T.N.T.

Wasnt he South African ?

The 1999 contest cant count as that was a junior match after the closed at Monmore Green, The last official DW Tophy match was in 1996 and Wolves won easily and to this day w=Wolves have gone 21 years unbeaten

Think it could well be the same Scott Autrey, especially the the bit about previously being a speedway rider for Exeter.

Antal Kosco for one was a good second string at Bradford. There have been a few from East Germany but cant remember their names. Think one was Leif something ? Peter Prinsloo - Rhodesia Kyle Legualt is from Canada. There have been other riders from Canada, but did they ride over here ?

It had to be Shazzybird to change the tone didn't it

What got me was WHY oh WHY did Hans Andersen choose gate 4 in his semi-final ? It was obvious that he was going to get pushed wide in the first bend and even after hitting the dirt once, he still tried the same line in the rerun. Not complaining as it did me a few favours in the GP Betting Game

One good piece of Sky interviewing went un noticed though Scott Nicholls said "I have really got the this going since Lonigo last year" we all know what he did there after the interview dont we !!!

Having been to just 4 at Cardiff, last nights was by far the best so far. 1- The track despite minimal dirt produced good racing 2- There was hard but fair racing 3 - The crowd was without doubt the biggest yet 4 - The start line girls get better and better 5 - Both Brits through to the Semi-Finals 6 - A Brit in the final 7 - A British Winner 8 - A Wolves rider in the 16 riders 9 - Great Presentation 10 - Great Atmosphere 11 - Great Stadium 12 - No injuries 13 - A full line up with no changes 14 - A few crashes with riders walking back 15 - Until the final, the high light - Nicki Pedersen falling in the semi-final and wondering who pushed him Overall - 95/100 5 taken off for 500ml Coke @ £1.60, Mars Bars 80p etc etc EDIT; Also Crumpy getting me loads in the GP Competition !!! Shame about Hans Rico

He is the SCB track inspector so has the control over it and while there was some good racing, the track should or could have had more dirt packed down and watered slower to make a much better outside line. Many of the passes were when riders hooked up, hit a rut or lost their line. Still a great meeting and racing thought. JCB failed to bring the steam rollers in so the next best was a track walk by Chivs

Am I not right in saying that the Final in German (heat 23) will determine the £100,000 winner and not the overall champion of the series. That way all 16 are up for the money and there will be one race for £100,000 making it the richest prize in motor sport as advertised - roughly £1,600 a second makes David Beckham look poor ! There were large queues of people buying tickets at various points, but the main one being across the road from The Prince of Wales in ticketline. I helped get Shortoi two tickets and spoke to a number in the queue looking to buy tickets

Were they sitting in the Royal Box then ? Great show by Bomber who continues to suprise us with some hefty scores that is making him a favourite for a top 8 finish at the end. Great night, good racing and a great pass on the final bend to crown a new champion.

The so called OFFICIAL figure of just over 41k seems a little low considering the main spaces were on the home straight upper level and the 3rd / 4th bend upper level. Everwhere else seemed pretty full and it was by far the biggest crowd at Cardiff so far. Maybe there was 41k tickets sold before the day, but there were loads of people buying tickets on the day at various ticket points. I would estimate the figure to be 50-55k.

Well Done Bomber

I'm going for a Grand Final of Jason Crump, Hans Andersen, Bjarne Pedersen and Andreas Jonsson. Going for Crumpy to step up to the plate beating Hans into second and AJ third. David Howe hopefully reaches the Semi-Finals.

If a bookie takes too many bets on a certain rider, horse etc then they just lay a bet off with another bookie.

As many stand outside the POW - Would it be reasonable to suggest a group of us get some portable BBQ's from Wilko's and some burgers from Iceland and sell them during the mid afternoon If this is possible, maybe we could give all the profits to Garry Stead and Stuart Robson ?

Heard that David Howe beat Moller in a run-off for the reserve position in the next round.

Think I may do the same Jay - Sausage, Egg, Bacon and Chilli Con Carne Well they do 2 for £5 so best not waste it !!

Just working out when to set off as me and my 7 year-old son will be coming down and we plan on making a day of it. PS; You will spot Owen easily as he will have a big England inflatable hand with David Howe written on it and a bit Water Pistol

what time do the bars open on Saturday as The Wetherspoons in Stoke seems to be open around 10am ?

