customhouseregular

14 riders, 6 of them guests...not really Kings Lynn v Leicester then. Not to mention the paucity of Brits in a British Elite League meeting.

On a speedway bike Ward is a class act. He is young and if he has the desire and the temperament he could be a multi-champion. However, he could just as easily **** it up. With the same riders but in a different era we would have Ward, Woffinden, Sayfutdinov. Janowski, Zmarzlik and others all vying to be World champion. As we now have the GP's I think most fans would love to see the Cardiff GP with Tai, Darcy, Emil and Maciej in the final. I do expect Ward to become World Champion but I expect Tai to win more.

According to my tv guide Saturday's meeting is in Landshut. Hope it's a misprint for the sake of all those going to Kumla

And the BBC and ITV will still not bother. I find it a tad ironic the BBC can pen an in depth article like this when they themselves have ignored speedway for decades.

I am constantly hectoring John Shires, sports editor of ITV Regional News in Yorkshire. His last comment to me was "If Tai Woffinden wins the World Championship again I'll do a feature".. Well, thank you John!.

If any member plans to attend any of the World Final rounds, I am happy to reimburse the cost of programmes and postage.

What is life without one's dreams.

I'd prefer a return of the Internationale with the cream of the World's best riders...Tai, Emil, Nicki, NKI, Grigorij, Bartosz to name just 6, all in action at Olympic Park, with West Ham beating Arsenal 4-0 the following Saturday

Thanks for your post PNYC. True, the racing at Wembley was not always brilliant, but the occasion was.

Yes indeed Norbold, but over 6 rounds. It could happen over 12. Nicki crept in to the semis yesterday on 7 so could have won on 12

Even more absurd is the fact a rider could win every GP and not win the world title. That's how ridiculous the GP scoring system is. It is possible to win a GP with 12 points with the second place man scoring 20 points. On that basis it is not too fanciful to see a rider becoming World Champion without winning a GP.

I have to eat my words. I posted I did not think this would be a good meeting but I rather enjoyed it.

I was not making an all-embracing comparison between old and new but directly comparing Wembley Finals against Cardiff GP's. Younger fans can obviously not compare neither can older fans who saw World Finals, but not at Wembley. I would wager that fans from my era who saw many Wembley finals can recall the drama, the excitement and the thrill of seeing a world Champion crowned. How many fans who started attending post 1995 have actually seen a rider win a World Title?.. If we had a World Final every 4 years at Wembley or Olympic Park, would that be a bad thing. In the intervening years we would have the European Final, Inter-Continental Final or such, with probably a better field than the current British GP. Yes, GP's are here to stay but I always left Wembley buzzing. I did not leave Cardiff buzzing and I forgot the meeting a week later, sad to say as I was really hyped up pre-meeting having not attended a meeting in 30 years. OK, I know I'm a dinosaur reminiscing about the past but I still think Wembley was better than Cardiff.

Yes I know...I'm a boring old fart locked in the past

I might be a kill-joy but the SEC round in Kumla looks more enticing. Having said that I shall be tuning in tomorrow to see Tai increase his lead.

EL/PL amalgamation is the only answer.

When a fan went to Wembley to watch a World Final he knew he was going to see someone crowned World Champion. He knew he might see a rider win his 1st. title, or make history by winning his 5th. He knew he could see an outsider crowned champion or see the favourite beaten. When a fan goes to Cardiff nothing is really at stake. The top scorer might not be the winner. Whoever wins it is not a pointer to who will win the title. In essence Cardiff is a glorified open meeting, on a par with the old Internationale. If Cardiff hosted a World Final and not a GP I believe the crowd would be significantly higher. I know GP's are here to stay but Cardiff aside the crowds are not great. Having been to Wembley Finals and been in Cardiff for last year's GP, I say Wembley was better than Cardiff. 75,000+ trumps 40,000 after all.

I've said it before and I shall say it again. If speedway was more popular in 1965 than it is now we need to learn the lessons from history. Give the public what was proven to work.

It's Emil for me.

Not many of the old-timers left now. I don't think I ever saw him ride but obviously knew he was one of that select band of riders in the 50's. RIP

As if anyone needed reminding speedway is a high risk sport. We all love speedway but this side of the sport is unwelcome. My thoughts, prayers and hopes go to Lewis, his family and friends

Thanks, but the whole page bright red warning message is scaring me off. I'll wait for the next GP on Eurosport

I've given up!...

Picture has frozen. Looks like i shall be giving this a miss. Thanks though