OveFundinFan

Was Emils dad into speedway as a racer?

I went to Wembley many times in the 60's and 70's and yes, the atmosphere was magic. Been to Cardiff twice, 2013 1nd 2014 and love it. And yes I think it has the same magic as Wembley. A really good experience IMO. One big difference is that I was standing at Wembley whereas I am sitting at Cardiff. Standing was an amazing experience but that was many years ago and now I am glad I can sit down (sad I know). Football kicked speedway out of Wembley, my vote goes with Cardiff.

Second successive year going to Cardiff GP. To beat the high hotel prices we stay outside Cardiff for the Sat. night then drop into Cardiff for the Sunday night. This year we did a third night in Swansea, just to see Gower Peninsula etc. Any big city will up hotel prices when an event is on. Surely they cannot make it pay for less then £30 per room per night you can get on the Sunday night. We just got there for 5 o'clock, just about got a program. Wife has a medical problem and needs to drink water, cant take bottles in so had to queue for ages before the meeting. Their was bar staff hanging around the back of their "shop" pretending to be be bust but doing nowt, how annoying that was when you in a queue, think they forget whos paying their wages. Opening ceremony/rider introduction - didnt particularly care for it last year, this year felt the same. I prefer where they introduce the riders, then they get in a pickup and do a lap of the stadium. The track prep was loads better then last year, just two falls (at the same spot) and top marks to the riders for getting up and off the track so no stoppages. I dont expect top quality racing in every race at any level of speedway, the whole meeting I thought was very acceptable, obviously the atmosphere within the stadium can add to a meeting and Cardiff does that. Really good buzz and the cheering is something else. Hancock boring - I dont think so. Sure, he doesnt have the style of Woffi, Ward, Holder etc, but he is rock steady. Thats pays off for him - he doesnt get many injuries does he, a fact emphasised by the fact he has been in every gp of the modern era. How he competes at top level at the age of 44 is beyond me. A legend? Sure is. The meeting was very slick, hardly a delay between riders going into pit after a race and the next lot coming out. Well run meeting. What I didnt like and couldnt understand. 1) mechanics allowed on the centre green near the start attending to their riders bike after they had left the pits area. I noticed TW and NP mechanics doing this, there may have been others. 2) on a similar vain - spare bike on the centre green with mechanics after riders had left the pit area. 3) Park and ride - not too bad a wait at Cardiff City footie ground to get a bus to the stadium, but coming back - we left the stadium before the presentation, so we didnt hang about, jet there was a very large queue at Tressilian Way to get one back. At £10 per couple, they pulling in loads of money, at least they could provide the busses to do the job 4) and like someone else has already quoted, I thought I was being smart by going straight to County Hall park and ride as per last year, only to be told this year it was a shoppers park and ride closing at 6pm - then we had to get to the north side of the city to the football ground. Cardiff is an excellent venue for the gp, for all the reasons already stated. If there was a 2nd one at Wembly I wouldnt bother going - been there many times in the 60's and 70's. Would probably choose Cardiff over a new Belle Vue, and thats despite BV just being 35 mile down the road. Not yet looked at what I recorded from Eurosport but looking forward to it. Ready to book for next year and looking forward to it. An add-on :- Impressed in how MJ-J rode, thats 2 semis in 2 rounds standing in for Chris Holder. Disappointed Batch could not replicate the previous GP in Copenhagen, even though track size was almost the same and similar shape etc. And Craig Cook, yes, took his 5 rides but that was a bit too early in his career even though he is playing catch up with the years - but what an experience for him.

Aw go Phil, stop teasing.

Didnt mind the start line being just after a corner, but would have liked the finish line further along to turn 1. If thats how Wimbledon did it, as someone stated, them thats sounds good to me.

You will be hoping for cancellations at this late stage. Last year we were looking in April (for a early June gp) and settled for a b&b 15-20 miles outside of Cardiff. Did that to get the rates, no £29 per night Premier Inn type rooms on gp nights (or any other large gathering in the big cities). This year we went straight to the same place, very good value. Then we drop into Cardiff for the Sunday night when prices are back to "norm".

Russia would have had a good chance of going through if they had a 4 man team with the fourth man scoring say 5 or 6, that would have taken points off the other teams and maybe put Russia at the top. Of course if they fielded there best team then it would have been a walkover. Slovenia were a 1 man team basically, Likewise Germany relying on Smoli, but he fell in an interesting line up. Italy happened to have strength in depth, but were last at one point. Not keen on the joker, in a way it keeps score close, but a team loses because it has not been able to play a joker!

