PHILIPRISING

NOT talking about abandoned matches but poorly prepared test pitches which produce a borefest

LIKE cricket test pitches for example...

HAVEN'T seen much praise on here about the track. I'm not in Melbourne so can only comment from afar but it looked terrific and the extra size provided plenty of racing lines. It was still smaller than the new one at BV which is currently in the process of being laid. You can read more about the track laying process at the Etihad on speedwayXtra, via speedwaystar.net

AGREE ... Rander's record not good.

THEY did the commentary of the 2014 GP from New Zealand....

YES ...

GOOD ... I would hate for you to be without your weekly 'fix'

AND what, pray, is your profession?

IF the cap fits

HE didn't ...

HARDLY surprising that Denmark's relatively small population is more likely to know about speedway given the record of their riders, both individually and collectively over the past 40 odd years. Countless World titles, the GPs live on TV and plenty of coverage in their national newspapers.

ACTUALLY it is down to the Etihad of course. Where in Australia do you live Humphrey? Doubt whether any non-speedway fan is likely to trek across from Perth for a speedway event. Believe the strategy of the Etihad is that those speedway fans across both Australia and New Zealand likely to go know where it is when it is. Certainly that is true of Christchurch where my in-laws live. Their promotion is more parochial building on the basis that many people within and around Melbourne are attracted to the Etihad for events that they would most likely not attend elsewhere. And that is where they have (as Colin Sweetman alluded to) concentrated their advertising.

RUGBY but as mentioned in SS no Chairman or MC officials can be elected before November which is a bit of a farce to say the least. Buster Chapman has indicated he would be prepared to stand for the chairmanship, rumours that Jon Cook would as well. Maybe Gordon Pairman. None will have a magic wand of course but might at least steer the ship in a different direction.

From Colin Sweetman (son of Tom, ex-Wolves) ... There is a lot of advertising going on in Melbourne for the meeting and word on the street locally is that there is lots of excitement and people looking forward to travelling inter state for the meeting. Hopefully this will be a great end to the series.

BUT, of course, BSI promoted neither Tampere or Riga. For an obviously intelligent man Humphrey is very naive when it comes to running the SGP series as a whole. Or is he just blinded by his anti-BSI agenda?

ECHOING Michael Parkinson's famous line ... when asked by Australian immigration whether he had a criminal conviction he replied: "I didn't realise you needed one to get into Australia anymore."

AT lease he (Krister Gardell) later admitted his mistake. Spoke to Tony Steele about this ... as long as a rider hasn't moved before the tapes start to rise and doesn't touch them he shouldn't be excluded.

WILL enquire...

I HAVEN'T said anything about one Swede and I really do not know who the FIM will choose. If it came down to Jonsson or Vaculik my guess (note guess) would be Jonsson

BUT no roof...

ANY actual evidence of that?

DON'T think Red Bull is a factor and will be surprised if Hampel doesn't get the nod given his past record in the series. Lot of sympathy for him in both the FIM and BSI camps. Biggest question mark hangs over Lindback. Prior to GP Challenge and Stockholm he was probably a favourite but not now.

THERE appears to still be some confusion over "two starting gates." These are not two entirely separate units placed a few feet apart which would be both unsightly and confusing. The actual starting gate does, however, have two independent mechanisms onto which the tapes can be attached. For both mechanisms to fail, which is what happened in Warsaw, is unprecedented. So, in reality, there was a back-up. In Cardiff and Stockholm they added a third alternative as it were. Of course it shouldn't have happened and was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as the riders were concerned. Of course, Humphrey in his unrelenting crusade against BSI will endeavour to lay everything at their door but ultimately that just reflects his poor understanding of what actually goes on, who is responsible for what and that, on occasions, things happen no matter what.

WHATEVER was in Speedway Star was pure speculation. And it is not solely BSI who make the wild card decisions. They have input, of course, but it is the FIM SGP Bureau who have the final say and their voice is a little stronger these days with Armando Castagna in the chair. I believe there will be a meeting immediately after the final SGP in Melbourne to determine who gets the four places and to finalise next year's calendar.

WHERE would you place the FIM in that scenario?