PHILIPRISING

IT was bitterly cold inside but not sure that was a factor.

HAVE sympathy with what you say but, hypothetically, the riders say the track is unsafe, they are 'forced' to continue and one gets seriously hurt or even worse. Can you imagine the law suits that would inevitably follow? Don't think the inexperience of Phil Morris had anything to do with it. He cannot be blamed for anything that went on although one does wonder whether an Olsen or Olsson, who both performed at the highest level, might have had better luck with the riders when they dug their heals in. There are already arguments going on as to who was responsible for starting gate, lights, etc. Speed Sport or the PZM. The referee (Jim Lawrence) and Jury President (Tony Steele) say that the starting gate was tested on numerous occasions on Saturday and yet it was obvious from heat 1 that there was a problem. Communication between the pits and the referee, once the crowd and the PA were in full voice, was virtually impossible. Once they had switched to the green light they should have stuck with it. After the first attempt there was nothing wrong with the starts. The one task (track building) that BSI essentially contract out is of course the most vital component of any speedway meeting. But even after Saturday morning's practice Andreas Jonsson told Paul Bellamy not to worry, it would be okay.

NOT sure how you equate those two things...

SO does a third division football ground compare with Wembley. And what about spectators... KL or Cardiff? Chalk and cheese.

THINK you are wrong ... Manilla has a fine track but do you honestly think riders get a bigger buzz about appearing there than the Friends Arena in Stockholm?

THE Finns are doing their own track with no involvement from Ole Olsen. In Warsaw, the PZM contracted OO to do the track but it was also a stipulation from BSI.

THERE will understandably be many like you and that is the long term damage. As for some suggesting this is all about greed, it isn't. Since John Postlethwaute first came on board the intention has been to elevate the status of the World Championship, to run in stadiums that provide first class spectator facilities and are generally cited in big cities that have also lots of other attractions. Ask any rider whether he would rather complete at Cardiff or Coventry? A Swede would he prefer Malilla or Stockholm. And for the Aussies to have a round at the Etihad. Staging these meetings is also a huge financial risk for the organisers. What is undeniable is that ultimately providing the riders with a stage on which they can perform at the highest level is paramount. Of course mistakes, human error, can be made. What is unforgivable is if the same mistakes are being made and whatever the extenuating circumstances, which inevitable exist, that appears to have been the case in Warsaw. Have actually spoken to Paul Bellamy this morning and at the moment he is not in a position to say anything until getting the green light from the IMG legal bods who not surprisingly are already going through everything with a fine tooth comb.

HOW wrong you are ... but believe what you will.

CANNOT defend the indefensible ln his occasion but need to calm down before making any further comment other than heads must surely roll now given that lessons we were promised would be learned quite plainly have not.

BECAUSE there is a desire, shared and much appreciated by the riders, to elevate the sport. Who wouldn't want to perform in some of the best stadia in the world in major cities like Warsaw, Cardiff, Stockholm and Melbourne? And there is no guarantee that some permanent tracks will produce better racing.

BUMPED into Emil Sayfutdinov ... had another go at trying to persuade him to come back into the GPs. Probably fell on death ears...

SPEAK for yourself...

DIDN'T go to practice myself but have spoken to Tony Briggs, who did, and seems riders are happy with track. Does of course beg the question why it wasn't yesterday which would have saved a lot of people a sleepless night. The question does get asked but the answer is always the same. By the very nature of these tracks, on occasions some areas do not bind together and the problem does not always materialise until two or three days after the track has been laid. It's more like baking a soufflé than a cake, it doesn't always come out perfect. It's not an exact science.

PRACTICE at 9am (local time) ...

IT was Ole Olsen and his Speed Sport team who laid the track with brand new material shipped from England. The riders were unhappy with soft patches at the entry to turn three and while some were happy to practice others were not. Eventually Nicki Pedersen and Tomas H Jonasson did a number of laps to determine the extent of the problem. The rest of the track appears to be fine but for some reason one particular area hasn't bound together as it should. The FIM decided to curtail practice to allow Ole's team to starting working on the problem area. Of course, it is both embarrassing and worrying with such a huge event only a little more than 24 hours away. It would be easy to blame human error but when 90 per cent of the track is okay Ole is, frankly, at a loss to explain why the other 10 per cent isn't. Pedersen said afterwards that he feels the fault can be remedied.

