Steve Turner

He's already done it... Nice one Skóra - excellent

It would've been nice to see Jonasson given it. I see Scott's got the lucky Number 8... What d'ya reckon Subedei ?

You missed my point, sorry.

So imagine having, ooh let's say Sweden's Andreas Jonsson in your English team and watching him leave in the summer to concentrate on improving everywhere else...

Don't know Kev, but the man was insane ! Entertainment guaranteed. I remember Kenny Carter saying that he was the only team-mate he ever had that he was scared of ! I think Cradley was the first place I saw him, and it was hard to believe anyone else was allowed on track with him at the same time He got better each time I saw him after that, and was always great fun to watch. It would be great if the Italian riders could step up a level in speedway, because they have often provided huge entertainers.

Thanks Anders, great job mate, as usual Get well soon, Holta and Holder !

Get it sorted spiderweb...you haven't got time to waste ! Have you offered to pay extra to the airport authorities yet ?

Congratulations Subedei, your best ever comedy moment on here !

That's what it's all about... The people who go, pay their money and watch the meeting. Glad you had a good time Lunchy

It's down to pure luck, whether that happens or not. The draw is completely random, regarding the riding-number in the meeting which each rider takes. Nicki is Number 1 in the series, as reigning World Champion, but he is given a riding-number for each GP. That can be anything from No.1 to No.16 - depending on the draw (which I imagine is done by drawing numbers from a bag). Whoever is drawn at No.1 will ALWAYS have Gate 1 in Heat 1, Gate 2 in Heat 5, Gate 3 in Heat 9 etc etc etc etc etc, right down to... ...whoever is drawn at No.16, who will ALWAYS have Gate 3 in Heat 4, Gate 4 in Heat 8, Gate 2 in Heat 9 etc etc Get it ? p.s Just in case you think there may be an advantage... Many rider's like to be drawn at No.1 - they have a perfectly even space of time between their heats and they start off in Gate 1 when the inside is always quickest - Heat 1. BUT, history shows there's no advantage in being at No.1 and in fact, at the GP's, it's often best NOT to be in the first heat after track grading, which the No.1 always is. Every year in the GP's, certain numbers stand out as being the one where most points are scored - this year (so far) it's No.8 which is definitely the lucky one ! And equally, there is always one which seems jinxed as a bad one - this year it's No.4 ! Interestingly, exactly the same as last year !!

I'm guessing you've confused yourself... As was said, it's the long-standing formula of 20-heat meetings. Don't know how 'long-standing' it's been, but I'd imagine it's about 80 years

Well you can follow Lunchy's blog HERE

Adrian Gomólski was born in Gniezno Graig Gough, Newport (Wales), Nov' 24 1981 Paul Gould, Warrington, Sep' 6 1969 Dean Garrod, Norwich, Oct' 11 1975 Barrie Geer, Eastbourne, Aug' 16 1980 Denis Gizatulin, ?, Mar' 11 1983

I think it was Claus Jacobsen who smashed his knee up at Ipswich and never rode again. He'd signed up to join Arena just before the injury.

Not even you can fault that response, Dekker

2 good calls superguest mate Congratulations to Denmark, they stepped up at just the right time. A true champions performance, and deserved winners on a track that certainly didn't favour them in any way. Poland did themselves proud, although Walasek was embarrassing until the pressure was off. They can clearly call themselves the second best nation now. Sweden scored well without ever looking comfortable. Australia, a distant fourth without a race win. Bad news for them, going straight to the final. None of them will take any pleasure out of the night. Get well soon Crumpy. A decent meeting, a bit of drama, and I'm actually pleased I bothered to watch it !

