MrMungo

Don't think Crump will be complaining with a start like that!

I concur with much of what you say, Steve, however, I don't think Holder's pass on Gollob had anything to do with them "knocking 5 bells out of each other". Holder clearly noticed that Gollob was carrying far too much speed into the corners, he was struggling to keep the momentum going coming out of the bends and Holder said "thank you very much"!

Why on earth were the Polish fans booing? Weird! Great close GP, great final. Congrats to Holder who looked super fast towards the end of the meeting

Not in heat 14 though! Holsted V Fjelsted (Nicki V Hans) next match. 2nd May i think they said. The Outrup V Grindsted gets repeated numerous times over the weekend. http://kanalsport.dk/programoversigt for more information. (times are CET, of course) I assume all repeats will be viewable on the website, but not 100% sure.

Heat 10 up next. They just got fed up with showing the heat 10 bets I guess, so they moved onto heat 11.

Meeting held up at the moment due to the paramedic(s) attending to a spectator. Before that, there were lots of complaints regarding track conditions, so they had a lengthy track grade.

@ www.kanalsport.dk 14 meetings have been confirmed for the 2012 season with Outrup V Grindsted being shown at the moment.

The financial aspect is of course true, Vog, but to be the best of my knowledge, Buxton haven't moved their track during the winter, so it was always going to be the case! Surely he would've thought that through before signing? Making ends meet in the NL is virtually impossible @ 10/10 (per point/per mile) unless you have excellent sponsors, or extremly deep pockets. However, it is a good apprenticeship, and for 99% of riders it is necessary to move onto the next level. It was calculated by a PL rider during last season that when taking into account all of the costs involved, you aren't breaking even until you're a 5pt PL rider. It's a costly sport, sadly. Hopefully Buxton can get another rider slotted in in the near future.

Think both teams might be up against it on Sunday. Against the weather! Forecast doesn't look too great at all. Can't wait for the summer! If it does go ahead, can only see a confidence boosting win for Mildenhall.

Not a fan then I guess, BW Double? It did surprise me when I read about it in the Star this morning, especially the reason given. Many riders have gone to tracks they have previously struggled at to become better riders. Some have been successful at it, others haven't. It's a shame it's not worked out for Webster and Buxton, but hopefully Buxton can sign up a decent heat leader in his place. I don't think a lack of riders would be a problem. The NL went from 10 to 8 teams during the winter, so in theory there should be a good dozen or so riders available (most are decent reserves, or second strings though), but judging from what was written in the Star, getting a heat leader to ride for £10 a point is a bigger issue. There are riders out there though. IOW have recently signed Kyle Hughes as a temporary replacement, and I imagine he has a similar average to Webster. There's also one of R Worrall/Birks/McKinna, or whoever Stoke don't have in the side at the moment. Have Allott/Taylor/Hargreaves/Courtney/Evans all retired?

Niall Strudwick in for the unfortunate Josh Bates. Assuming the meeting goes ahead. The forecast doesn't look too wonderful!

Rayson was one of those who didn't get a team place this year. Probably due to the NL going to 8 teams from 10. He didn't ride in the Under 21 qualifier either, so maybe he's having a break from the sport at the moment. Heavy shower(rain/sleet/hail) before the meeting made the track a little tricky to begin with. Still some good races. Stoneman continues to impress me. Heeps looked a lot sharper this week and was a class apart. Very impressive showings from Halsey and Blackbird, too. Stokes very impressive and solid for the Young Stars. Cockle was always in the thick of it, and the rest of the YS were competitive but not really threatening, perhaps a little race rusty. Bates and Nielsen didn't have luck on their sides. Bates just lost control down the back straight, clipped the fence, looked like he had saved it but lost control on the 3rd bend and Campos did really well to lay the bike down as quickly as he did. It could've been a lot worse than it was. Neither rider rode anymore but Campos looked okay in the pits, whereas Bates has a possible dislocated shoulder. Nielsen put in a couple of good rides before the chain snapped in the last bend of his third ride throwing him off the bike. Borrowed Jacobs' bike in the next ride and treated us all to a kangaroo impression at the start! Hopefully both riders will be okay for the trip to Dudley on Tuesday.

I was reliably informed that the curfew is at 10pm. However...@ approx 9.30pm Jake Knight had a suspected broken ankle and we were waiting for a county ambulance, which is the norm at most tracks I've visited. Effectively, they had 30 minutes to get Jake Knight seen to and taken to hospital and to stage the next batch of races (4 heats). This was never likely to happen in 30 minutes time, so someone somewhere made the <correct> decision of calling it off early and to ensure that no more time was wasted.

I'll be there cheering on Mildenhall

Expecting Dudley to be much sharper today. Heeps aside Mildenhall riders have had very little competitive track time. Think it'll be a very tight match and wouldn't be at all surprised to see it go down to a last heat decider.

You mean other than he's Australian?

2 L's in Worrall, too

He's a Scorpio.

Dan Berwick confirmed for Stoke.

I only saw him once last season - got a double figure score at Scunthorpe! Or pretty close to it at least. Looked Dudley's best rider on the night. Definitely think he's worthy of a place in the NL.

Would Matt Bates fit? Or is his average a tad too high?

I think the Scunthorpe side will surprise a few people this year. Despite what Godfrey, Parnaby et al say, once the new riders get dialled in to EWR, they will be a tough nut to crack at home. Very strong top 2, lots of potential improvement in Wrathall, Young & Greenwood. I personally think Greenwood will be one to watch in 2012.

I don't think it would do any harm having 1 NL rider in the team. A young reserve, for example guys like Josh Bates, Max Clegg, Daniel Phillips, etc. Would be a good way for the non-NL riders to see how close they are to being NL standard.

When the Grand Prix first began, I would have said GPs 100%. In recent years, however, it's all gotten a little bit silly. They're just putting on GPs for the hell of it. European GP, Nordic GP, etc, etc. Going back some 15 years, I really, really used to enjoy the GPs. There was about 6 of them, and they were really something to look forward to. I used to go to GPs quite regularly then. Now I don't bother. I don't think I have been to a GP for 6 or 7 years. So, for me, I would most definitely say the old World Final.

Both Stefan Nielsen and Josh Bates were in action at Scunthorpe today. http://www.scunthorpespeedway.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1327797430&archive=&start_from=&ucat=8& Stefan won the A Final, and Josh scored a very creditable 7 points.