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What a wonderful evenings entertainment , different gravy to the drivel we had to sit through 24 hours later in Cardiff . Almost every heat had superb racing , culminating in a pulsating final , though I did fear Rasser had blown it , but he fought back to pip Nicholls on the line , sparking wild celebrations among the substantial Glaswegian travelling support . We even had Cookie and Rasser travel with us to Cardiff , on our bus , after the meeting . Poor Rasser was a sorry looking sight at 7 o clock the following morning haha . Best Pairs meeting , not just because we won , for many a year . And who cares if you need to queue for a slash when you get a track and racing like that .

Not sure. But I've heard there is a special edition of the book on sale in the Cradley area that includes a set of crayons. This will let the Spoons fans colour the pictures of the tattoo's in.

Well done to Charles Wright, didn’t let anybody down with that performance.

Excellent. What could be better then Mums and Dads taking kids to the GP, or even kids mythering mums and dads to take them. Isn’t that what speedway needs, more youngsters. Well the opportunity is on a plate. The speedway nation should be embracing it, not whinging about it. I’m convinced a lot of this forums members are happy to be moaners.

Eastbourne booking Craig Cook as a guest for Lawson apparently

Not again Gavan?! Yeah we get it. 'If Poole lose they will have choked'! How many times have you repeated this. Please give it a rest and come up with something new.

Lawson will ride for Ipswich on Saturday. Confirmed.

you couldn't have been watching much when Topinka was captain

IF you prefer to believe that then fine. But you are way off. Tai will get a wild card because he is a three-times WC not because he rides under the Monster banner.

A little early for the BSPA conference?

Cost reductions yes but is there any sustainability of rider production in a model like that? If the MDL is to remain in it current format you would lose the vast majority of sub 6 point riders from the sport along with anyone competing now as the current target is NL 2.00 position not championship reserve at 6.00 level. How would anyone be able to get near that level or be measured without sensible levels of competition and track time. I feel if there is no NL next season there will be no point having an MDL either any many will just walk away from the sport. Propping up the top leagues by sacrificing the grassroots of any sport just doesn't work.

Cardiff brought me back to speedway after a near 10 year break. I just happened one night to be flicking through the channels and noticed speedway was on, not the speedway I remembered from the early 90s but speedway on steroids in a big stadia and on the telly...it ignited my interest enough for me to then visit Poole speedway (twice) whilst away on holiday that year, a couple of meetings when I returned home and return to speedway properly the following season at my local track and of course, my first attendance at Cardiff. Yes, I had already been a speedway fan but I had had a complete break away from the sport, I hadn't been watching it on the television or keeping up with any news etc for the previous 9 nears before I happened upon that coverage (although it was hard to miss our triple in 98 as it was plastered all over our local papers). I haven't been to Cardiff since 2015, life, uni pick ups and holidays have got in the way but I am trying everything I can to get there next year as part of my special birthday celebrations. It takes a little more organisation now because I have the wheelchair but I can be a stubborn mare when I want to be and I am absolutely determined I will make it there for 2020.

Delighted to see the Colts are riding their play off semi final on Saturday 28th September. My first Saturday League match at Belle Vue since 1987 !!! Hopefully we will get the biggest Colts attendance this season... It would be great to have Saturday as the Colts regular home dates next year.. obviously ensuring no clashes with the SGP s.

British league speedway can seem crap on television, certainly. Empty stands or grass banks and dingy old floodlights not bright enough to illuminate a kitchen. Riders in kevlars that are a different colour to the rest of their team (sounds little, but it can be very confusing to kids and newbies) looks tinpot. This is all offset when you have good racing, but when it's a gater's track you're watching a procession and it adds to the overall malaise. SGP in Cardiff can get away with processional 'racing' due to the scale of the event and the names on show. Late season on an overcast evening in Peterborough doesn't have quite the same attraction.

