Tactical Joker

Can you THIRD it too. No amount of enthusiasm can make up for the fact that some voices simply aren’t suited to shouting down a PA. I’d agree with those who thought the introductions didn’t work. Took me 5 riders to work out what was happening. OK for TV but didn’t work live. Although meeting delays are part of the sport, what chance of starting the racing at 17.00 rather than 17.15 next year? 15 minutes wouldn’t dent the pub profits too much (and perhaps would have prevented the guy next to me from falling over ) but it would remove the anxiety for those travelling back by train to Swindon, Reading and London. Missing the fireworks is no big deal, but missing the final race (as many clearly did) after such a good evening is a bit of a disappointment. Sure it’s a small percentage of the crowd but not insignificant.

Always prefer to be there live, and of course during the track grading you can catch up on opinion (with a pinch of salt) on here . Bit of a desperate dash for the last train back to London, some had to miss the final to be sure, but given the circumstances that’s the least of the worries. Hope news of Jason is as positive as possible. Best rider on the night won, fair result all round. Tough baptism for Lambert but he will be stronger for it. Good to see Cookie happy. For those asking for referees to be consistent you got your wish

I’ll settle for a Lindgren win if England win the footee. So for a laugh let’s predict Lindgren, Sayfutdinov, Woffinden.

Perhaps the tickets were simply too expensive to attract the many that follow other GPs. Very few from abroad judging from the flags, possibly as many Russian flags as any. Horsens £80, Prague £34, both in the back straight just after bend 2. I'm no marketing expert but a weekend in the middle of nowhere v one of the great European cities might go some way to explaining it. Obviously the cost of the temporary track and stadium alterations have to be met. We'll never know whether cheaper tickets would have yielded more revenue overall though.

Not sure we would want Nicki in the Danish airforce anyway. Got to love auto correkt.

How very true. The Pearson knockers are getting repetitive too. Give me Pearson and Tatum over any other combination out there. Back at the GP, gate 1 won 17/23 races, which can’t be right. Phil Morris did seem a bit agitated with the water truck driver as he was going round before the start, but that may be nothing. Looking at the scorecard, that move by Woffinden (the only win from gate 3) to beat Lindgren in heat 20 was pivotal,. A Lindgren win would have put him in the semis instead of Laguta with a chance (although minor as he would have been left with gate 3) of more points. So a good trip in the end, even if the wallet took a bashing for food and drink. Found a couple of good bars in Aarhus so will stay there again.

Well it did get better but not a classic. Gate 3 was a graveyard. Fireworks were good though. Woffinden's move up the inside of Lindgren in heat 20 was my highlight, read where Lindgren was going and rode it perfectly. Best man won, but good to see Hancock on the podium with Laguta. Emil had the worst gates it seems so can be considered unlucky not to make the final. For all the negativity on here, it was enjoyable to see it live.

11/12 wins from red in gate 1. Never seen such an advantage, although Cook is in red for both his last two rides. Stuck under a deafening speaker playing awful music. Can't talk to anyone. It is quieter during the racing. Things can only get better (another awful song).

I didn't, just smaller compared to others. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner that most other cities are smaller by comparison. Copenhagen is compact and easy to do on foot for the main sights.

A couple of hours away, not too far but been there many times. Yes lovely, but one of the smaller European cities. Haven’t done the Carlsberg brewery though. Meanwhile Jepsen Jensen to be a spoiler tomorrow. Hope Pedersen is good entertainment, but a wild stab at Woffinden, Sayfutdinov, Doyle as the podium in that order, and Lindgren to prove me wrong.

Thank you. Will have to think of other new things to tag on to the trip if doing it in future then.

Aarhus is a 30 minute train ride away with a selection of good pubs and accommodation for anyone travelling independently. All very quiet on here regarding this GP, anyone else from the UK going? Although ticket prices are steep, my £9 Ryanair flight makes up for it. Does Horsens have a contract for next year? Running out of interesting things to do in the area having been the previous two years, could do with an alternative venue, even though the Horsens stadium is very good.

Close but just a small cigar. Not sure what to make of the semi final, Kelvin described it as an anti-climax and it was. Experience won out in the end and congratulations to Russia. Nice words from Emil Sayfutdinov and also Craig Cook. Can’t have been easy standing there with an interviewer who didn’t appear to empathise with their disappointment. As for the format going forward, I’m sure the event is here to stay, but must be marketed as the World Championship to capture the imagination. ‘Speedway of Nations’ is meaningless. Yes there were empty seats in Wroclaw but they’ve got a lot more seats than Belle Vue to fill in the first place. Don’t like the race-off winner takes all, aggregate points like the GPs would be sufficient for me.

Yes so far, so good. Really impressed with Lambert and the maturity he showed. Looking forward to seeing him live at Belle Vue Monday. Anything could still happen though, with thunder storms possible tomorrow the weather could play a part too.

Comfortable win for Ipswich in the end 50-40. Rory Schlein riding at no.1 was immaculate for a 15 point maximum. A class performance. Danny King at No.5 suffered a rare engine failure while leading heat 4 so scored only 6 points rather than a potential 9 points from 4 rides. Highlight was Nico Covatti (10+1 from 5 rides) in heat 9 beating Charles Wright with a storming ride round the outside. For Sheffield Lasse Bjerre managed to charge the tapes twice which didn’t help their cause at all. Kyle Howarth 11+2 and James Shanes 8+2 were their top scorers.

