fatface

Me too Jez, I have no feelings either way to either rider. Hans was right to be excluded, but it was nothing more than a racing accident. I would liken it to a 50-50 ball in football. Both riders dead level going for the same area of track, neither bottling out, something had to give - that's speedway. And bloody exciting it was too!

Agreed, he was superb tonight. He was one of the smoothest riders on display abd never looked out of place at all. His 3rd to 1st dash in his first outing was one of many, many highlights. Like you say Phil, it looks good for the SWC too. I'm certainly more optimistic for GB than I have been in the past.

Me, girlfriend, mum, dad, cousin, girlfriend rolled in on Friday. Stayed at the Thistle hotel, enjoyed a few bevvies out on Friday. Saturday shopped a bit and went and browsed the speedway collectors fair. Met Crump, Rickardson, Pedersen outside were they were signing autographs (is there any other sport where this would happen?) Then the main event............WOW! What a superb evening's entertainment and the best Cardiff experience yet. Fair enough, at £40, it's not cheap, but it was worth every penny. For 3 and a half hours it was absolutely rivetting stuff. The atmosphere was superb, the stadium looked great, the fans waved thousands of flags and tooted thousands of horns. (Even now it gives me goosebumps just typing this!) The racing was brilliant and the presentation was superb. Loved the "grease lightning" firework show at the climax, what did others think? BSI get some grief at times from people on here, but my god, this puts memories of Bradford, Norden, Vojens well in the shade. Speedway has moved on, thank god for that!

Here, here. It was a superb race and it was nothing more than a racing accident. Two superbly skilled riders fighting tooth and nail in an important race at the biggest single meeting of the season - fantastic stuff. It's a shame the race didn't go the full distance, but the entry to the first turn on the last lap was a 50-50 race, both had to go in hard and the result was someone fell. That's just racing.

I wouldn't like to say anything bad about a legend like Sam. So I think I'll just bite my tongue for this topic.

Oh....I was just about to say that.... .........whose patch no doubt was near Mort's on your anorak.......?? Of course. "Mark Hepworth - Super Cub" it says

Oh....I was just about to say that....

...........my guess is that it's Peter Macnamara, but I can't be sure I think you're right there WATigerman. One thing is for sure, he doesn't look like a natural.

This 277 is not a well known rider, its a junior of some sort. I'll try Paul Clarke.

agree with above except: 275 - Erik Gundersen 276 - Billy Sanders 277 - Guy Wilson

260 - Nearly, right first time. Let's go for Dave Morton this time.

260 - Reg or Dave ........Reg Wilson! 265 - Phil Crump 266 - Phil White 267 - Alan Mason/Shawn Moran 268 - Dave Morton 269 - PC 270 - Scott Autrey 271 - Les Collins, Steve Baker, Shawn Moran

World rankings? Sounds like a lot of fun. I remember Speedway Mail did something similar in the early 80s. Respected figures from all the key speedway countries (GB, Denmark, Sweden, USA, Czecho, Poland, Germany etc.) would submit their annual top 10 and an overall top 10 would be drawn from it. Of course, there was an element of the Eurovision about it all: Germany would have Muller/Maier in their list, Czecho would have Stancl/Dryml, Poland had Plech/Jancarz. But all in all, it seemed to produce a fairly accurate list. It would be interesting to see something similar for today's speedway. I suspect, despite last year's GP, not many would rank Nicki P as no1.

That's the first time I've ever heard those two riders rated similarly. Moggo is about as close to being an all-time great as my granny. Fair play to Moggo though, I've always found him to be nothing but a credit to the sport and he would make my top 7 "entertainers" list.

Interesting notion of all-time greats Shoddy and how the baton is passed on. It's quite similar to the way many people view the Heavyweight boxing title. I'd agree with your "title holders" too and will have to tip my hat to Norbold's greater knowledge of Vic Duggan and the like. In contrast I'd nominate Per Jonsson as the man most likely to make the list if not for injury. He really was tremendously talented, possibly the smoothest overtaker I've ever seen.

Some good answers there - Larry Ross was very impressive. My tuppence: 254 - Steve "My best friend is a..." Baker 255 - Zenon Plech 256 - This surely cannot be an Ipswich victory parade at Hyde Road? Billy Sanders, Nigel Flatman (hidden), another hidden guy?, Preben Eriksen, Dennis Sigalos 257 - Siggy

Agree with Gaz except the Ace in 238 is Kenny McKinna 244 - ? no idea 245 - Is this the man himself - Tony Forward? 238. Mr Mckinna of the Kenny variety it certainly is 244. I won't keep the book open on this one too long - a tricky one that probably will need a Tigers fan to get. 245. Told you I'd not run out of pictures................. Thanks lord of the anoraks! (PS a hint - don't wash the anorak) Wash my anorak? And risk my 1981 "Chris Morton England & Belle Vue" patch fading - not a chance my friend.

Agree with Gaz except the Ace in 238 is Kenny McKinna 244 - ? no idea 245 - Is this the man himself - Tony Forward?

Loramski is definitely worth a shot. I'll have a tenner on him at e/w at least. If he is going to get on a GP rostrum this year - which in this form, he surely will - Wroclaw could well be that place.

1 - M Loram 2 - J Crump 3 - T Gollob 4 - N Pedersen

Can't add much to the Baron's efforts, but here goes: 230 - Troy Butler 231 - Jimmy Nilsen, Shooey, Sean Wilson 232 - now you're testing us! Is one of them Ian M Stead? 234 - I'll try the same fella - Ian M Stead

Spooky - don't suppose you remember visiting a cheese making place on the trip too? That's one of my faint memories anyway, Jez. I too was only ickle and was with mum and dad.

207 - could that possibly be Erik Gundersen? 219 - Wiggy 220 - Bo Petersen 221 - Mike Lee 222 - Chris Morton 223 - Shawn Moran 224 - Shawn leads Kelly 225 - Nielsen leads Sigalos 226 - Eric Monaghan BTW - I do find it a little spooky that lots of your pics are from the 84 Overseas and the 83 World Final. Both meetings I was at too. Where were you stood in Norden? I was on the back straight. I was only 9, but remember it all quite clearly. We went there on a Chequers Travel Coach, had a night in Amsterdam and a another night somewhere in Germany. I also remember meeting National League supporters for the first time (Milton Keynes) and couldn't understand why they didn't go to watch someone good like Belle Vue. Funny how things turn round (see racejacket ) Lovely memories though....

201 - P Carr/L King 202 - Phil Collins/Toni Kasper 203 - Jem Doncaster 204 - King of Kings 205 - Shooey 206 - Rick Miller 207 - v tough. Wayne Brown?? 208 - H Nielsen/Ph Collins 209 - Plech, Gundersen, Sigalos 210 - D Morton 211 - Martin Dixon 212 - Shooey/Gundersen 213 - Ole Olsen 214 - Mitch Shirra (defo is him) 215 - David Walsh 216 - Sean Wilson/Mick Graves? 217 - P Carr/Sean Willmott 218 - Billy Sanders Keep up the good work WATigerman!

I know it's nuts isn't it! The guy's ears must be burning like hell. I must stop contributing myself, but it's strangely addictive.....