From the Bears website:- It has also been confirmed that dates have now been set for the KO Cup Final against Newcastle and for the Teesside Silver Helmet. Redcar will stage the 1st leg of the cup final at home on Friday 11th October, with the 2nd leg taking place in Newcastle on Sunday 13th October. Duffill explained, “The Play Off’s must be completed before the KO Cup final, so we race this week against Leicester and then Friday 4th October is reserved for the Play Off final, should we make it. Ideally, I would have liked the 2nd leg of the KO Cup to have been at home, but that wasn’t fair on Newcastle, who are already having to wait 2 weeks for us to finish our Play Off fixtures and originally wanted to race this week. A compromise had to be made somewhere.”

It's not just Cardiff. Speedway generally comes across as crap on TV. Last weeks meeting at Poole being a prime example. You can never recreate the atmosphere of being in a Stadium, sitting on the sofa!

Torun, Wroclaw and Warsaw have given the best racing. Prague regularly gets rolled out by fans as one of the better cities to visit.

I have never really understood the gripe with any management making money out of a speedway club ? surely if your club makes money year after year is a good thing ? I would be delighted to hear the Masons make a healthy profit at Birmingham as would give me assurances of our longer term future. Do speedway fans want owners to take risks but not take any rewards ? if so why would anyone bother ?

I parked on the street for free a little further on from the Cardiff City FC stadium (where I usually park, but couldn't this year due to them playing at home). A 20 minute walk instead of the usual 15

Cost reductions by diluting the product on offer just doesnt work how many years have the BSPA been doing that for ?. There has to be realistic cost reductions beginning with machinery, tuning etc etc, a small step could be a bog standard Bike with NO tweaks to it, but thats where everything falls down with most riders trying there best to get even the smallest extra bit of power from there machinery.. and so it goes on, fewer and fewer spectators being asked to pay more for an inferior product, on Tracks that were built for less speed than what is acheved nowadays, whats the issue with being 5 seconds slower but with better racing ?, oh i get it, every rider wants to be a GP star . Then there is the issue of newish sign written vans, I understand the days of having a bike on a rack at the back of the car have long since gone, but jeez surely the object is to get from A to B with whatever mode of transport is available how much does a half decent trailer cost ?.

Bet you wouldn't think that if you were an Eastbourne fan

I’d have thought it would be common sense to let Lawson ride for Ipswich and grant Eastbourne a facility?

The rule is quite clear and doesn't include any qualification regarding the cut-off date. However, as we know all rules in Speedway are subject to the caveat that Management Committee can make a decision 'in the best interests of the sport', and it may be that ensuring the most attractive line-up for the sport's media partner comes firmly under that heading.

I’ll be honest mate I’m struggling to remember the last decent Cardiff meeting. I didn’t miss one from 2001-2014 and the social side was always the highlight of the weekend. Certainly wouldn’t want it removed from the calendar but as a general point sone of the poor tracks do as we’ve had too many boring rounds and not enough exciting ones.

So there goes your get out clause. That just makes you a hate filled xenophobe then.

Its only right that Lawson rides for Eastbourne as the rearranged meeting at Ipswich is on a SGBP 'off-night'! The rules are quite clear......!

Absolute borefest again and the reason why i dont part with my hard earned cash. Irrelevant to me is the buzz beforehand i want to be entertained by what goes on on the track and Cardiff this year same as most years is boring racing. Anyone who went wide looking for grip just went backwards.....riders just stuck to the white line and the riders behind couldnt pass. The only real overtaking was going down the back straight of lap one going into bend 3 with riders having the drive off of bend two to either hold the outside or shoot up the inner Emil got over Madsen but rode wide and Madsen kept it low and got back Lambert was so much slower then Madsen but as long as he rode tight Madsen was never going to pass him I think the razzamatazz of the occasion clouds peoples judgements.... was possibly the worst gp of the season

