scotty2hotty

Oh of course, thats it then. lol

No-one can prove that any cheating goes on, but it just seems very strange to me that mediocre riders generally ie Pepe, Kasper and Kolodj can go out and beat world class riders by a huge distance, but in their general league speedway and even the gps, they more often than not struggle. Why is that?

Excellent meeting and great racing, but boring and very predictable result. Great to have a 6th man though for Poland. Nicki slowed right up on that last bend and let Darcy through so the Aussies couldn't play the joker and I wonder if he would have stayed down after that fall if Holder had been leading in the joker ride. It proves one thing - money talks. And also in your lifetime when have you ever known a referee to change his mind, never in mine!!

If there is anyone not going to Cardiff that wants a Leigh shirt, drop me a PM with the size you want and your phone number and I will put them to one side for you. We dont get them till Saturday so I haven't got any now. I will ring you on Monday after Cardiff so we can arrange payment. Be quick though as I am leaving Thursday at 12 noon. We are going to Birmingham tomorrow (Thurs) and then straight to Cardiff to start preparing the Fayre for Friday morning.

If anyone has any old memorabilia they would like valued or to sell, then please visit Nick Barber's memorabilia stall at the Fayre. Not just speedway, any sport considered.

Don't forget our annual Collectors and Souvenir Fayre at the Cardiff Rugby Club (next door to the Stadium) on Grand Prix day 25/6/2011. Lots of different stallholders including book signings by Shawn Moran, Alan Carter and Jeff Scott, rider merchandise, photos, badges and for the collector our old memorabilia stall. Many other stalls too. Doors open at 10am till 3.30pm. Adults £1 Kids Free. Look forward to seeing you there.

We are having a Speedway Memorabilia Auction with Collectors Fayre including 2011 souvenirs at The Sports Connexion, Ryton On Dunsmore, Near Coventry on Saturday 5 March 2011. Viewing 09:30 am until 12:30pm. Auction itself begins at 13:00. Catalogue for the auction is available to view online now at www.nickbarber.co.uk Emailled, postal and telephone bids welcome.

Idiotic move by Gollob, looks an angry man. Perhaps his off track problems are getting to him.

Very disappointed the Aussies didn't get through. Obviously wanted GB to get through first but Australia was my second choice. I am afraid I cannot see anything wrong with the Aussies, yes to some they may come across as a bit arrogant, but to be honest I just find them funny, it is quite refreshing to be honest. To me it just looked like a bunch of friends enjoying themselves which in my opinion is great. It is similar to when the Yanks first came over here, riders with a bit of personality and humanity for a change.

Absolutely elated GB won. Excellent meeting and there certainly seemed to be a lot of team spirit from the Brits, nice to see Scotty and Bomber putting their differences aside to work together. Anyone doubting Wuffy's nationality leanings only had to see the look on his face and his singing of the national anthem on the podium to see he is dedicated to Team GB. Scotty has always been my hero and was lovely to see him on such fine form tonight and enjoying his racing again. A lot of people having a go at the Aussies for their messing about to the camera, but to be honest, I don't see anything wrong with it, its nice to see riders with smiles for a change and it adds a bit of humour to the proceedings. A lot are putting it down to arrogance, but I see it as a group of guys just enjoying their racing together and having fun. Only downside for me was the damn greenfly swarm that hit the stadium, they were driving a lot of people mad and i am still picking them out of my cleavage this morning!!!!

I started to go and watch MIldenhall in 1974 when my Dad became Promoter there alongside Wally Mawdsley and Terry Waters. Our first training track meeting had straw bales as a fence. We entered the league in 1975 and after five glorious years, we won the National League Title. We beat Rye House at home in a controversial match and only had to win at Scunthorpe, who were bottom of the league at the time, to win the Championship. This we did and one of my proudest possessions is a picture of my Dad holding the Trophy. At that time there really wasn't a house for miles, the closest residents were Bob Coles and Robert Henry who lived in a caravan in the Stadium. The USAF Base is probably about a mile away and I can still remember, watching the meeting and a huge plane would come over very very low. I remember having to cover my ears big time and the ground would shake underneath me and the sound would go right through you. Now houses have sprung up nearby in the last 10 years or so, obviously people buying these houses would know of the stadium. I really am at a loss for words to think that one person could do this. It absolutely beggars belief. To be honest I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of this country, if I had the money I would emigrate to Australia tomorrow.

We are having our usual Speedway Souvenir and Memorabilia Fayre in the Cardiff Rugby Club (next door to the STadium)on 10 July 2010 from 10am till 3pm. Book signings by Ivan Mauger, Michael Lee, Leigh Adams and Jeff Scott. Many other stalls, souvenirs, clothing, books, memorabilia etc etc. Admission adults £1 children free.

It is sad that James has lost his place, but if he is not performing then it really is irrelevant what nationality he is. I know in an ideal world we would all like to see shedloads of Brits coming through the system but it is just not happening. Bear in mind though, in the Premier League Jake Anderson of Birmingham and Australia was replaced by British Kyle Newman and Ricky Wallace of Kings Lynn and Australia was replaced by British Darren Mallett. Swings and roundabouts spring to mind.

Excellent GP for good close racing. Thank goodness the majority of the riders involved in those horrific looking crashes are actually not as bad as feared. Hats off to Freddie Lindgren for the avoiding action in the race where Artur and Magnus came off, could have been a lot worse if he hadn't been paying attention. So pleased that Noddy hasnt got a broken arm, will be a bit sore in the morning though I expect. What a great guy he is, always got a smile on his face (apart from when he came off), always polite and friendly during interviews and a great and exciting rider to watch. Only downside apart from the crashes was the refs decision. How was Miedinski excluded?

