rickmiller

Regardless of the TV situation in the U.K, I'm surprised that the GP's arent streamed via the SGP website. Even if they cant do it live because of contactual obligations surely they can show delayed coverage of their own product?

You were saying??? Germany 47 USA 39 Finland 38 Ukraine 26

Now available online at Amazon - seem to be being despatched within the hour at the moment.

I was surprised but thought it was a pretty sporting thing to do and I did wonder if it was the 600cc one that also has traction control on it? (how do you add 'a hint of sarcasm' to typing?) I also thought there was a rule against it...

I took the scores from the link to the Russian site listed in post 4 and ran them through Google Translate. I dont know where the other ones came from.

By Courtesy of Google Translate: USA 26 Hancock 3,3,3,2,3 14 Fischer, 0, 1, 1, SH, 1 3 Kerr, 1, 0, pi, 1, 2, 4 Wells 0, 2, 1, pi, 1 4 Ingls 0, 0, 1, pi, pi 1 Czech Republic 48 A. Driml 1, 3, 3, 3, 3 13 Riml 3, 3, 1, 3, pi 10 L. Driml 2, 3, 3, 0, 2 10 Tomichek 2, 2, 2, 2, 0 8 Kus 2, 0, 3, 2, 0 7 Finland 29 Katayaytsa 2, 1, pi 3 Reyma 2, 1, pi, pi 3 Haytomyaki 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 3 6 Laukannen 1, 1, 2, SH 1, SH 5 Nieminen 3, 0, 3, 3, 1, 2, 12 Latvia 45 Gerutsky 0, p 0 Paura 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1 10 Puodzhuk 3, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3 15 Bogdanov 3, 2, 2, pi, 3, 3 13 Karavatskaya 1, 2, 0, 2, 2 7

Yep, I thought that too - depends if you believe in lightening striking twice... As the finance appears to be coming from several sources, the odds must be for the majority of it being paid.

Just been looking at the Czestochowa website and if Google Translate can be trusted, it appears that finance has been found for Greg Hancock to continue with the team. Good news for Greg but where does that leave Nicki?

Forgive me for being synical but its not just another BSI cop-out to avoid printing the wrong programme again (as in Germany 2008), is it?

Everyone is expressing some surprise at Bombers inclusion - maybe he just got lucky because Tai said no, not this year (I'm guessing not quoting) and apart from Richardson, there are no apparent alternatives. This thread confirms that British fans want to support British riders in the GP series. Now would be a great time for a proper British GP series that is open to non-GP riders. The majority of fans and riders are bored to tears with the Elite Leagues A + B nonsense and there are plenty of calls to do something radically different. British riders do not develop to ride for themselves because everything here is based on team racing. You could even run it on the Thursday or Friday before a GP although there is still the hurdle of UK fans not always backing individual racing to overcome. Still, the top riders withdrawal from over here has seemingly helped the promoters to decide that they dont need to work with the GP's so I really dont expect much to change at the conference. Hopefully, the promoters will take their heads out of the sand before they get on the plane!

BSI could have tried a bit harder looking for an alternative track to Bydgoszcz - how about Norden, Coventry, Pardabice or anyware that has the correct FIM approval? It seems too much of a co-incidence that all of the track's 'top brass' were in Germany and is it normal for the insurance assessors to be walking round on Friday morning?

Dont forget that Hans had as much as Greg riding on the final GP and they were just 2 riders who were not happy at the switch. Fair play to Tomasz in taking full advantage of the situation but I cant help feel that most of the speedway world was cheated out of a fair outcome to the series and the super prix.

Anyone else notice at the end of Sky's broadcast last night that Our Nige announced that on Saturday they would be showing the 'Final Grand Prix'? Was this a co-incidence and/or a poor choice of words or do they know something? There are enough rumours about the future of BSI and the provisional fixture list is due to have wholesale changes, so I guess we just have to wait and see.

I believe that this was raised at the riders briefing - Lonigo GP and its appears that its unlikely to happen until 2010.

Dont discount the fight for 3rd overall - its only 5 or 6pts between Greg, Tomasz and Hans with Leigh a bit further back. And then there is the fight for 8th spot - Bjarne to take it?

Great job - thank you for all your efforts throughout the year.

Cant see it happening for 2009 because it will take more than the 6 months between now and the beginning of next season in March to design, develop and homologate new equipment. The rules should also change in line with other bike sports and instead of running an approved silencer in a specific position on the bike, as now, you would be allowed to have a free choice of design and position as long as it met the 94db(?) limit. It is safer because the silencer could be tucked away more effectively and makes it one less thing to hit the riders during an accident. It just means that there would have to be random noise checks at meetings and I guess the FIM, ACU and the promoters would be unwilling to buy the sound meter and pay the noise examiners expenses. I'm probably wrong but this has just been sprung on the speedway world. It is to be applauded however, as noise is killing many motorsports venues. I would honesty prefer to watch speedway with quiet bikes that not watch it at all!

