Grachan

The thing I remember about Gordon Kennett is that he was used in a Durex advert.

I'm sure I remember Gordon Kennett riding for Swindon one year. Or was that as a no 8?

I think there was a thread on it a while back and TMC was on it! I went with Tee-Mill tours and was also given 'provisions'. We were most fed up with gerkins and stale bread rolls by the end of the trip.

That seems a bit of a dodgy contract. I'm not surprised he got snotty. Still, he did sign it I suppose.

The 'technicality' being that he didn't enter it.

Didn't Loram opt out of the qualifiers? So I see no reason why he should be in the GP. Lee Richardson and Chris Harris look the likely two to pick from if one more Brit is allowed. Lee hasn't proved himself this year, and has also opted out of the qualifiers so I wouldn't give it to him. In fact, if he's at Swindon next year, I'll be glad if he's not in it. It might improve his league form. Therefore it has to be Harris, who has shown he can do some good meetings at international level. I don't see him doing any better than Richardson has this year to be honest, but there's no other choice really. Loram is a better rider, but Harris deserves it more.

He was great in 'Kung Fu'.

That's no fun. That's how I'd have said it anyway.

While we're on the subject, how do you pronounce Miedzinski?

That's definitely the one, even if I did get the teams wrong!

Thanks. I'll check that out. It seems they have stuff on quite regularly as I've just watched a match. Couldn't quite work out the teams - one was shown as GTZ and the other ZKZ - which I think was Stal Gorzow because of the Mickey Mouse body colour. A few riders looked quite impressive. Pawel Staszek. A bit of a gating tart, but beat Walasek pretty easily when he did gate. Mariusz Staszewski won the match for the away side with a round the boards overtake. I liked him. Had a bit of Nicki Pedersen about him. Never heard of these riders before, but they looked pretty useful. Jonas Davidsson rode. Scored nothing!! EDIT - Hey, Peatbog, I've just noticed that it was you that I got the information about this from on Digital Spy! Thanks. (That Manko bloke - that's me that is!)

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but there is a channel on the Hotbird Sattelite called 'Edusat' that shows Polish Speedway and it is showing a meeting right now!

So what? I don't see what point you're trying to make. Hans andersen has a winner's mentality, which is why some people can't stomach him. Personally I thing he's good for the sport and it makes great telly when he loses his temper! All he's saying here is that he lost his position in the race. Don't see what your problem is.

It depends how you look at it though. Did Nicholls cause Zagar to fall? I'd say he didn't. He rode into him pretty hard, and, as I said before, you could put a case for unfair riding there - though I can only remember one time when a ref has excluded someone for unfair riding when the other rider has stayed on (Kai Neimi I believe was involved, but I can't remember if he was excluded or the victim!) The ref obviously excluded the rider who caused the race to be stopped, and what caused the race to be stopped was Zagar laying the bike down to try and get try and get a re-run. If he'd excluded Nicholls in that race, then he's have also had to exclude Crump in the other one.

Make that a minority of two then! That's how I saw it as well.

Well, I appear to be in a minority of one on this, but I reckon the ref made the right decision. Yeah, Nicholls hit Zagar going down the straight - I suppose you could argue a case for unfair riding there - but he didn't knock him off. Watch the replays. Zagar does the old 'shut the throttle and bail out' trick that has become common place these days to get a race stopped.

Leave the poor love alone. She was probably still reeling from Andreas Jonsson taking the mick out of her for thinking Swindon were riding.

Danny Bird in the GB team? Do me a favour! I'd pick Olly Allen over Bird. There's a big difference between doing well in the Premier League and doing well in a World Cup Race Off. It would be far to big a gamble to put in a PL rider - even one who knows the track - over the established internationals currently in the side. Chris Louis is a possiblity for either Harris or Stead. Other than that, I'd leave the team well alone. Once Bird has proved himself in the EL, then maybe consider him.

Could they not have had the final at The Madjeski Sadium rather than Smallmead. It's only about 200 yards away after all. It is supposed to be a World Cup Final after all, and I really feel Smallmead is an embarassment when it comes to staging this type of meeting. I was at the Madjeski last Monday and it's a super little stadium. Would be perfect for putting in a temporary track and the meeting could really be sold/promoted if they had it there. There's no football at the moment after all. They could still have had the play-off at Smallmead, and those going to that would be tempted by the sight of the stadium next door when they went. I reckon they'd get a big crowd if they had it there. I'm sure there are valid reasons why they couldn't do this, but wouldn't it be great. It would be a final in a fitting place and one that would certainly get me going along, whereas having it in the current stadium, with all the parking problems that entails plus the price of the tickets, I don't think I'll be going.

Perhaps there is a non-English rider you would like to suggest has deserved it more. Fair enough. I didn't know that.

I'm pretty sure they'll have a Swede as it's in Sweden. Isn't that the way they normally do it? They certainly have a Pole at the European GP. Also, would they really want to risk Hans Andersen winning another one and being hailed as the 'true' champion?

What a great story it would have been if Andy Smith had, once again, qualified for the GPs. I was looking forwad to seeing if he could do it. Poor old Smudger must think that the entire British world is designed to stitch him up. If he was next in line then he should go through. A chance to give the British Final credibility has been missed here.

Did they interview Leigh 3 times? I thought the last two were repeats. To be fair, Leigh was unbeaten up to his last race. Did anyone notice, by the way, that despite Leigh being the meeting leader at the time of his last race, Tony Millard didn't mention the fact that he was in last place at all during the entire race?

I don't see how you can say Leigh deserved to get into the final more than Antonio. It's not like he had an ef or anything. He just failed to pull it off at the last hurdle. Same old story for Leigh. I've given up even expecting him to get into the final any more. There are two things you can almost guarantee in these GPs. Leigh Adams will baffle with another failure, and Scott Nicholls will fall off in a key race. Well done to Lee Richardson tonight. Did well. Not earth shattering or anything like that, but enough to stick two fingers up to the dullards who reckon he shouldn't be in the Great Britain team. Talking of sticking up two fingers - well done Hans. Proved a point tonight.

There's loads of trains to Reading from Paddington Station. Get a tube to there and you'll have no problems reaching Reading. It's the first stop as long as you get a fast train. There's normally a line of taxis waiting at Reading station.