PHILIPRISING

OF course there was a commercial element to wild card choice - although don't forget Crump, Hampel and Sayfutdinov are also Red Bull sponsored - but what is wrong in looking long term, something we are unable to do in the UK. Four years ago Erik Gundersen, no bad judge, said that Mikkel would be the pick of a very fine harvest. Jason Crump singled him out for recommendation to Red Bull. Ole Olsen also thought him good enough to debut at Copenhagen and not be overawed or even out of his depth, which he certainly wasn't. Having met and spoken to him for the first time over the weekend I can only lament that Britain still has no infrastructure to unearth and nurture raw talent such as this. And the Danish fans loved having him there, as did the media including Denmark's answer to the One Show which featured both Mikkel and Ole on prime television on Thursday. Which is something else we can be jealous of. The amount of time and effort being invested in the likes of Mikkel, and others of his ilk, will pay a rich dividend for Denmark in the future.

PERSONALLY thought it was 50/50 and referee would be damned whatever he did. However, I watched the race on the TV monitor next to the scoreboard alongside Freddie Lindgren, who was out in the next heat. Instantaneously he called it "Harris out, he was still in control when Pedersen hit him but THEN lost it." Didn't change his mind one iota when watching the replays. Riders are pretty good judges about incidents that don't involve themselves but it remains a judgement call rather than one of absolute certainty.

LEAD pre-GP entertainment at Cardiff this year will be Stacey Solomon...

NO, I wasn't ... will look into it.

BSI/IMG don't have carte blanc to pick who they want. The host federation, BSI/IMG and the fIM are all involved but, at the end of the day, it is the FIM who ratify the decision.

HOPE not ... I also had 16 years as editor of World Soccer dealing with FIFA many years ago but I doubt whether much as changed except for the worse.

I cannot answer that but presumably they have their reasons and there is no doubt that the local civic authorities are keen to have an international event there.

I DON'T recall last year's track at Terenzano being very good but the 12 hours of rain certainly improved it. "No one waters a track better than god" they say because you get an even spread and at Terenzano it had plenty of time to sink in. I am not defending the tracks in Leszno and Prague, simply saying that Tony Olsson found himself banging his head against a brick wall and the fault lay with the local organisers rather than either the Race Director or BSI. I am no more a fan of processional racing than anyone and thrill at the spectacle of speedway at its best but sadly poor tracks are nothing new. I saw every World Final from 1962 to the last one in 1994 and can count on less than two hands the number of top class races I can still recall. People talk about 1981 at Wembley but take away from Penhall's races with Olsen and Knudsen what else was there?

TRACK preparation is the responsibility of the local organisers working under the auspices of the FIM and isn't strictly speaking anything to do with BSI. Obviously BSI want the best stage possible on which to present their product but it is the Race Director who has to deal with these things. BSI can of course move to different venues but there are very few cast iron guarantees of a perfect racing surface. If there was a recipe to produce the perfect circuit under any conditions then speedway racing would go through the stratosphere ... we all know how good it can be. If it was as simple as some suggest there wouldn't be any bad tracks, let alone in the SGP. Speedway is unique in many respects, not least the actual bikes themselves, and includes the surface required on which to race. Just think how easy it is for road-racing or even moto-cross. We are very close to having arrived at a situation where the so called man made tracks (Gothenburg, Copenhagen and Cardiff) are better than the permanent tracks and that is because they start from scratch. But they also have a huge budget which can only be justified at stadiums like Ullevi, Parken and the Millennium and use material that is now mixed and tested before being laid. Lessons from Gelsenkirchen have been learned. I am not arguing that the TV product served up on Saturday was poor and did speedway no favours. I was simply pointing out that some people there had a different perspective. No, there is nothing to stop BSI from scrapping Terenzano and Vojens in favour of venues they deem more suitable and likely to present a better product but, while there is a number of promoters eager to join the series, not all fit all the criteria of which the actual track is only a part, albeit a vital one. There is quite a high kerb around the inside of both bends at the Marketa and from 2012 the FIM have deemed it must go. Many riders I have spoken to (not just this year) say the kerb hinders their ability to take a tighter and alternative line up the inside. The indications are that given the need to make changes, perhaps taking a metre or so off the inside, they can create some banking and churn up the surface and relay it with fresh and a coarser material which should provide more grip and more than one line. Vojens has the potential to provide excellent racing but Terenzano is another that requires some surgery to its actual shape as well as improved materials on the surface.

GREG (the Hancock version and most probably yourself) is an absolute delight to work with and especially at Press Conferences and there was some great banter on Saturday evening after Tomasz Gollob called him the "old man." Ivan Mauger was a mere 40 when he won his sixth and final World title but who would bet against Greg doing so at 41. There wouldn't be a more popular winner I can assure you.

IF only it was that easy! Actually he wasn't the only one to offer no complaints.. Gollob and Hampel were others. Even Sayfutdinov. Not to the liking of Harris but I think his current problems go far deeper than track surfaces. I am not defending track conditions on Saturday or praising them but as mentioned previously the changes being proposed by the Marketa people should make a significant difference.

