Bruiser McHuge

Garrity is a decent enough rider but box office ?......bloody hell ...standards must have dropped at a rate of knots ! Who's Andersen going to blame for this...his last run of low scores were all the fault of his engine tuner not doing his job properly....so he says.....what's he supposed to do when that happens..so he says.......but it's all sorted now......so he says !

If I was a fan of any club I'd love half a season of Darcy Ward ....whatever he's like off track he's one of the very very few riders that's actually worth the money to pay to watch ride on it.

The meeting was very fast but quite tedious racing wise...basically if a rider hit the front he seemed capable of beating anybody yet if that same rider was at the back then he was capable of losing to anybody ....a rider like Berge looked a world beater when at the front and a novice when at the back...

All the threads about average manipulation, race fixing and whatever makes me realise why I don't pay hard earned money to actually attend speedway any more... And in my opinion whoever Darcy Ward ends up riding for he will go out to win every race...he has lots to prove..he's one of the very best riders in the world and is capable of actually being the best and top riders go out to win every race to prove they are a top rider....and very top number 1's always get teams if they want one and if Poole want Ward next season they'll have him on whatever average....if they don't then award will get a team in whatever country he wants If he has a poorish meeting here and there it will be because he has had a poorish meeting and not done on purpose to lower his average to return to Poole....that's my honest opinion

It's good that they can put the track down early and properly test it....you wouldn't get a group doing a stadium gig without a proper sound check would you.....

The rumours were that there had been an argument in the pits beforehand but I don't know if it was fact or rumour.....I was at the meeting and it happened so fast that I have no idea whether Mick McKeon deliberately fenced Mike Lohmann but I do know it was definitely one of the worst crashes I've ever seen and Lohmann hit the fence like a rag doll..it was horrible......Lohmann wasn't far off dying in that crash and I remember him months later and he was so frail and skinny after losing so much weight in recovery........he did come back riding for Belle Vue but he was a shadow of himself really so that crash definitely finished his career really.

I don't think riders generally care about their average..not in my experience anyway...as long as they get paid the same as a win that's the the important thing to them..so you're right..it's not a big issue to riders really, and again you're right in that for a lot of riders it might be an advantage to actually stay behind their partner these days as it actually reduces their average which might be an advantage down the line to them. I just think it's fairer to have bonus points in averages as it gives a fairer reflection of a rider to be honest, especially for work permit situations...but I'd agree to most riders it wouldn't be an issue they would even think about

Engine failures are part of speedway..you win some and you lose some...same as rider falls and exclusions...they can all gain a rider points they don't fully deserve but that's speedway.. I know when I was involved with my brother in law riding and bonus points were included in official averages he was never bothered at winning a race if his partner was ahead...he was paid the same and officially credited the same....I don't think many riders were...the team came first.....I'm not sure that would be the case now, especially for PL rider needing a 7 point average which isn't easy without bonus points....I think Ty Procter had plenty of bonus points this season but they counted for nothing when in a team sport they should have counted for everything....all you'll have is 7 individuals masquerading as a team sport , which a lot would say has been the case for a while anyway

I still think bonus points should count in the averages in a team sport, especially when these averages are being used to decide on whether a rider qualifies for a work permit........why should a rider be content to sit behind his team mate to block the opposition when he has the speed to actually win the race and get 3 points on his average rather than 2.....it's supposed to be a team sport after all.....you may as well knock your team mate off and claim the full points and boost your average...second behind your team mate should give yo 3 points on your average.

Who's Nikki ?

I didn't see the meeting but one thing that totally bugs me these days is that you can't have a bad meeting without it being " done on purpose" to manipulate averages......or a rider cannot have a genuine bad meeting any more without rumours of average fiddling. Maybe with the play offs being the be all and end all this is happening now...who knows ?....if it is then it's sad times for the sport and the riders concerned must be being nicely rewarded for it..... I prefer to think it's not as widespread as people are saying but I hope I'm wrong.

There is a lot of irrelevant stuff being posted here....and it all stems down to it being a pantomime.....Greg Hancock = the good guy..yay........Nicki Pedersen = the villain....boo, hiss That's is how people are judging this....they are judging the riders and not the incident.......and as for the comment that Greg Hancock is universally liked and Nick Pedersen is universally hated and so Pedersen adds no fans to attendances , well that's just twaddle..........I've no doubt Hancock is a nicer guy than Pedersen....I've no doubt that most riders get on with Hancock more than Pedersen....I've no doubt most supporters like Hancock better.......but I've also no doubt who most supporters would actually want to pay to watch ....and that's not Greg Hancock...love him or loathe him Pedersen is more box office than Hancock

I hate all this talk of riders racing to reduce their averages...or Darcy Ward will race to reduce his average ready for Poole next season..it really does the sport no favours and if fans genuinely think that it is commonplace then we may as well give up now...it no wonder crowds are dwindling if they don't believe what they are watching. Does anybody believe this is widespread in the sport ?

