21st century heathen

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?

Spot on. Steady was very good in round one, but poor at a track that didn't suit him. It was quite right that he had his chance to prove himself because of the performance he put in at the weekend. However, we are into the final and if we are to put in a serious challenge then Chris has to come in. That doens't mean that we have to forget the part that Steady played in geting us to the final. Well who else are we s'posed to blame? Unless it's Hans fault again.

Make him fill out your programme as punishment. Trust me. That's not top of his list of pastimes.

So originally it was going to be a capacity of 6000-6500, that was reduced to 3300 because there is a grass bank rather than steps. So does that mean that the steps that were in place when they said 6000-6500 was replaced by a grass bank in the last couple of days meaning a sudden reduction in the capacity? Er...no. I've never been, but I'm guessing the grass bank has been there a while? Yes I noticed that. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is an argument that 'we' should have taken advantage of the offer when 'we' had the chance. However, it does stink of a 'Britain made the final let's cash in' scam. As for charging £25 for kids as young as 3 years old... Hang your heads in shame.

At least we have a light-hearted outlook on life.

Kidnap p . I don't know what made me do that. Can I have a dig at your grammar, and punctuation?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but don't both Sam and Ronnie have dual nationality? We could have them. That wasn't Billy and Billy by any chance was it? And he admits that he's hardly the most consistant out the gate either. I fear it's gaters we'll need.

Nope. Not been down to Eastie. If memory serves that was the year that we qualified for the final in July, but had to wait until Oct for the other semi to be settled. Our leg was rained off, and we ended up racing at home on the 31st Oct. I think it was a Monday and because it was the last day of the season we had to race despite the fact that it p!$$3d it down. We had to use saw dust to soak up the water, and if I remember right we won by about 4 on the night, but lost on aggregate. Way, way OT. PM me if you like.

I'd love to mate but I prefer them where God intended, and not stitched back on any old how by a surgeon. OUCH!!!

For a change it was a genuine qustion, not sarcasm. (Hard to believe I know)

Well I can't be bothered to read all 14 pages but I'm pretty sure how most of it went. Quick question. How many pages were dedicated to Crump pulling the same move 3(?) times on 3(?) Danes in the last GP? Back to this meeting. It was a very hard race, from both in the end. Scotty outfoxed Hans by turning back under him down the home straight. Great ride from Scotty, but imo he let himself down by not shaking hands. Hans clearly accepted it as a hard race that he lost, but was peed off at Scott not shaking hands. Last point. When Scott was 2-3 bike lengths behind Hans, how was Hans supposed to know exactly where Scott was? He couldn't. He simply tried to cover the part of the track he expected Scott to be on. If he knew exactly where Scott was he probably could have dropped it on Scott as they went into turn 1/2.

I might, unless the bribe is sufficient. Can't argue with that. Class act that learnt his trade at the worlds best club.

I still can't decide whether to go. It should be brilliant, but if the track is like that again it'll be a crap match. 2½ hours to get there to be covered in dust or soaked in a storm. ARGH!!! Aussies look faves but on paper there's very little between all of them. The track will decide whether we have a chance. I know I keep on about it, but it's that clear cut. If it's slick we'll be beaten out of sight, if it's got some decent grip we're in with an shot. Good call to bring in Chris.

I know. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Does anyone know how Seb is? That crash scared me for a few minutes. It was clear to see the bike hit his head, and we've seen the damage that can do just last week. There was no mention on Sky as to whether or not he was okay, and they went straight from the live action of Scott/Billy, to the replay. It was a while before they showed him walk away. He looked pretty dazed and confussed afterwards when sitting in the pits. Chris and Scott were the pick of the bunch. A few good rces here and there, but it was crap overall. A terrible advert for the sport that will not encourage one new fan. Poland made a huge mistake in naming both JK and KK. Had they gone for fully fit riders they would probably have caught us, and taken our place in the final. The Danes did their job, we battled hard to grab our spot, and it has to be said that the Americans were pretty poor. Billy J got going towards the end, but Billy H was crap on a track that suited him about as much as it did the Brits. Greg has been the best rider on show so far.

