Bobbin' Along

I am happy to stand corrected.

I certainly agree that Crump can lose the title, but not sure if anyone is man enough to take it off him (if you see what I mean). Nicki P can't be discounted, nor can Hans if he can control himself. Greg may just be past it and as has been mentioned, maybe not as hungry for it as the others. Mr Clean, while he remains a gentleman, will never win it. He needs to get harder and not bottle the bends or the fight. He has the ability, but I think he probably will never be higher than 3rd IMHO. There's some unknowns this year, but I think the top 6 will probably remain more or less the same throughout the season - perhaps just shuffling the order. And the top 6 will probably be the same as last year too. Even as a Brit, I just can't see Scotty setting anything alight this year. I know that just saying this is enough in some fans' minds to send me to the Tower for treason, but I stand to be corrected. I just can't see him taking on Crumpy. I know he's been nigh on unbeatable for Cov so far this yaer, but domestic form is not the same as GP form - just ask Leigh Adams.

And it's a late start - 7pm BST rather than the usual 6pm BST.

The problem with the trains is that the last ones are always too bloomin' early. We've looked at staying at Newport before, or even catching the train back to Swindon, but the last train is something like 9:45, which is pushing it a bit. Good luck in your quest though, Grasshopper (sorry -Mildenhall '07)

In history, there have been riders that have seemingly polarised the country. In the years since I've been going, Kenny Carter was one that springs to mind. People either loved his patriotism and fire, or they hated his jingoism and tactics. For others (going back a long way, and reading Back Track!) Anders Michanek and Ove Fudin, or not so far back - you either liked Hans Neilsen or you detested him Hans Andersen is another such rider. I admire him for fighting back after he was dumped out of the Grand Prix in favour of lesser riders. I admire his ability on a speedway bike. I could say I dislike his temper tantrums and his sometimes dirty riding. Overall I like the bloke. As for the swearing and "committing acts of violence" I can say that IMHO he was justified for his outburst (though not necessarily the language) as it was a diabolical decision. Violence? Apart from hard tactics (and all riders employ those at some time or another, even Saint Scott of the Nicholls) all he did was kick a wall. Big, fat hairy deal. I've seen far worse. Rickard Hellsen pitching in when a fight broke out in Oxford's pits, Martin Dugard trying to chin Brian Karger, Boycie's infamous right hook on Gollob at Hackney to name but 3. I'm not saying it's either big or clever, but it happens. And I struggle to see why it is worse to committ these heinous crimes on TV in front of women and children. What about the sensitive men? As Sky are so keen on sticking a mic under the nose of a rider who's either been dumped off a bike or had a decision go against them, perhaps they ought to employ the 4-second rule that they do on radio. A 4-second delay would allow someone to "bleep" the rude words out.

Not if Rico's first heat at Lonigo is anything to go by! Mind you, if he rides like he did in his second, third and fourth heats, the Rhino is in with a chance!

How awful for his family. The Bobbin' family's condolences go to them at this time.

Personally I think it's a poor show - it seems TRick has given up this year. First he was pants when he rode for Oxofrd and then he's just not been at the races in the GPS. Still, it does give Hans a chance for a few more points - at this rate he'll have more than Rico and Scotty!

England of course (Denmark weren't in it!)

Not necessarily, Trees. I have been, and always will be, a Denmark fan. Nope, I wasn't born there and I don't have Danish parents, but when I first started going to Speedway (1983), the best riders in the world were Danish. So I started supporting them. A bit like all those F1 fans who think Schumaker's the dog's wotsits - does it matter to them that he's German and racing against Jenson Button? Anyhow, it brings up a problem when we're in a situation like last night, and Lupus and I famously used to get threatened in the old days of Denmark -v- England tests matches for the same thing, who to shout for. I solve the problem by not being very vocal (which is more difficult fo rme than you'll ever know!). Last night, I reserved judgement on the Andersen/Harris incident until I'd seen the replays. I agreed (as did Mr Bobbin', who's a Team GB fan) that Andersen was hard done by. This was made worse by Harris claiming that Andersen took his leg away, when the replay clearly shows his back wheel touching the last 2 fingers on his left hand. Unless Harris has some extra limbs we're not aware off, this was not a leg. Mind you, they can be a bit funny down in Cornwall... I agree with many of the previous contributors to this thread - we all love to hate a bad guy. To many England fans in the past, the bad guy has been Penhall (think of THAT incident), Carter (how many of usshouted abuse at him for his outspoken ways?), Pedersen and now Andersen. Characters is what makes our sport - if they were all as softly spoken and uncontroversial as Todd WIltshire (one of the sport's nice guys IMO), it wouldn't be half as exciting. How many of us looked at Heat 25 and thought "Fantastic - let's see how hard Scotty can ride against Andersen in this heat"? Maybe not those exact words, but we sure looked forward to it. How many of us cheered when Jonsson appeared to stuff Pedersen in the fence, and looked forward to the fight at the end of the race? And were maybe disappointed when they made it up before getting back to the pits? Me - I'm happy that Denmark Won, but would have been equally happy had GB won - so long as they deserved it. Denmark were the best on the night and Scott and the boys in no way disgraced themselves. Everyone had a little bit of luck go their way (what if Crumpy had won heat 25?) and a bit of bad luck as well (who'd have thought the inside gate was so crappy? and that we'd get so many inside gates?). And we all enjoyed watching Nicky P spit his dummy out.

