Rico

Will be setting off from leafy Royal Berkshire (ok, crappy Reading) around 9am Friday, heading straight (no service station stops) for Cardiff Airport to pick up HenryW, then get checked in to hotel and have a few beers before joining the Emmerdale bus to Somerset at 4pm, which considerately enough leaves from our hotel. Thanks to the Danish speedway addict that's coming over I've got to go to Swindon on Thursday night, Somerset, GP, then Newport on the Sunday. Life's tough sometimes. Looking forward to what should be a brilliant weekend. Rico

The prices at Zielona Gora last season were in local terms very, very high (seats we had were about £28 based on the exchange rate at the time, 120zl) for the corresponding meeting in 2008. This resulted in a crowd of around 4,000 whereas normally the local team get capacity crowds of 14,000. The price for unreserved seating at Zielona Gora for the forthcoming match with Bydgoszcz is 25zl. I was seriously considering this meeting, but at that price the likelihood of my attending is lessened. Will wait and see the qualifiers before making a call I think. Tickets for the SWC meeting at Peterborough are cheaper than this and will likely contain a much stronger line up. Interesting that it appears the meeting is stated as using the top 2 to final / next 4 to semi climax. Certainly just went on points last year. Rico

Yes Bird ! As for using Reading Services, why not come off at Junction 12 (about 1 mile after Reading Services), take the roundabout exit toward Reading A4 and about 400 yards later you'll be at a Sainsburys, which has usual cafe where I'm sure they'll do you a fry-up. Also has a McDonalds. These are all at non-services hyper-inflated prices. Very competitively priced fuel available also. Rico

What a pleasant surprise - see you Saturday Zetters. Rico

So, by the replies so far Squall I'd suggest either just do it in 1 go, or rephrase the question a tad Rico

Keep editing and you might make a sensible question out of your words Squall Rico

Captain Nicki for me please. Rico

Oh please. You really are making yourself look stupid with that comment regarding BSI/IMG Trees. The money needs to be found (as does funding for the kids going off to U21 meetings on the continent) to ensure GB are competitive against their rivals. Otherwise they will carry on going down the spiral. Rico

Well, you can mention to Mr Lyons that Mr Holloway is willing to get involved Trees. I'd imagine it won't be cheap putting this together, but do the team want to be competitive or not ? Lets be honest here, the team looks likely to have to go to the race-off at Leszno and if the status quo remains even that could be quite embarassing. Rico

Spook, Only seen this thread courtesy of you mentioning it in the U21 one. Interestingly enough I've spoken with Ash Holloway about this very topic and he assures me he'd be happy to work with the GB squad. So ......... He appears to be doing quite a good job with Emil's bikes. Rico

Lol very witty Shawn 5 man teams and they expect (perhaps not unrealistically) teams to be able to send 5 riders along, Superstar1. Rico

Nicki P as captain please. Rico

Last few GPs I've seen the finalists have gone straight to the centre green for interviewing. In years gone by they used to have multiple versions of the adverts, so if they got dirty they were simply peeled off and a fresh new one was underneath. I'm sure someone somewhere mentioned the GP 'bible' which instructs the organisers how things must be done - has anyone got a copy of this ? Rico

Hi Gary, Hopefully will bump into you on the Saturday at the GP. I'm sure we will. We're basing ourselves in Poznan Thursday to Monday and taking in the Gorzow v Czestochowa match on the Sunday. Rico

Captain Tomek please Pete. Rico

Calm down Robbie B. Note there is a colon between 'Team' and each country named. They are not being referred to as Team Finland etc in the same vein as the mighty Team GB. Looks an interesting line up for the meeting and 3 riders with Monarchs recent connections in the field. I'll plump for the Czechs to battle through. Rico

AJ went over the back of the bike on the back straight - thankfully didn't get collected by anyone else, but last seen in the ambulance. Couldn't understand the answer when Plech was asked how AJ was. Rico

The journey from airport to town isn't too far, though last time we went to Wroclaw there were a lot of roadworks on the route. You should have plenty of time, all things considered, assuming you jump in a cab into town from the airport to do the things you want to do before heading up to the stadium. You can either get a taxi to the stadium or trams 9,12 or 17 from Placu Grunwaldzkiego (right outside a large shopping centre). Tram takes around 20/25 mins then it's probably around a 10 minute walk down to the stadium through the Olympic complex. Rico

Cheers for picking up the reins on this Pete. I will go with Nicki Pedersen © 60k Tomasz Gollob 45k Emil Sajfutdinov 25k Grzegorz Walasek 20k Andreas Jonsson 35k Total 185k Rico

Cheers for the heads up on that - booked in. I think we've stayed there before - bit of a wander back from town, but it just adds to the fun. Rico

The dinosaurs won't listen to you SB - they're extinct (though the odd few seem to still have an ever weakening voice). I'm personally looking forward to another thrilling season of GP racing and wouldn't miss it for the world. Give me the best speedway riders in the world going hell for leather over a season long battle any day of the week. Rico

Given the start time of the Gorzow v Czestochowa match has been set as 1830hrs I reckon the plan for the Sunday will be along the lines of Train from Poznan to Gorzow departing 13:38, arriving 15:38 Pop to stadium to buy some tickets Find a pub showing the tv match at 16:00 (Wroclaw v Torun) Watch THJ blast to a maximum in a plush stadium on an excellently prepared track Return train from Gorzow to Poznan departing 23:31 arriving 01:46 Rico

Depends how adventurous you are feeling Edmon. Could also throw into the mix Ostrow Wlkp and Zielona Gora, but these aren't quite on the straight line between Wroclaw and Leszno. Zielona Gora would most likely only be do-able if your group went for a hire car option (can't locate info on buses between Wroclaw and ZG), however Ostrow is definitely feasible by train, then travelling onto Poznan. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves wherever you end up. Rico

Letter received today on behalf of a friend, confirming arrangements for collecting complimetary tickets at the Millenium Stadium. All appears to be in order. Rico

Your question was phrased as "Outside of things like F1 and other similar motor sports". If you wished to exclude all Motor Sports then why didn't you ask the question "Outside of all motor sports...." ? Definitely a pattern though, Motor Sport allow the test to be over a number of events, no motor, the majority are one offs. Speedway is just fitting in with an accepted practice. Rico