salty

Totally agree. Surely Andy Smith should have been asked as he outscored them at Kirky Lane and his after meeting quotes seemed to indicate that he was willing to continue in the qualifiers.

Know what you mean Iris, I think he had some pretty dull black ones with a bit of yellow on them for most of his time at Wimbledon. Just out of interest who would your fave Dons have been in the last years of top flight Speedway in the early 80's?

Got the book last weekend and as yet have only flicked though it, to be honest Simmo doesn't really make much of his time at Plough Lane, concentrating more on his Lynn, Poole and England days. I started attending Wimbledon regularly at the end of the '81 season and for the next couple of years for the most part it was a pleasure to watch Simmo in action. One of the few who could regularly come from the back on a track where passing was difficult. Retro Speedway seem to be raising the bar ever higher with the quality of their publications, looking forward to seeing the Booey book and the next instalment of John Berry's revelations. Well Done Tony Mc.

Any reason why you took exception to the flyer? Have to say it did the job in our household, leaving it near the kettle for a day resulting in my better half picking up on the hint and arranging it to be presented by the kids on Sunday morning.(the book that is, not the flyer)

Having got this book yet, I'm hoping it might find its way to me for Fathers Day. Personally I would much rather read a book that told the truth warts and all than a bland, ghosted autobiography. I think Simmo should be applauded for having the guts to be so honest.

Well Done Danny King, qualified in 4th place!!! Good to see Holder get through as well.

One and the same. But it is his home track though. Wonder if he will be the wild card for the GP.

I've always been a fan of Rune and supported his riding for Poland in World Cup last year. My understanding was that he felt it would improve his standing with the GP organisers if he rode well in such an event. If he now reverts back to being Norwegian, I think most people will see it as a cynical move and he would lose a lot of goodwill. Having said that I do feel he is one of the top 15 in the world and is worthy of GP status.

Difficult situation when 3 riders who could have easily qualified missed the meeting (Kolodziej and Kasper through injury, Holta being sick). Maybe Holta will revert to being Norwegian as I understand they get 2 slots in the Tarnow round!!! Seriously, it seems a bit daft that riders of this quality will miss out this year whilst we will have 3 Hungarians, 2 Italians, 2 French, a Croat, an Austrian and a Slovakian in the next round of qualifiers.

I suspected as much, but thanks for confirming it. Would love to see some action taken against the offending promotions, maybe not being picked as hosts for any shared events. Kennett and Bridger should not have been allowed to ride for their clubs tonight. Find it even more amazing that Kennett got the nod for Cardiff. Then they wonder why Britain is a fading force on the world stage.

Why weren't they picked? Seems strange that Kennett gets picked in front of Danny King for the Cardiff reserve position but doesn't get picked for this.

That's true but crucially he did finish ahead of Richardson who got a seeded spot. From what I remember Pepe's sponsors (Pentel) were a factor in him getting a seeded place. Obviously this farce should not be repeated as the qualifiers are back this year. I still think there are some seeded spots though, could someone clarify.

Really thought the Russians would win this, looks like the absence of Renat in the latter heats cost them. Looks like it was a pretty close meeting though.

Thought the fact he got the wild card at Krsko meant he had settled his differences with the Slovenian authorities.

Joonas would be the perfect candidate for a wild card at the Scandanavian GP.

Looks like a heavy Hackney influence! Not complaining though as I can't wait to read the Bernie article. I'm sure Simmo will have a lot of interesting memories.

Richardson is evens to beat Lindback with the dreaded Bet & Win

Scott Humphries and Nathan Simpson from Wimbledon, Pete Bradshaw who died at Lokeren as did Mal Carmichael (don't know if he rode in league comp or just 2nd halves) Dennis Gavros, Bob Jameson from Halifax

Now I should have remembered him!

Just thought of one more... Graham Coombes.

There was always the strong feeling that some clubs were treated more favourably than others. In John Berry's book he bought the licence to West Ham(including riders) but then states that Christer Lofqvist (the No 1) was spirited away to Poole who were then run by the influential Charles Foote(I think). I remember Cradley being refused permission to keep Jan Simensen one year who then got allocated to the Ochiltree show at Brandon.

Craig was born in Manchester, used to go to NZ in the winter though.

Having seen Reading on the TV last night, I sincerely hope massive improvements are done to both the stadium and the track before the World Cup. Looked ramshackle and as mentioned before goes against the previous philosophy of BSI to try and give a positive image of the sport.

Yes, but he became a naturalised Kiwi and represented them at Test level, famously winning the World Pairs.

Unless I've missed him one of the best Kiwi's of recent times was Mark Thorpe.