I'd be happy with the current format, add a reserve, and another vote for ditching the joker. I can see where you're coming frm t2tv but I think we need to stick with this format for at least another 5 years, and see how it goes. It's all the constant changes that we normally moan about. Only one change is needed right now.

So do we need to kidnapp Ole then? ...and just in case the word 'kidnapp' alerts the boys in blue. It's a joke, not a serious suggestion.

That's spot on. Double O has got to go. I think it's got a certain ring to it.

I believe that they said it was 37°c in the pits, all those hot bikes nudging the temps up. The hottest place in the country was only 32°c. Although hot weather may dry the track out I believe blaming hot weather for poor tracks is nothing more a convenient excuse. If there'd been any dirt on the track there would have been something there to hold the water that was put on. As it was the water was quickly drying off a slick surface. Unless the track is more suited to our riders on Saturday I fear we'll be lucky to score 20.

That's the one thing that tempts me my bubble bath matey (I'm sucking up now. My life may depend on it. ) You guys looked like you had a good laugh, as ever. I'm gutted I couldn't come with you tonight, but the bike is patched up and ready to go.

There's no way to hide from the fact that the track was a bit of a joke tonight. Okay there may have been a practice this pm but that isn't the whole story. I've never been, and have only seen Reading on tv a couple of times. But when I have seen it there has been a blue groove, and you can actually see the smoke as the tyres burn. That is not speedway!!! Even Sam and Chris commented that the track shreds your tyres. I was going to the final on Saturday, but I'm genuinely not so sure now. I would be leaving mid-afternoon, and spending a few quid overall. Could I be bothered to watch riders try to balance the bike on a 2 foot wide strip of rubber? I really don't know.

At least he can't use "team mate and partner". The catchphrases don't bother me as much as the mistakes. If it were my call I'd go for Nigel (with the volume turned down a bit ), and Floppy in coms, and Sophie and Kelvin in the studio (esp. if they could ditch the headphones and ask their own questions).

Nah. Everybody else will fly round there too. Did you know that Ronnie is the shortest rider in the Elite League. I decided that he had to be German or Dutch, they've got strange dress sense. I've read several comments about this. Putting 'the brakes on' is a well used analogy for slowing significantly and sharply. It was even used in Top Gun. My knowledge if '80s US Airforce planes may not be all that it could be, but I'm pretty sure that rather like a speedway bike an F-14 didn't/doesn't have brakes either.

It should have been at Cov. Chris and Scott are in good form there, Lee has a few years experience there, Mark traditionally goes well (But not great this year), Simon is very good there, and a back up of Louis, Screen and Allen to call on. Overall it's probably the Brits best track. Tonights match was far to long, too many no racing heats, and Millard was doing my head in as usual. Not as good a match as the first round, but there was some good racing mixed in. Rider of the night has to be Lindback, although AJ was brilliant and Charlie and Billy had some spectacular rides. Well done the Czechs. Although they didn't get many points on the board they were in the mix most of the time, and frankly unlucky not to score more. For the record I think Lindback lifting slightly on the line cost him the win in the photo finish with Charlie. Luckily it didn't affect he result, but it was the wrong call. The ref was right to re-run the heat ealy on whatever the rules say. It's about time that the ref re-ran a heat in those circumstances, and we've seen it a few times now.

1) Besides the point. I wouldn't have put him in there. I'm talking about the fact that he's got goos experience over here, and rides the smaller tracks okay. 2) True. 3) But is he fit enough? 4) True again. That's why I think it's worth a risk to try something a bit different. Who knows which way they'll go? They could all ride well and shock us, who knows? As I said above it looks a really tough meeting for them and it may just be worth it. I'd love the track to be such that we can name an unchanged squad. If it's very slick you have to be professional though. Middlo will have to make the tough decisions on the day, and the team he puts out is going to be the toughest of the lot. (No pressure Middlo )