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We might be going to the GP then Jill

Now you're talking!! I'm going to try and win tickets, have Sky started there competitions yet? If that fials I'm sure some yout will be desperate to sell tickets 5 minutes before the meeting starts so I might be able to get in for £5!

The POW is about 3-10 minutes from the stadium entrance (depends which entrance), I left about 30 minutes before the meeting last year and still managed to get there in time for the pre-meeting crap, sorry I mean entertainment! Try, this for a map, the circle is the PoW and the staium, well it that big void at the top that says Millenium Stadium

SO we're 3(?) weeks away now, anyone got ny arrangements? What time we meeting? Where are we meeting? If we're not meeting until late(ish) (1pm onward) I can go to work in the morning, if not I'll have to arnage to work some other day. The Prince of Wales at the bottom of the stairs again? My mums driving us there and back, thats the easiest way, though not nessercarilly safest. Oh and at about 6 we're driving back home to watch the meeting on Sky, should save us a fair bit of money!

Let me be the first to be patriotic and wish the GB boys Jamie Smith and Ben Wilson good luck! Jamie can do it as he did last year and I'm sure Ben can qualify as well.

Thast what makes finals and semi-finals so stupid. Not to worry, it means Wato will be available for Newport as no doubt the next round will take place on a Sunday! No doubt Dekker is sitting at home reading this and saying, "Wato, the going gets tough and he messes up"

So give the keys to someone in the back of the car, they're hardly likely to drive from the back of the car are they?! Madness!

Only if the keys are in the ignition!

Andy is willing to ride this year, he said in the Speedway Star a few weeks back he wants a PL team place.

In Wales we riders who will average more than 9 if they come in on 9, not about 6. Kugelmann comes in on 4 so is almost certain to improve. We've had our share of duff(not the right word) foreignors this year who have nto got there 9 point average.

Does anyone know if he'd be willing to ride in the UK (for a sensible price)? I'd love him at Newport, he's sure to average 7 IMO and would come in on about 4.

Andy Galvin has spent the last 2 years riding for Arena Essex in the PL. He struggled to average 4 but was not helped by the fact he kept finding himself at number 2 or 4 because of the way the Arena Essex teams were built. He said in the Speedway Star about a month back that he is having(or had) some operation and he is still keen and wants to ride in the Premier League. Hard to believe that the rider who has rode for Arena the last 2 years was once the Carl Stonehewer of his time!! Moggo is just as fantastic to watch these days

Now he has retired I can say Frank Smart Infact, come to think of it I(or my parent) have paid to watch every rider I have ever seen ride

Apparently (from what dad has told me), Andrew was a brilliant division 2 rider (10+ average, could beat anyone) but when he moved up, he was expected to be the next big thing but managed to average 7 for Swindon before slowly declining and quiting. Yes he did make a come back at a meeting a few years back but I think it was Rye Houses first meeting back at Hoddesden? Or prehaps it was at arena at the end of the year before Rye Hosue come back at there won track, anyway, I remember the rumours he would ride in the CL for Rye House with a view to signing for there PL team the year after. (hmm, did Rye go PL in there 2nd year at Hoddesdon? If not it might have been at the end of Rye's 1st season back he rode!). He has been mentioned in the Speedway Star recently, Len took the Rye House team (minus Masters) for a ski weekend and he sad he was not too happy when he learnt that Andrew had been teaching Chris Neath, Davey Watt and (possibly, I can't remember) Tommy Allen to snowboard

Good or bad (you decide!! ) Wales and Scotland are part of Team GB. Until the day they are split Team GB get my support but I think I would prefer a split to Scotland, Wales and England. Definalty be fun to have a test match vs Scotland, even if the Scotland team did start as favourites

2004 edition, FIM Track racing Technical rules. 01.43.01 Mudguards must project laterally beyond the tyre on each side. 01.43.03 For Speedway and Long Track, a front mudguard must extend at least 5° ahead of a vertical line running through the centre of the front wheel axle and at least 5° under the top edge of the mud shield. A rear mudguard must extend at least 5° behind a vertical line running through the centre of the rear wheel axle. So basically, the same rules but different numbers. Nicki has a right to complain but then didn't Nicki win a void GP last year (the re-aranged GP one?!). Rules and speedway eh? They're just completly ignored at all levels!

