Steve Shovlar

Mrris st said the riders are fed up with it and its bad every week.

No.

Didn’t think it would be possible to outdo the Leicester V Poole meeting from last week, but Swindon v Leicester is already in front with racing diabolical. Track is massively underwatered. Poole v BV was also raced in similar temps but we didn’t see any dust all night.

If a team is on the losing end of a 5-1 and one of the riders falls, the other rider should start from 15 metres in the rerun. Simon Stead should know this and been on the phone to the ref. Mind you the ref could be the same geezer from Cardiff on Saturday.

Bellego should go from 15 metres. But he isn’t.

Someone been telling you fibs.

Thought the intro mediocre. Inside the stadium we didn’t have the faintest idea where the riders actually were around the stadium. Needed darkness with a single spotlight. Still it was better than the intro a few years back when the riders came out in a stretch limousine to a confused crowd, then got out one at a time. Now that really was crap!

Whats with the moans? Kids dont go to school Saturdays or Sundays so no problems there. The excuse it will be too cold is an imbecilic comment. Septembers can be balmy and Julys wet. Not much difference. As for football, as someone else has pointed out, the GP is a one off. Crowd could be bigger than normal.

With Pirates strength in depth we are vunerable in 13 and 15 against Iversen and Lambert. A point would be very good. Anything else a bonus. Saw that Lambert has only been beaten twice at home all season. Big achievement.

Gutless wonder.

Poole win. No problem in this one.

Telegraph.co.uk Some 472 miles away from the fairways of Carnoustie, there was another British sporting event being televised this weekend, but its dust, din and danger are about as far away from the hushed, tense, rarefied world of the Open golf as it is possible to imagine. The Speedway Grand Prix in Cardiff on Saturday was attended by more than 40,000, and shown live on BT Sport. The channel took the opportunity to release the latest of its invariably classy BT Sport Films: a documentary about the motor sport called True Grit. It will be reshown and is well worth a look. Watching the live action at the Principality Stadium, one would conclude that speedway must be in rude health: tens of thousands of passionate, committed fans, plenty of drama, exciting sport, with races coming thick and fast. Danger, characters, and a party atmosphere with lots of families. And in Tai Woffinden, a genuine star – covered in tattoos. Brilliant, uncompromising, he is a properly captivating, charismatic dark genius of the Ronnie O’Sullivan or Kevin Pietersen school. He came second on the night but accrued enough points to move closer to what would be his third world title. But the story away from the showpiece event is more clapped out moped than gleaming Harley Davidson. The True Grit film introduced a cast of dedicated, driven and singular folk genuinely struggling to keep their heads above water and their sport going. The riders are only paid when they race, and live a gruelling existence of driving themselves to races, competing for a few quid in front of sparse crowds, then grinding on to the next event. Woffinden says in the film: “I don’t really see dangers in what I do. It is probably more dangerous getting on a flight than me doing four laps on a speedway bike. I have never got nervous, so I don’t know what that feels like.” But there were nervous times on Saturday when Australia’s world champion, Jason Doyle, had a sickening crash, which culminated in his bike smashing into him as he hit the barrier, and a 30-minute delay in proceedings while he was taken to hospital. Fortunately, he has escaped with “just” minor fractures, but it was further evidence to back up True Grit’s point that this is a sport where danger and disaster lurk at every turn. Among its contributors is Garry Stead, who was a Premier League Speedway Champion before a 2007 accident left him paralysed from the waist down. It’s a powerful and sad story, bravely and unsentimentally told by the documentary. Risk and danger, naturally, are part of the attraction of speedway, and its sound and spectacle make for good television and what looks like a top day out as well. Lots of families in the crowd, no trouble, generous to the riders apart from perhaps pantomime villain Nicki Pedersen. Like all smaller sports, speedway is in a constant battle for investment, for sponsorships, for eyeballs, and those who run it need to take some serious, creative action as a matter of urgency. If they wanted something to show potential customers and supporters, they could do a lot worse than wave BT Sport’s film under noses. I enjoyed it and the live action at Cardiff and would watch again. True Grit: Wednesday Aug 15, 10.30pm, BT Sport 2 and Monday Sept 3, 6.30pm. BT Sport 1

Been kept quite quiet on this. We hear a few minor fractures. Of what? Collarbone? 28 day replacement or guests?

Lynn running scared? If they have any thoughts of making the playoffs a win tomorrow is a must for them. Not quite so for Pirates who should win at Leicester next monday and Swindon in the b fixture.

Totally agree. Couldn’t hardly understand a single word she said. Useless and annoying. Get rid. As opposite her is Kevin Coombes who is clear, knowledgeable and still knows how to get the crowd going.

Where can I buy some of Barry Briggs youth serum? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-44898416/speedway-what-does-it-take-to-become-a-racer

As I said last night, Woffindens pit crew failed to turn on his fuel tap. He had to go fishing for it on the first bend and was fine in the heat after that, albeit half a lap behind. The stadium cameras then picked him up giving a bollocking to the tall mechanic who had his arms raised in apologies. Every heat after that he checked his fuel tap as he approached the tape. I haven’t seen it but on BT he said it was an ignition problem. Clearly wanting to keep any issues “in house” rather than blame his pit crew in public.

