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I think there will be a few more rooms become available at this hotel shortly as this is the FIM suggested hotel and im told told they have 20 rooms on hold but various delegates will probaly stay in better class hotels

Its a shame Ben Barker is still injured for this meeting as his recent form at Wimborne Road is very good and could have been in with a good chance of getting wildcard position or Cardiff reserve slot

Can any Polish fans confirm whether Canal+ Poland are showing this in HD on TV ?

I understand Ben has flown home to the UK this evening to get treated and to get a 2nd opinion on the injury as I am told the Drs in Germany said it required an operation hopefully the UK drs will have a different view. I know Ben is quite gutted on how this happened and how he is likely not to progress any further in his last year in the U21s as by all accounts he was flying and probaly the best rider on the day and he had bike trouble in his 3rd ride when his number one bike wouldnt start so went out on 2nd bike which was just not as quick as number 1 bike so he dropped a point which in the end would have got him through to the next round.

But a long way to go to Sweden or Hungary with no definite chance of a ride not to mention the expense and possibly having to miss a coventry meeting as Hungary is a Sat afternoon. I'm not sure if there is any wild card places for the semis although I'm sure Bridger wold get that as British U21 champion it is looking like a broken leg or ankle rather than foot.

Ben Barker has qualified as reserve looks like a broken leg or ankle

Not sure what has happened Ben Barker had 8 from 3 rides then a massive delay in updates and now Ben was not in his next ride so may have crashed there are comments on the speed DE website but my German is not good hopefully not injured doubt 8 would be enough

How do you get the Polish matches for free is there a set feed on Justin tv ? I just did a search for speedway but nothing comes up how do you find it on Sunday afternoons ?

Hi I am after some help from our Polish,Swedish and Danish posters can anybody please confirm whether their local GP tv coverage is shown in HD/High definition. At present Sky sports have some issues with a lack of HD equipped studios for sport where the presenters and panel are not at the venue this is mainly preventing Sky sports GP coverage being in HD and is affecting others sports as well Nascar,A1 GP,Golf night and Spanish football. I am just trying to determine other broadcasters plans for the 2009 season and below is an article in Polish which hopefully some kind person can translate for me. Tylko w CANAL+ widzowie będą mogli obejrzeć na żywo relacje z wszystkich zawodów Grand Prix w sezonie 2009. Część transmisji zrealizowanych będzie w technologii High Definition. CANAL+ od kilku lat jest producentem wykonawczym międzynarodowego sygnału telewizyjnego z zawodów żużlowych. Obraz jest przekazywany do wszystkich zagranicznych telewizji, które posiadają prawa do pokazywania zawodów. W Polsce transmisje te można zobaczyć jedynie w CANAL+.

Speedway is still one of the top five most watched sports on Sky behind Football, Rugby Union,Super League and then sometimes cricket depending on the type of match. It has been proved that Sky viwers like fast action sport as the 20/20 cricket gets on average 20,000 more viwers than 2 day games One thing that Sky doesnt like about speedway is it can decide to run on alternative days to suit their programme schedules and also they would like to upgrade the Elite league coverage to HD but they can not get the tracks to invest in the new lighting required for this as most dont own the stadium I am all for Setanta taking on the Polish speedway but I think they may have cooled on this chance now with the change in the money world

Sorry I should have read it properly before posting - What I meant to say is that Sky are one of three key host broadcasters for the GP series along with Canal + Poland and Canal + Scandinavia the money these 3 brands pay for the GP rights means that they get a certain amount of input into the series including full time wild card places. Especially now IMG are the owners money and contracts mean more than the riders

There will definitly be two Brits in GP series in 2009 due to two main reasons Sky Sports and Cardiff. Sky are one three key broadcasters in the GP series and the new 5 year deal that was completed last year means they will want to have two riders to give their full time backing to and also to maintain the high viewing figures they have been getting as if nit they will start to lose the casual viewwers who look out just for the British guys. 2nd reason Cardiff it would be a nightmare to promote with just one rider and a wild card as I say that wild cards probaly do not add that many onto the gate and also you would lose that atmosphere when the Brits ride. On Holder from what i have heard it is all but confirmed that he will be in the 2009 series and just needs approving at the end of the season.

Very good Flix what equipment was that filmed using and what software did you use to edit i in. All in all a very MONSTER production

Im pretty sure Scott Nicholls is on Marcel Gerhard engines now as that is the Tatum connection and it was Gerrhard with him at prague. Bomber is a bit more complicated it was Brian Anderson but seems that he may be on Kargers now to try and increase his speed

San Bonifacio is very nice and only 10 mins from track only thing not much nigtlife but great base as just off Venice-Milan autostrada its is 30 mins from verona airport and 1 hour from Venice if you want further info PM me and i will tell you more

We are trying to get a hotel in Gelsenkirchen but everywhere seems full at the the minute so it may have to be Dusseldorf for us as well. Its good to know that we can get a train back fairly easily if need be

Sandie- Make sure you bring the Smurf make up again although i did hear that he wanted to be a Power Ranger this trip looks like there is going to be quite a few British fans going out for this one

Just looked at the advance weather forecast for next week and the weather Thurs,Fri and Sat should be sunny with temps of 29 to 31 c so should be shorts and t shirts weather. Im still going to take a jacket as i know what the storms are like out there

I am sorry Sandie but I dont believe I have spoken to you previously about staying at the Ramada, just saw your reccomendation and saw it was central hotel so thought we would book this I think you have me and my mate Smurf mixed up with somebody else.

Just booked myself and my mate Smurf into the Ramada in Prague as it seems this is a good hotel and I have heard a few fans will be staying there as well. I have got another friend going but he is having to Stay at an Ibis as he has a thing for the working ladies of the night and I have been told they are not allowed into the Ramada as more of a classy hotel.

Well it looks like Sky have changed their mind about broadcasting the Coventry WTC round in HD, it was announced after the brilliant British GP in HD that they would do this as well. But I have noticed that since then they have said nothing more about it and it is also not flagged as being in HD on the tv guide. I find this very disapointing after it was announced and for such a major event this should be in HD also the lighting is more than good enough at Brandon so technically no reason why it could not be done

I have also been told told by 2 hotels that IMG had block booked 50 rooms in each hotel and also they had booked a whole hotel for the officials to stay in, I wonder if they are looking at doing some of there own packages with hotels and tickets together

One thing with the official announcement being this evening if the GP isnt on 27th June as is suspected hopefully hotel chains wont have web teams in this evening to add the event inflation on.

I would have a good guess on Saturday 27th June 2009 as the hotels where FIM,BSI,IMG are reporting to be full for that weekend yet the weeks before that seem quite free and easy. One good thing is with the announcement being this evening hopefully if change of date hotel chains wont have web teams to add inflation onto rooms until the morning.

The price of hotels in Cardiff for the GP is stupid I am told that it is more for the speedway than for the football and the Rugby League millenium magic weekend. I had a look round last night and as everybody is finding some hotels are saying they are full others are doubling prices for 26th-28th June Ibis want £300 for weekend I know IMG/BSI and the Visit Wales tourist group are disgusted by the hotels prices and BSI have reminded the powers that be that they could go most large football ground in June. I just hope that they keep the weekend the same as tthis year for the people like myself and other forum members who had booked rooms well before the date is announced