jellyman

I've got a spare pair of tickets for the Speedway World Cup playoffs and final at the new National Speedway Stadium in Manchester on 29th and 30th July. They are in Block E in the main grandstand and their combined value is £150. However, I'm not looking to sell them. I willing to give them to the person who offers to make the highest donation to the Speedway Riders Benevolent fund before Wednesday 27th July.

As far as I'm concerned that's a minor detail. The main thing is that it will be possible to watch the GP and World cup. Even if they don't show the events live it seems at least we'll be able to see highlights. I'm still crossing my fingers for live coverage too though obviously.

Eurosports TV guide already states it will be showing highlights of all GP and World Cup rounds on Eurosport 2 so it's not a stretch that they may also add live coverage. http://2013tvguide.eurosport.com/index.html#/28 They are also showing all four rounds of the Speedway European Championship.

Are there currently any British riders who deserve a wild card on merit alone? If not, should a rider be included simply because he is British as Great Britain is considered to be one of the major speedway nations even if current form doesn't necessarily back that up? Obviously I'm assuming that Bomber doesn't make the top 8.

I'd agree with that. The thing I'd actually like to see though is a knockout competition with only two teams in each meeting run along a similar format to league meetings.

Because once a better rider gets his nose in front an inferior rider will struggle to pass them no matter how good the track is.

St James Park would be a great venue for a Grand Prix. As long as it didn't rain and you could manage not to get your head kicked in for looking at some Geordies Bird in the Big Market.

Look on the bright side and be thankful of it just being a puddle of beer. Maybe I've been to too many football matches.

That's true. I suppose you could try and eliminate the idiot factor completely by introducing measures such as blanket alcohol bans. However, this would have far more of an impact on the majority of drinkers who just enjoy having a couple of pints whilst watching the event. It's all about finding a balance really.

I still believe that it is. The vast majority of people who attend meetings know how to behave themselves. If you happen to come across someone who doesn't I'd say you've just been unlucky. I certainly wouldn't say it would be representitive of the majority of peoples experiences of the event.

So as not to waste your time in the future I should point out that I don't respond to people who have to resort to personal abuse rather than rational argument. Troll someone else. I'm not biting.

I think there needs to be a little perspective here. Whenever you get 40,000 people in one place it's highly likely that a very small number of them will be morons. If you're the kind of person who can't accept that you're probably better off not attending.

That's typical of my experiences as well. The Poles are always fantastically welcoming and great fun to be with at a meeting. I can only assume that anyone who has anything negative to say about them has never actually been to Poland and experienced their hospitality. Of course there are exceptions to every rule and I'm sure there is the odd Polish knobhead out there. But, on the whole the Poles are usually a credit to both their nation and the sport of speedway.

I don't think you can read too much into that. The first time I went to a Polish match I was stunned to see lines of riot police outside separating the opposing fans. I was also surpised to see that all the away supporters were segregated into their own pens and surrounded by police. It's not what we're used to at speedway matches over here. Speedway in Poland is controlled by the authorities in very much the way that football matches are controlled over here.

I think people tend to view Cardiff through rose tinted spectacles as it's by far the biggest Speedway event we have. If the event had been at another large stadium in another city for the past ten years and the idea was suggested of moving it to Cardiff I imagine many would say it couldn't possibly be as good. People just get comfortable with what they are used to and don't like the risk of change. I actually believe that there are a number of venues in a number of cities that could have temporary tracks fitted and provide just as good a product as Cardiff has. That isn't reason to move away from Cardiff at the moment. But, if for any reason the Millenium Stadium is no longer availabe I don't see it as being the end of the world.