CUFC_Brummie

A thoroughly depressing night, wasn't really up for it before but still made the effort to go just in case, but it was flat from the off and the racing was terrible, the whole evening was just like waiting on death row for the inevitable. Despite everything that has gone on in the Elite League this year I'd maintained a fair bit of enthusiasm for this season and the next, but a lot of that was sucked out of me tonight, seeing that tosser Ford jumping around on the track really made it hit home what has actually happened. I can only hope that the winter brings the radical change that is required, but I haven't got my hopes up. Poole, undeniably the best team in the playoffs, but still a despicable club. Proud of our efforts this season but it's no surprise we fell short at the final hurdle, will fondly remember the Peterborough away meeting and the first leg of the semi at Wolves this season, they were what domestic speedway should be about.

Absolute rubbish.

If anyone knows anywhere in Cambridge that will be willing to show the GP then send me a PM, ta!

Unlikely I know, but if anyone is driving to the meeting from somewhere near Luton or London and has a spare space in their car send me a PM!

Now I regret not buying tickets for Torun! Going to be a cracking end to the season, pressure is really on Emil now, another good round for Tai in Latvia and the momentum will really have swung. Hope Nico's injury isn't too bad as well.

They need to worry about making domestic racing something resembling respectable first before promoting too much, it's all well and good showing people how wonderful Cardiff is, but at their first glimpse of league racing afterwards 99% of them would never return again.

Kettering have been playing at Corby since at least the turn of the year. Nene Park has been unused for a good few months now and would definitely be available to Coventry if they wanted it (won't happen though).

Well done Tai! Can't wait for Cardiff.

Anyone going from Torun to this on Sunday morning on the train? Be good to have some company!

Can anyone point me to where I can get tickets for the first leg at Gorzow? Cheers!

Can't understand it. For the World Cup, I understood their decision, small teams, big stage, may have been a bit too soon, but it's matches like this where we need to be blooding some youngsters. 7 man teams rather than 4 mean that there's enough scope for someone to have an off night and for it not to have a massive hinderence on the outcome, exactly the sort of scenario we need for our young guys, where they can get the experience without having too much reliance on them having to score massive points. We'd all like to beat the Aussies but the reality is they're well ahead of us, it's no shock if we lose, and with it being a test match where the result isn't quite so important, we should've been using this, as well as a couple of other similar matches on the continent, to be putting these youngsters into a position where they get the experience required so that come next year's World Cup, they'd be ready to be thrown in there. Now it doesn't look like that will be the case, and I can already hazard a good guess that the team next year will be very similar if not identical to this year's, with an identical outcome.

They should just get rid of this farcical rule, it was very very clever from Nicki, not very sportsmanlike, but whilst the tactical rule is in place then this will happen, if it was England riding I'd have wanted our guys to do exactly the same thing.

And that is why the joker is a joke.

Great meeting yet again, fantastic effort from the boys, a real shame about those 2 mechanical failures, momentum definitely shifted after the Aussies first tactical. Take nothing away from Crump and Holder though, absolutely outstanding. We'll be outsiders again on Thursday but I expect us to be competitive at least now after tonight's showing. Hopefully the Poles will blow hot and cold again and the Danes will have an off night too and we might just have a very slim chance.

Those last two heats, incredible. Fancied the Russians beforehand, should've put my money where my mouth is. Looking forward to Monday.

If anyone is planning on driving back south after the meeting and can drop me off in Luton/Bedford/London/Somewhere inbetween, then can you let me know, thanks!

Sky Sports stream - http://www.coolsport.tv/stream3.php

I'm in the same situation with Sky Player, and what's even more annoying is they're not even showing anything live on Sky Sports 2 and 3 at that time! I sincerely hope the above post means they've bumped La Liga onto one of those channels and reinstated the grand prix on SS4. To have a live event on the red button when there are 2 channels not showing live sport would be a disgrace.

Don't hold it every year. Every 2 years, fine, but not every year. Joker can only be played once 8/10 points back. Hold the race off at a different track to the final (it can be in the same country though, and I would understand not changing this one because of the logistics, but it'd be nice). Job's a good 'un.

Boys did alright considering how poor our lineup really is, but it's very concerning for years to come. Harris is obviously the key to our team for the next 7 or 8 years, but outside of that it's looking bleak. Barker did himself no harm at all and if he can up his game a little bit at Birmingham now he can be a fixture in this team for years to come. Aside from that, bleak. Bridger, terrible, but the sad reality is we didn't have anybody else available who would've done a whole lot better. Kennett was poor and has been around long enough now that he should really be doing better on this sort of stage, the fact he isn't suggests he isn't really up to it. Woffinden is still young and is going to improve, but when you compare him to what the others have got in similar age groups, he's miles behind. We don't have a Darcy Ward or an Emil Sayfutdinov coming through, and that's the concerning thing. Tonight was a respectable effort but in the next 3 or 4 years we're only going to fall further behind. I can only see the 5 that have finished in front of us continuing to pull away, and a couple of the nations behind us possibly beginning to catch up, which would be absolutely disastrous. Something has to be done but I'm not quite sure what the answer is, it's going to have to be a long-term upheaval rather than a short-term fix I think.

My first grand prix, and after that, it will not be my last! Great view, great meeting, great atmosphere, and Chris Harris, you are immense! Well done Bomber.