JohnPhelan

Utter tripe.

You're half right. There'll always be 2 Brits to ensure the box office success off the British GP. Despite British League speedway's decline in importance, the British GP is still the biggest event in the World Championship calendar, and would not be so if no British riders were in the field.

I think it might be the "Danish Connection" that Leigh Adams referred to after the Cardiff GP this year.

Why not get rid of the meaningless Craven Shield, Young Shield, Super Seven series etc. and get some good, old-fashioned open meetings and test match series organised, making sure the younger, up-and-coming British riders are exposed to riding against the very best much more often?

Why shouldn't he declare his Vojens team ahead of the event? He was realistic enough to know that Team GB were highly likely to get to the race-off, mainly because the Danes were never going to lose. If you follow this "demotivation" argument, it could be concluded that Woffinden and Kennett will have their heads down at Vojens because they weren't selected for Brandon! Like I said, complete tosh. Nothing short of divine intervention could make this GB team win the World Cup in this format. None of them are good enough to consistently compete with and beat the other top riders on the world stage. Half the problem is that Chris Harris gave the Brits a very rare chance to cheer in Cardiff last year, and we expect him to consistently do the same. I'm a big Bomber fan, but he's not a consistently good enough rider to give the big names something to really worry about every time they meet him on track. It doesn't matter who is the Manager. When you have the huge gap in ability that exists between Team GB and the Aussies or the Danes, no Manager can make up for that with motivational talk. In this format, the Brits are always going to finish 4th or 5th in this competition. In a couple of years time, it may be very different.

All this talk about Allen & Stead being demotivated knowing they're not picked for Vojens on Thursday. What utter tosh. They're professional speedway riders and they should be pulling their fingers out when they are selected to give the manager a future selection headache. IF Stead or Allen had their heads down 'cos they're not selected for Vojens, they shouldn't be selected again. From what I saw, neither did. They just weren't fast enough.

No Lukas Dryml for the Czech's. Hopefully Sitera will be in, but that's my wishful thinking rather than anything official.

Three lessons need to be learned from last night's GP, but in reality, they won't be. 1- Wojaczek is incompetent and should be removed from the FIM list. He won't be. 2- The "Danish Influence" referred to by Leigh Adams is real, and just has to be neutered. Nicki Pedersen seems to be the main beneficiary of it, and his gloating conduct after Bjarne Pedersen was excluded confirms that he knows it! Olsen has all the power, and he won't give it up. 3- The track-builders haven't yet mastered providing a consistent racing surface on temporary tracks. No change there then!

Mature, committed, professional and blindingly fast. Outstanding performances all year. Congrats on a wholly deserved 2nd World title.

Can I just make it clear that I was stating facts as I know them, not expressing an opinion. There are plenty of riders competing in various FIM World Championship competitions that are there not on merit, but because they have the sponsorship that buys their place in their particular Championship. We might be outraged that such practice could compromise our World Championship, but it's a hard, commercial fact of life, and we might as well get used to it.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of including Nicholls, Zagar, Lindback, Holta or anyone else that could be viewed as being undeserving of a 2008 GP place, the final decision on who's in or out will be a commercial one. In all probability, the organising body will decide that, for example, 2 Brits are better box office for the whole series, not just the British GP, than one.

Fair comment.

Not a bad meeting from the quality of racing point of view, but I'll always believe Walasek's withdrawal was dodgy. Personally, I believe the Poles will only ever win this competition in this format in Poland. Home track advantage is huge for them, as is home support. Home support helped Bomber big-time in Cardiff, and the crowd lifted the Poles tonight in the same way. A Norwegian import didn't do 'em any harm either!

I don't blame the Danish riders for this diabolical spectacle. They had a track built for them, so they took their chance with both hands. This was a poor advert for the sport at International level, especially after the fantastic event that the British GP was. This meeting was finished as a spectacle by about heat 10. The track wasn't going to provide enough grip to provide any interesting racing, and it was blatantly obvious that the Finns were going to finish last. Neither the Australians nor the Poles are fazed about the race-off in Lezno, and with no benefit to a team finishing 2nd rather than 3rd in the first round, does the format of this competition need looking at? Can't agree with you SCB. If the leading rider is clamped on the white line, with rubber smoke pouring from his tyre 'cos he's riding on concrete, what choice does any following rider have but to try his heart out around the outside and hope he forces his opponent into an error, but admittedly exposing himself to being passed? Some of these riders are racers, and don't want to settle for 2nd or 3rd. On a circuit like this, it is much, much easier for a rider to control a race, and consequently close to impossible for anyone to make a pass inside other than off the start.

Only just heard about this. Not able to count Hans amongst my favourite riders, but just have to give him credit for an outstanding and innovative idea, and with bids standing at the moment in excess of £800, a big boost to Garry's appeal. Brilliant move Hans, and I will view you in a different light in the future.