21st century heathen

Fair comments spook. For the record I don't have really strong feelings for Nicki one way or the other. I'd rather he won it than Crump because I don't much like him as a rider but that's all. I'd be more than happy to the 'Grin' stuff the pair of them.

Yes, I'd seen the comments about Adam Roynon and have just seen the other one too.

What is your problem?!!

I've got no problem with you or your opinion of Nicki as a rider. We all have riders we like, dislike or are indifferent to. It was just when you called him a 'hammy wrestler type' I thought I should just bow out as I didn't want to get into a daft argument. That's why I said "carry on". My use of the word "apathy" was in relation to speedway in general because I wasn't particularly happy with the way the sport was going even before all the latest crap blew up. That's all. There's nothing more to it than that.

WTF???

Not at all. I think you've just misunderstood my apathy. I just think it's being used by some to have a pop at Nicki. He sees it as his chance at the world title being ruined by a poor decision and he let his feelings known. I don't think any other rider doing similar would have got the same response.

Glad we could have a sensible debate. Just because the Nicki hate club want it to be so doesn't mean it is! Carry on then...

I thought both had their back to the camera when they lashed out and whatever was unfortunate enough to be in the way. In any case it's not really worth arguing over. I just think it's going to be turned into an excuse to have a go at Nicki by many on here. I genuinely feel for him because that may prove to have been an important weekend. Nicki was unlucky to be excluded, and Jason was very lucky to go on to score so many. It looked odds on that Nicki was going to nibble a bit out of Jason's lead over him and it could have proved to be a significant night psychologically.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Nicki. I thought it was a ridiculous decision to exclude him and I've got no problem with a rider going back to his pit area and kicking whatever is nearest. I wonder why people aren't moaning about Greg losing it too? It's turning into just another Nicki-bashing thread.

AJ for me please. I'm sure the only thing standing between me and victory is my choice of captain, so lets hope I've got it right this time.

I have a feeling he may just do that next season. I think this season was a last ditch effort. Could be wrong though.

To be fair they have been moving around a bit. It was at Monmore a couple of years ago which is a doddle to get to, though I take your point about making it a weekend to give people time to travel without taking time off work. *edit* typo

I prefer the 'yeah, no' one. Tai does it as well. Funny and annoying in equal measure. Really? I commented on that too. Looked like false lashes to me. Because if they had played God Save The Queen for the Brits they would have had to play the Aussie and Kiwi anthems for Tai and Bunny too. And that would have just dragged the evening out even longer. Bloody hell Steve that's impressive. You can tell by the way people cheer what they are thinking. Why so many Wolves fans on the south coast? Beat me to it. Must be in with a shout if he's in good form over the next few weeks. --------------------------------------- On the whole that was an enjoyable meeting, but I did get that sinking feeling with a few consecutive gate and go races. Ride of the night goes to Ed for the pass on Bomber. Few pass Bomber but I've never seen Ed so committed to a tight move. He's usually one to be a little more cautious. It was a Bomber type move and that way around wouldn't have surprised me. Ed was good value all night and congrats to him. Surely he made more passes than any other rider on the night too. Top performance. Obviously huge congrats to Bomber. Well deserved in the end for saving his best til last. Why can't he gate like that more often?! Congrats also to Tai for another very good evening in a big meeting. He seemed genuinely happy to maintain the third place he achieved last season. Hopefully he gets a ride at Cardiff to make it all worth while. If not, I'm sure it won't be too long until he samples the GP experience. Although Lee only has himself to blame for screwing it up when it mattered most I do feel for him. I'm not a fan of the winner-takes-all meetings (or th eleague for that matter), and he was clearly the best rider over the 5 rides each. It was clear how much how desperately wanted the GP spot as well as the title, so genuinely a bit gutted for him. Almost for Danny and Lewis, but cocked it when the pressure was on. Danny made it hard with the exclusion but cocked up another ride too. Lewis finishing last in his final heat was almost unreal. How did he manage to miss out?! Scotty did well to bounce back with a couple of wins after a poor start. Looks to have lost some weight, just as a side issue. Still love watching Scotty when he's on form and would like to see him back over here in future (perhaps not this season because I do think that the GP boys have made their bed and should have all been made to lie in it). Stead did okay considering he'd blown up on parade, and of the lower order riders I thought Howe and Complin were steady and the ones most likely to have caused a surprise, with the rest fighting over scraps.

Shaping up nicely. Sadly it's the worst time of year for me. It's that very week that is the busiest at work every year. But I shall do everything I can to make sure I can escape a little early on that night. It might just mean a few late nights on other days. A small price to pay. Surprised not to see Jonno signed up yet.

Quite right, it's neither here nor there. I just found it a strange quirk.

http://www.ladbrokes.com/lbr_portal *edit* - ooops, sorry, that doesn't link directly to the right page. Ladbrokes have Nicholls as the ousider on their GP page. Bomber, Walasek and Ulamek are shorter odds. Yep, same nonsense as the league. You don't necessarily need to be the best, just be in the mix. You could score about 8 and take the title from someone that had a maximum.

Slightly odd to see Scott as fave for this but a massive outsider for the GP, well below Bomber. Seems a little contradictory.

Woffinden at 14 has got to be worth an e/w, surely?

That's a bit better. I'm convinced I have the right team, it's just down to me to pick the right captain for each round. Cocked up both so far. Things will take an upturn when Nicki finds his best form again.

I would expect Scott to raise his game for this one.

Love it when that happens. ------------------------------------ I suspect Lee will be the number one challenger to Scott's dominance, with Ed the other most likely to grab the wildcard spot. I'm not sure Bomber can even make the final on current form. Tai or Lewis (if fit enough) could edge him out of it.

And the tapes weren't held for a long time to suggest they wouldn't release when the ref pushed the button. Sounds like a cop-out for a terrible decision. Worked out for me in the forum GP game though as AJ grabbed more points.

New depths on Saturday. 5 nationalities in one race - genius!! AJ back in is easily the worst decision in GP history. Most of the time things are open to debate and not everyone will view an incident the same way, but this was just a simple decision. AJ dropped it and went straight through the tapes. He should have been elbowed and paid damages for shredding the tapes. I thought the call to boot Nicki was harsh. It was just a case of two riders bumping going in to the turn, in my opinion. I'd have put them all back in. That's it. Don't think anything else happened. $h!te as has become the norm. Cardiff usually throws some interesting thrills and spills, but that apart I won't be spending my hard earned on GPs until the standard of track prep/racing improves.

Thanks again. Always appreciated.

Wild Card (Hampel) as Captain please.