AndyM

PC was certainly among the first batch of riders to use 4-valve Weslakes at a time when the majority of riders were mounted on 2-valve Jawas. And by gum, did it make a difference!

A lot stronger, Splatty, though that should give Danny King a fighting chance. Why is there any need for seedings at all, BTW?

Why create arbitrary points to be awarded when you have perfectly good race points awarded on the classic 3/2/1/0 basis? It would be pretty mean if there was a 4-point differential in actual race scores but only in 2 GP points awarded. And as for the format, it's only the same individual race format that's been used for generations with semis and a final bolted on. This is recognition that the original was best and that the new format adopted for the GP isn't necessarily an improvement.

If they'd won three GPs each, you could rightly call it a two-horse race. As it is, there are 7 to go and plenty of time for anyone to win. It's a marathon, not a sprint - all Trick and Crumpie have done is given themselves a head start on the rest.

Anyone notice today's BSPA press release?

So how come his bikes are three times faster than anyone else's? Has he turbocharged them?

No I wasn't commenting on the fairness with which any one rider was treated but whether this system is fairer than any other. Keep up, LW!

Sky TV probably loves it. They deserved a mouthful the time they secretly filmed Crumpie after he'd been knocked out of a GP disastrously early. Nothing they like better than a punch-up or a slanging match, saddos that they are!

He went into the corner too fast. Still lacks judgement and maturity, or he'd have bided his time in the certain knowledge that he would get past by the 4th bend.

It would displease someone, no matter how they did it. The chosen rule is reasonably fair and the same for everyone, so if it didn't favour your rider that's tough luck! It will even itself out over time.

Richardson definitely did look out of sorts, but it's a mean comparison to use the same comment for Nicholls. He looked bright and lively in most of his rides, and was at least passing riders and looking for openings, where Richardson seemed to be going backwards. For all that, he still doesn't seem to have bridged the class gap to where the real winners perform. Should be looking closely at all parts of his game to spot the flaws and be more single-minded about winning.

Quite high, particularly when the hoardes from Purfleet are around!

Try a trip to Rye House next time. At least you get to eat decent fish & chips while you watch the racing. That doesn't happen in Mongolia, I know.

'Twas ever thus. Speedway is a litany of hard luck stories about what might have been. Reruns have caused no end of distortion to results, but I've yet to find any suggestions that on the restart riders should be handicapped according to their positions when the race was stopped! The slate is wiped clean and everyone's back with an equal throw of the dice.

Agreed on all points. What was up with AJ though?

There's no such thing as fair. If we're stuck with semis and a final, then the man who crosses the line in the final gets the big points bonus. At least points in the meeting now count for something, which is a big improvement on previous years. If you're talking about justice, consider this: do you, like me, would prefer the good old-fashioned world championship format, decided entirely by points on the night? If so, Nicki Pedersen, Bjarne Pedersen and Leigh Adams would have run off for the big prize, with no Crump or Rickardsson in sight!

Still, a great ride from Crumpie when it mattered. Rode cleanly around Pedersen and Tricky and deserved that win. Great champions win the key races, nothing else matters!

Surely not even Nicki Pedersen could complain about his exclusion in the final. As blatant a case of unfair riding as you'll ever see. However, I don't think it was intentional - just excess horsepower on the bend. Very disappointed by Crumpie. He's got the track guile but looks decidedly underpowered compared to some of the riders. Needs to buck up his kit to compete at this level with the likes of Mr. R. Overall, an excellent GP on a well-prepared track.

Pleased for Ken - even if he doesn't make the semis, it will do him a power of good. As for Richardson, he flatters to deceive. Not the results we were expecting from him, not helped by substandard gating. Perhaps the sceptics were right?

Ah, but it's not all about professionalism, is it? Ken Wrench is known to make periodic mistakes, but that's part of his charm!

Any review of announcers must take into account the plummy voice of Ken Wrench, and if we're including presenters there have been none finer than the great Dick Barrie, much loved at Hyde Road in the 1980s.

He was interviewed last night and evidently isn't ready to come back at all - the fingers are being splinted, so there's no hope of his being able to operate a clutch for a month or two yet.

Is Floppy fit, given that he pulled out of his guest appearance for the Hammers last night?

Well, of course you'd say that. 8.5 average is clearly nothing!