TwoMinuteWarning

Now why would something light, bubbly, and full of gas be female; and something dark and heavy be male? Hmmmm

Yes, Louise, Nursemaid is a great name for him. I remember seeing Gote, who was quite tall, in a race against a small rider - may even have been Peter Craven. To watch Gote, tall but relaxed in the saddle, seeming not to have a care in the world, gliding around the white line, apparently without effort ... and to watch the small rider, crouched low on his machine, head looking out from behind the handlebars, riding mid-track and wrestling with his machine to find the dirt line ... a magnificent battle, two completely different styles and yet, each so exciting to watch. The comparison between the two thrilled me so much, in my first full year of watching speedway, that I think it was at that moment that I became hooked on our sport. Thanks Gote.

Gote was at the Barry Briggs Golden Greats-type meeting at Poole 3 or 4 years ago. One of my all time favourites, the guy rode a speedway bike like he was sitting in an armchair. Gote had STYLE.

For anyone that is going to Poole for the race-off and the final, on Thursday and Saturday ... I see that Weymouth, just down the coast, are staging a Great Britain Under-21 v Australia Under-21 international on the Friday (Aug 6). Hope they get a BIG crowd.

Same here. Perhaps they are sending the race-off tickets out first. Or maybe it's due to the increasingly appalling British Post Office! Even my Speedway Star dosen't arrive every Thursday without fail, like it used to.

That's excellent, thanks Sotonian!

The British Individual Championship was staged at Belle Vue 1941 to 1945 I believe. I am trying to find out who finished 1st 2nd and 3rd in each of those years. Can anyone help please????

Giuseppe Marzotto (tha man behind GM) - Charlie Brown

Mick Murphy - John Glass (pre-war Aussie) Ronnie Genz - Reg Neal (in 1964 in the "black" Provincial League)

iris123, Emiliano also rode for Italy in last years' SWC qualifier. BTW, Italy now face Australia, Denmark, and Czech Republic at Eastbourne - a track which probably won't suit them at all. But Armando, if he rides, is always likely to take some surprise points off the other countries!

Channel 4 GP programme is repeated on Thurs night / Friday morning at 3.35am. Definitely not so good without the lovely Julia though...

Many thanks Tomaz - that translator works fine.

Many thanks. Cannot view website, though, as Alta Vista Babelfish will not translate from Russian to English today

Great to see Latvia continuing to enter the SWC, even though they have only one track. Pity the USA aren't in it any more. Nikolai Kokins seems to have been riding for a long time - how old is he?

Except the airfences at Ippo that is! Wot air fences at Ippo????

There have always been hard riders (and one or two real nutters) and there probably always will be. Have to say, though, that in my opinion air fences encourage riders to take more risks!

Mon Aug 2 - Eastbourne - GB v Sweden v Poland v Qualifier (Austria, Hungary, Russia, or Slovenia) Tues Aug 3 - Eastbourne - Australia v Czech Rep v Denmark v Qualifier (Finland, Germany, Italy, or Latvia) Thur Aug 5 - Poole - Race-Off (2nd & 3rd place teams from above) Sat Aug 7 - Poole - FINAL Tickets available online - see http://www.speedwayworld.tv/en/swc/a968 Accomodation - can only suggest you surf the net. BUT, both Eastbourne and Poole are holiday resorts, and August is the peak of the holiday season! Good luck!