pandorum

Yeah I did not know it was 2 legs so see you next week Have a good day

That certainly does good race by Czaja. Back on Sopcast

Me too I am on PL Sport. Not brilliant but OK. Missed a couple of laps of the 3rd race.

True 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss'. But we at least have people in power that know the Earth is not 6000 years old I am back there in May so am hoping it is sorted by then Looks like they have the Danish guy on the graphics this morning Great ride by Loktaev

Pity no Greg Laguta but still might be a decent meeting. Got to be better than the PO Final 2nd Leg. Has the shutdown (slimdown) affected you Alan?

I think Emil and Tai might have something to say about that He is a fantastic rider but he is just one among a group of young excellent speedway riders. We saw how the pressure got to Emil when he was leading and how Tai coped with the pain barrier. As always lots of factors will determine the 2014 champion. He will be in the mix no doubt

I see they took my advice and put Hans out in that heat

Ah that was a girls race I wondered what was going on We had that at Poole when a bunch of girls rode last Monday

They would be better sticking Hans on the bike

Nescafe involved. That is interesting!

Good crowd Sopcast good stream That's shut me up then Nice bit of speedway history they have there. Hans Nielsen was a hell of a rider. Lucky enough to see him many times. First time he got an 18 point max for Young Denmark

Bit of a moot point but I don't think AJ replaced him as I don't believe for a second he was ever riding. A bit like the SEC carry on. There was only ever going to be ONE meeting he was going to take part in after he rebroke his collar bone. This 'replacement' was annouced 45 minutes ago but Tai was never going to be there . Very sneaky

Don't really see what that has to do with anything and I never mentioned anger He is not riding now anyway! And I don't believe he ever was

I would have thought speedway would be looking to attract anyone with a wallet at the moment. Sad part is it isn't 'attracting' anyone and is hemorrhaging fans due to p#ss poor production values, dilapidated stadia, rubbish racing surfaces, debacles such as the Poole Belle Vue farce, intransigence on behalf of the BSPA and a general malaise that comes from a sport in serious decline.

He would be stupid to risk any further damage in a mickey mouse meeting like this if he is having an operation next week on his collarbone. Also his English fans at Wolverhampton would question why do this but miss thier meeting?

Excellent news. I will tune in for a last fix of Polish speedway and that will be my lot for 2013 as I can't be bothered watching anymore EL as it has pretty much bored me this year. Poland and Sweden have produced some great TV speedway but our stuff has been lamentable sadly.

You are evil Tai seems a very nice lad and did well in his BBC stint. I am not a fan of body art but that is the individuals choice and should not detract from the fact he won the event through guts sheer determination and excellent organisation. But one thing that has to be said he is going to look bloody weird when he is naked as a 70 year old

And people complain the double point rule is Mickey Mouse It's not the length of the races that are a problem as a 4 lap race between four evenly matched riders on a decent racing surface is entertaining. It's the clapped out stadia, the lack of investment in home grown talent, the attitude of the people who run the sport, the lack of investment in the most important part of a promoters business......his track surface. It's competition from other things to do, the expense of a night out watching the sport, the expense to the riders which adds to the expense to the customer, lack of identity between riders and fans which used to be a major factor in 'the good old days'. It's so many little things that have not been learned from the past with a view to looking to the future. Some are easy to fix whilst others are more to do with a society that has moved with the times and demands more for thier pound than speedway is seemingly willing to offer. Speedway is a great sport but needs to change drastically to survive. The basic idea is sound but everything around that needs a revamp in both style and substance. Presentation, promotion, value for money, investment in our own riders. The list is sadly long and it is evident even to a blind man that the BSPA are not up to such a task. Next season will be a watershed for the sport. An English world champion, a new National Stadium, probably no more TV exposure for our failed EL. What will they do with these things? The smart money is they will do what they usually do. Squander it with a few meaningless rule changes and leave the rest to Providence To the idiots that run our sport thier customers are an enemy to be ignored, exploited and insulted. One day they will find themselves with no customers as eventually even the most commited get tired of all the bulls##t and find something else to do.

It certainly not done the top tier of British racing a lot of good but the PL has not been affected as much so it's wrong to say it has destroyed the British league. But SGP is here to stay and it is a great improvement on one off finals. The champion needs to prove himself over a season rather than get a lucky break by virtue of riding on a track he likes for one night. Tai is a good example of a rider really having to work season long to get to the pinacle. I doubt crowds would flock back to speedway here if you had strippers as it's expensive and cold and wet and has rubbish tips for stadia and strippers can be found in a nice warm pub for a lot less. British speedways problem is not the SGP it's simply it's an anachronism stuck in an era of flat caps and pidgeons run by second hand car dealers and people who own scrapyards. By the time it realises that it will have gone the way of the Dodo picked clean and dumped in a ditch. It's a shame as it's a great sport but to blame the progressive attitude of the GP system for the failure of a 50s throwback like our EL/PL is too daft for words.

Sad part is the season is nearly over and this will pretty much be completely forgotten once the new one starts. But of course by then we will have all the crackpot ideas from the winter BSPA on how to allow Poole to keep their top two to examine and anything positive Tai has brought will not amount to a hill of beans and the price hike and other insane ideas they come up with will even nullify that.

That is a very fair but sad point. Until Russia is involved in SGP either of the Laguta brothers is not as attractive to the series as Swedish riders even if both Russians are head and shoulders above the likes of Jonsson on current form.

Totally agree with the crazy person. The top 8 now known has thrown the SGP into a bit of a quandry as Zagar has thrown a spanner in the works. No Swede worth a pick (how we Brits know that feeling) but one will be picked so with Holder and Gollob that's ONE pick left. It's a no brainer really as greg Laguta has proved himself one of the most exciting riders of 2013 and the SGP would be INSANE if it did not hand it to him. Maybe Gollob won't be fit or will give it a miss but if not ditto Tomasz Gollob.

Made it look easy in a race where he may have been well tempted to be pretty careful. A truly deserving World Champion and he is English which is a nice bonus. Well done son.

Good luck to the kid for tonight. Could it be the biggest turnaround in speedway. Zero to Hero. Very few gave him a chance and many expected him to bomb like last time (I admit I did). Instead he has proved himself beyond probably even his own wildest expectations. Go young Wuffy and make all of us fellow Englishmen proud.

It's a fair point and I concede there are flaws and abuse whatever the system. The advantage of grading if you allow grades to stand for a reasonable period of time is in team stability. Also it opens up a sensible squad system as with the Danish model. Instead of trying to scrabble about trying to fiddle your team average as Poole did at Swindon with a plethora of engine failures simply have ABCD grades and a squad of riders. Each team has a set number of each per match. Replace a graded rider who is injured with the same grade or lower from your squad. Of course the difficulty comes in having enough riders for a squad system but other leagues seem to manage squads. Averages failed the sport decades ago as far as I can see. But as you say no system is perfect