salty

Pretty good meeting. Sped through in less than 2 hours, compare to the Coventry meeting last year that seemed to go on forever.

3 man race-off. Zorro, Lindgren and Kolodziej. Hope the Pole does it, but would be a good comeback after his last in Heat 17.

Laguta does it!!!! Terrific stuff.

Kolodziej has looked so good all night, but now relying on others to drop points.

Any 3 from Kolodziej, Lindback, Laguta and Lindgren, with Zorro still in with a shout. Would love to see Laguta pull it off.

Don't see your logic. No point having fresh blood just for the sake of it, surely they need to be competitive to be a worthwhile addition. I prefer to watch the best 15 in the world (or as near as possible), but I can't see another Brit who would be able to compete at the moment. At least this year Harris is still in the running for a top 8 spot.

I've a horrible feeling Madsen might get in the top 3, which would leave a nasty taste in the mouth after his silencer issues earlier in the qualifying. Ulamek can gate as good as anybody and might also do well. Harris rode well in the WTC Final but I doubt if the track will be the same this weekend. Would love to see one of the Russians get through.

Interesting info, Kiwi. Certainly sounds like it is still a possibility.

Now that is interesting!

Spot on.

You have a strange definition of interesting....

Back to the list of qualifiers, I thought Povazhny had qualified?

With Emil out for the season that is one of the nominations taken care of. As someone else said BSI have dug themselves a bit of a hole by giving Tai a nomination for this season. I am sure they are hoping he can show something in the last 4 GP's to justify sticking with him for next year. More of the same and you can't really justify giving him a pick even taking into account his youth.

Thanks for the photos - looks like a good crowd.

Agree that it makes it a bit pointless to have a run-off. Sets it up for a great final round though.

Are you talking about the Gaffer qualifying from Vojens or getting a nomination? Would have to be the latter, I don't think he qualified for the Challenge Final. Certainly looks fascinating for the weekend and further ahead to see who will make up the 15 for next year. Unless BSI strike lucky, as you say, their nominations system will be under a bit of pressure. I'm sure they will be looking for a Swede and a Brit to qualify from Vojens, to give them a bit more flexibility with their choices, but it's possible that the Brits might be struggling to get their 2 free passes this year.

I was at that match at Plough Lane. Early season League Cup match. Rooted out the programme which shows that Wimbledon were 8 points ahead with 3 races to go and indeed the Cheetahs got 3 consecutive 5-1's to clinch a 37-41 victory. For Oxford Taylor, Wigg and Rasmussen all got paid wins in their last outings and they were their only ones of the night. Gordon Kennett only got 1 point from 4 rides and John Davis was last in Heats 11 and 13 for the Dons. Ref was Reg Trott. Next night Wimbledon won at Oxford.

We'll just have to disagree then. The key word you use is "should" (or as you wrote it shoul), the fact remains that the rules allow Holta to ride as a Pole, just like back in the 60's they allowed Bob Andrews to represent New Zealand even though he had previously ridden for England. If you think that makes sport a "joke" fair enough, but does one Norwegian riding for the country of which he has been a citizen for 8 years make it any more a joke than the England cricket team having 4 South African born players and an Irishman?

Try writing your second sentence in English then I'll know what point you are trying to make. My comment about the English cricket team was in response to Sudden Sam's comments so needs to be taken in context. Whether they have played tests or not is splitting hairs really, Pietersen and Trott for example were both born and raised in South Africa and played for their Youth team. Morgan was born and raised in Dublin and played a number of 1 day internationals for Ireland.

I take it you don't celebrate the victories of the England cricket team then?

Morgan never played a Test Match for Ireland because they don't play Test Cricket. He did play 25 one day internationals for them though. He played for England one month after he played for Ireland.

In your world, but not in the Speedway World. Whatever rules that were in place allowed Holta to ride for Poland about 5 years ago, even though he had previously appeared under the Norwegian flag. Not ideal I guess, but can't understand why people are still mithering about it, I think he was the Polish Champion as long ago as 2003.

He tries the young guys (to more or less universal support). The young guys did Ok last year but have, by and large, not performed as expected this year, therefore, he has gone for the guys who have been performing better, which happen to be the old guys. Did you want him to stick with Kennett and Bridger the way they have ridden this year?

Change the record mate, Holta's reasons for becoming a naturalised Pole are well documented. It's just a fact of life in international sport nowadays. Just look at the England cricket team. As for your comments about the Danes, what are you on about? Do you think they could just recruit a top class rider from another country?

As long ago as......last year! Poland won with 44, Russia 4th with 35. Best team won today, fantastic effort from the Poles to come through and win after the start that they had. Even then I couldn't see them beating the Danes in 4 of the last 5 races. I think the Brits put on a good show, certainly seemed well motivated and were in the mix throughout.