With current form, I'd say thats VERY VERY tempting. I'll got for a final of Crump, Rickardsson, Pedersen, Loram. Probably finish in that order as well.

Canada, in Paris. Riders include Kyle Legault and Krys Slabon(when he wants!)

The oldest guy in that top 10 is 25ish? 7 of them have rode in the British Premier League, 5 of them have rode in a GP at some point and 2 others have rode in the SWC, another is a 16 year old and 9 of them are riding in the Elite League this year. Kind of makes the British scene look a bit, old? also shows we're not bringing on the youngsters at the same rate. Well done Mads, just a shame Puk couldn't do a bit better.

Ha, we're discussing Mike Lee back in the days when he was young taking drugs and you start on the youth of today. We're no worse now than people were back then.

My favourite memory of Polish riders in the UK was Dawid Kujawa walking out of Newport I was never a Gollob fan when he was in his prime, he was too wild and dirty but now when the GP's go to real tracks and you see him ride, you realise just how great he is/was, I was watching a video of a GP from a few years back a few weks ago and he was great. You can see why the Poles idolise him, I'd love to see him back up there in the GP's.

I remember going to the speedway with my yougner sister in 2000 (so she was only 11 at the time). We went around to the pits and as we were looking in, Colin White started smoking, my sister looked at him in dis-belief, within minutes there were 6 riders, wearing Arena-Essex* race jackets all smoking. She turned to me, while these riders were all about 10 yards away and said, "They're smoking!? They shouldn't do that they're sportsmen and it's like taking drugs". Fair play to Jan Pedersen, he heard this and instantly stopped. I remember being reall embarassed at the time but she had a very valid point and she was an 11 year old girl. I think smoking should be banned in the pits, you have the image it gives off, I'm not niave enough to think footballers, F1 drivers, rally driver etc don't smoke, they're human. However, when was the last time you saw one of these guys smoking at a game, race or rally? It just doesn't happen, it makes them look better, they've banned cigarette adverting for a start so if a competor was seen smoking I'm sure he'd get into some serious trouble, so how do speedway riders get away with it? When at the track they are in work, if the promoters want to stop them from smoking they should, after all, I can't smoke in uni and I was never allowed to smoke in school(even when old enough) or in work. Every time anyone I knew who moked had to leave the grounds of the building to smoke, speedway should be the same. If nessecary let the riders go and hide behind the pits or something. I've managed to go off on a tangent of the original message but I don't care BTW, I agree you family, friends, media etc DOES effect what you do, however, we all work in different ways, so some people rebel against the strict parent and take drugs, smoke etc while others accept it. Some people who have easy going parents and for that reason take the drug etc as they see no wrong in it, others feel they have no need. Michael may have resented his parents interfearing and took drugs even more. *I've seen riders from all teams, Arena-Essex just happened to be the team my sister saw that day.

I got the impression he was after fame, he didn't care if he got it by making thr sport bigger or by rebeling. As it was it come about by the latter, he did say he could see the sport failing, he said it on speedway videos from 82-83 so he always said it and he was right. I think he was rebelling becasuse he could see what was happening. Certainly an intresting read.

A TR and a TS can only score 6 points. So a team can only score 8 points in one heat. Thanks MM, I thought thats how it worked btu I was unsure after a TS was not used in heat 14 (when Wolves could still win, in theory). I'm not buying a rule book for it to be out of date 2 weeks later

We(Brandon 4th bend) discussed this tonight, how many TS or TR can be used in a meeting? Is it 2 of either, just 2? or some other combination as I though it was 3 in total with only one TR but someone else said it was only 2, thats one of each or 2 TS's. So how many and what are the possible combinations! Whats pathetic is that I can't work it out and I like to be up to date with the rules and regs and don't know so how will the average fan understand?!