Steve Shovlar

I watched it live and not once did I think TRick ws to blame. At first I thought I must be mistaken as Millard was going on, and when I saw the replay I knew the correct decisions had been made by the ref. After that we found out that Ermolenko and Louis both agreed that all 4 back was the correct and only decision to be made. So my thoughts were completely vindicated and correct. Just a shame he didn't win but gate 4 was a pig and it was lucky he got through to the final given the poor outside. Well done Trick. With a bi more luck it would have been another GP victory. On another note, we clearly saw tonight the difference between Trick and Sullivan. God help all us Pirate fans.

Very good opening GP with lots of good racing. TRick in a class of his own until the dreaded outside got him twice in a row. No way back from there. Well done to Adams though who shot past Crump for a good win. gate three proved the best by miles but Gollob failed to capitalize on it in the final.

NO the crowd was good. Not as packed on the bends as previous years but still pretty full.

I think the ref got all the decisions spot on. So did the studio. Well done to TRick! Semi and Final from the worst gate for a deserved third.

I have been to Bygoszcz several times and the best way so far for me is to fly to Warsaw then hire a car. It takes 3-4 hours to drive, and the roads are not good. But the avantage with a car is that on the day after the GP you can get easily to a league meeting! Then drive back to warsaw on the monday for a flight back to London. the flightimes into Bydgoszcz have never been good. You have to leave like 6 am on the moring after the GP to get a connecting flight back to London.

Difficult to be classed Danish number one when Nicki Pedersen is World Champion. was Andy Smith Britain's best rider three years in a row? Bjarne did brilliant tonight and has set the elite league alight last year after a poor 2003. It has gone virtually unnoticed because of TRick and Lindback grabbing the attention, but Bjarne Pedersen has now shown his form and will do very well in the GP series.

Well done Bjarne! Showing great form and deserved. This time next year he will be the number one Dane.

When I was a young lad Geoff Bouchard and Martin Ashby were two of my favoouite riders. He was riding for Long Eaton before coming over to ride as a second string at Blunsdon in 1973/4 if I remember. Nice guy too.

Posted on Yahoo According to www.masarna.nu both Tomasz and Jacek Gollob are moving from Bydgodczsz to Tarnow for the 2004 season where they will team up with among others Tony Rickardsson.

Interesting news from Eastbourne was that there will be at least two new clubs joining the elite league this winter from the premier. Also the points limit will be thrown out, in favour of a grading system, (and something I have long advocated). Each club will have one grade A rider, Two Grade B, 2 Grade C and Two Grade D's. This is not finalised as some promoters are saying there should be a few more grades to seperate 8.99 raders from 8.01 riders. This will help riders who are missing out on team berths due to having an average 0.01 over. The Tenerife conference next month will discuss this in more detail.

What an excellent AGM! Some great decisions have been made and I can't wait for the start of the new season! I have always been a fan of the grading system and am more than pleased it is finally coming into the sport. Much fairer, simpler and easier to work than the dreaded points limit. Also fantastic news is no guests! Best thing to happen in years! The sport will always be ridiculed whilst we have the fiasco's of one rider working for two clubs at the same time. looks like that one has finally been sorted and that can only be good news. Now onto the no tac sub rule. Interesting this one. Tac subs have been with the sport for as long as I can remember, and I am suprised that this rule has ben brought in. Whether it will work or not we will have to see, but I can certainly see the benefits of the new rule for armchair fans. it certainly simplifies things. I was talking to Middlo tonight at the Poole meeting, and the way we read is that if a team is 8 points down, the team manager can nominate a rider who is in the race already, and his points will count as double. So that means no rider will miss out and only get three rides. All riders will get four, and two will get the extra outing in heat 15. You can only use this facility twice, plus of course the golden double off 15 metres, providing he has not been used as a tac from the line already. Thirty six meetings to squeeze in should make an excellent and lively season. Looks like Arena are racing on Wednesday nights, Coventry Thursday with Swindon and Ipswich. I have read through the comments so far this evening and its the usual moans and groans after an AGM. Personally I say its nowhere near as bad as the picture many of you are painting. The riders get 4 rides guarenteed, (so no dodgy 3 pointers in the team) and the best two are still out for 5 rides. Good stuff! PS Davey watt has signed for Poole next year, it was announced tonight. So no Watt at Kings Lynn next year.

