The Cardiff Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[lupus 1]

I agreee SBB...after one incident he sat up, saw something had broken on his bike and then lay there like a prima donna footballer! Pathetic!

[spin king 1,923]

Reply spot on - also does himself no favours by going down far too easily and then lying there as if seriously injured awaiting for the decision to go for him.

 

No favours he is the current World Champ, and still leads the Championship, after that I don't think that he cres what I, you or anyone else thinks, the man is purely ruthless and will do what he has to do to win the Championship, at what ever cost.

[spin king 1,923]

I agreee SBB...after one incident he sat up, saw something had broken on his bike and then lay there like a prima donna footballer! Pathetic!

 

Again that is how he wins Championships, that is why he is World Champion and leads the Championship Nicki know exactly how to play the game.

[Biggypop 0]

After all the anticipation what a let down!!

A night full of incident and controversy, but strangely thats not what really disgusted me.

Yes, the ref made ridiculous decisions robbing certain riders of any chance, and again the track wasnt conducive to really great racing .

Felt desperate for Adams and B Pedersen but..

I think I have finally had it with the neanderthal elements of the crowd, sure we all have our likes and dislikes amongst the riders but to see vast numbers cheering and bellowing because Nicki P came off is just disgusting. These same sheep seem to blame him for every single incident, booing with monotonous regularity.

I always thought Speedway fans a cut above football but no more, will still carry on going but it depresses me that these idiots are more prevalent every year.

[colincooke 0]

Well quite an incident packed show this one was eh folks.

As per usual the centre of attention is Nicki, Nicki, Nicki.

Don't get me wrong i'm not putting any blame on the guy cos he never made the decisions did he, it was that wozzy whatsisname bloke in the box.

The fact remains though that neither Leigh, or Bjarne later on moved off their line & we're ahead of Nicki so how we're they at fault.

Very disapointed with the enigma named Mr Tomasz Gollob, after Copenhagen we all thought he'd shed his tag on the temp tracks but it was back to his usual sulky self.

The same goes for Hans, what was he whinging about with the Semi gate selection, he had a good outside gate to choose & the muppet went for the crap gate 3.

Great to see Scott & Chris finally show something,just a shame about the final outcome, things would've been different for Chris if PUK hadn't wiped him out & bust his nose amongst other things

As for the final, Scotty, patience dear boy!Such a shame as a rostrum place at least would've been certain.

Jason was a worthy winner though & Greg was superb & looked a sure fire bet early on.Great comments from both of them.

Edited June 29, 2008 by colincooke

[Vince 9,458]

ah dont believe the hype.............. Nicki scored 11 points (and that was 4 more than he should have had!) and has Crumpy breathing down his neck.......he had to blame something didnt he?........... if he thinks that he can whip up the support of the other GP riders then he is mistaken

 

Didn't Hancock also hint at something similar? I would bet that there is a deal of unrest among the riders given the state of two recent GP tracks.

I think perhaps a few of you should try falling off a Speedway bike before suggesting that riders do it on purpose as often as some would have you believe. I can't say it never happens but at least in the incident with Leigh Adams last night I can't see how Nicki P could have stayed on his bike - all 4 back would have been fair. I would also doubt that any rider would have been keen to go down deliberately even once on a track where a rut could have turned it into a highside or a broken leg very easily.

[srbramble 0]

IMO, Pedersen was missing gates all night. In th first incident with Adams, he missed again, so he took his chance to steer into Leighs' bike, then went down, hoping to at least get an all 4 back. The Referee( I use the term very losely with this idiot), made the worst decision in GP history, and Nicky got lucky. The referee was not expecting to have to make the same horrendous decision so soon after the first, but his poor judgement in the first incident gave him no option in the second.

If anybody wants to know how incensed the crowd were, then they should have been there to see the reaction from the crowd, especially behind me, above the start/finish line. How often do you see the security have to intervene between the ref and the crowd at a speedway meet?

Nicky is a great rider, but there are parts of his game that are not welcome in the arena by the majority of speedway people. He has plenty of ability to be a success, without resorting to the tactics he uses when his back is against the wall. No other rider would have got away with what he did last night, but then again, IMO, I don't think there are many, if any at all, that would do what he does. Of course, he can't be 100% sure what decision a referee will make, but he uses the rules in an unsporting manner if things aren't going his way, and with a weak referee, he knows that being world champion will get him more than his fair share of favourable decisions.

[SCB 0]

An absolutely controversial meeting, but I loved it. It made great watching and kept me on the edge of my seat, which was welcome after the hangover from Friday night. I have no voice left!

Same here.

 

Can I also thank to nice girl just in front of me whos programme I kept stealing. Cheers Luce

[shortoi 0]

personally i thought the only thing worse than the refereeing last night was moronic members of the crowd booing nicki pedersen.

the man is world champion,was a great servant to british speedway for many years until the ludicrous points limit forced him out,and who in an attempt to entertain us last night ended up on the floor on four occasions.

 

he deserves respect,and the lynch mob should stick to cock fighting and dog baiting,true sports for the yob and bully

 

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.

 

then we will have to agree to disagree,i think the booing was of a personal nature,and is tantamount to bullying.in many ways booing and jeering of this nature is worse than racist jeering,because it is uniquely personal.

nicki may appear to play it off as you say,but what other choice does he have? i would imagine he was deeply hurt and shocked by events,and would be surprised to see him eager to return to britain.

 

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.

 

Perhaps that's why the fans were booing Nicki, because they thought he did just this?

 

D'ya think?

 

[speedy den boy 19]

cheers but how on earth did it fall off? the size of it could have been very dangerous

[pugwash 3,208]

It's only a bit of foam rubber!

[paulr 0]

Nicky is a great rider, but there are parts of his game that are not welcome in the arena by the majority of speedway people. He has plenty of ability to be a success, without resorting to the tactics he uses when his back is against the wall. No other rider would have got away with what he did last night, but then again, IMO, I don't think there are many, if any at all, that would do what he does. Of course, he can't be 100% sure what decision a referee will make, but he uses the rules in an unsporting manner if things aren't going his way, and with a weak referee, he knows that being world champion will get him more than his fair share of favourable decisions.

 

 

Brilliant post

[spin king 1,923]

 

 

 

 

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?!).

 

 

I would agree with the omst of this post, except this bit, I think that Nicki pure and simply wants to be World Champ, the Super Prix does not bother him at all, or at least it comes a very poor 2nd to been World Champ again, lets face it Nicki has not won a Grand Prix all this series and I think that does not bother him as he is still top of the leader board.

 

 

 

 

[spook 28]

sometimes I think that i'm anti danish until I remember Bjarne, Gundersen, Knudsen, Hans Neilsen, Bo Petersen ............................. the problem here is the way that the crop of guys including Hans and Nicki were trained.......... and those since

[shortoi 0]

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.