Final Gp, From Germany

[iris123]

Try here

[shazzybird]

Thanks for that Iris but Dad works for CLAAS and wants a photo from last night so he can get it blown up for the office wall as a speedway fan he thinks it would look good for all to see.

[DutchGrasstrack]

Ok all you photographers out there I need a decent photo and I mean decent if possible please (weird request this one but what do you expect from me?)  The tractors they used on the track last night were CLAAS if possible has anyone taken a photo of one of them at some point grading the track?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I took some photo's of the tractors:

 

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/8586/a217zb5.jpg

 

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6089/a218gt6.jpg

 

For more photo's of the GP; visit: http://www.baansportfansite.nl/

[shazzybird]

You are an angel can I copy them please?

[DutchGrasstrack]

You are an angel can I copy them please?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah no problem .

 

Wallpaper versions:

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5071/gp218pk1.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9850/gp217db5.jpg

Edited October 14, 2007 by DutchGrasstrack

[Scott0311]

Just back from Germany and a quick word on the track.

 

Whilst enjoying a couple of beers and the Schalke04 U14's football game on one of the practice pitches next to the stadium (great set up they have there!) spoke with Tobi Kroner who said that the track had plenty of dirt on it in practice and should make for great racing. I said to my mate straight away that I guarantee when we get into the stadium it will be as slick as ....... and it was

 

If the GP is there again next year as reported I hope they iron out some of the "glitches" we encountered - had standing tickets and had to go in through NordCurve entrance. Why only open half of the turnstiles - an absolute free for all ensued. Checks were carried out on every single person causing even more delays. Please advertise the fact that no cash is accepted at the food and beverage outlets - need to buy a card with credit on it and hand it over when making a purchase (nice little money earner, if like me, no-one cashes in any remaining credit - only had 60cnts left but soon mounts up) and finally if selling tickets as standing please let people know it means they can choose their seat in the NordCurve area.

 

Loved Dusseldorf though and great to have free transportation.

[King Jamie]

home not so long ago. had a suave weekend... decent booze, excellent banter and, er, sh1te speedway

 

big well done to AJ. a nice wee earner for my dad and i

 

something i was wondering about... had AJ won his semi (or indeed gained an extra pt somewhere else), would they have had to run the Final before the 8th place runoff?

 

i bet that would've p1ssed old Ole off

[Rob B]

Got back about 8:00, overall had a good weekend, great flights with Air Berlin will definatly use them again. Stayed in a great hotel on the outskirts of Essen which was full of speedway people (mainly German and Poles) and had loads of bars and food places nearby. Drove to the stadium, dead easy to park, free too then just a 5 minute walk to the stadium.

 

Thats where the fun started, we got there at 5.30 and was a huge queue to get in, mainly as there were only 4 gates open and they were hand searching every single person, but I still sneaked a bottle of drink in!

 

Great stadium, we had great view, front row back straight right on top of the pits, I could of lent over and tapped Gollob on the head if I wanted to.

 

Right Said Fred were rubbish, music was so loud too, a lot louder then Cardiff. Decent size crowd, atmosphere was kind of strange though as air horns were banned. Virtually all the Poles were on the first & second bends, mainly German on the home straight and the back straight was mainly English with some others like Swedes and Danes.

 

The track was terrible, so hard and the racing was rubbish, people complained about the track cutting up at Cardiff but at least it provided entertainment. Best race of the night was the race off, with the final being a massive anti-climax. Jonsson was the rider who needed the money least, he can put that towards a second Ferrari now.

Edited October 14, 2007 by Rob B

[full-throttle]

not long back myself, it's a bloody long drive...made worse by constant congestion on the English roads....

 

was happy to find my 'standing' tickets were actually seats. stadium was tidy although i guess the individual searches upset a few, by turning up later the queues had all but dissappeared.

 

found the atmosphere a bit flat, maybe due to the small number in a large stadium. impressed with the presentation of the meeting, much better than cardiff IMO, the acoustics sounded better to.

 

the racing was ok, not brilliant but as expected for a man made track. the incident in the race off hapened almost right in front of me and i was amazed the referee never stopped the race.

 

congratulations to AJ on his win and also to Nicki Pedersen for his dominance of this years series..

[Guest Steve Dixon]

Just back from Germany and a quick word on the track.

 

Whilst enjoying a couple of beers and the Schalke04 U14's football game on one of the practice pitches next to the stadium (great set up they have there!) spoke with Tobi Kroner who said that the track had plenty of dirt on it in practice and should make for great racing. I said to my mate straight away that I guarantee when we get into the stadium it will be as slick as ....... and it was 

 

If the GP is there again next year as reported I hope they iron out some of the "glitches" we encountered - had standing tickets and had to go in through NordCurve entrance. Why only open half of the turnstiles - an absolute free for all ensued. Checks were carried out on every single person causing even more delays. Please advertise the fact that no cash is accepted at the food and beverage outlets - need to buy a card with credit on it and hand it over when making a purchase (nice little money earner, if like me, no-one cashes in any remaining credit - only had 60cnts left but soon mounts up) and finally if selling tickets as standing please let people know it means they can choose their seat in the NordCurve area.

 

Loved Dusseldorf though and great to have free transportation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The food voucher thing was a joke, had we had some news of it before hand we would have known what to do!

Personally i thought the the whole night was rubbish, maybe we are spoilt by Cardiff but Gelsenkirchen has absolutley nothing to offer for people arriving in good time for the meeting.

The stalls were non existant, one merchandise and one food, half the entrances closed no doubt to save money.

