SwissPosition

To me, that shows a lot of locals showed up, but the travelling fans (on whom Italy, Czech Rep., Latvia, Slovenia depend) stayed away. In the current climate it doesn't seem unreasonable that a good few of those who'd normally jet off to these things either decided to keep the money and watch from home, or ran up against the sudden realisation that these trips are actually pretty expensive when they can't pretend their house is paying for it...

I'm not sure how over-watering can be blamed for that. There was dust up from heat 1, and the first four heats were easily the worst in terms of racing and availability of lines. Far from over-watered, that was way, way too dry at the start.

There's at least one trophy engraver who disagrees with you entirely tonight.

Not sure I can go along with that. The points limit shows that the EL promoters aren't overly keen on having the GP boys in teams, so why should they be penalised for not riding here? I also fail to see how it's possible to, on the one hand criticise a rider for his performance at the highest level, then on the other criticise him for concentrating on a higher level of competition.

Isn't that a bit like asking if Lenin's got a bit more dead recently?

Ah, that would explain the facial expressions then.

Hats off to Emil Saf... Safut...oh, you know, him - a fine, fine performance. The same goes for Mr. Lindgren. Other than that... Crap track, minimal racing, a field that (for the most part) have hardly ridden a competitive race this season, booooooooring. I think they fell asleep during the first few heats.

Oh, not sure about that. A degree of running around the living room and yelling at the telly at a volume that's likely to make the neighbours think you're rioting is in order as well.

Well, I'll be ******ed if I know how Bomber didn't end up in tears there, because I certainly did (33 year old bloke, very unemotional). Last on the first turn, to taking it on the line, what can you say.... the bloke's a star. Extraordinary! Bomber, you're the man! On a side note, why is it that I end up moving house over the weekend of a speedway event I'd have, in retrospect, given my eye teeth (yes, my eyes have teeth!) to see.....

Either my eyes are telling lies, or I've just seen beach speedway raced on mopeds, complete with luggage boxes? "And that's three points for Jonsson. No wait! He's dropped the Chicken Strippers, and there goes the Toffee Temptation! Look out, here come the Belgians!" Millard out! Hall and Waring in!

Not a bad squad at all. Nice to see that our starting line-up will most likely not be dependant on riders in the twilight of their careers. Bodes well for the future. 3rd on the podium would be a nice goal for this year, and with a bit of luck and some really top performances from the guys it could be higher. Fingers crossed.

Good grief, riders get slagged for not taking competitions seriously, then they get slated for showing some passion? What on earth do you want? For my money, speedway riders can certainly be excused a few "moments". They're engaged in what must be one of the most adrenaline-pumping, full-on activities short of armed conflict (not to mention one of the most dangerous), and to expect a bloke who's absolutely keyed up to the max to behave completely rationally all the time is just too much. It seems to be fine for fans to shout, scream, swear, and gesture to all and sundry when they get caught up in the moment*, but when a guy who's actually involved in proceedings get's his knickers in a twist we get all het up. I for one would much, much rather see riders letting out a bit of tension once in a while than just rolling over and accepting defeat. * This is NOT a bad thing (although there is a line there with regards to foul language). It's sport. Passion is everything. Great meetings aren't watched in silence.

Regardless of the ins and outs of the funding, it's good to hear that the local council up there are being helpful regarding sites. Although it's not an area I know well, the Hedon airfield site sounds the best to me; a historically noisey location, with loads of room, in the arse-end of nowhere. Sounds perfect for a nice, big, racey track to me.

Interesting idea, but as it stands I don't think the riders would welcome it. By the end of the season, even the fittest and most motivated rider tends to be utterly cream-crackered, and well in need of a break. Also, the winter period is important for those carrying injuries to rest up and recover, or to attend treatment that they could not otherwise fit in during the season. Having said all that, I wonder how well a one-off GP-style meeting in Australia would go down over the winter? With sufficient prize money on offer, it might be a reasonable water-tester before going for another attempt at an actual Aussie GP.

