dtc

I don't agree at all. You put it on Sky and people stay at ghome and watch it, you don't put it on Sky and more people are likely to go and watch it live. and you have to put up with the drone of mr Tatum, maybe your right

My point is that Riders with lots of experiace like Burrows from what i can remember of seeing him a good rider should not be riding the same position ie heat leader as Westercoff who is relativly young and inexperianced. The rules need to be nuged to incorporate experiance as well as ability. As for where CL is going wrong: i Last year Andy Smith as rider/Coach for oxford. ii If the CL is suposed to be a British deveopment league why have riders such as Karlis Ezergailis (an Auzzie) riding in it? Nothing against the lad he is good and has potantial. But why is he not in the Austrailian equivelant. iii Teams like Mildenhall who could with the team they have now beat the lower PL teams (Yes i do mean Newport) are still at that leval. iv Lack of funds from BPSA, when wimbledon nearly folded a season or so ago because the track had to be re-layed the BPSA and the SCB should have had cheque books at the ready.

Newport had not made the relavent changes, Vasey "stated" that Newport had not changed Jamies riding posotion, that to me seems remarably like a complaint as he was not happy (dissatisfied) with the situation. care of Dictonary.com : Complaint To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment. The point i was making was Riding order needs to be looked at not only on the riders average but also their experiance (number of meetings) and age, Westercoff is still in his teens (16?) and is a fine rider is it fair for him to be riding at number 5 when other teams have the likes of Mark Burrows (ex premier league and a tad older than his teens) at number 5. In other words Youth V Experiance. Also i wasn't the one who started the childish "engage you brain....." Hmmm who was that??? Maybe i didn't explain what i ment properly but it doesn't mean you can be insulting.

Top cat, I did not say where Jamie could or could not ride, i said that the rules needed to be made stronger/changed to insure in this case Jamies name was not put forward for reserve before the team was decided and the programs were produced. Also one of the away fans said their team manager (who had obviously read the memo) had complained about the riding order. This was an example, similar things have happened on sevral other occations as well. This was the only one i could think of at the time. You engage your brain before making comments about what others have said.

As far as the date and time are concerned would it not make sence for all the Europian National chamionships to be within a certain period and/or riders HAVE to be releaced for these matches, a bit like in Football and Rugby. Also put it on Sky!!!!

As far and "old hands" ane concerned the best thing to do is introduce a Squad system in the EL and PL, Riders such as Scott Peglar who has the ability to ride PL but cannot commit full time to speedway would have a chance of riding to their ability. The banning of R/R and Guesting at CL should also be introduces, if you cannot get 7 riders from a squad of 12 or more something is going wrong. Introbucing a propper rules for riding order based on ability AND experiance to stop instances like last week where Newport were told Jamie Westercoff could not ride at reserve by the manager of the opposing team. Also i think the BPSA should be "paying" teams such as Mildenhall to go to the premier league, I'm sure with one or two team changes at the top end of the team they could compete well at that leval.

I cant say im impressed it has sold out. The venue is obviouly too small oh well i wont be going then and ive booked the week of work

my seat was hard and made of plastic not at all coftable

there are loads of buses between the city center and the bay, a taxi will cost arround a fiver each way, If you want to walk it is a long walk but there are few refreshment stops (pubs lol) on the way.

weather report from outside the stadium: Warm and over cast, quite muggy i reckon there will be a thunder storm before the day is out.

celtic springs, is that the holiday inn on the coldra? , if it is miles from newport station, probably walkable to newport speedway

Speedwayworld.tv says thay arn't for sale yet but will be avalable thru them.

not yet, last year most of them seem to hide in the stadium till the track is totaly layed. (by thursday am), not hard to spot most of them had speedway gp kit on last year.. the riders (or at least their vans) started to arrive thursday afternoon.

I work next door to the Stadium and im sure you'll all be glad to know there have been loads of lorries in and out all day taking the grass and bringing in shale. Woo hoo 5 days to go !!!!! anyone know if theres is a webcam to see what is up in the stadium, i'm sure they have done it in the past

Can we add Mr Crump cos he was born here?? What are the rules for riding in a national team? (place of birth, residency etc...)

