Steve Shovlar

Disagree. I think the Aussies and Denmark will get through. Swedes are almost in as poor a position as Team GB with riders not coming though.

I missed out Peterborrough because there would have been little point in turning up tonight as the Aussies would definately have romped it. ( at Poole as well) We got away with it tonight because neither Crump or Adams were riding. If both had been riding in place of Ward and Schlein, they would have romped home by a dozen or more points. Stick the meeting on a small tight track and give the foreigners something to think about. But regardless of that, we got away with it and that's all that matters at this moment.

I would certainly rate Kings Lynn's track a lot higher than Brandons. A shame the management there don't have any on track ambitions to match the stadium, which they have improved no end.

Absolutely spot on. And by the way Kings Lynn looks a hell of a lot better than it was when I last went. A mud bath with a shed in the middle of the centre green and Bryn smoking fags like they were going to be banned at any minute! Shame they don't have an EL speedway team to match the stadium.

Eh? Not used to seeing this standard? I go to Poole every week and to be honest the racing ais as good if not better than this. Every Wednesday at Wimborne Road. You should come up and try it out. Certainly the racing is better by a distance than the first half of tonights meeting, where is was pretty poor to be honest. There was some good racing in the second half of tonights meeting but nothing to go manic about. Come and watch Harris and Holders clashes for example at Poole.

And I am glad I was wrong with GB pipping the Aussies. But it doesn't take it away from the fact that IMO we should have used an EL track like Monmore, Coventry or Poole.

Still stick to what I said when starting this thread. We were very lucky to make it through and if it had been held at Monmore we would have had an easier ride. Pleased we made the final Good effort this time from Team GB. But what would have been said if we had lost by point? I wasn't very far off with my thoughts.

Ended up a reasonably good meeting in the end after a snoozefest first half. The track wasn't great to be honest but when you get the better riders they will try different lines. Thought heat 22 was the pick of the bunch with Lindgren coming from last to first and Ward battling at the back with Woffinden. Happy we made the final. Made hard work of it around there and really the Aussies must be kicking themselves in a golden chance missed. If it had been somewhere like Monmore it would have been a hell of a lot easier for Team GB. Thought the crowd was good but not perhaps as big as it should have been. Perhaps the fact that it was at Kings Lynn and on a Monday stopped many from travelling. So we make the final which is great news. If it had been the race off it would have been game over for another year.

TeamGB will get my full support, even against the three Poole Aussies. And I agree that the team picked is the right team, unlike last year. I just believe that an event like this should have been held on an EL track where the TeamGB riders ply their trade, not a PL track that offers no advantage to the British team, but a healthy one to the Aussies.

And Eastbourne has?

I used Poole as a third choice. Monmore would be fine. An EL club in the centre of the country where British riders should do well. Not some PL track, regardless of how tidy it now is. Hopefully the manager will do the right thing and fall on his sward in a couple of weeks time if TeamGB fail to make the final. It's on his neck in his own back yard. No excuses. Kings Lynn or any PL club shouldn't get a sniff of holding a prestigeous international meeting in the UK. EL only and rightly so. The riders race in the EL, not PL. IF PL fans want to watch top riders, go to an EL track!

Nothing to do with being an EL snob. It has everything to do with getting TeamGB through to the final and holding this meeting at Kings Lynn will be the reason why Australia will go through and Team GB will croak out at the semi final stage. Hold it at Monmore and the Brits would do fine. Harris, Nicholls, Tai all ride it well and Richardson and Stead are no sloutches around there either. Still, when have the BSPA thought along those lines?

Looks like Davey watt will be riding at Cardiff after Pepe stepped down. Pirates fans have Noddy, Watty and Zorro to cheer on this time around!

I heard Ben Barker bundled into the back of a police van on Saturday night after the GP for being involved in a punch up? He couldn't have stayed long at that VIP do!

Excellent report in the Telegraph who report 44,150 attendees. They also said this: The Cardiff 2010 experience What we liked 1: Record crowd and sizzling atmosphere. You just don't get dull British Grands Prix. 2: Jason Crump's swift congratulations to winner Chris Holder only minutes after their very public on-track contretemps. That's class. 3: Slick presentation. All over in 2hr 40min as organisers tightened up on a show that has gone well over three hours in recent years. 4: Tai Woffinden's brilliantly executed cutbacks against the Danes. There have been some rumblings over whether he's ready for the highest level. You have the answer. And what we didn't 1: Nicki Pedersen escaping exclusion for a brutal move on Davey Watt - then taking exception when Hans Andersen dished out some rough treatment in the rerun. 2: British debutant Tai Woffinden being almost completely ignored when the rider presentations got out of sequence on parade. 3: Despite all the flag-waving, no Brits in the last eight. Again. 4: Lots of nice pictures but rather thin reading for an £8 match programme.