Words fail me... (Oh, actually, no they don't.... here they come!) Q) What do you get of you cross the "I prepare my track with a Hoover" slickness of Rye House, the White Line Grand Canyons of Weymouth, and Kate Moss' chest? A) Doogerpills, or however the hell you're supposed to spell it. It's very rarely that I feel any sympathy with the top boys. They make a very good living from the sport, and in comparison with most of the other riders, they they're scarily well paid. They also have a tendancy to woose out at league level when things look a bit iffy. However, tonight, they're earning it. That track is horrific. Tracks like that have no real place in speedway. Slick and one-lined is one thing (in excessive heat, *every* British track can and does serve this up), but for there to be ruts appearing on the only workable line on such a track is bordering on the criminal, especially given that in order to achieve that level of slickness, one would normally require a surface with a durability and hardness of somewhere between concrete and the glacis plate (look it up) of a Challenger tank. Bloody Stupid Idiots... ...I wonder what that stands for?

What a cracking GP! Looks like the world's caught up with Trick's kit, and we can have a chance of a bit of a series this year. This definately bodes well.

Have always fancied something along the lines of... The riders score the points they score after 20 heats. We then have the semis and final as we do now. The riders in the final would then be awarded 5 points for a win, 3 for second, 2 for third, 1 for last, and these would be ADDED to the points scored after 20 heats. So, if a rider reaches the final with 12 points, then wins the final, they get a total of 12 + 5 points for the GP. This would make it extremely difficult for a rider in 8th place to sneak up and win the thing, but would also retain the importance of the final. Additionally, because a win in the final no longer amounts to "double your points" for the day, it should keep the table a lot tighter at the top.

If the rest of the world have caught up with TRicks kit, then it'll be a fight between the obvious three, otherwise it'll be Rickardsson all the way again.

A "proper" plan to acquire more independant speedway stadia is an absolute must. Security of stadia has to be the biggest threat to speedway in Britain by a country mile. It constantly amazes me when new promotions (Birmingham being the most recent example) continually attempt to start up in suburban dog tracks when, with a few notable exceptions, dog track (or any non-motorsport share for that matter) based teams seem to live under permanent threat of race night changes, eviction, pricing changes and other general extinction-inducing nasties. The other oft-ignored problem with dog track shares is they're generally not suitable for use as training schools and conference racing. We cannot possibly start to develop the numbers of riders required to support such sporting 'Holy Grails' as squad systems and the elimination of guests if the bulk of teams run in venues where running any sort of youth development activity is either stupidly expensive or just plain impossible.

*SwissPosition dons an asbestos suit* Let's be honest, are the rules *really* the core problem with speedway? I think not! The problem is this... Britain is becoming an increasingly "aspirational-middle-class" place. Speedway has a somewhat "pikey" image. There's no getting away from the fact that many (not all, I'm sure we know the ones, if we're honest) teams are forced to operate in conditions which don't sit easily with modern Britain. In short, they're dumps. Why does this matter? Because what's needed to take speedway forward is good 'ol standard business stuff - more customers, regular customers, predictable income. Think about it...how much does it actually cost you to go to the bulk of home matches in a season? Well, it's a couple of hundred quid per person for entrance, and quite possibly about the same in petrol per car. It's not something you can do when penniless. Add in a couple of away fixtures (take the family on a 300 mile round trip plus entry, that's £100 gone per go) and it's not an especially cheap sport to follow regularly. Why is it then that we're expecting to attract Britains young, image conscious, disposable-income-endowed, time-rich people to places which (not everywhere...yet again) look like abandoned building sites in which the dogs race? A number of people who've attended with me as newbies been put off by such simple things as being unable to stomach the toilets, and a failure find anything to eat other than fat with a burger garnish (after going straight from work, this *is* a problem)! Yes, it's "poncey", but calling it such doesn't change reality. It's hard to blame (most...) promoters for focusing on what happens on the track. It is, after all, the good bit. It's the reason they're there in the first place, and the reason we show up week after week to watch. However, just for once, I implore the BSPA to take a long look at their facilities and decide whether it's worth spending a fortune on flying some barely average Swede in week after week, or instead using it on some paint\cleaners\bins\better food van\clearing up their site. As much as I'd love the Speedway Fairy to wave a magic wand over our stadia and turn them all into clean, professional-looking facilities, it's not going to happen. More can definately be done though. A lot more.

