TheReturn

Is he 46? Nigel never mentions that....

The more Hancock shows us that bloody Monster drinks bottle on every bloody interview, the less likely I am to ever try the stuff. I am a realist, and I know they have to show their sponsors on their bikes, caps etc, etc but there is something about Hancock's constantly shaking that water bottle in front of the camera every friggin time that is a bit OTT. So is anyone willing to admit being gullible enough to fall for Hancock's branding diarrhoea and having been tempted to try Monster?

I am using this one - http://sportslive.info/viewpage.php?page_id=2

It's a shame the camera does not show what happened, but clearly Zagar and Nicki had some kind of incident.

Surely it would help attract more TV interest if the best names in world speedway are competing here on a set night, especially if channels like Sky and BT Sport need something to flill the void left by football in the summer months. I welcome the sports body looking at the rules (we all know some are plain confusing and silly) but the sports rules are way down the list of problems: - Poor quality tracks - Poor shaped tracks not conducive to good speedway - Lack of national media interest (needs a top PR company on the case) - Lack of big name riders (Hancock, Emil, Tai) I accept some of those are outside the BSPA's influence of change with the first two. But lets be honest, great racing and people will put up with naff rules. Even with perfect rules, poor racing won't keep people coming back. I don't have answers, but I do know that the sports problems in this country are not down to just poor rules.

It's good they are going to review it, but I don't think that's the problem. It's the lack of top name riders and the lack of a real 'elite' league. Other than going one race night a week (or a squad system) I don't see how that can be fixed, having a new rule book is unlikely to help.

Yeah, fair comment I am not there weekly, my last visit was with Long Eaton so I don't know how it is other than what I see on Sky. Do they still have someone else do it for Sky meetings or do the usual track team prepare it?

Thank you for the update. Fingers crossed he pulls through.

Everytime I have seen Poole on Sky the track's been awful, which makes Shovlar moaning about other tracks very ironic. Still, it made for a great entertainment seeing Poole getting beaten at home. More of that please... It's not just one meeting though, I don't have access to them but if you go back over Sky meetings at Poole for the last few seasons the track's always resembled a roller coaster.

I never quite got that. I used to go to big events at Coventry, the old overseas final's etc and the amount of support American's got (mainly from the females) always baffled me.

Doyle is fast becoming very aggressive on track, so his complaints about Nicki at the last GP last season was quite ironic. Watched it on a grainy video, was really horrible looking. I couldn't quite tell at which point the helmet comes off, but didn't look good.

What a fantastic meeting, some great hard (but mainly fair) racing. You have to give it to the Poles, they create a great atmosphere and usually great race tracks. Isn't it a shame though that the more exciting and close the racing gets, the louder Mr Shouty gets to ruin it for the viewing audience. I wish the world feed had a stadium mic feed so we can have the atmosphere without the shouty one.

Thanks both

How do British punters watch Polish League speedway? Is there an official stream we can pay/subscribe to for decent quality English speaking coverage? Happy to pay to watch (got to be better than Sky Elite League crap we have to endure).

I think it was a You Tube issue. I thought the new lady presenting from the studio seemed very knowledgeable and professional and asked Scott all the right questions.

Looking forward to this. Although I hope the bullies of Hancock and the whinging Aussies don't start the season with the one rule for them and one rule for NP again this season!

His British Final decision is not relevant to this discussion. Who cares if he makes a few quid and increases his profile in the process. It's his time and his knowledge he is imparting so he should be earning. With luck in time if successful the BSPA can help subsidise a few British youngsters so they don't have to find the money themselves. Yes it's true not everyone makes a good teacher, but at least he is trying something positive. Time (several years perhaps) will tell if he is successful in making a significant difference for British speedway through his training, but until we know either way lets celebrate this to be a positive not a negative.

Stop moaning and congratulate him on a positive initiative.

Exactly, some people on here are so short sighted. I don't like the fact he doesn't want to ride in the UK after our clubs help develop him but instead of slagging him off and booing him people need to ask an important question... 'why?'. We need to be listening to a world champion, and if he has valid reasons we need to address those. If his reasons are not valid in that he cant be bothered, then so be it, boo away.

I hope that was a joke, but knowing you it was a serious comment which shows the contempt you hold people on here who are still speedway fans but don't attend for various reasons (money, no own track anymore etc, etc). So lets be clear, you are saying that only people who currently attend speedway are entitled to have an opinion at a forum? Surely the point is in addition to retaining existing fans, to get people who used to go, to go again? Thankfully the people currently running the BSPA are more forward thinking than you and realise that talking to fans will help them.

I don't think it matters if a rider was guilty of questionable riding in the past (let's look at Gollob for example, at one time he was 'Mr Dirty' according to many), the speedway authorities have a duty to protect all riders from on and off track bullying. Indeed, Doyle's antics were far worse than any of Nicki's last season in the SGP.

You condone the way Hancock attacked Nicki on and off the track then? The Aussies in that final GP seemed to be Team Aussie v Nicki, the Aussie ride hard (too hard sometimes) yet Nicki is not allowed to. Karma is irrelevant, there is something of a bullying culture against Nicki and I firmly blame HanCOCK for creating it with his cowardly flying assault on track and pathetic off track website statements.

They're still bollocks though. At least F1 had the common sense to scrap the final race double points.

And? We are supposed to be a sport, the World Cup is supposed to be the best of the best. If I am paying £X I want to see the best of the best.

I think it is brilliant news and fantastic for Belle Vue, and great that Team GB will be in the final. However, I have to be consistent and say the same thing I have said each of the last two years that the home nation should NOT be seeded to the final. It means it is no longer a sporting spectacle if a nation is seeded without qualifying.