Midland Red

Enough! I keep reading these posts, and the comments in Backtrack, and wonder if anyone really understands what can happen to someone's mental state - if you've read about Kenny's background in life, you would perhaps agree that it would probably have had a destabilising effect on him, which probably led to some of the "outrageouse" things which occurfrfed during his racing career. As far as the final act of his and Pam's life, there had probably been further build up of anguish in the brain, leading to even further, tragic, instability As one who in the last two years has suffered from a series of panic attacks, and now fears what may or may not be going on inside my head, and worrying about what others may consider trivia, I begin to understand a little about what mental illness can bring - perhaps some others need to stop and thank God that they don't suffer in any small way, 'cause it's no fun, I can tell you - I've felt the walls closing in on me and the head feeling as if it's going to burst, and that's only the tip of the mental illness iceberg, I know I do wonder, however, how the tragic events at Grey Horse Farm in Bradshaw could possibly be blamed in any way for the decline in the media-popularity of speedway, unless it was the exit of one of the country's brightest star riders from the scene, one who has never really been replaced I am surprised, nay, shocked, as Parsloes' comments above - Collins was a great rider, so too was Carter, so too were Lee, perhaps Loram, before them Wigg - the final sentence from Parsloes above post is unbelievably sad and untrue RIP Kenny and Pam

I'm hoping to be in Prague when the 2010 GP is due to be held Can SKS give some advice about tickets for this event (where to buy, which part of the stadium to go for) Thanks

Spot on !

Erm - so . . . . what are Tai's credentials for seeding for the GP?

If you search for it, I think there's a lot of old speedway footage on Pathe

Harris - 2x British Champion in last 3 seasons, British GP winner 2007 'scuse me - what are Tai's credentials for seeding for the GP (third heat-leader at his club, perhaps) LOL

But did he get the answer right?

The contestants (were they called challengers?) had to sign in - write their names on a large . . . . wasn't a whiteboard, too long ago, a large pad of paper In the middle of the program, there was a slightly different round, where the panellists were blindfolded and they had to guess the identity of a celebrity instead PS Thought of Eamonn Andrews only yesterday, when I was relating to daughter's partner about listening to World Heavyweight Championship Fights on the radio in the middle of the night in the 50s/60s - was a regular thing to wake up to listen to Johansson, Patterson, Clay, Liston, etc - Barrington Dalby and Eamonn Andrews Sorry. I digressed. I don't remember a speedway rider either!

There's also Burst Watermain Oh no, he's a figment of Terry Wogan's imagination, isn't he!

I still believe that Nigel should be honoured for services to speedway, both for club and country, rider and manager I just wish someone more qualified than I to present the case would get the thing moving

totaley agree, and dont have harris, he likes his beers to much the night before the gps ( still drinking passed midnight in our villa at bydgoszcz), and takes 4 races to sober up. wants the fast life, but not realy interested in being a top rider, dont let him back in for god sake Thought this had been mentioned last year, and it was agreed that he doesn't sleep well, hence the late hours drinking only soft drinks?

Part of a double header if my memory serves me correctly

Really?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this thread supposed to be "which Brit should get a GP wildcard" ?????

So . . . . It's not good news at all Olsen is staying involved with the FIM at a more powerful level, and his "main responsibility will be to drive the development, promotion and expansion of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix in close consultation with the FIM and its promoter BSI Speedway" Nothing to do with promoting the sport in this or any other country Nothing for the rank and file supporter who pays out good money week in week out to watch the sport he/she loves, or for the local promoter endeavouring to keep the sport in existence Time for the BSPA, SCB, ACU, SRA, to get together and tell the FIM to go forth and multiply with their GP series, so that Britain can get on with restoring a proper 7 day a week sport between the end of March and October at tracks up and down the country, without those riders who prefer to ply their trade elsewhere

Totally agree! (Would be interesting to see whether "a Rune Holta" would remain an adoptee of another country if he had an "easier" route via his own association!) The main drawback to the GPs as you say is the calendar, it's not like you can run qualifying rounds through May-August for one September date, unless . . . . . Perhaps there's a case for having a GP "circus" in September and October on (say 7) successive weekends, and then there'd be a chance of qualifying rounds in the same season And league programmes could then be planned prior to the GP "season" so that riders could ride in the domestic leagues and domestic qualifiers during the earlier months

Agreed! No question! All I was saying was that all of the 16 places in the World Final were reserved for a set number of places based on geographics, and apart from the years when riders were "seeded" to the World Final, my comment I believe to be factually correct I would much prefer some qualification system "on-the-track", an extension of the current GP Challenge for more (or all??) of the GP starting places And I do believe a return to the knock-out system of GP rounds (finish 3rd/4th in two races and you're out) would be a vast improvement on what we now have (apart from the fact that there would be added disappointment at the back for [enter rider's name] according to Tony Millard)

Pomerian Prussian German

Never said it was the same as being allocated a place - the point was that, even with qualification rounds, geographics always came into it somewhere In other words, there were places "reserved" in the final 16 for British born riders - provided they were successful enough in the type of rounds you mention The final 16 was not made up of the best 16 riders in the world, or the best qualified - but of the 16 who were successful through geographically based qualifying rounds Allocation (or seeding) of places did take place (as I said this has been discussed elsewhere) but my points were that there were two issues, places reserved based on nationality and British alloaction of wildcards if and when available

There are two distinct issues here 1 Should GB have (2) places in the GPs 2 Who should received any GB wildcard place(s) In all the "glorious" years of the World Championship, appearance in the one-off final was both by nationality and qualification, as places were allocated to the leading riders in the final rounds of qualification events in (inter alia) GB, Scandinavia, "Continental" Europe Agreed the GB rounds including the Australia/New Zealand riders, but essentially berths on World Final day were "allocated" to British riders - allocations varying from season to season Almost entirely, apart from some nominations which have been mentioned elsewhere, a World Final berth was then down to ability on the day(s) of the qualifying rounds As far as 2010 is concerned, if GB get two wildcards, Chris Harris has to be a leading contender based on his standings in BEL and GP, including the GP Challenge, also his British Championship The other is less obvious as all leading candidates - Woffinden, Bridger, Kennett, Richardson, Nicholls - all have plusses and minusses against their names Personally I would go with Woffinden to join Harris

Don't ask me ! It was a suggestion by "screamer" All I've done is show who would have qualified under that scenario Mind you, the Brits used to qualify (generally) by themselves, the continentals via European/Continental/Nordic/whatever qualifiers, for the PROPER World Championship Edit : Yes, I know, the ANZACs were with the Brits too - but we had more than two qualifiers!

I can remember Nigel Boocock beating Ove Fundin and taking him to a decider on a neutral track Happy daze!

Excellent read, particularly for a Coventry Kid born and bred I can just see the riders pushing their motor cycles along Holbrook Lane and down Lythalls Lane to the track, ready to have a go at the new sport And why did Brandon get so much rain pre-war?

But if the British Championship is the qualifier, as suggested, Ed makes it as second-placed rider

Always believed in qualification, not nomination I believe that a British Championship has been held, at Poole, and the winner was Chris Harris and the runner-up Edward Kennett On this basis, therefore, Bomber and Ed should be the two Brits in next year's GP series