I'm surprised no one has posted this already but Billy Janniro clinched his first US title at the weekend. Unofficial results courtesy of www.speedwaybikes.com were Heats Bryan Yarrow 3, 2, 3, 1, 3 12 Kenny Ingalls 1, 2, 3, 3, 3 12 Billy Janniro 0, 3, 3, 3, 2 11 Bart Bast 3, 3, 2, 0, 3 11 Tommy Hedden 3, 3, 2, 2, 1 11 Mike Faria 2, 3, 1, 2, 2 10 Charlie Venegas 3, 1, 0, 3, 3 10 Ricky Wells 0, 2, 2, 2, 2 8 Nate Perkins 1, 0, 3, 3, 0 7 JT Mabry 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 6 JJ Martynse 2, 2, 0, 1, 1 6 Greg Hooten 2, 1, 1, 0, 0 4 Bryce Starks 0, 0, 2, 1, 0 3 Tim Gomez 1, 1, 0, -, - 2 Ivan Severt 1, 0, 0, 0, 1 2 Devin DeFreece 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 0 Eddie Castro 2, 2 4 Ben Essary 0 0 D Main 1 Eddie Castro; 2. Ivan Severt; 3. Devin DeFreece; 4. Bryce Starks. C Main 1. Nate Perkins; 2. JT Mabry; 3. Greg Hooten; 4, JJ Martynse. B Main 1. Mike Faria; 2. Tommy Hedden; 3. Ricky Wells; 4. Charlie Venegas. A Main 1. Billy Janniro; 2. Bryan Yarrow; 3. Kenny Ingalls; 4. Bart Bast. Final points total for championship: Billy Janniro 21 21 20 62 Bart Bast 10 18 14 42 Bryan Yarrow 3 16 19 38 Mike Faria 14 12 12 38 Ricky Wells 16 9 10 35 Charlie Venegas 12 14 9 35 Kenny Ingalls 5 4 16 25 Tommy Hedden 4 8 11 23 Jimmy Fishback 11 11 0 22 Nate Perkins 6 6 8 20 Buck Blair 9 10 0 19 Billy Hamill 18 0 0 18 Bobby Schwartz 8 1 0 9 J.J. Martynse 0 3 5 8 JT Mabry 0 0 7 7 Ben Essary 0 7 0 7 Shawn McConnell 7 0 0 7 Greg Hooten 0 0 6 6 Eddie Castro 0 2 4 6 Tim Gomez 0 5 0 5 Ivan Sevart 0 0 3 3 Devin Defreece 0 0 2 2 Travis Henderson 2 0 0 2 Bryce Startks 0 0 1 1 Neil Facchini 1 0 0 1

How can you possibly say that about a man who actually won you some money!!!!!!

Great job Lawrence, keep it up! Scotty got it absolutely right: nothing is being done by the ACU, SCB (speedway control board that is, not our own beloved SCB!) or the promoters to develop a scheme to help new riders from a young age. British Speedway is dying on its feet while Poland, Denmark and Sweden are doing everything possible to develop the sport. They dont always succeed - one look at the Swedish attendances show that but they do have the infrastructure to make sure they are not short of riders. As fans, we are all just as bad. The majority on here want a British world champion but the support for individual racing in the UK is so poor that the promoters rarely take a risk putting meetings on. What youngsters we have spend so much time in a team racing environment that they often struggle when they actually have to race for themselves. I'll carry on supporting Scotty and Bomber through thick and thin in the GP's but I would really rather know that the likes of Woffinden, Auty and Haines are just the start of a long conveyor belt of British talent that will be properly guided to the top. It's not going to be easy but we need to get something going before its too late.

Many congratulations to Greg and the team. Its been a lot of hard work but this makes it all worthwhile. Booey will be proud of you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for the Monster thing - get used to it! Monster is the worlds fastest growing energy drink brand and is currently outselling Red B*ll by about 3 cans to 1. GH will be stopped by BSI (just like they stopped the riders selling merchandise at races) but the Monster 'M' going to be one of the most iconic symbols worldwide, just like McDonalds, Marlboro, Ford etc etc. Nobody's forcing you to buy a can - there seems to plenty of people doing that already! And before anyone asks, I work in engineering and not marketing!

Wow, someones put in a huge amount of time on this! Many thanks for the link.

Anyone know where I can find the same information for the last 10 years? - and for Sweden as well?

Agree. People either love energy drinks or hate them but it cant be ignored that regardless of brand, they are selling thousands of cans everyday. Just look at how many different types Tesco sell so someone is buying them! At the end of the day, Greg is just doing his job and putting the name out there. He has gone over the top with how he has done it in the past but in Latvia was much better. Maybe BSI have banned him from holding a can while being interviewed... Dont forget that he isnt the only one - Harris often has a can in his hand when being interviewed and of course his helmet is fully Monster'd, as is Hampel's with Red Bull.