shortoi

Or even better do what I did - go to the box office less than an hour before the meeting starts: "Two concessions please" "Ok, who are they for? Juniors or seniors or..?" "My grandparents" "Ah ok - thirty-four pounds then please" Got outside and she'd printed me two full-price adult tickets, so I didn't even have to try and blag my way through with concession tickets if asked. Legend. Half-price tickets and brilliant seats. Thanks Lady At The Box Office.

Oh leave it would you! Just congratulate Jason on a well-earned win with good grace, the ref put my pet favourite out too, ya'know! Congratulations Jason, I hope you win plenty more this season as I would love for you to see Pedersen off for the championship this year! Crump and Hancock were a very even match on the night, both rode incredible meetings.

Yes, if he truly means what he said in today's press release it would appear that I stand corrected - but I'm still sceptical. Anyway, I am booing the character. Nicki's speedway character is a scheming, hard racing, all-round bad boy in the eyes of the public, but I did a training school with him in the close season after he got his first World Champ title and had a brilliant time (blooming heck - four years ago was it?!), he was a great guy and very encouraging all round. In fact I still have the signed picture that the track photographer took of me with him up in my room. As a man, I have nothing against him. As a rider, I think his tactics are dubious to say the least.

Cor that doesn't half get on my nerves in rider interviews! Like a flipping dripping tap. I think when I had sky the most I clocked was 37 times in a 1 minute interview Can't remember who the culprit was though. If I knew, I wouldn't be asking!!

Heaven Is A Place On Earth - c'mon Gem. If you were THAT much of an oldie wouldn't you be tucked up in bed with a mug of Ovaltine by now?

Is this thread really necessary? Can't the mods close it, move it to the GP section or merge it with one of the dozens of other Cardiff threads? I highly doubt any new ground is going to be covered, it's all been said, argued, argued back and said again 6 times on all those threads already.

You weren't by any chance somewhere near the top in U36 were you? Or was there more than one group of Poles like that yesterday?

I liked 'I'm a w@nker' and 'The Wizard of Oz' - didn't hear Copenhagen because of the rubbish acoustics where we were sat. Why did you play the Hokey Cokey btw? I wasn't a fan of the music when the riders were lined up at the tapes, Star Wars and all that didn't do it for me and took away from the tension I usually feel when the riders are ready to go rather than adding to it. (Just some constructive criticism.)

Now go and repost that on one of the other three threads dedicated to the did he / didn't he? debate. We don't need ANOTHER Nicki and the ref vs the World thread!

I didn't think Nicki was excluded? Or is 'retiring' / being lapped (technically he was I suppose!) an automatic exclusion?

Was that an issue last night?! Superbart, you clearly didn't have the songs "Crumpie comes from Bristol", "Everyone spells 'Aus' wrong but me" or "Copenhagen and Holstebro are 207 miles apart - they don't teach this in CSE geography, and CSEs don't exist anymore" (honestly, who doesn't have those songs?! ), you characterised the riders instead of giving the precise latitude and longitude of their place of birth. Personally, I think your way had a better effect on the atmosphere! You played to the mood of the crowd very well, but you'll never please everyone!

Superbart - your music choice was fab, congrats! I took a first timer with me and she chuckled away at the song choices all night and we agreed that it really brought an extra oomph to the atmosphere, which was a big part of what she enjoyed. Helped to characterise some of the riders for a newbie too.

Does he get much money from winning the world championship though? I was just fielding a possible theory for his antics, because he sure as hell doesn't ride like he's trying to entertain us. I only say he's in it for the money because his riding smacked of something desperate last night. Jason Crump and Greg Hancock are, IMO, the happy medium between Mr Dirty and Mr Clean. Good, clean riders with just enough of a ruthless streak to get them the glory without the controversy.

Reading down the thread I was forming the same post in my mind, JL. Nail On The Head.

Oh hatcham, thank you for making me giggle today! A bit bias are we? What exactly does he deserve respect for? Crump and Hancock got to the final without dirty tricks and help from the referee. Twice he lays the bike down with minimal contact, slides gently into the air fence and stays down to force a re-run, and then the one time he took a tumble that could possibly have injured him he was up like a shot to save losing his place on the rostrum through exclusion. People say he should be applauded for that, I say he knew that the ref couldn't help him out this time if the race had to be stopped, and he wouldn't be in the re-run if that happened. What did he have to gain by staying down in the final? B*gger all. What did he have to gain by staying down earlier in the meeting? Everything. Of course he would be eager to return to Britain! He doesn't ride for that warm fuzzy glow of entertaining the fans, he'd return to Britain because speedway is his livelihood. He's in it for the money. He cheated his way to the final (perhaps because he's desperate to get into the big-prize-money Super Prix race?!). And to be fair, this jeering is more personal than racism! A racist hates any person of a particular nationality or ethnicity because they are from there. We hate Nicki P because he's a filthy rider with dubious tactics, not because he's Danish. And was he 'hurt and shocked' by these events? Unlikely. He's been booed before, he will be booed again, and he loves it! You can see him playing up to the crowd on camera, he even encourages it and enrages them even more! Nicki is our panto villain... do you ever boo the wicked stepmother in Christmas pantos? Bully. D'ya think?