1. Nicolai KLINDT, Den 2. Igor KONONOV, Rus 3. Adrian GOMÓLSKI, Pol 4. Emil SAIFUTDINOV, Rus 5. Hynek STICHAUER, Cze 6. Jurica PAVLIC, Cro 7. Filip ŠITERA, Cze 8. Andriy KARPOV, Ukr 9. Robert BAUMANN, Ger 10. Martin VACULIK, Slov 11. Matej KUS, Cze 12. Patrick HOUGAARD, Den 13. Adam KAJOCH, Pol 14. Maxim BOGDANOVS, Lat 15. Kamil BRZOZOWSKI, Pol 16. Robert KSIĘŻAK, Aus Hope it's a good meeting, whatever the result...as I have a few friends travelling out to watch it I'd like to see Sajfutdinov, Pavlic, Šitera, Brzozowski, Księżak, Hougaard, Gomólski and (I suppose I should say...) Klindt go through to meet Batch, Tai, Holder, Risager, Zengota, Bridger, Lawson and Little Lindgren in the Final

1st - Denmark [i don't see any of their riders having a bad night. They are all very solid when riding for their country. And they are easily the best nation.] 2nd - Australia [A couple of moody riders, if they ALL ride at their best they could win, but there's little chance of that.] 3rd - Poland [They should improve from yesterday. Hampel and Gollob were poor.] 4th - Sweden [i just can't see them improving, and they will need to do that to win a medal.] But hey, I'm crap at this guessing game... Ha det god Sverige ! Powodzenia Polska !

To anyone who's not yet downloaded or seen this, but wants to... I'd advise skipping the first eleven races, you'll miss nothing. (shame you can't download just the last third !) Watch Heat 12, it's a cracker. Heat 13, where Robert Kościecha whoops Crumpy's ass. And finally skip to the last race, Heat 16, where Jason gets his own back.

Well I had an enjoyable night... Met up with some rarely-seen friends and made some new ones. Had some right good laughs and even enjoyed some of the racing along the way ! Admittedly, for me, it helped that I didn't care about the result nor care for the competition. It was embarrassing watching Nicholls and Harris (who can't even speak to each other ! How old are they ?!). Both of them deserve a poke in the eye...in fact two or three hard jabs would be good. Any volunteers ? Stead and Richardson were just SO slow !? Olly did little wrong and certainly worked hard, he's the only one who deserves no shame. Good luck to Tai on Thursday, hopefully he can relax and enjoy himself, ignoring the complete lack of team spirit that will be surrounding him in the pits - and who knows, he might even bang a few points in. The 'top 3' in the team should now realise they quite literally have absolutely nothing left to lose. Well done to the Danes, who made the most of a bad night for AJ to beat the Swedes pretty comfortably in the end... I was most impressed by Bjerre, who gave his best Brandon showing. Granted it was on a very suitable track. He NEVER seems to let his country down, fair play. Really hope he gets a GP place for next season. Wasn't impressed by the ref, nor the dodgy tapes. ...oh but I was well chuffed that Rymel took that race win Bet everyone's hoping the Final will be at Coventry next year !

Subedei, apparently next seasons unofficial World Cup Final, to be staged at Brandon, will be invitation only. Likely opposition for Team GB will be Hungary, Croatia and maybe a big gun like Germany. Seems the BSPA have worked out how to get their nation's name on a trophy ! And who can blame them ?

I can't say I've ever witnessed anything 'right-wing' at any speedway tracks. Racism of course is not always associated with right-wing feelings. I heard plenty of racist comments when Antonio rode here in the UK, generally from middle-aged men. He was often controversial and that spurred on negative comments...being black simply gave ignorant people the excuse they look for. Generally, racism from white people against black people, and vice versa, is continually decreasing in this country...and is now considered a rarity according to national police reports. You certainly can't say the same between whites and Asians, but that's another matter. Speedway fans in the UK are mainly working-class people, and that is where racism is most common. The opportunity for racism to surface in British speedway is rare, so it's impossible to guess how much of a problem it could be.

I couldn't possibly care less what 'the Coventry boys' do with themselves. But that's not the biggest joke here...

Or maybe travel the day before, like everyone else

"Overbooking costs Watt GP semi spot" - Wrong. He chose to miss practice and therefore left himself far less time than is allowed. That was his decision, nothing to do with any airline, overbooked or otherwise.