OveFundinFan

In the UK Eurosport 2 at 5:20pm today.

You have not given any reasons why?

I not fully sure that is true. An engine has a diameter, the bore, an it has a area concaved in the cylinder head. You get more efficiency through 2 smaller inlets then one large one. The total area of 2 could be more then 1 large one, meaning more fuel. And you cannot put larger single inlet due to the constraints of the area available i the head. Hope that makes sense.

Its a world championship, but with each country having to have a 21 (or under) year old as reserve that must have at least one ride. I have accepted that and ok with it. The competition will develop around that when countries/team managers see the need to have a good under 21 year old, and its something for under 21 years olds to aim for. Obviously some supporters are not ok with that, thats ok.

would that be because really no one knows any other track in Russia other then Togliatti ? Surely, just because Russia has won the title 2 years on the trot doesn't mean it has to have the final next year? Its a bit like speedway world championship in the 1950/60's ...... always in the UK always at Wembley. Other countries started asking for it, hence Sweden, then Denmark, Poland, USA, Germany, Holland. Just cant tie it down tho the winning country. Sure Russia must of been well overdue a world final of some sort........... just think if the had a world speedway final in the 60's, what a real chance for Igor Plechanov or Boris Samarodov, but I am sure if a Russian won in Russia the championship would not have gone back their the following year. To me, Togliatti is a track not to have another world championship event in its present form, but probably will. Sad but likely.

And you may be missing a point. Some teams don’t have 3 strong riders to chose from. What nations in that situation need is development of young ones, so to help them develop young ones make it so they have the need to develop them. That where GB is lacking, the development of young ones, whereas Poland develops young ones. Hence the choice of team GB should, this year after Tai was ruled out, Cook and Lambert, with a developing under 21 at reserve, rather then keep Lambert at reserve knowing full well there would be a very strong chance he would be used a lot, with an old dog in the team. We will see that next year, if all are fit it will be Tai and Robert with a developing rider at reserve.

I worried where next years final going to be, Russia won so is it Tolgiatti again? If it is I demand a rerun of the meeting - you know, like Brexit, dont like the winner so we will run it again until the ones we want to win do. .

It seemed as if there was an unusual amount of false starts at Togliatti. Probably reflects how rubbish the track was - gating was all important as we saw. Even Zmarzlick, who was the best rider over the 2 nights, "missed" the gate when needed and could do nothing about it, Emil and Laguta were away.

Thought it was a 2 valve class, GTR was 4 valve surely.

Can you get any pills to help you?

I get it, I get it.... he was injured and surely that would affect his performance, Saturday night he did well, Sunday not so well.. But as I understand, he said he was riding mid trsck due to the wrist injury. Yet whe he was in the GP last year that is where he rode mainly - mid track. So easy to pick off, they just rode under him on the straight cause they knew once they get to the corner he wasnt going to fill the inside.

Barry, have you (or anyone) got race times for the 2 valvers to compare with same/similar riders on 4 valvers? Not that race times matter, its the quality of racing/more cost effectiveness that matters. And are these 2 valvers laydown engines as someone posted a race clip? And are there any common components between the 2 and 4 valvers?

Problem that arises with GB youngsters getting all this experience in Poland or Sweden is they will earn better money there, will have a yearning for the competitive racing and not bother racing in the UK. This has been known to happen before and not too long ago and the uproar was deafening.

and where does processional riding with hardly any overtakes over 44 heats stand in the likes/dislikes of supporters in other countries????? The riders seem to take what comes, even Tai in the studio didnt overly criticise the track. Are riders under some "hold", like if they speak their mind they would be blanked by the "higher authorities". If the wife or I dished out bland food with no flavour, no colour we would soon be changing the "menu", but the powers that be seem to want to take the worlds best speedway riders to unappetising tracks time and time again, and dish up totally inept referees as well. Dont supporters who pay lots of money, not only on admission, but travel and accommodation, subscription to TV packages etc deserve much better?? IMO they do indeed.

and when there are only a few tracks in the country running anything like a meeting, rides will be low in numbers, so all their fancy equipment is lying there doing nothing. Cant even use a speedway bike on the grass, wouldnt last 2 laps with no suspension. Mind you, there could be a resurgance of grass track racing, but prize money is not too generous except for the very top ones, most do it as a hobby.

