rabbit

I'm told it's on the GP site that Adam is in, so assume it's official.

Slightly harsh on Bridger there BA (Gawd never thought I'd be sticking up for Lewis!) - he's improving and learning. Not every rider can be an Emil and if he can add to his experience and build on it, it has to be a good thing, I'd not discount his learning curve so far simply because he's 'stupid' or hasn't made the GPs. He just needs to listen to the likes of Loram etc who are making themselves available to the team. Remember Rickardsson didn't win his first world title until he was 24 odd... Are we all getting carried away becuase we aren't getting instant success?

Or perhaps it's his way of dealing with the nerves...a reverse pschology action to try to show he's not fazed by the pressure. I think it's a bit harsh to label a young lad as cocky...I've not yet met a teenager with talent who isn't precocious - you have to have belief in yourself to succeed. Just let him mature - the Tai in 5 years time will no doubt be a long way from here. Just look at Lewis, he's slowly losing that streak and turning himself into a decent pro.

Actually, we thought we saw Screenie in the pits there at one stage last night. He was part of the squad to help out Loramski etc with advice for the youngsters...

Poor old Barney; not unexpected, but a shame he'll miss out...just about sums up his awful season. Just hope he can look beyond what must be his own disappointment to offer advice to the team. Danes now tracking an exciting if slightly unpredictable line-up...could the inclusions of the two young guns open up more opportunities for some of our lads to pick up a few more points? Adds another dimension to what is already an exciting prospect of a meeting!

Absolutely brilliant meeting, reminded me why I still love this sport. Big well done to all the teams for making it so, and congrats to the Poles who just had the legs to see off the Aussies. Pushed for who'd I'd rather meeting in the play-off, it'd have to be Australia rather than the home nation so a good result for the team also. Can't believe how churlish some are being. Those who were disappointing were the riders everyone bar none was wanting included - Kennett, Woffinden, but still some people can't give credit where it's due elsewhere. Stand up Danny King for a man-sized performance there last night. Absolutely thrilled for the lad. He's a rider I've rated for a while and it was brilliant to see him make such an impact. We have run with our 'best' teams for the previous years and done diddly, so fair play to Lyon for being strong enough to make his own mark on things. It worked for Denmark when they tracked a young inexperienced team several years back, now look at them. Who is to say the same won't be true of where these guys are in a couple of years time? Rico obviously accepts what was done and why, so it's a shame some fans can't. Stunning racing, best I've seen in a while and the Crump/Zagar race should be shown to anyone who thinks speedway is all about the first turn. The Chapmans might not have that many admirers outside of Norfolk, but you can't knock Buster for that track. Whoever over-ruled Ole Olsen needs a bloody medal. Roll on Thursday, a different team yes, but I think we're up against it against 3 very strong nations. Never say never though... Just hope it's as good as last night's racing.

Which would be fine, but it was abused last time as teams were naming damned good riders at reserve in order to use them in additonal races during the meeting due to dodgy withdrawals. As others have said, there is definitely a need to use reserves, but it has to be done so the facility can't be mis-used.

Wow! What a meeting!! Just finished watching a recording have successfully avoided finding out the result (stayed away from Norbold's posts this time ) - so glad I did. The suspense was great and reminded me why the SWC beats the GPs hands down every year for drama. Big congratulations to the Russkis. Emil seems to have awakened some sort of latent desire in their riding - I've never seen the likes of Roman and even the Gaffer look so confident and consistent on track despite previous flashes of what they could do. A fully deserved progression to the final. Danes and Swedes slightly disappointing overall and makes you wonder if sub-consciously they'd written off the Russians before the start. Lindback seemed well out of it, and the Swedes seem to lack that 5th strong rider - has PK retired from international racing now, as i'd have thought on the world stage he'd have a bit more oomph than Ruud-boy. Danes very unlucky to lose Nicki with no replacement, but then we all know why that reserve rider option was pulled. On the Nicki incident, really nasty crash and even more eye-watering in slow motion. Hope he makes a swift recovery. I've read some of the comments about who was at fault, but in my eyes, Nicki was making a win it or bin it move down the outside, but Laguta seemed to pick up a bit and drift further out - only fractionally, but just enough when added to his move to shut the door on NP. I don't think you can say what might or might not have happened had the hook-up not intervened - that's open to conjecture - perhaps Laguta may have started to turn at that point leaving Nicki enough room, perhaps Nicki might have dumped it anyway - who knows? From an exclusion point of view, I thought it was the right decision, even if there was no intent. Just hard racing with a lot at stake. Bjarne, sadly also lacklustre, but then some of us have been trying to say he's been off-form badly this season to no avail. Perhaps now the penny will start to drop... Don't think Team GB have an easier or harder job now should they end up in the ride-off later this week. If anything, I'd sense more of a chance against the Danes than the Russians who'd probably have fancied their chances at Leszno had they been there. My only hope is that tomorrow's meeting is half as good as last nights!

As I posted last night on the Cardiff meeting thread: Courtesy of the Poole site: Hans Andersen was quick to acknowledge the role that Poole Castle Cover Pirate Daniel Davidsson and Russian Emil Sajfutdinov both played in his achievement of finishing third in the British Grand Prix at Cardiff. Explaining Davidsson's role Andersen explained "On Wednesday night my van was damaged in a crash and I would like to thank Daniel for stepping in and lending me his van for Cardiff, I really appreciated the gesture and having borrowed some equipment to even get to Cardiff I finished the night borrowing a bike from Emil (Sajfutdinov) after my Poole bike seized in my final ride. I only had one spare with me but Emil stepped forward in the semi-final to offer me his bike. I didn't have a great deal of time to make any changes to it to suit me better but it was a fantastic gesture and I am really delighted to have got third place in the end". I heard about this crash on Thursday night, alledgedly involving his mechanic, but it wasn't from someone I know so wasn't prepared to post before without knowing if it was true. If you noticed Hans' pit area it was pretty sparse in the pits with no usual pit board etc so can only wonder if most of his equipment for the meeting was on board the van, particularly if he was riding a league bike in the meeting. Seems like exceptional circumstances in this case.

