Cardiff Grand Prix

[Young51]

Not anti Polish, not anti anyone... notice the wink.

Glad to hear that Shadders That crap has no place in any society

[comet49]

Just got back to my hotel on outskirts of Cardiff and I have to say what a fantastic GP. The track looked excellent, probably the best its ever been and that provided some good racing. So glad Holder won it, I was cheering him on once the Brits flopped.

 

I suppose Tai did okay with 6 and to be fair he rode a great last race. Bomber was piss poor really, 4 points from his first 2 rides and he still doesnt make it. Whats wrong with him, Cardiff is the pinnacle of the sport yet he seem not interested. His gating was awful and I feel Harris was a big let down. Scotty did okay, was quick in a few but as hes not a GP regular I didnt expect much.

 

Still enjoyed the day, the atmosphere and well done Noddy on his win.

I too enjoyed it, thought it was a lot better racing than 2 year ago, the only other time I've been. Regarding Scott, he's been a regular GP Rider up until this season but was dropped cos he never does much. Chris Holder's efforts show him up, and probably Harris as well, though he has won one. Pity Chris ain't British. It's not long since we were seeing him in the Prem League, don't know what was up with him when James Wright won the PLRC.

[samthepalaceman2]

I'm glad someone else has said that as I thought it was just my hearing going - I couldn't hardly understand a single word all night!

 

Fortunately it didn't spoil my enjoyment as it was easy enough to follow what was happening!

 

I agree with you completely, we were sitting on the backstraight opposite the start/finish line and I could barely make out anything they were saying.

 

It was a good meeting, real shame about the Brits but glad Holder and Hampel both got podium positions, this was my sixth time and the racing was probably the best I have seen it but I enjoyed 2007 much more

[Rob B]

We were on third bend top tier and couldn't understand a word being said, PA was terrible. To me it seemed like the speakers on the ceiling were not working, all the sound was coming from the speakers on the floor.

 

As others have said very poor entertainment beforehand but the racing was superb and that's when we go for really.

[BjarneRubble]

Top tier, start/finish line always sparse, cos ticket prices much higher than back-straight. Better for TV to concentrate lots of people along the back straight.

... and why don't they do the presentations facing the back straight, where the greatest concentration of fans are seated? Seems daft to me that Sky pick up on the back straight crowd to promote the stadium as being packed and yet no-one seated there can see the presentations going on.

 

Having always sat on the first/second bends, someone please tell me, are the 1st tier back straight crowd given Union Jacks to wave? There is always a mass of them there, unlike elsewhere in the stadium.

[T.N.T.]

Sat in great seats again M6 just above the pits entrance and thought it was a great night.

 

 

Not searching through all the posts and comments but can some answer me the following question

 

 

Q ~ Isnt FIM a meeting where All 4 Back isnt a choice ? .... If so how did Crumpy get a second chance when he fell without being touched ?

[IanM]

Went round to the riders paddock / van area prior to meeting hoping to get some autographs for mate's kids, but sadly only a handful of riders bothered to come up to the gate which I felt was a good PR exercise missed. On a positive note it was good to see Chris Harris's crew handing out free posters.

[psymon]

PA was rubbish (didn't hear a single race time all night), entertainment, couldn't hear it, crowd looked smaller than last year (my only previous time at Cardiff). Queue for park and ride after the meeting stupidly long (why not have more than one place to pick up, perhaps opposite sides of the road, then you can get twice the number of buses moving and halve the queue length!)

Other than that, the track looked good, Holder deserved his win, but the best rider on the night for me was Gollob.

I still remember the Wembley Finals. Compared to 84000, even 44000 is poor. I think the British GP should stay in Cardiff, but another one needs to be created for Wembley (an Anglo-Saxon GP?!) or maybe even after 2012 a GP in the London Olympic Stadium?

[SCB]

... and why don't they do the presentations facing the back straight, where the greatest concentration of fans are seated? Seems daft to me that Sky pick up on the back straight crowd to promote the stadium as being packed and yet no-one seated there can see the presentations going on.

Because when Sky are showing the presntation, they want big crowds in the background, not an empty top tier that they would see if they did it the other way around.

 

Frankly, I don't know why speedway ever bothers with intros, it's not like you can see the riders and once the meeting starts the rider have helmets on anyway.

[BjarneRubble]

Because when Sky are showing the presntation, they want big crowds in the background, not an empty top tier that they would see if they did it the other way around.

 

Good point SCB. Hadn't thought of that (obviously!).

[AFCB Wildcat]

i love the poles enthusiam but it gets annoying after the drink starts flowing.every year i sit in the top teir and wait till just before the first race then move to a few rows with no one in and enjoy the racing.note to people being annoyed by drunken yobs--just move theres plenty of spare seats

Unfortunately there isn't always somewhere else to move. I'm not anti Polish, indeed I think their enthusiasm enhances the event and I accept the fact that they like a party. Again this year I was surrounded by groups that were back and to with beer, spilling it everywhere and I can live with that. Most were polite and courteouse when returning to their seats but some were pure arrogance who stood up for the entire race and waved flags obscuring others views while the polish riders were riding and just pushed people out of the way to get pack to their seats after getting their beer. I took exception to this a few years ago and ended up in a confrontational situation that upset my wife and children so this year I just bit my lip but it annoys me that stewards just stand by and let it happen.

Please don't accuse me of spouting 'anti polish crap' because i'm not anti Polish but the fact is my Cardiff grand prix experiences have been marred by drunken yobs which is totally unacceptable especially in the 'family ticket' areas. Am I the only one to experience this?

