DarrenCook

Eat up, boys!

Ah, the whinging ex-Pom convict! Any more excuses? Rory likes to stick his fingers up to the crowd so when he falls off it's hardly surprising people cheer.

Why? That's part of the fun! It's one thing in the heat of a meeting to cheer any advantage you get & another altogether to genuinely wish injury on a rider. Something most of the evangelists on the forum fail to appreciate.

They're behind you!

Did any of the PL guys stay on for four laps & finish within 2 minutes?

Well, I think he said yesterday at Cardiff that it will be announced tomorrow & almost said it will be: Rico Harris Bridger Kennett Woffinden No place for Scott.

Agreed, Tai was off the pace & with stronger opposition is unlikely to repeat five thirds for 5 points on Thurs - Scott will have two or three rubbish rides but is more likely to win a couple & should have the bit between his teeth. Our main aim must be not to come last - in any race or the meeting - & seconds & thirds could see us total 40+ & be in with a chance. The scores might be as close as 45, 42, 38,34.

Agreed, Kennett & Woffy too slow; bring in Scott & Rico.

The "Team" bit is fine - but whoever heard of a decent Scot, Welsh or Irish rider? Talking of "changes", Rob Lyon needs to make 5.

It is obvious that reserves should be allowed for such an important event - just as a no.8 should be compulsory for any R/R league team - with up to 5 rides whether to cover injury or purely tactical.

Lyon knows, as do we all, that we will finish third at Boro whether we have Rico & Scott or not so it's perfectly consistent to bring in others for Leszno for those that don't perform. Anyway, I'm Russian so what do I care!

Surprised to see a Poole fan criticise unacceptable performances.

"And the British winner is Jonsson" "He's Russian by nature and Russian by birth certificate"

Quite right, SCB is overreacting. Nicky just came out wide on bend 4, took Antonio's line & leg & forced him to shut off. Standard Nicky & that's why the aggressive little g*t is World Champ & nice Leigh Adams never will be. Leigh would have kept it tight or shut off & made a fair race of it.

Slow gating, slow bike, goofy smile & no effort - actually it could have been Travis. Apologies to Travis who's gonna be mean this year. Contrast Jurica with James Wright & Klindt who didn't gate but tried hard for points.

Lindback was excellent - even better than Kasprzak for Poole against the Robins last season! Leigh was worth the win after gating last in the final and cutting through Lindback and Nicky on bend 2. Lindback contested second until characteristically baulked by Nicky who uncharacteristically rode too wide on bend 2 a lap later & , to a great cheer, was passed by KK. A reasonable final race ended a dull meeting with Pavlic not bothering & Fisher wishing he hadn't (rubbish bike). Stead was locking up in only two of his 6 rides & hopefully will be a whole lot smoother this season.

The Sajfutdinov visa issue is a fiasco - why didn't the Promotion get on the case in December & call their MP in Jan? From the Swindon website: "Emil’s situation is a little different, in that he also was expected to surrender his passport for up to 3 weeks while his visa application was considered. However, more importantly he has been advised that he would be required to do this every time he wished to visit the U.K. Given his ongoing riding commitments he was unable to do this and in order to prevent a repeat of this problem we are led to believe that he has now applied for citizenship in Poland." How has any visa rider ever managed to ride in the Cardiff GP if he has to give up his passport for three weeks?

But no mention of Sunday's line-up!!! Given that it was to be the best line-up in the country this year it deserved better coverage & just might have attracted new fans to see Pedersen & Sajfutdinov etc. The 8 page pull-out for the new season should have been a separate thing next week. Disappointing.

I'm amazed at the lack of publicity in the Swindon Evening Advertiser for this event - there should have been full page spreads for the last two Saturdays & a four day countdown with pen pictures & interviews - what's up with Swindon's "Promotion"?

Bit disappointing to get only a filler like Holder - was hoping for a real GP star like Gollob, Crump or Andersen or a real crowd pleaser like Gafurov.

Sure, Oxford through & through! Looking forward to "Aussie Bee" on Saturday & "Danish Bee" the day after.

How about my much-maligned pre-season prediction of Wolves to finish bottom? Regarding Nicki, he had to win the Leigh Adams' heat, so a bit of "first-bend bunching" & a soft fall was essential if he didn't make the start. Leigh Adams has said before thast Nicki "looks for other riders rather than riding his own race"; he's a cheat.

Nonsense. Nicki knows exactly where to put himself to take a soft fall. He's done it several times in GP's. Tonight: mid-track first bend, turn front wheel in, take a touch, slide off, wave arms in the air towards ref.................grin like Cheshire cat on way back to pits. Disgraceful.

The role of a forum is to give voice to all opinions & you shouldn't seek to censor that. I respect Poole for organising the event but I'm interested in the reasoning behind it, especially the finances. Poole could make £100k from one meeting! If 7,000 people are willing to fork out £30 each, & if, as Steve Shovlar has already said, the sport could do with a hike in the attendance fee, could a 6 or 8 team super league with big prize-money be viable? And yet this meeting is anathema to the promoters' current cost-cutting 38.85 theory!

I might take advantage of the half-price tickets the week before.