Steve Shovlar

Shazzy, I can take it then that you and VV will never be bed buddies?

I haven't got a ticket either but will head up there and take my chances. Pretty sure anyone who turns up will get in. BSI won't want to turn away cash! If they do find the place full, they more the fool them for holding the event on an allotment. Worst stadium in the elite league by quite some distance, with a very small capacity. Shame I can't make it on Saturday, but if Team GB do sail through tonight, then if I was aiming to go I would buy my ticket this evening at the "stadium".

Some great racing tonight although the meeting was long and drawn out. Step forward Lindback. Star of the show with some amazing passing. Last to first in one heat, stalked Gjedde in another before getting him on the line in a photo finish! Wall of death ride in another. The lad is showing the world who will be at the top in a couple more years. Looking forward to going up to the allotment on Thursday to cheer on the Brits!

Smallmead is probably the worst stadium in the elite league and will be a huge embarressment to all when the final is held there.

Well done to Antonio!! Also congrats to all other qualifiers. I bet Pop Kennett is not too popular at the moment with his son.

Not sure I understand what you mean by Lindback tailing off. He is improving by the week and now has a 9+ elite league average, and is reaping the rewards of a Jawa sponsorship. Brian Andersen took 9 brand new engines from Lindback last week! The boy is going places. As for Adams, he is a great rider, who lacks that extra bit of aggression when it matters. he should never have surrendered his second place but was bullied out of it by a young lad with a fraction of Adams experience. Tells a very clear picture.

Been away for the best part of a week and came back this afternoon. After suffering the football I decided to watch the GP in fast farward mode, and I was glad I did after the first few races showed the track to be a bit rough to say the least. All night there was nothing on the outside and when riders tried to go around they either fell off ( Trick and Nicholls) or made fools of themselves ( Crump and a few others) Having said that riders soon found that sticking to the white line was the way to go and it did produce some great races, mainly Bjarne and Lindback in the semis with some passionate riding. Come in Hancock and Adams, your time is up! Lindback in particular was worth the admission fee, showing older, more experienced riders how to do it. Adams just didn't have an answer to Antonios riding and surrendered his position with a little waive of the white flag. Unfortunately Antonios lack of experience showed through in the final when he chose 4 instead of three. Still, the writing is plainly on the wall for all to see and this year is a big learning year before he makes a real attempt at the title in a couple of years time. Bjarne did well for third and Andersen showed BSI what a mistake they made in leaving him out of the series. I am sure they will make sure he is in the lineup in 2007, regardless of whether he qualifies or not. Overall a pretty good GP and this time Crump didn't have the luck of an EF or fall in the final to give him an undeserved second chance.

Source is this weeks Speedway Star.

I see that the 100th GP is to take place at Cardiff, as the first GP in March 2008! A dangerous move by BSI or one to get the season started with a bang?

40,371 is the offical attendance. Add to this all the freeloaders and there was probably 45,000 in the stadium.

Andersen should never have been left out. Iversen is not really good enough and that was a silly error on the selectors in chosing him over Andersen.

Agree with you on Stead. Sorry to say he was well out of his depth. How many years will we have to wait until we have a competitive british GP rider again? Nothing currently on the horizon.

Whilst I agree about the track being poor, I disagree about the attendance. If that crowd was 30-35,000, then in previous years they have been around the 20,000. There was a much bigger crowd yesterday, and by quite a lot. A couple of years ago the third tier down the back straight was very sparcely populated, with no one in the top 30 rows. Last night it was fans all the way to the very top, and although there were empty seats dotted about, it is still very good news that the crowds are growing well. Now if they can sort out that track...........

Well that was easily the biggest speedway crowd at Cardiff by quite a few thousand. The upper tier is now really begining to fill up and give it a couple more years and that 62,500 will be a realistic target. certainly we would get the placed packed out faster if there was a decent Brit about bt at the moment nothing to get excited about.

J Posselthwaite said last night that there crowd has grown every year and this year they have sold an extra 10%, so we are talking 44,000 fans on Saturday if that is true. Those bars are going to be busy.

Guarenteed to keep the stadium 90% empty until 15 mns before the start. Rubbish warm up act. Rather have the Wombles or some silly group that at least can get the crowd going.

Rob, I would have been more than happy to give my thoughts of the GP and the form of TRick, if asked in a decent tone. However, this philcrumpisgod person didn't ask, but worded it in such a way that I found condescending. For that reason alone I decided not to make a comment when I returned. However, he then went on to more or less "demand" I make a statement, asking what planet I am on. Asking for me to post "to show I am a decent person" is like a red rag to a bull. What other response did he expect?

You expect me to repond to such condescending posts? Get a life.

Two words. Second one is off.

I have now watched it. Terrible GP, almost as bad as the second one. Glad I watched it with my finger on the fast forward between heats. Hancock lost it rather than Crump winning it. Its a GP final and Hancock should have moved out to the fence and blocked Crump. Too soft. TRick looked down on power.

I do think the weather is very important on Saturday. There are lots of people who make their mind up to go on the day and if it is raining it will put them off. PLus it will be no fun crawling from pub to pub in the rain!

Well with less than a week away, and good weather now forecast, how many people do you think will attend next weekends GP at Cardiff? Will it be 40,000 plus? Will TRick not doing so well have a determental affect on the crowd? Will the pathetic attempts by the Brits keep fans away? I think this year we will be looking around the 40,000 mark, though it's peure conjecture. Has there been any news in the Speedway Star concerning advance ticket sales? Certainly the so called "entertainment", from Bonny Tyler will keep me in the pub until 15 minutes before the meeting starts!

Now that the crew have laid the track several times previously it is pretty easy to do. The first time would have been a steep learning curve but they have the knowledge now to get it down without any hitches. Monday to Thursday night is ample time.

Yes just saw the Countryfile weather forecast. Freezing cold Monday night with showers and snow in Scotland! Tuesday dry but cool. Wednesday and the high pressure builds to give a day of sunshne and average temps. Thursday and the temperature builds to 19-20 degrees. Friday and 22 degrees and clear. Ditto saturday! So T Shirt and shorts weather!

What are you on about? I posted on here yesterday!