IMHO it had nothing to do with getting the race restarted and everything to do with the dummy Pedersen had just spat out. Seriously, it made for damn good TV for us fans, and bewildering TV for anyone tuning in for the first time.

Ah well, it helps if you're not blonde as well - oops that's you out then! Spot on with the comments 'tho. Dummies were very definitely spat out by certain riders, where others who had far more cause to be disgruntled (Chris Harris for one) just got on with the job in hand. Still- should make for interesting racing on Saturday (well, something has to, 'cos the track certainly won't...)

Having only just got round to watching the GP (I was in London until late on Saturday) and deliberately kept off the forum so I didn't see the result, I officially have a new hero. Just how good was Hans? I thought he was fantastic round Wolves on Monday last week, but this was a real poke in the eye for the powers that be that decided to seed Richardson, and include Iversen and Protasiewicz, amongst other crappy decisions. He definitely made his point with his riding, and with a smile on his face. Sign me up to his Fan Club! You all know I'm not a Richardson Knocker (I'm a Richardson knocker''s mate, I'm only knocking Richard... sorry) but it was extremely galling to see him get through to the semi final, beating world class riders, when it's hard for him to beat poor second strings in the UK. Nuff said about him, whinge over!

The ticket stub just says to take it to a programme seller, nothing about whether inside or outside.

It seems to have been such a short time since his untimely death, but yet the shock and grief is still very fresh. RIP

Nothing like being exact, is there? We're bringing 7 - The Bobbin' family (3), 2 Out Laws and 3 friends. I don't think it'll be a sell out, but I think there'll be an increase on last year. So far the crowds appear to have gone up each year.

The Bobbin' family will all be taking ear plugs, and the bratling will probably have her MP3 player turned up really, really loud (on 11!). I was gonna say it could have been worse, but I then couldn't think of anyone else that would have been worse. Even Mai Tai at Amsterdam seems classy compared....

Not a chance, unless Olsen steps down.

I've been searched everytime I've been to Cardiff (must be that my eyes are too close together or something ). The first year they refused to let us have bottles of drink, and from then on I've taken bottled water and told them that I need it for my medical condition. As for the airhorns - yep IMO they cause considerably more, longer lasting damage than empty plastic bottles. And don't get me started on flags.... I had the family from hell behind me last year - the youngest had a flag that it kept waving, hitting me in the head with the pole each time, then kicking me in the back. I put up with this for the first 15 heats before I started getting really fed up. Final straw was when one of the other kids (well,she was about 15ish) put her airhorn right next to my friends ear and blew it. I went mental and nearly ended up being punched by the dad who thought it was perfectly acceptable behaviour. I have taken a camera each time - and never had it confiscated or told that I couldn't take it in. I have only taken photos between the races, outside or before the meeting starts. Because my digi camera is not top of the range, super-duper does it all, it has a tendency to "flash" when a higher spec model wouldn't, so I don't use it in races.

Agree with most of your sentiments. However Cardiff has a big plus point -it's central. This means that there are plenty of hotels around the area (even if tghey hike their prices up by £30 for the day!) and you can make a day of the whole event without being stuck out in the sticks. Mr Bobbin' and I were watching one of the free footy DVDs they have been giving away recently and thought that having a Scottish GP at Hampden Park would be a top idea as well - why not have all three countries represented?

I have to say I agree though. Just had hysterics at the abyssmal score that the "great" Tony Rickardsson had tonight. Tough luck on Greg tho' - he was flying all night but I guess the better man won. It is, however, more of a worry that our two "best" British riders scored a miserable 5 between them (and I'm being kind to Richardson now). It fills me with such trepidation - who will replace them? I know we have Stead, Harris and Kennett, with perhaps two or three more coming up behind them (Bridger etc.) but once upon a time our sport was overflowing with British talent. Admittedly one always looks back on the "good old days" with rose tinted spectacles and nostalgia is a wonderful thing - remember when summers were hot and sunny, and it always snowed at Christmas? This aside, I can't see a way forward - the Conference League, which I thought was to be used as a stepping stone for bringing young riders on, now seems to be full of older, already experienced riders.

Whilst it is in some way a relief to see his domestic and GP form match, I'd much rather it had been the other way around and he had scored at least some points. It was horrible seeing him getting no more than Jonas. Still, at least we know which Evil Twin was riding tonight!

Mine were opened too - I think it was due to the lack of sticky glue on the quick seal envelope. My daughter noticed it first - I was too busy looking to make sure we had the correct seats to worry about it at the time. I suspect Shazzybird is right - they weren't nicked because they weren't for the FA cup final or any of the playoff finals that are comng up in the next 2 weeks.

Mea Culpa Shazzybird. I neglected to check if this original thread was still running. Typically for me, it was also my first ever attempt at starting a thread. But I will let you know, specially, when I get my tickets

I'd be quite happy if they'd just send me the GP tickets I paid for in October......