Does it really matter whether there were EL or Pl riders in the line-up. It was speedway, something we obviously all enjoy. I used to be an elite league snob, but now I just enjoy speedway racing. As far as I am concerned it was a good meeting, full of incidents and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't care that some of the riders were from different leagues, if Woffinden and Richardson had qualified they would have been there, but they didn't. How many months ago was it that everyone was insisting that riders should not be seeded through to the GP (ie Nicholls, well now you have got your qualification process and you are still not happy.

I got the impression, rightly or wrongly, from the article that Scott was actually saying that he wasn't invited to be present in the pits for Team GB. I would imagine that a certain amount of people were invited ie Loram, Richardson etc, you can't invite the whole squad for each team otherwise you wouldn't be able to move in the pits. That was my take anyway, rightly or wrongly.

Spot on post!!

I agree, we are actually very lucky to have the speedway coverage we have. Its always the same though in most things in life, we always find fault and think we could do a better job! I had the pleasure of meeting a number of Aussies in the last few weeks, who are absolutely bowled over by the speedway over here, Most of them would give their right arm for what we have, Personally, sometimes I think we have become too complacent about our sport and our expectations of it. The Aussies take what they can get and they are so grateful for it, it is actually a pleasure to see people so bowled over by what they are seeing. It must make their blood boil hearing us 'whinging poms' moaning about our own GB riders, our TV coverage etc etc. It must seem really strange to them and all the other nationalities who take part who are hugely patriotic, to see some of us Brits wearing Danish, Polish, Swedish gear, when our own GB riders are riding in the same event. Each to their own of course, but a lot of the time in Poland Tomasz Gollob gets booed when he is riding for the opposing team in league racing, however, when he is riding for Poland or representing Poland in the Grand Prix, different kettle of fish altogether. Look at Leigh Adams yesterday, Mr Leszno for the last 15 years, hugely popular there, yet who were the Poles cheering for, Gollob of course cos hes Polish, whether they like him or not, its the nationality that counts. Just for the record, I am not saying all of this to cause trouble, just my perception of what I have been told by people from other nationalities.

I wonder if perhaps the reason the usual crew were not at Lakeside tonight, was because Sky gave them a much needed day off after such a hectic week. also congratulations to Nigel Pearson and his wife on the birth of their baby.

I must be honest and say that initially I was a bit shocked to see Tai wearing an Aussie shirt in the pits on Sunday and my first thoughts were 'OMG the forum will be full of this later'. However, thinking about it, does it really matter and also the guy was brought up in Australia, so these guys were probably his idols. At the end of the day, Tai has chosen to ride for Team GB and really that is all that matters. He had a choice, he chose us, for that I am pleased.

Sorry but I don't agree with you. Rob Lyon has the full backing of the speedway authorities to build for the future. How many years have we all been moaning about same old riders, same old results. I'm sure we mostly all agree, that the majority of other nations are miles ahead of us at the moment, particularly Australia and we have to do something about it. Sticking with the same 'old guard' of riders will never in a million years help the cause of bringing new riders on. The problem we have in this country, is that there are very few tracks that allow training sessions, so many council rules and all that bumph. The majority of other nations do not have that problem. I do agree however, that some Test matches would be an excellent idea, but as someone else said, riders are constantly going in different directions all over the world to race, so how do you get them all in one place at one time, its not an easy task. I understand from my parents that there were regular Test Matches in years gone by, but then these riders were only riding in Britain, so it was easier to get them all together. Nowadays, a lot of riders have such punishing schedules all over Europe, it would be a nightmare to arrange anything. Personally, I do not expect any Trophy wins for Rob Lyon and Team GB for a good couple of years at least. What I do hope is for Team GB to gradually improve over the coming years and that in the not too distant future we can again become a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. It will happen, but patience is a virtue!!

Has anybody actually stopped to think that perhaps Scott didn't want to ride in the World Cup? Perhaps he asked to be left out. Perhaps he felt so low on confidence that he didn't want to potentially let GB down. I am sure he wouldn't have if he had ridden, but the guy probably thought that perhaps another bad world stage event would shoot his already low confidence to pieces. Mind you whatever he had of done would have been wrong I'm quite sure of that.

What a horrible thing to say!!

Agreed Exiled cuda, I did not expect anything from tonight and was pleasantly surprised. I agree that I do not think we will win the World Cup in the next 2 or 3 years. I also feel that Rob Lyon as a person is the correct man for the job. He seems to manage to get riders together and bond. Look at his role at Kings Lynn over the last few seasons. He has constantly managed to bring the best out of the riders he employs. There is fantastic team spirit at Kings Lynn, everyone gets on, they socialise together and they BOND. I believe this is one of the most important starting blocks to a successful team, as has been proved by Rob at KL. But Kings Lynn are only in the Premier League I hear you all shout - speedway riders are speedway riders whatever league they ride in, they are still only flesh and blood, whether they be a World Champion or a National League Reserve.

Who says he threw his toys away? There has been no mention whatsoever of any bad feeling from Team GB towards Scott, he wasn't picked. Perhaps he didn't want to be picked, we don't know do we? Why do people assume there has been a falling out, or he has been asked to stay away. We don't know do we? If we want to talk about falling out, I suggest we look at Ryan Sullivan, not turning up because he thought he would be dropped, now that is a prima donna!!