El Pairs

[The H Man]

Agree with several others on here the whole format, wasn't well thought out. With only the winners going through from each group it meant several teams were out of contention after their first rides.

 

I thought the crowd would be bigger arrived at Blunsdon to find big queues outside, but that was thanks to the gates being closed. So had a kip in the car for half an hour and ventured into just before 5pm.

 

I'm sure Ian Thomas' comments were totally tounge in cheek and not meant to offend, whilst it was good to see Crumpy and Steady jumped off the parade truck to acknowledge the BV fans on the back straight!

 

And also we had the all girl band Barely Legal performing in the bar afterwards, which left a certain foum member (who will remain nameless) drooling.

[John Leslie]

I'm sure Ian Thomas' comments were totally tongue in cheek and not meant to offend, whilst it was good to see Crumpy and Steady jumped off the parade truck to acknowledge the BV fans on the back straight!

Good to see that when they were on the centre awaiting the presentation Thomas could be heard saying to Crump and Stead "When you get your trophies, there are Belle Vue fans there and there" (pointing to the back straight where he wanted them to acknowledge the fans - which they did).

Nice touch.

[ouch]

Well it was third time lucky for the Aces, and once again against a Swindon pairing. I thought we might have blown it when Steady (ironic nickname) fell whilst on a 7-2. Luckily for us the Reading pair didn’t perform as I expected and it left us the opportunity to again progress to the final.

Simon should remove the Kick Me sign he obviously had taped to his back. After Gollob in the WC last year, Jonsson at the GP and then Ulamek in the final he must feel a little apprehensive every time he takes to the track.

[orion]

Well it was third time lucky for the Aces, and once again against a Swindon pairing. I thought we might have blown it when Steady (ironic nickname) fell whilst on a 7-2. Luckily for us the Reading pair didn’t perform as I expected and it left us the opportunity to again progress to the final.

Simon should remove the Kick Me sign he obviously had taped to his back. After Gollob in the WC last year, Jonsson at the GP and then Ulamek in the final he must feel a little apprehensive every time he takes to the track.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

And any rider behind him must feel apprensive waiting for him to fall in front of them .

[barrow boy]

They all know the rules at the start of the meeting , DONT  come last in the final and what did Swindon do , they cocked it up bigtime.

Not only did they put Adams off 3 instead of 1 , Adams then decides to blast off and win by the proverbial country mile and thenn looks back for his teammate when he has crossed the finish line ....................good teamriding Lee 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes they might have known the rules but was it explained to us. I didn't see the start. Even during the Poole V Arena race to decide Group B Nigel P said that with Poole riders in 2nd & 3rd places this was good enough but thought that with the way that Antonio was riding, Neil M had obviously not given this information to his riders. It would seem however that Poole were in fact very aware and were seeking the heat win to finish on more points. Must agree that the race between the tied teams should decide.

[Eastie]

Middlo definatley knew as the expletives were flowing from his mouth ( very similar to shovlars rant) when the camera was on him as the riders went round the final bend

[rabbit]

Well if you'd believed the comments in the run-up to the pairs, the Pirates wouldn't have even been close to getting to the final. We lost out, dodgy rule maybe but if it was set out from the start we can't argue. Typical - Cupofcoffee a thorn in our side yet again. Beginning to go off that bloke Didn't help the Sky commentators not having a clue how it would be decided and getting our hopes up.

 

Still, I'm reasonably happy with how Bjarne and Anton went - it's much of a non-event in the calendar anyway tbh, and from the looks of the postings plenty of the usual suspects have had their kicks seeing us not get through. Everyone's happy.

 

Oh and well done BV - a good weekend to be a Mancy obviously.

[Ace no.5]

Having watched the meeting back on Sky, I thought it was very poor that the analysts and commentators didn't have a clue what happened if a team was tied on points. How are people watching at home supposed to know?! All it would have taken was a quick scan in the programme to see what happened in the event of a tie...!

Also meant to say last night, not too impressed by the format. They should at least have 2 semi finals, winner of group A vs runner up of group B and winner of group B vs runner up of group A. Would certainly have kept it more interesting, and we could have then had Poole in the semi with no reason to complain when they got knocked out by the Robins...!

[pirate paul]

But had Poole won, it would have been "great event", "great format", "best team won", etc.

 

Not from me it wouldn't. As I've said I think its a daft contradictory rule, but there you go. I would also like to see the group format done away with, so each pair race all the others. Its speedway, what else do we expect? Also for the record I think play offs are a dreadful way to finish the league, especially if the team who wins the league loses the play off.

 

Still the Crump/Stead victory will further fuel his hatred of Belle Vue, which is bordering on the paranoid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Sounds a bit like a few posters feelings about SS

Edited June 5, 2006 by pirate paul

[scoobydoo]

They should go back to the two semi finals before the final IMO this gives two more teams and sets of fans something to stay interested for, at least for a bit longer, whats the harm in two more races at the end of the day fans pay enough for admission these days anyway .

Edited June 5, 2006 by scoobydoo

[rabbit]

They should at least have 2 semi finals, winner of group A vs runner up of group B and winner of group B vs runner up of group A.  Would certainly have kept it more interesting, and we could have then had Poole in the semi with no reason to complain when they got knocked out by the Robins...!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Agree...well not with the last sentence but you know what I mean. Was quite shocked after the first few heats to realise that it was straight to a final. Talk about killing the interest for half the teams straight off. Did they come up with the format on the back of a beermat in Tenerife?

