21st century heathen

No it's not. As covered previously... 5 rides each top 2 straight to the final next 4 into last chance semi top two from that join the others in the final. Here we go again!! I didn't say it was his fault. I didn't say he was abusing the system. In fact I used the same word that you have used. I said he was 'using' the system to his advantage. I didn't say I wouldn't do the same. You are still trying put words in my mouth, and of others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right, I'm going to be brave and go for a prediction. The points are rough, because I couldn't be bothered to work out who meets who where, and whether it all adds up. Scott - 13 David - 12 Chris H - 10 Simon - 9 Chris L - 8 Joe - 8 Ed - 7 Lee - 6 Olly - 5 Lewis - 5 Tai - 4 Gary - 4 Danny - 3 Richard - 3 James - 2 William - 2 Final David Chris H Scott Chris L I'm torn when I get to the final. I can make a case for any of the top 3 to blow it. I'll go with that lot and see how close I get.

Er...no!!! According to him not us. How many defending him bothered to read the thread properly?! Got nothing against him in the slightest (until he pulls on a Wolves race jacket anyway ). The system is wrong. He's just using it to his benefit.

That needs to be quoted...just in case. Many riders name Monmore as one of their fave tracks as it's well prepared, and gives opportunity to overtake. As I've said ever since this was first announced, most Brits are very good at Monmore. I doubt more than one or two would rather it was somewhere else (excluding riders preferring their own track). Got that one in nice early eh Steve. What about riders such as Lewis Bridger and David Howe? They moved up to the EL in their teens. What about Simon Stead? Widely regarded as only being held back by injury. Mark Loram and Joe Screen... He's a talented rider, and I'm looking forward to seeing him ride tonight. He needs to realise that the comments here have nothing to do with him as an individual or as a rider. It's the fact that he's allowed to ride in this meeting that's annoyed a few of us. Agree 100%. The GP wild card and GP qualifiers should be decided on the riders' 5 ride score. And on the same lines... I'd love to know how the printer knew what to print (for the programme) if the draw is made at the event tonight. Ahhh you spotted it in the end then?! Monmore rarely disappoints these days.

Fair enough. I've not seen much from him.

He may struggle a little bit for pace. It'll be interesting to see how he gets on

The fact that there are about 18/12 Brits riding in the EL seems to be the reason he's being overlooked. Without official word, the reason Gary is in seems to be due to past performances. He scored 6 from 5. A CMA of 4.80. Every time I've seen him there he's been more effort than points. If he has a great night he may challenge for a place in the top 5/6.

Perhaps. Without being disrespectful to him, he was crap in the EL. He quit and took the easy option. It's, perhaps, this lack of ambition that has now come back to bite him on the @r$4? Keep dreaming...

I could understand if they were giving all the places to EL riders, but why Gary rather than Andre?

Absolutely not. It's not him that's the problem. It's the powers-that-be.

??? I don't that's ever been a problem for Scott. I think it's a case of the smaller tracks suiting him better all round really. In fact, the Brits generally do better on smaller tracks. It's what they're used to.

Just for clarification, my last post was to stevebrum on behalf of Orion as I'm pretty sure that would have been his response. I agree with that. I'd like to see Simon get it. He's, hopefully, the next in line to have a crack at the GP's.

On his behalf - How about Rico steve?

I really hope he can find an answer to whatever the problem is, and fast. I'd love to see him realise his true potential on the world stage, and we really need him on top form in the WC. He may not have quite enough to challenge for a world title, but there's no reason he can't be a top 5 rider.

He said he was an Aussie last year. Didn't know. Shouldn't happen.

Good call. He could make the final with Nicki and Hans. You have to say that it looks as though the Danes are on the verge of repeating their domination of the 80's. Led by Nicki and Hans they have a group of young riders that are all on the up. The Aussies and the Swedes have riders the wrong side of 30 with a gap to the next generation. Even the Brits could be put in that bracket. The Poles are only good enough at home IMO.

Did I hear that he's back on his 'old' equipment? And still nothing of note. It looks as though the confidence switch has been turned off in his head. It could take a long while for him to get going this season, if at all.

From the early weeks of the season I had concerns about Scott at GP level. I discussed this with SCB, a couple of times actually. He seems to have improved his overall gating but he has no speed (compared to the top lads). At Brandon he chases but doesn't catch them, as seen in the two recent matches. He's missing that little bit extra to pass people. I can't actually remember a pass of note this season. Now for a rider that would list his racing ability as his greatest asset that must be a real concern. To try to compensate he seems to be over-riding the bike even more than ever. I've lost count of the number of times he's over-locked the bike and subsequently lost ground. He also seems to make poor decisions on track positioning. A classic example of which was when he allowed Gollob up the inside when he had the lead. He put himself in a vulnerable position, and paid the inevitable price.