Both the Prince of wales and the Gatekeeper allow children in upstairs on the balconies. If its sunny most of the pubs on Mill Lane (the street with sams bar) will have chairs and tables outside. As its a match day most pubs should allow kids in (they do when its Rugby). Its a shame McDonnalds dont do Stella cos I'd be in there all day Dave

nope they knock, also have you seen the state of toilets on trains these days.... ewww i would not want to hide there :)

sorry orion there are guards in cardiff, checking tickets as you enter the main concorse. (you could allways use the lifts there's rearly a guard on that exit !!! LOL) )

I could be making this up but wasnt there suposed to be a german GP at one point? I have just looked in this weeks speedway star and there is nothing about it. can anyone tell me what happened to it? Thanks Dave

All the decisions for the 2004 season have already been made. But the rumour mill is in full swing for 2005; the Elite League having another two teams promoted from the Premier league. Conference teams springing up all over the place, and promoting teams to the premier league It is now time the BPSA looked at the competitions in each of the leagues. Here are my ideas: Elite League and Premier League League One home leg and one away leg against all other teams in the league. Play offs First round second v fourth and third v fifth one leg with home advantage to higher placed team. Winners of the first round one leg again at higher placed clubs track. Final at a neutral track (preferably in the league they don’t ride), one leg. Trophy the El split in to 2 by region the Premier into 3 or 4 . the top two teams in each group go into semis and a final (all 2 legs) KOC Two leg competition aggregate winner to go thru to next round. British Team Championship An FA cup style competition Both Premier and Elite teams in a one leg Knockout Cup. Full teams, no dispensations. Although this may look unfair, last year Edinborgh would almost deffinatly have beaten Ipswich. One Off Competitions ELRC PLRC EL and PL Pairs PL fours etc... All to be at neutral tracks Conference League Clubs can enter as many or as few matches as they wish but MUST complete any competition they start at the beginning of the season. League Depending on the number of teams (potently 20 plus) and to cut down on travelling expenses split the country in 2 (North and South.) The winners of each league are crowned Northern/Southern Conference League. Two leg final for UK conference league Champions. Champions this would give each team 9 or more home and away matches. Trophy The conference leagues split into groups of around 6 by region. Two leg Matches home and away. This competition is for clubs who either cannot fulfil a complete conference season due to restriction on their track or standalone teams who wish to make up meetings. KOC Two leg competition aggregate winner to go thru to next round. Initially done by Region final between the winner of the northern and winner of the southern rounds. CLRC Fours ETC at a neutral track possibly one of the larger EL tracks.

I stayed at my house I've heard good reports from The Big Sleep. There is A Thistle Hotel in Cardiff City Center (a bit expensive) There are lots of B and B's on Catheral Road Cardiff. You could also try Newport, there are a few Hotels near the Coldra Roundabout including a Holiday inn, a Hilton and the Celtic Manor (only if you take a mortgage out to go to the GP) (Junction 24 on the M4 I think). Try Yell.com. It seens to search prety well. Dave PS Worst case senario i'll cahrge £500 to kip on my sofa

simple answer to the problem there would be lap overs ,if say a rider had 9.99 average the promoter could choose eather an "A class" rider or a "B class" at eather the begining of the season or when transfered to the team. The rider then stays at that grade for the season. if he gets better great. if the rider sudanly had a bad spell and his average drops though, you have a bad "a class" rider.

On the BBC today the WRU have denied this. I work about 50 yards from the stadium, it is not used to its full potential. There are a few great suites for conferances or parties but arn't used. Not to mention there have only been a handful of big gigs in the stadium (robbie williams and the 'phonics) its not they dont charge enough they dont get enough business. Speedway world cup in cardiff??????!!!!!!

This may be a stupid question is speedway big in Germany? more inportantly is it big enough for 2 gp's

This is not about racing but before you even get to the track. 1. Do you know the number of your teams’ track? I work for one of the new directory enquiry companies and have found less than half of the tracks listed with the word “speedway” in the title. Some of course may be listed under the name of the stadium etc but if you don’t know were the track is, or what the name is you won’t get the number 2. Web sites: the BPSA site although informative is lacking in content. Official Team and Track sites can be poor or non-existent. By far the best sites are the unofficial ones (this one all4back etc...). All teams or tracks should have a decent official site even if either the BPSA or fans run it. 3. News Papers: Local papers tend to have some good coverage (apart from Newport). But where is the decent coverage of the seventies, the annuals etc?? It’s about time the BPSA got together with a large paper, i.e. The Sun or The Mirror to have the proper match reports, league tables etc in the public domain. 4. Advertising: Newport RFC have a big sign next the town centre with the date and time of their nest home fixture as well as who they are playing. Most large football and rugby teams have similar billboards, surly speedway should something similar, even if just for large meetings. Also advertising in local papers or leaflet drops would be useful. 5. Although Sky has done a lot of good for the sport it is about time the BPSA sorted TV coverage out. This year I saw no Premier league action, pairs, fours and as far as I am aware no PLRC on Sky. If Sky want to keep Elite League fair enough, but let someone else have Premier and Conference Leagues (Eurosport, motors TV etc…). Also a magazine program weekly during the season would be nice. These may just be ramblings. What do you think?? Dave