21st century heathen

That gives the impression that AJ also has no worse injuries than bruising. Lets hope that is correct, and that he's striaght back on the bike. It would be a cruel blow to pick up an injury so soon after the best week of his career. All the best AJ.

A well deserved win. AJ was clearly the best rider on show, and it's about time he won one. This is his true form, and lets hope we see more of it. I've been wondering if he'd be another that would never do himself justiced on the world stage. Now he's got one in the bag he might just relax, and let the riding do the talking. Congrats AJ.

I don't know for sure but I would have thought his placing stands. In '95 Billy was only reserve for the first GP, but rode in the other 5 rounds. He finished 5th despite the handicap of missing a round (he'd have almost certainly been 3rd had he ridden in Poland). He was classified as 5th at the end of the year. Having said that this is speedway, so who knows.

You will also see the term "6 and two 3's" used.

I don't have time to read all the posts on this thread, but I can see from the first few pages how it was going. First of all I like both riders, so no bias here. I think Scott was very unlucky. Hans got himself into trouble by leaning all over Scott. For me Hans had to be excluded. Had Hans gone down on the previous bend when Scott gave him a proper nudge then Scott would have to have been excluded. As Kelvin said if Hans had backed off going into the turn he would have had a good chance of turning back under Scott on the exit of the turn. Hans was really struggling once the track got very wet, and was riding as badly as I've seen from him in a long while. I think he was so desperate to hold on because he had no confidence in himself in those conditions. Had it been dry I think he'd have backed his own ability to outrace Scotty without having to lean all over him. Scott was lucky in Italy, but very unlucky here. It's a shame because another final would have got him at least 18 for third (as Crump fell), and that would have closed the gap on the top 5. As it is he's still on the brink. His biggest problem this year is that he's not scoring that many to make the semi-s, so he doesn't carry many points forward if he doesn't make the final.

Just heard via the Sky match. Very sad. RIP Toni

Thanks for that.

What possible 'agenda' do you think I have? I have named my two greatest rival clubs as having far superior track prep than a club I have never been bothered about one way or the other. Coming from a Cradley fan that's being very fair and honest, when all my natural instincts tell me to slate them at evey opportunity. The reason I didn't name other examples of riders trying to pass is that I would be here all day. I don't have a score card in front of me, but how many riders had a win and a last or third? Quite a few I would suggest. Harris recorded 3 last places, made a gate and led 'til the last turn. Made the gate in the re-run and won it. There were many examples of riders simply not able to make ground due to the track. The reason it didn't rut up is because there was no dirt on it to rut up. It was down to the hard base of the track. You'd need a JBC to rut that up, not a speedway bike. If others are happy watching racing on that kind of surface then that's fine by me. I will accept and respect their opinion. All I ask in return is that you do the same of my opinion. It's not speedway as I know it, and I was disappointed that a potentially sensational meeting was only decent.

I'm not going to post anything other than my honest views/opinions. I have no previous experience of the Reading track other than what I've seen on tv this year, and what I saw for myself yesterday. It seems to me that the reason they can get meetings on after heavey rain is that water runs off tarmac quite nicely. Every match I've seen from there I've seen tyres smoking away, and Charlie even managed to get his tyre to burn away nicely along the straight in one race!!! There was a slick line after two heats, and the blue groove made an appearance after about 7/8 heats. There was even a blue groove along the straight, which is something I've never seen before. There was very little dirt on the outside, and what was there was so dry and dusty that it provided very little grip. So many riders were caught at the back and despite trying every line they simply couldn't do anything. Look at how hard Jason had to go to try to make a pass, and he was pretty fast. There also seemed to be what could only be described as gravel-like grey stones on the surface. I can't remember having ever seen that before. Certainly stones are not going to bind together, and give the riders any grip. The little bit of dirt that was there was graded back to the inside regularly which meant it was spread so thin it was no good to anybody. It should have been left on the outside and well watered. It was about heat 15 before we first the water truck. It did a lap on the slick inside, and a lap on the outside. That was it!!! I'm used to what I consider far superior track prep at both Wolves and Coventry, and I feel that a decent meeting would have been nothing short of sensational at either one of those two tracks. The riders on show are brilliant motorcyclists, and mostly fantastic racers. This week they weren't given a race track to show off their talent, and that is a real shame. And I won't even comment on the state of the stadium facilities for a World Cup final.

Well I went, and got in no probs. That doesn't take anything away from the fact that I couldn't find out if there was any tickets left before I had to leave. Total farce, and something that can't be allowed to happen again. For the record there was a queue a mile long for those that had bought tickets before the event. There was no queue at all for cash payment on the day, and I just walked straight in. Must have been rather frustrating for those stood in the queue.

