Derwent

I was at one of those, but I can't remember which one :? It was the year my childhood idle Lou Sansom lost the title in a 3 way run off after being squeezed out on the first bend. He'd been the best rider in the league all year by a mile, held the silver helmet all year, but fate conspired against him. Tragic. I think it was 1976, but my memory isn't what it was :-( You could always try Tony Jackson at Workington - he has a vast collection of speedway archives.

Too right I will, although it'll be more expensive next year as they switch over to Euro's in April. If Amsterdam and Dublin are anything to go by then prices will rise a fair bit once the Euro is in place. We're desparately trying to convince the last unmarried bloke in our circle that he has to get married so we can go back on another stag trip before April !!!! He's refused so far, some people are just selfish.

Erm, well, it was my stag weekend you see (getting hitched in 4 weeks) and I was sort of in a permanent state of drunkenness all weekend (we arrived on Thursday evening). It became apparent at about 5.30pm on Saturday that we (there were 10 of us) didn't actually care about the GP anymore 'cos we were having such a ball, so we decided to stay in the pub and watch the England footy match. Gave our tickets away to some Swedish folk, who no doubt made a fortune selling them at the stadium Was consoled by the fact that I was videoing the GP at home, except when I got home on Monday I found that the wife-to-be had actually taped 3 hours of pap on ITV. So, still haven't seen the Prague GP, probably never will now ! Still, it was worth it ;-)

Was that the stuff in the green bottles with the red label that tasted like syrup ? On Saturday morning we found a little backstreet bar near the Rose & Crown english bar which was knocking out Budvar at 10Kr (or 22p) a pint - very nice ! Imported beers were expensive (my mate paid £4 for a pint of guiness in one bar cos he was sick of lager) but the local beers were cheaper than water, and the Budvar 12% has a nice kick ! Don't know where Joanne paid £2 a pint at in Old Town Square, must have been in one of the bars near the clock I suspect ? Over the other side of the square there were two British bars - Caffreys and The George & Dragon - next to each other which were very reasonably priced at about 45p a pint. Other bars worthy of a mention were The Thirsty Dog, Bar Jaguar and Sportsbar.

Prague was fantastic, beautiful city and beer prices so cheap it was dangerous ! So dangerous in fact that we actually managed to forget about the GP and missed it altogether !!! Saw lots of Brits around the Wenceslas square area and in the Hard Rock cafe etc - dunno if I saw anyone off this forum cos I've never met anyone. Old Town Square on saturday afternoon was packed with Poles, thousands of them, great atmosphere. A word of advice for anyone going in future - avoid the Irish bars like the plague. Highest prices in town and the beer was flat and awful. Rocky O'Reillys in particular was rubbish. The James Joyce wasn't much better. Best place in Prague ? Club Darling, just off Wenceslas Square. Don't take the mrs though Flew back with a few BV lads on sunday evening, they were good crack and hello to them if they read this !

Oh well, I tried but...... Hi Due to the re-scheduling of the FIM Scandinavian Speedway Grand Prix I will now be out of the office until Tuesday 2nd September. I will be picking up my e-mails periodically. If you need to contact me you can call me on my mobile: Kind regards Nic NICOLA SANDS Media Manager Benfield Sports International Tel: +44 207 578 7453 Mob: removed by request E-mail: nicola@benfieldsports.com Perhaps we should bombard her mobile with calls until they give us an answer ?

And I have rung and emailed Sky, and still no answer I've e:mailed Nicola Sands at BSI who is their "media manager" to ask her if sky are showing it or not. If she replies I'll post the response on here.

I'm staying at the Hotel Splendid in Prague - is anyone else from this forum staying there ?

It's difficult to see how Sky could show it on Saturday - they have four sports channels (1, 2, 3 & Extra) and all four are showing live sports events on saturday night. One is showing live football, one is showing the England v France rugby union game live, another is showing live super league and one is showing live tennis. Therefore, given that they can't move these around the schedules as they're live events, then I would say the chances of them showing the GP live are somewhere between slim and none.

The problem lies in the fact that it's the FIM who will make the decision and they won't give a toss about the British domestic speedway. If the rule says they can't do it then they'll just change the rule ! At the end of the day, they're going to favour the sport's "flagship" event rather than worry about the inconvenience to specific British clubs. It's the way of the world, the money is in corporate sponsorship and that means GP's and such like, and so that's what will take precedence. It doesn't matter whether we like it or not, ultimately our thoughts and opinions will count for nothing.