Thats an interesting thought Screamer.

Just set my Sky box to record at the programmed start of 6pm tomorrow 6th. Thanks Noodles for the info re 10th July, though I just been to set the timer to record, and it was already set - how that is I dont know because until I read the post I didnt know about it. Strange

May have to wait for the Belle Vue Sporting Village complex to be finalised for an English GP. Mind you, you know what the Manchester weather is famous for, and the BV sporting village will not have a roof! There again, I been to the old Hyde Road track many times and its been a dust bowl, so the weather can be dry in Manchester..... sometimes.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/belle-vue-sports-village-artist-7222703

Couple miles from Manchester centre, it is just off the main A57 road from Liverpool - Manchester - Sheffield - Lincoln. There is a link on this thread (if I remember right) showing the plan ie car parking etc

I agree with Shale Searcher... we only remember the good meetings. 1967 World Final was a good un........ Ove Fundin won it! But from my point of view fro more then the racing on the track on the night.... but what happened off it. Fundin bucked the trend of using Jawa and stuck a JAP engine in. Horses for courses..... brilliant tactical move and all off track.

Thank you for the links Ghostwalker, in some ways it makes it clearer, but it all seems so confusing. Politics eh!

Why is that?

Sometimes one needs a consolidation period, maybe MJJ is at that stage. 2012 Martin Vaculik won a GP and looked like he was setting the world on fire. 2013 was a disappointment even for him. What did he decide to do? Not go for the GP's for a few years while he consolidates, or in his words - gets more experience. How old is Martin - is it 24 - so he reckons he has his best years to come. Maybe MJJ is in that consolidation period, getting more experience. Could be Emil has the same frame of mind, that bashing he got last year may have just got him thinking he will take a couple years to mature a bit and get the experience before another assault. Ok, Tai won "the world" last year, but he was a bit wild at times, this year seems more settled but not refined properly yet, Ward is another like that.

Sad when the top riders in the world "cannot" (for whatever reason) compete in a world championship event. I get the impression if they did compete in a qualifier and progressed to the next round, if that round was in the UK the Lagutas would not be in the line up anyway. Is that the case, and if so why?

I would generally agree that an ole timer who has had a good innings may just go on too long which may detract from all the good years. As for Greg, he is still top of the pile its still for the others to catch him. For a 44 year old I think he is doing amazingly well just to compete at the top level, never mind beating those half his age. Its the same with Valentino Rossi, I "worry" sometimes that he will push the years too much and really go off the boil, but basically this year he is the only one to take the challenge to Marquez, who has to be said is phenomenal, especially for his age - quiet exceptional.

Where is Emil and the 2 brothers? Is there some history I need to catch up on?

Quote:- To be fair, he had little chance, Zagar was up at him very quickly. It was the boot in the balls, and ride off that I found a tad naughty. NP was sat on his bike by the time Zagar got to him, he had plenty chance to get over to the fence to see how Zagar was, he could have just left his bike where it was. The thought was not in his head to go to Zagar

It was a tweet from a bookmaker, they didnt pull it out of the air (unless they lying)

No doubt in my mind that Batch was THE top man on the night.. Even in the final he was all over the back of NKI, much faster. Kildemand was probably 2nd best on the night, looks like he is built like a tank. He probably models himself on my fitness regime....ha ha. However, the rules say........ My predication was pretty way out. Must try harder.

Haza, re Chris Harris. I agree with you that he must surely realise that his year is not going to get better, no matter how much he hypes himself up, and yes it must be costing a lot of money to compete at that level. I would much rather have had Chris Holder racing last night, but it shows by having the series first reserve racing, MJJ, that the championship series would be the richer for Harris pulling out. Even the wild card didnt just out perform him, but way out performed him. Cant see that he will jack it in though, and their are those who will say why should he, he qualified and thus entitled to be their, and they are not wrong, but......

I thought it was a good meeting. Plenty to hold interest, as to whether Troy and Kildemand could keep it going - one did, the almost. Batchs overtake on NP was quite good too. As already said, the top guys in the points table were not on the ball tonight, NKI came through when it mattered though. Can Batch take a confidence boost through to Cardiff, or will the expectation he has to do well again get to him. Perhaps the Swindon fans who know him better could give an insight of what may happen. It was a tweet to the studio from a bookie that said his odds were 1000:1 Batch to win.

Good win for NKI but just wish Batch could have done it. Track seemed to settle down and some good races. Cardiff here we come.