weatherwatcher

2 young riders should have been given the chance to blood themselves tonight. Bomber and King have been in the world cup and they have given the same results every time, they do quite well on home soil, but when they go over the water they just havn't got what it takes. So I really think it would have made a lot of sense with 2 new riders, we where never going to win, this was always going to be Polands night and good luck to them they got the points they needed, they got the second places when the Brits came last, this is not good enough from 1 GP rider anda Brit who has been in world meetings for a number of years never quite giving his all, mainly because they are not good enough, to beat these young Polish riders. What ever happened we would not have won anyway, so to me it made sense to bring the lads in and give them a shot, maybe just maybe they could have picked up those valuble points that the other 2 failed to do.

Woofy and Lambert have been the only 2 Brits that might as well turne up, Bomer getting old and off the pace, King the never really made it man, would have been better to have given 2 other the younger lads a ride, may not of been as close as it is now, but yiou never know, they could well have scored more points than they 2 have done, king was riding like it was his first time on a bike in that last race, when are thye young Brits ofther tahn Lambert who is am isperation on a bike be given a chance.

So how things are going, with a biased ref working for the Brits, the Poles now stand to be excluded from all thier next races, either for starting to fast, going infront of any rider, or even riding faster than anyone else, they will be taking thier bikes apart to see if they are using ileagle means and make the take thier heats on a push bike. The ref obviously just doesn't like the Poles.

We actually look what we are a once top speedway nation, that have fallen on hard times and are now beggeing off the streets. They are haveing thier moments, but afraid there are more bad ones that better. Where ever did British speedway all start to go so wrong

Bomber is still lacking the straight line speed, Lambert seems be be getting much more out of his engine than bomber. Is it down to Bomber having the wrong gearing setup, good off the strart line which is unusual for him, but his speed just seems to die on him the more laps he does.

I hope that at 6 pm, when you put your telly on to Eurosport to watch the race off, and you find out that are not being shown on there, you will say sorry and turn over to Quest. It is all part of the same group that Eurosport are in and when they have something that they think is better to be shown on Eurosport, they switch it over to Quest, they have already done it once with the GP's. I can assure you all that both tonight and Saturdays are being shown on Quest starting at 6pm. Switch your box on and take a look at tonights listings. Even the terrible two when comontating from King Lynne told everyone that they would be switching over to Quest. This is not a joke belive me. It is not April Fools day.

Do we still have many riders that are over boring engines these days, would have thought with all the titanium bits and bobs and other costly add on's that those days where long gone. In this modern era, of electronics, I can't see why the riders still have to remove the cover to advance or retard the points. Is it just that the powers above can't get around to the fact, that things have gone a very long way from the days when riders where using JAP rudge and various other past museum pieces. I really think they could make life within the speedway world so much simpler.

Don't forget, if you want to watch the run off tonight, or the final on Saturday. It is NOT being shown on Eurosport. They are being shown on QUEST. Both meetings are scheduled for a 6 p.m start time. Just thought I would let folks know, as there is nothing worse than turning on the tellie, to find that the programme you want to watch is not on the Listings. It is on Sky 167, to save you having to trawl through all the stations.

Who is producing the German engine. Another completely different looking design.

That is why so many young riders struggle to stay riding speedway, thier parents help them out when younger and the early tean years, when they have to find all the money on top of running a house and family, the sport tacks a back seat. It is getting far to costly, with the add on nuts bolts washers and tuning, so if the Gerhard engine is left alone as it comes from the factory, then the PL and NL can run an engine for all season with no tune up's no extra bits to by, as long as they all run on the same standard setup, then you get a much fairer meeting, with the winner being the rider who has the most knowladge and know how to ride the track, not the rider who has the most money to spend to get the faster engine, by spending silly amounts with the guys who tune the bikes. Lets get back to what the sport was all about an affordable way to have fun riding a bike. That was until the big boys came onto the scene and started over developing an engine that is now at the point of blowing its self to small pieces of shrapnel. If they want to do this in the GP's then let them, but let the grass root riders get along with an engine that is well designed and comes from the factory, in a full racing condition, that will run longer than the other engines on the market, with less down time. So why play about with them to get an extra ten penneth out of them. Leave them alone and race them as they are and the same should go for all the other engines too. Lets make a sport a level playing field, with riders being able to affords to race and enjoy the sport, not beak thier bank accounts just trying to be the fastest rider around the tracks.

