Parsloes 1928 nearly

Hmm, but how much does it actually matter who wins the GP.. Fairly often a rider outscores the winner on the night and all that REALLY matters is that points total on the way to first place in the series overall... In other words each GP has the status of an 'Inter-Continental Final': and I've read plenty of the usual suspects branding those meetings of the past utterly worthless in terms of winning...! And coz the GB round is so early in the series it doesn't even get the status of an Inter-Continental Final...!! It's more like the Nordic-British event!!! You can tell how little importance winning an individual round is from Greg Hancock's attitude in the GB GP Final of 2007... Anyone really believe he'd have let Crump past him on that last bend; but harmless home rider, Harris..?: well, that's a different matter... And before the GP apologists line up to cry how Greg didn't let Bomber past him in that fateful race etc., fast forward in your memory to the GB GP Final the next year when the Sky commenators openly referred to the fact that he had!!! That sort of thing is always possible when there are such veterans in the field with no hope of actually winning the whole series (Hancock was last World Champ in 1997 for goodness sake!!) - sure he's still a major player but he can clearly take it or leave it; and what's really needed in a World Championship is everyone determined to do all they can to win it..

Does it...?? 1) I've never noticed any significant national media coverage for the Cardiff GP; and 2) Actually the Daily Mirror (a national paper.. ) has a small column in it something like five days a week, featuring Speedway news. Actually this column is no bigger on the ocassion of Cardiff than any other time!!! TV coverage..? Well, do you suppose that the TV figures for a World Final on Sky are going to be somehow hugely less than for a GP..? I'm actually not too bothered about TV viewing figures, I'm more concerned about numbers attending in the flesh AND on our sport and its riders having a proper World Championship... Hold a GP at the Olympic Stadium - but what I'm saying is that at the end of the day, an event when something's actually decided as opposed to just a 'qualifer' type meeting is ALWAYS going to capture the public's imagination far more.. A World Final in October 2012 at what would at that point be the most famous stadium in the world...: can you even conceive of what a boost to our sport that would be..?!!

Hmm, it was POSSIBLE that a rider could "get lucky on the night" but actually history shows that in fact that was an extremely rare occasion: actually only ONCE post-war could one say that such a thing happened! In fact the World Championship under the World Final system was extremely consistent at finding the best riders on the rostrum. Because Speedway is about responding to the massive challenge of each race and each meeting. A true champion shows his mettle in such circumstances.. The GP system also produced BTW, a 'World Champion' who throughout a whole season never won a SINGLE WC meeting...! That (by definition!) NEVER happened in the previous system...!! And tell me falcace, why do you consider Speedway at the Olympic Stadium so utterly ridiculous..? If you knew anything about the Olympic authorities' desire for legacy and for maximising use of the main stadium (I actually work for an organisation with day to day contact on these various issues concerning the Olympic Park and surrounding area...) then you wouldn't dismiss this with such ignorant contempt. I can guarantee you if someone turned up tomorrow with a plan and funds to stage a major Speedway meeting at the Olympic Stadium in October 2012 they'd bite that person's hand off..

But the GPs (though producing I'll admit, some extremely good racing this year and heading for once for an exciting climax) are far too much of a 'closed shop' to warrant being regarded as a proper World Championship. The number of old men in them is crazy (and yes I am a big Gollob fan so I know that's rich coming from me...) and is at odds with what a vibrant sport should be. At the very least there needs to be a system where a rider at his peak can have a chance at the world title. Look at Hans Andersen a few years back: excluded from the GPs he was perhaps the top rider in the world that year but had no opportunity to challenge for the world title. That's wrong.. In the past, have an exceptional couple of years (like say Simmo in '75 & '76: and yes he was no spring chicken then...) and you have a real chance of winning the world title (Simmo made it to runner-up..). Similar story with late starter John Louis... Or be an incredibly promising teenager , like Ronnie Moore, Peter Collins, Michael Lee and you can see a path ahead for actual world title glory...: not 15 years off like now, but within two or three years... The GP is NOT a good system: it has so many flaws and in particular we're sold short in the UK by having our Round always so early in the series... I 100% believe that the Olympic Stadium could very easily be secured for a big Speedway meeting after 2012 but do I believe that a GB GP is a big enough event for that..: no In truth I don't. We need to match our ambitions with the product and the GPs let us down. More than that they have let down a lost generation of riders... And will continue to do so unless changes are made..

That I think is a sensible, compromise idea...