I have just put the semi final 1 crash online. Its a zipped up WMV file, so will play on windows media player. http://www.steveshovlar.com/semfinal1_crash_prague.zip cheers Steve

Well done Scotty! !! great stuff and what a shame that bore Sullivan won it. You could hear a pin drop as he crossed the line. Must be the rider with the least fans and its not suprising. TricK looked awful and from what the cameras showed it wsnt his bike. Obviously not fully recovered and couldn't handle the conditions. However no real damage was done. He falls to third but a win will put him back where he belongs, on top. But great to see a Brit on the rostrum, and finally Scotty is coming of age. Best bit other than watching crump croak on the line. Crump was the best rider all night and battled through off the outside and deserved more. He doesnt know how to act in front of the camera, and his disappointment comes over like a spoilt brat. He needs to take a lesson from Trick, who although had a nightmare, still went around and waved to the crowd as a thank you to them for coming. Cheers Steve Shovlar

Brilliant result for KK! Well done lad!!! Another champ rides for the Pirates!!! Cheers Steve

Well I saw him walk away last week, from his car! Sorry but I take what you say with a pinch of salt. If you can't say who you are, why are we expected to beleive a word you say?

what a load of crap. This is the Shovlar. Keep 'em peeled.

Well guess what? Ole Olsen has been put in charge of preparing next Saturdays race track. The people that prepared it were employed by SVEMO, and they ahve admitted that they got it wrong. Posstlthwaite has now employed Olsen to get it right, and says he can get it "as good as Parken in Denmark". So BSI is not blaming Olsen at all, and is looking yo Ole to put it right, after sacking the SVEMO track crew.

10 minute jury meeting. Looks at the moment that it could be called off :x Unbelievable. worse thing that could possibly happen to BSI, and with speedway on a world stage tonight this could no be worse for the sport.

[quote="tricky dicky" is this the worst track ever seen? yep.

And who exactly would you have wanted through? They were the pick of the bunch, and if you think someone like Gjedde deserved a spot, well he was out of his depth yesterday and not worthy of a qualifying spot. same goes for BJ who made up the numbers. Only shocks were PK, Ulamek and L Dryml, and the later should hopefully get an automatic seed as he would have been there but for his injuries. PK also deserved a spot, and was favourite to win the meeting. Ulamek started brightly but faded, and all the others missed out because they were not good enough!

I have just got back from Wimborne Road after watching this afternoons/evening meeting. The whole thing was marred by an horrific crash, which was far worse than the recent L Dryml crash in the GP. :x Its happened on the first bend. Lukas and Peter Karlsson got tangled together and headed for the fence at full speed. There was no way either of them could avoid the crash and they ploughed into the fence at full speed, head on. :x The fence was smashed to pices, the supporting post demolished by Lukas's crash helmet which knocked him clean out. :x The two ambulances were at the scene within seconds, and the crew were running about getting the stretchers ready and the oygen to the injured pair. After a few tense minutes Lukas amazingly got to his feet, to the relief and applause of the very worried crowd. A minute later Peter kalsson also got up, and the relief on the crowds was clear to see. However, as a precaution Lukas was taken off to hospital, where it has just been diagnosed that he has a broken ankle, and is likely to be out for the remainder of the season. Hope this is not the case. :x P Karlsson took his place in the rerun and hour later, but pulled up after a lap and went to hospital and it looks like a broken rib for him. :x Other news is that Simon Stead was robbed of at least a runoff for 6th place by a referee from Denmark. :x Stead was on gate 4, and pushed out to the fence on the first bend by Dubrucki. He had to go down or through the fence. The ref excluded Stead and the crowd was in uproar. :-( A terrible decision that left Jensen of Denmark through. Luckily the ref wasn't lynched. :twisted: Cheers Steve Shovlar

Great stuff from Team GB!! Murdered the opposition tonight and easily qualified for the final on Saturday, where they every opportunity of getting on the podium. Well done to Middlo who stuck with his convictions and choose the team he wanted, rather than the team the majority of fans thought he should take. Two fingers to the doubters. The guys all did us proud. Havvy, Floppy, Deano, Scotty and Rico are all heros tonight. Can't wait till Saturday night. Might even get a line of coverage in a couple of rags tomorrow. Then again....... cheers Steve Shovlar

Hi Middlo, best of luck tonight and get on that podium! Come on you Brits! Cheers Steve Shovlar

Spot on Sam. Trick would not choose to miss representing his country in a WC final if he had any real say in the matter. He is also missing big pay days in Poland and England as well. As a professional, only a couple of months ago he rode every night the week after his big smash in a GP, when other riders would have taken quite a bit of time off to recuperate. We will certainly miss him at Coventry on Monday, when Jason Lyons guests in his place. KNowing Trick he certainly would have ridden, especially as it's live on TV and the chance to show himself to potential sponsors. cheers Steve Shovlar

Lukas dryml can't gate for toffee. 99% of his points are scored coming from the back and on tracks like that he stood no chance. Every time he made a swoop he went backwards. Loram would probably have had the same problems, and said last night that why bother to have 85% of the track when it is unuseable. If the same conditions apply for Voyens, and chances are they will, then I hope the Brits have their bikes set up for gating and we can hold the others out. Up the Brits!