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If the free ticket offer is only for Gothenburg, Copenhagen or Cardiff, what about those of us who already have their Cardiff tickets and are very wary of venturing abroad again after being let down twice in seven overseas GP's. I may mellow over time but the shock of hearing that the GP was cancelled while waiting at Dusseldorf station made you swear that you would never go to another foriegn GP.

The reason I booed is what I saw as "gamesmanship" employed by Nicki. I might be alone on this but he seems to have developed this "skill" of cutting across from outside gates and putting his front wheel where it is going to be taken away by the inside rider, going down very easily and then laying for ages at the bottom of the fence. He did the same to Jason Crump in the Leszno GP and twice on Saturday. I presume if he keeps winning the decisions from the refs it will keep happening. As far as I am concerned it is akin to a footballer diving in the penalty area. (However I did applaud his efforts to clear the track in the final)

Looking at the draw for the preliminary rounds of the World Cup it looks like Greg Hancock is going to have to be in two places at the same time!? Saturday 24th May. SWC. Qualifying round 1. Miskolc, Hungary. Teams; Germany, USA, Hungary and Latvia. Saturday 24th May. SGP Gothenburg. Presumably he will be in the GP but that will severely weaken the USA team. Strange planning?

If the one off tracks are so delicate why do they have to have a practice? Everybody seems to agree that the track on Friday was very good. Why couldn't that have been the track for the GP itself? All the riders would have the same advantage/disadvantage and the track laid during the week is not ripped apart on the Friday only to be repaired and packed down in 24 hours. The riders often complain that the track at practice is very different to the meeting itself so why bother at all at any GP? How about having a short practice session an hour or so before the meeting? Something for the waiting fans to enjoy and the riders can get an idea of the set ups required. If they had this short session before the meeting, the riders would have a chance to ease any pre meeting nerves, the fans wouldn't have to endure some half baked pop group and best of all the usually processional first few races would be a thing of the past as the track would have been "broken in".

Vielen Dank!!

I see that the track preparation is now the lead news story on the www.veltins-arena.de website (where the webcam link is). Could anybody out there translate anything of interest please.

I think it's bends 3 and 4. (please correct me if I'm wrong) If so we are row 12 half way down the back straight, just off picture. Are the pits going to be outside bends 3 & 4. Is that the stand that can be moved.

What a great week for Martin Smolinski!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! German Champion, British Elite League winner with the Bees and now the Bundesliga with Olching.

Does anyone know what time the meeting at Leszno starts? Also...any info about the trains from Wroclaw to Leszno?

I have picked up on the German Forum that Billy and Jason have crashed whilst riding in a german league match. Has anyone got any news on their injuries?

Of course there's room, "The other AJ", hop on board! I too hope it's in the Czech Republic. Are Eastbourne and Poole really the best speedway stadia we can offer the world?! Now I must admit I have never been to Eastbourne but it doesn't look very impressive on tv, to say the least. (Let alone the tricky track.) Poole were bragging about the size of the crowd for the play-off final but how many got a good view of the action? If you weren't in the stand or leaning on the perimeter fence there were very few vantage points. How are they going to run it on just two tracks? Are we going to see five rider races at Eastbourne!!!! Surely as we are represented by Team GB the rounds could be spread further round the country. If Eastbourne and Poole are the best we can do I really do hope it will be held in the Czech Republic or Poland.

Why so much apathy from the likes of Jungle Jake, Gredon, Speedy Star and Markone? What is wrong with a week long festival of speedway? I agree that the Jokers and the five rider format have to go but the general idea I think is great and may it grow in strength. Surely anybody that went to Sheffield last year when the Aussies just beat Team GB (thanks to that joker) would agree what a great meeting and atmosphere there was that night. With so many fans from all over the country supporting the same team it was a great event. We were fortunate enough to go to Denmark this year. Five meetings in seven days. The best riders in the world and many others from Russia, Italy etc. that we would never normally see. I know the format needs looking at but you should have seen the GB boys the night they qualified for the final, they were as proud as punch and so were all the GB fans that were there. All in all it was a fantastic speedway week, meeting fans and riders from all over the world. I can't wait to sort out next years holiday around the World Cup 2004. It appears from earlier posts that you are happy to sneer, well of course you can, but I'm on the SWC bandwagon and enjoying the ride. See ya!

When are we going to hear something official about this fiasco? As far as I can see on the official sites everything is rosey. We have planned for this week in Denmark for weeks and as Coventry fans we were not only going to support Team GB but also to follow the Americans. We were aware about two months ago that there was a problem with the American team. How come nobody higher up the chain has been asking questions other than us mere fans? The only polite thing I can say to the AMA is THANKS A BUNCH!! As usual it is the fans that miss out, the competition will be weaker without the Americans there. Still never mind I can now look forward to cheering on that charming Mr. Norris. It just gets better! Remind me to watch it on tele next year.

Where's Robbo? ROBBO FOR ENGLAND!!!

I agree with you Peter. I would have liked to have seen Robbo in from the start, his average is better than Stoney and Havvy. He has shown great talent and always battles hard for his points! Surely thats the spirit we need for Team GB. COME ON ROBBO !!

I've heard that he wants to concentrate on his league racing and spend World Cup week with his family. I don't think Ryan Fisher intends to ride either! It doesn't look good does it. Sorry i'm not joking.

Hi Hanne I know Billy Hamill doesn't intend to ride and after picking up other comments I was coming to the same conclusion that perhaps there is a problem with the USA team. I hope not as we are all booked up for a week in Denmark! Can anybody add any substance to this rumour?

I'd like to see Billy Janniro get one slot and an Englishman in the other. But who? David Howe is struggling for form but Dean Barker and Stuart Robson are enjoying a good start to the year and Chris Harris is averaging 8.23! I can't really see the point of offering a place to Stoney, Joe or Havvy they've all been there and done it.