Nah. Give me blood, guts, (metaphorically speaking of course) and elbows any day. I haven't had chance to watch it back on Sky yet, but it looked like the pair were going down hard. From what I've heard they were hooked up, and bumping each other along the straight. Credit both riders for sorting themsleves out, and staying on to complete the race. AJ certainly seemed to offer an apology to Nicki as soon as Nicki turned round to him after the race. It was handshakes all the way down the back straight. I've also heard that Nicki was laughing as he turned away from Ole. Whatever it was it couldn't have been anything that bothered him that much.

Absolutely thr right call, but sadly backfired. Chris made just about the worst five starts, in one match, of his career. None of could foresee that. He was on the pace, and tried every single line he could find. Sadly with the track the way it was he was trapped at the back more often than not. Just a bad day at the office rather than a bad call.

He certainly can be very fast indeed. The biggest problem Scott has seems to be his head. He's always seemed to be the one to miss out when it really matters. He's not he first, and won't be the last, very talented rider to not quite put it all together on the world stage. He still has time to make the most of his talent and speed, but the clock is beginning to tick. Back to the thread subject, and yes he moves. So does virtually ever other rider. Personally I'd like to see a return to the touch but don't break them rule. If you get caught going backwards then tough. If you make a flyer good on ya. Billy has been a master of the roller for years. I've seen many many races when he's had the back wheel spinning slowly, but with no forward momentum. That means he hasn't moved so no exclusion, but it also means the bike is ready to fire out the start.

Just had word that half the car aprk is reserved for Sky, and the other half is filling up fast.

But they are only available on the gate if there's any left. You can't find out if there's any left. Remember it's only a 3300 capacity.

If anyone is planning to go tonight, but doesn't have tickets, please check my last post on the BSI ticketing policy thread. I'm not trying to put anyone off. I'm just passing information on to the fans. Anyone that wants to verify it can check it for themselves. I really want to go to this match, but there are more and more signs that I'll be wasting time and money.

Well that was a waste of time. You might have just lost two more customers. *insert sarcastic clapping* Reading website says... World Cup Final tickets still on sale 22-07-2006 Tickets for Saturday night's FIM ASL Freight Movements Speedway World Cup Final at Reading's Smallmead Stadium, are still on sale. Tickets can be purchased from a Ticket Office point at Smallmead Stadium from 11.00am on Saturday morning. The Ticket Office will be open to cash and credit card customers. Subject to availability, tickets will be still be available on the gate at the stadium on Saturday night. Only full price general admittance tickets at £25 each are available. Gates open 5.00pm - Engines start 7.15pm Tickets also available at: Ticket hotline: 0870 122 00 22 or visit: www.speedwayworld.tv Note that it has todays date. I phoned the hotline, only to be told... ...24 hours before the event we don't sell tickets because we can't print them and get them to the customer in time... Fair enough on their part I s'pose. You'll have to buy tickets at the stadium, and if they've sold out you'll be turned away. Huge incentive to travel, what for some of us will be, a significant distance. I decided to phone the stadium to see if there were any tickets still available, or whether they'd been sold already today. All I got was a recorded message telling me the same thing it says on the website. So there is no official word on whether or not you will actually be able to buy tickets on the gate tonight. Congratulations BSI you've turned the showpiece event into a farce that is alienating the hardcore fan, and enticing not a single new fan. I guess as long as you make a profit it will be considered a success though.

Yes, no probs mate.

Steady will be fine.

I'm going to phone the stadium in a minute to see how many tickets they've sold, and therefore how many will be let in tonight. Anyone want to take a guess at what they say? Should be interesting.

1) Booze or riders? 2) Why not?

I went back in 2002. Treat as two seperate weekend breaks. One is a city break to the beautiful city of Prague. The other is a trip to a speedway match. There is just the one bar by the track. There is nothing else by the stadium. It is not like Cardiff, so as someone else said please don't think it will be. Ask at the tourist info centre for the tram number to the stadium. (I can't remember it.) Give yourself plenty of time because they can get very busy, and you may not get on the first one that comes. Particularly going back to the city after the match can be a free-for-all. Boat trip on the river is good, couple of viewing towers worth making the trip to as the views are pretty cool, general atmos around the city is nice, and I quite liked the torture museum. Just watch for pickpockets. (Same as any tourist city really)

Don't tar all female speedway fans with the same brush. Not all of them are like you!!!

If there were more overtakes in that match than most league matches, I'm glad I go to Wolves and Coventry because they must have way way over the average.

Good point. DOH!!! Didn't it just melt?