Grachan

Well well, what a pointless (but thoroughly entertaining) argument. There are no rules about who you support in a speedway match. If you feel a certain way about a certain team then support/don't support them. All you can do is follow your heart. For me it's Team GB all the way. It's just the way I feel. They do have a Swindon rider in the team though. Would I be more likely to edge towards the Aussies if they never? I doubt it. You never know, though. I bet there are some Swindon fans rooting for Australia because they love Leigh Adams. For me, my only concern with Leigh in the World Cup is that he doesn't get injured. People talk about the old days of Carter/Lee etc, but British fans get behind the British team a lot more nowadays than they used to. Look at this year's GP. It was a very partisan crowd there. It used to be that almost everyone in the crowd was behind the riders from their own clubs. Coventry fans with Danish flags were the norm when Ole Olsen ride for them. Swindon fans with Aussie flags for Phil Crump. Cradley fans with USA flags. And so on. Bradford fans could never understand why people could support any team from another country. They had mainly British riders in their team. I've always been one for following the British team though. Talk by a certain glory hunter about British fans and riders being satisfied with second place simply isn't true. Quite amusing, also, to see people supporting Russia and knocking the British for being satisfied with glorious failure when if anyone is destined for that this year it's Russia.

Who was the race director at Coventry that did such a better job than Olsen did in Denmark then?

Task for today - write out 1,000 lines. I must not be such a pessimist. Must admit Mr Shovlar and I were wrong (and others) but I'm quite happy to have been proved wrong and there was a brilliant crowd. Serves me right for leaving Leicester at my usual time for a league match so the car park was pretty chaotic when I eventually arrived at 6.50pm. The queue to get in was horrendous but after failing to get in at my usual entrance (because Molly freaks out at turnstiles) I walked straight up to buy a ticket without joining the long queue. There was just one man in front of me. Heaven knows why others weren't going through this section and I fully expected to be pounced on for jumping the queue but nothing happened. Strange. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> And no using Copy and Paste ok! What you witnessed there was the great British tradition of people seeing a queue and joining it.

I believe so. I vaguely recall him riding in a Polish Select team earlier this year.

I would say that success for GB would be finish in the top 3. Even so, although we had weak opposition we still looked determined and rode well. No reason why a rostrum place isn't possible even if it will take a very good performance. Australia, in particular, have a few weak links in the side. Denmark look strong though, and Poland will be very hard to beat on their own tracks. I reckon 1. Denmark 2. Poland 3. GB 4. Australia. That is, of course, assuming Poland and Australia will get there. I'm rooting for Russia in the race-off!

Hungary? That's next to Russia isn't it? Bet he's a frigging Russian.

All these Poles - they seem much of a muchness these days. Can't tell one from the other since Gollob's powers dipped slightly. Whichever side they put out they look good for a solid team performance capable of winning the World Cup. Holta is a Polish citizen I believe. If so then he's Polish.

I thought it developed into a very good meeting after a few processional races at the start. Good crowd too. One in the eye for all you forum pessimists. Great result for GB, and we needed it with Poland and the Aussies in the race-off. Like others I can't understand why Magnus Karlsson was reserve for Sweden, but maybe his Swedish form is better than his British form. It was great to see all the British team doing well, especially Stead and Kennett, and I think we can challenge for the title in Poland. Ain't gonna be easy though. Oh, those Russians! Loved them and was rooting for them to get through even if they do murder our citizens in sushi bars. Fantastic entertainment. Whoever thought that Renat Gafurov would be the quiet man of the Russian team. Not sure how they'd go round Eastbourne though! I warned you about Jonas, did I not? International Jonas has shown on several occasions that he's a different kettle of fish to EL Jonas. He'll probably be in the GPs soon!

Write off Jonas at thy peril! He could well turn out to be the star of the Swedish team. Then again, he could well not.

There was a Bill Andrews in the Newcastle side in 1962. http://www.newcastlespeedwayhistory.co.uk/...2023.4.1962.jpg http://www.newcastlespeedwayhistory.co.uk/...tle%201962-.jpg

Ah, Brenda. Good old Brenda. I could hear a screeching noise, but it was very echoey and didn't sound at all like singing. More like someone shouting. Of course, I assumed this was just down to sound problems with the PA. Are you saying she actually sung like that?

I couldn't hear the entertainment at all from the second bend, although, personally, I saw that as a good thing.

Remember the old World Finals when you could invade the centre green at will when it came to making the presentation! I remember being right in front of Erik Gundersen as he was given the trohpy in Vojens back in - ooh - 1987ish.

Hee hee! Welcome to the club, Steve.

Almost certainly not. It was probably be an "official" one. I have a copy of the official DVD of the 2005 Cardiff GP. You will get the same pictures from the racing and the "official" interviews that are shown on the screen in the stadium. Based on what I have from 2005, you probably won't get the Greening stuff or the in-studio chat with Loram, Hamill and Ermolenko, but their own seperate interviews. You'll also get different commentry. The 2005 one has Dave Lanning and Kelvin Tatum and sounds very much as if it has been added later and lacks something because of it. Personally I think the Sky coverage is much better.

Which was added three days after I asked the original question - possibly because I did.

Well, is it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Autrey Certainly the same year of birth according to my ever reliable 1975 Who's who of British Speedway.

Radio Swindon are doing it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire A shared broadcast apparently, so probably thew same one as Radio Suffolk.

Bob Kilby was always entertaining when he broke the tapes. High spot of the night, that was. Anyway - Shawn McConnell was/is the most entertaining rider EVER.

Swindon v Sheffield. April 10th 1976. Doug Wyer rode at no 5. Swindon won 53-25. Doug scored 13 - more than half the Sheffield total. Reg Wilson at 1. R/R for Arnold Haley at 3. What else? Bob Kilby won the second half from Tommy Jansson (who was there for the Golden Helmet).

Nope. That was me. Because he was.

There's no kerb at Peterborough.

Irrelevant. I was responding to your original comment, not comparing the two leagues. Of course I picked the weakest team. That was the team that proved the case.

The original comment was: "any Swedish team would beat any British team any day and you know it" so, obviously, I picked one that wouldn't. Not a lot else to say about it, really.

Absolutely. I have no doubt that a team of: Magnus Zetterstrom, Kaj Laukkenen, Piotr Protasiewicz, Roman Provazhny, Simon Gustafsson, Niklaus Kingberg and Henka Gustafsson would have the teams in the EL shaking with terror!