There's ANOTHER 'argument' which doesn't hold up in any way! Tell me, when was the last time the World Championship was decided in the UK..?! I'll tell you, 1995, when the very first GB Grand Prix was held and Hans Neilsen secured the points he needed to win that first series at the London Stadium in what was that year the final GP. Every GP at Cardiff has been and is set to continue to be in June/early July and so a million miles away from EVER being possible to seeing the ultimate champ crowned. So you worry aboiut there only being a World Final in GB once every eight years and yet are apparently happy for there literally NEVER, ever again being a final GP or even a later GP being staged in this country.. If you don't mind me saying your argument has kinda collapsed there!! Hmm, you might want to use the term "glory days" as an insult but you know what above all signified the "glory days"..? One sh1te lot more poeople paid to go thru' turnstiles to watch the sport than now currently do.. So maybe, just maybe something then was being done right that now, er, isn't..!! If all was rosy in the current state of the world Speedway body politic I'm sure no-one would debate such things, but it ain't!! So we do..

Hang on Tony. what have you got against the Welsh...!? Hmm, come to think of it as I know you know Bryn well, I've just answered my own question!!!

Hmm, sorry you're way off the mark here.. The World Final in fact belongs to the era when Speedway was one of the most major mainstream sports in the UK... Capacity crowds at the UK's greatest stadium, Wembley and coverage on the main TV channels: 1972 World Final from the Empire Stadium shown the night it was staged (yes, the prime-time Saturday night slot) on ITV nationally... And I'm sure you'll find that not a SINGLE Wulfsport jacket was worn! So I'm afraid, as well being shockingly rude - no-one arguing for the World Final ever has to resort to calling those with a different point of view a "loser" or a "gimp" (sic) - you are just 100% inaccurate... At the end of the day, sport is about excitement, glory, entertainment and the tension of white hot competition... I can assure you (as I suspect you never experienced it..) that the World Final had ALL those ingredients, I've been to many, many major sporting events: FA Cup Finals, Rugby World Cup Finals, Cycling, Athletics...: I can assure you that no event has ever got close to matching the sheer excitement and occasion of the World Speedway Final. The world - not just the Speedway world - became a less exciting place the day this great and iconic event was taken from us... It was also the day that the sport began its gradual but inevitable slide into insignificance... You will surely disagree but the facts speak for themselves and I can assure you if you can get excited over a mere qualifying round where who wins is of barely any significance (ie Cardiff-staged early round GPs); then if we come to our senses in time to restore the World Final, you would soon find out what real sporting excellence and excitement is all about... Just leave your Wulfsport anorak at home, eh..!!

"jump the shark"...!! Blimey, am grateful to prolific author Mr. Scott for introducing this expression to me!! It means: "a term to describe a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality and popularity. Origin of this phrase comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz jumped a shark on waterskis. Thus was labeled the lowest point of the show" Coincidentally a shark-related incident was the lowest point of my all-time favourite US TV show, the 1960s Batman when in an absurd surfing cometition between Batman (in baggies over his famous underpants!) and the Joker - they ,er, encounter a shark!! Luckily all is well, as Batman has his supply of Shark Repellant Bat-spray! Holy Cowabunga as Robin (of course) declares! As for the SGP... Well I look forward to its replacement with a proper World Championship!

Hmm, I didn't go as far as saying GB would win (with my record on predictions that would be the ultimate jinx.. ) but are you seriously suggesting that of these four teams you think that our side have no chance... The Poles would be a shoo-in on home shale but RH may well be a completely different proposition for them. As for Sweden and the Danes do you honestly think that across the whole quintet they are THAT much stronger than the hosts..? And you appear to be dismissing the inherent home advantage with so many RH specialists in our side.. I tend to agree Kyle COULD be out of his depth but Bridger, Woffinden and Haines won't be... Put it this way, can you honestly conceive of any time when we'll have a better chance of winning this than this Sunday..?!!

My goodness, just four days to a World Cup Final being staged in this country with a - surely, unless this is me cursing it... - more than good chance of Team GB being successful, and virtually no interest on the subject of the BSF.. In an attempt to ramp up some interest and coz no-one's done it in full to date, here are what I understand to be the full team line-ups: SWEDEN 1 Simon Gustafsson © 2 Dennis Andersson 3 Ludvig Lindgren 4 Kim Nilsson 5 Linus Sundstrom DENMARK 1 Michael Jepsen Jensen 2 Rene Bach 3 Patrick Hougaard © 4 Lasse Bjerre 5 Peter Kildemand GREAT BRITAIN 1 Tai Woffinden © 2 Kyle Hughes 3 Josh Auty 4 Joe Haines 5 Lewis Bridger POLAND [Holders] 1 Maciej Janowski 2 Patryk Dudek 3 Artur Mroczka © 4 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 5 Dawid Lampart So come on then folks, how do we all see this one going... Am I right to believe our home quintet have a chance..?!