Spot on.. Sponsors put big money in to be associated with the best and are obviously happy that they are dealing with a clearly well respected brand.. This standard then delivers great TV coverage and means Polish Speedway can actually auction their meetings to the media, rather than take any meagre pickings thats offered by a single interested party.. That great blanket TV and audio coverage then helps engage a new generation of fans, as well as delivering great coverage for the sponsors to the right demographic they wish to engage with.. It also makes means big money to the riders, which makes being s speedway rider in Poland a truly aspirational career which can bring huge rewards, therefore training schools are full and a conveyer belt of talent is pretty much assured.. This money coming in then means realistic admission costs which encourage families in particular to attend as it remains firmly within their budgets, meaning younger fans start to take notice of the sport to hopefully maintain a strong future for it.. As you say, doing very nicely at the moment... I am sure though being very forward looking, they will still be contemplating how they can improve their current operation further.. Winners never stand still, because they know that if they do they will effectively fall behind competitors who are moving forwards.. Maybe to improve things going forward, they will think of dropping the weekends and run on those 'traditional' family leisure nights of Monday and Thursday's? And maybe consider inserting a rule that lets every rider ride for every club in the league on an ad hoc basis whenever there is a gap in any team? Two ideas both sponsors and TV executives would love to see brought in I am sure.. Or maybe they wouldn't...

Average wise perhaps but in every other way no....

People aren't suggesting replacing Cardiff with Belle Vue, that would be ridiculous, why can't they both be used. Those interested more in the racing will go to Belle Vue along with more from the north probably, those who like the weekend away and the event would still go to Cardiff.

Like many I thought the racing was v poor and the meeting instantly forgettable. It’s not a cheap day so the organisers really need to sort this out (last year at Cardiff was just as crap). There is nothing wrong with the riders, look what happened in the Polish GP when you give the boys a decent track. I said after last year I’d give it one more year but not again for me unless assurances are made to sort the track out. Also this is a big event and the overall pre event entertainment is poor IMO, the organisers have got complacent. The highlight of the day was Charles Wright ! Well done Charles

