Grachan

I remember a time when the starting gate at Cardiff had 2 sets of tapes so that if one got broken they had another set ready to go.

Nothing new either. They did the same thing in Los Angeles in 1982. My parents went and said the crowd was very low and their seats got moved for the tv cameras.

It's pretty obvious why crowds are falling at Cardiff. The way speedway is now, Cardiff is becoming too big for it. The event would be as big and special as it always was if the sport here could sustain support. How many tracks are there now in the UK? On a quick count I make it 19. Even if each track sent 1000 supporters it doesn't fill half the stadium.

Irrelevant in speedway as men and women compete on equal terms. So if a transgender woman did ride it wouldn't be an issue. Personally, because of that, I don't really see the point of having woman only events. It just comes across to me as a gimmick. I know that Sophia Floersch, the first woman to ever score points in Formula 3 car racing, was very much against the woman's car racing championship and decided not to compete in it as she felt it was a backward step and limited the progression of women in the sport. There is also Ana Curasco, who rides in Moto GP3, and Celina Liebman, who has ridden in SGP2, who are competitive in their sports racing against men, so why restrict them to female-only racing?

It's because Poole understand that speedway is a team sport and winning is important. People who say that speedway should be about the excitement of 4 people riding bikes with no brakes and it's all about the quality of racing are missing the point. Yes, people like to see good racing, but what gets people through the turnstiles is having a winning team, and Poole strive to get one every year whichever league they are in. It's the reason so many people like to slag them off, and also the reason why their own fans continue to support them. Plus, winning teams create an atmosphere, and a good atmosphere encourages people to come back. A plethora of old folk sat in deckchairs, quietly filling in programmes and counting marking the number of passes on a sheet of paper doesn't. They also ride in a decent stadium and know how to promote the sport. If more clubs were run like Poole, the sport would be in a much healthier situation. On the subject of last night's match, I'm generally not really a fan of the bonus point and prefer the old system where points were awarded for getting within 6 points, but there's no denying that the aggregate bonus point was what kept it interesting on this occasion. Good to see Anders Rowe going so well.

I take it you must have watch England v China!

I've been watching the Women's football World Cup. For me it's been more entertaining than any speedway I've seen this year apart from the World Cup final.

How can one of the Ipswich team be allowed to wear a Leicester race suit? That's mental.

Tai was similar to how he is in the GPs these days where he looks great in some heats and poor in others Often he looks like a potential winner only to fail to even make the semis. The management decisions were fine, but we neede the top 3 to get big points. Even without that we came close enough to nearly give me a heart attack. One thing I might have done differently would have been to put Bewley in the last race based on his Grand Prix final record of 3 finals and 3 wins. Probably would have made no difference though. Poland were so determined at the end.

I didn't keep a score card but presumably there was a round of races where Tom rode and Adam was replaced, which could have been switched?

Pity this rain didn't come earlier. Even God hates us.

Dunno. Can't remember ours.

By replacing Tom in more races.

I hear this sodding national anthem more than I hear my own!!

Fantastic meeting. It's a long time since a speedway meeting has had my heart pounding like that. Bloody Poland.

Suppise they announce Dan for 17 and he gets injured in it. Then what?

The tactics have been fine. Unfortunately a couple of last places from Woffy is why we are not leading. Nothing to do with the reserve rides.

I was wondering that too. Otherwise Australia are on a roll.

If UK are on form then our top 3 have the beating of everyone bar Zmarzlik - and there's no reason why he can't also be beaten sometimes. So we have a chance. Out Achilles heel, of course, is the lack of a World class 4th rider, which will probably be our undoing even if we keep it close. I have seen all the whining about Adam Ellis, but he won a race and beat Freddie Lindgren, so I doubt we have anyone who could have done any better at this level. I'm pretty sure Poland will win though, but I think they can be kept within sight.

I'm having something of a love-hate relationship with the sport at the moment. Sometimes I sit and try to watch Eurosport on a Monday and think that speedway if just plain boring and Swindon got out at the right time. It's almost as though I watch it just to reassure myself that I'm not missing anything. I went to Poole v Oxford at the start of the year and enjoyed that one, and last night's meeting makes me think that maybe it worth a visit still as I was almost becoming a follower of Grand Prix only. It does seem that, for the first time, the lower tier is a better sport than the top flight. Well done Oxf... well done Ox.. A good presentation Ox... Nope. I can't say it.

Watched this on BSN. Why is speedway always more entertaining on BSN than it is on Eurosport? I enjoyed the coverage despite the delays. On Eurosport I've often lost the will to live after about 5 heats. Oxford also looked nice on the telly. The pits on the back straight works well in that context. Nice to see Oxford have a scoreboard up on the back straight too. It's a major bugbear of mine that so many stadiums don't have that. I might even be tempted to pay Cowley a visit this year now. One moment Lee Complin is the brightest prospect in British speedway - the next, he's a veteran struggling at reserve. Where did my life go?

I think this ref has been on the sauce.

Not sure Doyle did anything wrong there.

Two riders neck and neck on the final bend and tbey cut to the leader crossing the line. I literally leant to the right to try and see what was happening off screen. This is what Eurosport has done to me.

Tai is doing a DJ set at a festival in Poland this weekend, and good luck to him. He may never be World Champion again, but he'd still be a quality 8 pointer in British Speedway at the moment. Having said that, with the possible merging of leagues he might have to come in as a 12 pointer instead!