salty

You should have come back to the main Wimbledon station with me Shadders. Granted a bit further to walk but better lit! Haven't been to Plough Lane for a dog meeting since they booted out the Dons in 1991. I was slightly surprised to see the popular side (the opposite to the starting gate) was no longer opened up for the dogs. When I used to go it used be fairly full with about 6 bookies.

Tony, if I remember right "Kiwi" is Bob's son Robert so I am sure if you ask these questions Bob will know what you are on about. PS I would be interested on his views of team riding with Chris Julian.

Obviously I can't speak for TMC and plans may have changed, but the opening blurb said "A BIG welcome to Part 1 of Speedway in the 70's" and the season by season write up's only covered 1970-71-72. So that all sounds promising for a sequel....

I'll second that. Enjoyed the first one very much and got the impression there was going to be a sequel... Maybe in time for Xmas?

Would love to know any memories Bob has of his time at Cradley. Particularly what he remembers of the infamous match versus Hackney when Garry Middleton had to be sneaked out of the stadium in the boot of Len Silver's car.

We're Speedway fans Randy - of course we remember you! Just to put my 2p's worth into the debate. I have been a subscriber since Issue 1 and always look forward to each new copy. Like all magazines there are going to be some features you prefer more than others and I have to say I wasn't taken by the recent one on the American riders as I felt it tried to cover to many riders and therefore spread itself too thinly. I feel riders like Sigalos, Cook and the Morans were probably worthy of Main Man features in their own right, though I appreciate it would be difficult to conduct interviews with them now they are back over the pond. I particularly enjoy reading about the more unsung riders form the Backtrack era and sometimes the stories they tell are more interesting than those told by the more media-exposed stars of that time. Look forward to seeing the changes in the next issue and will be interesting to read the rider columns. Long may Backtrack thrive! PS would like to see the quizzes come back.

Don't see anyone blaming anyone to be honest. But you can't argue with the fact it was a disappointing spectacle, with a ridiculous amount of disparity between the effectiveness of the gate positions.

Did my ears deceive me, but at some point this evening I'm sure Millard said something along the lines of "We all think of Jason Crump as a youngster but he's actually 34 next week" and then a few moments later say about Emil something like "we think he's been around for ages but he's not yet 20" Forgive me if I've got the wording wrong but I am sure that was the gist of what the maestro was saying. Different planet.

The young Aussie at Sheffield - Hugh Skidmore - has a name made for Speedway!

Suppose you can't look past McMillan, Beaton, Hunter and Collins from the 70's. Throw in a McKinna (or 2) and maybe even Bert Harkins who was a heat leader in the British League for the first half of the 70's. Hope there is something about Jim Beaton Jnr as the way he came back after his serious arm injury was some story.

Holta represented Norway in the 1995 World Cup Final (the old 3 man formula). When he rode for Poland in the 2005 Final he became the first to ride for 2 countries.

Amazing how year after year the World Cup throws up some great finishes. People might slag the joker rules, but they certainly do play a part in keeping things close. The Russians looked dead and buried today but the 6 point joker ride gave them a boost and they were able to carry on and be right in the mix for the rest of the meeting. Another super performance by them. You might argue that the Aussies should have been a bit cuter and not gone 6 up over Poland near the end, but it wasn't out of the realms of possibility for the Poles to have engineered it anyway.

Clearly they should be when a country loses a rider like the Danes did last night. But if I remember right the 6th rider was done away with following teams abusing the facility a couple of years ago.

Really enjoyed that! Fantastic performance by the Russians, with Emil inspiring the other guys to ride out of their skins. Great to see them pulling off that victory, hope for more of the same next Saturday. Means the run-off on Thursday will be even more tasty than expected with both the Danes and the Swedes in it.

Hard -Yes. Dirty - No. Pedersen put himself in a difficult position, if you watch every other heat all riders are going on the line Laguta took down the home straight. Hope Pedersen isn't too badly hurt.

Totally agree with that point Iris. Having 2 Brits rather than 3 on parade in Cardiff would have a negligable effect on the attendance. Hopefully Harris will qualify by one method or the other, but unless Nicholls comes on strong in the second half of the season I can't see any justification for him to get a nomination. As for the other Brits, not one of them managed to get through any round of the qualifiers, so it's hard to see any of them coping with GP's in 2010.

Tai or Eddy getting a wildcard (nomination) would be a joke. Neither got through their initial qualifier and then when Tai was given a second bite he again failed to make the cut from the Semi. Would make a mockery of the qualifiers if someone got a pick who couldn't even get through one round.

Richardson is doing well in the leagues, but would he be able to make an impression in the GP's? Will be interesting to see how he does in the WTC (if he gets a ride). Pity he pulled out of his qualifier, but I would rather a rider who finished 9th or 10th in the standings get given a nomination than a rider of similar vintage get in purely because there are no other Brits good enough.

Big problem with the nominations is at least one (if not two) get used up to ensure that there are Brits in the series. Surely there can be no justification for having 2 Brits for 2010? Harris still has a chance of qualifying in the top 8 or failing that getting through at Coventry, but with Nicholls way off the pace and no other Brit even qualifying to the semi's by right, let alone the Final, it would be totally unfair to put a Brit in for next year.

Would be cruel if Smolinski missed out in such a way. Hopefully one of the Brits will get through the other Semi.

So supposing all the Brits did fail to qualify. Who chooses which semi only gets 7 qualifiers?

A few surprises in Latvia. End of the road for Bjarne, Schlein and Ales. Eight qualifiers are Hampel, Pavlic , Lindgren, Bogdanow, Miedzinski, Holder, Pepe and Smolinski.

Should mean that Woffinden gets a go. Wright is now in the other one - not sure who pulled out to allow that.

First I've heard that Zagar was put forward (and presumably turned down by IMG). Makes it more of a joke that 2 Brits had to be nominated. Given only Bomber is still in the qualifying process and Scotty is having a mare, surely there can't be 2 Brits next year??? Re Nazza's post - I've not seen anything about a Brit being seeded through to Coventry.

Why's it a mistake? Worst thing we did 2 years ago was qualify directly to Leszno. Far better to get into the run-off and at least give the guys a chance to have a go on it before the final.