The Cardiff Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[iris123]

I still wonder why we English have to put up with the Dirge of the National Anthem instead of the arousing Land of Hope and Glory, the P.C. brigade again no doubt,

I somehow doubt it.Surely the P.C. brigade as you put it are not really into the Royal Family in a big way And as the event didn't even take place in England.........

[D.I.G.]

I somehow doubt it.Surely the P.C. brigade as you put it are not really into the Royal Family in a big way And as the event didn't even take place in England.........

I am fully aware the event wasn,t in England , and was refering to the fact that our International teams are always have God save the queen , Scotland and Wales have there own , why not us.

[iris123]

I am fully aware the event wasn,t in England , and was refering to the fact that our International teams are always have God save the queen , Scotland and Wales have there own , why not us.

You can lead a horse to water.............

 

British GP...British team.....British Anthem

 

 

[T.N.T.]

Have to say the choice of music was great

 

When Nicki was having his accidents, the music was "Bad Boys, Bad Boys .. What you gonna do" then "He's a Scumbag" and then in the semi-final as he gotto his feet ...."I'm a Winker (misprint) ... Nice

 

Jason Crump won a race ..."We're off to see the Wizard .... The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

 

As for the crowd, I would say it was up on last year. The home straight had plenty of seats on the upper level free, but otherwise the stadium was pretty full, so I would estimate close to 45-50,000 there.

 

 

 

PS; Finally met the legends that are Shazzybird and Seb the Snail

[Vince]

The track was terrible, surely they should have learned how to keep a temporary track together for twenty races by now. That one didn't last the first four before rutting up and was the worst I have seen at Cardiff. It might make for a more entertaining meeting, especially for first time spectators but these are the worlds best riders being made to look like novices by the track. The likes of Hancock and Crump might well have dealt with the conditions but their comments afterwards clearly showed that they were seriously unhappy with that track. Just very lucky that there were no serious injuries, this is the sports showpiece and should be far better.

The ref was even worse than the track, a complete joke. He has even knocked Ms Vardy from the top of my list of worst referee's, suspect Leigh Adams won't be sending him a Christmas card either. Don't see why Nicki is blamed for the ref's stupidity, no rider leaps back up after a first corner incident as they are expecting an all four back if it is stopped. He just happened to be the benefactor of a completely useless official, it's not his fault. Surely they will not allow him to take charge of two more GP's this year. Good to hear the Sky commentators actually saying how bad he was rather than sitting on the fence as well.

The racing ended up not being too bad, mainly as a result of the bad track and mistakes though rather than the quality of rider which is not as it should be imo. Good to see the British lads back in the mix at least.

[iris123]

Good post Vince,but did you see the meeting from Belle Vue last monday?A permanent track and the riders(although not in the class of a GP line-up)also looked like complete novices on that surface.So it isn't only temp tracks

[Shortcrust]

Yeah we gave him 6/10 for artistic impression for that.

 

Fair play, but not as good as the 10/10 that Nicholls deserved for making himself look a complete ar$e in the final.

 

[Vince]

Good post Vince,but did you see the meeting from Belle Vue last monday?A permanent track and the riders(although not in the class of a GP line-up)also looked like complete novices on that surface.So it isn't only temp tracks

 

I understand what you are saying and there will always be bad tracks at times but this isn't just the odd one. Last night was just the latest in a long line of temporary tracks that have very rarely been even acceptable imo. It really can't be that hard but obviously they need to have another look at how it's laid from the ground up. Maybe get somebody in from the Supercross track building company to bring a fresh eye to the way it is done. Possibly shale isn't the best material for a track when it hasn't time to bed in and an alternative needs to be found but certainly something could be done to improve things. I think the sport needs the temp tracks in the GP's to allow the use of the big stadiums but some serious time needs to go into making the tracks right.

[AndyK86]

no idea how i am going to get to watch this meeting as i dont have Sky but will see it somehow even if i have to buy it, Great stuff though that the mighty Jason Crump won and i kind of expected it with his recent form for Belle Vue including monday night.

 

 

[iris123]

I understand what you are saying and there will always be bad tracks at times but this isn't just the odd one. Last night was just the latest in a long line of temporary tracks that have very rarely been even acceptable imo. It really can't be that hard but obviously they need to have another look at how it's laid from the ground up. Maybe get somebody in from the Supercross track building company to bring a fresh eye to the way it is done. Possibly shale isn't the best material for a track when it hasn't time to bed in and an alternative needs to be found but certainly something could be done to improve things. I think the sport needs the temp tracks in the GP's to allow the use of the big stadiums but some serious time needs to go into making the tracks right.

I agree with you totally.These tracks are a real cause for concern.And i do think they are looking into changing the practice session,which on a number of occasions seems to have destroyed a good surface.Last year Olsen even went to all the trouble of shipping up the same material that was such a success in Parken to Gelsenkirchen.But it didn't work there.At least it was good in practice,but on the big day was crap.But like you say,i do think stadiums like Parken,Gelsenkirchen and Cardiff are where the GPs should be(providing there is a solution to the track surface)

[Alcoholic Mathematician]

I understand what you are saying and there will always be bad tracks at times but this isn't just the odd one. Last night was just the latest in a long line of temporary tracks that have very rarely been even acceptable imo. It really can't be that hard but obviously they need to have another look at how it's laid from the ground up. Maybe get somebody in from the Supercross track building company to bring a fresh eye to the way it is done. Possibly shale isn't the best material for a track when it hasn't time to bed in and an alternative needs to be found but certainly something could be done to improve things. I think the sport needs the temp tracks in the GP's to allow the use of the big stadiums but some serious time needs to go into making the tracks right.

