21st century heathen

I would be just the same as having Sam off the inside.

The schedule doesn't go far enoguh yet, but as far as I can tell it just gives people time to head back up to my neck of the woods. Last train just before 9pm.

Who cares?! He's only a dirty dog. (said with love and respect for a Wolves hero ) Gets the adrenalin flowing.

Firstly, the Czech Republic and Denmark don't use the Euro. Prague is nowhere near expensive. It's just not as ridiculously cheap as it used to be. I'm sure the cost is still creaping up, but as of this past summer you could still get drunk for a fraction of the cost over here. The whole of Scandinavia is relatively expensive. I went to Sweden and Denmark 5 and 4 years ago, respectively. Even back then it was the best part of £2 for a 500ml bottle of Coke/Pepsi etc (and I paid £6 for a single rum (local not international brand) and coke). That's just an everyday example.

Whereas I enjoy looking back over the Dudley/Wolves Trophy results. Y'know, Wolves only won it 4 times in my lifetime. Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

with motorcylces. You say that, but last season I cheered Wolves...to defeat!! Never happened!!

Truth is that he, as any other, would tell us all what we want to hear.

No, sadly, Lee Complin (I think) broke it recently. It did stand for a decade though. *edit* Cheers Steve. Although Cradley should clearly be underlined and in bold. I'm sure Billy would confirm this.

Steve - To be fair to the UK fans you should really add Belle Vue and Oxford to your signature if you're going to name clubs. Billy was very popular in his short time at those clubs too. I understand the Midlands bias, of course, but it sounds a bit exclusive. Your idea of an OAPs SGP is fantastic by the way. I saw Big Al race Andy at B'ham recently. He was clearly the better and had to work hard to throw a race. It would be great to see him go flat out against Phil Collins, for example.

A properly advertised/promoted meeting between Cradley, led by Greg and Billy, and Wolves would attract a huge crowd. Especially if the Cradley side included a Cov rider or two to help tie in with that side of his career. Perhaps we could track Roynon and Barker at reserve for example? A lot of Cradley fans have drifted away from the sport though, so it would need to be well advertised in the Black Country. Posters/flyers in pubs and clubs would help. Local newspapers/radio covering the story along with word-of-mouth and I would hope the message would get around.

I'm sure you meant to say Dudley Wood. Hell yeah!! And Bobby in the US. Wolves vs Cradley select would work. Build a Cradley team upto the points limit with Greg and Billy leading it. . You're getting your memories all mixed up again. That should read 'the Heathens'. One of any number of times he's pulled off such a move (although I didn't see that one). I do recall a move he put on Doncaster and Clouting (I think) at Dudley Wood in '95(?). He made a terrible start to trail the Witches down the back straight. Donkey was on the outside team riding his young partner into the bottom turn for the first time. There was no room between them. Billy went into the corner about 10mph faster than them, and it was one of those moments when a hush fall over the stadium as everyone waits fir the inevitable huge pile-up. God alone knows how, but Billy found room to make a clean pass inbetween the two as they went around the pits turn to come off turn 4 with a clear lead. There was no hesitation about the move at all. The roar as everyone opened their eyes again was probably one of the biggest of the season. Stunning move. That's the kind of rider Billy was. One of the greatest out-and-out racers of the modern era, and it was a pleasure to see him ride every week. Sadly, the injuries held him back as he went through the second half of his career. In my opinion (although biased as he's my favourite rider of the modern era), he had at least one more title in him if he had remained injury free. *nods then shakes head as the memory comes screaming back* Especially as it was just after we'd lost Erik and Simon too. Although Simon came back superbly, and had a cracking season in '95. Greg/Billy vs Sam/PK. Now that would be fun. Beat me to it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cradley career stats for Billy taken from the Cradley website. 1990 - 6.82 1991 - 9.13 1992 - 8.57 1993 - 8.62 1994 - 8.73 1995 - 10.94 1996 - 10.30 He went on to average over 10 the following year for Belle Vue. He was top of the averages from '95 - '97 when riding three different tracks as his home track. '95 at Dudley Wood, '96 at Loomer Road (for Cradley) and '97 at Kirky Lane. I don't know of another rider that's done that. Any ideas?

But at least the top riders can ride in a league where they don't have to face the same opposition and go to the same tracks all the time...no hang on, that's not quite true is it?!

The average temperature in Prague during the last week of April is low to mid teens. Rainfall is less than half of that in late July/early August. Sounds fine to me.

No, I don't think such a championship would have a place alongside the GPs. I rather doubt GP riders would take part, nor many of the other better riders that already have a hectic schedule. What sort of World Champion would you actually end up with? Might give Havy another chance I guess.

Yeah, all the pretty ladies are welcome to sit on my lap.

Nobody would have wished that wasted journey on you. Hopefully you'll make it up here for a meeting next season.

I guess we'll have to come back to this one in about ten years to see who was right then. Edward, as the rest, took part in the qualifiers and failed to beat a couple of ex-GP riders than many consider gating tarts that are past their best. If they couldn't get through the GP qualifiers why should they have done any better if the name of the round was different (World semi-final or GP final)? The fact that the likes of Ulamek and Walasek can get back in ahead of the so-called big name youngsters proves the Rob is right when he says that world speedway is nowhere near as strong as it was back in the 70's and 80's. Anyway, that's way off topic and easily returned to next time you moan about the GPs.

I can't see AJ ever winning. He's got the talent but seems to lack the drive required.

PUK - Always seems to get himself into 'trouble'.

6 seems possible, but I think 7 will be extremely difficult for anyone to achieve. I see the next two going to either Pedersen or Crump, and then Andersen should be mounting a serious challenge. By then we'll have almost certainly lost Gollob, Hancock and Adams. I don't see the replacements being anywhere near ready to challenge at that point, so we could be looking at the top 4 (incl AJ) rather than 6 breaking clear at the top.

QUOTE (Rob B @ Oct 19 2008, 10:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That was funny the way he kept slipping it in. I thought Greg was on great form. He was clearly unhappy about the whole situation as the switch probably cost him another medal to add to the collection, but he was taking real delight in getting a few digs in. And, did anyone notice how he faked trying to hide the drink when picking his gate position? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think he'll keep going as long as he can make money out of the GPs. Clearly that is still the case at the moment so why would he stop?!

It's not likely to matter now. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html

It peed it down right on schedule this morning, and then it cleared quickly to leave a blue sky by mid-morning. However, the next wet stuff is way ahead of schedule. It's was originally forecast to be a dry afternoon and evening but... http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html

But if you're going to bump the cost up you need to justify with a good line-up. True, but they've generally finished 40 yards behind.

No idea mate. He's not mentioned on the piece posted earlier this evening (must have been just after the Brummies meeting as it mentions Lyons' maximum). Robo used to be pretty good value at Monmore, for a rider of his average at the time (with Cov). It would be interesting to see if he could remember the best way around (for him it was round the curb). I really enjoy this meeting normally, and the line-up is quite even. That will ensure good racing, I'm sure. Especially as it will rain in the morning and water the track the best way possible. The problem is that it's a blatant rip-off, and I don't like being ripped-off. Particularly when I don't think 'the league' (so-to-speak) deserves any reward for this season.