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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.

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

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.

oroins gone fishing!

An excellent GP last night, the best there has been for a long time. If the tracks continue to be prepared as well as that throughout we should be in for a great series. Crump looked very good considering he's not yet fully fit; will be hard to beat when he is. I'm amazed by John Hannibals remark about Crump (post 140) being lucky as usual! Surely a tongue in cheek remark, a three time World Champion doesn't become so by being lucky.

Thanks for running the comp again Ballinger, it livened up a dull GP series last year! I'd like to enter the following please : 1. Jason Crump (captain) £50,000 6. Nicki Pedersen £45,000 7. Rune Holta £35,000 10. Hans Andersen £35,000 13. Jaroslaw Hampel £25,000 Cheers.

Some big 'ol ruts on bends 3 & 4! GP's could go to Oz next year after all, they have a ready made rutted track!

I had a similar discussion about a Scottish team with Snyper once, before he vanished, presumably banned again! I said I thought it would be a great idea to have a Scottish team as at least there would be a team England could beat comfortably and not be the whipping boys ourselves!