IainB

That's what press & practice day is for... it's just a shame that 1 particular rider didn't show and then went on to only score 2 points, you reap what you sow, maybe he thought it wasn't worth it as he'll be off by the end of next month. Fail to prepare... prepare to fail!

Did old man Zagar ride anywhere last year?

Does Artem know you're posting about another rider? 💔

He didn't need a sat nav in his first ride... he never made it off the line 😂

Looks like it's Birmingham Bummies again this year after 3 heats 🅱️🍑

Oh stop complaining! 😉 😂

okay, thanks, that's good to know, that's generally what I do when going to concerts in London, but there I can be sure that the underground will be running 24/7. I'll look into that, thanks 👍

I'm a big boy... I own a car 🚗

I must say the parking "issue" really does make me think twice about going to Birmingham, I only went the once last year and had to pay £3 for the privilege of parking on the gypo car park. The One Stop was a perfect solution for me and most others in previous years, so it's a shame that the promotion couldn't come to some arrangement with them as it seems that some say that this is possibly still usable. Like I said in an earlier post I nearly parked on-street last time I went but saw a load of signs on lamp posts that I didn't recognise that looked like they could be parking restrictions so didn't chance it. PS. Incidentally I'm going to Villa Park in June to see GnR, I've never been before so any advice on parking for that would be greatly appreciated, I would call Axl but he may put the phone down laughing 😉😂

MCC want to see it a success so much it's not even got a mention on their "What's on" section on their website https://www.visitmanchester.com/whats-on/sporting-events/ If you want to get hammered and "socialise" then it's probably best to go to the local offy and then on to Crowcroft Park where you can while away the hours litter picking. 😂

Cook apparently hasn't told anybody anything... according to Stewart Dickson it was Cook's dad that called Dickson to deliver the news.

When was the last time Cook started a season in the PL?

Equally you would have thought they'd have said something knowing there must be huge questions amongst the fans.

Okay, let's dig into this a little bit. The last "big" Cardiff attendance was in 2019, that's only 3 events ago. In 2019 it was the penultimate GP in the series with Zmarzlik (103pts), Sayfutdinov (94pts) and Madsen (92pts) battling it out for the World Championship, the series line-up was: # Riders 2018 place GP Ch place Appearance Previous appearances in series 108 Tai Woffinden 1 — 8th 2010, 2011, 2013–2018 95 Bartosz Zmarzlik 2 — 4th 2012–2015, 2016–2018 66 Fredrik Lindgren 3 — 10th 2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2018 71 Maciej Janowski 4 — 5th 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015–2018 45 Greg Hancock 5 — 25th 1995–2018 222 Artem Laguta 6 — 3rd 2011, 2018 69 Jason Doyle 7 — 5th 2015–2018 89 Emil Sayfutdinov 8 — 8th 2009–2013, 2017–2018 692 Patryk Dudek 9 — 3rd 2016, 2017–2018 55 Matej Žagar 10 15 9th 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2018 54 Martin Vaculík 13 — 4th 2012, 2013, 2017–2018 333 Janusz Kołodziej — 1 2nd 2006, 2010, 2011 88 Niels-Kristian Iversen 14 2 8th 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2017, 2018 85 Antonio Lindbäck — 3 9th 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015, 2016–2017 30 Leon Madsen — — 1st 2013 Cut to 2022, 1st post covid event with many people still suffering the consequences of that (financial, fear etc.) and a total disaster of a track in a meeting that very nearly didn't start and was very nearly abandoned, 2023 many people put off by the 2022 track and finally cut to 2024 and here's your line-up: # Riders 2023 place GP Ch place Permanent rider appearance Previous appearances in series 95 Bartosz Zmarzlik 1 — 9th 2012–2015, 2016–2023 66 Fredrik Lindgren 2 — 15th 2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2023 54 Martin Vaculík 3 2 9th 2012, 2013, 2017–2023 25 Jack Holder 4 — 3rd 2016, 2020, 2022–2023 30 Leon Madsen 5 — 6th 2010, 2013, 2019–2023 505 Robert Lambert 6 4 4th 2015, 2018–2019, 2021–2023 99 Dan Bewley 7 — 3rd 2018, 2022–2023 69 Jason Doyle 8 1 10th 2015–2023 108 Tai Woffinden 11 — 13th 2010, 2011, 2013–2023 155 Mikkel Michelsen 12 — 4th 2015, 2018–2019, 2020, 2021, 2022–2023 29 Andžejs Ļebedevs 16 7 1st 2013–2014, 2022–2023 744 Kai Huckenbeck 17 — 1st 2017–2019, 2022–2023 415 Dominik Kubera =21 — 1st 2021, 2023 48 Szymon Woźniak =26 3 1st 2018, 2022–2023 201 Jan Kvěch =31 5 1st 2020–2023 Looking at that, yes the whole thing has become a little stale, I watch the GP series now more through a sense of duty rather than any excitement on who is going to walk away with the top prize. Add into that a non-sensical point scoring system and it's no wonder that the fans have given it the thumbs down. WBD adopted a if you build it they will come mentality and have fallen asleep at the wheel, they've done the usual Speedway thing and have just tinkered around the edges again, 2 minutes scrapped in favour of 90 seconds, Sprint races in front of empty stadiums, anyone from the top 10 can win the meeting. The whole series needs a massive overhaul. Maybe the field needs culling to 12 riders? Look at what UEFA have done with the Champions League, that was radical and from what I've heard it's been somewhat of a success.

A lot of nails hit squarely on the head there... but I'm still going! I must be bloody mad 😂 I think the "novelty factor" of it being at the NSS will wear off a lot quicker than it did with Cardiff especially at the prices they are charging.