Steve Shovlar

What's he done? Last year did we do well? This year we scrapped through with Crump and Adams missing. I tell you what. If we make top three on Saturday I will say he is the man for the job.

I say it as I see it. I don't personally attack anyone or am abusive. It's a shame you can't argue your point to me without name calling.

I should imagine Matt, Middlo et al completely disagree with me.

Try it sometime? I watch it quite bit. I will be at Poole tomorrow night for the Buccs meeting. It can be entertaiing at times but doesn't hold a candle to the Pirates meetings IMO. I have seen speedway through al the levels this year and none is comparable to top flight speedway.

Never expcted many to agree with the first post on this thread. They are my thoughts and I knew when writing them that the vast majority would whole heartedly disagree. I expected the abuse and got it, though its water off a ducks back to me. End of the day I don't think PL tracks should be allowed to host major events, regardless of what facilities are like. They should earn the right, and the right is won by their club racing in the top flight. Don't agree? Fair enough. As I said I didn't expect many to agree and certainly not KL or PL fans. The reason this sport is in the state it is is simply because clubs would rather sit in the PL than come up to the big boys. Riders stagnate in the PL, never fulfill their ambitions. The PL is now full of has beens and won't ever be's. A tiny percentage come through to EL from the PL in this country, and they are Jonny Foriegner. Sundstrom next year, Ward last, Holder the year before. A couple of others but the PL is clogged up with riders on their swansong or simply not good enough to progress any further. When was the last Brit to come through the PL ranks to really make a mark? Woffinden? He learnt his skills in the much more competitive Aussie system. After him? PL fans say they wouldn't want their club tomove up to the EL because there's not enough clubs and therefore meetings. Well what if three/four clubs made the effort and mved up? There woould certainly be enough clubs then, wouldn't there? Clubs like Kings Lynn, Sheffield and Birmingham should be EL clubs. And then IMO they could hosts meetings like last night. But giving a PL club a top meeting just because they wanted to host it gives no incentive to them to consider riding at a higher level and have riders like last night gracing their track every week.

BBC have a report on their website for a change. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/8857004.stm

EL riders have far more skill than PL riders, as well as speed. That's why in the latter part of last nights meeting you saw some passing. Harris in heat 24, Woffinden, Ward and Lindgren in heat 22. A shame we had to wait two thirds of the meeting for it to wake up from the snoozefest it was. Too many on here wearing rose tinted glasses if they thought is was a classic meeting last night. It certainly wasn't. It only redeemed itself by Team GB winning and a few good races at the end. I said it earlier. Peterborough last year was in a different league to last night.

Watch it Orion, they will be after you next. We get told week in and out the PL is where the racing is at its best. Funny that the PL riders there last night were half a lap behind. That PL rider in the Swedish team who rides KL weekly really put the woolies up the other guys didn't he? Kings Lynn would rather be a big fish in a little pond than risk playing with the big boys.

I still stick to what I said. PL tracks shouldn't get a sniff of a top meeting. If they don't have th ambition to try and be the best, they shouldn't be able to bid and run top meetings. Where's the incentive for these clubs to improve if all they want to do is wallow in mediocrity? Sure that will P off PL fans but as far as I am concerned, the PL Riders Championship and PL 4 TT is as big as it should get for PL clubs. If clubs like kings Lynn want to hold events like this they should be racing in the EL. No wonder british Speedway is so far down the pan when British clubs show such a lack of ambition to improve. I thought the racing was not great last night. A few good heats later on and the fact that Team GB won through made it look a lot better than it actually was. It couldn't hold a candle to the Peterborough meeting last year.

Tottenham placed a bid to play there yesterday and AEG als want it.

Disagree. I think the Aussies and Denmark will get through. Swedes are almost in as poor a position as Team GB with riders not coming though.

I missed out Peterborrough because there would have been little point in turning up tonight as the Aussies would definately have romped it. ( at Poole as well) We got away with it tonight because neither Crump or Adams were riding. If both had been riding in place of Ward and Schlein, they would have romped home by a dozen or more points. Stick the meeting on a small tight track and give the foreigners something to think about. But regardless of that, we got away with it and that's all that matters at this moment.

I would certainly rate Kings Lynn's track a lot higher than Brandons. A shame the management there don't have any on track ambitions to match the stadium, which they have improved no end.

