salty

There was good article in The Independent on Saturday morning, featuring mainly on Bomber. Would expect to see a report in Monday's paper as well. Usually the only coverage in the paper throughout the year.

Fantastic performance by Bomber, he was always overshadowed when younger by Stead and Howe amongst others, but what he did last night is the best thing to happen to British Speedway for years. After all the doom and gloom surrounding Oxford and Reading hopefully Bomber's emergence as a bona fide contender will get Speedway talked about for the right reasons. Also like to echo what a couple of others have mentioned, Hancock and Crump were both excellent in terms of they way they congratulated Bomber and conducted themselves in the post meeting. Credit to them both.

By the look of that neither did the 2 Brits! Only Richard Hall left in makes for a pretty poor performance. F-s-p, if you go back to the original link it has Kauko down as 9 points, which means he is in and Jesper B is only reserve!

Russia are in the other semi, looking forward to seeing them around Brandon.

Would have thought it would make sense for the Slovenian authorities to seed Zagar, especially if he is struggling to get in the top 8.

With 7 through from each of the qualifiers I'm assuming there are riders who are seeded through direct to the semi's. Anybody know who they are? Not looking very promising for the Brits so far with the Swedish meeting looking tough it may be only Richard Hall getting through. With Nicholls not pulling up any trees in the GP's and surely not going to be given another seeded spot who is going to be the 2nd Brit in the 2008 series???

Shame that Bridger and King didn't make it, but useful experience all the same. Good to see the Dryml's getting through and especially "The gaffer!". Suppose Santej was the surprise packet!

Sorry guys Electrifying gating whilst a great skill it does not equal entertainment in my book. Agree that Shawn McConnell was something special. I remember watching him at Plough Lane about 1984 and he rode lines round there that nobody else ever tried.

Have to agree Bob was a great gater and by all accounts a fine fella as well, but I wouldn't have him down as an entertainer.

Looks like Ivanov beat Kseizak for the 8th spot. Sajfutdinov looking good again!!

"In no particular order"..... but Barry Thomas is top of the list!!!!!! I am assuming guys like Preben Eriksen and Steve Gresham are on the list as much for their bad guy antics as anything else. I would consider Garry Middleton, Chris Julian and Kelvin Mullarkey for their personalities on the track and I don't know how you can pick Kelly and not Shawn, he was just as exciting on a bike. Soren Sjosten almost had the word swashbuckling attached to him and was apparently a character off track as well. Also what about Bruce Penhall?

Good to see Ed and Lewis get through, Ed in particular can make a real impression in the final.

Surely having a go in the GP qualifiers would give him the chance to broaden his experience of riding on foreign tracks! Really can't see what harm it would have done him to have a go this year.

Thats a fantastic performance if thats the case! Well done to the Russians!

Go to the Cradley website and look under Bob's name under the riders link. Nice appreciation of his time at Cradley followed by an update as to where he is now along with a pic from 1999. Might be wrong but I'm nearly certain I saw a more recent pic of him in either Backtrack or possibly Speedway Star in the past few months.

Bob Valentine finished his career at Cradley with a 1 year stint for the 1977 season, after which he retired. From what I recall he was very popular at Dudley Wood and finished with a 6.50 average which was more than acceptable in a troubled year best remembered for the sackings of Anders Michanek and Bernie Persson.

Excellent edition again, but one little moan. We got the results for the quiz but not the answers for the last lot of questions. Not unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

How frustrating was Holta on Saturday night. Twice he looked like a rookie from Gate 4 then he produced the ride of the night(apart from Bomber) to pass Zagar. A shade unlucky not to reach the semi's given that he beat Andersen. Hope for better from him in Sweden next time out. As others have mentioned at least he could laugh at himself, I could think of some others on the circuit who would have spat the dummy and banished the cameras from his pits area after that 2nd fall.

Got to be Stead.

Don't get me started, though I now live many miles away from the site of my beloved Dudley Wood, I have had a good few looks on Google Earth. Makes me want to go and burn down a couple of Barratt Homes!!!!! Looking on the bright side there is a possibility we could be back on track next year. Until then the memories will have to do, thank god for video!

Not got a problem at all with you having your opinions. I have a soft spot for Holta, I think because he comes from a Speedway nation with very few top riders and because he has got to near the top of the sport without riding in the UK. As a result I feel he has always been a bit under rated. You might well be right that his best days are now behind him.

No you weren't, he finished in the top 15. Seriously, it was a disappointing show from Rune. I thought he was unlucky to be excluded in his 3rd ride and he gave a glimpse of what he can do in his 4th. Let's give it a few more GP's before we pass judgement.

Yet Holta has consistently been in the top 10 averages in Poland and Sweden for the past few years. Also finished 8th in the GP's in 2003 before an injury affected 2004 saw him out of the series.

Can remember him in his time at Wimbledon getting some sort of infection from an insect bite which really knocked him about. I'd like to know more about how that affected him. Would also like to know how he got on with team mates like Lee and Simmons and how he coped with those vital World Final engine failures. Also be interested in his views on how he was treated as GB manager and how he felt his dismissal was handled.

Track: Dudley Wood Captain: Erik Gundersen Other Riders: Bernie Persson, Jan O Pedersen, Alan Grahame, Phil Collins, Simon Cross, Arthur Price. No 8 Billy Hamill. Promoter: Dan McCormick Team Manager: Peter Adams Announcer: Pat Foley Race Night: Saturday at 7.30 (need to leave home by 7.00, read a Sporting Star on the way to the track) March Out Music: That RAF marching song Reading matter: Speedway Star on the way out the stadium (sorry Tony) after walking round the riders car park trying to grab some autographs.