False dawn

See, I was right. Just got the wrong competition. I'll get my coat

I'm not saying anything. (see GP Challenge thread)

It's a bit of a coincidence that you should say that. One of the staff told me on Saturday that the council won't allow car racing of any kind at Beaumont Leys. Odd really, as you'd need binoculars and a very tall set of step ladders to see the nearest house.

The crowd wasn't bad for an NDL meeting (the 50-50 was £265) and I saw fans from several "away" tracks. Not sure what was happening early doors. Apart from the twins, hardly anyone seem to be confident to attack the corners. The track wasn't doctored and later on there were several riders posting good times and racing hard. Elliot Kelly certainly gave the twins something to think about in the final.

My apologies. Old age must be kicking in because I thought I remembered a long discussion on here a few years back where we all agreed how unfair it was that the 4th place didn't qualify automatically if one of the top 3 qualified some other way.

Sadly, no. The vacant spot becomes an additional FIM nomination.

Mildenhall

You're probably right. And I'll be supporting the twins since they started their track appearances at Brandon. But your comments are similar to many who don't support the NDL at all. And the criticism is often unfair. Many riders in this league give 100% every time they appear and the quality of racing is generally very good. Oh, I know that I will get a lot of stick. "We only get overtaking because of amateur mistakes". Well that's not completely wrong but it is not fair to many NDL riders who are truly entertaining. The winners only win the final. There are 14 (?) other races. So I will be there and I'm expecting it to be good value for money.

Forget the soup, those root vegetables make a very passable whisky type wine (assuming you keep it long enough, which I haven't, generally ) Hey, this is better than talking about averages or Poole, for that matter

I went to Odsal for league meetings and a World Final. And I went to the old Wembley more times than I remember, including the 1981 World Final. There were some great meetings in amoungst all of that. But Cardiff is different. I love the NSS, but I wouldn't go to Manchester for the weekend. Or London, for that matter, if the GP was there. Here's a novel thought. Is there no one out there that could improve the Cardiff track so that the racing is up to scatch? A change of material, a bit more banking, a change of shape (there is scope for this, I was looking on Saturday).

I guess I must be a "True Speedway Fan" then? Especially as I now believe I was suffering from a touch of heat stroke after Saturday (seriously). But I do have a few observations. Where did the 19000 figure come from? And please don't say FaceBook. Is that an official attendance figure? Because if it is, that's the first time I've ever seen an official figure for any Cardiff GP (or any GP, I think). I did, during the day on Saturday believe that numbers were significantly down. At the fan zone, in the favourite pubs etc. But we came to the conclusion on the night that maybe a lot of folks didn't do their two nights in a hotel stay and opted to travel in for the Saturday meeting and go home. If the "norm" in the stadium on previous years was between 30 and 40 thousand, I estimate there was between 20 and 25 thousand there this year. It's always hard to be precise, even when you're there (I only found recently that there were 130 thousand at Katowice in 1973 when I was there!). Seriously, without reliable gate figures how can we really judge the level of support. This event was in the middle of a perfect storm. Massive concern about inflation, some lingering concern about COVID (sorry BP) and a heat wave that should have kept any sensible unfit person over 50 at home (I never was sensible). The racing was rubbish, we all know that. We also all know that the racing at Cardiff GPs is never great. The track was kind of okay (only kind of) but when you try to run another World Class meeting on it, less than 24 hours later, you should not be surprised when it doesn't hold up. Hindsight maybe. But don't do it again. I was happy to get the prospect of 46 races for my money (only 43 in reality) but Sunday has to be one of the worst meetings I've ever attended in more than 50 years.

Please understand. Putting people off was last thing on my mind. This is a chance for the Coventry faithful, of which I'm one, to meet and celebrate the Bees rich heritage. I was just saying that for the second time this year, the weather looked like it might intervene. If the forecast is now more optimistic I'm delighted and will get all my yellow black gear out of the cupboard and look forward to spending some time with old friends, on and off the track.

I hate to say it, but the weather forecast does not look good.

Ah but, you're forgetting something. You'd need two wildcards then. Look at the trouble we had getting one there this year. Mind you. If they only have to do half a lap each, you could pick anyone.

Gate 3 Seats are unreserved. Only the middle tier is open

I have said before that I "believe" that the Welsh tourist board do put a significant chunk of money into the Cardiff GP on the understanding it remains the only GP in Britain. If people know the facts of this matter, one way or the other, can they tell us please?

Centre green announcer said on Saturday that Max James would be in the team next year. That doesn't mean he won't be this year, of course, but the annoucement did imply that. Or maybe the announcer doesn't know. I don't know why I started this post. I think it adds nothing to the sum total of human knowledge.

IMO it is the other way round. The British Final lost a lot of its importance and interest from the average fan when it stopped being on the route to the World Final. Ok, you still became British Champion (the best of British???) but so what?. We did see riders dropping out for little or no reason. The added incentive of going to Cardiff restored some of the interest for the average fan but increased the incentive for riders massively. The chance to ride in your home GP in the caldron that is The Principality Stadium when you're riding well is surely one, most riders find exciting. To split these two endeavours into two meetings would leave the British Final even less meaningful than it was before.

The plan to rerun the British Final after Cardiff seems a bit daft. There is some kudos in being British Champion but not a lot anymore, unfortunately. The real interest comes from the prize of going to Cardiff. This rerun will look like a bit of a dead rubber. And there has to be some logic in sending an in form rider to the British GP as the wildcard. Sending someone who was in form last year does not pass this test. A run off (best of three plus any super heats if necessary) at a neutral venue between the top 3 would surely be more satisfactory than going back to last year's meeting. At least it would be decided in a set of straight races rather than race times or drawing lots (heavens forbid). If the neutral track was streamed on BSN, there are commercial possibilities (barring any problems with Eurosport over the rights, of course). It just feels like we've ended up with a result that pleases no one (apart from Adam E, of course). I've got nothing against Adam. He was a deserved winner last year and it's a real shame that Cardiff didn't run. But I just feel empty in thinking about this decision.

You're right. But running it on 4 consecutive nights on the same track cannot be a good idea. At the very least, we lose the two day final. But the worst of it is that the track has to set up slick and hard to withstand the wear and tear and then it's a gate and go competition. France demonstrated this more certainly than any team last night. They were first or last depending on how good a gate they made. We can hope that more shale will be shipped in tomorrow for the senior final and we can then, hopefully, see some more competitive racing.

Phew!

They're giving big orange lollies as the top prizes. Hence the name, "The Jubbly Cup"

Max Clegg's gate and 1st and 2nd bend in heat 11 was top drawer. His blast around the outside was straight out of the Bomber play book. It truly stunned the crowd and we all watched in real surprise as he put 4 faultless laps together in the 6th fastest time of the night. Kyle wasn't covering his back or holding up Bomber. In fact the three were quite spread out by the end of the race. I've had my own doubts about this signing. But credit, where credit is due.

OR You could load them your stadium!

It reveals a lot about our minds that I had the exact same thought I'm sure it won't happen. On a serious note I don't have a problem with Connor guesting for Berwick today. If the roles were reversed, we'd be saying what a master stroke. It's actually an opportunity for Connor to show how he can perform at home in the Championship. Mind you, if he scores significantly in an away win, I won't be quite so happy.