Richardson will get another year due to lack of available replacements. Had either Loram or Norris had a decent (injury free) year, I suspect BSI might have have given one of them a go instead. For 2007, I would imagine Bomber and Steady will enter the frame. Chrza.....Chraz....oh sod it, Mr Chorizo, looks like a gonner. Polish replacement looks likely, so Protasewicz or Kasprazak look good for that. Sullivan also looks out of it which, given his current health problems, might be exactly what he needs. He's young enough to get back. No idea who they'll pick as a replacement though. PK would fill the place superbly in terms of sheer class, but the championship would start to look a little, well, Swedish. If it was down to me, I'd actually turf Lindback out for a year or two. He's undoubtedly well on the way to being superb, but I'm not entirely sure he's up to coping with the GPs and two leagues at the moment. Burning him out at this stage of his career wouldn't be too clever for anyone.

Andy, would also like to see it tried, but it would take quite a bit of monitoring lest any of the major nations be excluded. As it stands at the moment, the Swedes and Danes have really got their youth "pipelines" going (or, "the Premier League" as the latter stage of the Danish system is known), and both nations are likely to be a bit too strong in the medium term to allow for a free-for-all World Championship.

In defence of the current system... In order to remain viable, the GPs need to contain a balance of the major nationalities, whilst also picking a group of riders who are (in the main) the "best" in the world. This more or less requires some sort of fudged selection policy. Without the national balance fudges we see in the current system, it's extremely likely that we'd see no Brits in the GPs next year, with no guarentee of ever seeing Brits there again (given how unpredictable the old qualifiying system was). Without representation, I would imagine British viewing figures would fall, as would interest in Cardiff. Of the "casual" fans I know, one of their key reasons for watching the GPs is to see how the Brits are doing. No Brits (or, perhaps, at some stage...no Poles, or no no Danes, or maybe no Swedes) would result in a serious drop-off in viewing figures, and the resultant drop in advertising revenue would leave prestige events like Cardiff in very, very precarious position. Having said all that, if it was up to me (violently in agreement with Henry here, I think) we'd have the following... "The SwissPosition System". (Assuming a 15 rider + local wildcard system) - The 15 will compose a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 riders from each or Denmark, Sweden, Poland, GB and Australia. Where the national limit for a nation is reached, no other riders from that nation will be considered. - The top 8 in the series, as now, will qualify by right. Should national limits be reached within the top 8 (e.g. five Swedes make the top 8) then the place(s) of the lowest ranking unqualified riders will be added to the "other seven". Qualification for the "other seven" would be decided as follows (still subject to national limits) - A rider must have acquired an average this season in TWO of the Elite leagues in either Sweden, Poland or GB. - The riders best two sans-BP averages are totalled up and a table made of the riders who wish to be considered for the GPs. - Should a nation be below its national limit, places will be offered from the list to riders of that nation first in order to bring that nation up to its limit. - The remaining riders are offered places in the GPs in the order they appear in the combined average tables (or passed over should their national limit be reached). Okay, it's a bit fiddly, but the net result would be.... No domination of the series by any given nation. Guarenteed representation for all the major nations (yes, have left the Yanks out, but the national list could happily be ammended to reflect national strengths) A good performance in the GPs still (pretty much) ensures a place for next year. League racing becomes a *lot* more important for the top riders. Qualification would not involve attending "special" meetings that take riders away from league racing. Qualification would not throw up "unknowns".

AndyM - nail, head, hit there I do believe. Control of facilities is the key to all this. Quite simply, look at what Newport and Sittingbourne offer outside the season (I know there are others, sorry for not mentioning them). The only way the supply of competant riders can really be increased is by the creation of more dedicated speedway facilities in locations which allow them to operate on more than a handful of days. As it stands there are very few places where a potential rider can start out, and this really does put an exceptionally heavy burden on parents, both in terms of finance and time. I know this'll probably attract a few flames, but councils objecting to speedway running "in town", and the increasing difficulty of running in shared facilities might well be a long term blessing for the sport. The more "make as much racket as you like" out of town tracks we have, the greater the opportunities for younger riders will be.

There's something horribly New Labour about league naming these days. I can't see what's wrong with First Division, Second Division, and Third Division myself, but that would doubtless irritate the PL by changing their name to something that didn't sound like "the best".