[Young51]

Unfortunately there isn't always somewhere else to move. I'm not anti Polish, indeed I think their enthusiasm enhances the event and I accept the fact that they like a party. Again this year I was surrounded by groups that were back and to with beer, spilling it everywhere and I can live with that. Most were polite and courteouse when returning to their seats but some were pure arrogance who stood up for the entire race and waved flags obscuring others views while the polish riders were riding and just pushed people out of the way to get pack to their seats after getting their beer. I took exception to this a few years ago and ended up in a confrontational situation that upset my wife and children so this year I just bit my lip but it annoys me that stewards just stand by and let it happen.

Please don't accuse me of spouting 'anti polish crap' because i'm not anti Polish but the fact is my Cardiff grand prix experiences have been marred by drunken yobs which is totally unacceptable especially in the 'family ticket' areas. Am I the only one to experience this?

Unfortunately there are drunken erseholes everywhere whether they be Polish,Scottish,English or wherever they come from.You can 'party on' but still have consideration for others and not spoil it for everyone.Sounds as if the stewarding for the event could be a bit better by the sound of it

Edited July 12, 2010 by Young51

[Mike9]

Hi,

 

Does anyone have Chris Holder's race winning time from the final (Heat 23) at Cardiff yesterday?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

Note - rules say NO BUMPING. If people dont reply its probably because they dont know

[essaitch]

Bump. Anyone?

No, never heard it. Not sure it was announced??

[bruno]

Unfortunately there isn't always somewhere else to move. I'm not anti Polish, indeed I think their enthusiasm enhances the event and I accept the fact that they like a party. Again this year I was surrounded by groups that were back and to with beer, spilling it everywhere and I can live with that. Most were polite and courteouse when returning to their seats but some were pure arrogance who stood up for the entire race and waved flags obscuring others views while the polish riders were riding and just pushed people out of the way to get pack to their seats after getting their beer. I took exception to this a few years ago and ended up in a confrontational situation that upset my wife and children so this year I just bit my lip but it annoys me that stewards just stand by and let it happen.

Please don't accuse me of spouting 'anti polish crap' because i'm not anti Polish but the fact is my Cardiff grand prix experiences have been marred by drunken yobs which is totally unacceptable especially in the 'family ticket' areas. Am I the only one to experience this?

must admit if you paid for the family section you expect better .i sit top tier where you can move easily but i suppose that would cost more if your taking the family.not a good experience tho .the stewards should be doing a better job. i imagine they would be thrown out at a football match

[SimonB]

must admit if you paid for the family section you expect better .i sit top tier where you can move easily but i suppose that would cost more if your taking the family.not a good experience tho .the stewards should be doing a better job. i imagine they would be thrown out at a football match

If it was just a bit of pushing through and rudeness I doubt very much that they would be thrown out of a football game. Flags that you can wave and beer would in most cases not make it through the turnstiles.

 

There should be a family area which only sells tickets to families with children which would hopefully separate out people that want to havea real party (drinking, waving flags ect) and those that want to enjoy the speedway in a little bit of peace and actually see all of the racing. Personally I like to party and dont mind my view being occassionally obscured by flag wavers, all part of the atmosphere that I enjoy.

[philfromcov]

dont people complain about everything these days,

half the forum complaining that not enough there the other half complaining that too many people causing problems, you just cant win.

 

you have to except some bad beahviour in a 44 000 crowd

 

if you had 44 000 police in a crowd half would be drunk and the other half would be stoned fighting each other!

 

the reality is that a few people standing up (god forbid) and how dare they WAVE FLAGS shocking!

 

a punch up on a Saturday night.... only 1 in 44 000 i call that good.

 

take a walk down your local town center sometime you might realise how well the crowd is controlled!

Edited July 12, 2010 by philfromcov

[Chesilmaster]

Holders winning time 57.2.

 

He also broke the track record in heat 1. 55.1

 

0.7 sec quicker than Jason Crump

[Genty]

Anyone know where i can pick up a DVD and another programme from Saturday? Mine got covered in someone elses beer! Cheers

[AFCB Wildcat]

dont people complain about everything these days,

half the forum complaining that not enough there the other half complaining that too many people causing problems, you just cant win.

 

you have to except some bad beahviour in a 44 000 crowd

 

if you had 44 000 police in a crowd half would be drunk and the other half would be stoned fighting each other!

 

the reality is that a few people standing up (god forbid) and how dare they WAVE FLAGS shocking!

 

a punch up on a Saturday night.... only 1 in 44 000 i call that good.

 

take a walk down your local town center sometime you might realise how well the crowd is controlled!

Sorry but I disagree! I do not complain about people waving flags or drinking beer and enjoying themselves. They don’t come any more laid back than me! I am talking about aggressive intimidating behaviour by thugs.

I made it quite clear that I enjoyed the party atmosphere the Poles bring and don’t even mind beer being spilled on me or flag waving. In 2007 we had flags deliberately draped over our faces during the racing. Big ones, not the ones on sticks!

They were congregating in the aisles obscuring our view completely and when I asked them to move I received threats and abuse for the rest of the night. That would be ok with you would it?

A post on another thread by someone who’s brother was allegedly punched in the face by a Polish fan says the fight started after the Polish fans refused to return to their seats from the aisles and while I don’t know that to be true it’s certainly consistent with my experience.

This year the couple next to me had there view blocked by people who wouldn’t sit down and were just shown contempt when they politely asked for them to sit down which they refused to do and I was just shoved out of the way with complete contempt by someone returning to their seat after I had stood up to let them through, not just a bit of general pushing and I witnessed lots more anti social behaviour in our section alone.

I was disgusted to see fighting in the stands at a Speedway meeting it was something I hoped I would never see and if it’s not nipped in the bud it will end up like football with police presence and alcohol bans. Is that what you want? As you obviously think a bit of a punch up on a Saturday night is acceptable at a family event.