Chris Brown

That's fair enough, its all about opinion and neither are wrong

Apologies for having an opinion. If you read what I have written (which you cannot have done) I have no issue whatsoever with Bjarne Pedersen. I am questionning the whole concept of a testimonial. Surely a rider entertains the fans every week and gets well paid for it. In this environment where people are losing their jobs for fun then in my opinion (which are entitled to disagree with) it is obscene for a rider to pocket cash from a testimonial. Sure I do not have to go and people have a choice whether to do so or not. I just think thsat in todays climate its wrong for ANY rider to benefit from a testimonial other than those who have serious injuries. Sad that you make it personal but I guess that is the only way you can deal with a debate. Do try to accept that there may be an opinion other than yours !!

You are right Tsunami and please don't think my rant was anything related to Bjarne Pedersen who of course is one of those who have been good servants to their clubs My point is that in an age where people, speedway fans some of them with donkeys years are losing their jobs, its frankly obscene that a speedway rider at the top end of the sport financially is able to cream a huge lump sum in this way. Not his fault, he is entitled to it under the current rules. I am sure Woolworth's staff were extremely loyal but frankly it is somewhat irrelevant The current rules need to change however in my view.

Why is he ? I have done 27 years service to my company and I work 50 hours a week for them, after 25 years I got a watch. So a speedway rider of this level (and this is not a personal thing to Pedersen) takes an absolute fortune in points money out of a country which is not his home country, rides for numerous other clubs all over the world, not dedicated to just one employer and is then entitled to a testimonial which will net him what............£25k, probably more Sorry, absolute garbage in todays world. I say scrap testimonials, I am all for helping riders who suffer life changing injuries but this type of charity should stop immediately.

Tony certainly rode for Oxford from the start of the 1991 season in the British League but was released mid season after finding it pretty tough

Best suggestion I have seen for ages. Sadly thoough there are sound sponsirship and financial reason s why this would never happen. And there was us dreaming of a world championship that ANY rider had a chance of winning

One disappointing thing about the New Year Classic is that it has now changed from a meeting at Newport with a field of British riders, riding in Britain to one at Poole where the field will be a bunch of overseas riders who will come in for that meeting and clear off home with our money. A really disappointing development in the New Year Classic's evolution IMO This meeting is fine to run at Poole but should have kept its tradition of being an opportunity for BRITSH riders to earn a few quid in the winter rather than overseas riders coming over to take home the money. Poole are a very well run club but their complete lack of interest in anything to do with supporting BRITISH speedway is something they could change quite easily IMO

Agree 100% about the prize money and it was the lure of that and that alone which tempted Andreas Jonsson to attempt an outrageous and frankly dangerous pass on Freddie Lindgren. At the end of the day AJ had the chance of £70k all resting on a sh*t or bust dnagerous move For goodness sake take away these obscene amounts of money, this sport is dangerous and the lure of £70k makes riders do stupid things

Sadly it has been proved correct that BSI/IMG or whatever they are calling themselves today are a disaster for our sport and the sooner this circus is stopped the better They couldn't give a damn about speedway supporters and the limp press release and pitiful offer of a ticket for a GP next year is a joke. The great news is that there are already sat on loads of your money for next years Cardiff GP and taking a small fortune out of our sport which is on its knees Get rid of the GP circus once and for all

From www.speedwayfakta.cz Základní část: 1. Hancock (14) 2. Ferjan (13) 3. Tomíček (13) 4. Walaszek (10) 5. Jedrzejewski (9) 6. Lindgren (9) 7. Šitera (9) 8. Zabik (8) 9. Woffinden (7) 10. Kůs (6) 11. Holub (4) 12. Franc (4) 13. Gregoric (4) 14. Schultz (4) 15. Wolff (4) 16. Carpanese (2) Finále: Hancock, Walaszek, Jedzejewski, Tomíček, Ferjan (d)

To be fair SCB he was mighty impressive in winning the Golden Sash last season at Pardubice. Without doubt the best rider on the day. Having said that he was a very rich vein of form this time last year He will be a different kettle of fish there and I suspect not too many of the others in the field will have done too many laps at Pardubice which is just a bit different to what many of them would ride week in week out

Yes its been done to death but it does hold true. IMO no rider that did not enter the qualification process should be given a wild card, end of story. Nicholls would carry a lot more credibility as a nomination if he entered the qualification process rather than rely on the 'got to have 2 Brits in it' assumption.

I also remember Martin landing on e of Brian Karger as Karger was on his slow down lap at Oxford on the 2nd bend. That battle was an ongoing one as for some reason there seemed to a number of incidents between them Also memories of Eric Monoghan flying at Jens 'Rambo' Rasmussen with some implement from his tool kit in the pits at Oxford in the 80's Shouldn't also forget Jason Crump clipping his then team mate Todd Wiltshire round the ear at Oxford for daring to get anywhere near him There has certainly been a few over the years

Many would agree but if he gets in by qualification then he will have an absoluite right to be there. The qualifiers are there to help people who want to try to get in to the GP series the correct way get in. Those who don't bother banking on the Britishness getting them in should not be in with a shout.

He deserves a GP provided he qualifies for the GP series through the qualificatin rounds which of course he is trying to do Its questionable whether he has done enough on the world stage to gain a wildcard Although I would agree he has more right than any rider outside the top 10 who was arrogant enough not to even bother with the qualification process

Shame for Ales who went into the final round as the only man with a realistic chance of beating Zagar and from a race for the title in Heat 19 he ends up 7th

www.Speedway.si reports that it is raiing at the moment and they are waiting until the rain stops before anything happens

Was certainly Peter Johns last year Steve but not 100% sure this

Lets not forget that had we had two wildcards it would have been Bjarne Pedersen and NOT Lukas that would have missed out

The final round took place tonight with Lukas Dryml being crowned Czech Champion with Ales Dryml 2nd and Lubos Tomicek 3rd

Don't stay in the Labe, its dreadful. Brown water from the taps is just the start

But parking, access et al is shocking. Went along to watch Quins RL as normal on Saturday to be faced with traffic and parking chaos as Iron Maiden were playing at Twickenham. Parking was £20 per car, traffic was utter chaos and the place cannot cope

All about the clubs they ride for for that one. It will generally be a Prague rider that gets it

Sponsorship is the thing though Sandman. With the GP's comes TV exposure and therefore greater sponsorship opportunity Does make you wonder where your exhorbatant ticket prices go though doesn't it. Cardiff, 40000 at an average of £40 with the expense of laying a track but at the speedway tracks there is possibily very relatively little expense in putting on a GP for the returns involved Its no wonder a commercial company loves its GP series so much

Not riding Iris, check out the scorers Just an observation