SCB

And we wonder why British Speedway is struggling. Shame on anyone who sponsors "The Hero" (hero of what exactly? Or is it typical speedway Tero is like Hero?), Facundo Albin, Emilinao Sanchex, Davey Watt, Christian Hefenbrock, Davey Watt or Sam Masters. The press release should be bigging up the GB riders and getting them sponsorship. You can be sure if this meeting was in Poland the press release would breifly mentioning "The Hero", Facundo, Emilinao, Davey et al but would be bigging up the Poles and after sponsorship for them.

How often do riders get sacked for no reason other than their average doesn't fit? It's only fair that rider can walk out for frivolous reasons too.

wjm, I think you can include Bridger in that list too. You're right about Kennett becoming more aggressive, he lack any agression at all when he first signed for Coventry, good irder but wouldn't even block. as time has gone on he's grown a more ruthless streak, he's still no Nicki Pedersen, in fact he could still be a lot harder but he's at least willing to let the opposition know he's on track these days. Frustrating rider to watch is Ed, sometimes he is awesome but then minute later he is strubbing speed off, as you mentioned. Nice enough rider to have in your EL team TBF.

Was Simon told as a 15 year old kid he was great and was going to be a top rider or did someone hit him with a spanner every time he lifted his leg off the foot rest or dropped his head below the handbars? Watch the top guys, yes they can do it, yes they do sometimes do it but it's a get out of trouble, very rare move. Weirdly the Brits think it's a must do, so damn annoying. The other thing is watch the kids, the GB kids all want to put their left foot down on the bends, compare that to foreign riders and see how many of their feet go down! But how many of them are being told this?

Never claimed I rode so don't see the relevance. But I'm sure if a rider gets an engine back from a tuner and thinks it's crap they say so, they don't say, "well I couldn't do it myself" You may think it's negative, many would see it as realistic, just what have Ed and Simon done outside of GB speedway? Go on, prove me wrong. Otherwise you may want to stick to the rules of the forum and attack the post, not the poster.

I've seen a lot of Kennett in the UK and think he's a very good EL rider. I've also followed his results in Sweden and Poland over the years and in the SWC, GP's (Cardiff) and GP qualifiers and he is not good enough. It's one thing doing it in the EL but in the SWC he gets found out. He can't ride big tracks well enough so it spat out in quality competition. Steads the same only a little further back, decent enough EL rider but a nothing rider once he's abroad. For some weird reason British riders are incapable of travelling, Scott was always the same, he's always been a second string (or reserve) in Sweden and Poland yet over here he was a 10+ rider for a couple of season. We only see these riders on our tracks but they can't do it on the continent.

I've changed my mind. Just send Barker, Bridger, Mear and one senior rider, probably Woffy (who by age is certainly not the senior member). It'll beat anyone but the Swedes, Danes, Aussies and Poles anyway. At least if them youngsters do anything then Nigel can mess his pants in the commentary cupboard.

Joking aside, Harris, Woffinden, Barker and another youngster. We're not going to win anything so lets at least give a couple of youngsters a chance. Kennett will never amount to much at this level so give up. Stead, see Kennett. King isn't even all that in the EL so no thanks. Nicholls, never seems to be that good in the SWC so leave him out. Let the likes of Cook, Auty, Mear and Bridger fight it out. I'd be tempted to go with Bridger myself, I still think he has whats it's got he just doesn't show it enough and if he clicks on day and finds it he's going to be able to use the experience of a few SWC meetings then.

Startline Sid, no but I can know the person who you is talking rubbish. Why do you think Hans eventually went elsewhere? It was because Coventry decided to keep Emil and drop Hans. I'm telling you, there is no such rule. For a start there's a glaring loop hole, bring the original rider back and then make a like-for-like change with the temp rider brought in to replace another rider. You want an example? Ales Dryml was injured, so Ulrich Ostergaard was brought in as a temp signing. When Dryml was for again he replaced James Wright/Kevin Wolbert. As I said, the person who told you is talking rubbish, they may very well have told you, I don't dispute that but they were wrong.

