after Havvy didn't do as well as expected, it works both ways.

Spot on post CM, agree with all of the above. I got critisized a while back when I said I thought Bridger had reached his level. In my opinion that still stands, he's done nothing to suggest that he will go on to be like Bomber, Richardson or Nicholls.

I'll change to Gollob for Captain please Pete, should have done it last time! Thought Crump was gonna fight back! Thanks.

I'll go for Crump as captain please Pete. Thankyou.

Old team: 1. Jason Crump £50k 4. Greg Hancock £25k 8. Kenneth Bjerre £50k 10.Hans Andersen £35k 13.Jaroslaw Hampel £25k OUT: 8.Kenneth Bjerre £50k 10.Hans Andersen £35k IN: 2.Tomasz Gollob £50k 12.Chris Holder £35k New team: 1. Jason Crump £50k 2. Tomasz Gollob £50k 4. Greg Hancock £25k 12.Chris Holder £35k 13.Jaroslaw Hampel £25k Total £185K Captain for today - Jason Crump Cheers Pete

I'll keep Crump as captain please Ballinger. Thanks.

Hi Ballinger, I'll switch my captain back to Crump please mate. Thanks for your hard work mate, much appreciated.

That's what I thought but I think Sandie was mixing up Shields and Watt, who Cooke referred to as Davey Tw*t I believe. I took it that she finds the whole thing a bit tedious aswell.

Fair enough! Although I could have sworn I'd been watching Shieldsy at Lakeside! I know what you meant though!

Shields a bully? Have I missed something? When did he get this reputation as a bully?

If you mean the betting odds, I think the Poles are favourites, the last I saw with Paddy Power was 11/10, with the Danes at 6/4. Personally I think the bookies have it about right, but it should be a good tussle. If Crump returns for the Aussies then they could be worth a punt. I just hope the winners this year win it without the farcical joker situation we had last time.

True, but then Shields isn't retiring at the end of the season so why should he give up his rightful place in the World Cup? I may be wrong but I think Shields is younger than Crump, does that mean Crump should step aside too? (I know he'll miss the early part because of his operation and may miss the whole tournament) The youngsters will get their chance when the time is right in my opinion.

Quite pleased with the riders Lyon has picked this time, they certainly seem the best five form wise at the moment, still not good enough to worry the major teams though. As for the Aussies, surely Shields has done enough to earn a place, he's been in great form this season.

I'll have Hampel as captain please. Cheers Ballinger.

Got off to a good start then it all went pear shaped! OUT GOES : 6 Nicki Pedersen £45k 7 Rune Holta £35k IN COMES : 4 Greg Hancock £25k 8 Kenneth Bjerre £50k NEW TEAM : 1 Jason Crump £50k 4 Greg Hancock £25k 8 Kenneth Bjerre £50k 10 Hans Andersen £35k 13 Jaroslaw Hampel £25k (new captain please) TOTAL : £185k Thanks Ballinger, appreciate your hard work mate.

I'll change my captain to Nicki Pedersen this time please. Cheers.

I've not seen Backtrack until issue 38, so I can't compare it to previous ones, but I was impressed with the look of the mag. A great interview with Kelvin and to echo the other posts, it was a very open and honest piece. As well as talking frankly about the sporting side of his life, he touches on his personal/family life very honestly. To cope with Autism is a huge strain on any family and is very much misunderstood. He gave a nice tribute to the missus, which sounds fully deserved as it must have been very difficult to cope with the lives of a speedway rider and an Autistic son. As mentioned by Neil, a book from Kelv would go down well, if he could find the time to work on it! He get's a bit of unwarrented stick from some on here but I hope he's around the sport and working on Sky for many years to come, he seems like a very likeable and honest bloke.

I'll go for Crump as my captain again please Ballinger. Thanks for persevering in light of whats happened, I'm sure the vast majority of us who enjoy your game are behind you. Someone needs to have the bollocks to give you an explanation and not ignore you, it's pathetic. I wouldn't blame you if you pulled the plug on it mate.

I'll keep Crump as captain please Ballinger. Thanks.