Some very interesting points on here. I appreciate (as the guy said earlier) that age isn't relevant when it comes to speedway and an opinion, but having followed the sport for 45 years then I do believe that I can give a decent opinion of the merits of Cardiff, even though it does have it's down points. Speedway in the UK is pretty much on its knees. Many of us can remember the halcyon days of the 70's and 80's in the UK... when the British League was the global 'jewel in the crown' of speedway... the place to ride to be competitive... and a time which we probably all took for granted and never expected things to change. Back then... everyone in speedway pretty much EXPECTED that it would be a 'given' that we had a great venue here to house the 'World Final.' We took that as a given right. And there was also an expectancy that the British speedway public will fill the place easily. We had the old Empire Stadium at Wembley. We then had Odsal... then... we didn't. The 'masses' went to watch speedway weekly. My father used to go to watch Odsal in the late 1940's... he had some old programmes from meetings... in the 'pre tv' era. Weekly there was 30,000 people watching meetings back then! The sport was huge. Fast forward to the state of affairs with our beloved sport today... and it really IS on its knees. I am struggling to work out how clubs actually stay afloat. And how small amount of clubs there is. It is bare bones speedway. I have followed Halifax, Bradford.... both now closed. If you have track to support now... it's isn't a 'right' or a 'given,' then it is TRULY a gift from the Gods! Sheffield is where is go to watch now... almost 40 miles each way from my house! Bradford used to be 8 miles away... and my all time beloved club, Halifax... 16 miles! Now... 35 plus!!! THIS is how bad things are. Now if you had shown me today's state of affairs in the 80's, with a crystal ball. Or fetched me forward in a time machine... and showed me the absolute state of affairs in the domestic leagues.... THEN... this weekend... had taken me to Cardiff, and showed me that we actually have a stadium in the UK.. where FORTY thousand people will travel to, to watch not a 'one off final,' but Grand Prix meeting (not as special IMHO), at a venue with a roof on it so that you KNOW it's not gonna be rained off... then I wouldn't actually believe that the whole Cardiff experience was a "thing." I would marvel about it! I wouldn't actually be able to get my head around that this STILL existed. Cardiff still being with us... in a country where speedway is becoming almost defunct... is pretty much the biggest oasis imaginable... and in the world's largest desert. I know that it has it's faults. Processional racing (not hardly a rarity in speedway... if we are being honest)... but yeah... yesterday's meeting was pretty much a gate fest. Hotel prices aren't cheap in the city (that is Capitalism rearing it's head.... why sell a room for £50 when you can sell it for 5 x that amount). Geography also for some isn't so great.... agreed. But for sure... if you look at the actual state of speedway right now here.. it is on it's knees. So the speedway GP at Cardiff... whatever it's faults... IS a miracle and a Godsend. We need to get our nostalgic heads out of our boots and appreciate it is as a thing / concept. I agree that walk up ticket prices on the day of £50 is a disgrace. Why price late comers out when they could sell them at £20 and recoup money and get more people in the stadium? False and stupid econony! But in general... you can make the Cardiff experience reasonably inexpensive if you are up for it, with a little effort. I treated my sister to her tickets this year. 2 tickets were say £42 plus booking fees. Which were reasonable. A pound here or there. It can cost a couple of hundred quid to see some bands at an Arena these days. So £42 for tickets, I booked parking via a website at an Ibis only 15 mins walk from the stadium. That was only £8. So £50. Programme.... £10. We share it. £60. So £60 for the basics for two adults for the actual meeting / parking / programme. The rest are expenses. We drive from Leeds. My motor guzzles a little... so used £76 worth of diesel for the round trip of 500 miles. Yes... that is a long drive to do on the day... but the buzz of having a day out pretty much carries me along. We set off early and stop off on the way (using the Starbucks near Ross on Wye.. which was drive through only this year). So fuel (rather than hotel), tickets, parking, for two people: £136 or £68 each. How much would it cost to go to a gig or see a football match? All of this to watch a largely attended event of a sport we love in the middle of a struggling era in our sport. I personally think that we are LUCKY to have Cardiff. VERY lucky. Yeah... the racing may have been shocking this year. And I appreciate that people would rather see a track like the NSS at Belle Vue house such an event. I get it... I truly do. But it just isn't happening. Even with bolt on stands... once we remove the whole Cardiff experience... we could lose it forever. And tragically... life isn't about mixing and matching. We can't have a track like the NSS in a place like Cardiff. It's indoor on a pitch. And that's not criticism to those sentiments above.. I long for better racing.. desperately! I truly do. But life is all about 'what if's,' and sadly, that is all they are. Even if we could make the NSS at 20k seater stadium... how would that help? People go to Cardiff annually... families. We are trying to promote the sport. Kids go there. Imagine the disappointment for kids if we take a 40k event and slash it by two into a 20 / 15k event (my figures are just examples and not real). People would be let down and miss out hugely. And again... all of this planning for a meeting at a city which is hardly famed for it's sunshine? Speedway is pretty much fortunate to have the NSS. But it was never gonna be a big stadium. Tracks get no support. So yeah... it is a great racing track... but really... just the fact that the NSS even exists is pretty much a miracle! We are NOW a minority sport. Sadly. Rose tinted spectacles off time. It would be absolute domestic speedway suicide to dump off Cardiff and move it to absolutely ANYwhere. It really would. I would love the thought of a 'second GP' here some place... a "European GP." Or whatever, at another venue. I would be up for that concept. 100 percent. But the British GP at Cardiff really is something that we are ridiculously LUCKY to have. The sport here is critical / not stable.. and is on 'life support' right now. And yeah... bongo cams and presenters may be a bit tacky / trash (I am not having a dig at any poster here above... I totally agree :D) but for all of the little things that annoy... we rock up there once a year knowing that our money isn't wasted on a rain off, and knowing that we will probably be served up 'follow my leader processional racing' : pretty much how speedway is in general, if we are to be honest with ourselves.... and if we remove the romantic ideal that we often have of it. It has it's massive faults... but really, it's pretty much a great thing.