Cheers Rob - will try and do so. Only sorry couldn't have been there in the flesh (and holding a frothing beer bought by you!!) but those tiles won't grout themselves you know!!! You're too young (it saddens me to admit!) to remember when second halves involving the main meeting riders were VERY competitive... Two stand out in my memory... One was at Foxhall Heath two nights before the 1975 World Final when Tiger Louis beat Ivan Mauger in the second half final to send the Witches crowd into a frenzy. He repeated the trick against Ivan in the run off for third at Wembley two nights later! And then there was the opening meeting at White City the next year when Tommy Jansson pipped the up to then unbeaten Gordon Kennett in a thriller in the second half. A brilliant race... And poignant as Tommy was dead within six weeks and for me it was the last race I saw him ride... But come on folks, enough of that maudlin stuff, what about those daft names for second halves..?!

If I were you Malcolm, I'd organise a local protest against Boston Disrict Council by throwing all their tea into the harbour... It's worked before!!!!

Weren't those 'proper' second halves of yesteryear (as well as being superb value for money!) the source of some brilliant names for competitions..?! Whatever made anyone at Crayford think that 'Kestrels Ketch' was a good name..? "Ketch"..? What as in "ketchup"..?!! Looking thru' old progs I'm bound to find a few more gems but in the search for the daftest name of an old second half event, let's get going with: from Hackney: The Horton Griffiths Travel Service Cash Bonus Bonanza; and from Crayford: Manns Olympic Appeal (Tooke Arms, Millwall)

Excellent news! Good luck to you & Kelvin for this, Sarah... Anything I can do to help out just ask!! THREE potential sites in the Tamworth area..: that's impressive and bodes well.. One site - things can go wrong (and usually do..): three sites make life a bit easier...

It must be getting mighty close for 4th. place between the Buccs, the Cobras and Plymouth now...!! I guess the Cobras away match at Poole is going to be nigh on decisive...

Hmm, well I don't care where Gollob was born either but I still want him to be champion... And BTW, your comment was , er, rather illogical... The whole point of terming someone the greatest rider NEVER to be World Champion is, er, because they've NEVER been World Champion. Ergo, to date they, er, haven't won it...! What Gollob has done, though is to have been on the rostrum in the world championship far more times than anyone else who's not actually secured top spot, so over many years he has run close.. Yes, you can argue if you want, that coming up short before says something but injuries and misfortune have played at least an equal part. And with all due respect, when one sees that once Mark Loram was GP champion and think how much better Gollob is and always has been than Mark, I think for justice to prevail it is indeed time for that Polish champion, eh!!!

Excellent news! I guess neither David nor I being east London-based really dared to dream that Lakeside was in the frame - certainly IS close to London... well to us in East London anyhow!!!

How mean-spirited is that..?! I for one most certainly WANT there to be a Polish champion...! And not just any Polish champion but without question the greatest rider never to be World Champ, Tomasz Gollob esq.!!

Hmm, well I was kinda hoping that was a reference to Lydd... Near is a relative term in our sport as you know!!!

Excellent performance by Harris - well done... A great effort to try and pass Hancock on the last bend in the Final but Greg's not the sort to let that happen and he moved out to shut him off... Er, what's that you say..? Cardiff 2007..?! Hmm, well I think we'll need to leave it to Greg's memoirs to explain why he DIDN'T do likewise on that ocassion don't you..?!!

Have a muffin for me!!! Or is that actually against the law in Herts!!

That's good - I shall invest in a copy of that I think!! Are we sure that the gates open at mid-day... I'd heard it might be 11am - which though early might be sensible, all things considered as there's surely gonna be a mega big crowd for that..

Hmm, well for gawd's sake don't ask me...: we don't want to see King's Lynn close down too...!!

Hmm, knowing you David, if it was really Hell you'd enjoy it as long as there was a Speedway meeting on somewhere in the midsts of the firery inferno... And I don't believe you've seen Jens Beelzebub ride yet have you so that'd be another plus!! Slangerup always conjures up in my mind an image of a grim northern (Danish) industrial city surrounded by slag heaps...! I'm probably totally wrong As long as it's not full of Danish slags of the other variety...: your wife would kill ya!!!