pandorum

To be fair to them I think a lot of changes in riding order were made after practice although I don't know why the helmet colours changed. They try to provide cards the day before and this kind of thing affects them. I printed off a one late on Monday and had to print another when I saw the changes. Won't get caught out today. They do double check which is why they had the right cards when the racing began and they provide a free service after all. These people do us a great service here and we should be grateful and not criticise when they try to give us stuff in plenty of time and get stung when the teams change everything. As to who will win it's as plain as day that Australia will be going through which is probably why they will be struggling to get a crowd even free. The race off is a great idea but without the host nation is of no interest to the people they need to attract. How many times have we seen an empty stadium for this? I think today will be just the same even if they give people free tickets.

Denmark looking good with this team wait until they add Nicki and Neils. Agent Pedersen for a final place?

Enjoyed it. Good meeting. Looks like one opinion that won't be available is MJJ racings until September

That Czech kid is rather good. Looks like they will earn their PO place. Pity about Latvia but just not their night. Milik with a Joker?

I would love Latvia to win it as it would really put the cat among the pigeons for Thursday. But I think 3rd is the best they will get as the Czechs are not without talent as well. Crowd looks poor unless that was not live

Which year?

Well it doesn't to me but I was expressing MY opinion not YOURS I would have blooded the kids but that's what I thought. I did not think any of Tai's compatriots should have been there. Lot's of teams blood young riders so are they NOT taking it seriously? I bet even Rosco never expected to be in the Final. The point I made still stands but it's all opinion as that is what constitutes a debate. Those of us that called for new blood may seem to have been proven wrong but if and when the team don't win the trophy are GB any further forward? Of course not the Past just did well against a weaker opposition and flattered to deceive. when perhaps it would have been a good idea to throw in the Future and see how they did. Having said all that, I ALSO nearly fell of my chair in shock by the end of the 1st turn of heat 1. Well done the boys as they were not lucky but earned their place in the Final but again it has to be said against weaker opposition than they would have had if Russia were not in a mess and the Aussies were in a tizzy with injury But what the Hell the boys done good and I hope they win the bloody thing

Danes look strong even with the 2nd team. Hope Sweden and Latvia vying for second.

What a tough old lad AC is Great news to hear both he and Olly are OK. One of the most awful crashes I have seen and I have seen a few that would turn your hair grey in my time. Feared the worst when I saw that but speedway riders are a tough breed. Hope he recovers quickly and is back in the saddle soon as our sport needs lads like this. Looks like Screeny may well have to don kevlars after all and don't Sheffield have Eric Boocock as a back up Joking aside good luck to Sheffield tonight as they deserve a bit of luck. Hope it's a good meeting and everyone goes home in the same condition they arrived

Why should they? Most people disagreed with the selection because it was stuck in the past and was of no benefit to England/GB at all whatever the result. That still stands. Yes the team rode fantastically together. Yes Stead had a wonderful meeting. The boys did really well to go straight to the final. Will they win it? Most likely NO! If they did it would be one of the most amazing achievements in speedway. Do the other three deserve to be there? Of course, they earned it and only an idiot would deny them a place in the final. But it does us no benefit as regards the future as apart from Tai it's a team firmly rooted in the past. I doubt anyone really thought for one second we were going to finish higher than second and then fail in the PO. But again none of it makes a haporth of difference as regards the teams future prospects. Of course if we won it it would all be worthwhile. I hope we do. But I doubt we will. Still be cheering for the lads all the same but still don't believe any of them apart from Tai should have been there in the first place but ironically was glad they won the KL meeting and cheered myself hoarse as they did it. But then that's speedway for you.

That was an horrendous incident hope AC gets up and walks away. Agree with above we don't want to see that again

Bit of a stretch for SKY and Steady to call it a great stadium when half of it is so dilapidated they can't allow the crowd to stand on it. Sad really as I remember watching Doug Wyer and Reg Wilson in a full stadium. But sadly speedway will never get back to that. Good meeting all the same with some exciting action. Nasty crash hope Olly is OK

Swedish leg courtesy of ManchesterPaul http://speedway.manchesterpaul.net/racecards.html#2014swc

I was at Sonisphere a few weeks back which is a bit bigger event than Saturday. They allowed anyone to bring in as much food as they could carry and allowed people to bring there own drink as long as they were sensible about it. They allowed a tray of lager and a couple of bottles of booze per person and water on the site was available free from the many taps on the site. I was talking to one of the bars there and they paid 25G for the weekend and there were a lot of bars and food concessions so you would have thought Sonsiphere would have banned drinks and food but they didn't. From what I saw the food and drinks stands still made a packet over the 4 days. Obviously the scale was a lot smaller but still a bit greedy to go as far as searching bags. Goodwill was shown at Sonisphere and everybody was happy but does not look like it was on display at Kings Lynn. If people were trying to walk in with a tray of beer over their shoulder fair enough maybe but to not allow folks a few sarnies and a drink of water carried in a bag strike's me as bit poor form. But since when did speedway ever really care about it's customers

That's just plain wrong

Fair comment. Although in my defence I meant 'Luck' as instead of using a rider from the past they got to give a chance to a rider from the future and was not being nasty to Ryan who I hope recovers fully and swiftly from his injury. A chance but not a good chance as I am sure they like us did not expect to do that well. I doubt Fisher would not have made the difference between winning and coming 2nd which they did as our lot were on fire. But of course we will never know as with 'what if's' anything is possible. So again fair comment!

