PHILIPRISING

YOU really are not of this planet...

JUST spoken to Tony Olsson in Czestochowa. Rain has stopped but too late to save meeting today. Should be all right tomorrow. If not, as stated Australia will go to final, Russia and Poland to r/o. No actually decision from Eurosport as yet but seems unlikely they will be able to show whole meeting live but will download whole meeting away.

WHY would a postponement make any difference? Revealed in SS a month ago (before Emil's injury) that none of them would ride.

FIRST alternative is Sunday morning...

AGREE with that

YOU seem to have missed out your World Championship speedway successes. You may well be the world's greatest authority on bikes in general,cars, boats, planes and lifts but I am not sure how that is relevant to the problems undeniably being experienced by many riders these days. Living in the past? The knowledge of Briggs and Tatum regarding how speedway engines react under different circumstances is as relevant now as it has ever been. But if you don't like those two then how about Gollob and Hancock, Hampel and Jonsson? Ask Niels-Kristian Iversen why he came off in Copenhagen when he was racing on his own. What is Simon Stead's view after crashing during practice at King's Lynn? I believe that Chris Louis had a spin recently with a view to doing an exhibition ride but has now declined. BSI and Kelvin talked about him riding a GP track with a camera and mic to provide an insight into what was required at each particular circuit. Both consider the risks associated with the unpredictable and volatile nature of a current speedway bike to be too great. And don't try and tell me that most if not all the top riders don't have a better understanding of why speedway bikes are now generally considered to be tougher to ride. I can knock a golf ball round to a decent standard but wouldn't pretend to have the insight of Justin Rose into what is actually how it should be done.

APART from representatives of Speedway Star, there are no British journalists at ANY SGP events outside of the UK. A few do attend Cardiff but there is almost complete disregard for most motorcycling events and particularly speedway by national newspapers here. It is a different story in Denmark and Poland, of course, but here speedway doesn't sell newspapers. A Brityish winner AT CARDIFF might get a few pars but I guess that'a about it. The biggest coverage in UK papers during my time for any single event was Michael Lee's victory in 1980. It made the back page lead across all of the tabloids I believe... certainly it was one of the few occasions that I enjoyed that feat with the Daily Express. But it was also a Friday night with an early start (6pm UK time) and I know I had the story written and across in time for all the editions that evening.

BRIGGO still has more knowledge about the characteristics of a speedway bike in his little finger than most could dream of. Ever since the new silencers came in a variety of riders, including some who use Peter Johns as their tuner, will tell you that they are much more difficult to ride and therefore potentially more dangerous. Even a slight lag in a speedway engine picking up or maintaining its revs, which is fundamental to how they react, can cause problems. Few if any speedway tracks have a completely consistent race surface which only compounds the problems. Stand next to Kelvin Tatum at a GP practice and he can tell you just by listening how an engine is performing. Just because he, or Briggo, haven't raced competitively for years doesn't diminish their knowledge or experience and only a dimwit would suggest otherwise. Kelvin also has his own dyno and has carried out a number of tests to supplement his views. The fact is that the FIM pushed through the new silencers regulations of sound grounds alone and failed to listen to many people, including Dave King, who could have achieved their objective without causing riders the difficulties they are currently encountering. As for rear tyres, speedway is probably unique in that riders have to use the same spec tyre in all conditions, slick or deep, wet or dry. There are solutions to that which would not actually cost riders any more than they are paying now but it is another area where the FIM have a blind spot, although new Track Racing boss Armando Castagna is much more receptive to riders' view than his predecessors. This is another area in which Kelvin has strong views and he maintains that by allowing a different rear tyre, especially in wet conditions when the current one can become like a slick, more meetings might actually go ahead by giving riders more confidence in racing on less than perfect conditions. Talk about trying to slow down speedway bikes has been around since the old king died and isn't the solution to safety concerns. Track preparation, air-fences that do the job they were designed for and admitting that there are alternative silencers that could conceivably reduce the number of accidents are more viable options. EVEN by your pathetic standards that is a stupid remark. Kelvin has a huge engineering background, not just in speedway, and I would back his knowledge against yours any day of the week.

TALK to just about any GP rider, as I do, and they all agree with Kelvin's comments about the silencers and the problems they cause. As does, incidentally, Barry Briggs.

SO, Sophie Blake back on Sky, reporting from Birmingham tonight. First time she and Charlie Webster have been in opposite corners as it were. Thought Sky's coverage last week with Chris Louis handling all the pit interviews was much improved. Asks the right questions and knows what he is talking about unlike his colleague.

MIKE Beale was a staff man with the Daily Express who went on to become cricket correspondent for the Daily Star. He originally came from the Midlands and was, for a brief time, Ole Olsen's manager, pre-Pete Adams.

WHEN I was speedway correspondent for the Daily Express, between the mid-seventies and late eighties, I was expected to produce a story most days of the week, usually around six paragraphs, more if relative to a major event. Not all made the paper, some just the early editions, but most did. And bear in mind that national newspapers devoted far less pages to sport than they do now. It was the same for Keir Radnedge (Daily Mail), Peter Oakes (Daily Star), Graham Baker (Daily Mirror) and Dave Lanning (The Sun). In those days, of course, Sports Editors were far more receptive to speedway stories even though we would often get ridiculed about the use of guests. If there was a big story it was generally treated as such and we were afforded good space, quite often page leads. Much of the newspapers enthusiasm waned during the late eighties when Denmark dominated the international scene. I remember calling back to the Express office after one World Championship final (could have been team or pairs) and being asked, "who won?" "Denmark," I replied and was told a couple of pars would do. It has been a slippery slope since then.

COIULD the USA ###### a place in the Race-off against that Swedish team? NOT sure where those hashes came from ... should have read ###### OBVIOUSLY the word I was trying to use is taboo... try grab!

NOT that I know about. Spoke to both Gollob and his manager and at the end of last season several times and far from retiring he was fired up about another season. Both he and Hancock still love racing speedway bikes and as long as they feel they are competitive will probably continue.

NOT true...

EASY for you to say. If true they obviously feel that they have to make a stand and to get their federation to help not just themselves in SWC events, which are supposed to be funded by the federations not the riders, but also the many (according to Emil) young riders in Russia who are battling to make it without any assistance at all.

DOESN'T it happen all the time ... it's called a guest!

I DIDN'T say GB shouldn't be trying to win at KL ... but the fact is that coming second or third is immaterial.

I REPORTED in Speedway Star after the Gorzow SGP that Emil Sayfutdinov and the Laguta brothers were in dispute with the Russian federation and unlikely to ride. Apparently they get absolutely no help in any shape or form from their own federation so I can only suppose that they have carried out their threat along with Emil, who has a legitimate injury although not one that would stop him racing in an SGP round.

JUST heard on the radio that Coventry City will play their homes games at Northampton Town for the next three seasons.

BSI/IMG pay the FIM, who determine the prize money. Each federation is responsible for its own team. If the federations think more should be coming back from the FIM then they are in a position to lobby for that.

SECOND or third makes no difference ... both go through

A POLL of readers with a local (albeit national) newspaper in Copenhagen ... most start line girls come from an agency in Slovenia.

AMEN to that

TAKE a look back at some of the Cradley Heath teams in the 80s ....