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So I don't count huh Ouch? Or are Poole fans only counted if they're called Steve Shovlar! Damn my first official thread hijacking and I don't even get any credit. Pfah! To be totally pedantic, the opening post of this thread did refer to Poole! And yes, lil Greg did bloody well last night and has done so in Poland all year. I still stand by my comments above on him coming into the Poole team any time he wants to. Edited: Cheers 21CH.

Ooh la la Joanne! Or should that be Och la la... If the Poles ride like they did last night, it's going to take a good team to beat them let alone get close to them. Think we should be able to match the Danes at least, and the Swedes showed they're not invincible. Heart says GB for first...head says 2nd would be an awesome result and third quite respectable with our young team. But, as Tarabanko says...this could be the meeting of the year. Bring it on.

He's closer to being 100 than he is the age on his profile!

From memory I don't think Crumpy and Sully were ever the best of buddies...goes back to their junior days I think and some pretty intense rivalry. It was a dire crowd last night, hope final is better than that. Not like the tickets were exactly expensive and seem to have been marketed at local prices if those I've heard quoted from people going are correct. - £8 for the run-off and final added together! All very well holding the final in that huge stadium but to the casual viewer it did seem like no-one had bothered turning up. Can now see the rationale behind BSIs staging decisions the last couple of years.

For what it's worth...anyone think the ref might have been resorting to reverse bias...so worried about people thinking his decisions might favour the Poles that he went the other way - excluding a Pole (using the term loosely in Holta's case ) for a seemingly innocuous decision, and then bottling out of excluding a Swede on his home turf for a more blatant move when the exclusion of Rickardsson could have seen to have been much more beneficial to the Polish cause at that stage of the meeting. It's only a thought and agreed Rickardsson should have been chucked out of that race IMHO. It was a pressure situation and a move Tricky did in the heat of the moment - similar to Crump's move kicking out at Pedersen the other year. It happens even to the nicest of riders..I seem to remember a very ruthless move by Mr Nice Guy Hancock on Havvy when he almost stuffed him in the fence on the line in the SWC a couple of years ago. Not like it's a regular occurence unlike with some... Still think the refs should be from a neutral country in these meetings...we might still get the dodgy decisions for sure, but it would stop any finger pointing of bias one way or another.

That's just Grzegorz for you though. When he used to ride for Poole, MikeG always used to say you just pointed him in the direction of the track when it was his turn to ride, wind him up and let him go. Still the one rider I so want to see back for us and I've always ended up disappointed so far. I remeber hearing that Gollob's aversion to be interviewed was that he alledgedly has a slight stutter. Not sure how true that is, but he's got more confident as the years have go on for sure and credit to the guy - his English is infinitely better than my Polish!

We can only live (and have done for most of the season) live in hope. I'd take him over Sullivan at this moment in time!

Yeah they put it back after about an hour...sneaky lot! The loss of Crumpie definitely affected the Aussies but fair play to them they hung on in there for longer than i thought they would. And if the danes are flaky then good...makes it a little easier for the Brits on Saturday cos hell we're going to need ever bit of luck we can get against those pesky Poles.

Did it really matter? The gaps between the teams were so great it's not as if it was difficult to work out who finished where Even I know the Poles won, the Danes were second and the Aussies third and i have absolutely no idea what the final scores were...

I know you weren't saying the riders are sick. You seemed to be saying that the fans praising the other riders was sick. Fair enough if you wanted to let people know what happened to Matt, and thanks for bringing it to our attention - he's one plucky lad if that's the case and good luck to him in the future. Just you might have done so in a less confrontational manner maybe. There are ways and means of getting your point across without jumping down our throats...

As I've posted on the other thread, the link to the article appears to have vanished from the main speedwayworld.tv site. All very strange...

Very strange...just gone back to the speedwayworld.tv site and the article about Crumpie seems to have disappeared from their news headlines although if you click the link above the page still comes up. Did they jump the gun on this one cos i'm darned if I can find it now! Can someone else look and tell me it has now gone from the site and that I'm not totally losing the plot?!

Hey calm down mate. Not a lot of people are aware of the goings on in the U15s. If what you say is correct, then fair play to the kid - that's some comeback but to call people's praise of the other riders sick is a bit over the top!

Blimey..you're on the ball this early in the morning. I've had to think for the last 5 minutes on this one! By saying 'think' I meant it as my own personal opinion rather than being unsure of the fact. Going to have to be more careful of my phraseology on here from now on me thinks! Still backing the Poles and the Danes though!

There's always one isn't there?!

Yep...changed mine too. Will be nice to be part of a positive thing instead of feeling like a sitting duck all the time with the skull n crossbones!

Think the Poles have to be definites to go through to be honest. I'd love to see the Danes progress as well - it'll be tough between them and the Aussies, and I'm not totally sure who might come off best, but leaning more towards the Danes. Think you're right about the Czechs, and on a track like wroclaw think they might score better than they did on Sunday. Can't wait...should be a great meeting!

Happy birthday George. Have a great day, and best of luck tonight at Poole. Hope you have a blinder, and show M&M what they're missing!!!

Couldn't agree more 21CH. Both nations tried their best - the Russians have slightly more experience on the world stage and could so easily have beaten the Czechs into that last run-off place. As for the Germans, they looked so so young (or is that a sign i'm getting old? ) but definitely got into it more as the meeting went on, and it's all experience. Bet they loved be amongst the world's top riders last night and as you rightly mention, they showed they have the ability given a few years and the chance to race in the European leagues. So fair play to both nations, it was always a tough ask but no-one disgraced themselves. As for the comments of Mullard and Kelvin, they were contemptible and I thought Kelvin at least, with more knowledge of the German scene from his grassing and longtracking would have shown more respect. From Millard however, I wouldn't expect anything different to be honest. The man is a grade A muppet. End of. Bring back Floppy and Pearson for the run-off and final!

EMZ05...try the Poole Live Updates - they cover every Poole meeting and as some of the U15's, particularly George have a good following amongst the regulars on the Poole site, I reckon they'll be covering the Academy Match as well as the Individual tonight. Either use that link or go via the main site here and click on Live Updates from the menu.

Shhh..don't spoil the illusion!

Exactly...I try and blank out Dull Mullard as much as possible but his belittling of their efforts was really p'ing me off. Please, just let the run-off and/or the final go to Floppy and Pearson. Someone at Sky must be listening surely... And heat 25 - pure class. Show that to the '1st out of the start wins it' brigade!!!

Have to agree with you SCB. As soon as Adams crossed the line first I wondered if the Aussies haven't just shot themselves in the foot by having to go against the Poles on their home turf. Cracking meeting though. Bring on Thursday..and how nice not to have the pressure on the British team to perform!

Still does.

Apologies for interrupting, but firstly isn't this the SWC Finals thread? And secondly, ain't life too short for all of this nit-picking?