salty

A true gent of the track. RIP

Dave Perks dabbles in antiques i believe.

I remember Errol from the 1969 season. He was great value and very exciting to watch because of his tendency to bite the dust. Had a very distinctive red neckerchief I think.

Yes, you're right, forgot about Lukas.

Think you will find that Kai is in on merit. He qualified via the meeting at Poole, not as a wild card. If memory serves this years permanent seeds are Loram, Richardson, Hampel, Andersen, Pedersen, Max (not too sure about those last 3)

Weymouth: D.Kennedy 7 (from 4) M.Corradine 3 (3) R.Stratton 5 (4) C.Julian 5+1 (4) R.Jones 8 (4) S.Willmott 3+1 (4) R.Evans 7+2 (4) Glasgow: B.Collins 10+1 (4) M.McKeon 11 (4) G. Dawson 8+1 (4) D.Richardson 9+2 (4) B.Rourke 2 (4) J.Gallacher 0 (3) N.Hollingsworth 0 (3) Not in riding order... Regards

Fantastic meeting! Well done to the Poles, delighted to see them through. A very disappointing crowd though... Were the prices too high? And what is it with the palm trees? What is their significance? Is it a carnival link? The Polish guy who kept answering Greeny's questions looked like Roman Jankowski to me.

Spot on mate. In my view when there is a race off with 2 teams qualifying, if they are going to allow jokers then it should be when you are 6 points behind the 2nd placed team not the leading team (i.e. 6 points from a qualification place). Wise words. the tactical joker makes a bit of a mockery of it all doesn't it. Hampel could have eased off into last place in Heat 24 to allow the Poles the right to use one as well. Just glad that Gollob (and PK) meant its use was ineffective.

Agree totally. His first 3 rides lookes like classic examples of nerves causing him to over ride and make bad judgements. His last 3 rides showed what a talent he is and proved instrumental in taking his country through.

What a lovely send off! RIP Alby.

Yes, Garry Middleton did get smuggled out in the back of Len Silver's car, but he had knocked 3 Cradley riders off during the night and then brandished a pistol around in the pits, so it was understandable that tempers were running high!!!

Got issue 3 this afternoon (yes the post is slow in this part of the world) and it is just as good as the first 2. Quite emotive reading the Joe Owen and Tommy Jansson articles. Just a thought though, at the end of the article on Weymouth Brian White makes a throwaway remark that the Poole promotion aren't happy with what he is doing at Weymouth. The buggers should be doing everything in their power to help him, I would like to know why they aren't happy, surely the more successful tracks the merrier.....

Didn't Ole do the track for World Final at Peterboro'?

I had my conspiracy theory hat on as well and think you may well me be on the mark with that. Last Gp I remember when Gate 4 was so productive early was in Vojens a couple of years ago which aided the Danish wild cards then as well. Having said that the Danes rode out of their skins last night.

Pedersen/Crump incident tough to call. Minimal contact but a dangerous move imo. Nicki seems to think he "can do what he likes" when in front. I do not think this includes pulling some of the moves that he has done this year. Be interested to know what he was saying to Crumpy across the pits as Crumpy got ready for the re-run. On the other hand I think he deserves a lot of credit for trying to clear the track in the final. As Crumpy was leading at the time it would have suited Nicki to have a re-run, so fair play to him for that.

All those defending Hans and accusing Rune of being a diver, have a look at where Andersen finished up on the corner. He went in so fast that he ended up very close to the fence, that shows me he was out of control as alluded to by Johnno in his commentary. A very similar incident in Wroclaw ended up with Holta being excluded, the difference being that Holta had lost a bit of control down the back straight which contributed to the accident.

Pleased for King and the other qualifiers, but doesn't seem right that Gizatullin can get 14 and still not qualify. Hope he gets a ride in the next round....

On a faintly related note, I read recently that Manchester United have banned their players from signing autographs, as they are concerned about signed memorabilia being sold on websites and auctions at inflated prices! All the better to sell as "official product" I guess. Makes you realise what a great bunch speedway riders are.

Dont even go there!! there will only be one King Kenny. Couldn't have put it better. Carter might have been controversial in terms of his public pronouncements, but he wasn't what I would class a dirty rider. Pedersen is. Issue 2 is another fascinating read, I thought the article on Vic Harding was excellent.

Bet you the Danes (also a neighbour of Germany) don't have a German rider as a Wild Card. Feel sorry for Topinka, last year he gave a great wild card performance and should have been selected again.

I remember when Paul was 14 or 15 and he used to have after the meeting rides at Plough Lane. Honestly thought he would go onto really big things, but a nasty injury (was it at Middlesbrough?) seemed to knock the stuffing out of him.

Think the only reason that White City were called the Rebels in the late 70's was because that was the nickname of the Oxford team who moved there. Having said that using the Confederate flag wouldn't probably have been the smartest move given the rich mix of cultures resident in that part of West London.

Great to see these Heathens heroes still going strong. Good old Triggy!!!!

James Moore, New Zealander who rode for cradley and Oxfors in the late 70's? What is so special about that I hear you ask? Because his full name was...James Timy Te-Kerehi Herini-Moore. Only tenuously linked but I had a lot of time for the person who named their racehorses Betty Swallocks, Mary Hinge and Cunning Stunt respectively. (trained by Julie Cecil in the early 90's I believe)

As I have mentioned before on a similar thread, there is a great interest in bike racing in Northern Ireland, but it is all devoted to road racing. Last meeting held over here afaik was in about 1981/2 at Ballymena involving a Cradley team. Reportedly a crowd of approx 5,000 attended. Positives for Ireland: Population crying out for top class sport. Ulster Rugby Union matches in the Heineken Cup attract five figure crowds and the Belfast giants Ice Hockey team attract a good following(not so sure that is still the case) A bike racing culture exists. Negatives: Bike racing culture is not the same as Speedway culture. Accessibility for riders/machinery, quickest ferries are about 1 1/2 hours,but that is from Stranraer! Can't see a way round that problem!!!! P.S. Edgar Stangeland lives over here.