I think this is an argument that will just go round in circles .....it's obvious many people seem to dislike Nicki Pedersen so if Greg Hancock had produced a shotgun and shot him at point blank rage you'd still get people on here defending him !...so people aren't going to change their minds.. I've no agenda with either rider so all my comments are from watching the incident and seeing the responses....I think the incident has many comments that are judging their opinions of the riders involved rather than the incident itself

I've been in plenty of pits when flare ups have occurred after races...I've seen huge arguments and ones between team mates as well and I've seen riders threaten one another so I'm not naive at what goes on at times,,, .....but I find it distasteful that somebody in Philip Rising's position should openly brag about riders threatening to fence Nicki Pedersen and basically injure him...if somebody does that accidentally to Pedersen and he's injured now it is opening a right can of worms which could have further repucussions...things like that should never be broadcast publicly by somebody in "authority" Anyway it was obvious Speedway Star would be 100% Greg....even back years ago they had a clique of riders well involved with the editorial staff and these were the magazine favourites....Greg certainly falls into that camp....fair enough, he's a nice bloke and a great ambassador for speedway but he was bang out of order here and Philip Rising, Speedway Star, Speedwaygp website etc should have the balls to say so and not roll out the usual array of excuses.

It was definitely raining all day ..not really torrential but steady drizzle most of the day but with no stoppage...I think it stopped after I picked my lad up from school and that was about 4.30 ....it definitely never rained ever again after that time so if somebody tweeted from trackside around then that the match was definitely on then the track wouldn't have had any more rainfall after that tweet....so I would assume that the ref disagreed with the track being ok after he got there and called it off...

I can't believe this match was ever "on".......it never stopped raining all day so I am amazed it got as far as actually opening the gates for fans.....they must have known much earlier the track was wet and unrideable and there's hardly been any sun or drying wind to help out.. It's no wonder crowds are dwindling...even if there was a slight doubt with the weather why would you even bother risking it..

One thing is for certain is that the soeedwaygp website will be 100% sympathetic to Hancock as that site is so far up Greg's backside it's unbelievable....you won't get a balanced report on there for sure . That site is a virtual " fan club" to certain riders and " The Grin" tops that list..

You'd have to say all 5 of the riders named should have a good chance of being GP regulars...certainly Kurtz, Lambert, Pawlicki jr and Zmarzlik.....Not 100% sure about Pawlicki sr but he's still got a decent shout

I think Hancock is a genuinely decent bloke......but I also think there is more than a grain of truth in this post ..

Pedersen did little wrong there...an exclusion yes but not dirty really....nothing you don't see in a lot of meetings...Hancock's reaction is reacting to the rider rather than the incident Hancock's reaction was out of order and you just cannot do that..I think it will all be swept under the carpet and there will be no public action taken , although this will probably be because it is Greg Hancock involved.....if it had been a lot of other riders then I'm sure public action would have been taken.

I can remember a lot of incidents happening...I just can't remember who they were or exactly where they were as they were that long ago ! I remember Michael Lee walking out of a televised England v USA Test match in protest at Frank Ebdon and the new tape touching and rolling procedures ...Ebdon kept stopping his races for his starts and Lee stormed out of the meeting ...I remember him giving an interview in his civvies whilst the meeting was still going on and saying the new starting laws and especially Ebdon were killing speedway.. I remember Scott Autrey falling off in the wet at Hyde Road for Exeter and going home after 2 rides because of the wet track..

I think the only rider who went into the qualifiers knowing that come what may he'd be in the final was Woffinden...if he'd have crashed out then he'd have got a wildcard above everybody else.....Harris would probably have been next in line and there would then be a pecking order that people can argue over the order.... So the argument about if Lambert got a wildcard then Woffinden , Harris etc would have had to have one had they missed out is senseless.....they would have got one and would have got one over Lambert at this moment.... There is no rule that states a rider crashing is not eligible for a wildcard...the wildcard is there for that reason really....it was always quite unlikely that a genuine rostrum contender in the final was going to be eliminated in the semi final without crashing....so the wildcard covered that option ....whether you agree with wildcards is totally irrelevant here..Lambert was the best rider who didn't qualify by right and therefore should have got the slot

The question of whether there should be a wildcard is a completely different argument...the fact is that there was a wildcard option and it was there to cover the possibility of one of the better riders missing out....if Woffinden had crashed out then he would have got a wildcard, same with Harris...and rightly so.........Lambert crashed out and if it had been the top 8 in both qualifying then that's fair enough....but it wasn't...there was a wildcard to cover a situation like that....to put in a rider that the majority of fans want to watch, one that will be the future of British speedway if things work out... Yes there will be many more finals for Lambert but that's not the point.....if the wildcard option is there then it should be used properly ...and that's to put in a rider who will add greatly to the meeting and one that most fans would want to see. My comments were not offensive to Roynon....my brother in law rode top level speedway so I'm aware of the risks riders take and I wouldn't be offensive to any of them..but it was my opinion and a fair one I think that Lambert deserved a wildcard over anybody..it so happened that person was Roynon but it could have been anybody to be honest

Bloody he'll, was that all !....no wonder it went over my head......I didn't see that meeting, the date had no relevance to me...I did read the thread on here though