Bagpuss

Appreciate ALL of that Bryn but you still can't convince me that the Aussie Title doesn't lack something (quite a lot in fact) bcause of the non participants! Once again though well done to Noddy (and Troy) for five great performances. At least Bryn your reply was constructive

Read my post again Mr # Name Removed # Nothing but admiration for Noddy, I think he is a super talent and I wasn't criticising him. My point is that its a shame so many good Australian riders are not competing. And get off your high horse while you are at it

Indeed and congratulations to him. A very worthy winner having won all five rounds. However how seriously can the title of Oz Champion be taken when you consider how many rides didn't compete? No Crump, Adams, Watt, Shields, Schlein, Doolan, Johnston, Parker, Lyons or Henry to just name the ones who pop into my head. Of course its not Noddy's concern who does or doesn't enter and I am sure he would have beaten many of those anyway but I just think its a shame so many very good riders didn't compete. Devalues the whole thing for me.

A bloody good question! Have the 1996 GP challenge from Prague (?) on video somewhere and what an awesome meeting that was, great speedway in more or less every heat. Doesn't get much more cut-throat than a GP Challenge.

If he finishes in the top eight then great, see you next year Scotty. If not then he should not get yet another seeded nomination. Would like to think he will hang on to eighth but can't see it with Hampel, Jagus and Holta breathing down his neck. Would agree that he looked nowhere near quick enough on Saturday night. Considering he was as quick as any at Coventry last evening that smacks of a lack of preparation / professionalism / knowhow which needs to be put right for any future GP seasons.

Not a bad GP but could have been much better if they hadn't made the track so bloody slick! Astonishing first lap by Gollob, just a shame that Adams wasn't in the final to take the title to the wire. Pedersen once again class.

Would love to see Adams win the thing this year simply because he hasn't been World Champ yet, but you have to hand it to NP, he has been unbelievably consistent and can only throw it away now Agree Laguta was like a breath of fresh air and looks worth a punt for a British club possibly

Yep he certainly made himself look a pillock with his reaction. Would have done exactly the same to Hans if it was the other way round. Don't particularly like either of them but big up massive respect to Andersen as he always shakes hands after getting beat, must have been pick sick after lousing up the final but congratulated each of the other three on the warm down lap. In that respect a true sportsman.

Lots of Brit bashing on here as expected but I thought it was a good job well done by the Brits. Should have won on paper and did so with a fair bit to spare in the end. Russia were excellent entertainment and JD showed what a great rider he can be on good kit. Hancock apart the USA were a shambles. Personally don't think GB have much chance of winning the final but the good thing is that the team is full of youth this year which makes things a bit more unpredictable and gives hope for the future. Like others I can't really understand Nicholls' comments about finishing top three. May well be realistic but sounds defeatist, if the riders don't think they can win it (unlike me!) then why bother riding? Possibly the BSPA press office misquoting again? The race off should be very interesting tonight and won't surprise me if its a better meeting than the final.

Agree that he was very unlucky tonight but that is sport for you, ups and downs. I think we will have to agree to disagree lupus Can't beleive I am defending Nicki P

I'm by no means Nicki's greatest fan but I think people are being a bit hard on him here. These are GP's and the racing is cut throat stuff! Accidents will happen. If he had cut up the inside cleanly and won the race (which could easily have happened) then we would all be saying what a fine ride it was. The margins are like fag papers at this level.

Personally I don't think he is good enough, as he has consistently shown since being in the series. However I agree that he gets slagged off far too much on here. No need for people to join the hate campaign. If you don't like him then support someone else!

Precisley what I was getting at iris123

I believe there will be two Brits seeded through to next years series and they will be Nicholls and Bomber Loram too old, Richardson lost it, Stead not ready

Wouldn't disagree with that at all pal!

So was Andersen not still leaning on Nicholls when they entered the corner? At the end of the day its a GP and nobody in a Semi Final is going to shut off, and with the track as wet as it was somebody was bound to come a cropper, just happened to be Hans Classic 'six of one, half a dozen of the other' for me

MrMungo! A rather blinkered view for a man of your considerable speedway knowledge Did you not see Andersen leaning all over Nicholls in an attempt to stop him going past? Or did you ignore that bit? As Kelvin Tatum said, Andersen's body was 'in completely the wrong position' going down the straight As I have said on the main thread it could have gone either way and Scotty was unlucky on this occasion, after getting lucky in Lonigo. Andersen could also have felt hard done by if he had been thrown out, but thats speedway And if nothing else these two characters make for great viewing when they meet on track

Both decisions were 50/50 for me. Of course the racing is hard! Gordon Bennett, its a World Championship Nicholls and Lindback were unlucky this time but their turn will come

Andersen, Sullivan and Holta I reckon. Although it would be nice for Bomber and/or Steady to finish in the top three

I thought (as Kelvin Tatum rightly said) that the Pedersen / Iversen one could have gone either way, but for me the Nicholls / Zagar incident was pretty clear cut. Scotty's move had reckless and desperate written all over it after he cocked the previous corner (?) up and without doubt he caused Zagar to fall. But hey you need a bit of luck now and again and I'm pleased to see Scott on the rostrum as I'm sure is his No.1 fan shooting star

At that level there is a very fine line between dirty and hard racing. Thought Mr Steele got both major decisions wrong, I would have excluded Pedersen for taking away Iversen's leg and Scott for wiping out Zagar but there you go, thats speedway

Definitely deserving winners, well done to them. GB had a good go after a bad start and whilst never looking likely to win they deserve credit too. As do the other two teams for playing their part in a very very entertaining meeting

To be fair the heat 18 incident was one of those which could have gone either way. And I think the vast majority of people would have replaced Steady with Louis for the final if they had the power to, indeed many were suprised that he wasn't in the original five as he is the form British rider. It is soooooo easy to be wise after the event

Heat 18: as Hans said himself, what goes around comes around

Looks like Mr Andersen's naughty manouvre on Thursday had started a trend! At least the GB boys are only chopping across half the track and not from the kerb right to the fence