The bold typeface simply denotes a change/addition to the previous year’s Regulations.

Tai is absolutely top 8 material Missed 2 rounds when he was getting into form and then rode at least two rounds not fully fit and in his own words awkward on the bike, did better in Vojens and then always on the back foot in Cardiff Lets say he got 18 points in the 2 he missed , that would put him right up with Doyle, Laguta and Zagar........the first 2 rounds back he scored only 12, a fully fit Tai would have got at least 18 in those 2...........puts him in the top 8. The guy broke his back he is quite entitled knowing the championship is gone to look after himself in the remaining rounds and will obviously get a wildcard A 100% fit and motivated Tai, is still a better rider than Zagar and Laguta and Iversen..........will breeze into the top 8 next year health permitting

He certainly seemed to get the best out of some of the riders.Some were quite ordinary to put it politely but we won all before us with the teams we had.He too would do as much as Rory and probably more.I know he would help test bikes for riders.Tested S.Lamberts once and said that was fast,found Kozza's problems when he first come over which was his frames.And helped A.Jones a lot in that great but sadly fateful season.

Common sense from all involved.

Lawson has been in pretty poor form at Ipswich recently that a guess wouldnt weaken us to much Eastbourne by the rules get preference...... R/R wouldnt be the worst move either How is it ridiculous for him to miss a play off meeting? Rules are rules...............most clubs like to stick by them

The thing with having sign written vans is that even amateur riders do manage to get sponsorship so a mobile advert is a plus for even the smallest of sponsor.Also there’s the thing about bike security,and secure storage for a trailer.

My kids are begging me to take them next year as the GP fits in with the holidays. I've already conceded! As for people complaining about the parking prices, I use one of those websites that lets you pay to park on someone's drive. £4.50 for the whole day and only a 20 minute walk to the stadium.

Eastbourne meeting is a league meeting so really they got priority unless all parties agree otherwise ps natalie has tweeted that Saturday meeting is live on bt

Exactly. Woffinden's story is an interesting one, going on to be Britain's most successful world champion after the death of his father and mentor. And being co-written by Peter Oakes should make it a decent read. At £8.99 it's very reasonably priced. Only question for me is, should I buy it now, or wait a couple of months and hint about it for a christmas present.

Sandwich unlikely, but you can do a lot of damage with a bottle of "clear liquid"

It needs a fresh pair of eyes and a completely new approach. None of very, very few of those currently promoting in the UK can deliver what is needed.

It's all about beating the pirates, but since we know what we know, he prob won't get asked anyway, which is a shame as it should be about winning

Spot on Gunner. And will things change for next year...NO! Sadly the sport is in terminal decline....and there’s nothing they will or can do to save it. The future of british club speedway is bleak, very bleak.

I've been going to Cardiff now since 2012 and i've enjoyed the occasion each year until last year where I had a bad experience with somebody in the seat in front of me who seemed incapable of remaining seated for the the entirety of each race and this year like a number of others I found the racing to be lacking much excitement and very processional. The fact that we had the top three riders in the final I felt it should have been a lot more exciting than it was. Coupled with the alternative Park and Ride being full when I arrived and having to fork out £15 to park elsewhere it won't rank among my best Cardiff experiences. The fact is you're never likely to get the best racing on a temporary track but with the Principality stadium we're able to showcase the sport in one the UK's top arenas which in my opinion is great PR for British speedway. However, I do appreciate that people get different things out of their GP day and that for many its the chance to meet up with friends, have a day out eating and drinking with the GP as a back drop to the day. And whilst it continues to pull in 35 -40,000 fans each year it clearly works as an event and I would not advocate moving it elsewhere and in particular to Belle Vue even though the racing would almost certainly be better. Why would you move it to a venue that can only accommodate around a quarter of those who currently attend? The GP in Cardiff is very much British speedway's blue ribbon event and given the fragility of the sport at the moment I feel we need to keep it going to try and maintain the profile of the sport in this country.