Entertainers from the BL 1970 - 1990 Although he did much more after these dates, Sam Ermolenko estanlished himself as a great entertainer in the 80's which ended the decade with his big accident. A definate contender. I see Shawn McConnell put down and he was good, but there were two Americans bought over to ride for Birmingham and the other was a showman. That was Keith Chrisco aka The Chrisco Kid who used to ride the wall of death up the wire fences. The list of Americans is quite large from that era with Scott Autry possibly the least show off type American but Robert Pftezing was a great showman and at the Shawn Moran Testimonial he won the wheelie competition on a Honda 50cc moped fitted with a shopping basket. John Cook was one of the most spectacular riders around along with both Kelly and Shawn Moran who were great riders who balanced on the edge of falling, but mainly made breath taking passes. I agree with Roman Matousek who was one of a kind. Anyone who can go through a fence, ride a lap around the outside and then re enter the track using the whole he made and then wonder why he was excluded deserves to be in the list. Kenny Carter was a big draw to the fans as an entertainer, an older version of Nicki Pedersen, you loved him or hated him, but you could never ignore him. Although he was never a big favourite of mine on the track, the parties and image of Simon Wigg will long be remembered by manywith affection. Other names that have to be in the list are some of the most entertaining riders around during that period like Hans Nielsen, sheer brilliance but also compelling to watch. Jan O Pedersen a great rider who could throw a bike into any gap. Andrew Silver who looked wild but made great passes around the boards or cutting back at the last second. Peter Collins was a true legend as much again for Chris Morton who possibly won 60% of his races but only gated in 10% of them. Going further back, then Tom Leadbitter, Dave Jessup, John Louis, Billy Sanders, George Hunter, Chris Pusey and Bert Harkins were characters of the sport and had their moments of being entertainers. I have seen Barry Thomas and Kelvin Mullarkey mentioned, both reknowned names, but did they feature in the British League or National League ? If I had to pick one out of those mentioned, I would have to go for Hans Nielsen who to me was number one at everything he did.

QUALIFIED They decided to do a run off for 8th place 1 adrian gomolski (poland) ex, 1, 1, 2, 3 = 7 2 lewis bridger (gb) 3, 3, 2, 2, 0 = 10 3 nicolai klindt (denmark) fell - withdrawn 4 william lawson (gb) 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 = 6 5 fritz wallner (austria) ef, ef, 1, ef, dns = 1 6 edward kennett (gb) 3, 1, 3, 3, 3 = 13 2nd 7 filip sitera (czech republic) 2, 1, 2, 1, 1 = 7 8 frank facher (germany) 1, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 2 9 morten risager (denmark) 2, 3, 2, 2, 3 = 12 3rd 10 kevin wölbert (germany) 3, 0, fell, 3, 2 = 8 11 jurica pavlic (croatia) fell, 3, 2, 3, 2 = 10 12 simon gustafsson (sweden) 1, 3, 3, 0, 2 = 9 13 billy forsberg (sweden) ex, 2, 3, 1, 0 = 6 14 chris holder (australia) 3, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 14 1st 15 matej kus (czech republic) ex, 0, 0, 0, 1 = 1 16 troy batchelor X 17 kenneth hansen (denmark) ex, 2, fell, 2, 2 = 6 18 richard speiser (germany) 1, 2, 0, 1, 1 = 5 heat 1, re-run: bridger, lawson, speiser, klindt fell, gomolski excl. heat 2: kennett, sitera, facher, wallner ef heat 3: wölbert, risager, gustafsson, pavlic fell heat 4: holder - forsberg excl., kus excl., hansen excl. heat 5: risager, forsberg, gomolski, wallner ef heat 6: bridger, holder, kennett, wölbert heat 7: pavlic, speiser, sitera, kus heat 8: gustafsson, hansen, lawson, facher heat 9: kennett, pavlic, gomolski, hansen fell heat 10: gustafsson, bridger, wallner, kus heat 11: holder, risager, facher, speiser heat 12: forsberg, sitera, lawson, wölbert fell heat 13: holder, gomolski, sitera, gustafsson heat 14: pavlic, bridger, forsberg, facher heat 15: wölbert, hansen, speiser, wallner ef heat 16: kennett, risager, lawson, kus heat 17: gomolski, wölbert, kus, facher heat 18: risager, hansen, sitera, bridger heat 19: kennett, gustafsson, speiser, forsberg heat 20: holder, pavlic, lawson, wallner dns heat 21 (run-off): sitera, gomolski excl.

Well considering you are probably young enough to be my daughter and by all accounts the same height as my 10 year-old son, I think it shouldn't be a problem. As I see it, you are going to be the main one to save as one adult and one child is £44 while a family ticket is £80. Have tried to call tonight, will speak tomorrow about starting that family

The town is rammed all day and car parking near to the stadium is at a premium. Maybe the train station across the road may be an answer, but if not its a case of driving around and looking. As for drinks and food, you are spoilt for choice

Just making sure, but The Prince of Wales is Wetherspoons isnt it