QUITE right

THERE are various reasons for that, many to do with mother nature. Weather and climatic conditions on a Friday afternoon at 3pm are invariably very different to 7pm on a Saturday evening. High winds, sun, rain, etc can be critical factors. And, frankly, track preparation is more often than not a bit hit and miss. The problem with temporary tracks some years ago was that a perfect surface was prepared for practice only to be torn up on a Friday afternoon. Experience and a new combination of materials has helped Ole Olsen to eradicate that particular problem but he is able to start with a blank canvas on a Sunday morning. It would be nice if a specialised team under the control of the Race Director could arrive a few days before each SGP event and produce the perfect racing surface on a Saturday evening. But unfortunately that is neither practical nor financially viable. It is as frustrating for the likes as Tony Olsson as for those watching, especially on TV, but there were those actually at the Marketa on Saturday who thought in one of the best meetings staged there for a long time. And there were no complaints from Greg Hancock.

I HAVE no association with Sky, financial or otherwise, just to put the record straight. And I am not saying that the tracks at both Leszno and Prague weren't disappointing and had an adverse effect on the entertainment provided both live and via TV. I am simply trying to make you and others on here aware of the facts. No one was more disappointed than Tony but by the time he arrives at a GP venue, usually on a Thursday, the tracks are already basically prepared. The truth is that some of the criticism of Ole Olsen was harsh and misplaced and some of the praise of Tony Olsson a little unwarranted and misplaced. There is only so much they can do. No doubt there is a will from Tony to provide a decent surface but he can only work with what is available. There are times when reading this forum it seems only GP tracks suffer from poor preparation when it is endemic across the sport.

THE best chef in the world could walk a kitchen and be unable to prepare the meal he wanted if the ingredients weren't available. At both Leszno and Prague this year Tony has done as much as possible to improve the racing surfaces that have been presented to him. There was a suggestion (unproven) that the Leszno officials did ensure a slick track because the Polish riders were fearful of the new silencers on a track with dirt on it. Obviously that wasn't the case in Prague but the circuit at the Marketa has been poor for several years now. It has a very hard base and simply throwing dirt down would not work and would, in fact, make the surface dangerous. As one who stands alongside Tony at GPs I can testify to how hard he is working to improve things but quite often the local track guys turn a deaf ear and carry on regardless. Hopefully the worst is behind us now. The Marketa track will have to change next year because of the introduction of new FIM regulations and we are led to believe that they will take this opportunity to provide a new surface which will much more conducive to good racing and will provide more than one line for the riders to adopt ... and that is the key. There have also been efforts behind the scenes to ensure that the local track guys conform to certain pre-ordained requirements but, frankly, that is much easier said than done. Believe me, there is a determination from Tony Olsson down to provide decent racing tracks but it isn't an exact science and, ironically, there is now more chance of that with temporary surfaces put down by Ole Olsen. All the GP boys were fulsome in their praise of the surface provided at Ullevi and were disappointed that the rain intervened to spoil what would have been a great race track. Copenhagen and Cardiff have been very good in recent years, we know what Torun, Gorican, Gorzow and Malilla can provide which just leaves Vojens and Terenzano to get their acts together. But at the end of the day all these venues can be adversely affected by the weather and that remains the great unknown.

THEY have no choice as a result of new FIM regulations which come into force next year ...

I THINK that is part of the plan ... for more see Speedway Star this week (plug, plug!)

THAT may be about to happen ... and about time too!

THERE was a suggestion at the time that when the Polish riders threatened the PZM regarding the new silencers by stating that they were "dangerous and would cause accidents" the authorities responded by saying that if they were dangerous to ride in Poland they must be everywhere else, hence the threat of withholding their services in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and, of course, FIM events. Once the riders started using them that argument collapsed and there was no need for the PZM to be wary of legal action in the event of any crashes. And, of course, as much as riders may dislike the new silencers, they would prefer to use one type rather than have different engines and set-ups just for the Polish leagues.

NOT sure this is the right place for this subject, but no I wouldn't. That is where you and I seem to fundamentally disagree. I don't accept it is for the good of speedway anywhere, let alone the UK, for tracks to close. There were rights and wrongs on both sides during the winter. Far better, in my opinion, for the tracks to continue and for the problems that brought about the dispute be resolved. However, I still think that can only be achieved by an outside agency and as far as I know it was the BSPA rather than Coventry and Peterborough who didn't want that to happen.

YES and there are countless other decisions taken by the BSPA that appear to be out of synch with the actual rules. Which is just one of many reasons why the administration of domestic speedway in the UK needs a radical overhaul.

BETTER things to do, especially as I am not even in the UK at present, but you could always send me a PM with your name and email address and we could abuse each other at will without involving anyone else.

YOU could always swallow your pride and admit that my post two weeks ago stating that the FIM were determined to bring Poland into line by May 15 was correct... but I won't hold my breath.

AS I have said before you rarely let the facts determine your judgement ... however, really don't think those who read and contribute to this forum need us to bicker in public but would be quite happy to do so face-to-face at any time. Of course, you would have to relinquish your cloak of anonymity...

NO more than I support any track that runs speedway ...