pugwash

Total boredom. Bring back the elimination system that they had about 5 years ago, I say. At least that gave a bit of excitment to the proceedings.

I'm useless with this technology thing but according to Mrs P (who does all the recording on sky+) whenever you copy a LIVE event that may over-run, then set up the start and finish times manually. Apparentely you go to "Services" - "Manual Recording" and set up whatever start and finish times that you want for that particular event. Give the finish time 'plenty of elbow room' and you won't miss the finish. Make sure that you have you're PIN number ready when you want to watch the show as the box will ask for it whenever you want to watch a manual setting prog.

Bit of artistic license me thinks. Backdop of railway sidings in Leszno not too glamourous.

Don't forget -"The Man from Mildura", "7 times Champion of Australia"

Good idea. I like it. Nascar kept the title going to the last race in 2008, very exciting. Nascar don't get much wrong these days.

Surely not by you? A respected journalist at that. Fleet Street beckons, maybe?

Yes, it only has to be raining here and the picture quality is terrible. Saying that the pub next door to me shows Premiership football on a Bulgarian Satelite channel and if the picture quality is bareaking down on Setanta, I can go next door and it's perfect on the pub TV. Why is that? Don't know yet if the pub will be able to tune in to Polish League Speedway, as they've only had this Sat thing for about 4 months. I'm pretty sure it's beamed in via Polsat. (Anyway when it's not showing football it's all 'buteros, buteros, whiskers full o meaty goodness, chris waddle, scorchio, scorchio' channel nine stuff)

In the UK all newspapers have imagined facts

'kin hell, no wonder most of these riders aren't interested in riding in the UK. Giz a job.

The fact that Germany were playing Russia, 25 minutes up the road in Dortmund, on the same day in a World Cup qualifier might have had some influence. As stated by Iris123 the previous GP at Gelsenkirchen was poorly attended and I had heard that BSI had done a 2 year deal on the stadium so they would have been hence my belief in the consipacy theory.

Thanks for all the 2008 news and have a great new year my friend.

A one off World Final held on the day would obviously be very exciting. But that's it, as far as marketing goes a series held over 6 months is far more marketable and I'm sorry but that's business. If the GP series were to fail due to the current financial crisis, IMG would no doubt be staging a one off Final or some similar event but when business picks up it would be back to the series, I'm sure. You can't get away from the fact that the GP series is popular amongst a lot of fans. People enjoy the travel and the opportunity to meet up with fans that they otherwise wouldn't meet. I'm one for sure and I've made many good friends on my many European trips, Henry W being one. Saying that I think that there is a window in the year for a big one off Final. The promoters could take the final $200,000 event out of the series and move it to summer about the same time as the WC. Call it say "World Masters" or some such title and have a differant qualifying system so we wouldn't necessarily see all the same riders as the GP series. With $100k up for the winner it would be very marketable and wouldn't detract from the GP series. Trouble is with the GP series running the worlds top riders would still be shunning the UK leagues and for some people that's a big problem. If I remember rightly Kerry Packer's cricket world circus took all the best players from the Test match scene but a crop of great players got the chance to come through, I hope that's what's going to happen in speedway.

So basically instead of having 11 Gp's you have 4? When will this one off World Final thing be dead and buried? It's deceased, it's an ex-parrot.

Buy Cardiff Gp ticket, get Woolworths thrown in. + Free programme, tin of Danepak luncheon meat and complementary effergy of Ole Olsen. (Pins not supplied to under 16s)

So when do we get the hats? Thanks for the postcard btw.

Served my time in the Lift Industry (Wadswoths, Bolton). Started on the shop floor greasing chain blocks.

Just bought it to replace our System 2000 machine.

At 8am on the Saturday morning my wife was setting up the VHS to copy the GP from the late night re-run. She remarked to me that there were no re-runs scheduled! That was 4 hours before the GP was cancelled. How queer!

Why not? It's still relevant and it's still insulting.

Yes, it's simple - there's no Gp in Oz.

As we are obviously going to have Chris Harris in the GP series I only wish that he would get rid of his insulting nickname. I don't know if he and his many fans realise it, but he has adpoted the name of a very dubious hero. Arthur "Bomber" Harris known also as "Butcher" Harris within RAF circles could easily have been tried as a war criminal but for the odd fact that the winning side doesn't seem to have any. He systematically targetted German working class residential areas for mass bombing, developing fire storms that sucked the very oxygen out of peoples' lungs. He probably was responsible for killing as many people as Himler or Stalin. Come on Chris, ditch it.

Fickle? I would rather cheer on a foreign rider who DOESN'T ride for my team than for a miserable loser who just happens to have been born in the same country as me. I pay my money and take my pick, and that may vary from Gp to Gp. Crikey I am even cheering for Hans these days, at least he's entertaining. I would walk over hot coals to watch Ceggy yet if Nicholls was riding in my back garden, I would draw the curtains. I don't want anyone telling me to be patriotic and back the Brits, I've back britain for 50 years and all I've every been by this country is shafted.

It would be very interesting this time next year if Nicholls and Harris finished say 13th and 14th and none of the Brits got thro' the qualifier. What would the promoters do then? Probably (hard faced) stick 'em back in.

They put down the wet shale down deliberately because they wanted to reschedule.

It's nothing to do with the track. I think that what's probably happened is - advanced ticket sales were very poor but they hung on hoping for a big walk up crowd, then they sussed that Germany were playing Russia in a WC qualifier just 10 MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD at Dortmund (hey we missed that one fellas), so they pulled the plug and opted for contingency plan Bydgoszcz. I tried to book accomodation in the City Hotel Bydgoszcz at 12-15pm lunchtime yesterday and it was booked up, suprise suprise.