I did feel sorry for Jagus to be ruled out through not fault of his own, but that's speedway. Nicki went for a move, and in hindsight we can all say it was ill-advised. If he'd got through it'd have been a great move. It was just unfortunate that his back wheel seemed to clip the curb. I don't see the problem with riders going over the curb if they choose to try it. You can get your back wheel on a fresh bit of dirt, and it's not against any rules. If you want to stop this sort of incident you have to make the curb higher or not have one at all. Back to Jagus. He's had a great start, and I hope he's back for the next one with no after-effects from this crash.

I got the impression he was still going over what had happened in his mind. He looked back along that back straight, and I get the feeling something like 'how did you do that?' was going through his mind. As soon as they'd gone a bit further round the track he did turn back to the fans and wave.

First of all let me congratulate Leigh on a very good race in the final. He had to see off Nicki in the first turn, shake off Freddie, and then make the move on Hans. He was amongst the quickest riders all night, so it's not as though he suddenly clicked and stole it. Finally, Leigh translates his league form in to a GP win. It's been a while now, and I wonder if he can kick on this season or whether it's another one-off (a bit contradictory but you know what I mean). What a load of rubbish. If being annoyed with yourself for making a mistake (in his eyes) is a crime then he's guilty as charged. He said he moved out to cover an outside move by Leigh, as Leigh switched back. He was really angry with himself, and said nothing to take away praise for Leigh. He was clearly seen on the parade truck discussing it with Leigh. If he was a bad loser he would not have spoken to Leigh about it. If he's angry with himself, why should he hide it? How is it childish and in poor taste?

Money, and space are likely to be two key issues. There's not a lot of room in the pits when you've got that many riders, bikes, mechanics, officials, and hangers-on. There's still a little bit of educating speedway to accept the invasion of the cameras as well. I was responding to the original comments. On the subject of production there is one thing to note that hasn't been mentioned. The GP's and league matches follow the same format of replays. If different companies produce each GP and Sky the league, why do they have the same arty farty view of replays, and stupid montage of matches that don't actually show anything in any kind of context? Something that was noted in our household too. I have no problem with seeing relays of the crashes because I, personally, like to analyse exactly what happened. It's live action of the aftermath that can be a problem. The initial long shots with no close detail was the right way to go. Once it was clear the riders were starting to gather themselves, and sit up/get up we got some closer shots. Firstly, Bjarne walking away etc... I thought this was handled absolutely perfectly. Incidentally how did Bjarne not break his arm/wrist with the way it got caught up with the bike, and how did Jagus not break his shoulder/collarbone?!! Even Nicki was a lucky that Bjarne didn't do more damage to him. Most of us (there are always a few exceptions) appreciate that we are very lucky to have a lot of speedway live on our screens these days. However, there are some frustrating little things that we'd dearly love to change. With a few tweaks the coverage could go from good to very good pretty much overnight.

I agree that they missed whatever happened between Nicki and Tomasz, and I agree that the replays seem to be more about the editors sense of artistic value than actually showing what happened. For example they missed Chris actually going from 4th to 2nd on the last bend in the after-race replay (although obviously went back to that one). The comms team of Tony Millard (in particular) and Kelvin Tatum regularly miss what's actually going on. Nicki was clearly struggling. He was caught on camera several times with his hand holding the injured hip. When he was sitting on the bike (I guess checking everything was straight) before his 5th ride he immediately reached for his hip as he tried to get off the bike. As you say he was clearly struggling to hold on as the laps went by in his 5th ride. He was barely able to ride it back to the pits, when in the pits he didn't take his helmet off for ages and had his head resting against the boards at the back of his pit, and was holding his ribs in several camera shots. None of this got a mention, but it was caught on camera. It wasn't mentioned that he was moving much more freely by the time the final came around. It was mentioned that he'd been to the medical room though. Can the doc administer pain killing jabs during a meeting? We saw several shots of Jason recieving treatment, and worryingly being stretchered rather than walking to the ambulance. This brings me to another point that was caught on camera but not picked up on by Kelvin or Tony. Jason seemed to have taken his boot off, rather strange for a shoulder injury. He was then clearly unable to walk. I wonder if there is more to come on that story in the morning. All of this hardly backs up the claim that the cameras (whoever provides them) missed the action.

I don't know anything about him so can't make any comment really. I was at the U18's last season, at Monmore, when Tai made it very clear that he's an Aussie through-and-through. I've got no problem with him or his choice, only that he can ride in 'our' finals when we have young Brits not getting a ride.

Besides the point. I've got nothing against the guy, but either he wants to be a Brit (and therefore ride in British finals at whatever level) or he doesn't. He can't have it both ways, and he's says he's an Aussie. Are we going to invite other foreign riders into our meetings so that they can get to the world U21's?

A very good point. I can only think it's due to previous performances and he's heading towards his last chance to have a ride in this meeting. That's a total guess, and I'm not suggesting that I necessarily agree. Nicki is entertaining, and a Wolves rider. Should he be invited to take part? Tai has made it perfectly clear that he wants to be considered an Aussie. He's taking someone else's place.