JC!

Awful result from a woeful team. Well done to Redcar, but still no replacement for 747 is nothing short of a disgrace now the team is struggling this badly. I can only imagine the crowd was very low for this one.

Totally agree, I ordered for Copenhagen early in the year and had the tickets within a week, but Cardiff ones only spun up this week.

He would undoubtedly be the popular choice

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/350046E6F8BC447D Probably as good a place as any to get Cardiff Tickets.

I would highly recommend a visit to Defunct Speedway site

Its not Rye House, for sure, my first thought was Arlington, but not sure the dates fit?

Is the right answer, GP 25 mins from home - brilliant. Having passed Stratford each morning on the way to work I have been really impressed with the regeneration work. Stratford has far more local facilities than Wembley now too with the bars, restaurants (for all budgets), shopping and Casino to name but a few.

Second Division - Andy Galvin and Chris Louis 1988

God, Len is splashing out!!!

Interested to read the rumours of Rye signing Bridger. Surely if he is signed on a huge average it will be very difficult for Uncle Len to build a team which is the required 4 points below the limit, in line with his team building of the last few seasons?

Good win for Tai (replacing Jason Garrity) in this meeting yesterday night. Racing was delayed for a mammoth 2 hours after the track became dangerous and rutted on the 3rd turn during the U21 practice. Milik was the most impressive otherwise - unbeaten in the qualifiers, if he maintains that form he should be a big challenger to Darcy Ward this afternoon.

No, I am spartacus, and so's my wife

Oh dear, people in glass houses and all that...

A cheap and nasty attempt to recreate the Cradley success, with absolutely none of the effort put in. Nothing done to engage either Raiders fans to keep coming or Hawks supporters to come back to the sport, doomed to failure from the start.

Hate to say it but more mediocrity next year. Reason - Neath's increased average will guarantee he will start at 1 with the rest built around him.

A banquet for the trolls tonight!!!

Me too

I wonder how it would have been recieved if the World Championship had been decided by GP from the 1930's, and someone suggested moving it to qualifiers and a World Final in the 1990's? I think people would have said it was mad, best rider doesn't win, too much home advantage, one piece of bad luck can ruin a riders whole year. Basically picking out all of the faults. That's what leads me to conclude that a GP is fairest. The thing that clouds it all is that the qualification system provided those memorable,dramatic, thrilling nights to look back on. There were, however, some shockers too (Munich and Amsterdam anyone?) but I still enjoyed them for being there on the occasion.

Interesting discussion this one, I used to love the old World Championship, but also feel that the Grand Prix are great too. To play devils advocate I would say, whilst agreeing that the old system gave anyone a chance to be champion, that the Grand Prix preserves the integrity of the World Championship. I think that the ultimate goal of a World Championship should be to produce the best rider as champion and too often the old championship, whilst producing some fantastic World Final nights, failed to do this. Since the advent of Grand Prix you could make a strong claim for each years champion being the best rider in that particular year. Under the old system home track advantage too often meant a home town winner (eg 1973, 1983). Under Grand Prix Peter Collins would have proved a more deserving winner in 1977 than 1976 in my opinion.

Agree with the first point. In respect of the second point you could also add that he is same age as Ivan Mauger when he first become champion, but I still don't think Bomber is one of the top 5 in the world!!!

Just to point out, I never raised the point that he was a bad gater! I agree that there is an art to gating that can be improved massively with technique training and practice. I would say, however, a lot of hand to eye co-ordination and reactions are instinctive and certain individuals will always be naturally better than others.

If I recall correctly he was 14th the 2 years prior to that and is 13th this year. It is undoubted that he benefitted from the misfortune of others last year (particularly Pedersen and Sayfutdinov), to achieve his only top 8 finish to date. This does not, of course, lessen his achievement, and I am not suggesting this at all. As I say, I like Bomber very much but to say he is better than any of the riders I mentioned previously cannot be justified - not a criticism just a clear reality in my opinion. I would also suggest that others have overtaken Bomber, and, at around 30, I do not see him taking the next step now. You say that his ability to race can make up for his poor gating but, at the very top level, this can never be the case on a consistant basis - a lot of tracks (and/or their preperation) and the quality and pace of opposition means that the odds are too heavily stacked against him.

Can't agree with that assessment whatsoever, and I like Bomber a lot. Top 5 would suggest he is better than at least one of Gollob, Crump, Hampel, Hancock and Sayfutdinov to name but 5 off the top of my head. Nothing in his record to date to suggest he is top 5, IMO it is doubtful now if he will ever get to a higher level than scrapping for an occasional top 8 place.

No need to shout - and I wouldn't worry too much about Len caring about internet opinion to be honest. Experience suggests that he will relentlessly do what he wants to do and in his own way no matter what anyone says (as,of course, is his right as club and stadium owner).

Fantastic - thanks a lot for the replies!