The one thing British speedway does better than Poland..... points limit.

The racing is the most important thing but we are in 2019, poor facilities is one of the reasons British speedway is struggling. They don’t have to be Premier League football stadium standard but the basics shouldn’t be hard to get right ie proper and safe lighting, adequate toilets and food/drink outlets etc. However good the speedway might be you are unlikely to keep newbies coming back with poor facilities.

I always enjoy the pairs at Somerset but I do agree the facilities need improving for big meetings. Whem I first went there was a hog roast and cider was dispensed by rucksacks by people going into the crowd but both those have disappeared. A couple of years ago I purchased a awful overpriced burger and the can of cider was warm. So I’ve never purchased anything in the stadium again. The queue for the clubhouse food always puts me off as I want to watch the racing. The lighting around the stadium needs improvement too especially as the ground is uneven. I thought the programme was excellent and good value too and the racing was outstanding which for me is the most important thing.

English translation of an article that appeared in Speedweek last year As a racing driver, Hans Zierk was one of the best of his time on the Langbahn. He won world titles on the assembly line - but only in his second career as an engine tuner. Hans Zierk, who was born on June 23, 1934 in Tribsees in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, came early with the rail sports in touch, but his father Ernst had a motorcycle repair shop, in which some of the then top riders in and out. Thus, the forge master also supported his two sons, Hans and Manfred, to the best of their ability. His first race was the only 14-year-old (!) Hans in 1949 in Berlin-Mariendorf, where he competed in the classes 250 / 350ccm and 500cc. Unfortunately, he had in the 500 class a heavy fall with double-sided pelvic fracture and some other injuries, so that he was able to properly board again in 1950. In the same year he had already become the "king" of the famous Teterower Bergring. 9 day wins, 7 best times of the day, 1 mountain cup (only since 1958) and 2 track records in 10 years underlined this. In 1960, the Zierks, Hans and his enterprising, but always cheerful Mrs. Johanna, who unfortunately died in 2003, moved to the West, and after some back and forth in Lehrte, not far from Hanover, found a new home. As early as 1961, they set up their own business with a Ford dealership. As the profession proceeds, put Hans until 1966 a race break and was then active again until 1977. He could be twice NWBM champion and 1968 third in the German Sandbahnmeisterschaft. The highlight was the 3rd place and the bronze medal at the last European sand track championship in 1970 on the oak ring in Scheeßel, where he dethroned in the decisive run the defending champion and later friend and business partner Don Godden (England). In 1975 he played in Marienbad in the Czech Republic his last World Championship race. At that time he was one of the first to drive and later develop the Roth engine, a four-valve self-propelled tracked engine with two overhead camshafts. Second career: HZ Tuning 1977 ended Zierk after a serious crash in Sweden, over 30 years long, unique and successful racing career and immediately began his second: the successful as a motor tuner, which brought the initials HZ to world fame in rail. Zierk had in its meanwhile two motor vehicle factories its own railway sports department with specially appointed mechanics. Until 1990 he was Godden general importer and changed then because of the better conditions to Jawa. With so much commitment, the successes were not enough. So the unforgotten Simon Wigg (GB) was the most successful with alone five engines won by HZ tuned world champion titles. Also the successes of Hans Nielsen, Karl Maier, Gerd Riss, Kelvin Tatum and Mark Loram (both England) or Bernd Diener are in the history books. Even world record champion and railway icon Ivan Mauger or our only speedway world champion Egon Müller trusted in his tuned aggregates. Hans Zierk, now married again and still in the day-to-day business of his company, is still paying close attention to rail sports today. Despite a severe cancer of the larynx hampered in speaking, he is always happy to assist many activists.