uk_martin

Can't wait to see Jonathan Chapman's reply tho SCB's opening post.

Tai has a different outlook on the sport than the BSPA. That's why he's at odds with them. One of those two parties is a two times world champion with the proven mentality to win big, and the other isn't. Guess which is which. (& guess who didn't go through the British primary school system lol)

I guess it depends on tge sports you look at and which these countries focus on. Germany is not short of success in Football or Alpine sports nor is Finland an international disgrace at Ice Hockey let alone motor sports. Can you point out the bit where I said that?

That is just so British isn't it? Look at the press and the guy who loses does so "bravely" or "heroically". What's that about? A loser is a loser. Stop making losers look good and people won't pride themselves in failure any more. Do what they do in other countries...focus on winners. And by that I mean people who win things, not this new age socialogically correct "everyone's a little winner" crap. Get out there, be the best and WIN! Riders need to want trophies and medals, not hugs and cuddles.

What's the plan for addressing the lack of experience? Will British riders be allowed to take part in the Speedway Pairs competition? Will British riders be allowed to take part in the SEC? How many years has it been said that Cook (and Ben Barker before him) should stop riding in the Championship and get a team berth in Poland, and still he's to turn a wheel in anger there. At 30 years old he's hardly the "young prospect" that the Poles would make a bee-line to sign up if he screws up his chance at Bydgoszcz. Lambert is hadly short of experience in Europe, so what's his excuse? He's only 19 and already has more experience of continental tracks than Worrall and Cook put together. He seems to be doing alright on the u21 stage, so what was the problem? Stage fright? Not being handled right by the team manager? How much experience did the 19 year old Russian bring to the event? Interesting comparison of GB v Poland GB Chris Harris - 34 Craig Cook - 30 Steve Worrall - 25 Robert Lambert - 19 Poland Maceij Janowski - 25 Patryk Dudek - 25 Piotr Pawlicki - 22 Bartosz Zmarzlik - 22 Steve Worrall is as old as Poland's oldest rider. And Poland has plenty more youngsters in the pipeline. I'd say that GB's greatest need is for a new crop of young riders to be produced of the right quality, else the Poles wlll dominate for plenty of years to come. No point pumping experience into a 30 year old croc. No point running teams like Stoke and a league like the NL for the benefit of Speedway's Chelsea Pensioners. Give the resources and experience to young riders in their teens so that when they get to the ages of the Polish riders, they too can ride with pride and produce the results.

For British promoters perhaps. Poland have no difficulty in organising half a dozen test matches every year, with the latest one between Poland v Russia being only a few weeks ago. British promoters will need to learn to look beyond the perimeters of their own car parks at some stage if the National team is to progress. Mind you, some don't care what lies beyond their own car parks as long as they get their weekly "fix" of league racing. Happy enough with two slices of Mothers Pride and a blob of Stork Margerine, when with a bit of ambition, they could be feasting from the top table like GB did some years ago.

Part of being British is the need to build someone up only to relish knocking them down again. Tai's had the treatment, Wayne Rooney, Adele, ... er, how long do you want the list to be? Having flown the German flag in the past doesn't help his cause though. Some people find that sort of thing unforgivable...almost as much as speaking with an Aussie accent.

Not to mention the probablity that had "Event 1" been held in Prague, Melbourne or Costa Mesa, instead of perennially being held in the BSPA Chairman's own back yard, then Team GB may not have progressed any further either. Then we would have been down in the lower reaches of that "league". The problem with an event like the SWC is that your 19 year old gets compared with the 19 year olds from other countries. One 19 year old stood out in Poland, and it wasn't Lambert.

Team GB scored 15 points from 20 rides. If an individual rider did this, he'd be on a 3.00 CMA. Kind of illustrates where we stand on the world stage these days, innit? Anti-Poland, Anti-Poland, Anti-Poland lol God, you really hate them don't you?

Either that or he might not have been able to afford the petrol to get there, a bit like when he pulled out of riding for GB in a test match against Australia, saying that he couldn't afford to make the trip to Ipswich...

