Rob B

A tanker on fire in the Gulf of Aden has caused a huge headache for FIM Speedway Grand Prix Series (SGP) organisers BSI. Fire broke out on the “Hyundai Fortune” cargo ship and part of its freight is a brand new £250,000 air-barrier that is to be used on the safety fence at all ten rounds of the world championship SGP Series. Due to the ferocity of the fire, all of the ship’s crew members were evacuated and rescued by a passing Dutch frigate. John Postlethwaite, Chief Executive, BSI, said: ”From the details and pictures we have received it looks like the ship transporting the new air barrier from Australia is still on fire and we will not find out for many days if the barrier has been affected by the blaze. At the moment salvagers are trying to control the flames and salvage the cargo. “We are awaiting updates from the salvagers, but thankfully we still have the air-barrier from last year’s Series so safety will not be compromised at the Grands Prix.”

Sheffield have to Elite League to see that every week.

That was a motocross bike.

I wonder if Crump has a motorcycling licence to ride the superbike!

BBC radar shows that snow is probably going to hit between 9 and 12 tomorrow. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/rain.shtml I'm definatly planning on coming but even if the snow doesn't hit Owlerton I'd guess getting acorss the Pennines is going to be tricky so will have to leave earlier.

Yep forecast is for heavy snow Saturday night/Sunday morning, think we are going to have the same problem at Belle Vue on Monday.

Its over 4 hours from Stockholm to Malilla though.

You guys must of been driving slowly or got lost, we drove from Treviso to our hotel on the outskirts of Verona took us about 1 hour 20 mins. Lonigo is about 20 mins from outskirts of Verona so about an hour from Treviso.

Does anyone know if the start time has been confirmed yet, will it be 9:00pm like last year?

No he is a Belle Vue asset, Tony Mole bought him last year.

Yes we bumped into plenty of speedway fans in Verona who were struggling in how to get to Lonigo and back, we hired a car at Venice airport, I suppose even if you hired a car for 24 hours from somewhere in Verona it wouldn't be that bad.

Two main cities are Venice and Verona, Lonigo is between, slightly closer to Verona. Last year we flew to Venice, spent the Friday in Venice then drove over to Verona which was our base for the two nights, quite a few riders seen around Verona.

Closest place to fly to is Verona with Ryanair, we flew to Venice with Ryanair last year as it was cheaper at the time and only a bit further, we spent Friday in Venice then drove over to Verona which was our base for 2 nights.

No offence to the under 15's riders who did a lot better then expected but who ever came up with the heat format must of been drunk at the time. Why do the number 1 riders get 4 rides where as the number 5 riders get only 2 rides. Heats 1 & 3 and 4 & 7 are exactly the same and rider number 5 get his first ride when others have already had 2 rides. Plus one reserve can be used by either team, so last night the Buffalo's decided to bring the reserve in to replace one of their riders in heat 7 but Ben Thompson couldn't get his bike started, in this situation a reserve should of come in to replace him but they couldn't because the other team was already using the reserve so had to go with 1 rider only! No it was great skill from the young lad, laying it down as soon as he realised the rider in front was in trouble.

Full confirmation of dates and venues in Speedway Star tomorrow, 10 rounds including Latvia, you would of thought it would be on the SGP website first!

Speedway Star says today top 6 from British Final being held at Belle Vue go through to GP qualifers.