It will be a crying shame if the powers that be let the top riders get thier grubby paws on an engine that has been designed, built and now in the early stages of track testing, in actual meetings, to be butchered and glorified, just so they can be the top bee. The whole concept of this engine is that straight from the factory, it can be run competative for much longer than the other engines. No doubt Gerhard will have a clause, that when you by an engine and start to mess about with it, there will be no comebacks. This will surely become the engine to use for the riders who are the bread and butter of speedway, who can ill aford to be spending money every few weeks, on having to get the engine rebuilt. When they will be able to hopefully buy a Gerhard engine to see them the season out, without having to dig deep into thier or more than likely thier parents pockets. OK let the big guys go and ruin a good product if they wish to fork out money every week, just so you can stay at the top of the tree, rather meaningless , it is a very cut throat business these days.

Danny King, has been tried and tried again and again at this level and fails to bring the goods, he has come as far as he will and I think it is time to bring in some young blood. We where never going to win the other night, so to me it would have been better to have gone with the other 3 riders and have put in another young rider, just to give them a chance at major world speedway. Lets face it you don't give them a go then we will never find out what they can do, because in a few years time they are going to be all that we have to use. What will then be the use of using maybe 2 riders because you will still have Tai and Lambert, but the other riders will still be hanging around at reserve berth in the EL. because no one is brave enough to give them a shot. Bring one in on Thursday, because I can't see us going much further in the competition. You never know though, with the 3 riders from Monday and one new young blood in the team, they may just pull of a shock win against the Poles, they say the track suits the British lads better than it does the Poles, so the chance may just be there.

Other than his mastakes at the start, which you can put down to nerves on a big occasion, for a very young rider, he rode well, he is a talent in the offering and he will make his way up the world ladder fast, if he continues to ride as he does, I hope that he dosen't lose his head and change his whole attitude, he comes over as a very nice level headed young man, no I am going to be world champion, in a couple of years time, or I will be the No 1 rider in the EL and the world, he just gets on with things and say all I can do is try my best. Really like him, he should go a long way.

Liked what I saw of the rides by Bomber, must say though it seemed to lack quite a bit in straight line speed. That could have been down to the gearing and not the engine though. It was good off the start and if Bomber can get it to go from the tapes, then it must be good. I really can't see how it can be leagle. You could have said the same about the GM's when they started to replace the Jawa's. But noone knows for sure, unless they have seen one in pieces, what is actually going on inside the engine. All I have ever seen are pictures of the outside of the engine, there are no scematics of it. Come to think of it neither are there any for the Jawa's and GM's come to think about it. What made them come up with the very chuncky looking barrel, it just looks like an unfinished block of aluminium but it works very well for all that. But on the inside it is no more that a crank and a piston. With a bore of 500cc like all the others. Would love to know, what they have done to make the big difference to the other engines.

The act of slaming riders into the fence should be stopped, what I saw of the incident, it was lucky that the Russian came off as light has he did and to be excluded for something that Linus did and he was the one that caused the stoppage and also the injury to Hampel he was the one who should have buded, not only that but I feel very strongly about, the act of fencing riders, that I feel the only way to put a stop to this, which could very easily give serious injuries to the rider being fenced that the rider who deliberately fences another rider should be ruled out of any more races in that meeting.

The modern speedway engine would struggle on petrol, there is just not enough fining around the engine to cool it, just look at any modern speedway enginge it is just a solid block virtually. Then take a look at the design of the old upright engines, which where basicly, just well tuned road bike engines of that era.

The whole set up in world speedway as changed a great deal, the Poles wanted to become a top speedway nation, they trained the youngsters and brought them through the ranks. Britain always had a fair amount of good solid world class riders, but somewhere around the mid 80's they started to bring in lots of overseas riders. Some where good, some should never have been given track space, but the promoters seemed to love them, Chris Louis and the other riders of that era, where probably the last one to get a shot at the big time over here, whilst the teams saw all the overseas lads taking those team spots our young British lads, where never given the chance to compete in the EL So they either stayed in the PL or NL and just plodded along, never getting a chance to show what they where made of. Now with the draft riders coming through, they have been given a chance again, some of this years draft lads should have earned a full team place, but no they got shoved for another year at reserve. What it needs is a promoter, with the guts and bottle to say, Yes I will give one of our young riders a chance, instead of bringing in someone from Europe who have never proved themselves, until this happens, it will be a long time before we see a return to the days of British speedway, when we Chris Lois and a big list of other British riders that made it to the big time in world speedway.

The fact being, that the Poles where unable to take the rides for Hampel lost them the meeting. What a stupid rule, that the other 3 riders could cover for him in his heats. The rule needs to be changed next season.

