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I felt that the Bees were a tad lucky last week to clinch a 14 point lead, and I just had that gut feeling that it was all going to go wrong for the Bees tonight. But hopefully my prediction is going to prove to be well wide of the mark, just wish the Bees could have met Wolves in the final, that would have been a real contest ! Wish I could have been near a TV tonight, instead am just getting infrequent updates.

Think this is going to be a tight one tonight, with Sweetman being the weak link for Cov and Schlein producing the goods for the Panthers, and Peterborough just clinching it by a couple of points to meet Poole in the final

I thought Gollob was majestic tonight, it would be a just reward if he actually got to win the title once before he hangs up his leathers. Best GP I've seen for ages and even Franchetti will have a few bragging rights having passed Crump, Adams, Hancock and a couple of others (OK, I know most of them passed him again but the lad tried hard) shame he hasn't been on the pace like that for Berwick though. Lets hope the final round is as entertaining

You might need an umbrella too Andy Patch if the forecast is to be believed ! Was hoping BFD might have put a weather update on here but he is probably otherwise engaged

As the forecast wet weather tomorrow is likely to have an effect on the conditions I should think that the Poles will cope with the track better than the rest. Love to see a real scrap between all four teams with the Russians giving everyone a shock again. My head says Poland followed by the Aussies with the other two in a tight fight for third.

Bee, you may well be right about the track being different on Saturday. The forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain lets hope they have got it completely wrong ! Do they leave Sunday free in case it is rained off tomorrow?

Well I'll eat my hat, didn't think we had even a glimmer of a chance of even third place. Hats off to the lads, so near yet so far away in the end. Some great racing and entertainment. Best wishes to Adam Shields and just hope it is not a collar bone gone.

I think that we have to be realistic, even if Scott was in the team I doubt he would score that many more points than Lewis or Woffy to prevent us ending up in 4th place. I hope that some miracle will prove me wrong, but we really haven't got the riders good enough to challenge this year. I just hope that the team put in a creditable performance, and I sincerely hope that Sky don't spend their time trying to big GB up and make out that we have a chance of reaching the final. Good luck to the guys riding tonight. Think Crump and co will win, and very tight for the other place between the Danes and Swedes.

From the Coventry website NICK NICHOLLS (England) 1954-1961 M: 204, R: 773, P: 852, B: 131, T: 983, Average: 5.09, PM: 3 Remeber Nick well, neat rider if my memory serves me correctly.

Thats really sad news .... RIP Maury A genuinely good man, I've got good memories of his time at Brandon. Real team man and a classy rider, not forgetting the fabulous frames that he made. My thoughts are with his family and friends

I remember Maury well, I had a couple of frames made by him, one of which ended up wrapped around an RSJ that supported the pits gate at Brafield Maury was a quality rider, smooth and tidy if I remeber correctly. Nice guy too.

Superb meeting, but sad to see Harris, Nicholls and Richardson so far off the pace until the last third of the meeting. Was it a lack of serious planning, preparation and organisation for such an important meeting? On Thursday the Aussies, Poles and top Swedes were on the pace from the start as were the Danes last night as well. There really is no excuse I can find for our top three's performance in the early parts of the meeting. If we want to progress as a nation in the World Cup then a serious professional approach has to be taken instead of the "well we tried our best matey". We've got the talent available to develop, but what we need is a serious approach to such events or we will be also-rans for the forseeable future.

Total professional, and considering her confession that she knows very little about Speedway, she was very credible. The SGP and SWC products are far slicker in overall presentation and timings, but she brought speedway on TV in the UK up to a new level. Sadly I expect it is the last that we shall see of her presenting Speedway, as she will move on to bigger and better things in the footsteps of Suzie Perry and Julia Bradbury. Well done Sky, it was your best ever Speedway production.

Yet again superb racing at Lezno and congratulations to Poland. It's time common sense prevailed and that the rules are changed so that the reserve can replace anyone in the team at anytime up to a maximum of five rides. The current rule was clearly going to be open to abuse. A great advert for Speedway and real speedway tracks - just a shame that we have very few real tracks in this country.

Processional racing? I have just had a brief read through the updates heats comments and I counted at least 34 passes during the meeting. I thought it was the best meeting by far of the series, and on a REAL speedway track with a consistent surface that the riders have confidence in. Not a single fall or a re-run race.

After several years of presenting speedway both Huewen and Greeny never seem to have grasped much real knowledge of the sport. Even though Georgie clearly knows even less than Huewen and Green she is a very credible presenter. I don't care what she looks like, it's the professional touch that Speedway needs.

I had my doubts when Chris was first selected for the GP series, thinking it maybe was a year too soon. I thought that his debut at Lonigo was impressive, and I would think that his target for this season would have been tenth place, with occasional semi-final appearances. Last night was a massive step up the ladder. I hope in my heart that he can follow in Mark Loram's footsteps and always be in the thick of it in the future. Some tracks won't suit him thats for sure, but if he can now achieve a top eight place in the series at the end of the year, then we should all be proud of him. One thing for certain is that he will now have earned even more respect from the established GP riders, and I should think that without doubt every rider in the series is thankful that Chris does not have the gating ability of a Pedersen ! Congratulations Chris - better than any of us could have dreamed of.

Sadly the choice of Reading. stadium wise, is a sad reflection on Speedway and it's politics in this country. If you are going to present a supposedly prestigious competition to the rest of Europe, then it should be held at a venue that at the very least looks like a stadium, with real terracing and stands and not temporary meccano structures, and one that can provide international visitors with some decent facilities. To my mind of current stadiums only Coventry, Sheffield and possibly Poole should only be considered as possible venues for what is supposed to be the next biggest event in World Speedway after the SGP. Seems like the powers that be want to make speedway even more of a laughing stock in UK sport than it already is. I suppose its a case of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. So why not take the event to a real stadium?

Superb SS. I never thought that I would ever agree with every single word of one of your posts, but alas I do tonight. British speedway is becoming a complete shambles, and the ELRC becomes a more diluted event as the years go by, it is time to scrap it. If the riders are not careful, there will be no supporters left to contribute towards the cash in their pockets. It was clear that Mark Loram, PK and a few others were happy to have carried on. Mistreat the paying customer and its likely he'll take his cash elsewhere.

Depending on the track conditions Loram could be worth an each-way punt @ 40-1 Richardson might fancy himself at 16's, but there again he could well have one of his self-induced cock up races.

Really hope the weather don't mess things up. But the link below is not very promising. http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/today....pcode=sheffield Good luck to Sean and everyone else going to Sheffield. Been snowing here since 0600