R87

I notice someone has set up a fundraiser to pay Hancocks fine. Hancock doesn't need someone to pay his fines for him as he isn't exactly poor.

Very rare to see a world champion who isn't prepared to be a little forceful at times. You do need that nasty edge to be successful. Rickardsson, Gollob, Crump, Hamill etc.... I've seen all of them be pretty ruthless at times. Pedersen has stepped over the line in occasions - that can't be denied - but yesterday was not as dirty as some of the others we've seen. The problem is his reputation means any incident involving him leads to all and sundry jumping on the bandwagon. Hancocks was wrong to have reacted the way that he did and it shouldn't be glossed over just because people think he's a nice guy.

Having seen it from both angles, Nicki deserved his exclusion, as he took Greg's line and left him with nowhere to go. It certainly wasn't the worst move Pedersen has executed (the one against the same rider in Prague in 2004 was worse IMO), but still a dirty piece of riding. Theres no problem with needle and a bit of agro, but Hancock reaction was way out of line. He could have ended up doing some damage to himself, let alone to Pedersen.

Hancock ought to be done for that. Yes it was a hard move by Pedersen, but Hancocks reaction was wholly out of order. If you did that in the street, you'd be arrested.

And while everyone stands around chatting, the rain continues to fall.............

Isn't Manchester noted for rain too?!

Not to mention those who said Tai should be left out

If your going to start excluding riders for that then you'd never finish a heat.

Speedway had a great chance to set down some proper foundations in 1999 when Sky got involved with the Elite League. Sadly, the incompetence of the BSPA has led to this chance being frittered away and money which should have been invested into bringing the sport into the 21st century has instead gone into propping up the outdated model we now have. Now speedway has become so dependent on this money they cannot afford to lose the contract, as very few other broadcasters would touch it with a bargepole. Its savage indictment of the way the sport has been run in the UK, and more and more people are turning their backs in their droves.

I'd get a sense of perspective if I were you.

Good to hear.

It's like we've suddenly switched to another meeting. Two superb races

That's more like it. Great race.

Stats show gate 2 is the best, though I think that's more to with the quality of riders on gate 2 so far.

I've said before and I'll say it again. We are the only nation in speedway that offers no help to its own riders. In fact, we seem to do exactly the opposite.

There do seem to more crashes with these silencers. Particularly the number of riders who fall unchallenged.

Terrible decision to not exclude Lindback. British referee mind you.....

Speedway. Great big gun. Aim at foot. BANG!!!!!!!

One or two decent races tonight, but it was hard to get enthused about a meeting with effectively a premier league side.

Pearson and Tatum discussing Glasgow going EL at some point. Although it could well be an EL venue in quality, I think there's too many obstacles for that. Yes it's ok logistically for the riders to fly too, but when the nearest track would be Belle Vue, it wouldn't be so much for the fans.

I've long advocated a highlights package over a weekly live meeting. It would a great chance to cut some of the rubbish and showcase the best action.

After 2 weeks of Peter York I can tolerate Porky.

The track was fine. I think the fact that most of the falls involved Garrity says a lot.

As I say, the score was close throughout, but I felt Coventry were a bit below par from what I expected. Admittedly they weren't at full strength though.

Thought it was the best meeting at Monmore this season and we were worthy winners. Yes Coventry kept it close during the night, but it never really felt like they were in it. Really nice to see PK rewarded for his achievement with a presentation by Sam Ermolenko before the meeting. As for the falls, at least three of them should have resuted in exclusions as they were on the coming out of the second bend, not entering the first bend. In particular Garrity who - although very entertaining to watch - still tends to panic if he misses the gate. One little moan is the number of riders who were getting off their bikes to garden and not being excluded. This happened a couple of times against Lakeside too. If the referee's aren't going to enforce the rules, why bother introducing them?