Courtesy of the Poole site: Hans Andersen was quick to acknowledge the role that Poole Castle Cover Pirate Daniel Davidsson and Russian Emil Sajfutdinov both played in his achievement of finishing third in the British Grand Prix at Cardiff. Explaining Davidsson's role Andersen explained "On Wednesday night my van was damaged in a crash and I would like to thank Daniel for stepping in and lending me his van for Cardiff, I really appreciated the gesture and having borrowed some equipment to even get to Cardiff I finished the night borrowing a bike from Emil (Sajfutdinov) after my Poole bike seized in my final ride. I only had one spare with me but Emil stepped forward in the semi-final to offer me his bike. I didn't have a great deal of time to make any changes to it to suit me better but it was a fantastic gesture and I am really delighted to have got third place in the end". I heard about this crash on Thursday night, alledgedly involving his mechanic but it wasn't from someone I know so wasn't prepared to post before without knowing if it was true. If you noticed Hans' pit area it was pretty sparse in the pits with no usual pit board etc so can only wonder if most of his equipment for the meeting was on board the van, particularly if he was riding a league bike in the meeting. Seems like exceptional circumstances in this case.

Happy travelling BFD, hope you have a great time.

You still out in Aus BFD? Shouldn't you have started swimming by now? There's a cool brewski with your name on it for the 8th July.

Thanks for that. I know he was over in the UK reasonably recently and had some second halfs with a similar team around the country.

See you at Poole!

Tragic news to hear. It didn't sound good from the earlier reports... How cruel this sport can be.

As I said in my earlier post, this event does get better financial backing for the riders. I was told all that was covered but can't remember it all, and wouldn't post half stories. It just seems people are getting all indignant about the lack of the 5th rider, and apportioning blame before knowing the facts. I know from involvement with Bren how difficult it is to juggle all the commitments for these youngsters, more so than for the more senior riders with their full time paid mechanics etc. Easy to say that riders should be dropping anything for a call-up but sometimes the logistics make that unrealistic however much the rider themselves might want to do it. Tigger...believe most riders would've been in Germany for practice yesterday. Perhaps if Mitchell was a late replacement call-up to cover for an injured rider he was given dispensation to miss practice and fly directly out there?

Fair enough...I wasn't sure when Mear had withdrawn. Just playing Devil's advocate here, but it's easy to blame the authorities, but consider perhaps that any riders asked weren't interested in going...these trips don't come cheap to get those bikes and mechanics out there.

Just repeating what I'm being told by someone who's out there. Without seeing the race myself I can't comment on the rights and wrongs of the decision.

It's not Snyper...although this event has more of a financial backing for the riders behind it than some of the other recent qualifiers. I'm assuming that timing is more of a problem in this case. Don't forget that for a lot of these youngsters they don't drive themselves and require mechanics etc who are often parents with full time jobs to do it. I don't know when Mear was ruled out, but it certainly wasn't that long before any replacement rider needed to be out there for practice. Not easy to get equipment for a fast contintenal track sorted just ilke that. Latest text i've had from BobC out there is that Team GB are pretty much screwed now. Lewis had nowhere to go when Johnasson had an engine failure, and has a dead leg and double vision so we're down to 3 fully fit men. No news on whether he's out or will battle on though. Brendan then suffered an e/f whilst he was in 3rd.

Seems that the GB team is now down to 4 riders as Mear has withdrawn, each of whom will now take 6 rides each

Women and sport eh?

Arnie, one day the penny will drop with some that Bjarne is just having a sub-standard season everywhere. Although with others on here, it might take longer...ahem...no names mentioned

As I said to Sandie on the way out last night (nice to see you guys again btw ), the lack of the anthem had passed me by. No excuses as I do agree that one should have been played. However...Nij our usual announcer was sick and so Clive came down to stand in for the night. It might have just been one of those things that went unnoticed out of that change of routine.

Very entertaining meeting (the bits of it I saw) and looking forward to watching the recording in uninterrupted glory in the next day. Plenty of passing (can't believe a couple of people are moaning that these came from the wide outside - what do you lot want for Gawd's sakes?!) and a field of entertainers and racers. Best meeting I've seen at home since the NY Classic, and proof that you don't need the so called big stars to provide a great meeting. Well done to all on show last night for making it so. Comments on the size of the crowd...yes it was a bit disappointing. But the £20 price tag, a mid-week meeting and a live showing on Sky would never help to bolster numbers. Not to mention that some seem to judge a meeting by the names rather than the potential of the names involved. Gone are the days of the packed terraces on a Sunday afternoon unfortunately.

I'd agree...Richardson and Nicholls (imo the two most likely to win it) are going to have to be on top form to beat Bridger and Kennett on recent showings. Harris could do well if the outside line is working, but he's not the only one of this bunch to like that route so could find his way blocked if he tries it. Don't discount Screenie putting a spanner in the works for a couple of them either. A very open British Final in my book. Just a shame we go to a damn Grand Final instead of best of 5 rides. Could be won from the gate after an evening of passing. That would be a gutter.