AUBURN, California – Team USA had its four-year win streak broken on Friday night (October 28) as former World Speedway Champion Jason Crump led Team World to its first-ever victory in the annual USA vs. The World Speedway Motorcycle Championships here at Fast Fridays Speedway. USA vs. The World is the traditional finale of the AMA Speedway season at Fast Fridays and drew an enthusiastic crowd despite chilly weather and a forecast of rain. The program was completed just ahead of a band of rain showers. Australia’s Crump led the determined six-rider Team World to a 60-55 point lead after 18 heat races that led up to pivotal A-Main and B-Main Events. The championship was still up for grabs at that juncture, since points paid in the main events made a 21-point turnaround in team scoring possible. But the Team World pairing of Italian Captain Armando Castagna and American John Cook (representing Team World as a former Swedish National Champion) shut the door on Team USA with a 1-2 finish in the B-Main Event that swelled the World’s lead to an unbeatable 70-51. Crump’s victory in the A-Main Event then finished off the 86-59 decision in favor of Team World. This was Crump’s first-ever appearance at Fast Fridays Speedway, but the 2004 World Champion and current World No. 2 looked very much at home. He was challenged on several occasions by Team USA riders, but in the end he swept all six of his heat races as well as the featured A-Main Event. Under the unique USA vs. The World team format, both six-rider teams were divided into three pairs of riders, and each race featured one pair from each team. Crump was partnered with English star Joe Screen, and that duo was by far the most dominant on the night as Crump and Screen scored a match-high 28 points of a possible 30. The Team World pairing of Castagna and Cook put a solid 22 points on the board, while the best Team USA combinations (Faria with Bryan Yarrow and Charlie Venegas with Bobby Schwartz and reserve Buck Blair) posted 17 points each. In individual heat race scoring, Crump led the way with an 18-point maximum, followed by Castagna and Venegas with 14 each and Faria with 11. “The meeting was a lot closer than the final score suggests,” said Fast Fridays promoter Dave Joiner. “In fact, the score was tied seven times, but down the stretch the seasoned pros from Team World prevailed.” Joiner was referencing back-to-back 1-2 finishes by the veteran pairing of Castagna and Cook in Heat 18 and the B-Main Event. Those clutch performances transformed a precarious 55-47 Team World lead into an unassailable 70-51 advantage and turned the A-Main Event into an exhibition. Crump finished off his perfect 7-for-7 performance in the A-Main, finishing ahead of Team USA’s Faria and teammate Joe Screen while Team USA’s Venegas suffered an engine failure. In support class action, outstanding teenager Ricky Wells of Yorba Linda, California, captured the Youth Main Event ahead of Krystal Cramer of Chino, California. Both are 14 years old. Results Fifth Annual USA vs. The World Speedway Championship Fast Fridays Speedway – Gold Country Fairgrounds, Auburn, CA Friday, October 28, 2005 Team Scores Team World – 86 points Team USA – 59 points Note: Team points were awarded as follows: Points awarded on a 3-2-1-0 basis in 18 heat races Points awarded on a 6-4-2-1 basis in B-Main Event Points awarded on a 12-8-4-2 basis in A-Main Event Main Event Results A Main Event 1. Jason Crump, Australia (Team World) 2. Mike Faria, Reno, NV (Team USA) 3. Joe Screen, England (Team World) 4. Charlie Venegas, San Bernardino, CA (Team USA) B Main Event 1. Armando Castagna, Italy (Team World) 2. John Cook, Roseville, CA (Team World) 3. Tommy Hedden, Auburn, CA (Team USA) 4. Bryan Yarrow, Vacaville, CA (Team USA) Top 10 Individual Scorers in Heat Races Note: Each rider took part in six four-rider heat races with points awarded on a 3-2-1-0 basis. 1. Jason Crump, Australia (Team World), 18 points 2. Charlie Venegas, San Bernardino, CA (Team USA), 14 points 2. Armando Castagna, Italy (Team World), 14 points 4. Mike Faria, Reno, NV (Team USA), 11 points 5. Joe Screen, England (Team World), 10 points 6. Bart Bast, Auburn, CA (Team USA), 8 points 6. John Cook, Roseville, CA (Team World), 8 points 8. Bryan Yarrow, Vacaville, CA (Team USA), 6 points 8. Steve Johnston, Australia (Team World), 6 points 10. Freddie Lindgren, Sweden (Team World), 4 points Bill Amick

Don't know who they are but they were right in front of us, you can just see my Jason Crump cap between their arms. The lady in the pink was Swedish and was with Zetters I think.

Quite a few of us going, flying into Venice on Friday morning, hiring a mini bus and staying in Verona.

The lineups can change right upto about an hour or two before the start though.

Where on earth was the airfence in Wroclaw? Looks like BSI are desperate to save money! I would think Wroclaw is definatly a track where the air fence is needed with the speeds they are doing!

Mixture of both actually, anything on a grey background were offcial BSI graphics anything on the blue background were SKY graphics.

That referee is one of the worst about, I actually thought he had been banned from refereeing FIM meetings as he made so many cock ups in the past. Luckl;y tonight he didn't have to made too many decisions. I take it that Tony Steele is going to be the ref on Saturday seeing that he has not been used yet?

Those last two comments were obviously made at the halfway point where the Danes went though a bad patch, the Aussie's wouldn't have got through with Crump riding as he would have done any better then Adams really they way the Poles were riding. I'm still confident that my 5/1 bet on Poland made on Saturday is going to come through.

Nah I still don't think the Aussies would have qualified with Crump riding. The Danes went through a brief bad patch halfway through then it was back to business as usual.