THERE was a high degree of incompetence, of course, but some other factors too apparently. Lessons have been learned, we're told, but won't affect the speedway anyway because the roof is and will remain closed.

NO, didn't see all the Polish applications myself but most were certainly genuine but PZM along with the stadium decided on a limit of 200. JUST one reporter and one photographer...

HAD a tour of the media facilities ... fantastic. They had 900 media accreditations for the European Championship games (soccer)... 200 on Saturday out of 385 applications. Unlike Cardiff, the roof is transparent so light comes through and easy to see why it is such a complex and time consuming exercise to shut/open and why they were caught napping when England came for the opening against Poland and rain saturated the pitch to such an extent that it was called off ... doesn't just happen in speedway! Personally would fancy sitting in the very top rows but there are no pillars so an uninterrupted view for everyone. Pits situated inside along the back straight. Less practice this year ... four runs per rider instead of six (hoorah) and a two-minute clock for the draw which will be started by the Race Director. Any rider not at the draw within that time loses his turn. Not sure what would happen if all four were late! All in all, very impressive ... and that's before the crowd arrives.

THE whole point of the telephone call at the conclusion of a meeting was to tell the office the result ... how else would they know?They would then determine how many words/pars would be required. JUST arrived at the Narodowy Stadium here in Warsaw ... what a sight. Truly spectacular and very different to the Millennium, especially the roof. Nice touch is that banners all round the first tier record the venues and years of all Tomasz Gollob's GP wins. It is going to be awesome with over 50,000 fans inside on Saturday. And, it's true, there isn't a ticket to be had at face value ... the touts will be having a field day.

NO... NO one ever suggested that speedway sold newspapers but there was a time (late seventies, early eighties) when I was expected to file a speedway story to the Express nearly every day. Some only saw the light of day in early editions but if I had a decent story it stayed in. Paradoxically in those days sport had far fewer pages in nationals than is now the case. But old-fashioned Sports Editors, like Ken Lawrence at the Daily Express, were prepared to judge a story on its merits. When Michael Lee won his World Final it made the back page lead throughout the evening, through all editions. It was customary to call the office after an event to determine how many paragraphs they required. That number gradually diminished throughout the eighties. I knew the writing was on the wall after one more Danish win (cannot recall which one) when I rang the Express and asked how much they required. "Who won?" came the question. "The Danes," I replied and was promptly told: "Not again, four pars." And that didn't just apply to me but also Graham Baker (Mirror), Keir Radnedge (Daily Mail) and Peter Oakes (Daily Star). Also, speedway lost its household names. I could almost guarantee coverage of any story involving Briggs, Mauger or Penhall. Lawrence used to tell me that stories had to iattract readers other than those just interested in speedway. Ironically as newspapers have devoted more and more space to sport, realising that in a changing world the back end of the paper has a huge impact on sales, there is little interest in minority sports and, of course, domestic speedway does itself no favours either.

CAN speak from personal experience that post People expose national newspapers, including the Daily Express which I worked off, took a dim view of speedway and it was the thin end of the wedge, along with Danish domination in the major events, that eventually saw them ditch it almost altogether.

WOULD take that with a pinch (shovel) of salt ... would make a mockery of his farewell appearance to start with. WE have virtually no contact with the BSPA so your comment that we do as we are told is completely untrue. Many moons ago the Sunday People had an investigative reporter dig into the sport and it did untold damage no matter what the truth of the allegations. Hardly fun.

You can still get the printed version sent to the US... please email again to both subs@pinegen.co.uk and star@pinegen.co.uk

GOOD points. When dear old Colin Pratt was involved compiling the fixtures list he would try and work round all the continental fixtures to avoid as many clashes as possible. And it was probably harder to achieve then than it is now. One has to wonder whether some promoters actually care about the teams they send to away fixtures.

PRESUMABLY Warsaw, Horsens and Melbourne are staging GPs with some expectations of making a profit, Krsko are always champing at the bit to return, as they have done this year, Prague have been running for over 15 years and doubtless wouldn't do so if they continually lost money and Torun keep coming back for more.