Yeah, brand new contract with Polonia Bydgoszcz and then he fails to impress his new bosses like that. He was given a chance by Stal Gorzow a couple of years ago, and failed to perform, and gave-out a really negative attitude, and now he's failed again on Polish shale. The Polonia bosses must be wondering what they have let themselves in for. I bet Captain Cook'll be wondering if he'll ever get a booking from them. Mind you, Polonia Bydgoszcz are desperate.

That was written before...now that we are after the meeting, are you still so sure?

Good job that sour grapes attitude does not prevail in world sports else you wouldn't have Neymar playing for Brazil, or Messi for Argentina or Ronaldo for Portugal.

I see that Greg Laguta has been suspended after being caught out in a drugs test. Same drug as Maria Sharapova from what was said. That alters the balance of things now. https://m.sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/697720/grigorij-laguta-zlapany-na-dopingu

Doesn't a well prepared track have straights that are...well..."straight"?

And on last nights performance do you still place Cradley ahead of Birmingham? The way I see it, this title was Belle Vue's to lose from the moment that the use of the stadium was secured. After that, never discount trick tracks like Eastbourne and Lakeside getting to the play-off's. That leaves one place available in the play-off's for a genuine competitive team. And I've not seen them all in action yet, so have no idea who that will be.

On to Event 3 then. Got a feeling that Russia will have enough to hold off Australia, with Latvia 3rd and the USA making up the numbers. Then to the final - Poland v GB v Sweden v Russia. OR to look at it another way, 4 x Extraliga riders v 0 x Extraliga riders v 3 x Extraliga riders v 2 x Extraliga riders and all on an Extgraliga track that the British riders will probably only ever have seen on old YouTube clips. Sorry to have to predict this but I suspect that Poland will hold the edge over Russia who will do well to pip Sweden, mainly down to the "Emil at home factor", with GB making up the numbers. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong, but that's how I predict things panning out.

Not to mention Lambert being German A bit like the England cricket team

What's the situation about the roof? I gather that thete is a bit of a dispute brewing?

Hmmm...they were crystal clear when they were selling the season tickets that the friemdly against Cradley, the KOC & the Play-off's were NOT part of the season ticket deal.

A bit harsh. Can't think of a single rain-off that could have been staged, no matter how early the call-off was made. Better to call it off early and take the risk than to wait to the last minute, get the people inside the stadium and then call it off. Spare a thought for the hoards of Plymouth fans who at this time of writing must be about to set out for the long journey to Birmingham. How far up the road are they supposed to go before a decision is made? Having been on one of those epic coach trips to Glasgow that got turned round at the Hamilton Services, I have every sympathy with the away fans in cases like this.

Tis true. And I'll be in Budapest for the Red Bull Air Race this weekend anyway, so it all fits together nicely as team racing is my focus rather than individual championships.

Interesting weekend coming up... A top of the table clash between the yella'n'blue and the yella'n'red. Neither team can afford to be on anything less than 100% form for the meeting that could decide the post season pecking orders. Likewise at the bottom of the table, it could be that "Get Well Soon" may be in need of a shot of Prozac when they in all likelyhood get beaten by Leszno, and if Grudziadz beat Rybnik. Torun at the foot of the table with 2 world champions in the team...who'd have thought it? And in other news, Mickey Mouse...er...bah, who cares about them?

Getting ready for it already. Just bought my Birmingham to/from Poznan flights at £23.98 return (!!!) so will hopefully only be a train ride away from wherever I need to go to for the 2nd leg of the final.

This was before Leszno stuffed Mickey Mouse. The latest "latest table" is: 1 Gorzow m 9 pts 15 2 Wroclaw m 8 pts 14 3 Leszno m 9 pts 13 4 Zielona Gora m 8 pts 12 5 Rybnik m 7 pts 7 6 Czestochowa m 9 pts 7 7 Torun m 10 pts 4 8 Grudziadz m 8 pts 4 Just wondering if we can start looking forward to seeing a Torun v Bydgoszcz derby in 2018? They are almost as "exciting" as the Stal v Mickey Mouse derbys.