2 different era's 2 different riders, I would say that His dad pipped him to the post but not by much. It was far harder riding the tracks in his dads days, far greater skills on the bike where needed and the track surfaces, far different conditions from when his son rode. I for one would love to see them stick all the top riders of the modern era, on an old upright bike with tracks prepared to how they where in that era, to see just how they would get on. Some of them would be having quite a hard time of it, because there is no way on this earth, that they could go out on an old upright, giving it full throttle from the gate and hopeing to stay on the bike. The riders had to do far more thinking then they ever do now. No doubt some will differ. with my thoughts.

Following the leader, could also be the way the ride around the track now, with off and go from the gate, the teams would score far more points over the season, if the riders could only learn how to team ride. There seems to be so many these days that have the attitude, I am going out to win. At all costs. You quite often see, a team riders go off like a rocket and gain a big lead and stay there, whilst his mate is in second place and fighting off, the 2 opposition riders behind him, on his own he can't cover all the line against them, but with a bit of help from his mate they would have gained those much needed points, come the end of the year. Has speedway now turned into a selfish, win all attitude by the riders. Rather than the team sport it should be. If this engine is a succes, and something is done to restrict, those riders who have money to burn. By getting the most or tuning that is just on the border line of the engine blowing up, we could well see, a change in the way riders have to race. Could bring us some interesting results.

I am not sure if there is any rules in place for not using an old upright bike, or even a new version of the old upright. A new frame and a new designed engine could weel hold its own against a lay down. Would be good to see the outcome. Also it would be nice to see them run on 2 different track conditions, the modern flat as a pancke track and the ild way with lots of dirt. The upright would probally come out well on top with the second track surface and could probablly, come out quite well on the first, if it was a completely new bike. What it is, is that the riders have now come to like the laydown and the upright has been doomed to the histry books. When was the last upright used in major speedway meeting and who by. From what I have seen of the new gerhard engine so far I have been quite impressed, think we will be seeing more of it in major speedway. Could well be the in favor engine next season, if the testing goes well this year..

As for heat 10 that was an absolut farce. If all 4 rider had been out ther on the track, it would have looked like a game of skittles down the local pubs alley. From the start Holder was all over the place and he almost took out Watt. Or where not people watching heat 10 at the time. Heat 10 could have and would hav ended up with a big crash, with riders maybe injured. We don't need any more riders going out this year due to injury. If we lose many more, the whole EL & PL will be so short of riders, they will be asking the MDl and other lower leagues for riders. Just seen today that young Josh Auty, has had to uner go surgery on his hand and will be out for another 8 weeks, so the fact of that is as a Lions reserve they will only have him back for the last 7 meeting much the same as Grezegorz Walasek. That is just the Lions team, there are other teams in the same boat, so no we should not put riders health & saftey solely into the hands of officals, who are not the ones having to ride on the tracks. They should be listened to and if they think it is dangerous, be it any meeting in front of Sky or not it should be called off. For saffty's sake.. Are not a lot of meetings these days a meaning less farce. We are seeing EL meeting with some of the teams using guests that are not even top PL riders against other teams that have no injury probles fielding a full team. At the end of the day, the paying public should be able to go and watch a meeting that is Elite not a load of un elite. Clap trap. How many meetings have there been this year where a team have fielded their full time bar the first couple of meeting. Maybe SCB can answer this one, and how many teams are missing riders through injury this year.

I have never, I thinks read a worst press staement in all my life.I have just been gazing into my cyrstal ball, it looks like the final of the play off at the end of the season, could be affected by rain on that evening. No date when it will not rain 24 hours before the given meeting or in fact, any televised meeting can be found. So just to be safe, we at GO Speed and Sky tv, will ask all the promoters, at British speepway tracks to cancel all meetings forthwith, until we can come up with a solution. The only way forward, would be to find a venue, with a roof, and then run all the seasons meeting on one night to cut down on costs. They only way we see this being able to be run, is to have only 2 riders per club and just run 1 race per team. And at the end of the night, run the play offs for the EL,PL and NL. For goodness sakes we live in the British Isles, how many years do we get that we have no rain from the start to the end of the season. I can't recall any, even 1975 when we had the great drought ended up being a rather wet and wofull Septemer onwards.

You do talk a load of bull at times, don't you ever think before you make some of your silly posts. Just sat and Watched the Poole KL meeting. It was a full Pirate team against one hlf decent guest who never relly got to grips with the meeting after that horrible Blacl/White race where Bjerre pulled a blinder. This was just like watching an EL team up against a PL team, how in heavens name did they ever come up with perhaps one of the worst group of guest riders in the EL this season so far. I just hope it dosen't get any worse, that what was on show at Wimbourne Road on Wednesday.

The spelling error, may just have worked out the right way as he is proably just that a moth that flutters around the flame, but he darn't get to close just in case he gets burnt.