[John Leslie]

I would also like to see the group format done away with, so each pair race all the others.

Then you'd complain about being bored watching 55 races...or being charged £60 admission....or the riders would complain about having to do 10 races.

 

The 6 team group should have ridden against 4 of the other 5 teams in the group, whilst the 5 team group raced against the other 4 teams in their group.

The the top two from each group into 2 semis and a final.

 

By having the 6 team group race against all the other 5 they wasted an extra 3 races which could have been 2 semis.

[Dekker]

Also - what a cock up by Rosco putting Ulamek off 1.

Given Ulameks previous gating i think Rosco got the gates 100% correct, in fact the plan was blown in so much that adams didnt pin stead to the fence on the outside and ride him the long way around and keep him at the back.

 

But i guess that sums up why Leigh has never won the WC, he just doesnt ride that hard.

Edited June 5, 2006 by Dekker

[12bore]

I refer you to my earlier reply regarding the 'rules you signed up to'

 

 

How did Steady stay on his bike after the assault by Ulamek?

 

Perhaps he fell off in his earlier ride because his frame was bent from last nights attack by Jonsson and Pedersen and Ulamek straightened it for him in the final!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I also have to refer belle vue fans to the competition they signed up to last year ... remember that one ... you know when you won the league

[bazlux]

Went to this meeting as I was passing by on way back from cardiff but would give it a miss next year. It was clear to our group reading the programme what the rules were and poole needed 6 points from heat 25 so out we went.

 

Illogical but them were the rules!

 

My gripe is that much of the meeting was irrelevant as it soon reduced to 4 pairs of runners mainly due to absentees weakening pairs.Plus for those supporters of teams in group B only 4 heats of interest with a gap of 10 between pooles last 2.

 

Prefer a different format along lines of

 

4 smaller groups 2 semis and a final

 

although on 2nd thoughts probably still give it a miss

[Addy]

Oh and well done BV - a good weekend to be a Mancy obviously. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Thanks Bunny

 

But

 

Yet again Sky Plus failed to record the pairs

even when I tried again to record the repeat today (Monday).

 

Please could some kind person supply me with a copy.

 

Many thanks.

[Bandits4eva]

Quite frankly I ain't read everyone else's posts as it is a wee bit late at the minute. Just a few things to say on this though.

 

Went along to it with my family as a neutral (Well.. actually HUGE bias for Crumpy... and it also saved me having to watch Stoke and Berwick).

Now for a major meeting that this was supposed to be the fact that they did not open the turnstiles till 15:55 was quite frankly appalling. The money that the stadium would have lost could have proven to be a large sum as I know through speaking to a few fans most were wanting food, drink, sweets etc.

 

Secondly, those toilets.... Absolutely stinking but enough said on them

 

Third, the sound system to me was of a poor quality. Almost every heat I found myself having to ask people for the race time as I did not hear it originally.

 

Now, I'll get onto the racing Some good heats there was, and some not so good. I think it was Hans Andersen and Protasiewicz that got things going. Wolves (well Corrie) was VERY dissapointing which is a shame as he'll now be remembered for his current rather then previous form. Coventry (well Scotty) didn't do what I thought he would. Arena, well they were well against it having to put Lanham in. Kylmokorpi put in a fighting show thogh, was good value

 

Swindon, won't say much on them as it was home track that helped them get to the final really, well in my eyes it was.

 

The teams I enjoyed seeing were Poole, Eastbourne and Belle Vue.

 

When it came to the decision for the final, as much as I like Crump and BV I feel that Poole were VERY hard done by. Fair enough rules were only being followed, but Poole had followed what the competition was all about. RIDING AS A PAIR. They never had one last place between them whereas BV had 2.

 

In the running on the final, Adams cost Swindon the title. He was out there for himself only and not once did I see him try to offer any support to Ulamek. Crump however, showed true class to slow the race down, let Steady through and cover him perfectly.

 

Anyways, what's done is done and the best bit of the afternoon was seeing BV lift that title and not Swindon

[Ace no.5]

I also have to refer belle vue fans to the competition they signed up to last year ... remember that one ... you know when you won the league

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's why dac posted that...!

[Richard Tyrrell]

On the administration front, I was a bit disturbed about one re-occurring situation involving the group of supporters identified as 'Ipswich on Tour'. One woman in the group, not a young person, insisted on throwing great handfuls of small pieces of cut up newspaper into the air every time the Ipswich pair was announced at the start of a race. They were standing on the back straight during the meeting so the riders had no chance of noticing this 'support' and it was not as if the Ipswich riders were doing well! The ground around the group looked like the area had been hit by a sudden snow storm. I was slightly amused when the lady, helped by her friend, then shook all the pieces of paper off their large Ipswich banner! What compounded the issue was when a woman, obviously employed by the Swindon authorities, came round to change the black plastic bin liners in the bin nearby during the meeting, obviously taking rubbish seriously, after I'd seen a child the other side of me put his white plastic chip container in it.

The woman and her friends obviously had no intention of clearing up this ungainly and self induced mess after them. I suggested to the bin liner lady that she bring back some brooms and a dust pan and brush, but she was of foreign origin and didn't understand.

Am I being a party pooper here? I don't think so! I would like to have gone to that lady's house and thrown paper all over her garden/lawn just to prove my point! And, of course, out on the street its an offence, isn't it?

Regards

 

 

Regards