After 89 heats I really hope it isn’t all decided on a tapes infringement. You can understand the authorities wanting riders to be still at the start, but as we all like to see 4 riders in a race what are the drawbacks of having the 15m handicap rule for tape touching? Yes you would probably still come last, but not always.

Glorious weekend in Prague, but at the risk of being hypocritical it's swarming with tourists. Thought it was a reasonable meeting once the processional heats were over but even they were probably better live than it came across on TV. Can't comment on Woffy v Lindgren from one viewing from the end of the second bend, will need to see replays to form a view, but overall thought Lindgren just deserved to win, even if Dudek should have after a slow start. Being surrounded by nutty but enthusiastic and friendly Poles made the atmosphere fun, until their first man fell and their second was pipped at the post. Disappointed wasn't the word. So now all is left to do is a brew pub crawl. Not sure why you would want a big Irish pub with English grub when there is so much superb Czech culture, cuisine and hospitality to enjoy.

Well that was a superb evenings entertainment. The noise in the stadium for the final race was deafening. Add the perfect weather and lots of different beers to chose from and Warsaw is an an event you can’t miss if you have the opportunity. Well done Tai, but Lindgren and Laguta were special too. Cook seemed to ride a different track to all the others in one heat, just hope his confidence isn’t damaged by riding against the real stars of the sport.

Obviously Danny King's injury overshadowed the meeting, the concern shown by Ben Barker and Scott Nichols, amongst others, was a credit to them. Nevertheless an enjoyable meeting despite the result, could have gone either way. Congratulations of course to Peterborough. Unsung hero for Peterborough was Paul Starke (8+2). Winning heat 10 against both our reserves was fair enough, but the win in heat 12 against Heeps and Greaves for a 3-3 when the Witches would have been targeting a 5-1 was more than useful. Solid performances from Barker and Harris proved sufficient in the end, but a terrific effort by all the Witches under the circumstances. Finally great to see such a crowd, hopefully the Witches will give them reason to return next year.

Sitting where I was in the back straight stand there were a number of empty seats too (and I did have a shower beforehand). Difficult to judge. Great view from there, but the sound is woeful, only Kevin Long seemed to be able to project his voice sufficiently for us to hear, shame he wasn't doing last night. And the lighting isn't great for filling in the programme either. Agree a bit more could have been done to explain the basics to newcomers, but I think the size of the crowd took a lot of people by surprise, glad I got there early. The racing was entertaining enough, but somehow the first heat incident seemed to set the scene for the evening. Could have done with getting off to a flyer. Nevertheless Sheffield, as everyone else has said, are indeed worthy winners, congratulations.

This, and a few other excellent posts, have taken ages to find amongst a lot of childish insults and rubbish. I contribute to another forum, nothing to do with speedway, and the behaviour on here wouldn't be tolerated there. Lindgren has become one of my favourite riders so disappointed to see his season is over. I can see how he is getting the blame for the crash, but sport is all about opinion. Refs decision is final, you have to accept that, however bad the decision.

In view of the comments about the commentary (and I for one enjoy their enthusiasm) it will be interesting to watch this back with NP and KT's views. Watching it live you only get one real chance to form an opinion, and don't always have the best angle. It did appear that Kildemand engineered the situation with Holder though. And as the rumours of Stockholm not being on the circus, sorry circuit next year grow, at least the ABBA museum is now ticked off.

Hope the ABBA Museum tomorrow is better. Enjoyable but not a classic, the track didn't seem to be one of the better temporary tracks for some reason. Certainly didn't see Zagar winning after scraping into the semi final on 7 points, but congratulations to him, points when he needed them. Shame about Emil, started the meeting superbly but then it all fell away. Doyle nearly there now but best not to count chickens. All the talk about starting but Doyle showed how to do it, just sit still and react to the tapes rather than guessing. Simple but it seems to work for him. Certainly the ref was holding the tapes longer than usual, but seemed pretty consistent. Atmosphere was indeed a bit flat, no free flags on the seats to wave, although Lindback did have crowd cheering with his win in heat 4, however it may appeared on TV. Thorssell didn't do Lindgren any favours taking him wide in heat 12 and with the two top Swedes just getting 8 points each after 20 heats there wasn't much more for them to make a noise about. Compared to previous years it looked like the budget had been cut. Some strange music too, haven't heard Fox on the Run by Sweet since the mid 70s. At least someone had a sense if humour playing 'I get knocked down' after Kildemand fell, doubt Holder saw the joke though.

Yes the Vasa Museum is fascinating. Spent ages in there, which is why I ran out of time for anything else last year. Was in two minds whether to go this year, but then thought why not. It will be interesting to see the attendance figures.

Surprisingly quiet thread. Am I the only person from the UK going? (Ryanair permitting) Stockholm is a beautiful city so well worth the trip, the speedway is a bonus. Might even visit the ABBA museum this time! Have a nagging doubt that Lindback may put the cat amongst the pigeons in this one. I'd put my money on Doyle who has indeed been quiet of late, but would like to see Lindgren as top scorer.