Article in Sunday Times. Tai Woffinden extends title lead after Jason Doyle suffers crash in Cardiff showdown Australian rider in hospital but Briton thrives at home grand prix In the end, it was all about Tai Woffinden. Almost. Britain’s most naturally gifted and naturally maverick speedway rider since the ill-fated Michael Lee. A thrilling evening before a 40,000 crowd ended with him finishing second in Cardiff for the third time, last night to the imperious Pole Bartosz Zmarzlik. All the same, Woffinden’s lead in the world championship was extended to 20 points at the season’s halfway stage. “It doesn’t matter,” he said afterwards. “Winning the Grand Prix is just a platform. The important thing is that I’ve extended the lead.” There were sub-plots. Unheralded British rider Craig Cook won three successive heats. Troublingly, the reigning world champion Jason Doyle took a terrible fall in heat 20 on a track that posed difficulties all night. “It was hard out there,” said Woffinden. “The man-made tracks are so gnarly. You need a big set of balls and to know how to ride and when you see the other three best riders in the world next to you, it’s the ultimate trial.” As Doyle lay prostrate, his bike careered into him. An ambulance came onto the track. Doyle was briefly unconscious, but after a lengthy delay, he was alert as he was stretchered off to hospital. Once again, the dangers of this remarkable sport were laid bare, but Doyle will be back. “I didn’t want to look,” said Woffinden of Doyle’s tumble. “I had to keep my head in the right place. He’s had his x-rays and I just hope he’s OK, but when you get on that bike, there are things we all know…” Woffinden is seemingly on course for his third world title. But for all that the British Grand Prix is the ultimate showcase for Britain’s best rider, Woffinden and Cardiff have never been easy bedfellows. A runner-up in 2014 and 2016, Woffinden hitherto played the occasion rather than the four-lap races. This time, Woffinden and his 500cc bike went close, but again not quite close enough. As ever, the organisers went for spectacle in the faintly ludicrous shape of a 50ft inflatable trophy; a sex-appeal-free band knocking out a version of Sex on Fire; indoor fireworks; the Welsh and British national anthems; WWF-style cheerleading (“ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are you ready to go racing?”) and the usual eardrum-challenging cacophony. It all smacked of a self-conscious lack of a confidence in a sport that again proved to be as thrilling and as dangerous as it was when Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and Anders Michanek were staples of terrestrial television. Woffinden and second-place Fredrik Lindgren met in the first heat and, with the swagger of one who knows no other way to conduct himself, Woffinden led from first to last, so far ahead that he could finish with a wheelie. Lindgren finished third. Pantomime villain Nicki Pedersen and Woffinden clashed in heat 5. Woffinden was last into the gate. After a restart when fellow Brit Robert Lambert took a painful tumble onto the cinders and was excluded, Woffinden was last out of it and, bike stuttering and spluttering, he finished third out of three when his ignition failed. There was still a territory-marking wheelie. If British speedway looks like a one-man show, Craig Cook won heat 6, holding off Przemyslaw Pawlicki at the end for only his second victory in 36 heats. He would win his third in heat 11 and then his fourth two heats later, before his luck ran out when he fell in heat 20 and failed to finish his semi-final, but it remains the finest night of a journeyman career. Bike restored, Woffinden won heat 9 with a bravura display of chance-taking, no-holds-barred riding. With Patryk Dudek shadowing his every manoeuvre, Woffinden took the long way round and although the margin of victory and the wheelie at the end were small, the ability and bravery were superlative. Woffinden began heat 13 on the outside, but a sluggish start meant he could not squeeze past Greg Hancock. This time, there was no Woffinden wheelie, but there was a clasp of hands with Cook who was second only to Zmarzlik, who, surprisingly, began the evening eighth in the championship. Yet when Woffinden and Zmarzlik finally met in heat 17, the Brit’s 52.5sec was the fastest of the evening and the Pole trailed all the way. Zmarzlik and Maciej Janowski qualified from the all-Polish first semi-final. Woffinden won the second ahead of Hancock. The final was a Zmarzlik masterclass. “I was waiting for him to make a mistake,” said Woffinden, “but it never came.” His wheelie at the end was barely noticeable, but the bigger picture remains a joy for him to behold.

I purchased a £19 seat. I didn’t necassarily actually sit in it though. And no, I didn’t go and sit in someone elses seat either.

I had a rather good seat for 19 quid. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6l41hil4pphj5y6/File 21-07-2018%2C 22 54 11.jpeg?dl=0

Should be unasailable now unless there’s an injury. Hope the BBC follow up todays coverage with a report but think some yank ruining a good walk with a golf club or some driver being paid 36 million a year driving a fast car in a boring ‘race’ will take up all the sports time.

Dear Sidney stop showing everyone your lack of mental capacity. If a rider is good enough they will get a team place. What part of that don’t you understand? Do you want me to make it even more simplistic for you?

Thought ref was crap. Cook was pulled back and warned when it looked like a perfect gste, then Hancock got pulled for the same and ref apologised. Lamberts exclusion with Doyle and Magics ex with Doyle. Crowd booed him several times.

How did the event come over on TV? Being there we all thought it was brilliant but that might not have come across on The box.

Watched him at the fan zone and he ws very good with everyone. Definately matured.