Although not there in person I always take an interest in the attendance. The main straight top tier is always empty. There were about three rows with peple in and that's the norm. But the upper tier was much busier than in previous years. Right around from the second bend along the back straight and into the third forth bend there were people. I have a photo of a couple of years ago and on the third/forth bend there was hardly anyone. Last night it was busy. Seems to me that people are more spread out leaving spaces elsewhere, like behind the starting gate bottom tier. On TV last night the crowd looked up on previous years due to people right up to the rafters on the back straight and bends. And also, and this should be taken into account, it does no favours for BSI to publish bigger crowds than they are getting. The VAT and tax man will want money compariable to the size of the crowd. BSI would have a lot of difficult explaining to do when they publish official figures of 44,150.

One might be run with hundreds of millions, the other on two packets of crisps and a Bacon roll, but comparing both sporting events that took place this weekend, there is only one winner. The Speedway GP was a far superior sporting event. Loads of action right to the final bend. The F1 GP was boring all the way with absolutely nothing happening of any interest whatsoever. If this had been a boxing match the ref would have called a halt after round one. Yet tomorrows press will have page after page of reports on the F1 GP, with speedway coverage being probably a square inch in one of the columns up the side of the page. Speedway has no press and very little chance of gettng much further. The BBC will not even mention it and will cover a golf tournament in Abu Dabai rather than mention over 40,000 fans were pcked into Cardiff for the second biggest sporting event in the UK this weekend. Why 110,000 paid upwards of £200 a ticket to watch some cars whizz past at 200mpg and then have to go home or look on the internet to see who has won beggars belief. But media coverage generates interest and the F1 GP has lot of it. Giving freebies to reporters will always help. Envious of the F1 coverage? I sure am. But the Britsh Speedway GP is slowly getting there. The crowd was the biggest yet, the Fanzone very good addition. Not sure the media could completely ignore it if it got to the stage whee it sold out weeks in advance. Long way to go for that to happen and we would need a British challanger. And there isn't one even on the horizon. Still, we all know that the Speedway GP was the far superior product this weekend and doubt there is a single F1 fan who would disagree.

I watched both on TV. Thought last nights GP was the best so far this year, and that was before the final. Had no idea what the result was as I was out until 10 pm and recorded it on Sky+. Gutted I wasn't there this year. This afternoon I settled down to watch the F1 GP and was bored about 10 minutes after the race started. I waited for something to happen. And waited and waited. Dire race IMO. I have never said speedway could compete with F1. It can't and never will. If speedway had 1% of the money generated by F1 the future woould be very rosey indeed. But for sheer excitement, tension and thrills, speedway won easily out of the two events this weekend. Of course next year it could be completely different and it could be follow the leader at cardiff while the British F1 GP is a thriller.

I am and it's dire.

There is racing on the two days previous to the F1 event. There are other formulas which are not covered on TV which race the same weekend as F1. I was never comparing F1 crowds with Speedway. We could never compete in a million years. But for sheer excitement for the two events, the speedway last night won hands down. Or do you think this afternoons F1 GP was better?

There's no flaw in the thread. With both GPs now having taken place for thrills and action the Speedway GP won by the proverbial mile. The British F1 GP today was dire entertainment. And that's from someone who watches F1.

Your post <removed>. Mod Note: Quit the personal abuse please, you obviously know it is against the rules when you were quick enough to report the previous post

Seriously, the shopping Channel would have been more interesting. Webber stuck to the inside at the start and Vettel went on the grass because he couldn't pass. From then on Webber was never troubled. Hamilton stayed in second and that was that. There was a few over takes at the back and in midfield where faster cars went past slower ones. Hard;ly set the pulses racing, did it. Utterly dull from the start to the finish, unless seeing a guy in a very fast car who spend millions a year passing a car run on a small budget rocks your boat. F1 does have some good GPs. But todays was dire. And no match to last nights speedway GP.

Whilst there's an obvious attraction to F1, ( people drive cars and like to think of themselves as some superstar hamilton) in truth many F1 races are extremely dull. Todays was a prime example. Nothing happened in th whole meeting to get the pulses going. ( unless a pit stop does it for you or a shreded tyre) Speedway can't and never will compete with the money, sponsorship and facilites that F1 has. It's all doen to coumn inches in the press or the hours on TV. This leads to companies willing to spend hundreds of thousands to have their name in very small letters on the side of Hamiltons race suit. For a year. Or tens of millions to have their name on the wing of the car. In comparison Julies Petshop or Bere Regis Pallets can the whole arm of a speedway rider for a new tyre every meeting. Yes we are speedway fans so are biased, buut show a neutral last nights speedway meeting and then let them watch this afternoons F1 GP and 9 out of the 10 would chose the speedway in all its excitement over the borefest this afternoon. And I do watch the F1 most weekends and am not anti F1 at all.

I watched it all the way through. Absolutely nothing happened of any interest whatsoever. Nothing. Follow the leader from the start to the finish. But whatever floats you boat I guess.