Terry

All the best Starman.

Best Finn? Finn Thomsen Kai Niemi for me. In with a shout of the 85 world title up until his fifth ride.

I remember when bookies first offered odds on league speedway. Every home team was 4/6 off scratch whoever they were against. You were getting strong sides like Wolves beating the weaklings like Arena by 40 points. It really was easy money. It didn't take long though until the compilers caught up and started doing handicaps and the like. I just bet on gp's now.

I know Cook isn't as good as PC, but that's a little disrespectful isn't it?

'Tis the season to be jolly..

Brilliant entertainer was Kelly, my favourite yank. His career could've been over almost as soon as it had begun after he was badly injured in a horrible crash at Hackney in 78. Not very nice spending your 18th birthday in hospital, although knowing Kelly he would've enjoyed all the attention from the nurses. I remember an interview he gave on screensport during his Sheffield days when he referred to brother Shawn as "our kid." I guess the local dialect must have rubbed off a bit! The only occasion I went off him was when he beat my hero Zenon Plech in the 79 world final, depriving him a run-off with Mauger, but it soon passed.

Nice to hear that he's out of hospital, and hopefully be guest of honour at Warsaw next year.

1. Doyle 2. Hancock 3. Lindgren 4. Woffinden 5. Sayfutdinov 6. Dudek 7. Holder 8. Zmarzlik 9. Zagar 10. Janowski 11. Vaculik 12. Laguta 13. Cook 14. Pawlicki 15. Pedersen

No surprises with those 4, although I would've had Iversen or Kildemand ahead of Nicki. It's a shame every rider can't be made to qualify, but there you go..

Looking forward to this.

Well done Jason Doyle, never has there been a more deserved World Champion. His missus can quit her job as housekeeper to those 3 priests now.

Paradise! We used to get up in the morning at half past ten at night, half an hour before we'd gone to bed, eat a lump of poison, work 29 hours a day at the mill for ha'penny a lifetime, come home and each night dad would strangle us and dance about on our graves.

Very much so..

Giant greyhound traps. No more digging around at the start. Traps open, riders fly out and the start girls then push it on to the centre green. It's just crazy enough to work.

Tomasz was an absolute genius on a speedway bike, some of the moves he made almost defied belief. The way he turned his career around from being a bit of an on-track menace in his early years to earning the respect of his fellow riders and support of practically every fan was fantastic. Nobody was happier than me when he finally won his richly deserved world title. I admit to having a lump in my throat while reading about his current plight, particularly the part about the person giving Tomasz the same words of encouragement he'd received from Tomasz a few years previously. Keep fighting Tomasz.

I always laugh when people say this or that particular rider 'deserves' to be in the gp. The only riders who deserve to be in next years series are the 11 qualifiers. Personally I believe that there shouldn't be any wildcards (apart from the 1 local rider) and everybody should have to qualify, like in the early years of the series. Obviously it would be unfortunate for riders like Hancock and Iversen, but injury is part of the sport and riders have missed world finals before through being injured...All riders below 8th should have to go through the qualifiers to get back in, with the top 7 from the challenge making up the 15. It seems though that wildcards are here to stay so imo Hancock and Holder are nailed on as the organisers won't want the world championship getting too European. The token Dane will more than likely be Iversen, and then probably Vaculik. I believe Milik and Lebedevs will have to qualify through the challenge to get in as their both very inconsistent. Milik has done well as a wildcard but I reckon he would struggle through a full season...Plus he was pretty awful in the World Cup against not the stongest of opposition.

Roland Danno was a popular member of Hackney's ill-fated 1987 British League team, with his spectacular style and endearing personality. In fact the only downside of dropping back to the National League in 88 was having to lose Roland. I remember the annual supporters club riverboat/disco along the Thames with all the females flocking around him...The lucky sod! He was good mates with Hackney junior Steve Verge who I believe named his son after him. It was a great shame that his career was cut short by injury, but he'll always be fondly remembered by Hackney and his other British club Belle Vue.

Well done Swindon. Only right the team that tops the league are the champions.

Agree, very unprofessional. I'm not a football fan but they could take note of how the managers behave. (Although a hug would possibly be too much!)

Got to be 80. Edit; or older!

I think Briggo should put on a Swindon race suit.

I'll bet Pete Adams is a great poker player.

He's the only reason I'll be watching.

Probably the fans who decided to wait until the playoffs once it was clear the Witches were in them.

What does it matter whether Swindon topped the league by 1 pt or 10? They still finished first, and now have to go through the formality of beating Wolves. Canterbury and Newcastle once ended the year level, and it went to race pts to separate them. Still, with Sheffield topping the Championship table and winning, and Swindon looking nailed on to do likewise at least it shows up the play-offs as the waste of time they are. ...and don't get me started on this promotion/relegation bollox.