To cap it all the track was a disgrace, no passes until heat 12 think it was, improved slightly after but not by much.

Well done AJ, after watching you watching PK change the puncture on your car, was clear you were saving your energy.........

Had a good weekend in old Dusseldorf tho.

[ballinger]

Just got back, and I can only echo every one else's sentiments. Total and utter garbage. In fact it was worst than that !

 

What should have been a celebration of SGP reaching it's first century turned into the biggest load of rubbish ever mascurading as entertainment that I've ever witnessed.

 

I have never been so bored at a Speedway meeting in all my life, it was the first time ever I've taken my 2 year old son to the toilet in a break between the races and not rushed to get back for the next race. Just took our time and wandered back to our seats without rushing.

 

Also not happy at having been told that "Stehplatz" tickets at 30 Euros each were for first bend standing, which having 2 kids wasn't going to suit, so had to go for the only remaining Home Straight seats at 113 Euros each, only to get inside to find Stehplatz infact meant seats in which you are allowed to stand up in.

 

My wife & I are now agreed that £200 for flights, £100 for a hotel, £100 car rental, and a shocking £300 for tickets, just wasn't acceptable value for money and that £700 of entertainment spend can be better enjoyed elsewhere.

 

Weekend only salvaged by a great few hours spent with the kids at Movie Park Germany this afternoon. They had a great time, and our 2 year old went for free, not for 113 Euros !!

 

Sorry BSI but the truth is that that was expensive dross of the highest order.

Edited October 14, 2007 by ballinger

[rabbit]

Random question here...we've had an eye on the Stadium webcam as they built the circuit and the pre/during and post-GP activity but notice they seem to now be building some sort of mini-circuit after dismantling most of the track. Anyone any idea what's going in there? It's here and a bit intriguing.

Edited October 14, 2007 by rabbit

[Rob B]

My wife & I are now agreed that £200 for flights, £100 for a hotel, £100 car rental, and a shocking £300 for tickets, just wasn't acceptable value for money and that £700 of entertainment spend can be better enjoyed elsewhere.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ouch, sounds like you didn't have a good time, for us was one of the cheapest, flights £42 each, hotel £30 each (including free cocktail), Hire car £10 each, tickets £30 each.

 

Agree the racing was rubbish but would go again next year, just hope the track is better.

[ballinger]

Ouch, sounds like you didn't have a good time, for us was one of the cheapest, flights £42 each, hotel £30 each (including free cocktail), Hire car £10 each, tickets £30 each.

 

Agree the racing was rubbish but would go again next year, just hope the track is better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The joys of being a family man I guess, i.e. you pay for everyone !!! But as I said much better value and much more fun spent today on the tractor ride at Movie Park

[ballinger]

Random question here...we've had an eye on the Stadium webcam as they built the circuit and the pre/during and post-GP activity but notice they seem to now be building some sort of mini-circuit after dismantling most of the track. Anyone any idea what's going in there? It's here and a bit intriguing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I guess it'll be for the Stock Car event next Saturday. Probably have more dirt down for that

[pjplymouthdevil]

The track was bloody awful, if a rider moved off the white line they just went backwards..utter rubbish.

 

As for getting in.. there were thousands of people at one of the entrance's with just one man and a metal detector trying to search every single person. There were people sneaking in the through the sides with no tickets and there were 4 people at once in-line with the metal detector.....what a joke.

[Fantasy League]

The webcam is covered in rain at the moment ( a couple of hours before the start ) !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

couldn't have been rain as none fell from Friday until I left on Sunday. T Shirt weather all weekend

[Pollyanna]

Real rubbish track - no real overtaking possibilities (other than rider mistakes or, riders being thrown off line). These major spectacles are becoming an embarassment - what should be a golden opportunity to promote the sport is being wasted indeed, the processional nature of the event is actually counter productive. You have a bunch of talented riders/racers and what do they get to race on - may as well have been a railway line. Was Ole Olsen involved?

 

Anyway, there should be less GPs not more - rant over.

 

100,000 Congratulations to AJ

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

What is so galling is that every GPs the riders say the same thing, i.e. "The track was completely different in practise". Why? I haven't a clue about Speedway track preparation, but why is it so different one day to the next?

I realise they have to prepare the track again after practise, but why isn't it done the for the Friday and then again for the actual event in the same way? Do they remove some of the dirt after practise?

Every GP is the same for the first few heats...no passing, very slick track, etc. Sometimes there is passing later, but this isn't the only GP this year to have a disaster for a track. Hardly the way to impress newcomers to our sport! Anyone watching that would have said it was boring (which it was) and first out of the gate wins (which was almost the case, apart from the ruts which sent riders off line, picking up, etc. )

Very disappointing for what was billed as the showcase for Speedway!

[rabbit]

I guess it'll be for the Stock Car event next Saturday. Probably have more dirt down for that 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Aha...thanks Ballinger

[Hackett]

I was considering travelling to Germany but did not make it.

 

I have to say that having watched it on TV I am glad !! It was the most boring SGP I have watched ... I can honestly say I have seen more passing in a shopping queue !!!!!

 

I was glad, I could watch the rugby - then flick over for a minute's procession then flick over to Rugby again.

 

The slick tracks can only be prepared so that the sponsors hoardings and kevlars etc dont get coated in shale because as a spectacle the SGP is proving to be woeful.

 

From all the hype, I understood that this was to be a celebration of 100 SGP's with a $100,000 prize - Well let the riders race for it and determine who is the best rider on the night to take home the winners cheque. Not see who has got the best clutch control and ability to hit the first corner first.