Cook riding the centre of the track is what he did i the year he was in the GP’s. Even when he gated opposition went under him into the bend and that was that, he couldn’t come back. Didnt Tai say Bewley had messaged last night “get me to Russia and I will ride”. He should have been there in the pits if he was or in the team (which he should have according to Tai, me and a few others on here). Team riding is none existent with some teams. My award to the best team riding goes to Team GB, in heat 11 tonight against Germany, what Cook and Harris did for the first two laps was pretty good....... problem being they were 3rd and 4th. Ah well. The Togliatti track will be ideal for ice racing, flat and long straights, absolutely fine for ice machines with big spikes in the tyres. Rubbish for shale speedway. Please, no speedway GP there, though I think there may well be.

The riders will certainly have a load of door stops when speedway in the UK collapses.

Could be he needs to find a way to Specsavers...if so he could take the referee with him. Is there a different referee for tonight?..... as in the rules, one for Saturday, different one for Sunday.?

I dont think I misunderstood you, think I knew where you were going. You said "If Bewley at reserve we are in the same boat as all those others", maybe except for one country - Poland, who have Drabik, they could equally have had Smektala, or even Kuberra. Point is, their reserves are pretty good. Why? Because they have been exposed to top class racing for so long. ONly now for last couple years is it, GB has the Poultec training. But what is the point of training youngsters if we dont expose them to international racing. Even last year Dan Bewley who is what 20?, is still behind Drabik/Smektala even younger Kuberra. Without Tai our chances of a win were massively reduced, but still in with a chance maybe of a top 3 place, but still tough. But importantly we got to bring the youngsters through. I understand why you say keep Rob at reserve (he will still get the rides) but does GB go for a minor place this year, or invest in future years. When Robert is over 21 (isnt this his last year at under 21"s competition), then Cook is out it will be Tai and Robert, but who at under 21 reserve. It will be an inexperienced rider who HAS to have a ride, maybe finish last, best 3rd place. Get them trained up at every opportunity, like now, when we cant win, and maybe when they do race they are well capable of 3rd or even 2nd. Those points may be the difference between win or loose. Cook, Lambert, Bewley for me this year.

So, if not Harris, which over 21 rider would you have picked? Without Tai, it could still have been Cook, Lambert and reserve Bewley. the reserve has to have a least one ride, hence in the disastrous last heat Sweden put i their reserve - they had to. If Tai had been fit, the team picks itself..... Tai, Cook and reserve Lambert. That’s a well formed team, if Cook does not perform you put Lambert in. Not the best chance from pre start yesterday, but GB first race wrecked any chance of top 3.

Krsko is not a good racing track, but Togliatti is much worse IMO. Look at the results of the 2017 go challenge from there.... Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Artem Laguna, Dudek, Cook (Cook qualified because Dudek came in top 8 gp,s year before). Three renowned gaters not racers. It’s got to be a NO to a gp in Togliatti.

Cookie did exceptional tonight considering his crash. (Meeting just finished for me-I been watching a recording as I was out when it started. Hope tomorrow is better then today but I can’t see how.

I no good at COUNTDOWN either.......... until they get to the numbers.

Referee rubbish, track rubbish, racing rubbish (not riders fault), camera work rubbish. Other then that everything is ok.

The future of British speedway is NOT with Chris Harris, he had his day, and he had some very good days, but they have gone. Team GB management should be building for the future. GB is not going to be on the podium this year now that Tai is out, so it was a chance to take the bull by the horns and put new blood in. So, a combination of experience and youth would be good. Cook has experience at GP level and of the Togliatti track, Lambert has the youth and experience, so who should be the third rider. To build for the future it should be someone younger, someone with a future (rather then a past). That someone had to be the likes of Dan Bewley, someone with potential to go forward. Missed opportunity in my mind.