Absolutely spot on. And by the way Kings Lynn looks a hell of a lot better than it was when I last went. A mud bath with a shed in the middle of the centre green and Bryn smoking fags like they were going to be banned at any minute! Shame they don't have an EL speedway team to match the stadium.

Eh? Not used to seeing this standard? I go to Poole every week and to be honest the racing ais as good if not better than this. Every Wednesday at Wimborne Road. You should come up and try it out. Certainly the racing is better by a distance than the first half of tonights meeting, where is was pretty poor to be honest. There was some good racing in the second half of tonights meeting but nothing to go manic about. Come and watch Harris and Holders clashes for example at Poole.

And I am glad I was wrong with GB pipping the Aussies. But it doesn't take it away from the fact that IMO we should have used an EL track like Monmore, Coventry or Poole.

Still stick to what I said when starting this thread. We were very lucky to make it through and if it had been held at Monmore we would have had an easier ride. Pleased we made the final Good effort this time from Team GB. But what would have been said if we had lost by point? I wasn't very far off with my thoughts.

Ended up a reasonably good meeting in the end after a snoozefest first half. The track wasn't great to be honest but when you get the better riders they will try different lines. Thought heat 22 was the pick of the bunch with Lindgren coming from last to first and Ward battling at the back with Woffinden. Happy we made the final. Made hard work of it around there and really the Aussies must be kicking themselves in a golden chance missed. If it had been somewhere like Monmore it would have been a hell of a lot easier for Team GB. Thought the crowd was good but not perhaps as big as it should have been. Perhaps the fact that it was at Kings Lynn and on a Monday stopped many from travelling. So we make the final which is great news. If it had been the race off it would have been game over for another year.

TeamGB will get my full support, even against the three Poole Aussies. And I agree that the team picked is the right team, unlike last year. I just believe that an event like this should have been held on an EL track where the TeamGB riders ply their trade, not a PL track that offers no advantage to the British team, but a healthy one to the Aussies.

And Eastbourne has?

I used Poole as a third choice. Monmore would be fine. An EL club in the centre of the country where British riders should do well. Not some PL track, regardless of how tidy it now is. Hopefully the manager will do the right thing and fall on his sward in a couple of weeks time if TeamGB fail to make the final. It's on his neck in his own back yard. No excuses. Kings Lynn or any PL club shouldn't get a sniff of holding a prestigeous international meeting in the UK. EL only and rightly so. The riders race in the EL, not PL. IF PL fans want to watch top riders, go to an EL track!

Nothing to do with being an EL snob. It has everything to do with getting TeamGB through to the final and holding this meeting at Kings Lynn will be the reason why Australia will go through and Team GB will croak out at the semi final stage. Hold it at Monmore and the Brits would do fine. Harris, Nicholls, Tai all ride it well and Richardson and Stead are no sloutches around there either. Still, when have the BSPA thought along those lines?

Utter madness to use Kings Lynn. It's not an EL track. Team GB hardly ever ride on it. Where's the home advantage? Why wasn't a British EL track used? SWC features EL riders, not PL riders. Kings Lynn should have no right to hold this meeting as they show scant interest in mixing with the better teams. Why chose a track on a Monday which is about as remote as you can get? Why chose a track that Batchelor and Ward were brought up on? This meeting should have been held at Monmore, Coventry or Poole, or a track where the British riders hold the upper hand over their rivals. This is going to be a walk in the park for the Aussies. Poor call to go to KL.

I heard Ben Barker bundled into the back of a police van on Saturday night after the GP for being involved in a punch up? He couldn't have stayed long at that VIP do!

Excellent report in the Telegraph who report 44,150 attendees. They also said this: The Cardiff 2010 experience What we liked 1: Record crowd and sizzling atmosphere. You just don't get dull British Grands Prix. 2: Jason Crump's swift congratulations to winner Chris Holder only minutes after their very public on-track contretemps. That's class. 3: Slick presentation. All over in 2hr 40min as organisers tightened up on a show that has gone well over three hours in recent years. 4: Tai Woffinden's brilliantly executed cutbacks against the Danes. There have been some rumblings over whether he's ready for the highest level. You have the answer. And what we didn't 1: Nicki Pedersen escaping exclusion for a brutal move on Davey Watt - then taking exception when Hans Andersen dished out some rough treatment in the rerun. 2: British debutant Tai Woffinden being almost completely ignored when the rider presentations got out of sequence on parade. 3: Despite all the flag-waving, no Brits in the last eight. Again. 4: Lots of nice pictures but rather thin reading for an £8 match programme.