The Danish model of 5 rider teams pits the #4 and #5 against the top men including a heat 10 when they ride against the #1 and #2 so they get to race against top riders where ours don't. I think we should have a grading system here and abandon averages which are too easily manipulated. And favour our riders massively over foreign ones. But that won't happen. Lambert is probably unique to our speedway that he has taken a completely different route and benefitted from it. Is he better than the young Danes and Swedes? Time will tell but he does need to compete in their leagues. I saw him on TV for Outrup in the Danish league and he did OK but was beaten twice by Palm Toft (once from the back) but managed to beat Artem Laguta. Don't think he has had any more outings which is a shame. I have seen many a young rider beat top men at both BL levels and maybe we should take a chance. Obviously NL level against EL is a bit much but someone made the point recently that we should take the best PL and put them on a fast track in EL and do the same with NL in PL. Maybe next year they will get it right and save money and help our young kids. Did not know that. Thanks for the clarification Bit of luck for the Yanks then as Ruml did well. Ok he did not tear up the track but looked steady in all his rides and must have gained a whole lot from that experience.

I enjoyed the sh#t out of last night I loved every minute of it but my point still stands. Sweden and Denmark don't protect their youngsters on the track and that is surely where it matters and lets face it their youngsters are riding here but ours are not riding there which says something about their production line. And US could have used Fisher but they didn't instead they threw 2 youngsters in. Robert Lambert may look it but has he proved it yet? No! Will he? I do hope so as we need him. Your last sentence I disagree with but hell we all have an opinion and life would be dull if we all agreed with each other

Sad part is he/she/it does have a decent knowledge of speedway and shows it sometimes but for some reason wants to be the centre of attention with outrageous posting. Some people are like that. desperately seeking someone to hate them. We should really pity he/she/it rather than abuse them they must have a really desperate life if their world revolves around a silly internet forum .

Tell Scott Nicholls that as he called them England several times. Sad part is this result, which was fantastic by the way and huge credit to the lads in the team who were not 'lucky' at all but won fair and square, will not help us one bit in building a team to win the WTC. Hopefully these guys can get a rostrum place in the Final. But in terms of bringing on the next generation it's no help at all. The fast track idea won't test the youngsters as they are 'protected'. Poland, Sweden and Denmark don't protect theirs and look how well that works for them. Oliver Berntzon who was a fair to middling reserve last year getting a chance to ride in the WTC with Sweden an eye to the future. The US threw two lads in at the deep end yesterday and had an incredible time. Yes Rosco stuck it to all us doubters and showed how stupid we were to put down his team but what was gained for England/GB? Well we know Tai is world champion and may retain his title and will lead this team for many years to come. And that's it really. Our support trio rode their guts out and scored double figures against two weak teams with one or two world class riders on display who they beat fair and square. But they are the past not the future. So wonderful we got straight to the final. I hope we win it. But we probably won't. A rostrum position will be an incredible result for this team and a deserving reward for their efforts. But it won't help the development of our team one iota.

Well done England. Doubt they have a hope in hell of winning but a rostrum place is a great result. I like Kel and Nige but there are plenty of people looking for a team spot better than that Italian. They may be on a percentage of his earnings though. Italy a joke team and it was more a 3 team tournament. Hope USA finish 2nd

Hardly a great spectacle but absorbing enough to enjoy. We are doing really well and Stead has certainly stuffed his critics words back at them (including me). Yanks doing well and Billy would be a fool to replace any of his men by tac subs as 3rd is a certainty and they need the experience. It's not their fault as they are not up to the standard but Italy are an absolute joke team. Imagine the meeting if Russia was not in a mess

No it's not. Footballers play for one team as they are given a weekly wage that is enough to allow them to live off it. They are paid all year round whether they play or not. Injured or just left out because they are moaning or crap they still get their full wage. Speedway rider's are self employed and ride on a match or series of matches basis. If they are not riding they are not earning so riding in different countries in different leagues is a necessity. Footballers can train in lavish facilities whilst speedway riders need meetings to keep themselves competitive as the clubs they ride for don't have the option to provide training facilities for riders. A footballer usually lives in the area they play in whilst a speedway rider could be based hundreds of miles from where his team are. Speedway has practically nothing that can be compared to football. Football is a very rich well run sport whilst speedway is a very poor badly run sport. The idea that's someone with ambition like Darcy or Tai can ride for ONE team only is too daft for words as nobody could afford to pay them the wage they would require to be able to do that. Of course a Champions League in speedway is a non starter but that does not mean some kind of competition between countries cannot be envisaged. Once we used to see touring sides come to Britain and provide great entertainment. Back then all the best riders rode here. Now the boot is on the other foot but why not involve a British team in this kind of thing. There is no point comparing it to some kind of Champions league that other well run sports have. Speedway is a pretty insignificant sport even in places where it is popular and it will always just be some Mickey Mouse made up idea but may well provide some entertainment for those who watch it.

It's a sad state of affairs when we have to hope the opposition riders drop out to give us a chance to progress on home shale. 2nd probably best we can hope for but you never know the lads might just surprise their critics and win. I do hope so and best of luck to the GB quartet also hope for a good close meeting with all 16 going home in the same condition they turned up in

Could this be the start of a conspiracy