It's a big surprise for me... Simon was only reserved in a Rybnik semi-final he scored 3 points (1,2,0,0) then. What about Lee Richardson he's better than Simon? regards! bart Simon is really flying at the moment and won't be there just to make up the numbers. This week he has broken the track record at Workington on Saturday and then scored 12+1 for Wolves against Eastbourne on Monday. He thoroughly deserves his chance.

Simon Stead replaces David Howe for Sunday's final.

Erm, forgive me if I'm wrong but didn't Norris only do as expected on Monday ? He only beat a few Slovenians, Italians and a well below par Todd Wiltshire !! I'm not knocking him but some of the pro-Norris brigade are making out like he rode like a world champion ! He did what you would have expected against that opposition - no more, no less. If he does the business tonight against better opposition I'll be the first to congratulate him, but lets not get carried away with his performance the other night considering the opposition.

I don't know, I'm a bit worried about our chances to be honest. My main worry is that we have 3 riders who tend to ride the inside line constantly in Havvy, Deano & Floppy. It might be difficult in these 5 man races because riders will probably have to look for lines that they wouldn't usually ride cos of the lack of room, and I'm not entirely convinced that those 3 can do that. I hope I'm wrong !

You'd think the SpeedwayWC site would have the teams on wouldn't you ? I think your right about the likely changes but who do you reckon will come in for Sweden ?

Just in the process of creating my programme for tonights meeting but can't find the line ups anywhere. Are they the same as the qualifiers or has there been any team changes ? Does anybody know ? BTW, if anybody would like a copy (its excel spreadsheet, proper speedway programme format) then let me know and I'll send you a copy. Once I've found out what the teams are that is !

I'm going cos it's my stag weekend ! If you see a party of 14 very drunken lads from Workington then that'll be me and the boys. 40p a pint ? Bring it on !!!!

I think the format is poor and it doesn't help the sport's image to have these weaker nations being so far behind the leaders. Personally I think the WC would be better under the format of a proper speedway meeting - 7 man teams, 15 heats. You could have 4 quarter finals, two semi's and the final - all one team versus one team. We've got 7 decent strength speedway nations in GB, Australia, Poland, Sweden, USA, Denmark and Czech Republic so you'd have those plus one nation from a qualifier (probably Finland or Slovenia). Personally I think that would be so much better than the current format.

Yes I too was dubious about Norris but he performed very creditably. Biggest disappointment was Scotty, only one win in 5 heats. One more win and we'd have tied with the Aussies. Still, we know he's quality and he'll do better in the race off. I think the weak link may be Havvy, particularly in 5 man races where you might have to find lines which you wouldn't normally ride. Move him off the white line and he needs a map !

I've got a better version that i created on an Excel spreadsheet, but don't know how to post it on the net ! If anybody wants a copy to put online for others to download then e:mail me at seaton_lad@hotmail.com and I'll send you it. Must e:mail before 4.30pm though as I won't be online after that.

I heard that too, and that Iceland are replacing them !! This WC just gets more farcical by the minute.

Norris is not international class and it's disgraceful that he has been picked. Away from his Eastbourne home he is very very ordinary. Even there he didn't exactly impress when riding for GB versus RoW ! I am also bemused by the decision to include Havvy - hardly setting the world on fire at the moment is he ? How he can exclude Stoney is beyond me. The bloke is bang in form at the moment, and he should be in the team if only for his infectious enthusiasm and the team spirit he creates. Obviously his face doesn't fit, or maybe it's because he's northern based ?

Middlo has today named a 10 man squad for the forthcoming WC :- Nicholls Richardson Screen Stonehewer Loram Barker Harris Norris Havelock Howe

I think Barker should be included, but definitely not Norris. Away from Arlington he is not the same rider and also he is very inconsistent. My final 5 would be :- 1) Nicholls (obvious choice) 2) Richardson (another obvious choice) 3) Stonehewer (class rider and a great "team player") 4) Howe (probably the best of the young uns at the moment) 5) Barker (deserves his chance) When is the final squad being announced, does anybody know ?

It totally depends on what criteria you mean by "best". In terms of sheer excitement and the "how did he do that" factor, then Kenny Carter was the king. For sheer raw talent and making it look easy, then it'd have to be Michael Lee. For sheer professionalism and application, it'd have to be Peter Collins. My speedway watching only goes as far back as 1970 so I didn't see the likes of Peter Craven ride. There were lots of great riders in the 70's who would be worthy candidates for this accolade - Tiger Louis, Gordon Kennett, John Davis etc etc etc