HenryW

Seemed to be some doubt among the commentators and riders as to whether it was Britain or England that were racing. Should you still support if you aren't English?

Obviously the Brits spent all their money on the ref

I think the key point here is that Nicki didn't take Jason's front wheel away from him. They barely touched and Jason came down not with the front wheel going from under him but with the back wheel coming round. Yes there was contact, but Jason either laid his bike down, or lost control trying to cut back under Nicki.

Not entirely convinced about that one. Greg still seems to be regularly ignoring any offer of a Nicki handshake after a race, so Nicki may have put it behind him, but Greg's still carrying issues. As others have mentioned, they still regularly use footage of Boyce punching Tomek and that was back in 1995 was it not?

And that seems like a fine order to put the Polish talent in. I'd certainly rate Pepe the 2nd best Polish rider, but then again I might be biased.

Of course it is - that is the whole point. I agree entirely. Scott Nicholls got at least as hard a knock from Hancock, probably worse, but Scott stayed on his bike and for his efforts went out the meeting. Surely if what Nicki did was worth an exclusion then Hancock was due one as well. Essentially you are saying that Crump is being rewarded for laying his bike down, which he clearly did. Do we really want to encourage "diving" in speedway?

I would certainly include Pepe at Poole where he has, as you say, a pretty good record. Not so sure about the qualifying round at Eastbourne though. Can't think whether he has ever done anything of note around there in his career. He actually missed both of Peterborough's visits last season. Maybe that tells a story!

I definitely dont think they should revert to traditional 20 heat meetings, I love the current format. Whilst it is undoubtedly fairer, with everyone meeting each other and a more even distribution of gate positions, it wouldn't provide nearly as much exciting racing as the current format does. Since the introduction of the knockout system, the intensity of racing has increased dramatically. The suggestion of using the current WU21 and WC qualifier system would be the worst option, where riders knew that they just had to do enough to make the top 8 over 20 heats to have a chance of winning. How BSI can reduce the number of riders but keep the excitement is surely a key debate that they'll be having at the moment. Hopefully they will come up with a good solution.

lol....many's the time I recall good old Carlo Biaggi being given a lift on the back of a bike from the pits to the 1st and 2nd turn at Powderhall when there was a crash there. His "lack of mobility" never stopped him being one of the most respected doctors in speedway.

Surprised to hear that. Papa B told us that the best thing about the Bydgoszcz GP last year was being in beside the drunk Poles. Guess you maybe just got a bad lot!

Interesting move by the FIM and BSI if it's true.....have they disregarded a National Federations choices before? Personally, I think it could be quite a good move. Too often we are seeing the National Federations picking young hopefuls who prove to be way out of their depth in an SGP. Getting a proven performer like Drabik is more likely to give some entertainment to us lot that turn up to watch....

Having just posted on the thread about Terenzano that the set-up using Semi-Finals and Finals is entirely wrong for the WC qualifiers, I have to now contradict myself. Screw Santej - Theo Pijper made it through

Have to agree. A one-off qualifier shouldn't have this set-up. I can understand it in the GP's themselves with their unique race format and 9 rounds to level out, but the qualifiers should be about the top 6 after everyone has raced each other. If the gates for the semi and final were determined by a random draw, that's even worse! The Dryml boys must be gutted, After racing everyone once, Lukas was in joint 3rd and Ales in joint 5th, but neither of them made it through! Also, Kaj Laukkanen's performance doesn't inspire much confidence that I'll be enjoying his perfomancies in the GP this year. Looks like he could be this years Smudger