Josh Auty David Howe Danny King Ben Barker Tai Woffinden Apparently!

Who told you that? Len Silver? The only time that's true is if the rider that was replaced is an assessed rider. Proof you're talking twaddle, Emil Sayfutdinov was only a temp signing for Hans but Emil kept the place.

Terry Russell owns the rights, we'll probably never see Polish speedway on UK tele.

Weirdly, I have quite an interest in old speedway, I love reading the (auto)biographies of the older dudes (I've bought a few for my dad and had a read before he got a chance - I read in a book in a few days, my dad spends months so I had to get in before him ) and I enjoy reading the days gone by section of this forum and the arguments about the greatest ever XXX. But there's a time and a place. I just don't think that's at a GP. in much the same way as I love to drive and I love to drink but I'm not so keen on mixing the two I don't think most people care too much at all about listening to older guys natter on or having the older guys driven around in an open top car and waving at them - Frankly I don't think most people give two hoots about the parade of the riders in the meeting - we all just politely clap as they ride/drive past, it's an utterly pointless concept IMO. A speedway meeting should be about the racing, now and by all means have a quick chat with Ivan or someone in a break but they should be an extra and not an expectation or something that is made out as a big thing as it ruins the flow of the actual meeting. The one things the GP's do well is the 4 heats banged out in reasonable time (but giving the geeks that we speedway fans are enough time to fill in a programme!) and then the break every 4th heat for the rider who is doing 2 in a row to have a breather but also us fans to all run to get a beer and/or have a wee. I'm not sure why the need an interval though, I guess it's so the track staff can head off for a wee and a cuppa.

Flippen 'ek! How dare they, in the 2012 GP not mention riders from a million years ago. If they started listing greats of the past at GP's you'd never see any racing in Sweden, Denmark, Poland and GB. In fact GB has about 8 World Champions for them to bang on about, that's without any riders who've "only" made the podium. If Mitch Shirra should be getting a mention at Cardiff the meeting could take about 20 hours as they mention about 70-100 British riders! And we have a thread else where asking why youngsters don't go to speedway, because frankly they don't car about someone who was riding in the 50's and 60's or even the 80s as in the case of Mitch Shirra.

It is the lower racing number. So as you say, technically a track reserve could be given the nod over replacement rider form the reserve list.

I'm amused at those defending Richie - it's clearly just a terrible co-incidence, right? He's clearly toughening up on the first bend but as I said the other day about the lad, GOOD! It's about time we had a Brit who put it about a bit, especially on the first bend. I look forward to seeing him in the EL and only hope his ruthlessness means he scores a few points - as long as his team mates don't score too many and Coventry still win the meeting! Having a reputation for being a "bit hard" did Nicki Pedersen no harm did it?

In the 2012 tradition of picking PL reserves who once holidayed in the country of the GP, I hear Charles Wright once went to Poland on a stag do.

Yes but Jason now has one and theres no suggestion that Travis' will be permanent, unlike Tysons.

You have the question why someone would change both their surname and then only be known by that surname, so is in effect being known as a name that is not his own. There have been all sorts of rumours about his past, maybe the UK authorities have just caught up with them? Or it could just be an admin thing. But based on the stories I head, I was amazed they let him into the country last year if even half of them things were true!

Holder is many things and I could if I wanted to be really petty pick fault in a number of problems with Chris Holder, his ability to pass is not one of them things.

It's just finished

I'll second that. Bomber aside I enjoyed it, not bad for a 4am start!

And if Emil scored 1 Bjarne beats him on count back as Emil has an exclusion and if Harris had win it he had 7 too and he'd have had the same as Bjarne on count back but would have gone though due to his lower race number. They missed all that! Fools. Anyway, phenomenal race!

He can't because he's not there I'd have excluded Emil and Nicki for that one.

Chris Harris - same rubbish, different year. It seems we've all woke up early to support him but Bomber us still napping. I bet Gollob was bricking it in his last outing when he looked back and saw Bunyan and Harris