I'm not sure the supercross way would work for speedway. It's part of the sport that supercross tracks rut up on the corners, and the tight corners aren't comparable to speedway's sweeping bends. I do agree though that there needs to be much deeper thought and experimentation into the preparation of the one-off speedway tracks (do they actually use "shale" anyway?). A rider will be very seriously injured if they allow the current poor standard to continue. But then again, do they (or we, for that matter) want nice sterile racing on easy-to-ride tracks, or incident after incident on tricky surfaces?

 

[Vince]

I am not suggesting that the tracks could be laid in the same way as Supercross but that the track builders have 30+ years of experimenting with laying a variety of surfaces (they use whatever soil is available locally) onto a bare surface. They also have areas that rut up and areas such as sweeping corners, faces of jumps and straights where it shouldn't - and the bikes are far harder on a track than Speedway is. To my way of thinking it would be well worth seeking their opinion along with anybody else who has relevent experience. Clearly the guys who are experienced on full time tracks cannot do the job on temporary tracks so something has to change.

In fact I would put money on Ian Barclay being able to do a far better job of a track than anything that has been seen at Cardiff so far. He does have experience of Speedway tracks but he also spent years running a plant hire company so has huge experience of a wide variety of surfaces. As things can hardly get worse they have to look at new people and new ideas.

I can see that bad tracks give unpredictable results which can make for entertaining meetings but I believe that a good, grippy, surface that the GP guys are capable of riding would give the same excitement with the worlds best riders racing rather than surviving.

[arryprovic]

good racing, crap ref again,crap track,after last nights mess i doubt that speedway will gain any credibility,the ref should never again be allowed to take control of any matches I wonder who else is paying his wages. as for the track what a disgrace mr olsen should also be replaced, after all the years of practise, building tracks he still cant get it right ,still its not him going out and getting hurt.Easy way out of the reffing problem is to have two refs at each of any top meetings,also fit the bikes with indicators & mirrors you know what they say mirror, indicate, manouvre,make it safer for everyone,joking apart,I and many other fans agree that the people in control want to get a grip on things before speedway becomes a laughing stock. Also lets have some decent commentators instead of those two who cant make up their minds from one minute to the next.

[Dietbowers]

I must admit that I thought it was a good nights entertainment even though I could`nt be there.

The track was nowhere near as bad as it has been in the past,or even a few weeks ago in Gothenberg.

Anyway,I`ve still got a headache after watching the British Grand Prix,so thats no change at all.

[saranam]

great night in the stadium

ridiculous decisions

someone mention SOME booing during an interview, for all you tele watchers out there last night anytime np showed his face or his name was mentioned including his podium the whole stadium erupted in boos

i am sorry to say this but np has turned in to a right little drama queen, it isnt only his back wheel that gets spin on it.

when he fell in the final he knew it was his fault and he would be ex, so in order to take as much limelight as he could he made a great show of getting off the track quickly, he then proceeded to fall to the ground as if injured and here comes the good bit, no medeic went to his aid, after about 30 secs 2 camera men raced to him and took close up shots, the medics around 30 of them then began to walk back to thner pits and stood ten mtrs from him still preone on the ground and still never gave him time of day, after a while he eventually sat up knowing no one was going to play his game dusted himself off and walked casually to his podium spot, this whole episode is bad for speedway something must be done

pl pairs the night before would have put this meeting to shame except of course for what seems to be holding speedway up more than ever 'REFEREES'

[Trees]

hahahahhahahahahaha what a laughing stock the GP series is today

 

I feel sorry for the riders who have to go through what they do but they'll ride anything for these people so what can you say in their defence!!

Edited June 29, 2008 by Trees

[Fudge]

I thought it was disgraceful the booing of Nikki Pederesn especially on the rostrum

He did no wrong........As for the "staying down" tactic in the 1st turn incidents , contact was clearly made on both occassions anf this sort of thing would and has been done by the vast majority of riders at some stage in their careers especially in Grand Prix's.

Question... had it been a british rider involved on both occassions would they have been excluded.....

Answer = No...

The racing was exciting to watch but the track left a lot to be desired, as has been posted already does a rider have to get seriously injured as a result of these sort of "tracks".... I really hope not

 

[Trees]

He did no wrong

No, the ref did wrong but the rules are also wrong in that riders can go across the rest of the field like they can from gate 4, things like this are bound to happen, bring back the old rule where riders are not allowed to turn until a certain point after the start, can't remember now whether it was 10 or 15 yards.

[slav]

poor performance by all Poles especially the Ref.

 

photos form yesterday's SGP here:

 

SGP CARDIFF

[Dietbowers]

No, the ref did wrong but the rules are also wrong in that riders can go across the rest of the field like they can from gate 4, things like this are bound to happen, bring back the old rule where riders are not allowed to turn until a certain point after the start, can't remember now whether it was 10 or 15 yards.

I think it was 30yards Trees.