lucifer sam

LATEST NEWS The queue has now reached Skegness - and out onto the beach. Anyone joining the back of the queue has been advised to bring their water wings. Also, members of the public are warned that the local coastguard will not be available to help, as they are all already in the queue. All the best Rob

Try to keep up-to-date Peter... All the best Rob

The Speedway Star website says: "World Champion Nicki Pedersen could be in hot water with the authorities". Tomorrow's issue is likely to be an interesting read. All the best Rob

Johno is a legend, Badge, you've signed a top guy for this year. I hope Johno's meeting is a huge success, he certainly deserves it. I also hope that Colincooke and the Concrete Cowboy are not let within one square mile of his organising committee. All the best Rob

I agree entirely. The Poole promotion cannot be criticised for their lofty ambition, and the riders have let them down badly. All the best Rob

So the crowd increased by 1000 after the meeting had started? And yes, I did watch a couple of later races after the interval on the third/fourth bend (after coming around for a chinwag with someone) and still it was only 1 deep around there. I'll stick to the estimate of 4000 provided by Rabbit and Bob C - at least, they don't live in fantasy land. Let me repeat that I thought it was a real shame that the meeting didn't attract a capacity crowd, after the tremendous amount of promotional work put in by Matt Ford. All the best Rob

Well, you've just solved all the Elite League's problems. We'll just get all the riders to ride for nothing. I think money might be quite important to riders, somehow. All the best Rob

Rabbit - as usual it's left to yourself or Bob C to be the voice of reason. Incidentally, Bob reckoned around 4,000 when I saw him there yesterday - you two are a better judge than myself at Poole attendances, so around 4,000 it was. Certainly puts those claiming that they were 5,500 there in their place. All the best Rob

When I go there at 2.30pm, people without tickets were walking straight into the stadium - there wasn't a queue. And anyone who thinks there was 5000 people there yeseterday is wrong - the 3rd/4th bend was nearly empty (it was only 1 deep at the front). For a critical Poole vs Oxford match in August 2001 it was PACKED. And before, I get accused of being anti-Poole, can I make it clear that I have applauded Matt Ford's heavy promotion of the meeting throughout. He's set an example for others follow. He deserved a capacity crowd. But unfortunately there some Pirates fan who live in cloud cuckooland. All the best Rob

From Nicki Pedersen's website: Nicki opens 2008 with splendid victory 09-03-2008 With a perfect seasonopener by winning Pooles Diamond Jubilee, Nicki showed that he is in perfect form for the 2008-season. - Unless my first heat, I felt very good. There were some hard battles, but I think my very good starts meant the difference today, Nicki says. Right before the final, where Nicki beat Andreas Jonsson, Scott Nicholls and Leigh Adams, the four racers decided to split the 60.000 GBP into four equal portions. - I think it was the right decission to make. Now everybody are happy, Nicki says Oh dear. If I were Matt Ford, I'd be very, very angry about this.

Well, when I was looking for somewhere to stand, I could walk up right to the fence on the third and fourth bend - hardly four or five deep. However, there was a decent amount of dirt on the track, and after getting walloped by a large piece of shale, I thought "sod this!!" and walked up the other end, where it WAS four or five deep, but banked and I'm quite tall, so I could still see. No way was there 5000 spectators there (it was 4000 at the maximum) - shame really because Matt Ford deserved a larger crowd after promoting this meetings so heavily. All the best Rob

Sandie - you know and I know that it won't make a bit of difference - SCB will continue to argue that black is white until everyone else gives in All the best Rob

Regarding Heat 17, Crump should not have been penalised the first time. Ebdon held the tapes for a ridiculous amount of time, all the riders were moving and Crump was the unlucky one who touched them. In the re-run, Crump moved very noticeably. It caused Ebdon to delay releasing the tapes, and then Bjarne Pedersen touched them. That one was all Crump's fault. And the 25m handicap is only for riders placed into a race as a tactical off 15m, who are then penalised for moving at the start. There should be no "second" penatly for a rider who began from the tapes - they should be out of the race. Meeting built from a slow start into a nice climax - Heat 18 was the race of the afternoon, with Jonsson, Andersen and Nicholls battling for all 4 laps. Jonsson was the best rider of the afternoon, but Nicki made the most of his second chance in the final. Quite disappointed with the turn-out, given how much Poole had promoted this meeting (something I think they deserve great praise for). There was only 1 row of people stood around the third/fourth bend. I've been to Poole (for a crucial Poole v Oxford league match) where it's been packed around there. I would say today's crowd was somewhere around 3000-3500 as a very rough guess. Really it should have been a capacity 6000 crowd. All the best Rob

Schumi - but I was calling Nicki "The Fence" in an affectionate way. All the best Rob

Rabbit - have you learnt how to spell the Russian's name? And don't forget - it's Nicki "The Fence" Pedersen All the best Rob

Why not have it as the winner of the final GP then? The money should not be awarded for an non-championship race. All the best Rob

Steve - I'll probably make it down sometime during the summer like last year. All the best Rob

Good luck to the Poole promotion with this meeting - it's nice to see a meeting being heavily promoted for once. I can't make it down myself, but I hope the weather stays fine. All the best Rob

Surely this money should go to the actual World Champion or, at the very least, the winner of the final GP, not the winner of a gimmicky extra race which has no bearing on the World Championship at all. Did everything get pissed up at the FIM congress or something? All the best Rob

I hope Poole get a large attendance for this one - the amount of promotion done on this meeting is an example for others to follow. It deserves to be a success. I won't be down myself, but I can imagine a huge crowd in attendance. All the best Rob

Parsloes - who are you kidding, I thought you went to speedway in 1929, hence your BSF name. All the best Rob

Tony - I'm afraid that the memory cheats - I was sure that Ole had got involved in a ruck with another rider at Oxford in 1973. But that was Ivan Mauger, who withdrew from the Oxford v Exeter match, following an ugly incident with Malcolm Ballard after a tapes incident. As for Ole, Steve said: "Wolverhampton were easily sent packing the following week when Ole Olsen, after winning his first race, hit the fence when exiting the second bend in Heat 3, breaking his collarbone and so withdrawing from the meeting." No further details I'm afraid. Not the best year for World Champions at Oxford. Jerzy Sczcakiel, set to triumph later that season in Katowice, went under the safety fence during the Australia vs Poland match and that signalled the end of his participation in the Daily Mirror tournament. All the best Rob

Grachan - on the contrary, it was Oxford who refused Olsen - because they couldn't afford him. The Rebels wanted Dag Lovaas - and evntually got him. It all seems to boil to an incident in 1973. After that, Olsen was hardly ever seen at Oxford again. Must go over Steve Roberts's 1973 review again when I get home - this has the full details of why Ole didn't like Oxford. All the best Rob

Tony - thanks, I'm looking forward to reading this one. I never liked Olsen - something I inherited from the older Oxford fans. He wasn't popular at Oxford even before the Nielsen feud - he didn't like the track and made excuses to miss his meetings at Cowley. But it will be a fascinating read. All the best Rob

SCB, you may have edited your post, but the maths still do not work: 100+55+5+15=175 not 275 All the best Rob